Yessss!
I WANT TO BELIEVE
SIXTY FOUR SIGN UPS HYPE LETS DO IT
CHOO CHOO ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN
10 Likes
Always! 
1 Like
If there is still space I want in this thing
*believes*
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And that’s 32! Wow, that went fast!
Okay, so, I have a question for participants (and potential participants)! I’m not sure how realistic it is to get to 64, though I would LOVE IT if that happened, obviously. How do people feel about participating in the event if we ran it with any number of sign-ups? This would result in byes for some number of players, essentially giving people one more or one less match to play on their way to the #1 spot.
The question would then be how to decide who gets those byes? I could give it to players based on historical winrate, so higher winrate players get rewarded with a one set advantage. I could give it to new players, or low winrate players, to give them a one set advantage. I could hand them out randomly.
So, what do you think?
- Run the event with 32 or 64, no more no less
- Run the event with 32+ and give high performers the byes
- Run the event with 32+ and give new players/low performers the byes
- Run the event with 32+ and just generate the bracket randomly
0 voters
1 Like
Personally, I would wait until I saw how much additional interest there is before making a decision like that.
Eekitty! :0 I’d like to join still, if that’s alrighty*! I’m in CDT (aka UTC −5:00) & playing on Friday or Saturday between 6 PM - 10 PM (CDT) would be preferable.
*If the alrighty-ness of this goes unverified by @mysticjuicer, then, in advance, I say, “Ooh, that’s alrighty!”
1 Like
For now I’ll put you in as an alternate. Once I figure out how to handle 32+ sign-ups, I’ll let everyone know.
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Man to be honest kind of hard to pick …will do the cowards way and not vote at all!
Uuuuhhhhhh. So, IYL is getting back off the ground, and Jengajam has descended from the mountain on which he meditates for 9 months out of the year to run Summer Smash… I kinda want to get in on both of those events. And the previous 19XX event just ended so I’m tempted to delay 19XX.
How do you feel about postponing Round 3, and partaking of some 20XX for a bit?
- I’d prefer 19XX starts in June
- I don’t mind if it’s delayed until late summer
0 voters
2 Likes
I usually sign up for as many tournaments as possible thinking that I’ll get knocked out fairly quickly. But this year I’m planning on some DP’s of my own. “Deep Penetrations” into the brackets. You want to postpone, fine. You don’t want to postpone, fine. But this year, @FaceOnMars , will let his presence be known.
/gulp/
5 Likes
I haven’t done three tournaments at the same time so no idea if I’m biting off more than I can chew but I’m happy to test my breaking point 
Don’t mind it being delayed either as that means I get guaranteed Yomi later in the year!
3 Likes
Let it happen.
I’ve made my stance on this clear before, but I’ll go ahead and repeat myself.
If some filthy casual can’t make time for 3 simultaneous tournaments, then they’re not dedicated to the Yomi cause.
5 Likes
but black dynamite… i’m a filthy casual who can’t make time for three tournaments!
8 Likes
Also, you like Rook.
3 strikes, yer out.
3 Likes
A couple of announcements.
First, 100% of people who voted in the “should I open the # of sign-ups to all entrants” said that I should, so I’m going with that. So far, people seem pretty evenly split between assigning byes randomly or based on positive past performance. As a result, I’m going to (eventually) generate the bracket and assign byes randomly.
Second, a little under half of those who signed up have expressed a preference about the timing of the event, and about 80% of those people don’t mind delaying the event until after the International Yomi League and Summer Smash events have mostly run their course. Honestly that’s my preference also, and so that’s what I’m going to do. For those who are disappointed, I want to write a few (editors note: he means a bunch of) words about what those two events mean to me. Hopefully it’ll better explain my decision.
Will post the promised words later this evening, gotta run and catch a train right now.
8 Likes
I started playing Yomi online about three and a half years ago, I think. I’d just remembered this cool game that I’d played in person two or three times, and googled stuff like “fighting game card game” until I ran across the old Fantasy Strike forums and saw that you could play it online! I was thrilled! I’d always liked fighting games, even though I was resolutely terrible at them, and I had come to really enjoy competitive card and boardgames. Yomi seemed perfect!
I bought the first ten characters, because Rook was in that set, and I loved the aesthetics and the design of the character. I thought 10 damage throws were sick as hell, and they’d buffed his King throw from 1st edition, which was already a card I loved. Fifteen damage in one card! Oh my god the power! I spent a bunch of time in QM grinding through the student ranks until I got to Master. Occasionally I’d get up the courage to join a casual room where people would swap out if they lost, and got to know a few people here and there.
I spent a bunch of time on the forums, just reading different strategy guides and poring over super old design threads, where people argued about what stats such-and-such character’s Jack or Ace should have, and what speed. I saw a bunch of stuff on valuation that didn’t really make any sense to me at the time. It was really exciting! It was obvious to me that there was something to this game, in the sense that there was a whole whack of stuff to learn and improve at. If I wanted to, I could really throw myself into it and be confident that it would be rewarding to do so.
