Hey everyone!
RHacker93 here to announce the signups for the second edition of the Meltdown League as we begin the journey to crown the next Duelyst Grandmaster! The first week of the league will be officially be beginning on April 9th and decklists for the first week will be due by 9 pm PST April 8th.
In order to sign up just follow this link and fill out the signup form as well as join our Discord page (I will post both links again at the bottom of the document):
Tournament Signups: https://forms.gle/BqaVnTL3WX8W6Asr6
Discord Page: https://discord.gg/HXzD3JN
Tournament Structure:
This main part of the League will consist of 10 weeks of semi-swiss play and during each week a player will be assigned 3 opponents who they will have to schedule matches with. Failure to complete these matches will result in a loss for both players unless one is able to show an admin or manager that their opponent was unresponsive in which case the player reported the issue will be given a win. Each week a player will be allowed to submit a different deck and failure to submit a decklist will cause a player to reuse their deck from the previous week.
After this 10 week period, the top 14 players in the league will move onto the playoffs. However, the final 2 playoff spots will be awarded in a last-chance single elimination tournament. This last chance tournament will be a single elimination tournament with seeding determined by player’s placement within the league. The top two players from this tournament will round out the final 16 players who will make the playoffs.
The playoffs for the Meltdown League will be held in a double elimination bracket with seeding determined by position within the league while the 15th and 16th place will be the players who placed 1st and 2nd in the last chance qualifier. Players in the top 16 will play out their matches over the course of 2 weeks until we have a final 4 at which point the final 4 will be streamed live on that Sunday! The format for these playoff matches will be identical to those in the normal season with the top 4 matches changing to be best of 5 instead of best of 3.
Tournament Format:
For those of you who had played in the last Meltdown League, the format will be familiar though there are going to be a few small tweaks. The format will still consist of a single deck with a sideboard which can be used to modify your deck before games 2 and 3. Round 1 must be played without using any sideboard card. In addition to this players will be allowed a sideboard of 12 cards (up from the original 10 used in the first Meltdown League).
Ban List:
Something I know many people have been waiting on but the upcoming Meltdown League will be testing out an implementation of a ban list. The goal of this ban list is to reduce the power level of some of the most oppressive archetypes in the meta in order to increase the diversity of viable decks in the tournament. If a player is seen violating the ban list please alert a manager and the offending player will be given a loss for that week. The ban list itself may be subject to change over the course of the league if necessary, as it is something that we’re trying out but it will likely stay the same over the course of the tournament.
Note You will not receive a penalty for playing a banned card that is generated from a random effect. (Example: If a Sworn Sister L’Kian puts a Lava Lance in your hand you may play it without any penalty.) If there is any question as to whether or not the card was generated by the random effect please finish the game as normal and ask a Manager to review the replay. Once it has been reviewed if the banned card was generated randomly there will be no penalty, otherwise the penalty will still apply.
Hard Bans (Cards are not ever allowed):
Lava Lance:
Lava Lance has served as an incredibly versatile and powerful removal in Ragnora. Removing this tool takes away one of Ragnora’s most versatile tools in the early game which their ability to snowball the early game and remove key out of reach minions.
Rae:
Rae is being banned due to its ability to allow players to cast Cataclysmic Fault on 6 mana. Removing Rae from this combo will force Cataclysmic Fault to cost 7 mana to play and activate it at best and overall will slow the deck’s ability to reach its powerful late game.
Lucent Beam:
Zir’an is currently a deck which has the tools to be teched to play against both faster and slower decks though a combination of healing effects as well as direct damage effects. Banning lucent beam allows Zir’an to retain the majority of their healing effects but removes their most efficient burn spell which should reduce the reach Zir’an has against slower decks.
Soft Bans (Cards that cannot be used in the same deck but can be played individually):
Flash Reincarnation + Mythron Wanderer:
Flash Reincarnation will be banned in decks that are also playing Mythron Wanderer. While I had originally been against doing a soft ban I decided to change my mind in this case. This is due to the fact that a hard ban would cause more harm to Starhorn and Vaath than it would to Ragnora. However, Wanderer Ragnora specifically requires a nerf and aside from banning all Wanderer archetypes there wasn’t a single other card that could be banned aside from Flash Reincarnation. Due to these factors there will be a soft ban will be enacted and Flash Reincarnation and Mythron Wanderer will not be allowed to be played in the same decklist.
Prizing:
The monetary prize support for the Meltdown League will be based on donations made to our Matcherino campaign. Anything that people can donate to the prize pool of the Meltdown League is much appreciated and the more people that donate the more attractive the tournament will be! If you can’t donate any money but would be interested in donating an incentive which other people would be able to pay for then please contact me (RHacker93#5450 on Discord) and we can discuss adding your incentive to the Matcherino page!
Link to the Matcherino: https://matcherino.com/tournaments/14204/overview In addition to the Matcherino funding, we also have some other rewards we will be able to give out and the prize structure for the tournament will look like this:
1st: Title of Grandmaster, Rogue Legacy Argeon Skin, 50% of the total prize pool.
2nd: Rogue Legacy Argeon Skin, 25% of the total prize pool.
3rd: Rogue Legacy Argeon Skin, 15% of the total prize pool.
4th: Rogue Legacy Argeon Skin, 10% of the total prize pool.
Giveaways:
Aside from the major prizes players will also have a chance to win orbs each week they are able to complete their matches. If a player has completed their matches for the week they will be entered into a raffle and each week 3 3-orb codes will be given out!
Streams:
Streams will be held on Sunday and will be hosted by myself as well as additional guest casters from the community. The exact times for the casts may vary based on the availability of our guests but we will make sure to post the time each week in our Discord!
Streams will be hosted from our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/meltdowntown
Previous will be uploaded to our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkIT3JJxqe8vv0WpwToiotg
Closing Statement:
Thanks again to everyone for making this possible! It’s only through the help and love of this community that we are able to make these tournaments possible and our little competitive scene chugging along so I hope to as many of you there as possible! Also as I promised here’s a second copy of the links to the Meltdown League signups as well as the link to join our
Discord: Tournament Signups: https://forms.gle/BqaVnTL3WX8W6Asr6
Discord Page: https://discord.gg/HXzD3JN
