Europe Versus USA Ball Championships 2016

[Goose]

EUROPE VERSUS USA

BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
2016

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Idea stolen from this thread: http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3108


Introducing the first ball tournament where you fight not only for your own personal gain and ego....but for the pride of your country as well!

Game Type: Ball
Game Size: 6v6
Maximum Roster Size: 8
Format: BO7
Deadline for Eligibility: April 10th
Starts: April 17th
Time: 6PM GMT

Map Pool:

1) ball_asteroids_pb
2) ball_cave_pb
3) ball_grotto_pb
4) ball_hardcourt2_pb
5) ball_ice_pb
6) ball_planepark_pb
7) ball_reef_pb

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What you need to know about this BALLTASTIC EVENT:

Team #1: EUROPE (Includes all CIS regions)
Team #2: USA (Includes Canada and Mexico)

-Top 6 players from each team (Based on ladder rankings found here: https://planeball.com/ranked/) are automatically invited to play for their respective region. If they don't want to play or are unable to show up, their spot is offered to the next highest ranked player on the ladder leaderboards.

-2 Substitute players (determined by ladder rating) will be allowed for each team to be used for emergency purposes.

-This will be a 1 day BO7 match to determine which Altitude players are superior: Americans or Europeans.

Other key notes:

-The deadline for the top 6 eligible players based on ladder ranking is April 10th.
-This will take place a week before the Sky League 13 Playoffs start on April 17th.
-The first choice of server will be decided from a coin flip by an unbiased Altitude player who is unaffiliated to either region (ie: a player like Moon [Japanese], Demurrage [Filipino], or NinjaGrasshopper [Australian])

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TEAM EUROPE:
Average Rating: 2813
Team Strength: Whale

1) dvd (Sweden)
Rating: 3355
Games Played: 639
Win %: 54.5
Best Plane: Biplane
Control Setup: Mouse + Keyboard
2) JimladSeraph (United Kingdom)
Rating: 3006
Games Played: 527
Win %: 54.8
Best Plane: Whale
Control Setup: Keyboard
3) JWhatever (Finland)
Rating: 2648
Games Played: 1,316
Win %: 51.3
Best Plane: Randa
Control Setup: Keyboard
4) DonQuijote (Spain)
Rating: 2642
Games Played: 913
Win %: 51.8
Best Plane: Loopy
Control Setup: Keyboard
5) void (Sweden)
Rating: 2629
Games Played: 1,161
Win %: 52.2
Best Plane: Whale
Control Setup: Keyboard
6) Pata (France)
Rating: 2598
Games Played: 617
Win %: 54.0
Best Plane: Randa
Control Setup: Keyboard

SUB 1) cracker (Netherlands)
Rating: 2460
SUB 2) Bran (Netherlands)
Rating: 2357


Next 5 Highest Rated Players:
POBLOOM (Germany)
Rating: 2332
Princess Squirtle (France)
Rating: 2178
Plauze (Germany)
Rating: 2135
hulabox (Austria)
Rating: 2119
Phyx (United Kingdom)
Rating: 2106

* * * * * * * * * *

TEAM USA:
Average Rating: 3152
Team Strength: Randa

1) Sanis (USA)
Ranking: 3940
Games Played: 1,051
Win %: 53.2
Best Plane: Randa
Control Setup: Mouse
2) woofy (USA)
Ranking: 3493
Games Played: 829
Win %: 54.2
Best Plane: Whale
Control Setup: Keyboard
3) Walt (Canada)
Ranking: 3207
Games Played: 448
Win %: 55.4
Best Plane: Whale
Control Setup: Keyboard
4) fart (USA)
Ranking: 2818
Games Played: 955
Win %: 51.9
Best Plane: Randa
Control Setup: Mouse
5) Funnyhell (Mexico)
Ranking: 2744
Games Played: 1,787
Win %: 51.3
Best Plane: Loopy
Control Setup: Mouse
6) Brutal (USA)
Ranking: 2710
Games Played: 1,138
Win %: 51.3
Best Plane: Loopy
Control Setup: Keyboard

