Eternal Card Game Changes to the Tuesday Night Eternal series for its Spring Season

Changes to the Tuesday Night Eternal series for its Spring Season
Logistics Talir Combo Part 3 - Throne Game Play
TNT Throwdown: Peasant Format
Salty Brew - Fair Exchange Combo
Logistics Talir Combo Part 2 - Throne Game Play
Amazing start for the Gauntlet NPC Helpful Horns... by the end of the 4th turn (he went first)

Changes to the Tuesday Night Eternal series for its Spring Season

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:01 AM PDT

Hi all! I'm pusillanimous, aka Essarefess in Eternal and some of its Discords.

I've been helping u/Telemokos with his Tuesday Night Eternal community tournament series since this past Winter season, running the background tournament organization during the events.

We changed how we do some things for the Spring Season. I posted our new rules document in DWD's Discord before this past Friday's event, but in hindsight most people probably missed that message. We're providing more information now to inform everyone.

After Friday's event we received feedback regarding round numbers. Some had previous expectations based on swiss tournaments for similar games, while others were familiar with the suggested round structure described in our rules. The plan was to make a live decision on round cut-off at the start of Friday's event, based on how many players checked-in as well as timing. We understand this took some by surprise, and the fact that our players felt misled doesn't sit well with us. We apologize for that.

After discussing this extensively, using player feedback and our own experience in the event, we're making adjustments for the rest of the season. This post should describe the biggest changes in the new rules and our additional updates, and explain our reasoning behind those decisions. We hope that everyone can discuss the changes and make an informed decision if participating in our events.

Goals

These goals informed our priorities and decisions:

1) Provide open community tournaments on weekdays

We specifically provide events that aren't on weekends, to diversify from official and other community events. This creates space for a wider range of people to participate in the community and tournament scene.

2) Keep a reasonable event length

We feel it's unreasonable to expect the same time commitment as an all-day weekend event from our players, viewers, and ourselves, when most will have work, school, or other obligations in the same and surrounding days.

3) Stick to the season's overall structure and leaderboard

We've planned 12 Challenge events plus a 16-player Spring Invitational. Their dates and times are set. At most 12 invites will go out to the winners, and at least 4 players will be invited in Wildcard spots based on performance throughout the season (winning multiple events opens more Wildcard spots).

4) Provide entertaining and well-made coverage for our viewers

We actively try to tighten up things on the tournament side where able, in order to keep coverage moving and avoid excessive downtime.

With that in mind, here are some of our bigger decisions for this season.

5 rounds of Swiss

We planned from the start to deviate from tournament norms. We know those guidelines were created for specific reasons, such as guaranteeing playoff spots to everyone with X-1 or better in the Swiss. Ideally we would guarantee that too, but with increased participation the time required would go against one of our most critical goals (keeping the weekly challenges to a reasonable length, as stated above).

We are very aware going into this that some X-1s will miss the top 8. Knowing this, how many we would be comfortable with? We created our initial breakpoints so no more than two X-1s should miss the cut; however, after reflecting on our goals for this series, we decided to always have 5 rounds and let more X-1s miss the cut at higher turnouts. We understand how this makes round 1 feel like a single-elimination, because losing it can result in bad tiebreakers. Please note though, finishing 4-1 (even after losing round 1) still grants the full 3 points for the wildcard race. We hope this will offset missing the playoffs somewhat, by recognizing all strong Swiss-round play for the Wildcard slots.

Our overall plan hasn't changed, but we recognize this was not clear on Friday. For the remainder of the season, all TNE Challenges will have 5 rounds of Swiss.

Leaderboard points changes

Last season, only those that made the playoffs cut were given 3 points. This season we are also giving 3 points to any X-1s that miss the cut. While it doesn't replace the chance at a win, it will count the same for Wildcard invitations as getting 2nd in the tournament.

We are also changing how participation points work. Last season, everyone else got 1 participation point regardless of record. While we want to reward consistent participation in our events, we want these points to be more of a tiebreaker than a way into a Wildcard slot. Also, because we alternate between Tuesdays and Fridays, we don't want to penalize anyone who can only play in one of those time slots. This season, you may only earn 1 participation point in any given Friday-Tuesday pair of events (i.e. 1 participation point "per weekend").

Round time limits

Last season, we didn't limit our round times. With more players and rounds this season we can't afford not to. Each round lasts 45 minutes from the TO's round-start announcement in Discord. Last season most rounds took less time, so ideally all matches will finish before then. Any matches that aren't finished will go to whoever won more games. If tied, they'll use the tiebreakers from Eternal's advanced rules (details in our rules doc—note that we did not create those tiebreakers, we are following Eternal's official guidelines).

To keep things moving and fair, players shouldn't take too long in their gameplay and shouldn't intentionally slow things down to play for a tiebreaker. Suspected slow play may be investigated and can lead to penalties.

Registration and check-in deadlines will start earlier

Last season we pushed the deadlines as long as possible to let people in. More people means more pre-event prep (ex. compiling decklists), and we'll need more time for announcements and questions. We're keeping our round 1 and coverage start time the same, but we are changing the deadlines on Battlefy.

Starting Tuesday, registration on Battlefy will close 30 minutes earlier than our stated event start times. When the tournament starts at 7pm Eastern, you need to be registered with a valid deck by 6:30pm. Players should try to be present in the DWD Discord's community tournament channels at least 15 minutes before round 1's start to check announcements and sort out any pre-tournament issues.

We still require that everyone check-in on Battlefy to participate. Player-input registration will be available for an hour before registration closes, but we will only lock people out of playing when we generate round 1 (this will generally happen a few minutes before the stated start time). If you are late the TO may check you in before that point. This is a courtesy—people who regularly check-in late may not be allowed to enter.

Discord name in registration

Sometimes people aren't in the DWD Discord. Some Discord names don't match their in-game names. These and other reasons can make it hard to contact the right person when needed. We will now ask that you include your Discord name or alternative contact info when registering.

These were some of the biggest or most noticeable changes. Please check out our rules document and player's guide for more information. These rules will remain in place throughout the Spring Season. We will continue to evaluate the Challenges throughout the season and any further large changes will take effect in the upcoming Summer season.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you know anyone who participates in the TNEs or plans to, please pass this on so they are informed as well.

Please leave us any questions or comments, here or in private. We hope this explains the decisions clearly and we will try to provide better clarity up front in the future. With a Worlds invite on the line emotions can run a bit high, but please try to be civil in the comments with us and each other—we value everyone's feedback and don't want to miss anything in downvotes or deletions.

*Edit: added links

submitted by /u/PusillanimousGamer
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Logistics Talir Combo Part 3 - Throne Game Play

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 09:43 AM PDT

submitted by /u/Roshi_IsHere
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TNT Throwdown: Peasant Format

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 08:38 AM PDT

Registration is open for the TNT Throwdown in Peasant format. Peasant format rules are commons & uncommons only. Campaign cards are not allowed, and conjuring cycle cards are not allowed. This is the fifth tournament in the series. Register here. Tournament starts on Wednesday and runs through Sunday. Get in on the action!

Last Week's Tournament

Congrats to, well, me for taking down last week's Expedition tournament. Check out the current series standings here. Essarefess is in the lead, but gaps are closing!

submitted by /u/marvin_the_imp
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Salty Brew - Fair Exchange Combo

Posted: 15 Mar 2021 11:20 AM PDT