Team America 40K – 2015 Captain and Qualification System
7 Minute Read
Apr 12 2014
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The 2015 captain and ever expanding with a maturing tournament circuit.
Hello Everyone – Greg Sparks (Inquisitor_Malice) here. I want to announce that after the ETC 2014, I will step down as Captain of Team America 40K. It has been a fun run, but it is time to pass the torch to the next generation.
With that said, I am pleased to announce Andrew Gonyo will take over the reigns as captain of Team America 40K. Andrew and I have worked very closely on all aspects of the team for the past year and I believe he possesses the tenacity, insight and dedication to successfully lead the team well into the future. Coupled with the announcement of the new 2015 captain, Andrew and I would like to present the following updates to the qualification system.
The current Qualification system for the European Team Championships (ETC) has served as the launching pad for Team America over the last five years and provided us with a solid core group of members during the infancy of our Independent Tournament Circuit. If you look back 5 years ago you’d see a small fraction of the events you currently see happening in America. AdeptiCon was less than half the current size and ready for an explosion of growth, the NOVA Open was an outdoor 32 player BBQ instead of the 200+ person singles event hosted in 2013. DaBoyz GT which began in 2005 was just hitting its stride and expanding to a regional sensation, and WargamesCon was pulling together the first ever major BOLS event.
Based on these conditions, the qualification system was initially designed to source players for the team from the limited, tried and tested competitive events we did have, and to add events over the years as they developed and grew. Ben Mohlie, Greg Sparks, and the rest of the original cast and crew deserve a huge hand for what they have done for both our competitive scene, and our entry into the International gaming community known as the ETC.
But times have changed. We now have more events than we can shake a stick at. Now I’m not struggling to find more than one event to drive to a year – I’m struggling to decide which of the 20+ events in our country I can attend without being forced to sleep on the couch indefinitely. Looking at our current tournament environment, we have 20+ events for recruiting potential new members of our ETC team. When Greg Sparks appointed me Captain of the 2015 team he tasked me with redesigning our qualification system with him. Currently our team is constructed of eight members, qualifying in the following ways:
- Player 1: The Captain – Automatic Qualification
- Player 2: Previous ETC Veteran determined by performance in previous year
- Player 3: Previous ETC Veteran determined by performance in previous year
- Player 4: Previous ETC Veteran determined by performance in previous year
- Player 5: Winner of AdeptiCon
- Player 6: Winner of the NOVA Open
- Player 7: Winner of Wargamescon
- Player 8: Wild Card Winner
The first four players are key. They provide the team with a core set of knowledge that is not lost from year to year. This is an important aspect to constructing a strong team, as the style of play at the ETC is very different from the U.S. competitive scene. Second, this core group of players provides the groundwork in the off season from the competition in August until the rest of the team is chosen in January.
Now the part I’ll be addressing with the redesign of the Qualification system is how new players are chosen for the team (Players 5-8 above). The downside of the current system is that in order to qualify for the team, you realistically need to attend one of the large events, which isn’t easy for all players in the community, and favors more local players. Second, winning a major event is part skill, part luck, and part timing. Releases of new codices, shifts in the metagame, and just having a lucky day can result in taking down one of the big championships. But for our ETC Team, I want players who consistently perform at the highest levels. Last and most importantly, it doesn’t properly recognize the hard work the Independent Tournament Circuit TO’s have done over the last 5 years. So, how will the last four spots be awarded?
Rather than winning an individual event to earn a spot, players will be competing in a points system which will utilize competitive results from as many events as possible across the country which meet the following criteria:
- Points are awarded only to the top 5 placings at an event.
- The event has more than 50 players that participate. Events with less than 50 players are not sampling an adequate portion of the competitive landscape to assess a player’s performance amongst his peers in the qualification system. Events with higher attendance are worth more, however all events will contribute a significant, meaningful amount of points. For example, winning two 60 person 5 round GTs is approximately equal to winning one 250 person GT in the redesigned qualification system.
- The events have a competitive structure similar or akin to that of the ETC. While I value the diversity within our community, events need to be similar enough to speak to a player’s ability to perform at the ETC. For example, a 2500 point event that features full forgeworld would not be included, as the army lists, tactics, and general gameplay would be significantly different than the ETC style at 1850. However, the vast majority of events will be included; a full list of qualifying events can be seen here at the following link 2015 Qualifications.
- The event is in at least its second year. Exceptions will be made on a case by case basis by the Captain to determine if first year event results are included. For example, while the Las Vegas Open is in its first year, it has a well-tested and thought out system, sourced a large portion of the competitive players in the country, and ran from all accounts, fairly flawlessly – it will be included.
The top 4 players from the qualification system will be awarded the remaining 4 spots on the team. In the event one of the first four qualifiers is unable to attend or is already a member of the team, the 5th ranked player in the qualification system will be awarded a spot. In the event any further spots are unable to be claimed, they will be awarded via Captains Choice. I will factor heavily player performance in the annual qualification system, historic performance, and assess the needs of the team for players of specific armies – as at the ETC, each codex can only be primary once, we can’t be a team of Eldar and Tau players :).
A Brief Recap and Notes on the New System:
- The qualification season for 2015 will run from January 1st, 2014 until December 31st, 2014.
- The list of events included in the system is below, and the spreadsheet attached to this article utilizes the events available for 2013 which I ran as a test run. Feel free to kick the tires on it and see how you or your friends did.
- All events are considered, subject to the criteria above. Events with potential issues which impact the validity of their competitive results will be evaluated on a case by case basis.
- The list of events is preliminary – if they do not meet the required attendance numbers, aren’t held, or other issues arise they will be removed from the qualifications.
- Only your Top 5 scores from all events within the qualifying circuit will be added. If you already placed 1st-5th in 5 events, any additional event with a higher score will replace the lowest existing score.
Nuts and Bolts!
The top 5 placings in the competitive track for an event (W/L or Battle Points) will be awarded points according to the following formula:
1/Placing x square root (Attendance/50)
Let’s break it down
First off, a first place finish is worth “full” points. Let’s use a baseline of a 50 person event, the minimum required to be part of the qualification system:
1/(placing = 1st) x square root(attendance = 50/50)
1/1 x square root (1)
1×1=1
You get 1 point – now let’s say the event was a 200 person event – and you still got first.
1/1 x square root (200/50)
1 x square root (4)
1x 2 = 2
So placing first in two 50 person events is equal to first in a 200 person event. This means that your big events like AdeptiCon, Wargamescon, The NOVA Open, Bay Area Open, and others will be worth more than your small events – but not so much more that there’s no point in attending the small ones.
Now, why did I use a square root above? Basically, it is a way to lower the impact of attendance. Without it, winning a large 200 person event would be worth four times winning a 50 person event. It is rare to win a large event and almost unheard of to take 1st at four ~50 person GTs in one year. Without this, there would be no point in including the smaller events in the qualification system.
Now, your placing also affects your score, and in a much simpler way:
- 1st 1/1 = 100% of the points
- 2nd 1/2 = 50% of the points
- 3rd 1/3 = 33% of the points
- 4th 1/4 = 25% of the points
- 5th 1/5 = 20% of the points
Time for the wrap up
My primary goal as a Captain is to bring the ETC competition to the fore front of competitive play within the U.S. through expanding its qualifications in our Indy Circuit, and of course to build the strongest team possible to represent the USA overseas. The new qualification system will allow us to assess consistent, high level performance, and performances across an entire year. I look forward to getting to know everyone further over the coming years, and am excited for the challenges to come.
For more information about the team and the 2015 listing of events, please visit the following links:
Author: Larry Vela
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