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MSL Format: Dislike

Blogs > jalstar
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1 2 Next All
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 02:49 GMT
#1
The double elimination style they use, that is. Take a 4-player group.

Player A is a bonjwa who can beat almost anyone.
Player B and Player C are good players with about 50% win rate in proleague. B is slightly better and would likely take a Bo3 off C.
Player D is a B-teamer who cheesed his way through prelims.

The first round is:

A vs D
B vs C

Since A is so much better than D, the second round will be (assuming B beats C):

A vs B
D vs C

The final match is a rematch of B vs C, again due to skill differences.

Say C wins this match. He's a little weaker, but players often lose single sets to slightly weaker players. C is now 2-1 and advancing, and B is now 1-2 and out of the MSL. The problem is that C never proved he was better than B. They went 1-1 against each other and never played a common opponent.

I'm not going to check this for a few days since I'm not caught up on the MSL yet and I have a feeling this thread's going to get spoiler-y.

*
Deleted User 31060
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
3788 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-04 03:07:48
December 04 2009 03:04 GMT
#2
how about this format?

Player A is bonjwa and plays Terran. Player B plays zerg and is known for using his 2-hat lurker build every game. They play a Bo3.

Player B goes 4-pool twice and wins both.

No matter what the format is, sometimes, the 'less good' player wins. There's no perfect format.

the good thing about the MSL format is that it gives a clear 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in just 5 games.
Peaked at C- on ICCUP and proud of it! @Sunyveil
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-04 03:18:51
December 04 2009 03:18 GMT
#3
On December 04 2009 12:04 Sunyveil wrote:
how about this format?

Player A is bonjwa and plays Terran. Player B plays zerg and is known for using his 2-hat lurker build every game. They play a Bo3.

Player B goes 4-pool twice and wins both.

No matter what the format is, sometimes, the 'less good' player wins. There's no perfect format.

the good thing about the MSL format is that it gives a clear 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in just 5 games.


But in your case Player B went 2-0 against Player A. If they went 1-1, they'd play a 3rd match, not rely on who won last. It doesn't give a clear 2nd and 3rd all the time, look at the IeSF group with Yellow, oov, and Reach.
IPS.ZeRo
Profile Joined April 2003
Germany1142 Posts
December 04 2009 03:19 GMT
#4
I like this format a lot. Good players don't neccessarily eliminate each other early on since there is a second chance and the rematch is a very interesting thing imho, lots of tension.
aka DTF-ZeRo
EvoChamber
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
France2505 Posts
December 04 2009 03:21 GMT
#5
Player A is a very good Protoss player who has an annoying habit of underestimating his opponents in the group stages of individual leagues.
Player B is a up-and-coming Protoss player who has promise but has yet to prove himself in any league, individual or team.
Player C was once the greatest Zerg in the world.
Player D is one of the countless mid-level Terrans with good mechanics and a preference for long macro games.

Blogger E believes that there is some other way for Players A, B, C, and D to prove that they are better or worse than one another than winning and losing games against each other. Blogger E makes a blog post F expressing this belief without putting forward an alternative format because there isn't one.

Star G is a lonely star. He's blue, but the four stars to his right are gray. He curses blog post F and blogger E and wishes he could disappear and become a gray star just like all the others.
That's not awful writing, DAMMIT. It's perfectly sensical english construction.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 03:21 GMT
#6
On December 04 2009 12:19 IPS.ZeRo wrote:
I like this format a lot. Good players don't neccessarily eliminate each other early on since there is a second chance and the rematch is a very interesting thing imho, lots of tension.


But if they end up 1-1, why leave it there? Would a final final match be that bad?
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 03:22 GMT
#7
On December 04 2009 12:21 EvoChamber wrote:
Player A is a very good Protoss player who has an annoying habit of underestimating his opponents in the group stages of individual leagues.
Player B is a up-and-coming Protoss player who has promise but has yet to prove himself in any league, individual or team.
Player C was once the greatest Zerg in the world.
Player D is one of the countless mid-level Terrans with good mechanics and a preference for long macro games.

Blogger E believes that there is some other way for Players A, B, C, and D to prove that they are better or worse than one another than winning and losing games against each other. Blogger E makes a blog post F expressing this belief without putting forward an alternative format because there isn't one.


There's a very clear alternative format. Have a final game between the two players who split their sets.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 03:24 GMT
#8
And why is the burden of coming up with an "alternative format" on me? The group stages of the OSL and any BoX don't have the problem in the OP. A simple tiebreaker match would help the MSL.
Kot
Profile Joined January 2009
Australia148 Posts
December 04 2009 03:38 GMT
#9
On December 04 2009 12:04 Sunyveil wrote:
how about this format?

Player A is bonjwa and plays Terran. Player B plays zerg and is known for using his 2-hat lurker build every game. They play a Bo3.

Player B goes 4-pool twice and wins both.

No matter what the format is, sometimes, the 'less good' player wins. There's no perfect format.

the good thing about the MSL format is that it gives a clear 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in just 5 games.

no need to single luxury out
CaptainPlatypus
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States852 Posts
December 04 2009 04:13 GMT
#10
On December 04 2009 12:21 EvoChamber wrote:
Player A is a very good Protoss player who has an annoying habit of underestimating his opponents in the group stages of individual leagues.
Player B is a up-and-coming Protoss player who has promise but has yet to prove himself in any league, individual or team.
Player C was once the greatest Zerg in the world.
Player D is one of the countless mid-level Terrans with good mechanics and a preference for long macro games.

