Ascension (iOS) Gaming League (New Tourney starting Jan 14, 2013!)

Down to the deciding game!

Good luck athros!

I'm in. Added my name to the list.

bigred wrote:
demonbox wrote:
bigred wrote:

Opponents have been assigned! Start reaching out to your opponent via PM!

There was an odd number of people so whoever signs up next can follow the game initiation process and play me!

Next time please allow at least 24 hours before assigning opponents. For those of us who work and can't come to the forum that's a little bit of a crazy short window.

I don't see the problem. I set it up so people could find people to play and assigned the first few matches to get things moving. As I write this there are two available opponents for you to challenge so it's not like you were left out. The window is still open and will always be open.

My error. I didn't read through all of the instructions. I apologize.

Good games TheWalt! Well played!

demonbox wrote:
bigred wrote:
demonbox wrote:
bigred wrote:

Opponents have been assigned! Start reaching out to your opponent via PM!

There was an odd number of people so whoever signs up next can follow the game initiation process and play me!

Next time please allow at least 24 hours before assigning opponents. For those of us who work and can't come to the forum that's a little bit of a crazy short window.

I don't see the problem. I set it up so people could find people to play and assigned the first few matches to get things moving. As I write this there are two available opponents for you to challenge so it's not like you were left out. The window is still open and will always be open.

My error. I didn't read through all of the instructions. I apologize.

No worries

athros wrote:

Good games TheWalt! Well played!

Hard fought one and all. Good games athros!

Chumpy has taken game one. QQ

Oh man. This is more complicated an I thought. Thanks to TheWalt for challenging me. Once our games our done, can whoever I play next pleae challenge me? I have a lot on my plate right now and I'd hate to slack getting the games going.

I'm sure we can make it more complicated....
With Asyncronous gameplay, why not have multiple matches going on with multiple goodjers? I'm sure someone out there is smart enough to create a spreadsheet that could track all that action (not looking to volunteer here, but I fully support whoever wants to put forth the effort!)

TheWalt wrote:

I'm sure we can make it more complicated....
With Asyncronous gameplay, why not have multiple matches going on with multiple goodjers? I'm sure someone out there is smart enough to create a spreadsheet that could track all that action (not looking to volunteer here, but I fully support whoever wants to put forth the effort!)

I've got nine going with nine unique Goodjers, across who knows how many time zones, all with different deck combos. Sure beats the sh*t out of Sudoku for keeping the synapses firing

The hard part about making things more complicated is that Ascension doesn't let you label games, or do much of anything besides play the game.

That's true. I always go back out to the game list and check which decks I'm playing with which person. If I just hit 'next game' I'd be lost.

m0nk3yboy wrote:
TheWalt wrote:

I'm sure we can make it more complicated....
With Asyncronous gameplay, why not have multiple matches going on with multiple goodjers? I'm sure someone out there is smart enough to create a spreadsheet that could track all that action (not looking to volunteer here, but I fully support whoever wants to put forth the effort!)

I've got nine going with nine unique Goodjers, across who knows how many time zones, all with different deck combos. Sure beats the sh*t out of Sudoku for keeping the synapses firing :lol:

So you're recording the results of your nine matches on the Googledocs spreadsheet for the Meta- game (by meta, I'm referring to the GWJ league that this thread is about)?

TheWalt wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:
TheWalt wrote:

I'm sure we can make it more complicated....
With Asyncronous gameplay, why not have multiple matches going on with multiple goodjers? I'm sure someone out there is smart enough to create a spreadsheet that could track all that action (not looking to volunteer here, but I fully support whoever wants to put forth the effort!)

I've got nine going with nine unique Goodjers, across who knows how many time zones, all with different deck combos. Sure beats the sh*t out of Sudoku for keeping the synapses firing :lol:

So you're recording the results of your nine matches on the Googledocs spreadsheet for the Meta- game (by meta, I'm referring to the GWJ league that this thread is about)?

Only one is an actual GWJ league matchup. The rest are just random GWJ goodness with non-league decks.

I would advise keeping it to one GWJ Preseason match. The way I visualize a tournament, you'll play one opponent at a time. The point of the preaseason is to get everyone familiar with the process of setting up a match, being used to having a tournament match mixed in with all other matches in your Ascension dashboard, etc. I think people generally understand the concepts and are comfortable creating their own matches within the spreadsheet which is great. I did observe that people deleted their points and individual game wins. I had meant for this to be a summation of all matches but I don't know if that actually provides good data and I'm certainly not going to prevent anyone from using the spreadsheet as they prefer (so long as you reserve opponents in the standard method highlighted in the OP).

With that being said, let's start to talk about a GWJ tournament. Let's not talk when (still lots of time with the QT3 tourney, subsequent time to 'rest' for those participants, etc) but let's talk what and how. I think it should be a tournament formatted similar to the world cup or champions league formats (both soccer/futbol references).

Format:

Group Play/Qualifying
Players are randomly divided into groups of 4 (give or take depending on signup numbers). Each player plays fellow group members once or twice (depending on how long people want tournaments to last). Each match in the group play should consist of a best of 3 style match. The top one or two finishers (depending on group size) will then move on to a playoff bracket.

Playoff bracket:
Size will depend on signup, but I see each round (besides the championship) as a best of 5 match. Finals should be a best of 7.

The reason I support a best of format is I don't think a single game in Ascension is a good evaluation of skill. All of us, even the best players, have had matches where the cards go completely against us and we get blown out of the water. However, like baseball, the better player consistently wins more often. That's why best of 3, best of 5, and best of 7 depending on the stage of the tournament seems best to me.

bigred wrote:

The reason I support a best of format is I don't think a single game in Ascension is a good evaluation of skill. All of us, even the best players, have had matches where the cards go completely against us and we get blown out of the water.

I agree with this mostly because the game can be really swingy and a tight game can be decided by a high valued card turning up in the final round. That was the only thing I didn't like about the GWJ vs. Qt3 event.

I think best of 3 is probably best just to keep things moving along. Best of 5/7 could make things drag out a while.

That's going to be a seriously long tournament. I would suggest dialing any 5-game series down to 3, and any 7-game series down to 5.

And man, do I wish Ascension let you label games, etc. We will have at least one case of people honestly forgetting how many games they've played, etc.

In pre-season news, I beat Chumpy in game 2, and we're halfway through the rubber match.

EDIT: Tannhausered by shoptroll!

Fedaykin98 wrote:

That's going to be a seriously long tournament.

Yeah.... I think I would personally prefer something a little more direct/informal like a straight up single/double-elimination bracket instead of an actual league setup which is going to be a bit more drawn out.

So I beat athras 2-1, and am currently playing oilypenguin. Is my preseason over? Or am I just way ahead of the curve?

TheWalt wrote:

So I beat athras 2-1, and am currently playing oilypenguin. Is my preseason over? Or am I just way ahead of the curve?

I don't see preseason as ever over. I may change the name to exhibition match? Maybe eventually change it into a ladder competition. I would never want to close this as some people may not sign up for a tournament but still want an official way to challenge and track matches.

Cliff notes: Keep challenging people for as many matches as you want!

shoptroll wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

That's going to be a seriously long tournament.

Yeah.... I think I would personally prefer something a little more direct/informal like a straight up single/double-elimination bracket instead of an actual league setup which is going to be a bit more drawn out.

Good points. We could obviously lower the best of requirements as suggested.

I'd be ok with a double elimination playoff with the caveat that we follow up it up with some sort of long term season. I realize we need to strike a balance between player preferences (I also understand your time constraints shoptroll) but I personally prefer something more long term and meaningful. Perhaps we do the two extremes, instead of a middle (world cup format), and have a playoff bracket tournament (prefer double elimination). I'd like to at some point launch some sort of season but I realize players may lose interest, not have time, etc.

Edit: Given my above post and this one, would anyone be against converting the preseason format into a ladder at some point? That would allow anyone to join (bottom of the ladder) whenever they want, and anyone to remove themselves from competition whenever they want. I realize I may be overwhelming people with different ideas so please give me that feedback if I am. I love organized competition!

Good games oilypenguin!
I thought I was a goner in game 2 when you picked up P.R.I.M.E.

Apparently you didn't draw it quite often enough!

Really close game against monkey. Beat him 83-63.

shoptroll wrote:

Really close game against monkey. Beat him 83-63.

Smart arse

Your deck destroyed mine in terms of value. Will have to see if I can redeem myself in the second match.

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Your deck destroyed mine in terms of value. Will have to see if I can redeem myself in the second match.

Sorry, I wasn't paying close attention to what you were grabbing. I should've specified that the glory tracker was really close until the end.

shoptroll wrote:
m0nk3yboy wrote:

Your deck destroyed mine in terms of value. Will have to see if I can redeem myself in the second match.

Sorry, I wasn't paying close attention to what you were grabbing. I should've specified that the glory tracker was really close until the end.

Agreed

shoptroll wrote:

glory tracker

Sounds like a sordid new feature of Google Maps.

For the preseason, are we randomly challenging anyone on the list or are we being paired? I would like to get a few games in before the tournament starts.

Chumpy polished me off. I think he got an early PRIME. I had about ten more points on the board, but he buried me in the final tally under a mountain of constructs.

blackanchor wrote:

For the preseason, are we randomly challenging anyone on the list or are we being paired? I would like to get a few games in before the tournament starts.

For the preseason, we're playing best of 3 against someone we're matching up with on the spreadsheet. I'm now available. But nothing is stopping you from playing friendly games against anyone at all.

shoptroll wrote:

Really close game against monkey. Beat him 83-63.

Just got my FTP sorted on the iPad, is there anything GoodReader can't do?

IMAGE(http://members.iinet.net.au/~monkey.boy/GWJ/TrollWinsFirst.jpg)

We were neck and neck on the glory tracker, as you can see. Power Cards FTW!

m0nk3yboy wrote:

Power Cards FTW!

Actually, there's a 20 point difference and 20 more cards in my deck >_<