The 2020 Doubles OU Circuit will consist of the following tournaments:
- Three Doubles Seasonals: Winter, Spring, and Fall (BFL of 2)
- Two Doubles Ladder Tournaments: DLT I and DLT II (BFL of 1)
- Doubles Classic
Seasonals:
1st: 16 CP
2nd: 13 CP
3rd: 11 CP
4th: 10 CP
5th-6th: 9 CP
7th-8th: 8 CP
9th-12th: 7 CP
13th-16th: 6 CP
17th-24th: 5 CP
25th-32nd: 4 CP
33rd-48th: 3 CP
49th-64th: 2 CP
65th-96th: 1 CP
Note: If a given Seasonal has less than 96 entrants, 65th-96th place will not receive CP.
Doubles Ladder Tournament:
1st: 10 CP
2nd: 8 CP
3rd-4th: 6 CP
5th-8th: 4 CP
9th-16th: 2 CP
Note: If a player qualifies for playoffs in both DLT I and DLT II, they will receive a 1 CP bonus.
Doubles Classic:
1st: 15 CP
2nd: 13 CP
3rd-4th: 10 CP
5th-8th: 7 CP
9th-16th: 4 CP
17th-24th: 2 CP
25th-32nd: 1 CP
Note: Players that win one of the individual cups within Doubles Classic will get a 2 CP bonus added to their overall CP from Doubles Classic, while players that lose in the finals of an individual cup will get a 1 CP bonus. This bonus cannot stack; a player who wins one cup and places 2nd in another will only receive a 2 CP bonus.
FAQ:
1. What are Seasonals?
Seasonals are the most straightforward of our tournaments and serve as the flagship tournaments for the DOU Circuit. They are large, double elimination tournaments that generally take around 14-15 weeks to fully finish. Each round you will be paired up with an opponent and play a Bo3 SS Doubles OU set, during which you will be allowed to switch teams between games. Seasonals will be held in the Winter (January), Spring (April), and Fall (August). These tournaments will be seeded as well; Winter Seasonals will use the final 2018 Circuit standings to seed its entrants, while Spring and Fall Seasonals will use the current 2019 Circuit standings.
2. What is Doubles Ladder Tournament?
In this tournament, people will be signing up to ladder for a full week to rank as high as possible. The highest ranking finishers may earn a spot in the playoffs. This cycle will continue for four weeks and culminate in a single elimination, best-of-three playoff for all qualifiers. This year, we are reverting to the 2018 model for Doubles Ladder Tournament; there will be two iterations of DLT this year, as our three-year foray into live tournaments has come to a close (more on this later). Additionally, we are going back to four laddering periods, with four participants from each qualifying for a 16-man playoff. As always, these qualifiers will be decided by ELO at the end of the laddering period. There will be no wild card entrants or byes in playoffs.
3. What is Doubles Classic?
The spiritual successor to Doubles Grand Prix, Doubles Classic will function similarly to the Smogon Classic. It will consist of three separate single elimination tournaments played in three different tiers: SM DOU, XY DOU, and BW DOU. Based on their results in these three tournaments, the top 16 players will play out a single elimination playoff consisting of best-of-three sets, with one game played in each tier. Doubles Classic differs from Doubles Grand Prix in that it will only consist of old generation metagames. Now that we have three old generations of DOU, we can run this tournament just like Smogon Classic and not include current generation DOU. Our plan moving forward is to maintain Doubles Classic as an oldgens tournament, giving our past formats a chance to remain involved in the official DOU Circuit. Thanks to a suggestion by YoBuddy in our 2019 Circuit Feedback Survey, we are implementing a bonus CP system in Doubles Classic for players that excel in one of the individual cups. Players that win one of the individual cups will get a 2 CP bonus added to their overall CP from Doubles Classic, while players that lose in the finals of an individual cup will get a 1 CP bonus. This bonus cannot stack; a player who wins one cup and places 2nd in another will only receive a 2 CP bonus.
4. What does BFL mean?
BFL, or Best Finish Limit, is a restriction that limits how many placings you may count for your Circuit Point totals. Since the BFL for Seasonals is 2, only your top 2 results from Seasonals during the 2020 circuit will count. If you play in all 3 Seasonals, you will only receive points from 2; if you play in 2 or less Seasonals, all of your points will count. This also applies to Doubles Ladder Tournament; only your better result between the two will be counted. The exception for DLT is that if a player qualifies for playoffs in both DLT I and DLT II, they will receive a 1 CP bonus. The idea behind a BFL is to reward high placings and not consistently average performances. It also becomes a safety net for people who, for whatever reason, have a bad performance, can't play in one Seasonal, or have to drop out midway due to extenuating circumstances.
5. What about live tournaments?
Our first experiment with live tournaments, 2017's Smogon Doubles Tournament, was a success. However, 2018's version of Smogon Doubles Tournament and 2019's Doubles Live Challenge both saw numbers dwindle significantly. At times, we even struggled to get 8 people to join the weekly live tournaments. This led the council to conclude that live tournaments are probably not the best option for our circuit. This conclusion was backed up by the results of the 2019 Doubles Circuit Feedback Survey, in which 60% of respondents reported Doubles Live Challenge as their least favorite tournament and 70% were in favor of removing live tournaments from the circuit altogether.
6. When are all these tournaments happening?
Check the second post in this thread for the circuit schedule!
*Regarding restricting access to tournament matches
In order for access to be restricted to a tournament set, both players must consent (i.e., the default is public room, modjoin off). Furthermore, viewing access to tournament matches may not be restricted in any way in the following scenarios:
- During or after Top 8 of single elimination tournament brackets, including playoffs of tournaments with a qualifying + playoff component
- During or after Round 10 of Seasonals
- At any point during Doubles Premier League
- At any point during Doubles Invitationals
Any games with restricted access under the specified scenarios will be considered invalid and must be replayed. For example, Player A wins game 1 of a set, then modjoins game 2 and wins game 2. Game 2 will not be counted and must be replayed for the set to be complete.
Anyone found to be abusing the rule (e.g. hiding a room when you know you'll lose so it will be invalid) will be punished severely.
We're looking forward to another great year of tournaments, hope to see you join!
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