Tournament Analyzer: Game Empire Pasadena Regionals

Hello Runners!

Disdainful here from Game Empire in Pasadena. Welcome to the first of what will hopefully become a semi-regular segment focused on tournament play. We kick off with a good one, the 35-player Regionals tournament from Saturday, April 20!

I'll freely admit, this event definitely sneaked up on me. It had been on the store's calendar for a while, as the first of our FFG regionals, but the scope of the event was not clear until right up until I started making the opening announcements.

Since the tournament format is still very new, I'll start with my observations on the day, in hopes that they will be useful for organizers of upcoming events. All told, the day ran very smoothly but there were some snags here and there that merit attention. I always write up a little notecard for announcements before the event begins, and, as it turns out, all of the points I have for this article are pinned to one or more of the elements on that card, so I'm just going to use that for my bullet points here. Convenient!

• Sportsmanship and Cheating – The FFG tournament rules include very standard cut-and-dry concepts here. Every TO is different and has different thresholds for what they consider to be infractions of the above, so it's important to let the players know what those thresholds are at the beginning. For example: The tournament rules include scouting decks as unsportsmanlike behavior, and could be considered an infraction. Back in the real world, when players are done with their games, there's no iso-booth for them to go sit in, so they're probably going to watch some of the matches still finishing up. For me, if players are wandering around, watching a game or two in the last few minutes of a match, I'm not going to say anything. If someone's camping a table, notepad in hand, however, that's no good.
• Slow Play and Timing – I play in and officiate timed competitive environments monthly, so I'm used to being under the gun. It will be new to a lot of players at an event like this, however, and the time limits are somewhat intense, so I recommend highly making a special note about time. The base time limit for a match is 65 minutes, and players have to notch two games in that time for a complete result. That means that each game should take about half an hour. That time goes by fast! Over the course of the day, most of the matches ended with a complete result, though I did have a handful of matches go to time each round, and at least one match ended in the middle of the first game! Slow play is the devil of timed environments, and, while I have only very rarely encountered a player being malicious about it, it's always a problem, benign or no. Even with a prevalence of Noise decks on the field, I didn't find anyone that I felt was intentionally gaming the clock, but the players need to know that they have to keep up the pace, and that they have the right to call a judge if they feel their opponent is abusing the clock. As I told the players, no one is going to call you out for doing some math before you make a big run, but when you break out the abacus to triple-check your creds vs.their ICE, that's when you're getting into slow play territory.
• Unfinished Games - Corollary to note 2, the tournament rules specify that when time is called, players with unfinished games complete one full turn each, then match points are awarded and a winner for the match declared. Since it calls for one full turn each, it was played that whoever was in the middle of their turn when time was called would finish that turn, then each player would get their full turn.
• Matches and Scoring – This part is the biggest potential landmine in the format, in my opinion, and a TO would be well served by explaining this in detail before the event begins. Players score 'match points' during their games to determine the winner of the match, then earn 'prestige points' based on that result which determine the winners of the event. Down to the last round of Swiss, I had players asking how many points they earned from flatlining the runner, so it's not as clear as it could be, unfortunately. I played a handful of test games with the scoring system to get the hang of it beforehand and that was very helpful. I also made it clear to the players that it was their responsibility to report correctly and that I couldn't fix mistakes unless they were brought to my attention immediately. That sounds rough, but there's a lot of guys spending their Saturday at the event, and if the TO has to stop and rewind everything in Round 3 because someone scored their match wrong in Round 1, it's just going to make everything go south, fast.
• Byes and Tiebreakers – Unless I'm blind, there's nothing in the tournament rules about how many points are awarded to a player who takes a bye. It was brought to my attention that previous regional events simply awarded the player 6 prestige points and 0 match points, a full win but no tiebreakers, and that's what I used for the day. In discussions afterward, the option of giving a player 4 prestige and some number of match points came up, essentially a win that traded max prestige for some tiebreakers. Until FFG gives us a rule (or I get cataract surgery and read the part that I missed and everyone else saw), 6 prestige / 0 match points is probably best. Tiebreakers is another one that was a slightly rough patch; if you are just playing Swiss rounds in a smaller event, match points are used as tiebreakers, but if you are playing Swiss rounds and then doing a cut to top 4 or 8 single elimination rounds, strength of schedule (based on prestige points) is the tiebreaker. It's not completely clear in the rules, so it was played that since we were doing a top 8 cut, SOS was the tiebreaker for the day, with match points as the second. It is also not totally clear how the single elimination rounds are handled other than how to seed the first round, and higher seed advancing in the case of a tie. I used a simple debate format: players were position-protected in the first round by seed, and paired randomly after that.
• Oddball stuff – Some situations are not dealt with in the rules. For example, a corp player mistakenly installed two agendas in the same remote server. This is an illegal game state and is mentioned only briefly under the sportsmanship and cheating section, where it is basically left up to the TO's discretion, with the only actual listed penalty being expulsion for extreme cases. Again, in the real world, most cases are not so extreme as to merit getting kicked out. In the situation above, the corp player realized his mistake the following turn and called me over. The decision reached was to rewind slightly and simply consider that the new install over-wrote the existing one, which is what would have happened if played correctly the first time, and restored a legal game state. Obviously, if the corp player had continued with the error or had done so knowingly, that's cause for action. It's up to the TO, but it's worth considering what type of action you'd take as TO beforehand, so you don't get caught flat-footed.

