2v2 Throwdown Commences
...Next week! Somewhat cruel attention grabbing and hope raising aside, this is what you've been waiting for. You may have been able to infer this from the Premise Feature thread, but for those who didn't let me put it in no uncertain terms: Round 1 of the Forge Hub 2v2 Throwdown tournament will begin on Monday the 8th of August and last for a week, with results due by Midnight EST on Sunday the 14th of August. Here are the relevant links you'll need to participate in Round 1:
Download Premise
Download Throwdown Gametype
Tournament Format
The 2v2 Throwdown tournament will work on a double elimination basis. In short, this means that you must lose 2 matches (matches consist of a series which will be best 2 of 3 games) to be eliminated from the tournament. All entrants will be placed into one of 8 groups, which will each be formed of 16 teams, to make the earlier rounds more manageable. Once the boards open and the matches are posted on Monday, you will be able to see which group you have been placed in, and who your first match is against, in the Bracket Boards.
If you'd like to know exactly how the tournament will progress in more detail, here's a full rundown:
After Round 1, the 64 teams who lost their Round 1 match will be placed in the Loser Bracket (LB); the 64 teams who won will remain in the Winner Bracket (WB). Round 2 will involve both the WB and LB playing matches, with the 32 LB teams who lose being eliminated, and the 32 WB teams who lose being moved down to the LB. This will leave 32 teams in the WB, but 64 still in the LB, therefore the LB will play again to even out the numbers so the tournament can progress to the next round. As a result, every round after Round 1 will last for two weeks instead of one. The first week will involve both the WB and the LB playing, and the second week will be just the LB playing (those who lost their WB match will play against those who won their LB match) to maintain even numbers.
This will eventually leave two teams in each group, one in the WB and one in the LB. At this stage, the remaining eight WB teams will be placed in to the Championship Group WB, and the remaining eight LB teams will be placed in to the Championship Group LB. This group will then play in the same fashion as the previous groups did, until there is one WB team and one LB team left. These two teams will then play each other in the grand finals. However, due to the double elimination format the team coming from the LB will have to win 2 best of 3 series if they are to claim first place, whereas the team coming from the WB only have to win one series to take home the Championship.
If that's all a bit hard to swallow then don't fret. There will be an announcement posted every Monday to signify the beginning of the round, which will contain a link to the map and gametype to be used in the current round, as well as a reminder of the map for the round after that, as they are released as Featured maps a week in advance to ensure each team has time to practice and form strategies.
Your matches will be posted for you as threads in your Group board, which once again can be found in the Bracket Boards. Simply check these boards at the start of each round you will be playing to see who your opponents are, then proceed to organise and play your match in the following 7 days.
Match Process
Once match threads are posted for each round, you must organise and play your match within 7 days. Matches should be organised primarily in the match thread itself, though attempting to contact your opponents via the Forge Hub profile, or over Xbox LIVE using the gamertags provided in the match thread, is also heavily advised. If you are unable to organise a suitable time for the match to be played, or one team simply doesn't turn up/makes no attempt to organise the match, then a Staff ruling will be made on who will forfeit the match. This is why it is important to make every effort to contact your opponents using the methods detailed above, as who is assigned the win will be judged, where appropriate, on who made more effort to organise a match and ensure availability throughout the week.
Rules
The full set of rules for the 2v2 Throwdown tournament can be found in the Rules Thread. We take violations of these rules very seriously, and if you would like to submit a complaint or possible rule violation relating to one of your matches then please send a private message to either Pegasi (myself), or Black Theorem.
Good Luck!
Formalities aside, we'd like to wish all contestants the best of luck in the following weeks. Forge Hub tournaments always aim to showcase some fantastic forge creations from our best, but this is first and foremost a chance for you, our community, to enjoy yourselves and compete for some flash prizes. We hope all the teams competing enjoy themselves, and that those not participating join us in following the action as it unfolds.
However, speaking of prizes, we'd like to finally reveal the full lineup of prizes for the 2v2 Throwdown tournament.
1st place will receive:
One Astro A40 Audio System each
A Custom Title each
2nd place will receive:
One copy of Halo: CE Anniversary each
A Custom Title each
3rd place will receive:
One 3 Month Xbox LIVE Gold Membership each
A Custom Title each
http://www.astrogaming.com/We would once again like to thank Astro Gaming for providing the first place prize, and we think you'll agree that it's a fitting reward for the hard fought weeks which will see one team left victorious. Whether you're a part of the action or not, we hope you enjoy the next few months of competitive Halo action, and the steady stream of awesome forge creations that will follow in due course. Gear up, 'cause it all starts next week.