2023 All Expansion Sealed Collection Tournament 2

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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

I've very excited to open registration for the second annual All-Expansion (and all-alignment) Sealed Collection (AESC) tournament. Last year was the largest cardnum event ever, and I hope to see many new and returning names this time around with some streamlined rules changes!

Games will be played on cardnum (meccg.fairuse.org). Registration deadline is May 31 EDT, with sealed collections being released June 1 EDT and round pairings commencing in roughly 10-day intervals thereafter. Matched players work out a mutually acceptable time to play during the interval. The event is expected to run until the end of July.
For first timers, I wrote:The general idea is that each player is given a collection of cards from which to build a standard two-deck deck each round. Only cards from the player's collection along with one additional avatar character can be in any deck that player uses. As with most tournaments, how many Marshalling Points one wins or loses a game by gives different tournament points, and players are matched based on tournament points accumulated thus far. This event adds a small incentive to play different kinds of decks, both for players looking to demonstrate AESC mastery or to just try something new.

New to cardnum? Bergil's videos can help, or ask for a tour in the MECCG Discord server!
If you are intimidated by potential of playing against Minion opponents with all of their weird Minion rules, check out these strategic highlights.
For veteran players, I wrote:There are a few points that I want to highlight:
  • Note that Fallen Wizard decks are handled a little differently than in standard CoL rules; see Deck Construction. The requirement for a Minion player to use a Fallen Wizard deck has been updated from last year.
  • This year, game scoring will use CoM recommendations, approximately 1.5x CoL and thresholds add a constant component.
  • Tournament rank (along with Swiss matching) uses a multiplier for playing with more sufficiently distinct decks over the entire tournament.
  • (Unlike last year, no player may play multiple games per round or be matched against the same opponent twice.)
MUST READ:
  1. Play Rules - This event promotes Council of Meduseld's recommendations on rules precedence: https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/ under Counsel. Rules sources are available in the Rules section of cardnum, other than CRF 15 which is here. I (Theo) will be arbitrating disputes as best I can, with possible counsel from other scholars. I'm fairly well known in the community for being at least a half-decent giant of rules. I'll be trying to keep a communication device on hand; please allow me at least 10 minutes to see your message for matters of significant impact; get a drink, stretch, etc.
  2. Deck Construction - Each deck must only include cards from the player's collection plus one additional avatar character, and must follow requirements for two-deck games. Players can remake their deck each round, but must inform the coordinator whether they will be a Hero or Minion player before matches are announced each round (defaults to continuing as same type after the first round). Hero players can use a Fallen-wizard deck instead of a Hero deck but are forbidden from taking any action that could make one of their companies overt, typically playing orcs, trolls, and overt-causing allies. Minion players can use a Fallen-wizard deck instead of a Minion deck but their in-play non-orc-or-troll characters must not have greater total mind than their in-play orc and troll characters, to be reconciled as an additional influence requirement at the end of their Organization phases.
  3. Concession is Strongly Discouraged - You may not care about your tournament or league standings, but concessions can take the fun out of play and can affect every other players' matching and standing. If you can anticipate being too busy, please notify the coordinator (me) prior to matches being announced for the next round, or make use of the optional game time limit. The CoM scoring system makes it even more possible than with the traditional CoL system to realistically strive for at least one point. Concessions that seem overtly casual will result in ejection to protect the tournament experience for the other players.
  4. No Scouting - Players are not allowed to share any player's card collection nor deck information, specific or general (other than their own info in their own games), until the final results have been announced. Keep reflections in a personal journal until the tournament ends.
  5. Communication – communication with the event coordinator (me) must be via the councilofelrond.org/forums or MECCG Discord event announcements, or via private messaging on those platforms if on game info or other private matters. Registration should include a cardnum account name, a Discord username for coordinating scheduling games (with individual exceptions), and a statement that you have read at least these MUST READ rules. (cardnum and Discord have no download requirements and minimal registration requirements.) For example: "I'd like to register. Cardnum: Theo2. Discord: Theo#4594. I've read all the rules. Thanks."


