Below you can find the key 2018 WBC Tournament information.
Update: The tournament finished July 23rd, 2018. There is a very brief summary below.
Dennis Mishler and James Pei played in the finals with Dennis defeating James by instant victory in Week 6. It was a hard fought match. The full writeup will be posted online later, including on the BPA website.
Below is accurate as of July 20th 2018. This will not be updated again.
During the initial stage of continuous play, participants will be matched based on number of wins. This preliminary round will be composed of three games for each player. At the conclusion of this stage, all 3-0 players will advance to single elimination play. Ideally, this will be either 4 or 8 players. Should less than 4 players emerge with 3-0 records, then only those players will advance to the elimination round. If more than 4 players emerge with 3-0 records, then a number of players with 2 wins will be advanced in order to fill out the single elimination bracket to 8 players.
Players who do not advance to single elimination matches can continue to play for honor and glory.
In this tournament, we will use second edition rules, which have only one important difference from the first edition: the inclusion of two new Uesugi blocks on the board at the start of the game: Two units are added to the initial deployment. The blocks 3-Uesugi and 1-Uesugi Gun get a circle deployment mark in the lower right corner, and two additional deployment circles appear in the Aizu location.
Players will begin with a bid for sides. Randomly determine the first bidder. Bid in blocks (zero or higher), specifying the side. The winner gets their choice of side, and the loser gets the bid number of blocks added to their recruitment box at the start of the game.
Depending on the number of players at the start of the tournament, seeds will be given to up to 8 players, based on AREA ratings and BPA laurels. These seeds will only apply during the three matches that comprise Round 1. Undefeated seeded players will not play against each other, when possible. Defeated players will lose their seed designation.
If more than 4 players emerge with 3-0 records, then a number of players with 2 wins will be advanced in order to fill out the single elimination bracket to 8 players. These additional players will be selected based on:
Most wins
Most points scored in loss (instant loss = 0 pts; a player who is 2-0 will receive an instant loss)
Strength of schedule (most opponent wins)
Head to head results
Random draw
If 4 or fewer players have perfect records, they will be randomly paired. If 8 players advance to single elimination matches, then a bracket will be constructed containing all 8 players. These players will be seeded based solely on their Round 1 performance:
Most wins
Number of points scored in loss (instant loss = 0 pts)
Number of instant wins
Number of total points scored (instant win = 27 pts)
Strength of schedule (most opponent wins)
Head to head results
Random draw
In this case, the highest seed will play the lowest seed and so on: 1v8, 4v5; 3v6, 2v7.
Additional Prizes: In Sekigahara, we have a tradition of giving Honor Prizes for those who play several rounds, despite potentially poor results. While we are optimistic that this tradition may continue, it is not guaranteed. Typically these have also been samurai figurines, letter openers, or the like. There are also commonly prizes (figurines, etc.) for specific feats, like most enemy leaders killed or largest battle won. Traditionally, GMT has also given out gift cards to the top finishers.