SUB 1) zz (USA)
Rating: 2501
SUB 2) XX2 (USA)
Rating: 2359


Next 5 Highest Rated Players:
Radium (USA)
Rating: 2345
G00SE (USA)
Rating: 2322
Dragon (Mexico)
Rating: 2280
TheCapedAvenger (USA)
Rating: 2137
togafaru (USA)
Rating: 2123


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FINAL RANKINGS as of 4/10/16
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[Oyster]

great idea

[XX1]

Originally Posted by Goose

Team #1: EUROPE (Includes all CIS regions)
Team #2: USA (Includes Canada and Mexico)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
? We just talked about this in ladder - if you are gonna do this, you may as well just say North America. I have found 1 Mexican player in ladder, (page 24/58 so far) {TBG}Fox Stevenson and it sure doesn't look like he will be participating in this anytime soon. As for Canada, there is again, 1 player - Exorcedes who I don't even know if he's playing anymore. Unless you really want to convince Exorcedes to come back and participate in this, I don't get why you want to include these countries

Originally Posted by Goose

-Each TEAM will elect a Captain. This Captain will be the leader of the team and can elect up to 12 players from their region to play for them. Then before each match you can set your lineup out of your pool of players.

Originally Posted by Goose

-You can pick players based on ladder performance/rankings, public opinion, personal feelings, etc. Assembling a balanced squad of the top players from your region is KEY!

So how will the teams be decided? Will we use the same rating system as the previous tournament? If we are:
USA:
1.Woofy
2.Fartface
3.Sanis
4.Funnyhell
5.Radium
6.XX2
additional
7.Goose
8.Dragon
9.bsteady
10.Carlos
11.DN
12.Matattack

EU:
1.Dick van Dyke
2.JWhatever
3.Patateh
4.Mssv
5.Lady Squirtle
6.Don Quijote
additional
7.Jimlad Seraph
8.Cracker
9.Void
10.Brandon
11.KnipChip
12.Plauze

Explain the captain part again. After the teams have been formed (12 on each side?) the 12 US players will vote for a US captain and eu does the same for their side? That captain will then form a lineup from the whole region? By region to mean the 12 player pool or actually the whole US / EU region? Why not just play the top players from both sides and they can figure out the lineup? If someone in the main lineup doesn't show, the subs can fill accordingly.

Originally Posted by Goose

-Once Captains are determined and teams are figured out, there will be a 1 day BO5 match to determine which Altitude players are superior: Americans or Europeans.

nice meme

Originally Posted by Goose

Other key notes:

-This will take place instead of your typical Sky League Preseason

What about everyone else, What do the worse players like Wicksman and his team do for practice if only the top players are playing this ONE DAY BO5, which takes place instead of the ENTIRE preseason? Do they have to setup scrims on their own?
I'd argue this hurts more people overall.

[Mr Nice]

Does it have to be instead of SL preseason? We have new teams this SL and a preseason for them would be good as well as I personally would like to have SL preseason.

[Fluffy]

Does anyone remember from the past SL pre-seasons if the turnout of each player of each team was high? If not, this will probably be an ideal replacement

[JWhatever]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice

...We have new teams this SL and a preseason for them would be good as well as I personally would like to have SL preseason.

This.

Originally Posted by Fluffy

Does anyone remember from the past SL pre-seasons if the turnout of each player of each team was high? If not, this will probably be an ideal replacement

Enough that there has always been a preseason (except last season).
Preseason has always been a decider if two or more teams have equal amount of points / wins. iirc it has been used once in the past, it might have been between BBQ and Vlix.

Also Feb 13th is Saturday.

-J

[Winters Ark]

Originally Posted by XX1

As for Canada, there is again, 1 player - Exorcedes who I don't even know if he's playing anymore.

Nice job under representing the Canadian players in this game. There's Walt, donk, ViPR, hmmm, Holly, and myself to name a few.

[Fartface]

Originally Posted by Winters Ark

Nice job under representing the Canadian players in this game. There's Walt, donk, ViPR, hmmm, Holly, and myself to name a few.

