European Championships & the U.S. National Championships

[acerimmer]

The International Ultimate Lightning Association would like to invite All U.L. players to join in a celebration of the game.

3 Prestigious tournaments which will find a U.S. National Champion, a European Champion and a World Champion.
These 3 tournaments will be held yearly from this year onwards.
The tournaments begin with 2 simultaneous tournaments.
The U.S.A. Championships.
&
The European Championships.

(These tournaments are NOT Gravon tournaments)
They are Official I.U.L.A. tournaments, which carry with them the Official titles of
U.S.A. National U.L. Champion
European U.L. Champion
&
The Official World U.L. Champion

Each game played within these 3 Tournaments will also count towards an Official World U.L. Ranking.

These tournaments are for the benefit of ALL U.L. players....where ever they play.
As such, these tournaments will be open to Everyone (not just Gravon players)
We aim to cross the barrier between the 2 rival sites and encourage all U.L. players to come together and compete in these Championships. As these are not just tournaments aimed at an individual site..........we have decided to split the tournaments between the 2 sites. (Thus hopefully reach out to all U.L. players, Old and New)
With the individuals choice of site firmly in mind.......games can be played at either site. The choice of site is left to the individual players.
As a rule.......and so as to resolve any argument in a fair manner........If there is a disagreement in the choice of venue for any tournament game. The following rule shall apply.
U.S.A. Championship games will be played on Meta and European Championship games shall be played on Gravon.
Obviously this rule will only come about if there is a disagreement in the venue of the game.

A message board thread will be set up on BOTH sites....for results, standings and contact messages for BOTH tournaments. I will relay cross site messages where necessary and keep all parties up to date with results and standings from both tournaments.

Contact information:
The U.S.A. Championships (organisers: - Rupe, Flyers and myself)
The European Championships (organisers: - me and skywalker)

As if it wasn't obvious........let me just point out that:

The U.S.A. - U.L. Championships is for U.S.A. players ONLY.
&
The European U.L. Championships is for European players ONLY.

Both the USA & European Championships will use the following format.

1. A group qualifying stage (only 6 players from each tournament will qualify from the group qualifiers).........followed by:

2. A 6 player league where each player plays the other 5 players 1 time.

The Winning players from each tournament will claim the respective title of U.S.A. National U.L. Champion and European U.L. Champion.

The top 3 players from each tournament will gain Entry into the World U.L. Championships.

The players finishing in 4th place in each tournament will play each other in a 3 game play-off match. The winner of this 3 game match will gain the "wildcard" entry into the World Championships.

The World Championships will be played by the top 7 players in the world.

It will be played on a league basis.......where each player will play the other 6 players 1 time only. The winner being crowed with the Official World Title!

The World Championship games can be played at either site........but if agreement can't be reached about which site........then the World Championship games will be played at Metaforge.

The dates for the Tournaments are:

U.S.A. Championships: start 6 weeks from today!
14th October 2006

European Championships: start 6 weeks from today!
14th October 2006

World U.L. Championships:
18th November 2006

You can either contact a tournament organiser to enter or you can enter by posting after this thread.

GL all who enter

Ace

(On behalf of the I.U.L.A.)

[skywalker]

do i have to mention that you can consider me as a participant?

i'm looking forward to this interesting tournament.
i hope we will have enough players to play a qualifier round

luke

p.s. i know it's not the best rate but still i advise you to put your money on me mf

_________________
"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you" Mithrandir

[acerimmer]

I am expecting between 16 and 24 players to enter the European Championships.

The USA Championships I would expect between 12 and 18 players.

The Championships could have the potential to attract in excess of 50 players (more than 30 players for the European Championships and more than 20 players for the USA Championships)

The minimum i would expect would be 16 players for European Championships and 12 players for the USA Championships.

I have done a little pre- tournament canvassing and I think we will easily reach 16 (Euro) and 12 (USA) for the tournies.

