And what better day to announce the details than April 15th. Sure, it is tax day in the good ole USA, but it also the official birthdate of the SFCCL! Two years ago today, this site was launched. The original opening tournament began a month earlier in the forums of the Official PlayStation boards, but the league wasn't official unveild until April 15th, 2009. At the time, no one knew about the league that went onto be called the SFCCL, as people were still bickering about how to run the league. I took it upon myself to excuse myself from those "discussion" and began working on this site in secret. Technically, the first blog was posted on Arpil 14th, but the first league matches were not posted until the next day. I didn't start using this blog for weekly updates until Week 4 of season one. Below is an exerpt of my first post on April 14, 2009:
"...the STREET FIGHTER 4 CHAMPIONS & CONTENDERS LEAGUE is ready to take flight.
No one really knows where this League might go, but it will provide for
fun times battling online and some lively conversations on the forums. In the
end, I hope everyone within the SFCCL enjoys playing in an organized League all
the while giving everyone an opportunity to improve our SF4 skills. As they
say, it's not what you know that makes you smart......it's what you don't
know.
I'll use this page to let everyone know the current happenings of
the SFCCL. From the weekly fight schedule being posted to Special Events &
Tournaments being organized by League members. Check back often so you don't
miss anything."
What the hell was I thinking?!?! Now, onto more important matters.
Originally, when planning the full season, season two was to have 25 league weeks while capping it off with Super Brawl II, just like the first season. Of course, no one knew Capcom's plans to release a 3rd version of Street Fighter IV. Once the rumors turned to fact by the fall of 2010, the full schedule could be in jeopardy based on the release date of the latest version to the PS3. Ono and Capcom were quiet for a long time when it came to officially announcing AE would be coming to the PS3. That indirectly prolonged the decision whether or not the season would be cut short. The main reason for this is because most, if not all, of us will begin playing AE as soon as we can. AE is bringing many subtle differences to game play as well as 4 new characters that they majority of us have never played with or against. So, with those additions to SFIV, it changes the game we have all been playing since last June 2010. I've always envisioned each season of the SFCCL being played on one specific version of SF. Mainly as a form of commitment to the members that we all play the same game. I never wanted to force a member to buy a new game during a season. For that reason, I feel it is best to wrap up the season before the DLC is available. I think it is fair to say that the nearly all of us will be playing AE once it is available, and SSFIV will collect dust like our old copies of SFIV. They make great, decorative coasters though!
Now that preparations are underway for Super Brawl II, I am closing the season to any new members. It is very challenging to setup all the play-in matches, seedings and brackets if the roster continues to change. Therefore, all new members will be denied entry into the league. All current members (less two that have dropped already) will be kept in the league through the openings rounds of the tournament. Any members that drop from this day forward will still be listed as part of the league, and of course, will forfeit all matches going forward.
Ever since the Capcom announcement on Tuesday, I've been planning like crazy for Super Brawl II. It was originally planned to begin on June 20th. That still gave me 2 months to prepare for the tournament. However, as soon as the AE trailer was leaked last Friday, I began to run countless scenarios on how to close the season depending on the news from Capcom. In regards to the tournament, I probably came up with 10 different formats. All presented a different problem or challenge in the short amount of time we now had. The biggest problem was the number of members in the league. Last season, Super Brawl I ended up being a perfect 64 members / 128 fighter tournament. It just happened to end the regular season at that perfect 64 number. This year, with so many members dropping in the last two months, that perfect number of 64 was lost back in Week 18. So, the challenge then became how many fighters would start Super Brawl II if we have 48 members & 96 fighters this week?
The end result, I think, is a very exciting tournament with many matches to be played before we crown our final Grand Champion. All 96 fighters will have a chance to win the tournament, including a twist just to make it more fun. The official tournament brackets that will be posted on May 9th will have 64-fighters listed. How do we get to 64 fighters? Where do I get the 104 fighters mentioned in the video? Simple!
