BLT XIII- Format Discussion

[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!

 

[Fragments]

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.

 

[Frixel]

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;
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

 

[One Last Kiss]

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.

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