CKR eventually messaged me on the forums and asked if I was interested in playing in a tournament. I initially turned him down because I felt like I still had no idea what I was doing, and felt nervous about looking foolish. At the time, my heart would pound any time I played, whether it be in QM or casuals. Yomi was absolutely the most nerve wracking board or card game I’d ever played. I mean, I still get nervous whenever I play in tournament, so not much has really changed in that respect… But anyway, after I told CKR I would rather not, he said, “hey, no problem, but honestly, I think you’re good enough to play, and if you change your mind, let me know.” It was apparently all I needed to change my mind, so good read on CKR’s part. 
That was pretty much it for me. I went 1-1 in the event; it was a single elimination, one day event type thing, but I started looking out for tournament announcements on the forums. And it just so happened that not long after that first set, CKR ran the second installment of the International Yomi League. I can’t remember now how many sign-ups there were. I think something between 50 and 60? Anyway, this was definitely bigger than anything I’d ever participated in. It was really cool! I got my pool and saw a bunch of names I recognized and more that I didn’t. The weekly format really appealed to me, because it meant I could play regularly, and it was relatively easy to set up games with people sometime during the week.
The competition was really fun too. It was gratifying to play against people and think “oh, I think I’m farther along than this player.” And it was equally humbling and exciting to play against people who I knew were on an entirely different level than I was. Like, yeah, it felt bad to lose, but it proved the hunch I had when I started exploring the game: “There’s a way to get good at this game. There’s a skill here that I just don’t understand yet. There’s something to this that can be figured out, and I will do it.” I ended the season about the middle of the pack, and I was thrilled. I put together a list of the people I’d lost to and hoped I’d get a chance to play them again soon.
I joined different events, always looking mainly for those that had a match-a-week format, because it just worked the best for my schedule. I got to know a bit better the people in the community. Found a bunch of YouTube channels and watched their commentary videos, piecing together what insight I could from what people said. Raziek’s videos, especially the ones featuring other members of DRB were particularly helpful. Because there were multiple people watching and commenting on matches, it meant I got to hear some of the decision making behind different plays, and got to develop of sense of how different options and plays could be evaluated.
I got more involved in the community of people who played the game. I started putting together stats on tournament matches. I started making my own videos and putting them on YouTube. I got super excited when IYL3 had 100 entrants. I got to play in the third iteration of Summer Smash, hosted by Jengajam, who’d dealt me a tournament loss at the start of my time with the game that I still remember, it was so punishing.
I think the Fantasy Strike forums were closed up near the end of the first 19XX event, maybe around top 4? There was an event or two in the months afterwards, but the activity level really dropped. The community was split. These forums really became the Codex forums, in much the same way that the Fantasy Strike forums had been the Yomi forums. But people still played. We still play. We still enjoy this game enough to argue about what kinds of tournaments would be cool to run, and what the tiers are, and how you should play if you want to win.
And some new player just decided, hey, this IYL thing? It sounds like it was pretty cool? If no one else is going to do it, can I run it? And shortly thereafter - as he apparently does every year (???) - Jengajam has made the arduous trip down from the cave in the mountain where he spends his time meditating on the nature of all things and, without fanfare, said “Summer Smash 4, if people are interested.”
I didn’t realize how much I’d missed these things until they were here…
…
I don’t think either of them will be as big as they were the last time. I don’t expect them to be. I don’t need them to be. Don’t get me wrong, I would probably shed a few tears if they were. But it’s not the size of them that I care about. It’s just that they are. They still are.
People still play.
New people still find their way to this game that I love.
People that I used to see in tournaments when I just started played in them still play this game that I love.
That makes me so happy.
So, if you really had your heart set on playing in this tournament because you like the banned character format, I’m sorry that you have to wait. If IYL5 and SS4 don’t excite you or mean the same thing to you, that’s totally cool too. I get it - that feeling is why I started running 19XX in the first place.
But right now? I just want to put my quarter on the arcade cabinet next to a bunch of other people, old and new, who want to see what they can do when it’s their turn to play. I still want that rematch against Jengajam!
I’ll see you guys in the ring. If you made it this far, thank you. If you didn’t, I don’t blame you! 
19XX officially on hold until later in the summer - don’t worry guys, this WILL happen
24 Likes
19XX format is great, but adding three of my worst matchups back into the game isn’t enough to deter me from entering more stuff. I FEAR NOTHING!
BRING ON THE YOMI
5 Likes
I am pleasantly surprised at the turnout thus far for these events. I contemplated running IYL 5, but I really didn’t want to try and grow it again. The game seemed to be on life support.
@neigutten, even offered cold hard cash and didn’t get quite the response that I would have liked to see. His last tournament gave me some hope because I believe it reached 16 players. This measured up pretty well to where Yomi used to be at for single day events. Now, I am starting to see an uptick with the flagship (IYL and Summer Smash) events coming back.
Yomi is off life support and can walk again. I am happy. This game is really quite good, and I don’t have an alternative to replace it. I used to play poker, but I can’t see myself going back to it after playing Yomi. Spread the hype and let’s continue to build upon this strength.
8 Likes
Passion.
This is what true passion looks like.
Sure, you could’ve just said “on holed guise lol,” but no. Instead, you gave your Yomi life story to explain how much this game, and on a larger whole this community, means to you.
Good on you, sir. Good on you.
By the by, I was never against a delay. My comment about it was purely from a joking standpoint, if you (the general “you,” not specifically you) didn’t quite catch it.
11 Likes