The 8 invited fighters will participate in their own unique 8-fighter tournament. The winner of this tournament will be seeded in the official Super Brawl II brackets. Only one of these "old timers" will be playing in the actual event. So while they may be a bit rusty, the competition in this separate tournament will be intense! I will announce who the 8 invited fighters are within a week as I am still awaiting confirmation. So far, 4 have confirmed their return, including the winner of last year's Super Brawl, Skrface13. And his predictions have already started: "Winning a Super Brawl is cool, but you know what's cooler, winning TWO! OH it’s ON!"
I will say that while Skrface may have left the league a while ago, he has been playing regularly. So watch out!
The remaining 16 fighters will come from the European Region. Currently, there are 22 fighters in the two European division. Similar to the process above, the top 10 fighter in the Red Division will automatically qualify for the 64-fighter tournament. The remaining 12 fighters will play their own play-in matches, with the winner advancing to the tournament. This process will result in 16 European fighters that will all be seeded in their own bracket which allows the European members to continue to play each other in the tournament. The winner of their bracket will be in the Final Four of the Super Brawl II tournament. The other three fighters will be from the Americas Region.
The Americas Region brackets will be seeded in the traditional manner of the #1 seed in his/her own bracket, the #2 seed in his/her own bracket, and the #3 seed in his/her own bracket. This allows for the top 3 fighters to reach the Final Four in addition to the remaining European fighter. The format for seeding will be as follows:
Automatic Qualifying seeds (Americas Region brackets):
#1 seed (Gold bracket = Gold Champion)
#2 seed (Green bracket = #1 Contender Gold)
#3 seed (Black bracket = #2 rank Gold)
#4 seed (Black bracket = #3 rank Gold)
#5 seed (Green bracket = #4 rank Gold)
#6 seed (Gold bracket = #5 rank Gold)
#7 seed (Gold bracket = #6 rank Gold)
#8 seed (Green bracket = #7 rank Gold)
#9 seed (Black bracket = #8 rank Gold)
#10 seed (Black bracket = #9 rank Gold)
#11 seed (Green bracket = #10 rank Gold)
#12 seed (Gold bracket = #11 rank Gold)
#13 seed (Gold bracket = #12 rank Gold)
#14 seed (Green bracket = #13 rank Gold)
#15 seed (Black bracket = #14 rank Gold)
#16 seed (Black bracket = #15 rank Gold)
#17 seed (Green bracket = Silver Champion)
#18 seed (Gold bracket = #1 Contender Silver)
#19 seed (Gold bracket = #2 rank Silver)
#20 seed (Green bracket = #3 rank Silver)
Play-In qualifying seeds:
#21 seed (Black bracket = Invitational Tournament winner) *
#22 seed (Black bracket = winner of #4 vs. #5 Silver)
#23 seed (Green bracket = winner of #6 vs. #7 Silver)
#24 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #8 vs. #9 Silver)
#25 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #10 vs. #11 Silver)
#26 seed (Green bracket = winner of #12 vs. #13 Silver)
#27 seed (Black bracket = winner of #14 vs. #15 Silver)
#28 seed (Black bracket = winner of Bronze Champion vs. #1 Contender)
#29 seed (Green bracket = winner of #2 vs. #3 Bronze)
#30 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #4 vs. #5 Bronze)
#31 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #6 vs. #7 Bronze)
#32 seed (Green bracket = winner of #8 vs. #9 Bronze)
#33 seed (Black bracket = winner of #10 vs. #11 Bronze)
#34 seed (Black bracket = winner of #12 vs. #13 Bronze)
#35 seed (Green bracket = winner of #14 vs. #15 Bronze)
#36 seed (Gold bracket = winner of A Division Champion vs. #1 Contender)
#37 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #2 vs. #3 A Division)
#38 seed (Green bracket = winner of #4 vs. #5 A Division)
#39 seed (Black bracket = winner of #6 vs. #7 A Division)
#40 seed (Black bracket = winner of #8 vs. #9 A Division)
#41 seed (Green bracket = winner of #10 vs. #11 A Division)
#42 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #12 vs. #13 A Division)
#43 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #14 vs. #15 A Division)
#44 seed (Green bracket = winner of B Division Champion vs. #1 Contender)
#45 seed (Black bracket = winner of #2 vs. #3 B Division
