Tournament Rules & Info

1. Tournament Formats

We run three tournament formats depending on the event:

• Swiss — Every player plays in every round. You are never eliminated. After all rounds are complete, the player with the most points wins. This is the most common format for our events.
• Single Elimination — Lose once and you're out. Players are placed in a bracket and winners advance each round until a champion is decided.
• Swiss + Top Cut — Combines both formats. First, everyone plays a set number of Swiss rounds. Then the top-ranked players (usually top 4 or top 8) advance to a single-elimination bracket to determine the winner.

2. How Scoring Works

After each match, points are awarded based on the result:

3. How Standings Are Determined

Players are ranked by match points first. When players are tied on points, we use tiebreakers in this order:

1. Match Points — Total points earned from wins and draws. This is the primary ranking factor.
2. Opponent Win Percentage (OWP) — The average win rate of all the opponents you've faced. If your opponents went on to do well, it means you had a harder schedule. Each opponent's win rate is floored at 33% so that facing a winless opponent doesn't disproportionately hurt your tiebreaker.
3. Game Win Percentage (GWP) — Your personal win rate across individual games (relevant for Best of 3 matches). Also floored at 33%.

4. How Pairings Work

• Round 1: Pairings are random. Everyone starts with a clean slate.
• Round 2 and beyond: Players are grouped by their current match points and paired within those groups. This means you'll generally play against someone with a similar record to you.
• No rematches: The system avoids pairing you against someone you've already played. In rare cases with small player counts or many rounds, a rematch may happen as a last resort.
• Odd player count: If there's an odd number of players, one player will receive a bye each round (an automatic win). The system tries to give byes to different players each round.

5. Match Formats

Each tournament specifies whether matches are Best of 1 or Best of 3:

• Best of 1 (Bo1) — A single game decides the match. Win the game, win the match.
• Best of 3 (Bo3) — The first player to win 2 games wins the match. A match can last 2 or 3 games total.

Draws are possible in both formats. For example, in Pokémon TCG, if time is called and both players have the same number of prize cards remaining after the final turns, the match is a draw. Each player receives 1 match point.

6. Single Elimination & Top Cut

In elimination rounds, the bracket is seeded so that higher-ranked players face lower-ranked players:

• Seed 1 plays the lowest seed, Seed 2 plays the second-lowest, and so on.
• If the number of players isn't a perfect power of 2 (4, 8, 16), some higher-seeded players receive a first-round bye.
• Winners advance through the bracket until only one player remains — the champion.

For Swiss + Top Cut events, seeding for the elimination bracket is determined by your final Swiss standings (points, then OWP, then GWP).

7. Round Timer

Each round has a time limit set by the tournament organizer (typically 25-50 minutes depending on the game). The countdown timer is displayed on screen and on the TV display.

When time is called, follow your game's official end-of-round procedures. If the match isn't finished, the result is determined by the game's rules (e.g., in Pokémon TCG, each player gets a set number of additional turns).

8. Glossary

Quick reference for terms and acronyms you'll see during tournaments: