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Beginners' Series
Big Changes to Organized Play
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by James Hoskin, Director of Organized Play
28th March 2011
The rules and procedures for Organized Play date back around 15 years for First Edition, and almost ten years for Second Edition. During that time, both games have grown immeasurably and situations have arisen that were not considered all those years ago. For the last three months, the Continuing Committee's Department of Organized Play have been reviewing these rules and procedures. When making changes and clarifications, we have also taken into account wishes of the players through the results of the Organized Play Review held at the end of last year.
Version 3 of the Organized Play Guide (OPG) is released today, with immediate effect. You can download the guide from the link on our homepage, or from this direct link: http://www.trekcc.org/op/TCCOPG.pdf. The changes are as follows:
New Victory Points
In an effort to reduce the number of tied players at tournaments, we are introducing a new victory point scheme and a new set of tiebreakers. The victory points for both First Edition and Second Edition games, as described in Section 7.5 - Possible Match Results, is now as follows:
| Game Result | Victory Points |
|---|---|
| Full Win Earned Bye Bye | |
| Modified Win | |
| True Tie | |
| Modified Loss Full Loss | |
| Missed Game |
New Tiebreakers
In an effort to reduce the number of tied players at tournaments, we are introducing a new set of tiebreakers and a new victory point scheme. At the end of both First Edition and Second Edition tournaments, players are ranked by victory points and then the following tiebreakers:
- Head-to-Head (only used if there are two tied players who have faced each other)
- Strength of Schedule
- Cumulative Victory Points
- Differential
- Coin Toss / Random Event
After each step of checking tiebreakers, if only two players remain tied, their Head-to-Head result will determine their rankings. If the two players did not play each other, proceed to the next tiebreaker.
Head-to-Head is one player's result against another player. If two, and only two, players are tied on victory points at the end of a tournament, the winner of the game (if any) between those two players is awarded the higher position. If those two players did not play each other during the tournament, or the game between them resulted in a True Tie, then you should proceed to the next tiebreaker.
Strength of Schedule is calculated by totalling the final victory point totals of all opponents faced by one player, then subtracting the lowest individual total. Example: If Tony faced John (13 VP), Brian (11 VP), Neil (6 VP), and received a Bye (0 VP); his Strength of Schedule would be 30 (13+11+6+0-0=30).
Cumulative Victory Points is the sum of a player's total victory points after each round. Example: Over four rounds Richard scores a Full Win (4VP), a True Tie (2VP), a Full Win (4VP) and a Modified Loss (1VP); his total victory points after the first round would be 4, his total victory points after the second round would be 6 (4+2=6), his total victory points after the third round would be 10 (4+2+4=10), and his total victory points after the fourth round would be 11 (4+2+4+1=11). His Cumulative Victory Points would be 31 (4+6+10+11=31).
Differential is the difference in the final scores between players. A player's Differential for the round is calculated by subtracting his or her opponent's final score from his or her final score. Points in excess of 100 do not count towards Differential, nor do points below zero. Differential for a single game will range between -100 and +100. In the case of a True Tie or a Bye, all players receive a Differential of 0. Players with an Earned Bye receive a Differential of +100. If a game ends due to concession or other non-score means, or if the game is missed, the winning player receives a Differential of +100 and his or her opponent receives a Differential of -100. If the winning player's score is lower than his opponents, the winning player receives a Differential of +1 and the losing player receives a Differential of -1. Example: If Paul beats George by 100-35; Paul receives a Differential of +65 (100-35=65), and George receives a Differential of -65 (35-100=-65).
Here is a visual example:
In this example scorecard for a player called Will:
- Will finishes the tournament with 11 Victory Points.
- Will would win a Head-to-Head against James or Nick as he beat them during the tournament. Will would lose a Head-to-Head against Stuart as he lost to him during the tournament. A Head-to-Head against Doug would be inconclusive as they tied during the tournament.
