Tournament ZU Classic IV Discussion

[Tuthur]

There has been internal discussions around changing ZU Classic format this year. Two major points have been brought up for a rework. First GSC ZU inclusion, i.e. the GSC ZU Cup would count toward qualification and the tier could be picked during playoffs, this would also mean GSC ZU Cup would be delayed to happen with the other Cups. The second point is changing the playoff format, currently it is a bo3 and both players agree to remove one tier. This format wouldn't work anymore with GSC ZU being included and a possible alternative would be a bo5.

Anyone is invited and free to share their opinion on the tournament format. You can discuss other points than the two aforementioned ones, however the goal of this thread is to get a definitive answer on those.

 

[Procrastinasian]

I think it's pretty straightforward and simple. Add both prospective ideas. GSC is already very well established as an Old Gen, and is recently and consistently updated. It's about time we added it to the Classic format. Bo5 is totally fine in my opinion, and would also encourage participation across more tiers. How I envision the selection process going would be alternating picks of tiers with higher seed picking first. Bo5 does take longer to prep for however, but as long as it doesn't make prep too tedious, this what I think is the best idea.

 

[Tuthur]

GSC ZU is one of the old gen with the biggest playerbase and one of the most developped. I can't see of any reason to not include it and I think GSC Cup is one of the most competitive one, displaying a great level of play for ZU Old Gens.

I really think the current bo3 format is really bad. Not only can a player completely avoid an old gen, which doesn't make any sense since the Classic Champion is supposed to be consistent across every old gen, but it also meant you could remove the strongest tier of your opponent, leading to lower level games. I don't think preparing 6 teams each week is too much during playoff, especially since you are expected to have previously build or been given teams during cups. It would also force every player to get involved in every old gen, meaning more old gen development, which is the primary goal of this tournament.

 

[czim]

While I agree with the idea of having more games on paper, I also think we are overrating how much prep people put into ZU Classic. I think it is important to keep in mind that having bo5 playoffs on top of 6 cups is potentially a lot of games for a small community.
Said that, I think we can move to that format as long as we have a change on scoring. The higher points for cup winners/later rounds heavily skew standings and let players that play 1 or 2 cups qualify to playoffs if they do well on said cups. I suggest we do a flat 1 point per round won and just 1 extra point for cup winners. That'd make much harder for players that didnt play in all cups to qualify for playoffs.

 

[S1nn0hC0nfirm3d]

ZU Classic has always been a for-fun tournament and a major source of meta development for tiers you’d otherwise literally have to pay people to play. lol! What I’m getting at is we should totally include GSC ZU. Like Tuthur mentioned, the tier is highly developed with a great playerbase so there’s no argument or concern there. We should absolutely include it.

As for the playoffs, I think bo5 with higher sees picking first works best. Again, if you care about zu oldgens you likely care for most of them, and I see this tour as a celebation of the oldgen tiers and a way for our subcommunities to work together. Of course this is at the cost of specialists, and as someone like myself who really only specializes in a couple tiers like SM and ORAS, it’s not completely balanced. Regardless, the point of the tour is to devolp all oldgens and treat them equally, and this seems like the fairest option.

I don’t think it matters too much how we actually score these tours btw; if you’re in them and do well you’ll have a shot at poffs anyways and if you do or dont wanna play in poffs thats up to you.

 

[DnB]

i have no problem with including gsc zu

but keep the ban format in playoffs, maybe even give the higher seed 2 bans, now that we are playing with gen 2-7, to make seeds matter more. i think a player that does well over several cups and earns a lot of points should be rewarded. facing the lowest seed might sound nice, but in tours like that seed 1-8 are mostly all on the same skill level and you can see everyone winning the tour. giving the higher seed the advante of banning another gen rly makes seeds matter and people will try to win even more, not just sit on their lazy ass when they know they have enough points for poffs anyway. alternatively, the higher seed can just ban 1 tier and we make poffs a BO5 instead, could also be rly cool
also agreeing to czim, 1 round = 1 point

 

[Tuthur]

GSC ZU Cup will be delayed to happen with other Cups and will count toward qualification for ZU Classic. The format for playoff will be a bo5 instead of bo3. There was a consensus on these points and they should come as no surprise.

Thanks to everyone who posted!