Last week was the second time we held inter-divisional matches. Below is the number of winners that moved up a division:
Gold vs. Silver Division: 1 out of 16 fighters
Bronze vs. A Division: 7 out of 16 fighters
B vs. C Division: 6 out of 16 fighters
Red vs. Blue Division: 4 out of 6 fighters
Congrats to all the winners.
I am going to hold off on the rule I proposed last week regarding only winning fighters moving up the rankings as a result of Auto Promotions, which are created when we have members leaving the league. Too many issues came up this week when I tried to implement that rule, so we are going back to the previous rule in which all fighters who played their last match benefit from the Auto Promotions. Those fighters that do not play, do not move up. That will remain the same policy.
We are still seeing high number of Auto Promotions each week as many members leave each week. More details about this below. I would not be surprised that we close some of the lower divisions in either or both regions in the next couple of weeks. I'm always happy to welcome new members to the league. The problem is keeping the members in the league. Most are leaving on their own citing various reasons like lack of time, or worse, lack of interest playing SSF4. Both are normal and understandable, but the lack of interest is becoming a bigger reason members leave. After all, SF4 and SSF4 have been out for nearly two years so it is expected that people get tired of playing and move onto other games. Nevertheless, the big number of members leaving is causing havoc with our rankings with so many Auto Promotions. If the league does contract, it would make my job easier since I would have fewer but more committed members to manage.
Week 15 is officially closed. At conclusion, 75% of the matches were completed which is 3rd worst completion percentage this season.
The SFCCL is 72 members (144 fighters) strong going into Week 16 with members in 9 different countries.
WEEK 14 RECAP
A total of sixteen (18) matches were "Decided" to close Week 15. Below are the final statistics:
Completed matches: 54 out 72 (75%)
Forfeited matches: 12 out of 72 (17%)
Draw matches: 3 out of 72 (4%)
Double Forfeit matches: 3 out of 72 (4%)
OLD, NEW, & CHANGING MEMBERS
The "Great Turnover" continues this season. We've lost 43 members over the last 6 weeks. This week, there were five (5) openings in the America Region, and three (3) openings in the European Region. The three (3) members were removed from the league due to inactivity, while the other five (5) members dropped out voluntarily. The departing members are:
CyborgShogun (Ohio)
Jok3rfrmbk (New York)
Marcopolo177 (California)
Raziel_Sinister (Canada)
Tokenluis (California)
Hedr1984 (Poland)
KemonoWani (Finland)
TG_Rampage_TG (England)
Thank you for your committment to the SFCCL. As a result of the departing members, we have a total of ten (10) new members this week:
BKZCHARLIE (New York)
FREYAXI (Massachusetts)
KEN123103 (Rhode Island)
KYO_VANDIT (California)
VELICOSO (Florida)
ALTERMORE (England)
ANGEL7775 (Poland)
FLAMESLAYER (Germany)
All members were invited to join the active roster from the Waiting List. Welcome to the SFCCL!
The following 'Auto-Promotions' occurred as a result of the former members and change of fighter (note - depending on where the vacant spot is in the division, not all fighters take advantage of the auto-promotions):
Americas Region
GOLD Division: none
SILVER Division: none
BRONZE Division: 2 spots
A Division: 7 spots
B Division: 8 spots
C Division: 10 new fighters
European Region
RED Division: 1 spot
BLUE Division: 6 spots
GREEN Division: 6 new fighters
Any fighters that did not play their matches do not benefit from these Auto-Promotions, and could see other fighters jump them in the rankings. It pays to play.
Members changing fighters and Division change:
Haduken3 SETH to CAMMY (Bronze to A Division)
FunkyBeans DUDLEY to BALROG (B to C Division)
RobotsInTheSky CHUN LI to AKUMA (C Division)
Any member in the league can change their fighter, but it will result in a penalty of the new fighter dropping one division and starting at the #15 ranking.
THE WAITING LISTS
With the many departing members of the league, the Waiting Lists continue to get shorter every week. Contraction of the lower divisions may happen very soon, as mentioned above. The Americas Region list has 9 players waiting, while the European Region list is empty.
Feel free to recommend the league to any of your friends, or online rivals. The biggest compliment you can pay me or the league is to recommend it to other people.
