The Deathlist Cup 2018

[msc 18,512]

We're back in February, so, if the first round draw happens on the 20th January, this gives everyone 18 days to decide if they want to enter the Cup or not, and there's already several yes or maybes in the other thread. In 2017, deadsox beat Spade, he beat DDT and he beat Death Impends to win the first ever Deathlist Cup. Will he go two for two, or will one of the deadpool heavyweights fight back? Or will anyone win? It's a Cup, skill is good but so is luck. Come one, come all, and look at the new rules...

 

Some Basic Rules which I've tried to explain as simply as possible, but which are open for questions about how obvious things I've forgotten work.
 
 
The Deathlist Cup
 
1.    This will be a knockout tournament featuring one on one matchups between Deathlist forum posters. These matches will be determined by use of a random draw, using Random.org.

2.    If we have an odd number of players ie 30 like in 2017, then certain players will get byes to the Second Round. This will be based on results from the 2017 Cup ie Winner first, then Runner up, semifinalists, etc etc.

3.    Players, on receiving their randomly drawn opponent, will have a ten day period to send the Referee their First Eleven for the match by PM, and one sub in case of an early death. These eleven picks can be very low hanging fruit if you so wish, as the point of the game is to score as many “goals” during the month a match is played.

 

ie, a perfect team would look like this

1. George Bush Sr

2. Barbara Bush

3. George Bush Sr

4. Bill Clinton

5. Hilary Clinton

6. Barack Obama

7. Jimmy Carter

8. Walter Mondale

9. John Major

10. Tony Blair

11. Donald Trump

subs

12. Melania Trump

13. Dick Cheney

14. Sarah Palin

 

As an example. Though in reality, that team would be shit for actually scoring points...

4.    NEW RULE – The following picks will be PROHIBITED ie NOT ALLOWED: death row prisoners, anyone who is a prisoner of ISIS or similar terrorist groups, people solely famous for being ill and nothing else, animals, no kids (that’s anyone under the age of 18), no one missing in action who blatantly died already.

5.    For clarification, my views on Famous for Being Ill are extremely lenient by forum standards. Is your pick an obscure in their own field type, like a historian from Trinidad? They’re fine. Are they someone dying from cancer who then goes on to do something notable like climb Everest, write a novel, or just raise lots and lots of money for charity via marathons (Jane Tomlinson) or health reform (Granger)? They’re fine too. Is your pick someone who is in coma due to a heart attack, or a dad on his last Christmas, or the like, the type no one would have heard of for anything? Don’t pick them, there’s PLENTY of other better options. As seen by the fact that 99% of picks last year didn’t fall under FFBI only. Thank you.

6.    If in doubt, submit a pick, but the decision of the ref (me) is final and is not open to any court of appeal. If you think it’s a dodgy pick, it probably is.

7.    Each match will take place over the course of a single month. For example, a February match would take place from February 1st to February 28th (or 29th on a leap year), a March match from March 1st to March 31st and so on...

8.    If you do not send your team in before the deadline, your opponent from the previous round takes your place. If neither has a team in, the opponent in the next round has a bye, and I hold a grudge. Hah.

9.    Games will be scored in the following manner:

 

A person in your team dies = 3 points
A unique person in your team dies = 1 more point (ie 1 bonus point)
Someone famous only for being ill dies – 0 points because not in the team (hah, bet you thought I wasn’t paying attention here)

10.    Here is what happens in the case of a team member dying prematurely (ie on 28th Feb for the March game). If you discover this before the 3rd of the month, your top sub will automatically go into place. If it is discovered on the 3rd or after, sorry about your luck. If it turns out the person was dead and known to be (this is determined via a reference in a newspaper or magazine, not social media) then subs don’t come into play. This was a bone of contention in 2017 and I hope this clears that up.

11.    At the end of the month, the player in the match with the highest score wins that game, and will advance to the next round. The player who doesn’t have the highest score will lose, and be eliminated.

12.    In the event of a draw, the following tiebreaks will be used:

1st tiebreak = number of hits
2nd tiebreak = average age of hits
3rd tiebreak = flip of a coin
4th tiebreak if needed = asking my child which team has the cooler name (heh)

13.    A player is only held to one team for a single match. If they win their match and advance to the next round, they may pick eleven entirely different people for the next round. In this way, folk who announce their terminal illness in, say, May, can be put to good deadpooling use.

14.    Qualifying obits? Every single English language newspaper or magazine (ie Bleeding Cool for example) in the universe. Also Le Monde, Le Figaro, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, El Pais and El Mundo. If you still can’t get a QO, well, really…

15.    FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IF YOU ARE GOING TO GET BANNED FROM THE FORUM, PLEASE SEND ME YOUR TEAM FOR THE NEXT MONTH IN ADVANCE. AND IF YOU DO GET BANNED, sending me “I hope your kids die” Private Messages will not get you reinstated. Just a heads up.

