I personally hope this situation like the 1994 Caribbean Cup game will hilight the problem with the rules so that it gets changed.

For an interesting overview of that game listed to this short podcast: http://ludology.libsyn.com/gametek-classic-124-caribbean-cup

I had no idea such a legal change had even happened.

Last time I saw anything about intentional draws, it was people on here asking about drawing if they got drawn against their friends/family and everyone was all "NOT LEGAL YOU COULD/WOULD BE DQ'ED!!!"

After playing for over 7 hours I'm thinking that if you could ID into the cut that would be a great idea allowing people to enter the elimination rounds refreshed and ready to go for another 4 hours.

I see nothing wrong here other than salty people calling players cowards and worse for wanting a break.

Wait wait wait -- every time someone brings up the "Tournaments are too long" argument, we hear, "Hey, that's part of the challenge, having the endurance to play at a high level over a long period of time!"

But now it's, "Hey, those poor Top 8 players are tired, they need a break so they can play fresh in the final rounds, let them have their tie!"

So which is it?

Pretty much one can get a double 'bye' One in the first round and one in the last one via ID...

Smart play by the Top 8 to progress further in the tournament.

The only decision FFG need to make is whether or not they want X-Wing to mimic Magic. Magic players are used to this and wouldn't blink an eye at what happened.

On a totally unrelated note, the farcical F1 Melbourne Grand Prix Qualifying 3 Session showed how quickly the powers-that-be can change extremely unpopular rules.

Actual draws are much more common in Magic than they are in X-Wing though.

I can not believe this is still a topic. ID's make prefect sense. They reward people for winning early and often. Those people normally have tough strengths of schedule and in my opinion have earned it.

Actual draws are much more common in Magic than they are in X-Wing though.

FFG need to consider if 'not playing' X-Wing in the final Swiss round devalues the spectacle of the tournament.

I can't understand the rage from people who didn't see this coming. It's what happens when IDs are permitted.

Smart play by the Top 8 to progress further in the tournament.

Exactly. Nothing wrong with that.

I play chess for a couple of decades. If you need a game to go your way during the last round of a tournament (in addition to winning yourself) you are screwed. If you did not win during earlier rounds you are not good enough. That applies to both swiss-system and round-robin.

Seriously though, I could just copy and paste my other posts concerning this.

Hey guy in ninth that's upset that he didn't make the cut. Here's an idea, win more games.

No clue why anyone would chastise someone for taking a sure thing. If playing the match can only hurt you. Why would any person be dumb enough to risk that? Don't use the argument that we're all just there to fly casual. That intentional draw guaranteed that player another game and probably more prize.

Pitchforks and torches! Burn it down!

Wait, our Lord and Master, the Heaves did it? Do we riot? Or do we congratulate our lord on his brilliant strategy? So confused...

There's now a rumor going around that this was a deliberate protest. Based on posts here that doesn't seem to be the case, can anyone confirm this?

There's now a rumor going around that this was a deliberate protest. Based on posts here that doesn't seem to be the case, can anyone confirm this?

I don't belive they did that for 1 second and I'd a suspect if those involved started saying they did it in protest they are actually just trying to save face.

There's now a rumor going around that this was a deliberate protest. Based on posts here that doesn't seem to be the case, can anyone confirm this?

I don't belive they did that for 1 second and I'd a suspect if those involved started saying they did it in protest they are actually just trying to save face.

Yeah, no one who was at the tournament has reported this so far. I won't say it was someone involved in the Top 8 because that would look even worse if it weren't true. I'd guess it's just someone who wants to spin the narrative.

Regardless of the arguments pro and con for ID: this issue is clearly quite divisive and disruptive for our community. It is a solution to a problem that I don't think we had - I can't recall any public lobby for introducing ID into the tournament rules!

FFG needs to mea culpa and roll back this rule.

There's now a rumor going around that this was a deliberate protest. Based on posts here that doesn't seem to be the case, can anyone confirm this?

I suspect it is some backpedaling now that there are rumors of some of the top 8 mocking those who couldn't make the cut. Because FFG has shown the willingness to blackball players.

There's now a rumor going around that this was a deliberate protest. Based on posts here that doesn't seem to be the case, can anyone confirm this?

I'd like to think this is true, and if they wanted to start a debate (or a yelling match) they've certainly managed it!