I think XX2's search left you guys out because your flags are malfunctioning on the ladder website (at least Walt's is), and he didn't supplement his statistics with memory! But yes Walt would be the 2nd highest "americas" player

[XX1]

Originally Posted by Winters Ark

Nice job under representing the Canadian players in this game. There's Walt, donk, ViPR, hmmm, Holly, and myself to name a few.

That's quite the active community, only one of those players can play at this time.
Unless donk wants to turn around that 0-4 :^)
Let me clarify, there is only one Canadian player who can participate in this at this time - Walt. I did not forget about other Canadians, unless you want lirich to warm the bench.

Originally Posted by Fartface

I think XX2's search left you guys out because your flags are malfunctioning on the ladder website (at least Walt's is), and he didn't supplement his statistics with memory! But yes Walt would be the 2nd highest "americas" player

lol

Donk, vipr, hmm, hollywood, and Ark are no where near the top to even qualify for the US team. They are not relevant to this.

[Kafka]

Canada and Mexico =/= USA.
Some CIS regions are not in Europe (i.e. Kazakhstan).

A better name would be North America vs. Eurasia. Doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, but at least it'd be accurate for the countries you want to include.

[Winters Ark]

Originally Posted by XX1

Donk, vipr, hmm, hollywood, and Ark are no where near the top to even qualify for the US team. They are not relevant to this.

I never said that we would all be in the running to play. Let's take a look at what you said again.

Originally Posted by XX1

I have found 1 Mexican player in ladder, (page 24/58 so far) {TBG}Fox Stevenson and it sure doesn't look like he will be participating in this anytime soon. As for Canada, there is again, 1 player - Exorcedes

Saying that there's only one player, who doesn't even play anymore, and dismissing all the others who do actually play somewhat regularly is extremely rude. Out of the Canadian players I'd say that only Walt and Holly would make the list for NA, but that's beside the point.

Originally Posted by Fartface

I think XX2's search left you guys out because your flags are malfunctioning on the ladder website (at least Walt's is)

Walt's has never worked, even back on Nobo's ladder site.

[VAN1SH1NG]

There is nothing broken about Walt's flag. He did not want his country displayed, so it was removed.

Also I can say for sure that I will not be around for this on the 13th, or at least I will need to leave around the time it starts if it starts at normal league time. I can put up backup servers in the rare case there are any issues with the main league servers.

[XX1]

Originally Posted by Winters Ark

Saying that there's only one player, who doesn't even play anymore, and dismissing all the others who do actually play somewhat regularly is extremely rude. Out of the Canadian players I'd say that only Walt and Holly would make the list for NA, but that's beside the point.

The reason I brought this up in the first place was that I was/am trying to figure out why Goose wants to group Canada / Mexico with USA.

I thought: "ok let's say Goose goes ahead and groups the three together....Who are the Mexican players that qualify? *planeball.com/ranked* Annnnd, nobody" I got curious and decided to see if we had any Mexican players at all in ladder and I stopped after I found that one Fox guy. Now I am wondering why does including Mexico do anything for this tournament if nobody can even play for that country and we hardly have any Mexican players in ladder at all?

"How about Canada?" *planeball.com/ranked* Ok there's Walt who makes the team for position 2. Lirich might make it as a sub depending on how big the team size is at position 11. Walt on the other hand has a secured spot, actually he's the only Canadian with a spot in the 6 player lineup. The problem is that he doesn't play as far as I know. So there actually may not be any players for Canada either - why does goose want to include Canada if that 1 player does not even play?

When I said there is only one player, I mean there is only one player who currently has a spot in this tournament. I didn't forget about the other Canadians. I dismissed everyone else who plays because they are not high enough in ladder to participate at this time IF we are using the same point system like the previous one.

If Goose decides to use some other system to rank the players (ex: the community judges everyone) then yeah I agree with Hollywood and Walt playing for Canada

Originally Posted by Kafka

Canada and Mexico =/= USA.
Some CIS regions are not in Europe (i.e. Kazakhstan).

A better name would be North America vs. Eurasia. Doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, but at least it'd be accurate for the countries you want to include.

heh, when I wiki'd the CIS regions I thought there might of been some issues as well but I was gonna let the Euros handle it z_z

Originally Posted by VAN1SH1NG

There is nothing broken about Walt's flag. He did not want his country displayed, so it was removed.

