Oh well, let's move on past my sobbing self, and get onto to league business. This week brings the first-ever SFCCL Ryder Cup, the first international tournament since the league split into two regions. The winning team from the Americas Region or European Region will take the title of "Grand Champion" back to champion of their highest division. Also, the winning team will have their divisions listed first on the Home & Ranks pages. The title will remain with the winning region until the next Ryder Cup scheduled for Week 16. Everyone's been talking about this event since it was announced, so I'm joining everyone else who will eagerly await the replays and results to come in from the involved fighters. Again, the involved fighters in the Ryder Cup tournament do not have a regular weekly match to play this week. All of their rankings will be cemented until Week 10. As a result, the division matches that contain the involved fighters are slightly skewed this week to accommodate the Ryder Cup. Only one fighter has a bye this week as a result (Deltron2020's VIPER in the Gold Division). All other fighters have their weekly match posted. In addition, with the customized matches this week, I've posted the winner/loser ranking directly underneath the match if the normal results do not apply. Again, this is to accommodate the Ryder Cup fighters and verifies that their ranking is not altered going into Week 10. The remaining fighters may benefit by jumping the involved fighters in the rankings next week by winning their match. More on the Ryder Cup later.
Week 8 is now officially history. Unfortunately, it was one of the worst weeks in terms of match completion. Overall, 78% of the scheduled matches were completed, which is second worst this season (only Week 4 was worse at 77%). Despite the lowly numbers, a new Grand (Gold) Champion was crowned in Week 8 with Zabi's VIPER coming from the #7 ranking to win the Championship by first defeating champion Zti890's Cammy in his 1st Place Prize Match earned by winning the Survivor Series tournament, and then successfully defending the title for the first time versus Fran Gil's Balrog. This marks the first time the Grand Championship has changed hands as a result a direct result from a Prize Match. Special thanx to the members with fighters in the Gold and Silver Division during Week 8 for completing all the division matches.
WEEK 8 RECAP
A total of 14 matches had to be decided to close Week 8. Seven of those twelve matches were forfeits, which occurs when one member did not play their 2 matches. Four matches ended in a "Draw" as a result of two members unable to play one of their matches, which is still better than a 'forfeit' any day. Finally, three matches ended in a Double-Forfeit. Below are the final stats:
Completed matches: 50 out 64 (78%)
Forfeited matches: 7 out of 64 (11%)
Draw matches: 4 out of 64 (6%)
Double Forfeit matches: 3 out of 64 (5%)
OLD, NEW, & CHANGING MEMBERS
Two members left the Americas Region following Week 8. One member, GALSTAFFLOL from New York, voluntarily dropped out of the league. I thank him for his commitment to the league and for the courtesy of letting me know directly. One member was dropped from the league, JONNITTI from New Jersey, due to not playing his 2 matches during Week 8, which was still under his three-week probationary period as a new member. In contrast, six member that joined in Week 6 has fulfilled their 3-week probationary period (SlingShotJones, Chidoridillon, Never1Nothing, JJ_King_, Brooklynese, & SabishiiRyuu). They are now subject to the standard 2-weeks-of-no-shows rule before getting kicked out. Welcome officially to the SFCCL!
As a result of the two vacancies, we have 2 new members/4 new fighters in the league (4 in the Americas Region, 0 in the Euro Region):
New Members for the Americas Region:
KITORI-SAMA (California)
NEK-ROMANTIK (California)
New Members for the European Region:
None
Both members were invited to join the active roster from the Waiting List after "Reserving" their spots. A "Reserved" notation by their name on the Waiting List means they have given me their commitment to join when an opening becomes available. A player can join only if there is an opening, which is why there are several other members still on the Waiting List with a "Reserved" tag. All new members are subject to the 3-week probationary period which requires all members to play all of their matches in the first there weeks, or they will be dropped from the league.
Members changing one of their fighters:
Zabi- JURI to DHALSIM (Gold to Silver Division)
BankerD SAGAT to IBUKI (A to B Division)
Anakiny2k RYU to SAGAT (Blue 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 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):
GOLD Division: 1 spot
SILVER Division: none
BRONZE Division: none
A Division: 2 spots
B Division: 3 spots
C Division: 4 spots
RED Division: none
BLUE Division: none
Any fighters that did not play their matches do not benefit and could see other fighters jump them in the rankings. It pays to play.
THE WAITING LISTS
Going into Week 9, the Waiting List has been 'cleaned up' a bit. At the beginning of Week 8, I sent out a PSN message to all players on the List to verify if they were still interested in joining the league. This is done every 4 weeks. Those that replied were kept on the List, and all others were dropped. The Lists are now more accurate. Thanx again for the support guys!
Reminder - any player on the Waiting List that is 100% sure they want to join upon an opening becoming available, then be sure to let me know you want to "Reserve" a spot. Then I'll more your name to the top of the list. Otherwise your name will be added to bottom of the Waiting List and you'll have to wait for an invite like everyone else.
Bronze Division Championship
Champion CCINOONE BISON (3-0) vs. #1 Contender xxULTIMACLOUDxx RYU (4-1)
This week's Match Of The Week is for the Bronze Division Championship between two veteran SFCCL members. Ccinoone's Bison is going for his second straight title defense against a former Bronze Champion, UltimaCloud's Ryu. Ccinoone joined the SFCCL in Week 15 of season one and lives in New York. His Bison holds the top spot in Battle Points among league members with 8,451 points which ranks him 426th overall in the world with Bison. He changed his second fighter from Guy to Bison back in Week 6, forcing him to start over at the bottom of the Bronze Division. Since then, he has won three straight matches with Bison, with victories over Tigerz_Bone_21, Rteruyas, and Crusader884. His other fighter, Ken, is in the Gold Division. UltimaCloud's Ryu is seeking to regain the Bronze Championship since losing it in Week 7 and hails from Canada. Cloud joined the SFCCL in Week 10 of season one. His Ryu is second in Battle Points among league members with 10,164 points which also ranks him 426th overall in the world with Ryu. He changed his second fighter from Seth to Ryu back in Week 5, forcing him to start over at the bottom of the Bronze Division. He has victories with Ryu over Flashfan7, Feiinweltall, and CapitolC twice. His other fighter, Rufus, is a former Grand Champion of the SFCCL and is participating in the Ryder Cup Tournament.