Here's what I find rather hilarious. When we have the topics about sportsmanship, flying casual, letting people get take backs, and etc... people who follow the rules or use the rules to there advantage to fly people off the board, not allow missed opportunities, and the other controversies we rehash get called bad sports and worse. The top 8 did the very same thing and there's a ton of people protecting them because it's in the rules. Well again so is flying people off the board, so is telling them nope you forgot your action, so is telling them you can shoot with those previous ships since when you measured you activated them and then moved on. Total hypocrisy at its finest that I suspect is because Paul was one who did it and he could never do any wrong... it would suck being at table 5 or 6 and look over to see top 8 drawing and then realizing that now all you're doing is playing for acrylic bomb tokens. It's a BS rule but it's definitely on the players for using it. Any one of them could have declined the offer and played it out and took the risk. But they chose to do it so honestly ant criticism there way is deserved. It'd be just like if someone at the final table at world's flew someone off the board or didn't let them take an action. They'd be well within the rules and there right to do it but they'd be absolutely crucified by a lot of the community. Just wait until it starts happening on the twitch streams. People set up there ships and then shake hands and pack them up. That'll be good for the game...

Can't wait for when FFG streams Nationals and Worlds and has to cut around to different games because nobody in the top cut plays out the last round of swiss. Gonna be awesome

Actual draws are much more common in Magic than they are in X-Wing though.

It's totally irrelevant when 20 points ensured a lock for Top 8.

It's relevant because FFG is making an option something that rarely happens in X-Wing otherwise. If draws happened all the time, an intentional draw wouldn't seem like a big deal. But when was the last true draw you saw in an X-Wing game? How many have you seen ever? Allowing one to be created artificially seems off when it doesn't happen naturally all that often.

It wasn't a deliberate protest. It was 8 players realizing that the tournament rules allowed us to guarantee our slot in the top 8, and so we did so. It's not a good rule, but it's the rule, so we played by it. We weren't happy about locking out the lower ranked players, and we certainly did not mock them. We received mockery from a very small handful of lower ranked players, but we did not respond in kind.

We realized when we did it that the forums and facebook would explode, and it has. We were laughing at some of the ridiculous things people were saying online about it, which is probably where that rumor came from.

I like the suggestion one of the blogs put forward to remove draws entirely from X-Wing. In the case of a draw, the player with the initiative gets the win, same as in elimination rounds. It's clean and makes people play.

Here's what I find rather hilarious. When we have the topics about sportsmanship, flying casual, letting people get take backs, and etc... people who follow the rules or use the rules to there advantage to fly people off the board, not allow missed opportunities, and the other controversies we rehash get called bad sports and worse. The top 8 did the very same thing and there's a ton of people protecting them because it's in the rules. Well again so is flying people off the board, so is telling them nope you forgot your action, so is telling them you can shoot with those previous ships since when you measured you activated them and then moved on. Total hypocrisy at its finest that I suspect is because Paul was one who did it and he could never do any wrong... it would suck being at table 5 or 6 and look over to see top 8 drawing and then realizing that now all you're doing is playing for acrylic bomb tokens. It's a BS rule but it's definitely on the players for using it. Any one of them could have declined the offer and played it out and took the risk. But they chose to do it so honestly ant criticism there way is deserved. It'd be just like if someone at the final table at world's flew someone off the board or didn't let them take an action. They'd be well within the rules and there right to do it but they'd be absolutely crucified by a lot of the community. Just wait until it starts happening on the twitch streams. People set up there ships and then shake hands and pack them up. That'll be good for the game...

Again, I would like to point out that the top three didn't benefit from this. They could have lost their R6 games and still made it to the cut.

It wasn't a deliberate protest. It was 8 players realizing that the tournament rules allowed us to guarantee our slot in the top 8, and so we did so. It's not a good rule, but it's the rule, so we played by it. We weren't happy about locking out the lower ranked players, and we certainly did not mock them. We received mockery from a very small handful of lower ranked players, but we did not respond in kind.

We realized when we did it that the forums and facebook would explode, and it has. We were laughing at some of the ridiculous things people were saying online about it, which is probably where that rumor came from.

I like the suggestion one of the blogs put forward to remove draws entirely from X-Wing. In the case of a draw, the player with the initiative gets the win, same as in elimination rounds. It's clean and makes people play.

It's not hard to eliminate draws, and yeah, that'd solve this problem immediately.

It wasn't a deliberate protest. It was 8 players realizing that the tournament rules allowed us to guarantee our slot in the top 8, and so we did so. It's not a good rule, but it's the rule, so we played by it. We weren't happy about locking out the lower ranked players, and we certainly did not mock them. We received mockery from a very small handful of lower ranked players, but we did not respond in kind.

We realized when we did it that the forums and facebook would explode, and it has. We were laughing at some of the ridiculous things people were saying online about it, which is probably where that rumor came from.

I like the suggestion one of the blogs put forward to remove draws entirely from X-Wing. In the case of a draw, the player with the initiative gets the win, same as in elimination rounds. It's clean and makes people play.

Kudos for entering the fray and facing it head on, sir!

I would like to ask, though, since you couldn't have failed to make the cut, why not play anyway?

Rule or not, this is unsportsmanlike conduct. Taking advantage of a rule to the detriment of others isn't something that should be acceptable to anyone.

But the TO definitely can't be held to blame as they have to abide by the rules set forth by FFG.