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Do you like MLG's extended series rule? - Page 4

Forum Index > Polls & Liquibet
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Artisan
Profile Joined February 2010
United States336 Posts
December 01 2010 09:27 GMT
#61
Good or bad, all tournaments should have the same structure so players are not forced to relearn rules every time they go to a different lans.
Barett
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada454 Posts
December 01 2010 09:28 GMT
#62
Its got to be the stupidest rule ever. Even when Tyler defended it, he said right after he was sjut arguing for the sake of it. He even thinks that its stupid too have.
Not hating on MLG its great. but the rules are really stupid.
HOW IS IT ALMOST TIED WITH NO!!!?????
Gym, Video Games, Laundry.
Gooey
Profile Joined September 2010
United States944 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 09:49:11
December 01 2010 09:45 GMT
#63
I like what they do in the WoW part of the tourney, which is counting winning a Bo3 as basically 1 point. If you go through the winners bracket and the team ends up facing you again in the semis from the losers bracket, they have to win two Bo3's to advance past you.

So, say you win the first bo3 2-1 playing on 3 different maps (maps matter quite a bit for composition and strategy, much like on sc2). The winning team is now 1-0 against their opponent. Now their opponent comes into the semis to face them again and 2-0s the previous winner with a new composition and one of the maps is different. Now, they are technically tied 1-1, since the bo3 is considered as 1 point, rather than individual rounds within the match point (like in tennis). Now the two teams play yet another bo3 to decide who wins the overall series (which turns out, is a bo3 in itself).

This is how I thought the extended series was intended to work anyways, and at least I think that is how it works in WoW (this is the system blizzcon used I believe).

You beat a guy 2-0 in round 1 and then after winning two more winners bracket rounds, you finally lose in round 4 in a close 2-1 and get knocked down to losers bracket, only to find that you play the same guy you beat round 1 against. He ends up beating you 2-1 and you are eliminated.

How would you feel if you went to a tournament and beat someone once, and then they beat you the next time, but they still knocked you out just because you didn't beat them in the right order? Otherwise, you aren't playing in an overall tournament, but rather just a bunch of individual best of 3 show matches at the same facility with no regards to an overall picture. This is what makes a double elimination tournament justified.
www.twitch.tv/Thatgooey
xuanzue
Profile Joined October 2010
Colombia1747 Posts
December 01 2010 09:55 GMT
#64
my opinion is that swiss system is better than double-elimination, in a starcraft tournament.
Dominions 4: "Thrones of Ascension".
ejac
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
United States1195 Posts
December 01 2010 09:58 GMT
#65
Well, I personally am undecided. I think most of the negative attention towards it is simply because it is not the way it is normally done and if we lived in a different world where the extended series was the traditional way of running a tourney, people would be freaking out if there wasn't an extended series rule. In my opinion, which I know many people disagree with, it is simply a different way of thinking about it. It is not more or less fair, simply different. There are plenty of arguments for and against it, most of which have already been posted.
esq>n
o3.power91
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Bahrain5288 Posts
December 01 2010 10:04 GMT
#66
The MLG extended series rule is something that gives the loser too big of a disadvantage in my opinion, especially in the finals (Jinro vs TT1; where TT1 needed to win 2 sets plus being behind in the first set).

I feel it takes away from the suspense rather than add to it, but that's just me

It was worse in the Tekken 6 MLG Grand Finals where they play first to 6 sets (Bo11 with Bo5 rounds). The winner of the losers bracket lost to the winner's bracket winner 3-0 in a first to 3 (Bo5 with Bo5 rounds). So basically, winner had to just win 3 Bo5s and loser had to win 6 Bo5s. Score ended at 6-3 iirc in favor of the winner's bracket champ. I just think it takes too much away from the loser brackets winner
Fiercegore
Profile Joined July 2010
United States294 Posts
December 01 2010 10:21 GMT
#67
Although Nony is my personal hero and undoubtedly the greatest foreigner to ever play BW, I have to disagree with him on this point. He makes a lot of sense when he says a person shouldn't go on when they go 2-2, but it's not a showmatch, it's an entire tournament. Just my personal opinion, both people are in the losers bracket, they both lost a series and they should be on equal ground.