 

16.    As KO tournaments run in the following pattern 2/4/8/16/32/etc, then, if we have an uneven number of competitors, the remaining spots in the First Round will be taken by BYEs, and again, the people who get byes into Round 2 will be random.

 

Example
 
Death Impends, msc, YoungWillz and JoeyRuss hypothetically take part.
 
Random.org gives us these matches:
1.    Death Impends v msc (feck)
2.    YoungWillz v JoeyRuss
 
This draw takes place in Month 1 (ie January) and is for matches taking place in Month 2 (February). After the draw, each player sends The Referee (ie msc) a team of Eleven Celebrities they think will snuff it in Month 2.
 
Then, for the results:
 
Joey scores in Month 2 with a big name celebrity and a unique but obscure punk music historian.
Young Willz gets a unique big name celebrity.
 
The score is 7-4 to Joey, who advances to the next round.
 

[msc 18,512]

This spot for a list of people confirmed to be in the Cup

 

(At present it is a list of people who have specified interest as well, hence ? next to name)

 

2018 entrants

1.       Msc

2.       YoungWillz

3.       Deadsox (Champion)

4.       Death Impends (last years runner up)

5.       Maryportfuncity?

6.       Bibliogryphon

7.       Heef

8.       JoeyRuss

9.       Pedro

10.   Sean

11.   Roverandout

12. Phantom of the Midway (AKA RadGuy)

13. The Dead Cow

14. gcreptile

15. FixedBusiness

16.Grim Up North

17. DDT

18. Captain Chorizo

19. Wormfarmer

20. Deathray

21. Spade Cooley

22. Garn

23. John Key

24. Charon

25. Sir Creep

26. Book

27. The Engineer

28. Yorkshire Banker

[YoungWillz 21,142]

3 minutes ago, msc said:

 
Then, for the results:
 
Joey scores in Month 2 with a big name celebrity and a unique but obscure punk music historian.
Young Willz gets a unique big name celebrity.
 
The score is 7-4 to Joey, who advances to the next round.
 

Damn, I even lost in the hypothetical! Ha!

[Death Impends 8,029]

FFBIs completely gone? I dig it. And rule 15 made me laugh more than it should...

[msc 18,512]

1 minute ago, Death Impends said:

FFBIs completely gone? I dig it. And rule 15 made me laugh more than it should...

 

I've been dwelling over it for a while, but I decided since I am so lenient and a whole host of folk were OK, then there's really no need for the... what, 5 picks out of 400 last time? Something along that ratio.

[RadGuy 1,619]

I'd like to participate again.

[The Dead Cow 620]

I'd certainly be willing to participate in this again.

[gcreptile 11,037]

I am at least going to make an attempt.

[FixedBusiness 407]

I have interest in participating in this cup.

[Grim Up North 3,766]

Hell yeah!

 

Hoping to crush Joey's dreams again 

[Joey Russ 7,255]

15 minutes ago, Grim Up North said:

Hell yeah!

 

Hoping to crush Joey's dreams again 

Maybe so, but I will be hoping to go up against someone different this time, even if it’s a much more experienced player. I think improved research will mean a better result for me, but we will see...

[msc 18,512]

Note to self: Fix draw so Grim and Joey face off in Round 1 for LOLs.

 

Note to self: Don't tell anyone about this.

 

[DevonDeathTrip 2,365]

I'll enter a team as I've got plenty of DDP cast offs I need to give some pitch time. 

[Heef 166]

Definitely back in, though I think I'll struggle to go as well as last year.

 

Really like the obit rules in this one as it gives those of us from more remote climes 

 

If FFBIs have gone, why have the points for a standard death increased? I guess the only impact is that it slightly devalues the unique hit bonus vs. last year.

[Grim Up North 3,766]

57 minutes ago, DevonDeathTrip said:

I'll enter a team as I've got plenty of DDP cast offs I need to give some pitch time. 

A bit like Man City reserves?

[maryportfuncity 10,673]

Aye - I'll give this another shot

 

 

[msc 18,512]

10 minutes ago, Heef said:

 

If FFBIs have gone, why have the points for a standard death increased? I guess the only impact is that it slightly devalues the unique hit bonus vs. last year.

 

Well, it's still 1 point extra, but its part of standardizing the points system, so instead of 1-2-3, it's just 3 (as in the real game) plus a bonus point. 

I did consider jokers but I prefer it nice and simple.