TL;DR: Be mindful of the time, it goes faster than you think; figure out how you'd handle potential sportsmanship / cheating issues beforehand; try a few games with the scoring system so you're competent with how matches are scored and points earned; go over the tournament rules a few times and make sure you're clear on things; finally, decide how many rounds you'll be playing and whether you're doing a top cut before players start showing up. I was expecting 26-30 players, and had planned the schedule for four rounds of swiss and a top 8 cut. We got 35, and four rounds of Swiss with three single-elimination rounds worked perfectly.

And now that all the boring organizer stuff is done, the good part: results and standings!

Game Empire Pasadena – Netrunner 2013 Regionals

Final Standings after top 8:
First Place – Billy M.
Second Place – Preston S.

Final standings after four rounds of swiss:

Player Name - Prestige Points - Strength of Schedule - Match Points:
Runner ID/Corp ID

1. Billy M. 22 53 74
Haas: ETF/Gabriel

2. Bryan H. 20 57 72
Haas: ETF/Gabriel

3. Christian N. 19 62 71
NBN/Gabriel

4. Steve G. 19 57 62
Haas/Chaos Theory

5. Preston S. 18 59 69
Haas/Noise

6. Nathan S. 18 59 66
Haas: ETF/Chaos Theory

7. Daniel D. 17 46 55
Haas/Noise

8. Timmy W. 16 54 60
Weyland:BABW/Noise

9. Alex S. 15 37 51
Haas: ETF/Gabriel

10. Brandon C. 14 63 68
Weyland: BABW/Chaos Theory

11. Ram D. 14 51 52
Haas/Noise

12. Gene M. 14 44 51
Weyland/Chaos Theory

13. Matt W. 13 56 61
Weyland/Gabriel

14. Darren E. 13 50 62
NBN/Gabriel

15. Mark S. 13 43 55
Weyland: BABW/Chaos Theory

16. Chris C. 13 42 39
Weyland/Noise

17. David A. 12 62 50
NBN/Noise

18. RJ F. 12 54 54
Haas/Chaos Theory

19. Daniel H. 12 54 49
Weyland: BABW/Gabriel

20.Samuel K. 12 38 54
Haas/Noise

21. Richard K. 11 48 49
Weyland/Kate

22. Marcus M. 11 48 42
NBN/Chaos Theory

23. Alex T. 11 37 45
NBN/Gabriel

24. Jeremy H. 11 37 21
Haas: ETF/Noise

25. Wyatt C. 11 33 36
Haas: ETF/Kate

26.Evan L. 10 46 41
Weyland: BABW/Noise

27. Randy B. 10 36 47
Weyland/Noise

28. Rich G. 9 42 37
Haas: ETF/Chaos Theory

29. Gregory S. 8 48 35
NBN/Gabriel

30.Jakob B. 7 52 28
Weyland/Kate

31. Geoff A. 6 43 16
Weyland: BABW/Whizzard

32. Super Dan O. 6 40 41
Haas: ETF/Chaos Theory

33. Ethan H. 6 29 17
Jinteki/Noise

34. Geoff C. 5 56 26
Weyland/Gabriel

35. Shaun I. 2 48 27
Weyland/Noise

Top Eight Round 1
#1 Billy M. vs. #8 Timmy W. - Billy M win
#2 Bryan H. vs. #7 Daniel D. - Bryan H. win
#3 Christian N. vs. #6 Nathan S. - Christian N. win
#4 Steve G. vs. #5 Preston S. - Preston S. win