At least the way I see it, person A can beat person B 2-0 in the first round. And then player A keeps beating people in the winners and person B can beat people in the losers bracket. But finally person A loses in the winners bracket 0-2. Taking a totally random number, say he was in round 8 before he lost, that means his record in the tournament is 14-2. Now person B keeps winning and he's made it to round 8 and he's also 14-2. Now if they have to play each other I don't think that person B should be punished. If person B wins 2-0 that means his record is 16-2 in the tournament and person A is 14-4. I know their personal matches are tied 2-2 but person A got eliminated because of those 4 losses. At least that's the way I see it, but some of the things MLG lee said (I think it was him) made a lot of sense.
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/506893/1/Fiercegore/
Thetan
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
240 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 16:43:59
December 01 2010 10:26 GMT
#68
I think the rule is good for the loser's bracket, but unnecessary for the finals, especially considering the format of the MLG tournaments. Personally, I think MLG should keep extended series for the loser's bracket, but remove it for the finals. Explanations below:

One thing to keep in mind about MLG, is that every match from the beginning to end is a BO3. So, we can think about player vs. player history not as # of matches won, but rather BO3 series won.

In the loser's bracket, if two players meet up again, there's a chance that the winner the first time will lose the second time. That puts the players at a 1-1 tie for BO3 matches won. The fairest way to break this tie is by making the players play more games. Extended Series is a good way of achieving this goal. Not only does it achieve this goal, but it does so in a way that handles all possibilities in a similar fashion while limiting the max number of games played(making it easier to explain the rules/manage/schedule the tournament).

Why Extended Series is a good way of achieving this goal:
+ Show Spoiler +

*Any player that wins both BO3's (first to 2 wins) will also win the extended series' BO7 (first to 4 wins)*

If a player wins the first BO3 but loses the second BO3, the players are tied 1-1 in BO3 series won. What extended series does, in essence, is let the players play more games in order to break this tie).

Possible outcomes of a 1-1 tie for BO3 matches won

2-0 first BO3
0-2 second BO3
2-2 overall
Playing Extended Series (first to 4 wins) would in essence break the 1-1 BO3 tie by giving: a third BO3 to determine winner

2-1 first BO3
1-2 second BO3
3-3 overall
Playing extended Series would break the 1-1 BO3 tie by giving : 1 game sudden death

2-0/0-2 first BO3
1-2/2-1 second BO3
3-2/2-3 overall
Playing extended Series would break the 1-1 BO3 tie by giving: 1 additional set win needed for leader, 2 for the player that is behind

-The player who has the most overall wins always advances.
-All these seem like acceptable scenarios for breaking a 1-1 BO3 tie to determine who advances.
-The extended series rule covers all of these possibilities by itself
-Caps the # of games played to make the tournament easier to schedule.


You can think of an Extended Series not as giving an advantage to one player over another, but *only* as a method to fairly break ties if the players split the 2 bo3's that they play. I therefore cannot say the use of Extended Series in the loser's bracket is "unfair".
-----------------------------------
The Finals. Let's say that you're now in the finals and the two player meet up again, but you also want their first bo3 to matter in the final results. It seems fair (and logical) to play 2 more bo3's and treat their matches as a "bo3-bo3" (first player who wins 2 bo3's). In this case, the player who lost the first bo3 earlier on in the tournament has to win 2 bo3's in the finals, whereas the earlier winner only has to win 1 bo3 in the finals.

But notice that the format above is THE SAME as a straight up double elimination tournament. In a double-elimination tournament, the player coming from the loser's has to win 2 bo3's, while the player from the winner's has to win 1 bo3.

Note that the winner of a bo3-bo3 will always have either more total wins or an equal amount of wins in the series than his opponent.
+ Show Spoiler +

0-2 first BO3
2-1 second BO3
2-1 third BO3

This outcome maximizes the # of wins by the loser of the three BO3's and minimizes the wins by the winner.

4-4 overall W-L, tie goes to the player who has won the most BO3's.
Any other combination of wins and loss, and the winning player will have more wins than losses.


But what MLG does with extended series finals is that they throw double elimination out the window, and the winner of that one bo7 is the winner of the tournament.

The usefulness of the extended series comes when there is a bo3 series tie that needs to be broken. In the loser's bracket, such a system is needed under double elimination. But in the finals, such ties never need to be broken in such a way. There is no reason to implement it. Whoever wins the final under normal double elimination rules will not have lost to his opponent more times than he has beaten him *under any circumstance*. Standard Double Elimination Finals are fair no matter how you look at them - there is no need for the implementation of an extended series during the finals.