These figures would make up the qualifing group stages. ONLY 6 players from each tournament will qualify for the European and USA finals.

The format for the qualifiers will be a group/league system.
The total format would become clear as the numbers entering become clear.
For example:
If ONLY 16 players entered the European championships......then the format would probably be:
4 qualifying groups .....each group containing 4 players.
(the winner of the group would gain automatic entry to the European finals.) This would leave 2 places still available in the finals..... (Each of the remaining 4 players finnishing in 2nd position would then face a play-off game against another 2nd place finisher........the winners of the 2 playoff matches would gain entry to the finals.)

Alternatley if there was 24 players entering the European Championship qualifiers.......then the format would probably be:
6 qualifying groups of 4 players........the winner of each group would reach the finals.

Whatever the number of entrants.......we would endever to create a fair system of group qualifiers.....which allowed for 6 players to qualify for the finals.

The finals would be between the top 6 performing players in Europe.......over a league system where every player plays the other players 1 time.

The average number of games for a player failing to qualify from the qualifiers would be 3 games.
The average number of games for a player who DOES qualify for the finals .......would be 8 games. (3 games in qualifying and 5 in the finals)

Estimated time for the qualifing stage is 2 weeks. (approx 3 games)
Estimated time for the Championship finals is 2 - 3 weeks. (5 games)

[lightwing]

Although, I prefer classic, i would like to participate.

And, all games are @ Meta i see?

[acerimmer]

Hi Lightwing

Glad to have you in the tournament!

As I already explained to you......in the chat room earlier.........The games will NOT all be played at meta.

The players have the choice to choose where they want to play the games.
If they cannot agree on a location for the tourney games......THEN the default location for the tourney games will be used. The default location for each tournament is linked to the preceived hosts of the tournaments.
European Championship - Gravon
USA Championship - Metaforge

Each tournament has a default location for games to be played SHOULD the players not agree on the location.

The default location for the European Championships is Gravon.

The default location for the USA Championships is Metaforge.

The default location for the World Championships will alternate from year to year. This year it is on Metaforge and next year it will be Gravon.

These default locations will only be used IF the players do not agree on the location.

[ruben87]

As I told you already, I would like to participate. I prefer to play at gravon.

[acerimmer]

Nice to have you in the tourney ruben

[ruben87]

Hmm I (and maybe more people from the Netherlands) have a little problem. On 18 November there is the national championship barrage. I think I will compete.

I hope the World Cup UL can take place on another day? Or on two days or something? In the evening I can be on line again.

[acerimmer]

Hi Ruben

The World U.L. Championships will begin 18th November and will last between 2 and 3 weeks. There is no pressure to play all or any games on 18th of November. .......so you should be ok

Some players, may play all their games within the first few days........others may take 2 or 3 weeks to play all their games.

Hopefully by allowing a maximum of 3 weeks to play all the WC games......the championship will be able to fit into everyone's schedual.

Regards,

Ace

[ruben87]

Ow glad to hear that . 3 weeks should be enouph for sure

[ruben87]

5 days to go

[acerimmer]

I am starting to collect names of players who are playing in the tournament.

I have worked out a system for comparing the rankings of meta and gravon.....thus giving everyone a ranking based on the 2 rankings.

The problem we got is that the rankings are not totally acurate. Some players are much lower than there actual skill level......and in comparison.....some players don't play much and have a ranking which is false in comparison to there actual current U.L. skill level.

I will publish the rankings on here in the next few days.

The system we will use for the tournaments will be like in tennis. Where everyone is seeded on there ranking. There will be a total seeding of all players.....NO draws/lottory/out of the hat type things. It will all be done according to the rankings.

I have to double check on a few people......as they said they may play.....so the actual figures for the tournaments will be left till the 14th of October.
I may publish a summary of who is down to play so far......but there are many players who said yes......4 or 5 weeks ago.....and i would just like to confirm before publishing.

Ace