[Grim Up North 3,766]

16 minutes ago, Heef said:

Definitely back in, though I think I'll struggle to go as well as last year.

 

Really like the obit rules in this one as it gives those of us from more remote climes 

 

If FFBIs have gone, why have the points for a standard death increased? I guess the only impact is that it slightly devalues the unique hit bonus vs. last year.

Hi Heef - I just went back and relived our QF from last year - good game, good game as Brucie would have said - you must have a good chance of a first round bye this time but maybe after I beat Joey in the first round  I might get a chance for my revenge.

[Heef 166]

58 minutes ago, msc said:

 

Well, it's still 1 point extra, but its part of standardizing the points system, so instead of 1-2-3, it's just 3 (as in the real game) plus a bonus point. 

I did consider jokers but I prefer it nice and simple.

Simple is good.

 

Just in the last tourny, you could beat someone despite getting fewer hits if you could nail some of those unique bonuses. Now, in order to win with fewer hits, you'd need 3 unique hits to equal one standard hit. So, four unique hits are required to overcome a shortfall of a single death. In the previous year, there was a real balance between using FFBI to get a one-pointer or the fact a unique hit could bag you the equal value - i.e. one of the reasons there were so few FFBI selections is that the rewards were so poor in comparison.

 

No problem with FFBI being removed, but I'd say there's a lower incentive for uniques as the relative value to standard picks is diminished by ~1 third.

 

2 + 1 seems more appropriate than 3 + 1 (plus, crikey - how many points would DI have got in the semi-final(?) on a 3 + 1 basis)

 

Definitely like the clarifications on the timing rules etc. - though given the decent spirit that last year's tournament ran in (excluding Morbidguy's paddy) hopefully the same common sense approach can work this year if in doubt.

[msc 18,512]

4 minutes ago, Heef said:

Simple is good.

 

Just in the last tourny, you could beat someone despite getting fewer hits if you could nail some of those unique bonuses. Now, in order to win with fewer hits, you'd need 3 unique hits to equal one standard hit. So, four unique hits are required to overcome a shortfall of a single death. In the previous year, there was a real balance between using FFBI to get a one-pointer or the fact a unique hit could bag you the equal value - i.e. one of the reasons there were so few FFBI selections is that the rewards were so poor in comparison.

 

No problem with FFBI being removed, but I'd say there's a lower incentive for uniques as the relative value to standard picks is diminished by ~1 third.

 

2 + 1 seems more appropriate than 3 + 1 (plus, crikey - how many points would DI have got in the semi-final(?) on a 3 + 1 basis)

 

Definitely like the clarifications on the timing rules etc. - though given the decent spirit that last year's tournament ran in (excluding Morbidguy's paddy) hopefully the same common sense approach can work this year if in doubt.

 

Ah, you mean 4-6 and so on (ie 2 hits each, but two are unique for the team on the right?). True, but as I iron out the Cup, things will sort out as they present themselves as issues. IF the new points system turns out to be more troublesome than the issues it fixes, I'll admit the error. I suspect uniques will still wind up being as crucial as last year, however.

 

And yes, any issues throughout the tournament will be dealt with in the same "common sense way", though with an expanding of the time to get a sub in and increasing the qualifying obits, I hope that will see off most of them at the pass! As usual, you don't know till you're knee deep in quarterfinals everywhere!

[CaptainChorizo 1,990]

I would like to compete in the 2018 Royal Rumble  Deathlist Cup

[Wormfarmer 429]

I don't expect to get very far, but I'll try it if you need more teams to bounce out in the early rounds.  Then again, there's always the luck factor. 

[msc 18,512]

Some might ask how I would deal with a Cas Willow situation in this 2018 Deathlist Cup, and with some justification, given we had one last year with Ms Torr!

 

So this is my ruling in advance:

 

If a person's death can be found before the 1st of the month by Google (ie news, blogs, the persons own website, Bleeding Cool or Doctor Who Online or other specialist websites and so on that come up on a Google search), then the competitor should have warned the ref, and this person cannot be substituted.

 

If a person's death can be found before the 1st of the month solely by social media or other means (ie private Google+ groups, Facebook, tweets, etc etc) then the competitor will get the benefit of the doubt, and their first available subsitute will come into play. Unless this is after the 2nd of the month, of course.

 

If no one had a clue about the person's death, of course a sub comes into play as normal in the time period.

 

I hope this will clear up such incidents before any arise!

 

 

 

 

[Deathray 2,942]

Sent mine. Though a couple are borderline FFBI

[msc 18,512]

8 minutes ago, Deathray said:

Sent mine. Though a couple are borderline FFBI

 

You know which 2 won't be accepted.