Ruling Tourney Styles

[cappuccino]

If I remember correctly, there are many tourney styles such as top-cut or swiss-rounds or something like that. I have no idea about all of these so please explain elaborately about all the common ways tourneys are played.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chairman Kaga]

There's straight Swiss. All players play the same number of rounds. Each round players are paired against opponents that have the same win-loss record. At the end, you should have one undefeated player, who is the winner. This is most commonly used for pre-releases.

There's Single Elimination. I think that's obvious. It's like all the college basketball tournaments -- lose and go home. No "official" event uses straight single-elim, but some local tournaments might.

The most common format in Pokemon -- Swiss plus Single Elimination -- combines the two. The tournament begins with all players playing Swiss rounds. At the end of Swiss, the top players are seeded into a Single Elimination tournament. This is the format used for all Championship Series events (Battle Road, Cities, States, Regionals, Nationals, Worlds).

 

[Furroshi]

actually, it doesnt happen much, but every once in a while, you get paired with someone who has a different record. at MA states i got paired like that twice me 1-1 them 2-0 and me 3-2 him 4-1, but your always within 1 loss/win of your opponent

 

[abaxter94]

Aren't Nationals and Worlds Single Elemination?

 

[Furroshi]

no. last year, i belive in JR's it was 8 rounds then single elim. also i think in worlds you play some swiss rounds too

 

[cappuccino]

Single-elim in pokemon sounds harsh. I mean, even the best players would be knocked-out by just a bit of bad luck. Luckily they put it at the end of the tourney.

 

[Chairman Kaga]

actually, it doesnt happen much, but every once in a while, you get paired with someone who has a different record. at MA states I got paired like that twice me 1-1 them 2-0 and me 3-2 him 4-1, but your always within 1 loss/win of your opponent

I was trying not to get into that

Swiss pairs as many people with equal records as possible. If one group with a particular record has an odd number of people, then one person gets paired with a person with one less win.

Aren't Nationals and Worlds Single Elemination?

No. Swiss plus Single Elimination. Every Premier event (except for pre-releases) uses this format. Every Premier event.

Single-elim in pokemon sounds harsh. I mean, even the best players would be knocked-out by just a bit of bad luck. Luckily they put it at the end of the tourney.

Straight single-elim is typically match play to even out that factor.