But before we move into Week 12 business, let me take this time to express my gratitude to everyone in this league for making FALL BRAWL such a success. Specifically, I am speaking to the high level of match completion. With such a high turnout, it gives me the impression that everyone enjoyed the divisional tournaments and gives me confidence that we can possibly have more of these types of long events within the season. The percent of matches completed was a staggering 87%! That may not sound that high of a number, but considering there were a total of 135 matches during FALL BRAWL compared to the usual 72 matches per week, that is a high number! Trust me! The 1st round had 11 of the 72 matches decided (15%), while the 2nd round only had 7 out of 36 matches decided (19%), including one 'decision' between 2 absent fighters that resulted in neither fighter advancing. No matches were decided in the 3rd or Final rounds of any tournament. I know the deadline challenged all members to finish their matches within the 3 weeks allotted for it, but we got it done! Again, thanx to all the members of this league for making this event such a success.
Special congratulations to the following fighters for winning their individual tournaments:
Gold Division: Skrface13 BLANKA (11-4-0)
Silver Division: Crusader884 KEN (10-1-2)
Bronze Division: Jay19000 VEGA (8-0-0)
A Division: Cuby SAKURA (7-0-0)
B Division: Killawaun DEE JAY (5-0-0)
C Division: Jok3rfrmbk KEN (4-1-0)
Euro Red Division: Hedr1984 VEGA (11-2-0)
Euro Blue Division: Rudeboy_2Deep ABEL (5-0-0)
Euro Green Division: Cravin456 RYU (4-0-0)
As a result, every divisional tournament was played out to the end, and every winner has been awarded a Prize Match (or Rematch Clause) for their success. Only one Prize Match is unknown at the time of this blog being posted. FALL BRAWL has done a great job of re-ranking the divisions by skill level and also giving an opportunity for up-and-coming fighters to get to the higher skilled divisions quickly. Good luck to all the fighters in their upcoming Prize Matches (listed on the Ranks & Matches page).
A little bit of trivia for everyone. How many division champions went on to win their Fall Brawl divisional tournaments? One. Only one champion going into Fall Brawl came out as the champion of their division, and that was Cuby's SAKURA in the A Division. Two other divisional champions made it to the finals only to lose to their challenger (Crusader884's SAGAT in the Bronze Division and SabishiiRyuu's VEGA in the Blue Division).
The total number of members remains at 72 members (144 fighters) over 11 countries.
WEEK 11 FALL BRAWL RECAP
As mentioned, Fall Brawl has an unseen level of activity so far this season. Hopefully, that high turnout continues going forward. 18 matches had to be "Decided" during the tournament. 11 matches in the 1st round were forfeits, which occurs when one member did not play their 2 matches. In the case of FALL BRAWL, the higher ranked fighter advanced. A fighter could only advance one round by 'decision'. Another no-play match would result in an automatic forfeit. 6 more matches were forfeits in the 2nd round, while 1 match had a double-forfeit (A Division) as a result of both fighters already advancing to the 2nd round by 'Decision'.
Completed matches: 117 out 135 (87%)
Forfeited matches: 17 out of 135 (12%)
Draw matches: 0 out of 135 (0%)
Double Forfeit matches: 1 out of 135 (1%)
OLD, NEW, & CHANGING MEMBERS
There are two opening in the Americas Region. One member was dropped for inactivity (KCILICK from Minnesota) while another member dropped out voluntarily (K-MONEY83 from New York). Three openings are available in the European Region as three members dropped out of the league voluntarily (SUBES88 from Finland, Jonnyhallsworth from England, and RYUMANJISEN from Spain). Below are the new members filling their vacancies in the league:
Serjery (Canada)
Zinh (Massachusetts)
CrossOvah (Germany)
Nurska (Finland)
T-Roy_90 (England)
Special thanx to the European Region for spreading the word about the openings this week. We were in danger of having the Green Division only have 10 fighters after the three departing members. Fortunately, strong word-of-mouth got the European Waiting List full again. There is no bigger compliment the league can get than to have current members recommend the league to their friends and competitors.
