I guess GenCon's event catalog finally goes up in about 10 minutes, and in honor of that, FFG put up an article about GenCon tonight: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4807

[Edit: GenCon's event catalog is up now: https://www.gencon.com/events/ Search "X-Wing" in the keyword field.]

In that article, FFG detailed the new format for X-Wing's U.S. national championship:

Android: Netrunner and X-Wing™ Tournament Structure
As our games continue to grow in popularity, so does attendance at our tournaments. Last year, we experimented with moving the elimination bracket of our highest attended events to a separate day, and we received a lot of positive feedback on the change. This year, we are taking our Android: Netrunner and X-Wing tournaments one step further, separating the tournament into two flights and holding the final rounds on a third day.

This year’s Android: Netrunner and X-Wing North American Championships will be held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. A 128-person flight for each game will be held on Thursday, the 14th, and the top 32 players will be eligible to continue playing on Saturday. A separate 128-person flight for each game will be held on Friday, the 15th, and the top 32 players will be eligible to continue playing on Saturday. On Saturday, the 16th, the 64 players from the two previous days’ flights will play in a “Final Day,” competing for the title of North American Champion.

Why the Split Between Two Flights?
Having two flights allows us to accommodate more players.

What is the Difference Between the Two Flights?
The Thursday flights for Android: Netrunner and X-Wing will accept event tickets that can be bought in advance (tickets go on sale on May 18th). These event tickets will reserve a place in the tournament for each person who buys one. If there is room in the tournament after all event ticket holders register with FFG on the day of the tournament, we will accept generic tickets for the Thursday flights.

The Friday flights for both games will accept only generic tickets. Generic tickets can also be bought in advance (tickets go on sale on May 18th), but they do not reserve a place for you in the tournament. Entrants who did not play in the Thursday flight will be accepted on a first come, first served basis in the Friday flight. Those who played in the Thursday flight will be accepted if there is space available.

There is no other difference between flights other than the ticket type each flight accepts. Up to 128 players can participate in each flight, and the top 32 players from each flight will continue playing on Saturday, the 16th.

So it'll basically be a 256-person tournament spread out over Thursday, Friday and Saturday! Wow! Mind-boggling.

Yeah, it is a good improvement after last year. It already happened over 2 days, technically.

will still most likely last till wee hours.

Well, each day is set for nine hours. At 75-minute rounds, that's a little more than is needed for a seven-round tournament. So they'll probably shoot for six rounds, allowing for each round to go a little long when people are in the middle of their last turns. I think nine hours will be enough.

The day that might really go longer is Saturday, since they'll probably let the championship match (and possibly the semifinal and quarterfinal matches) go untimed. But that day starts an hour earlier than the flights, at 10 a.m., so that should help with lasting until the "wee hours."

Isn't 128 players good for 7 rounds of Swiss?

That sounds much better than a marathon single sitting. Looking forward to it.

I would be shocked if they do more than 5 rounds. That would be a good way to determine a top 32.

I think, I understand it. Flight 1 will take place on Thursday, flight 2 on Friday and the top 32 teams of each are entered in the championship that takes place Saturday. Is there anything talking about balancing the players if both events are not sold out? So if a total of 180 people sign up with 110 in flight 1 and 70 in flight 2 it seems unfair for the flight one guys if they cut both to top 32.

I think, I understand it. Flight 1 will take place on Thursday, flight 2 on Friday and the top 32 teams of each are entered in the championship that takes place Saturday. Is there anything talking about balancing the players if both events are not sold out? So if a total of 180 people sign up with 110 in flight 1 and 70 in flight 2 it seems unfair for the flight one guys if they cut both to top 32.

I can't find anything explaining what happens in that scenario. FFG must be expecting (hoping for?) this to be a huge event.

Awesome. I wonder if we can get the full squad lists for this. :-D

Oh, I just noticed this in the event description in GenCon's event catalog:

The times listed for this event include only the swiss-paired rounds. If you advance to the Top 8, be prepared to play additional rounds after the preliminaries conclude.

Soooo yeah, I guess the final Saturday tournament will run into the wee hours. What a marathon that'll be.

It was a top out at what 100 players last year(if think it was around 64 for the day of). It started and hour plus late, broke for dinner, etc. Forgive me if my faith in a 9 hour window is less than favorable.

64 players is 6 rounds, add 3 rounds for top 8 finals for a total of 9 rounds. That really is not that bad.....

Danthrax. Are you heading to Indy for the event? If so we should talk about travel and Hotel.

64 players is 6 rounds, add 3 rounds for top 8 finals for a total of 9 rounds. That really is not that bad.....

Danthrax. Are you heading to Indy for the event? If so we should talk about travel and Hotel.

I texted you back.

so if your in the thursday flight and you qualify for saturday, does that mean you don't play on Friday ?

Correct.

i guess its a good opportunity to enjoy the rest of the Con and recharge your batteries, never been to a Con, would have liked to but my vacation time is in June not August.

so if your in the thursday flight and you qualify for saturday, does that mean you don't play on Friday ?

Correct.

Basically if you make it Thursday you are good. If you do not make it Thursday, you might have a chance on Friday. I say might because anyone that did not play on Thursday takes priority, and there is a hard cap of 128 players per day.

One thing that I did not see listed:

Can players use a different Squad for each day? I assume the answer is yes.

Separate events, no reason to think otherwise.

One thing that I did not see listed:

Can players use a different Squad for each day? I assume the answer is yes.

Between Thursday and Friday? I don't think there is any doubt.

Between your qualifying flight and the finals? I would assume yes. Unless you see some crazy trend you didn't expect to see and luck through your flight but come up with a more solid choice for the finals, I'm not sure why you would switch your squad up. Then again, a balanced game should have multiple combinations able to win. Maybe you just wanna pull out a surprise.

So, if you qualify for Saturday, do you have to bring the same list you qualified with?

So, if you qualify for Saturday, do you have to bring the same list you qualified with?

As I said above, I would assume no. They are separate events.

Interesting. I expect that most serious players would want to guarantee a spot, so would reserve their spot. But all reservations play the same day, and the second day is nothing but walkins. Could make for some good players knocking each other out.

Probably not a serious problem with 32 advancing, but will be interesting to see.

One thing that I did not see listed:

Can players use a different Squad for each day? I assume the answer is yes.

It's all the same tournament so I would hope they would require you to stick with the same list.