[continued from previous message] (Incidentally, I'm always frustrated by teams complaining about repeat matchups in the ladder play playoffs. In tournaments with more traditional playoffs that involve only the top teams, rematches are the norm--nobody complains when a tournament comes down to a two out of three final between teams that already played twice before in a round robin and then split field secondary round robin. In the NAQT ICT format there are no rematches until the final four rounds, which are playoffs against exactly those teams adjacent to you in the standings and with whom you are in direct competition for final positioning. A rematch or two here, in this sort of playoff situation, shouldn't be so worrisome to people. If you have a second match with the same team--or even, with one team, a third match--it is because those are exactly the teams with whom you are contesting for final positioning; they should be the teams with which you are most closely matched as to performance in the tournament.) AEI also writes: "Moreover, I am not at all clear as to how four rounds of ladder play is an effective technique to decide who are the "top two teams," in light of the fact that the power matchings prior to that are also determined by the tournament directors." This, along with your later question "Can NAQT guarantee that a team that goes undefeated in its first eleven rounds will obtain a spot amongst the top six?" is the clearest indication that you weren't quite understanding how the format works. (I'm not attacking you for not understanding; it is a more complicated format than the norm, and can easily be misunderstood. The explanation here is to inform.) The power matchings of rounds 7-11 are not determined by the "tournament directors," as if they could be subjective or capricious decisions, but by a computer program based on teams records to that point, with points tiebreakers as needed. (With, however, rematches excluded.) Five rounds of such power matching is a very efficient means of ordering teams fairly heading into the ladder rounds. The format is extremely effective in determining the top two teams -- you can't get there by a fluke, but only through terrific consistency over a rather grueling schedule in which most of your matches--all of them after round 6--have been only against other top teams. Of _course_ a team that goes undefeated over their first 11 rounds will be in the top six! In fact, there can be only one such team, and that team would by definition be #1 going into ladder play. Any teams that are undefeated after their first six matches immediately begin to play one another in power matched rounds, and very quickly there can be only one such team left. Eric H. P.S. Despite the fact that I jumped in with this post, Rob Hentzel is the ICT tournament director, and further questions or comments about the format or any other aspect of the ICT other than the invitations process (which I did coordinate) should be directed to him.
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