Members changing fighters:
Shoryuken RYU to DEE JAY (within C Division)
The following 'Auto-Promotions' occurred as a result of the 2 Americas members & 3 European members leaving the league (note - depending on where the vacant spot is in the division, not all fighters take advantage of the auto-promotions):
GOLD Division: 0 spots
SILVER Division: 2 spots
BRONZE Division: 2 spots
A Division: 3 spots
B Division: 3 spots
C Division: 4 spots
RED Division: 2 spots
BLUE Division: 4 spots
GREEN Division: 6 new fighters
This week as a result of the tournament brackets, I did waive the no-play-no-promotion rule. It got too complicated to keep track of that when re-ranking the divisions. Consider it an early Christmas present, but also a warning to those that didn't play.
NOTE - Due to the auto-promotions, some of the winning fighters in the Fall Brawl tournaments may have already moved up into a higher division. Their Prize Matches, however, will still be honored from their original division since they won that lower division tournament. As a result, instead of the Prize Match being worth a shot at fighter 2 divisions higher, it will only appear to be one division higher. Again, this a result of the 5 members dropping out of the league, and has nothing to do with the Prize fighters win.
THE WAITING LISTS
Going into Week 12, the Americas Region list is 25 members strong. The European Region list has 3 players waiting to join.
Reminder - any player on the Waiting List that is 100% sure they want to join upon an opening becoming available, and 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.
MATCH OF THE WEEK:
Following FALL BRAWL, the Matches of the Week should spotlight the Prize Matches.
No bigger matches this week than the two European matches taking place as a result of the Fall Brawl Prize Matches. The Blue Division tournament winner, Rudeboy_2Deep ABEL (5-0-0), is challenging former European Red Champion, Shooryukenn's BLANKA (7-2-0), for his Red Division ranking. At the same time, the Green Division tournament winner, Cravin456 RYU (4-0-0), is challenging another former European Red Division champion, Orkanmuoh23 DHALSIM (10-4-0). Both of these new fighters are taking the opportunity earned by winning their tournaments to take a shot at two of the big 'fish' in the European Region. Good luck to all fighters.
Below is a listing of the other Prize Matches:
Gold Division #15 Haduken3 RUFUS (4-7-1) vs. Silver Champion Crusader884 KEN (10-1-2)
Gold Division #13 xx_VON_xx MAKOTO (5-6) vs. Silver #14 Jay19000 VEGA (8-0-0)
Silver Division #8 Ccinoone BISON (4-2-1) vs. Bronze #14 Cuby SAKURA (7-0-0)
Bronze Division Champion Cuby KEN (5-1-0) vs. A Division #13 Killawaun DEE JAY (5-0-0)
A Division #5 Brooklynese RYU (4-3-0) vs. B Division #13 Jok3rfrmbk KEN (4-1-0)
Red Division #6 Shooryukenn BLANKA (7-2-0) vs. Red Division #14 Rudeboy_2Deep ABEL (5-0-0)
Red Division #1 Orkanmuoh23 DHALSIM (10-4-0) vs. Blue Division #12 Cravin456 RYU (4-0-0)
Remember, the winning fighter from these Prize Matches takes the higher ranking, while the losing fighter falls to the lower rank.
An announcement will be made in the next two weeks advertising the date for the next live special event, the SFCCL 2v2 TOURNAMENT. We will use the Team Battle function online for the tournament matches. Teams of 2 members can be made up in advance, but both members must be online at the time of the event to actually play. Since the prior two live special events were at times catered for the Europeans and West Coast members, the 2v2 TOURNAMENT will be at a time convenient for East Coast members. Stay tuned for more details.
The SFCCL website has fully updated for Week 12 with exception of the Battle Points and Grade Points for all active members. Those numbers should be updated by Wednesday, at the latest.
DEADLINE FOR WEEK 12
Deadline for Week 12 matches is Sunday, December 19th, 2010.
Good luck to all members this week!