Additional Game Details:
  1. Game Format - Games should be played in accordance with the two-deck game format except as noted.
  2. Time Limit - All games have an optional time limit of 150 minutes (2:30), thereafter following CoL procedure. If either player requests the time limit before the game, or during the first 90 minutes of the game, it is in effect. After that, either player may set a limit of as short of one additional hour of play from when notice is given to the other player, or both players can agree for the 150 minute maximum to be in effect.
  3. Scoring - Conversion of Marshalling Points to Tournament Points will follow CoM counsel (https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/ under Counsel; also used in the Civilized Challenge tournament this last Spring). Points are approximately 1.5x of traditional CoL scoring, with slightly more importance on winning games.
  4. Reporting Results – Both players should agree and submit the game's CoM tournament points of both players to the coordinator, with whether and why either player conceded. Players should capture a screenshot of the End-of-Game state for their own records in case of dispute, including the Marshalling Point tracker and all cards in play. On Windows, the “Snipping Tool” or the PrtScr button (and paste into Discord or a document) may be used to capture screenshots. Additionally, each player should report updates to their tally of games with sufficiently distinct decks (see below).
  5. Additional Card Errata - Chance of Being Lost and Winds of Wrath may be used against any opponent. Against an opponent of the opposite alignment, the site is set aside and the opponent uses his or her own version of the chosen site. If taken from the discard it enters play tapped and is not usable by that player for any purpose besides that movement. If the used site becomes tapped otherwise, the original site set aside is discarded when the opponent discards the used site. Otherwise, the original site is returned to the location deck when the used site leaves play.


Additional Logistic Details:
  1. Overall Tournament Points - Final tournament score is the sum of TP from each round, multiplied by a factor based on the number of games played with "sufficiently distinct" decks (details in next bullet). The tables below show the multipliers in the second column, with the first column giving the distribution of games played with comma-separated sufficiently distinct decks. (Byes and pre-play concessions count toward the deck most played by the player, conditioned on the player's declared type for that round if established. Sets of not sufficiently distinct Fallen decks that are not sufficiently distinct from both a Hero deck and a Minion decks count toward whichever of those is most played.)

    Code: Select all

    (For 5 rounds:)
    5		1
    4,1		1.11 (a.k.a., 4x6 + 3 with two decks = 5x6 with one deck)
    3,2		1.21
    3,1,1		1.25
    2,2,1		1.29
    2,1,1,1		1.33
    1,1,1,1,1	1.45

    Code: Select all

    (For 4 rounds:)
    4		1
    3,1		1.14
    2,2		1.27
    2,1,1		1.33
    1,1,1,1		1.39
  2. Sufficiently Distinct Decks - A Hero deck and a Minion deck are always sufficiently distinct.
    Otherwise, to establish distinctness between a pair of decks, tabulate for each deck all cards in main deck (not pool) along with all resources in sideboard that can be worth more than 1 MP. Cards counting as characters and resources for deckbuilding have value 3, hazards have value 2 (sites and regions are 0). Calculate the value of the set of cards that can be removed from both tabulations (matching name, alignment, and card type), divided by the total value of both tabulations. The decks are sufficiently distinct if this at least 50%. If a player played a deck that is not sufficiently distinct from any two other decks they played, those two decks become not sufficiently distinct by this measure (they are still distinct if they are Wizard and Minion).
  3. Pairings - In the first round players are randomly paired against an opponent of the same player type to ease the burden of deck construction. (Players can optionally volunteer to play as either type that round in case a switch is needed to prevent two byes.) In all following rounds, pairing is Swiss with no regard to player type, based on current score multipliers as if remaining games would be played with most-played deck and gave tie TP. (E.g., a player with 9 TP after round 2 of 5 having played two distinct decks would have multiplier 1.11 and be paired as if played with one distinct deck and currently had (9+4.5*3)*0.11 more points, or 11.48 TP.)
  4. Scheduling of Games - Players have 10 days to complete each game and should typically attempt to begin communicating availability with their opponent within the first 24 hours after pairings are announced. There usually aren't issues, but if the game is not completed in time and the coordinator assesses that it is your fault, you will receive no points for the game and may be dropped out of the tournament. If it is no one's fault (e.g., scheduling not possible), both players may either receive 4.5 tournament points or points for partial games as if they had reached the time limit. Failure to submit a report as to why a game was not completed automatically puts you at fault. This is an international game, and players are discouraged from entering the tournament without anticipation of at least a couple different possibilities (including weekday and weekend) within a week for synchronizing with players in other time zones or with other work and family schedules.
  5. Byes - If a player knows that they will not be able to play one of the rounds in advance, they are encouraged to request a 4.5-point bye for that round before pairings are assigned. One per player per tournament.