Can other people ask to get their flag removed?

[VAN1SH1NG]

Originally Posted by XX1

Can other people ask to get their flag removed?

Yes. Walt is the only one who has it removed as of now.

[sunshineduck]

if only there was a europe vs usa pedantry championship i'd mess you kids up

[matattack]

Yo what about my Asian brothas MANG !!!!!

ssd, aya, twisted ducky, clam, emergency, ccn just to name a few

rice is good for you

[Goose]

Updated OP with more info:

-Top 6 players from ladder for each region are automatically invited to play for their team.

-If any of the top 6 from ladder refuse to play/can't show up/etc, their spot is given to the next highest rated player.

-6 additional players can then be drafted by the Captain of each team.

-Any person can apply for the role of Captain. You can only apply as Captain of the team you represent. Simply put a quick application statement in this thread. Then we can vote on who we think will be the best Captain. (idea stolen from Dougie)

Quick example of an application:

(Using the player ufo in this case cuz i think he would be a good Captain, but that is just my personal bias):
Team: USA
Altitude Name: ufo
Years Playing: 6
Clan History: Twisted, tv0, T.T, c:
Statement: I'm the best flexy loopy in the game and I will lead us to victory if i am elected Captain, thx.

OTHER NOTES: Remember there will be no official preseason for Sky League, but teams can feel free to scrim on the weekends before Sky League starts to prepare. Also this takes place on a SATURDAY not a Sunday @ 7PM GMT (Standard tournament time)

[XX1]

Team: USA
Altitude Name: XX2
Years Playing: 6 (May 21, 2009)
Clan History: DM, ICE, APE, BL, KLF*, PR, Twisted, {ball}, AI, (||), #cookies, Boom, ##
Statement: I'll let the team choose who they want. There are 6 spots on the main roster and there are 6 players that can be drafted. Each player on the main roster can pick 1 person and I will draft him/her for us.

Picture for emotional appeal

[don quijote]

I vote for Pata for EU captain!!!

[Goose]

After consulting a lot of the potential candidates to play in this event, it as come to my unfortunate conclusion that this start date is a little too soon, and a lot of people will be unavailable this weekend due to President's Day and Valentines Day.

Therefore we have 2 options:

OPTION A: Postpone this event for a week or 2 and play then.

PROS:
-Gives a bit more time for the top players to commit to the date if they can prepare their schedule accordingly.

-Can be played on a Sunday. (Saturday could be agreed upon as well)

CONS:
-Would have to postpone the Sky League start date by a week or 2 which would suck.


OPTION B: Play this tournament after Sky League is over.

PROS:
-We can set a final date in the future for when your ladder standing would be officially ended to qualify for this tournament which could draw more hype towards ladder as players want to fight for a top 6 spot.

-We can do a bunch of other cool stuff to make this event even better.

CONS:
-It would take place after Sky League so hype might be down if players decide to retire or take a break.

What do you guys think? I personally vote for OPTION B

[don quijote]

I think the sooner the better, i think the SL preseason is the best day. We only have to choose the captains, and it is a nice way to open the SL.

donno

[Dougie]

How about playing it after the regular season of SL finishes but before the playoffs? would allow some teams to get catch up games finished also.

[Goose]

As of now i think i definetly would prefer SL start on the 21st but i could push it back 1 extra week to start on March 6th. Then this tournament could take place on the 21st of February which should be more than enough time to have all the teams set up and ready to go. The idea Dougie suggested could be cool too.

I suppose there could be an "Option C" as well in where we just go ahead with the original idea of playing on the 13th, and fill in the slots accordingly for the people who won't be able to make it. I only know of woofy not being able to show up on that day for sure for the USA team and possibly JWhatever too for EU, which is why i figured it might make more sense to change the start date. Both of those players have been dominating ladder and have a lot of versatility in terms of planes they excel at so having them miss out on this tournament that is supposed to showcase some of the best players in Altitude wouldn't feel the same... But I guess there would never be a schedule that works out for everyone and its expected that some of the top players wouldn't be able to show up. There are enough good/great players active to make strong teams for each side that hopefully lead to some EPIC games!

