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Tournament Operations » Post: Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

Nov. 25, 2018 08:52:01 PM

Max Kahn
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy)), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Great Lakes

Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

Just based out of curiosity really, but I figured that it would be better to understand than just accept.

Team Limited GPs presumably cut to Top 4 rather than Top 8 due to the added time of running an extra round of team drafts.

Team Constructed GPs and Pro Tours also cut to Top 4, while, for example, Team Constructed SCG Opens cut to Top 8.

Is there a specific reason that the Premier Play team events cut to Top 4, while other organizations choose to run their team tournaments to cut to Top 8?

Thanks!

Dec. 4, 2018 02:20:41 AM

Max Kahn
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy)), Scorekeeper, Tournament Organizer

USA - Great Lakes

Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Dec. 4, 2018 03:05:13 AM

Shawn Doherty
Judge (Level 5 (Judge Foundry))

USA - Midatlantic

Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

That sounds like a question for SCG, since they are the one who doesn't do the normal Top 4 cut.
Originally posted by Max Kahn:

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Dec. 4, 2018 03:52:48 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Team Tournament Top 4/Top 8 Reasoning

I got a response from SCG right away; I'd been waiting for Wizards, before posting. Not waiting any longer…

Originally posted by SCG:

Our reasons are that it gives our coverage more content and keeps more teams in contention longer.

I think that the primary reason to cut to Top 4 is that Swiss is calculated off of the number of teams (not players) allowing you a lot fewer rounds for full Swiss and making most Team GPs Swiss +4 or +5. That makes it easier to have a smaller cut without feeling like you are punishing a team with a random loss. There is plenty of time to climb back into contention.

Also, if you want to qualify everyone above the cut, Top 4 is already 12 players instead of the customary 8.

d:^D