- Will's total victory points after each round were 4, 6, 10 and 11 (denoted in red). Adding them together would give him Cumulative Victory Points of 31.
- Will's differential for his four games were +65, 0, +35 and -30. His total differential for the tournament would be +70
For more information, see Section 7.7 - Determining the Winner After the Final Round. Descriptions of all tiebreakers can also be found in the Glossary at the end of the Organized Play Guide.
First Edition Games Extended from 60 to 75 Minutes
A significant proportion of players requested more time to play their First Edition tournament games. By extending each round by 15 minutes, we hope that more players can complete their games. For more information, see Section 7.2 - Initial Pairings.
First Edition Tournament Procedures Brought Into Line With Those for Second Edition
With the exception of the extended time limit in First Edition tournaments, First Edition tournaments and Second Edition tournaments will now be run in exactly the same manner. Tournament organizers who run tournaments for both editions will no longer have to remember two different sets of rules, and players of one edition should be able to easily understand the rules for the other edition. The changes are as follows:
- When time is called in a First Edition game, players should no longer end the game immediately. Instead, they should continue playing until both players have completed the same number of turns. For more information, see Section 7.4 - Ending a Round.
- A First Edition game where both players exhaust their decks used to result in a Modified Win for the victor. The same situation will now see the victor awarded a Full Win. For more information, see Section 7.5 - Possible Match Results.
- First Edition players on the same victory points should no longer be paired using Differential. Instead, tournament directors should randomly pair players from all players on the same victory points. For more information, see Section 7.6 - Pairings for Subsequent Rounds.
Tournament Directors Participating in their Own Event
Many of you felt that a tournament director should not require approval to play in his or her own event from every player at that event. Accordingly we have reduced the requirement of approval to half (50%) of the players involved instead.
We recommend that tournament directors playing in their own event should record the time spent judging other games, and compensate for the time lost in their own game by adding additional time at the end of the round. For more information, see Section 7.1 - Tournament Directors Participating in their Own Event.
Ending a Game due to Time
The rules for ending a game due to time have been updated. If a player takes one or more consecutive turns; whether granted by cards, or as a penalty assessed by the tournament director; they are treated as a single turn for the purposes of ending the game after an equal number of turns. For more information, see Section 7.4 - Ending a Round
Second Edition Modified Win Conditions Updated
The description of Second Edition Modified Win conditions in Section 7.5 - Possible Match Results has been updated to reflect the Current Rules Document. This eliminates an issue with the old description caused by Favor the Bold.
Re-sleeving Assimilated Cards
A player who takes control of (in First Edition) or command of (in Second Edition) an opponent's card, may choose to re-sleeve that card for the remainder of the game. For more information, see Section 7.8 - Tournament Conduct.
Who Goes First in Match Play?
Any random method can be used to decide which player takes the first turn in game one. The loser of game one then gets to choose whether they take the first or second turn in game two. Should game three be necessary, the loser of game two gets to choose whether they take the first or second turn in that game. In any instance where a player gets to choose whether they take the first or second turn, they should do so before drawing any cards.
Tribbles Tournament Rules
Rules to govern Tribbles tournaments have been included throughout the Organized Play Guide. For more information, look for shaded boxes with Tribbles-specific rules.
More Information
The Organized Play Guide now includes a list of all tournament formats supported by the Continuing Committee, and the rules documents tournament organizers will need for each format. For more information, see Section 4: Tournament Formats.
Rules and procedures for High-level play are now included in the Organized Play Guide. Section 9 describes Heats, and Section 10 covers match play. Seedings, brackets and rules for deciding who goes first in each game of a best-of-three match are all detailed.
The WCT Directors Guide has been incorporated into Section 11 of the Organized Play Guide. The Continuing Committee's league coordinator position, recently vacated by John Corbett, is being retired. If you have any questions about the WCT league, please direct them to any member of the Organized Play department.
Please remember that all of these changes are effective immediately. If you have any questions, please ask them in this thread, or on the relevant gameplay forum.
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