Other notable matches:
Gold Division: #5 Fran_Gil BALROG (6-3) vs. #6 Epedemicc GOUKEN (7-2)
Silver Division: #6 Mad_A187 KEN (6-2) vs. Crusader884 KEN (4-1-1)
A Division: #4 Kcilick CHUN LI (4-1-1) vs. #GuurenLagen BLANKA (4-1)
B Division Championship: Champion JJ_King_ ABEL (3-0) vs. SlingShotJones ABEL (3-0)
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
Of the three Survivor Series Prize Matches that took place in Week 8, only one (Zabi's win over Zti890) proved to be successful.
There will be a new addition to the Members Database page shortly, Member Completion Listing. In speaking with BPKing, it would be very beneficial to post all member's match completion percentages. This wouldn't be meant to single any member out specifically, but it would be very beneficial to see your opponent(s) history at completing their matches week in and week out. For those with a perfect score or near 100% score, it would be easy to see that setting a time to play your match should be very easy. For those members with a lower percentage, the data would be most useful in terms of knowing how persistent you may have to be to set a day and time to play your matches. Hopefully, members will do their best to improve their completion score as much as they care about battle points and ranking. To me, this is the most important stat in the entire league. Without it, everything else simply doesn't matter. Look for the new table this week, and I'll post a special blog letting everyone know when its up.
As mentioned above, the Ryder Cup Tournament kicks off this week. The teams are now set:
Americas Team (AT)
Captain 1: Gold Champion = Zabi- C. VIPER
Captain 2: Gold #1 Contender = ElGeneral GUILE
Captain 3: Gold #2 ranked fighter = XxUltimaCloudxX RUFUS
Captain 4: Gold #3 ranked fighter = Flashfan7 BLANKA
Member 5: Invitee #1 = Gold #7 Deltron2020 RYU (Flashfan invite)
Member 6: Invitee #2 = Gold #9 Skrface13 BLANKA (EG invite)
Member 7: Invitee #3 = Gold #11 Zti890 CAMMY (Cloud invite)
Member 8: Invitee #4 = C Div #3 Jay19000 VEGA (Zabi invite)
European Team (ET)
Captain 1: Red Champion = Shooryuken BLANKA
Captain 2: Red #1 Contender = Hedr1984 VEGA
Captain 3: Red #2 ranked fighter = Klesk_1 ZANGIEF
Captain 4: Red #3 ranked fighter = Hedr1984 BISON
Member 5: Invitee #1 = Red #9 Orkanmuoh23 DHALSIM (Klesk_1 invite)
Member 6: Invitee #2 = Red #12 Ryumanjisen ABEL (Hedr1984 invite)
Member 7: Invitee #3= Blue Champ SabishiiRyuu ZANGIEF (Hedr1984 invite)
Member 8: Invitee #4 = Blue #2 Hooko28 KEN (Shooryukenn invite)
Ryder Cup I
First Round Matches
Gold Champion vs. ET lowest ranked = Zabi- VIPER vs. Hooko28 KEN
Gold #1 Contender vs. ET 2nd lowest ranked = ElGeneral GUILE vs. SabishiiRyuu ZANGIEF
Gold #2 Fighter vs. ET 3rd lowest ranked = xxUltimaCloudxx RUFUS vs. Ryumanjisen ABEL
Gold #3 Fighter vs. ET 4th lowest ranked = Flashfan7 BLANKA vs. Orkanmuoh23 DHALSIM
Red Champion vs. AT lowest ranked = Shooryuken BLANKA vs. Jay19000 VEGA
Red #1 Contender vs. AT 2nd lowest ranked = Hedr1984 VEGA vs. Zti890 CAMMY
Red #2 Fighter vs. AT 3rd lowest ranked = Klesk_1 ZANGIEF vs. Skrface13 BLANKA
Red #3 Fighter vs. AT 4th lowest ranked = Hedr1984 BISON vs. Deltron2020 RYU
* All matches are 2 out of 3 five-round matches
* Report results back to me as I will update the SFCCL site and post updates on the SFCCL Facebook page
* Each team is awarded 1 point for each victory
* Current scores will be listed as 2-0 Americas Team / 5-3 European Team / 4-4 Tie
* Once defeated, the fighter is eliminated from the tournament (winning fighter moves on to the next round)
* In the case of uneven teams in the following rounds, the team with the lower number (losing team) of remaining fighters will be matched up highest vs. lowest ranked
* The team with more fighters advancing (winning team) will have their highest ranked fighters advancing to the next round via a bye
* All fighters from a team must be defeated in order to win the Ryder Cup (8 points required)
All involved fighters will not have a regular weekly match to worry about playing. All fighter's ranks will be cemented for Week 9, and regular matches will resume for the involved fighters in Week 10.
This is the first time ever we will be running the Ryder Cup Tournament, so I do expect some 'hiccups'. Hopefully all involved members can find times to meet up & play, and hopefully lag is not a major problem. Any feedback is strongly encouraged as I hope to have two more Ryder Cup Tournaments this season. Good luck to all members! You have the world watching (and rooting for) you!
DEADLINE FOR WEEK 9
Deadline for all Week 9 matches is Sunday, October 31st, 2010.
Good luck to all members this week!