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Contents

Introduction
Open phase
Pool round
Bracket

• Single elimination
• Double elimination

Introduction

Worldwide Combos has a built-in tournament system that can host "quickfire", or "blitz" tournaments. Their usual length is between 1 and 2 hours, though it is definitely possible to have them last longer or shorter by changing some of the parameters.

Tournaments may or may not have prizes, usually tournaments with prizes require players to have a validated account, while others are usually open to anyone, including guests. Seasonal events may also require players confirm their country or region and have it locked until the end of the current season. Some events (e.g. qualifiers) may be restricted to some players, either based on whether they are already qualified or not for the target event, or they do not belong to a specific region. Prizes are usually either Worldwide Coins or cash prizes, though this is not a strict rule.

As of now, the tournament system handles (at least partly) "open phases", "pool rounds" and "single elimination brackets". Most official events nowadays feature an open phase followed by a single elimination bracket.

Open phase

An open phase consists of a matchmaking system that is completely independent from the Arena matchmaking, but the matching algorithm is the same. Additionally, there is a rating limit that increases every minute, such that players that are below that limit at some point while neither player nor queueing are eliminated. The open phase ends once the number of remaining players reaches some previously fixed target and the late registration period (see below) is over.

When a player ends a round, their rating cannot be below the number of elapsed minutes since the beginning of the open phase. Therefore, all players that played at least a round have a non-zero score (keep in mind that the rankings show rounded values). Also, when a player wins a round, they benefit from a 30 seconds grace period during which they cannot be eliminated, no matter what their rating is.

Rating decay works differently. Once late registration is over, players lose one point per minute of inactivity. Here inactivity means that the player is neither in queue nor playing.

Players may forfeit from an open phase at any time while it has not ended. Once they forfeit, they are eliminated immediately.

Once the open phase is over, remaining players are ranked according to their final rating. In case of a tie, the tie is broken according to the players' initial seed (depending on the tournament, No Limit and Tuning Limit rating). Eliminated players are ranked according to their elimination time, in case of a tie the player with the highest final rating is ranked above.

The following parameters are defined for an open phase:

• Late registration: period during which players may register late and start playing. Usually decided so that payers registering at the very last minute still begin with a rating higher than the current rating limit.
• Initial rating: as the name says, every player starts with this amount of points.
• Initial rating limit: the rating limit is equal to this exact value right when the open phase starts.
• Rating limit speed: every minute, the rating limit increases by this amount of points.
• Number of players advancing: the open phase ends once the number of remaining players reaches this number and the late registration period is over.
• Maximum open phase duration: if the open phase duration reaches this limit, the top players will advance to the play-offs immediately, remaining players will be eliminated even if they are above the rating limit.

When the tournament's ruleset is an official ruleset, the open phase rounds may count towards multiplayer ratings. This is done retroactively, when a rating recalculation occurs.

Pool round

In a pool round, players are split in several pools and players within a given pool all play each other once. Players are then ranked based on their win rate, the difference between rounds won and lost, the number of rounds won, the sum of KO differences, etc... Some amount of players advance to the next stage of the tournament, while others are eliminated, only after all the matches are played.

Pools are decided through some initial seeding. If the tournament's ruleset is an official ruleset, then seeding is decided according to the players' current multiplayer rating in this ruleset, otherwise No Limit and Tuning Limit ratings are used depending on whether Tuning Limit is off or on.

The following parameters are defined for an open phase:

• Maximum number of players per pool: if the number of participants is not a multiple of this number then some pools will have less players than that.
• Number of players advancing: based on the rankings including players from all pools.
• Score limit: matches are "first to X, win by Y".

Bracket

Single elimination

A single elimination bracket consists of a tree where players are seeded, for every match the winner advances to the next round while the loser is eliminated. The last player remaining wins the bracket.

Brackets may be seeded in several ways: pool round results, open phase results, or simply multiplayer ratings.

Players may forfeit from a bracket at any time. Once they forfeit, they are eliminated immediately and their opponent advances to the next round.

At the end, players being eliminated in the same round are ranked based on their initial bracket seed.

In most single elimation brackets, there is a timebank for each player and each match. The timebank is generally 600 seconds (10 minutes), on official tournaments and it goes down while the player is neither playing nor ready for the next round. If one's timebank is 0 and the other player is in the room, this player is disqualified. If both players have their timebank equal to 0, then the player with the best seed advances to the next round. If a player advances despite not showing up, then they only have 60 seconds of timebank on their next match.

The following parameters are defined for a single elimination bracket:

• Timebank: optional.
• Score limit: matches are "first to X, win by Y", Y necessarily being 1 or 2.

Double elimination

A double elimination bracket consists of a winner bracket where players are initially seeded, and a loser bracket. For every match in the winner bracket, the winner advances to the next round while the loser enters the loser bracket. For every match in the loser bracket, the winner advances to the next round while the loser is eliminated. The last player remaining in each bracket plays the final round. If the winner bracket winner wins the final, they win the entire bracket. If the loser bracket winner wins the final, then there is a bracket reset match, the winner of this match wins the entire bracket.

Brackets may be seeded in several ways: pool round results, open phase results, or simply multiplayer ratings.

Players may forfeit from a bracket at any time. Once they forfeit, they are eliminated immediately and their opponent advances to the next round.

At the end, players being eliminated in the same round are ranked based on their initial bracket seed.

In most double elimination brackets, there is a timebank for each player and each match. The timebank is generally 600 seconds (10 minutes), on official tournaments and it goes down while the player is neither playing nor ready for the next round. If one's timebank is 0 and the other player is in the room, this player is disqualified. If both players have their timebank equal to 0, then the player with the best seed advances to the next round. If a player advances despite not showing up, then they only have 60 seconds of timebank on their next match.

The following parameters are defined for a single elimination bracket:

• Timebank: optional.
• Score limit, winner bracket: matches are "first to X, win by Y", Y necessarily being 1 or 2.
• Score limit, loser bracket (same as above).
• Score limit, final (same as above).
• Score limit, bracket reset (same as above).