Top Eight Round 2
Christian N. vs. Billy M. - Billy M. win
Preston S. vs. Bryan H. - Preston S. win

Top Eight Finals
Preston S. vs. Billy M. - Billy M. win

Faction ID Breakdown with top positions after four rounds of Swiss:
Haas: 14 players, top finish - 1st
Jinteki: 1 player, top finish - 33rd
NBN: 6 players, top finish – 3rd
Weyland: 14 players, top finish - 8th

Noise: 12 players, top finish - 5th
Whizzard: 1 player, top finish - 31st
Kate: 3 players, top finish - 21st
Chaos Theory: 9 players, top finish - 4th
Gabriel: 10 players, top finish – 1st

First place Billy M. decklists:


Identity:
Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (Core)

Total Cards: 49

Agenda (9)
Accelerated Beta Test (Core) x3
Executive Retreat (Trace Amount) x3
Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus) x3

Asset (8)
Adonis Campaign (Core) x3
Aggressive Secretary (Core) x2
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3

ICE (18)
Caduceus (What Lies Ahead) x3
Chimera (Cyber Exodus) x1
Enigma (Core) x3
Rototurret (Core) x2
Ice Wall (Core) x3
Wall of Static (Core) x3
Ichi 1.0 (Core) x3

Operation (9)
Biotic Labor (Core) x3
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
Green Level Clearance (A Study in Static) x3

Upgrade (5)
Ash 2X3ZB9CY (What Lies Ahead) x3
SanSan City Grid (Core) x2


Total Cards: 49
Agenda Points: 21
Influence: 15

Identity:
Gabriel Santiago: Consummate Professional (Core)

Total Cards: 45

Event (21)
Sure Gamble (Core) x3
Forged Activation Orders (Core) x2
Deja Vu (Core) x1
The Maker's Eye (Core) x3
Inside Job (Core) x3
Account Siphon (Core) x3
Special Order (Core) x3
Emergency Shutdown (Cyber Exodus) x3

Hardware (6)
Desperado (Core) x3
Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead) x3

Program (12)
Femme Fatale (Core) x2
Corroder (Core) x3
Ninja (Core) x1
Sneakdoor Beta (Core) x3
Crypsis (Core) x2
Yog.0 (Core) x1

Resource (6)
Armitage Codebusting (Core) x3
Compromised Employee (Trace Amount) x3


Total Cards: 45
Influence: 15

Second Place Preston S. decklists:

Identity:
Haas-Bioroid: Engineering the Future (Core)

Total Cards: 49

Agenda (11)
Accelerated Beta Test (Core) x3
False Lead (A Study in Static) x2
Private Security Force (Core) x3
Project Vitruvius (Cyber Exodus) x3

Asset (7)
Adonis Campaign (Core) x3
Melange Mining Corp (Core) x3
Private Contracts (Cyber Exodus) x1

ICE (20)
Enigma (Core) x2
Ice Wall (Core) x3
Ichi 1.0 (Core) x3
Neural Katana (Core) x2
Rototurret (Core) x2
Shadow (Core) x2
Viper (Cyber Exodus) x3
Wall of Static (Core) x3

Operation (11)
Archived Memories (Core) x3
Biotic Labor (Core) x3
Hedge Fund (Core) x3
Trick of Light (Trace Amount) x2

Upgrade (0)


Total Cards: 49
Agenda Points: 20
Influence: 15

Identity:
Noise: Hacker Extraordinaire (Core)

Total Cards: 45

Event (12)
Deja Vu (Core) x3
Easy Mark (Core) x3
Stimhack (Core) x3
Sure Gamble (Core) x3

Hardware (5)
Grimoire (Core) x3
Plascrete Carapace (What Lies Ahead) x2

Program (18)
Crypsis (Core) x3
Datasucker (Core) x3
Djinn (Core) x3
Imp (What Lies Ahead) x3
Medium (Core) x2
Nerve Agent (Cyber Exodus) x1
Parasite (Core) x3

Resource (10)
Aesop's Pawnshop (Core) x2
Armitage Codebusting (Core) x3
Personal Workshop (Cyber Exodus) x2
Wyldside (Core) x3


Total Cards: 45
Influence:15

And that's it! Stay tuned for the next Tournament Analyzer, just as soon as I run another tournament to report on!

-Dis.