Conclusion: As an addition to a double elimination tournament, the extended series seems to be fair when implemented in the loser's bracket, but is completely unnecessary when implemented in the finals of the tournament.
gm.tOSS
Profile Joined September 2005
Germany898 Posts
December 01 2010 11:41 GMT
#69
Absolutely not. Its okay for the final, but it's horrible for the losers bracket.
HuK HuK HuK | ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | There is death in the hane.
ptz
Profile Joined January 2005
Romania251 Posts
December 01 2010 11:54 GMT
#70
the extended series argument is stupid. The main argument pro is actually that if the players meet again in the loser bracket and the loser wins, then the 2 players are 1-1 and the loser advances, which is unfair towards the rankings, so the loser should win more, because being down 2-1 or 2-0 he has to win either 3 or 4 games compared to 2 by the early winner.

But this makes no sense considering the double elimination bracket main idea. The main idea is that you lose twice you are out. Not once, like single elim when bracket luck is heavily involved ,you have a second chance in the loser bracket. Now, the player that loses the first game in the WB is already punished, he has to go to the LB and play more games than the one staying in the WB. When eventually the early winner loses in WB and goes to LB, he has one loss exactly as the initial loser. If they do meet again it should be on even terms, as in a normal bo3, since the LB player earned his place there by winning more games in the LB while the initial winner had less games to play till eventually losing. Making it even harder for the LB player for the sake of equality between the 2 initial players is dumb.

Even if the score between them is equal and the initial loser advances its not unfair. The initial winner is out because he has been DOUBLE eliminated, and the initial loser hasnt.
zerat00l
Profile Joined April 2010
United States100 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 12:01:45
December 01 2010 11:59 GMT
#71
It's horrible, and if they're as interested in community outreach as they say they are, they'll look at these results and remove it.

We are not halo. deal with it.
Fraidnot
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States824 Posts
December 01 2010 12:07 GMT
#72
I think it's perfectly fine to reward a player for getting further in the winners bracket. The good thing about losers bracket is that it helps prevent good players from being completely eliminated early in a tournament on a fluke, but in exchange it keeps players alive longer then they actually deserve. Yes players each "won" the right to be in that match, but they still took different paths to get there.
corumjhaelen
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
France6884 Posts
December 01 2010 12:44 GMT
#73
Winners bracket are terrible anyway, this just seem to make it worse.
‎numquam se plus agere quam nihil cum ageret, numquam minus solum esse quam cum solus esset
notrangerjoe
Profile Joined May 2009
110 Posts
December 01 2010 13:08 GMT
#74
Double elimination is a lot of games. Works great for fighting games where a round is short, but isn't for StarCraft.
Sok4R
Profile Joined November 2006
Germany124 Posts
December 01 2010 13:50 GMT
#75
I think it's mostly very confusing for observers, especially for those not following every tiny bit. Some of my friends watching the MLG steam asked me about it many times, because it is a very unusual rule - I've never seen it before and it should be changed to something easier understandable, as it is in many other tournaments.
Frag Everything that isn't you
miseiler
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States1389 Posts
December 01 2010 13:54 GMT
#76
Extended series is the only sensible outcome after a double elimination tournament. If you don't want that, make it a swiss style tournament instead.
"Jinro soo manly wearing only a T-Shirt while the Koreans freeze in their jackets" -- Double_O
"He's from Sweden, man. We have to fight polar bears on our way to school." -- Yusername
Liquid`Nazgul
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
22427 Posts
December 01 2010 14:08 GMT
#77
Absolutely not.

I think it's bad for players and bad for viewers (who wants to see a bo7 starting at 2-0 really), bad for organizers (delay vs your other matches in that round).
Administrator
Goshawk.
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United Kingdom5338 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-01 14:14:58
December 01 2010 14:13 GMT
#78
It's a terrible rule, sucks to see past games having such a massive effect on the finals.
SoftSoap
Profile Joined November 2010
United States170 Posts
December 01 2010 14:19 GMT
#79
On December 01 2010 14:28 ffz wrote:
It worked in halo! EL OH EL and MLG is best tourney in NA so they must be right!

Bad excuse... Reputation means nothing, George Bush was president doesnt mean what he does is right?
Tasteless, "IdrA always pulls out on time."
keeblur
Profile Joined April 2010
United States826 Posts
December 01 2010 14:25 GMT
#80
You play a best of series, and you win, that series is over. If you run into them again, that's a whole new series, because the previous series is already over. They should stop calling it BO3, and instead should call it "BO3 or 7 if they happen to run into the same person again".

You don't see any sports where you are given an unfair advantage later in the season for beating someone in a game if you match up against them again, so why SC2?

Like Incontrol said. He already beat you arm wrestling, so why next time you meet to arm wrestle should you also have a small child hitting you in the balls.
Isn't it ironic and selfish to say that God made man in his image, when God was made in man's image?
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