Tournament Mode - How it Could Work / Future Feature?

[ECB-Bookie]

Ok, this is an exploration of how a tournament system could work in ECB. It is more of a thought concept than anything as I don't know if momo has the player base yet to try to do this but maybe I'm wrong or this could be a beginning framework for a future development.

Here is one way it could work. Each Day you get 1 entry into the daily tournament. There is a new Pro Mode tournament each day and all cards are played as level 1 cards like Arena so the tournament is super fair and balanced and an ideal format for new players who will want to play everyday and see how high rank they can achieve. Also, it takes probably about 45 minutes to complete assuming you don't lose. If you lose then it ends much quicker.

The tournament time changes each day to allow players from different time zones to be able to ideally participate. Perhaps something like a 6 hour rotation. So Day 1, at hour 6, Day2 at hour 12, Day 3 at hour 18, Day 4 at hour 22/24, then repeat or something like this. Since the tournament is taking place at a set time this will result in hundreds of people all logging into ECB at that time who want to participate in the tournament. You enter the tournament page in the game and enter the tournament where you are placed in a queue. The registration can last for 10 minutes or so. This gives players enough time to register then send coins to friends, buy card packs, and chat momentarily. Everyone gets in the queue for 10 minutes then the tournament begins. Once the registration period ends then all players are entered into the tournament onto a giant bracket - if missing spots are needed to fill they can be filled with bots in round 1. Let's say 200 players enter, then how many rounds will it take to win? 2*1=2, 2*2=4, 4*2=8, 8*2=16, 16*2=32, 32*2=64, 64*2=128, 128*2=256. So that is a total of 8 rounds, 56 spots filled with first round bots. If every 5 minutes the next match begins then this means the tournament will take exactly 40 minutes to complete.

Winners from each round are randomly matched up with other winners and round 2 begins (there are no seeds). You don't technically need a bracket in this format which may simplify programming. You just need to store the names of the winners then randomly match them up in the next round. Time out results in automatic loss and opposing player will automatically advance to the next round. You can allow a free entry everday, OR you can do a 500 coin entry and payout is similar to how it is currently done in Arena, however more people might participate if its free entry.

Since one player only needs to string 7-8 wins in a row to win the tournament and all cards are played as level 1 cards then realistically just about any player could win this tournament. Players who enjoy this mode will come back each day and chance to see if they could win the tournament.

You could also theoretically award DP and ladder points in this mode. For example let's say you CAP the tournament at 256 players, then in order to enter the tournament you must have 8*4 = 32 Mana available to enter. Each round DP can be rewarded in increasing amounts. This would mean you could get an extra supplamental boost in ladder by playing well in the daily tournament. Since the tournament format is all level 1 cards, this would inject a small amount balance to ladder by allowing new players who participate in daily tournament to have slightly better odds of gaining DP during the tournament format. Players only lose mana for each match played in tournament and leftover Mana can be used in regular ladder play. Since everyone would be loggin in for the tournament, then as players get knocked out you would see a ton of players decide to go play regular ladder all at once and the game would be very much alive and well.

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There are probably 100 different ways you could do a tournament format. I used to be a very regular player with another popular mobile card game called Shadow Era, which I'm sure the developers and just about everyone else has heard of. The players in this game are fanatics about tournaments. They players are so fanatical about tournaments that even though this is not an ingame feature, they host their own tournaments offline. The create their own brackets and meet up with players in chat rooms, then play private battles in game and report back to the chat groups the result. These players are so fanatical that they are really into the tournaments and i know that the tournaments are what has resulted in their longevity playing the game. My mind thinks alot about that and the hope that a tournament based format would be something that could create a lot longevity amongst players or something new players could get excited about and help transition them into ladder play.