MATCH OF THE WEEK:
Gold Division - #4 Manwithnoarms2 ADON (10-3-1) vs. #5 Epedemicc GOUKEN (10-6)
Manwithnoarms ADON (10-3-1)
* Joined:Week 2 of season 2
* Location: California
* First ranking: #1 Contender in the C Division
* Last 3 wins: Wild_X_187 ZANGIEF, Crusader884 KEN, Ccinoone KEN
* Alternate fighter: Dee Jay (Bronze Division #2 rank)
Epdemicc GOUKEN (10-6)
* Joined: Week 17 of season 1
* Location: New Jersey
* First ranking: #9 ranking in the F Division
* Last 3 wins: Ccinoone BISON, Fran_Gil BALROG, BPKing BLANKA
* Alternate fighter: Cody (Silver Division #1 Contender)
The second Ryder Cup gets underway this week. All 8 fighters have been removed from the weekly matches so they can concentrate on playing their international matches. Below are the fighters playing in the Ryder Cup tournament and their 1st round matches:
Americas Team II
Grand Champion: Cuby KEN (9-1-1, Florida)
Gold #1 Contender: ElGeneral GUILE (13-5, California) *
Gold #2 Skrface13 BLANKA (14-6, New Jersey) *
Gold #3 Fran_Gil BARLOG (13-6, Dominican Republic)
Invitee: Gold #7 Jay19000 VEGA (12-2, Florida) *
Invitee: Gold #11 Crusader884 KEN (13-3-2, New Jersey)
Invitee: Bronze #4 Zabi- VIPER (16-4, New York) *
Invitee: A Division #11 Serjery KEN (3-0-1, Canada)
Europeans Team II
Red Champion: SabishiiRyuu VEGA (13-1, Finland) *
Red #1 Contender: Shooryukenn BLANKA (12-2, England) *
Red #2 Cravin456 RYU (9-1, England)
Red #3 Rudeboy_2deep ABEL (8-2, England)
Invitee: Red #7 Wauhti ROSE (11-4, Finland) *
Invitee: Red #14 Qn-Lisa KEN (4-2, England)
Invitee: Blue #10 Helnova VEGA (2-1, England)
Invitee: Green Champion RisoH GUY (1-0, Germany)
The asterick (*) denotes the returning fighters to their Ryder Cup team. The Americas Team returns 4 members from their Week 9 winning team, while the European Team only has 3 returning fighters.
1st Round Matches:
Cuby KEN vs. Risoh GUY
ElGeneral GUILE vs. Helnova VEGA
Skrface13 BLANKA vs. Qn-Lisa KEN
Fran_Gil BALROG vs. Wauhti ROSE
Serjery KEN vs. SabishiiRyuu VEGA
Zabi- C. VIPER vs. Shooryukenn BLANKA
Crusader884 KEN vs. Cravin456 RYU
Jay19000 VEGA vs. Rudeboy_2Deep ABEL
The matches are set up by pitting the lowest ranked fighter from each team against the highest ranked fighter of the opposite team. This ensures all the Captains face the invited fighter in the 1st round. Any wins the invited fighters can be considered 'upsets' since each team's strengths should be the Captains. Any points (matches won) earned by the invited fighters will give their team an advantage since it could result in one of their Captains receiving a bye in the next round, and also knocks out one of the other teams best fighters. Last time, the Americas Team won 5 points with their invited fighters.
This setup also ensures that if the Gold and Red Champions were to match up, it would not occur until the 8th and final round of the Ryder Cup tournament. That is only when all other fighters have been eliminated and the score would be 7 to 7 with that one match to settle the tournament.
The Ryder Cup tournament is for the title of "Grand Champion of the SFCCL". Basically, each region is fighting for the right to claim their division, and most importantly, top champion is the best fighter in the league. The tournament is a sigle-elimination tournament. Once all members from a region's team have been defeated, the tournament is over & the winning team takes the title of "Grand Champion" back to their region. In case of uneven teams after the first round, the losing team will be matched up from highest ranked to lowest against the winning team. The higher ranked fighters on the winning team will receive byes until matched up in the next round, if ncessary. The invited fighters (grunts) may do most of the fighting if their teams dominates while the higher ranked Captains sit back and watch. For this reason, it is always a good idea to invite the strongest fighters to the 'dirty work'.
All involved fighters do not have a regular weekly match this week. However, each fighter will have a match in Week 17 even if the Ryder Cup tournament is on-going. Look for instant Ryder Cup updates via the SFCCL Facebook page. The link can be found on the right side of this blog. All results and details will be posted on the Ryder Cup page on this site as well.
As a result of the Ryder Cup tournament going on this week, some of the matchups in the divisions the above fighters are in have special matches for those fighters not involved in the tournament. Some of fighters have a bye week since there is an odd number of fighters in 6 divisions (Bronze, A, Blue, and Green Divisions). They will automatically move up in raning next week. The other matches are specifically labeled as what ranking the winner and losing fighting will receive. For example,
# 6 rank vs. # 8 rank (W5 / L10) = winning fighter will move up to #5 ranking, while the losing fighter will fall to #10 ranking in Week 17
Good luck to both teams, especially with the unforgiving lag!
DEADLINE FOR WEEK 16
Deadline for Week 16 matches is Sunday, February 13th, 2011.
Good luck to all members this week!