#46 seed (Black bracket = winner of #4 vs. #5 B Division)
#47 seed (Green bracket = winner of #6 vs. #7 B Division)
#48 seed (Gold bracket = winner of #8 vs. #9 B Division
Automatic Qualifying seeds (Red European Region bracket):
#1 seed (Red bracket = Red Champion)
#2 seed (Red bracket = #1 Contender Red)
#3 seed (Red bracket = #2 rank Red)
#4 seed (Red bracket = #3 rank Red)
#5 seed (Red bracket = #4 rank Red)
#6 seed (Red bracket = #5 rank Red)
#7 seed (Red bracket = #6 rank Red)
#8 seed (Red bracket = #7 rank Red)
#9 seed (Red bracket = #8 rank Red)
#10 seed (Red bracket = #9 rank Red)
Play-In qualifying seeds:
#11 seed (Red bracket = winner of #10 vs. #11 Red)
#12 seed (Red bracket = winner of #12 vs. #13 Red)
#13 seed (Red bracket = winner of #14 vs. #15 Red)
#14 seed (Red bracket = winner of Blue Champion vs. #1 Contender)
#15 seed (Red bracket = winner of #2 vs. #3 Blue)
#16 seed (Red bracket = winner of #4 vs. #5 Blue)
The winner of the Gold bracket will face the winner of the Black bracket in the Final Four as will the winners of the Green and Red European brackets. As you can see, this system also rewards the highest ranking fighters by either automatically receiving a high seed or by playing for a high seed for the tournament. This is a reward for the commitment and successful of the higher ranked fighters. Those newer to the league will have a harder road to the championship. However, after a tournament like this, the best fighter will win no matter their seeding. Last year, Skrface won the tournament from the #54 seed. The European Red bracket will be seeded in a normal #1 vs. #16 seeding.
Remember that the above rankings and seeding are based on Week 21 rankings for the play-in matches. For the automatic qualifiers, the rankings reflect the outcome of their Week 21 matches. Week 21 will have all of the play-in matches and tournament so by the time May 9th rolls around, we will have our 64-fighters ready to go. Deadlines will also be put in place for all of these weeks and rounds to keep the whole process going. Where need be, 'decisions' will be made to resolve any unplayed matches. But I hope everyone that is in this league in these final weeks is excited and ready to play these final matches.
A bit complicated, sure. A whole lot of fun, definitely! It took me a good 24 hours of planning to finally settle on this format for Super Brawl II. Somehow, someway...it works. For some strange reason, I really enjoy organizing things like this. Once we have the final 64-fighters, the rest of the process is a simple single-elimination tournament. All matches will be best 2 out of 3 five-round matches, as is the norm for SFCCL matches. The Championship match will mirror last year's format of best 3 out of 5 five-round matches.
I also plan to write a couple more SFCCL Reflections blogs throughout the tournaments. I may even refer to the Reflections blogs from last year, and see how things went this year. During this time, I will also address whether I will run this league for a 3rd season on Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. You guys really want more? Really?!?!
We will still have the 2vs2 Tournament this weekend. Prize Matches will still be awarded for the top 3 teams, and they will take place during Week 21. As in the past, the Prize Matches must be played before the regular weekly matches. That means that the Prize Matches earned at the 2vs2 Tournament will be very important since it could move your fighter into a higher ranking, and possibly into an automatic qualifying ranking for Super Brawl II. Due to the time constraints we are going up against to complete this season, these Prize Matches should be played ASAP during Week 21 to allow plenty of time to play the secondary matches for the week. I look forward to playing in the event and I know the competition will be even greater now that Super Brawl II looms in the background of this event. Be sure to show up early so we can being on time, as previous events have not started for 30 to 45 minutes late due to stragglers. Cutoff time will be exactly the time set above.
Good luck to all members! We are going to have a lot of fun wrapping up this long season!
"The answer lies......in the heart of Super Brawl II!"