NicheCon Additional Info on Tournaments Structure

NicheCon is an “Open” participation event with numerous optional tournaments held throughout each day of the event over a 4-day schedule, with a half day on Thursday afternoon and a half day on Sunday morning. 
All tournaments are open and optional to all attendees.  Players are free to pick and choose whichever Old School Magic Niche formats and tournament events they wish to play in, according to the attendee’s preferences.  Players can play in as few or as many formats and tournament events as they wish.  Multiple tournaments for different formats may be running consecutively on certain days to give players options and choices as to which they prefer to participate in.

For all days of the event, there is open casual gaming where any players are encouraged to grab pick up games in between tournaments.

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NicheCon Swiss Tournaments Format

NicheCon leverages Swiss tournaments structure, where players compete in a set number of rounds where they are paired against opponents with the same or similar win-loss records, ensuring higher-skilled players face each other as the tournament progresses. 

Unlike single elimination, players are not eliminated after a loss and all continue to play the designated number of Swiss rounds. After the Swiss rounds, the top-performing players (typically the top 8) advance to a single-elimination playoff bracket to determine the final winner. 

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NicheCon Tournament Structure Executive Summary:

• All Tournament Rounds will be 50-minutes.

• All Tournaments will be four (4) rounds of Swiss and then cut to Top 8.

• All NicheCon tournaments are under “Thunderdome Rules”: "Two men enter, One man leaves." Ties will be determined by Chaos Orb/Falling Star Flips!

• Upon “Time in the Round”, it will then be an active turn, plus five turns remaining. Afterwhich, Chaos Orb/Falling Star Flips begin!

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How Swiss Rounds Work

• Pairing: In the first round, players are paired randomly or by a seeding system. In subsequent rounds, the pairings are based on cumulative match points (wins, losses, and draws). 

• Match Points: Wins award 3 points, losses 0 points, and draws 1 point. 

• Opponent Matching: The goal is to pair players with identical scores. For example, players with a perfect record will play each other, and players with one loss will play each other. 

• No Elimination: Players continue to play in every round, even if they have lost some matches. 

• Round Structure: Each round typically consists of a best-of-three match that lasts between 50 and 70 minutes. 

• Tournament Software: We will utilize https://tolaria.app/ to organize the tournament, do Swiss Pairings, manage Tournament match results and points, brackets and Top 8 Seed.

Moving to the Top 8 Quarter Finals:

• Cutting to the Top: After the final Swiss round, the top-performing players are ranked based on their match points and tiebreakers. 

• Single-Elimination Bracket: We will cut to Top 8 Quarter Finals based on seeds calculated from the points from match results.  The Top 8 players will then be placed into a single-elimination bracket. 

• Moving to the Top 8 Quarter Finals:

• Cut to Top 8: After the Swiss rounds, the top 8 players based on their final match points and tiebreakers are selected for the single-elimination bracket. 

• Single-Elimination Bracket: This bracket proceeds like a traditional playoff. The players are seeded 1 through 8. 

• Round Pairings: The pairings are set by seeds (1st vs. 8th, 2nd vs. 7th, etc.). 

• Advancing: The winner of each match advances to the next round (Quarterfinals to Semifinals, then Finals). 

• Best Two Out of Three: All playoff matches, including the semi-finals and final, are played as best-two-out-of-three matches. 

• Determining the Champion: Players in the single-elimination portion are eliminated after one loss of a best two out of 3 Games within the match. The top performing last player standing is declared the NicheCon tournament champion for that niche Old School Magic format!   

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Key Differences from Single Elimination

• No Early Elimination: In a Swiss tournament, you won't be knocked out after a single loss. 

• More Playtime: Players get to play more games and match up against opponents with similar skill levels. 

• Fairer Outcomes: The system allows for more consistent ranking by giving more high-performing players the chance to play each other.