Is it too late to lobby against a round robin for the top 8?
Seriously various forms of that have been attempted and I can't ever remember an instance when it was preferred over brackets.
I also think a case can be made that it is unfair to the 4 people still in the winner's bracket. The 4 in loser's get equal footing with them while they haven't lost any sets.
I've already talked to several other people, including a few who will very likely be in the top 8, and they agree that finishing off the bracket would be a better idea.
- It's never too late to lobby! Unfortunately, it might be too late to change anything. It's 6 days till the tournament o_0
- It went over really well at the Midwest Circuit Championship.
- It's not unfair - just think of the brackets as another "round". At FC, there are several rounds of pools, and you're allowed to lose sets within each round and still move on. If anything, the people in the winner's bracket are in better shape because they've played less matches to get there. Anyone who loses a match faces a ton more pressure and needs to win more matches to still make the final 8.
- And finally, several "good" players lobbied against the FC RR Pool system when Prime first implemented it, but it's now a staple of FC that everyone loves. I think people will really enjoy this as well.
So those are my responses, but let me also give you our perspective. We believe that ending with a RR solves a lot of problems with brackets, and provides some good competition as well:
Lucky Matchups: Almost every bracket sees certain people move on because they got a good match-up. If you're good enough to be in the top 8, you deserve a fair shot at the prize. Whoever wins the most against the other top 8 placers wins - seems sensible.
Splitsies: At FC6, it is quite well-known that certain top placers decided in advance to split the prize money. This made for some less entertaining finals matches to watch. In a RR, there is no final match, per se, and as such the contestants can't plan in advance to split the money without risking a severe drop in placement.
More high-quality matches: One of the best parts of a large tournament like this is that there are a high number of high-level players all in one place. Having the top 8 all play each other provides 27 "finals-quality" matches. It's a fantastic opportunity for both the high-level players (to play good matches) and the spectators (lots to watch!)
Unfortunately, we're not changing our minds at this point. This is our reasoning, and we're going to stick with it for FCD. But hey, if it flops, you won't see it next year.