Blogger E believes that there is some other way for Players A, B, C, and D to prove that they are better or worse than one another than winning and losing games against each other. Blogger E makes a blog post F expressing this belief without putting forward an alternative format because there isn't one.

Star G is a lonely star. He's blue, but the four stars to his right are gray. He curses blog post F and blogger E and wishes he could disappear and become a gray star just like all the others.

So very awesome. Hat's off to you, sir.
lazz
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Australia3119 Posts
December 04 2009 04:16 GMT
#11
i hate the ro32 format. it should just be bo3 until ro8 or whatever. the elimination format hurts players who have to prepare for multiple races and it encourages cheesing
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 04:23 GMT
#12
On December 04 2009 13:13 CaptainPlatypus wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 04 2009 12:21 EvoChamber wrote:
Player A is a very good Protoss player who has an annoying habit of underestimating his opponents in the group stages of individual leagues.
Player B is a up-and-coming Protoss player who has promise but has yet to prove himself in any league, individual or team.
Player C was once the greatest Zerg in the world.
Player D is one of the countless mid-level Terrans with good mechanics and a preference for long macro games.

Blogger E believes that there is some other way for Players A, B, C, and D to prove that they are better or worse than one another than winning and losing games against each other. Blogger E makes a blog post F expressing this belief without putting forward an alternative format because there isn't one.

Star G is a lonely star. He's blue, but the four stars to his right are gray. He curses blog post F and blogger E and wishes he could disappear and become a gray star just like all the others.

So very awesome. Hat's off to you, sir.


Why did neither of you read the OP
ghermination
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States2851 Posts
December 04 2009 04:53 GMT
#13
On December 04 2009 13:23 jalstar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 04 2009 13:13 CaptainPlatypus wrote:
On December 04 2009 12:21 EvoChamber wrote:
Player A is a very good Protoss player who has an annoying habit of underestimating his opponents in the group stages of individual leagues.
Player B is a up-and-coming Protoss player who has promise but has yet to prove himself in any league, individual or team.
Player C was once the greatest Zerg in the world.
Player D is one of the countless mid-level Terrans with good mechanics and a preference for long macro games.

Blogger E believes that there is some other way for Players A, B, C, and D to prove that they are better or worse than one another than winning and losing games against each other. Blogger E makes a blog post F expressing this belief without putting forward an alternative format because there isn't one.

Star G is a lonely star. He's blue, but the four stars to his right are gray. He curses blog post F and blogger E and wishes he could disappear and become a gray star just like all the others.

So very awesome. Hat's off to you, sir.


Why did neither of you read the OP


That was a pretty accurate summary of your blog post, which was pretty bad by the way. What would your alternative be?
U Gotta Skate.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-04 04:56:10
December 04 2009 04:55 GMT
#14
adding a tiebreaker like the osl

why do you consider the blog post bad?
Severedevil
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States4839 Posts
December 04 2009 04:59 GMT
#15
OSL group stages (round robin w/tiebreakers) are an obvious alternative to MSL group stages. However, they take longer. In the OSL group stages, it matters what group you're in. In MSL group stages, it matters what group you're in AND which opponent you're initially paired up with.
My strategy is to fork people.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 05:01 GMT
#16
On December 04 2009 13:59 Severedevil wrote:
OSL group stages (round robin w/tiebreakers) are an obvious alternative to MSL group stages. However, they take longer. In the OSL group stages, it matters what group you're in. In MSL group stages, it matters what group you're in AND which opponent you're initially paired up with.


Well OSL group stages can last forever technically.

An MSL double elimination with a tiebreaker would be 6 games max.
vx70GTOJudgexv
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States3161 Posts
December 04 2009 05:41 GMT
#17
The thing is, MSL groups are like a double elimination bracket more than a group in the truest sense. Look at it.

Match 1: A v B
Match 2: C v D
Match 3: W1 v W2
Match 4: L1 v L2
Match 5: W4 v L3

Imagine it like this if Matches 6 & 7 were gone, and that's the way it is meant to come across. It is not a true group stage at all, it's just they are grouped in a mini qualifier bracket for the real MSL bracket (Ro16 -> Onwards)

[image loading]
(-_-) BW for ever. #1 Iris fan.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 05:48 GMT
#18
I get the reasoning for eliminating match 6, since it's meant to advance 2 players. Just not 7.
vx70GTOJudgexv
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States3161 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-04 05:51:26
December 04 2009 05:50 GMT
#19
Match 7 is solely there for double elimination purposes - you only play it if in match 6 the winner of the lower bracket beat the winner of the upper bracket, because the winner of the upper bracket is then 2-1 and thus not eliminated twice (the purpose of double elimination). You can't have 7 without 6... did you read the actual graphic?
(-_-) BW for ever. #1 Iris fan.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
December 04 2009 05:53 GMT
#20
No just something in the style of match 7 where they have a tiebreaker between two players who each take a match off each other.
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