EVE Alliance Tournament Discussion

After the thrills and spills of week one of Alliance Tournament X we have the schedule for week 2 below. This schedule will also show up on the main Alliance Tournament page in the near future:

Saturday, July 7

15:00 Curatores Veritatis Alliance vs Noir. Mercenary Group
15:20 No Holes Barred vs Test Alliance Please Ignore
15:40 RAZOR Alliance vs Dirt Nap Squad.
16:00 Get Off My Lawn vs Wormholes Holders
16:20 SOLAR FLEET vs BricK sQuAD.
16:40 Capital Punishment. vs The Veyr Collective
17:00 Manifest Destiny. vs The Fourth District
17:20 Dystopia Alliance vs Pure Madness.

18:20 Dark Taboo vs WHY so Seri0Us
18:40 Lone Star Partners vs Bruderschaft der Pilger
19:00 Choke Point vs Exiled Ones
19:20 Kill It With Fire vs RED.OverLord
19:40 PERCUSSIVE PIZZA TIME DIPLOMACY vs ROMANIAN-LEGION
20:00 The Kadeshi vs Shadow Cartel
20:20 Sleeper Social Club vs Babylon 5..
20:40 Black Legion. vs Perihelion Alliance


Sunday, July 8

15:00 Rote Kapelle vs Fluffeh Bunneh Murder Squad
15:20 FEARLESS. vs Nulli Secunda
15:40 Gypsy Band vs Elysian Empire
16:00 Mildly Intoxicated vs R.E.V.O.L.U.T.I.O.N
16:20 Goonswarm Federation vs Out of Sight.
16:40 Dead Terrorists vs Team Liquid
17:00 DarkSide. vs Verge of Collapse
17:20 The G0dfathers vs THE R0NIN

18:20 Suddenly Spaceships. vs RvB
18:40 Ev0ke vs The Gorgon Empire
19:00 Against ALL Authorities vs Northern Coalition.
19:20 Alpha Volley Union vs Pandemic Legion
19:40 Agony Empire vs Exodus.
20:00 Heretic Nation vs Raiden.
20:20 Tribal Conclave vs Fatal Ascension
20:40 HUN Reloaded vs THE SPACE P0LICE

I still don't get what the idea behind 1v2 3v4 etc is.
Admittedly, given the nature of the matches variance it is not clear that #1 is really the strongest team and #64 is the weakest team, but the trend is there. So what this achieves is that you get matches like Darkside vs Verge in the prequals, endangering one of those to not make it into the finals. Good matches are meant to be had in the finals, where more people view them, which are more meaningful and which actually somewhat reward the participants.

I'd like a CCP statement, on what you have thought to achieve with this ruling? More entertaining matches in the prequals because the matches are more equal - good teams fight good teams, bads fight bads?

Dark Taboo and DarkSide. are not the same thing.

The idea is that you should still have a chance to go through if you lost the first round to a stronger team and that, as you say, being ranked #1 after only one round does not actually mean you are a strong team yourself.

The scenarios for good teams should play out like this:

A - You won your first match decisively and now need to win the second match or score enough points losing it. Remember, out of 32 teams going on to the group stages, only 16 will have won two matches. The other 16 will have lost one, but scored enough points in the process. Basically, anything over 20 should see you through guaranteed since that is the best "loser" right now, assuming you scored a full victory in round one.

B - You lost your first match, but hopefully took some points with you. Winning the second match is not optional and you should aim at making it a full victory. Depending on how many points you scored in round one you then have to set your hope that some of the top 32 teams in losing their second match, because 16 of them will, score worse than you did in round one.

Now, the actual points spread is what will matter when the dusts settles and the reason behind the new rules of good fights. Previously, a match like DarkSide vs Verge could have seen collusion to have both teams go through by making sure the "loser" scored well, either by offering to self-destruct for ISK, accidentally flying ships out of the arena or some other thinly veiled attempt to game the system. This now comes with the risk of having both teams disqualified if the referees don't like what they see.

Yes, that rule is vague and can be applied at a whim, so you should probably not give them an excuse to use it. For legitimately good teams though, it shouldn't matter. The ability to score points outweighs any perceived bad luck with the pairings for round two.