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BLT XIII- Format Discussion

Vapour

Vapour

Hello everyone! As BLT XIII draws near, we've decided now is a good time to gauge public opinion on this year's edition.

Main points of interest from BLT XII:

1. Start Date- We currently plan to start cycle 1 of qualifying on March 1st, and cycle 2 on March 16th, however this is subject to change if there's support.

2. Format- Last year expanded to 12 slots, with the inclusion of Natdex and Rands bo3. Should we keep this the same, or revert back to 10 slots?

3. Manager trios- The possibility for 3 managers per team was mentioned in the BLT XII feedback form, and we're intrigued to hear thoughts on this- if we go through with it, should only 1 or 2 be allowed to selfbuy?

4. Guaranteed pool size (16 or 20 per cycle) This will probably depend on the size of starting slots, however we made the changed to the top 20 being gpool slots per cycle (40 total) last year, how was this taken by managers? Should this be reverted to top 16 per cycle (32 total)?

5. Tier lock- Should tier lock be introduced this year? This could work as a binding list of tiers not played, and should it stay in effect for tiebreaks if accepted?

6. Other- Please voice any other concerns or propositions here, everything will be taken into account!

Your hosts this year will be myself and Sificon, so please come to us primarily if you have any concerns, and happy BLT season!
 
1. Do not care
2. Revert back to 10. Rands was not a good inclusion, added an extra layer of variability and made drafting more cumbersome as a lot of good tier players just wanted to play rands. Natdex was fine but doesn't feel all that necessary to keep either. If anything I'd say if you wanna keep 12 slots then do natdex + a third ou slot, ou is the most accessible tier and if the aim is to give more tour regs a chance this would be the best opportunity for them. But I also don't think there's anything wrong with just doing 10 slots.
3. Make it 3 managers. One of the primary reasons for having 3 managers is for tours where there is a wide array of tiers that you can't possibly cover between 2 managers. This tour mimics the same structure as SCL which has 3 managers, so I don't see why we wouldn't do it here. You hardly ever lose anything by allowing 3 managers, the one caveat is to keep it so that only one manager can self-buy cause we don't wanna see some teams pick up a third coman just to get them as a cheaper player.
4. Revert back to top 16, top 20 was frankly just too easy it created very little suspense during the qual phase cause there weren't even that many people who were seriously trying. It also made the tour way too lopsided toward gpool, I know gpool is a defining trait of this tour but it shouldn't completely dictate the entirety of the tour.
5. PLEASE introduce tier lock this one is a no brainer, literally zero drawback and it's an added layer against pricefixing attempts which we see every year. Just have it function the same way it does in officials regarding tiebreaks.
 
  1. March 1st is fine, the earlier the tour starts the better;
  2. Either revert to 10 slots or do 12 slots with +ND and +OU3 or Masters bo3, whatever you do please do NOT include Random Battles, 10 slots has worked best for years. Would also be fine with 12 slots being 10+ND+Draft or 10 slots with ND over Monotype;
  3. Basically every tournament has trios, I see no reason to not allow trios in BLT as well, echoing what Fragmnents said although it's fine if the managers don't cover all slots, but you can make it happen it's always good for the players and for the spirit of tour. Moreover, 3 managers allows for more flexibility on the managers' side and reduces pressure/workload on them. 1 selfbuy/team of course, we don't need 2 broken managers for super cheap and allow the 3rd manager to be a cheaper player;
  4. To be honest it's kinda whatever, I'd rather go with Top16, there are few people in gpool who see playing time anyway;
  5. Tierlock for regular season, but not for playoffs. If someone wants to tierlock themselves out of a tier during regular season, but be open to playing in in poffs should be allowed.
  6. TLDR: BLT XI + 3 Managers + Tier lock is the move
 
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Fragments said:
1. Do not care
2. Revert back to 10. Rands was not a good inclusion, added an extra layer of variability and made drafting more cumbersome as a lot of good tier players just wanted to play rands. Natdex was fine but doesn't feel all that necessary to keep either. If anything I'd say if you wanna keep 12 slots then do natdex + a third ou slot, ou is the most accessible tier and if the aim is to give more tour regs a chance this would be the best opportunity for them. But I also don't think there's anything wrong with just doing 10 slots.
3. Make it 3 managers. One of the primary reasons for having 3 managers is for tours where there is a wide array of tiers that you can't possibly cover between 2 managers. This tour mimics the same structure as SCL which has 3 managers, so I don't see why we wouldn't do it here. You hardly ever lose anything by allowing 3 managers, the one caveat is to keep it so that only one manager can self-buy cause we don't wanna see some teams pick up a third coman just to get them as a cheaper player.
4. Revert back to top 16, top 20 was frankly just too easy it created very little suspense during the qual phase cause there weren't even that many people who were seriously trying. It also made the tour way too lopsided toward gpool, I know gpool is a defining trait of this tour but it shouldn't completely dictate the entirety of the tour.
5. PLEASE introduce tier lock this one is a no brainer, literally zero drawback and it's an added layer against pricefixing attempts which we see every year. Just have it function the same way it does in officials regarding tiebreaks.
Click to expand...
I support everything this guy said, regarding the second point, SVOU 3 instead of randbats as frixel said, that sounds much better than just removing two slots, I think the ND slots were quite competitive and fun last season
 
1. Start asap
2. I like 12 slots but we should remove rands + natdex and replace with whatever other tier ppl want.
3. 3 managers is better
4. 16 is better then 20 but honestly i think 12 might be better since after the first 5 days or so the quality of games kinda drops of a cliff and this would mean that the players that make the cut would be more competitive or at least determined. Dont think this would have many downsides and should also mean less people in the gpool get banned like what happened last year.
5. im not familiar enough with the whole price fixing thing to say but i trust fragments opinion on this
 
1. earlier we wanna play
2. back to 10, mini scl + monotype (if it were up to me we'd be rid of it but I can't deny the popularity) is fun and rands/natdex feels very out of place
3. 3 managers + 1 self buy with the ranges of tiers feels right and setting 1 self buy stops people from abusing it.
4. 16 is fine especially if we're going back to 10 slots
5. please please pleaseeeeee a lot of players want to try out different metas then what they usually play in this and having tier locks prevents managers from overpaying the hell out of someone who doesn't wanna play their main tier or is pricefixing saying they aren't going to play it.
 
1. time period given seems fine..
2. remove rands, keep natdex, add another sv ou slot or a bo3 of multiple formats
3. 3 managers + 1 selfbuy seems fine imo
4. top 16 if we have 10 formats, top 20 if we have 12
5. idk no thoughts on this here
 
1. March 1st preferably
2. I think 12 slots is good but we should change rands to OU slot 3, and keep natdex as is
3. 3 Managers
4. Im not against 20 but i think 16 strikes a good balance between competitiveness and being accessible for the average tours room player
5. I don't see a reason why not to introduce tier lock (although im not exactly a good player so idt i have enough experience to give a good opinion on this)
 
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