[DISCUSSION THREAD] 2025 Championship Series Mid-Season Update - Nov 11, 2024
Comments
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A very interesting change! I was curious and looked at the numbers based on tournaments that have run the previous X-2 threshold for day 2 to see what the changes would be:
64% increase in day 2 participants for Masters
52% increase in day 2 participants for Seniors
56% increase in day 2 participants for Juniors
This change would let more players play more rounds, but another point I've seen brought up is that people want a chance to win the tournament if they make it to the second day of competition. After all, if you advance to the next stage it should be logical that you have a chance to advance further and win the whole thing. Under the old system this was only the case in Louisville (1938 Masters) where asymmetrical cut was 31 match points meaning 63% of players who made day 2 had no chance of winning the tournament due to circumstances out of their control (cutoff for asymmetrical top cut). In every other case, this number was zero.
In the new system, it will become normal for players that qualify for day 2 to be unable to win the tournament. Again, using existing tournament data since Worlds:
46% of Masters who qualify for Day 2 will never be able to win
33% of Seniors who qualify for Day 2 will never be able to win
33% of Juniors who qualify for Day 2 will never be able to win
It is nice that more players now get a chance to improve their ranking and fight it out for better prizes. At the same time, I can also understand the grievances of players who feel they are unfairly rewarded for a good day 2 performance, but such is the nature of competition.
Excited to see how things play out in the next few majors!
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I like to see all the new changes happening, but what about the ladder ranking for world invites this year? I don't think the new system would be a huge deal for people in places like the US, where there are more opportunities, but I have friends living in the Middle East, and there are absolutely zero regionals/special events in the Middle East. The Middle East region is also lumped into a ladder with South Africa, which has two special events. It feels very unfair that the Middle East competitors have to fight for a spot on the ladder with people from South Africa when the South Africans have so many more opportunities than the players from the Middle East. I would like to see some consideration put into this as I know a lot of people from the Middle East who are unhappy with this new system and feel that they've been given an unfair disadvantage, completely preventing them from getting their Worlds invites this year.
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