Cardnum Rules:
  1. See "Card Num Guidelines" at viewtopic.php?p=36989 (items 13-20).
  2. Cardnum Malfunctions: any player may submit a report of a malfunction in cardnum for possible at-discretion adjustment of the game point outcome, explaining what happened and why the impact is perceived to be significant. Submissions received after the announcement for the next round of pairings will be received with more skepticism.
Last edited by Theo on Tue May 16, 2023 5:21 am, edited 22 times in total.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
User avatar
Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

For this event, Sealed Collections will be generated with:
https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/tool ... m=1&gMam=1
Images not loading? Your browser probably has a security setting enabled that prevents the display of content loaded from insecure sites in an otherwise secure page. (rezwits never resecured cardnum after switching servers, but my site loading his images is otherwise secure.) You need to look for a way to add an exception for my site. For chrome the exception list is in chrome://settings/content/insecureContent under "Allowed to show insecure content."
That is, with the switch to mixed fixed packs described here https://councilofelrond.org/forum/viewt ... 097#p40097 (as also used in the Hero World Cup),
  • 1 METW starter
  • 1 METW starter, fixed pack only (guaranteed to differ from the first)
  • 2 METW booster
  • 2 METD booster
  • 2 MEDM booster
  • 1 MELE starter
  • 1 MELE starter, fixed pack only (guaranteed to differ from the first)
  • 2 MELE booster
  • 3 MEAS booster
  • 5 MEWH booster
  • 3 MEBA "packs" of 11 cards each, using a print sheet equivalent to the combined deck boxes
  • 1 additional random METW common MP card.
  • A generic hero ally if the rest of the collection has no hero ally.
  • A generic minion ally if the rest of the collection has no minion ally.
(valuation of 80.26, not counting added singles; 53(65),56(65))

Per pack, cards are sampled uniformly from their print sheets without replacement. It is still possible to have repeats of a card if that card appears multiple times on a print sheet or on multiple print sheets.

To reduce extremes of pointless cards (since all sites and regions are available to players), all sites and region cards are removed from print sheets. The number of cards of each rarity in a pack is reduced to be the smallest that still gives at least as many non-site, non-region cards as the original packs had on expectation. In particular:
  • METW starter: reduced from 40 to 39 commons
  • METW booster: reduced from 6 to 2 booster-only commons
  • MELE starter: reduced from 12 to 9 uncommons
  • MELE booster: reduced from 4 to 3 uncommons
  • MEAS booster: reduced from 4 to 3 uncommons
Last edited by Theo on Sun Mar 24, 2024 6:59 pm, edited 5 times in total.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Registration List:
  1. sarma72 (sarma72#4696)
  2. Lake Town Geezer (Lake Town Geezer#1568)
  3. gkg (gkg#6120)
  4. trotter (Trotter#5509)
  5. AdamJ (Adamj#1382)
  6. Bilbo (sfakattack#6048)
  7. Moriquendi (Moriquendi#8992)
  8. CDavis7M (CDavis7M#3963)
  9. Shapeshifter (Shapeshifter#1052)
  10. DamienX207 (DamienX207#1975)
  11. sfan77 (sfan77#6664)
  12. Theo2 (Theo#4594)
Normal registration is closed. See below for possible late registration.
Last edited by Theo on Thu Jun 01, 2023 4:05 am, edited 10 times in total.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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CDavis7M
Posts: 2816
Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:10 am
Location: California

Very cool and thanks for hosting. I'd like to play and will confirm that I have time later.
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Moriquendi
Posts: 94
Joined: Mon May 02, 2016 4:46 pm
Location: Denver

Can you explain the "Sufficiently Distinct" decks piece in layman's terms?