[don quijote]

Originally Posted by Dougie

How about playing it after the regular season of SL finishes but before the playoffs? would allow some teams to get catch up games finished also.

+1

Dougie is awesome!

[Greekjr14]

USA USA USA


Team: USA
Altitude Name: TheGenesis
Years Playing: 3 competitively, 6 total off and on
Clan History: Too. Damn. Many. /Ai, (|Sammich|), [FRO], [TC], IL, KLF, L*, ##, APE
Statement: HC Biplane. 6 years strong.

[Fartface]

xx2 i would vote for you but if you let 6 different people each pick 1 person you're probably gonna end up with a team with a weird plane comp

[number 3]

^^5 sniplanes 1 lazor ezgg

[XX1]

Originally Posted by Fartface

xx2 i would vote for you but if you let 6 different people each pick 1 person you're probably gonna end up with a team with a weird plane comp

I was going to tell the team which player they wanted who to avoid one person getting picked multiple times. I honestly trust the team to pick decent players regardless. Ideally, if everybody on the main lineup shows up, they get to play according to Goose, weird plane comp or not. (I think the current US plane comp is ok anyways)

I'm not so sure about one thing though, who decides on substitutions? Goose just says that the captain just drafts 6 people. Who's picking the map?
I'm assuming he is going to have the captain do that but hopefully he will make it clear.

[don quijote]

Goose please, lock the teams!

[Lenny']

If team europe needs players im available.

[sunshineduck]

Team: USA
Altitude Name: ssd
Years Playing: a lot
Clan History: r87, tVo, Twisted, t3c, FC, `ez`, Vlix, asdf, dt
Statement: i have strong leadership ability honed through 7+ months of managing a fast food restaurant and a long history of almost winning sky leagues. i can guarantee at least a second place finish at this event. a vote for me is a vote for not kuja.

[Goose]

This tournament will be delayed until March 20th, the week before Sky League Playoffs starts.

Rosters will lock on March 14th. The top 6 from each region of ladder will then be automatically invited to play in this tournament.

Also to make things simpler there will only be 2 additional players added to the rosters instead of the original idea of having 6 more people added since that was way too many people and it would of complicated things.

[don quijote]

Originally Posted by Goose

This tournament will be delayed until March 20th, the week before Sky League Playoffs starts.

Rosters will lock on March 14th. The top 6 from each region of ladder will then be automatically invited to play in this tournament.

Also to make things simpler there will only be 2 additional players added to the rosters instead of the original idea of having 6 more people added since that was way too many people and it would of complicated things.

[blln4lyf]

I am putting in my bid for USA capt. Reason: Most ships, nuff said.

[sunshineduck]

i am withdrawing my bid and voting for balln

balln 2016

[Goose]

final update on start date due to the recent change in Sky League:

Game will be played on April 10th, @ 7PM GMT which is the week before SL Playoffs start

Rosters will lock on April 3rd

May the ladder gods offer you their blessing

[don quijote]

Originally Posted by Goose

final update on start date due to the recent change in Sky League:

Game will be played on April 10th, @ 7PM GMT which is the week before SL Playoffs start

Rosters will lock on April 3rd

May the ladder gods offer you their blessing

[Goose]

Also a new rule aka The Walt Rule: if you have qualified to play in this tournament by being in the top 6 for either region but you haven't played a ladder game in 2 weeks, you are no longer eligible to participate in this tournament and your spot is given to the next highest rated player that is active in ladder.

To reclaim your eligibility you have to play at least 6 ladder games a week.

[Goose]

A Change in the rules: There will no longer be captains. The top 6 players from each region will just show up and play and organize themselves to keep things simple. The captain idea sounded cool in theory, but in reality it was unnecessary, sorry about that.

[XX1]

Originally Posted by Goose

A Change in the rules: There will no longer be captains. The top 6 players from each region will just show up and play and organize themselves to keep things simple. The captain idea sounded cool in theory, but in reality it was unnecessary, sorry about that.

Originally Posted by XX1

Why not just play the top players from both sides and they can figure out the lineup? If someone in the main lineup doesn't show, the subs can fill accordingly.

ayyyyy lmao