Kickoff Format

Frags

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So, now that were almost done with kickoff I wanna talk about the format again. Generally, like most people, I enjoy the format itself. Its fun to watch. But the way Finals are done is a huge issue imo. RRQ and MIBR are proof for this. Not only are you, if you lose whatever final youre in, going to have to play another Bo5 the day after which is extremely exhausting I would imagine, I think the even bigger issue is that whichever team youre playing in the next game knows before you that theyre in that final. So lets say youre TL, you not only get the benefit of having FNC at probably lower energy than usual, you also got to sit in the arena yesterday and watch them play 5 different maps to prep for today. Of course people will argue about how big that advantage really is, but it is not debatable that the team with a lower bracket placement gets an advantage over the team coming from the finals above, which does not make sense. I think we saw the results of this with RRQ and MIBR so far. M8s put on a great performance and got the win, but id still say they were at a disadvantage yesterday and just played better.

If scheduling cant be adjusted for this, I think that, at the very least, the team losing the previous finals (upper or middle, whichever) should be entitled to the same ban advantage that an upper bracket team at an international would get to somewhat even the odds, or even put them int heir favor as they are the ones that logically should have an advantage if there is one to be had. Thoughts?

derp64

Frags

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Yet those exhausted teams also get 3 chances to qualify. It's a fair tradeoff.

Yuniee44

Frags

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But its not like the other teams dont get those chances. They just blew their chances earlier lol.

_techpause

Frags

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if my team loses 3 B05 in a rows, they deserve to not go to masters

Yuniee44

Frags

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I mean, I kinda get it, but the thing is, theyre getting tested on a level of endurance they wont even really need in an international since even those have easier pacing. Of course its a worrying signs if my team loses 3 bo5s in a row, I wont deny that. But I still believe that this format is very likely to result in some team that is even worse than that team losing all their bo5s attending the masters simply because they had favorable circumstances on the day.

I dont want you to misunderstand im not saying this advantage would change everything and would let the worst team roll an absolute overdog, but imo it does change the odds and i think formats should try to actually reward the teams that played best as much as possible.

_techpause

Frags

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i mean, i would agree if the upper rounds had more games.

but rrq only had to beat 2 teams to make it to the finals. they also had 2 weeks of waiting to see what their opponents are like. Plus, it's not like prx or t1 had time to antistrat based on a game that happened in less than 24 hrs ago. I honestly think they've been awarded properly.

Yuniee44

Frags

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Fair enough, point taken. I think it might also be a case by case basis depending on how a team preps and player preferences etc.

uwukitten

Frags

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less of a format issue and more of a scheduling problem

giving them an extra ban is too much considering the upper final teams are imo less proven than other teams. imagine a team that's good at set strats but gets countered easily, you start out strong and win two games and now you're in the upper final whereas teams in the lower bracket win 5 games in a row just for you still show up with a ban advantage on them? that seems very stupid to me. of course the team that didn't lose and drop to the lower bracket should have an advantage but I think getting to play 3 bo5s is already massive (and you get way more prep time than the other teams overall)