Is the idea to reward individuals that play a different deck each round with additional TP?
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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Essentially, yes. It could be viewed as reward, or as an out-of-pocket maximum insurance against disasters. :wink:

My conception for this event comes in a few parts:
* Enjoy the grittiness of small collection deckbuilding (what I consider to be the "truest" CCG experience) without sacrificing as much diversity of opponent alignments as traditional sealed.
* Help players with less exposure to all expansions gain some potential exposure to nearly all cards with gentler strategy consequences than constructed, and encourage trying new alignments themselves.
* Give competitive players the challenge of needing to prove themselves across a larger diversity of decks, and add a bit of strategic metagame thinking to sealed so that it isn't obvious on pack-opening what deck they should use for the rest of the event.

The multipliers are the main driver of the last of these parts, but intended to also help with the others. Since most people are risk-averse, newer players looking at their collection and thinking an alignment they don't normally play looks good but they aren't confident will hopefully be more likely to give it a try for a round without being as harshly set back if their instincts were wrong, and the more so if opponents are more likely to be squeezing in a second-choice deck. And while I'm more confident of my sense of pack balance with each event, if it is a bit off this incentive should also help with opponent diversity.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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CDavis7M
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Joined: Fri Jul 20, 2018 3:10 am
Location: California

Things are looking good for me. I read the MUST READ rules and would like to register.

CardNum: CDavis7M
Discord: CDavis7M#3963
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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

I wanted to let folks know that I've changed the address of the card generator; the links above have been corrected.

This was done to better organize for two more assisting tools for this upcoming event ( :!: ):
  • Deck Checker: allows you to double-check your deck list against your sealed collection list. For this event, decks are allowed one additional avatar character not in your collection. Otherwise, the checker should have no other concerns. (I'm planning to eventually check for other deck construction requirements, but that functionality won't be ready for this event.)
  • Deck Distinction: automatically tallies two decks for distinctness with the rules described above.
I welcome help checking that these are functioning correctly; their code for the event will be finalized by the end of the month.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Normal registration has closed. I'm excited to see the list of names has a quite even spread throughout the existing CoM League Ranking, and I look forward to all of us finding some rewarding as well as surprising games! I will be setting up Discord private messages with seeds and collections momentarily.

As with last year, I'm planning to reserve a couple extra seeds for potential late registrations. If you might be interested, please contact me directly through Discord for expedience. I will want some assurance that you will be ready to play in 10 days when first round pairings are announced.
Last edited by Theo on Thu Jun 01, 2023 5:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
One [online community] with hammer and chisel might mar more than they make...
All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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Theo
Posts: 1393
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:49 pm
Location: Denver, CO

Thanks to all of you who signed up. Normal registration collections have all been sent out at this point. (See above for late registration.)

Within 10 days, please decide and let me know whether you will be matched as a Hero or Minion player for the first Round. (Recall, to play a Fallen deck you must meet the requirements needed for whichever of those player alignments you are that round, as specified in the MUST READ rules. For Hero-based Fallen, please review the CRF list of allies that would make a company overt and thus be unplayable for you.)

For the first round, know that all matches will be Hero vs. Hero and Minion vs. Minion (no Hero vs. Minion). This means that you only need one deck (vs. same alignment) sufficiently ready to play as soon as schedules permit when the first round pairings are announced.

Optionally, let me know if you would like to volunteer to be flexible in your first-round player alignment, if one such player is necessarily to avoid 2 byes while guaranteeing same-alignment pairings. I would want you to be confident in having two decks sufficiently ready (one of each alignment, against its own alignment).


*Important*:
Cardnum does not allow copies of the same card from different expansions in the same portion of a deck, and it will automatically convert them, even those of different types. I believe all such cards are unique. If cardnum says you have repeats, check your original collection list for precise types. Here is a list of confirmed cards affected (it may be missing a few):

Code: Select all

wizards
dwarven rings
Necklace of Girion
palantiri
Red Book of Westmarch
Scroll of Isildur
The Arkenstone
The Mithril Coat
The One Ring
Thrór's Map
Angmarim
Beornings
Dunlendings
Haradrim
Hillmen
Men of Dorwinion
Nûrniags
Petty Dwarves
Southrons
Variags of Khand
Wain-easterlings
Woodmen
Woses of the Eryn Vorn
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All players are welcome at Meduseld! https://theo-donly.github.io/MECCG/
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