The Qualifying Round Once registration is complete, all teams will be divded up into pools of 6 teams each. Over the course of 3 weeks, each team will play every other team from their bracket once, for a total of five QR matches. Teams will only play one match in the first week of the QR, but will play two matches in the second and third weeks. Each QR match will contain three games. These games are listed on the maps page and will not change from week to week. Teams will play the same games against all five of their opponents. Note that, since the MWC is score-based and not game win-based, the order of the games IS IMPORTANT! Please play games in the order that they are listed on the maps page. When all five QR matches have been completed for all pools, the teams from each pool with the top average point differentials will advance to the Double Elimination round. Likewise, teams will be seeded in the DE round based on their average point differential. What this means is that teams not only want to shoot for the highest possible score in the QR, but also want to keep their opponents from scoring. To calculate your team's own average differential, use this formula: (Points scored - Points Allowed)/number of games. For example, if your match scores are 52-40, 60-25, 58-31, 65-34, and 29-43 after five matches, your average differential is 18.2 (12 + 35 + 27 + 31 - 14)/5. Forfeits If your team receives a forfeit in the first half of QR, the match will not be counted for you at all, so that your average will neither be hurt nor helped. If your team receives a forfeit in the last half of QR, you will receive points for the match equal to the negative of the other team's current (before forfeit is score) average, unless that happens to be positive. For instance, team A plays their first three matches, losing by 40 each time. Their current average differential will be -40. If team A now forfeits to team B, team B will have a 40 averaged into their score. However if team A had been winning, and had an average of 17, team B would not have a -17 averaged into their score, instead the match would not be counted either for or against team B. However, if your team forfeits a match, a maximum loss of around negative 40 will be averaged in, probably killing your chances of progressing, and in any case ensuring a low seed. Therefore we strongly encourage you to show up for all matches. |