The 2019 Doubles OU Circuit will consist of the following tournaments:
- Three Doubles Seasonals: Winter, Spring, and Fall (BFL of 2)
- Doubles Ladder Tournament
- Doubles Grand Prix
- Doubles Live Challenge
Seasonals:
1st: 16 CP
2nd: 13 CP
3rd: 11 CP
4th: 10 CP
5th-6th: 9 CP
7th-8th: 8 CP
9th-12th: 7 CP
13th-16th: 6 CP
17th-24th: 5 CP
25th-32nd: 4 CP
33rd-48th: 3 CP
49th-64th: 2 CP
65th-96th: 1 CP
Note that if a given Seasonal has less than 96 entrants, 65th-96th place will not receive CP.
Doubles Ladder Tournament and Doubles Live Challenge:
1st: 10 CP
2nd: 8 CP
3rd-4th: 6 CP
5th-8th: 4 CP
9th-16th: 2 CP
17th-24th: 1 CP (Doubles Live Challenge only)
Doubles Grand Prix:
1st: 18 CP
2nd: 14 CP
3rd-4th: 10 CP
5th-8th: 7 CP
9th-16th: 4 CP
17th-24th: 2 CP
25th-32nd: 1 CP
FAQ:
1. What are Seasonals?
Seasonals are the most straightforward of our tournaments and serve as the flagship tournaments for the DOU Circuit. They are large, double elimination tournaments that generally take around 14-15 weeks to fully finish. Each round you will be paired up with an opponent and play a Bo3 SM Doubles OU set, during which you will be allowed to switch teams between games. Seasonals will be held in the Winter (January), Spring (April), and Fall (August). These tournaments will be seeded as well; Winter Seasonals will use the final 2018 Circuit standings to seed its entrants, while Spring and Fall Seasonals will use the current 2019 Circuit standings.
2. What is Doubles Ladder Tournament?
In this tournament people will be signing up to ladder for a full week to rank as high as possible. The highest ranking finishers may earn a spot in the playoffs. This cycle will continue for a three weeks and culminate in a single elimination, best-of-three playoff for all qualifiers. This year, there are 2 main changes to Doubles Ladder Tournament. The first change is the frequency of this tournament; in the past two years, there have been two iterations of DLT. However, this year there will only be one DLT in order to make room for a new tournament called Doubles Challenge, but more on that later. The other major change is the number of cycles. This year, there will only be three laddering cycles, as opposed to four in years past. The top 5 players (determined by ELO) from each cycle will qualify for playoffs, with the 16th slot being a wild card filled by the player with the highest ELO at the end of any of the three cycles that did not qualify. Players will be seeded for playoffs based on their qualifying ELO with the stipulation that the wild card player will be guaranteed the 16th seed.
3. What is Doubles Grand Prix?
Taking DOU Tour's place as the single tournament with the biggest CP payout, Doubles Grand Prix will function similarly to the Smogon Classic. It will consist of three separate single elimination tournaments played in three different tiers: SM DOU, XY DOU, and BW DOU. Based on their results in these three tournaments, the top 16* players will play out a single elimination playoff consisting of best-of-three sets, with one game played in each tier.
4. What is Doubles Live Challenge?
Doubles Live Challenge will essentially be a scaled-down version of 2018's DOU Tour. Feedback on the 2018 Circuit indicated that live tournaments were comparatively worth too much given their low participation. However, we still wanted to include live tours in the circuit since they are a unique experience that many people enjoyed. Doubles Challenge will consist of 5 weeks of live tournaments, all in the SM DOU tier. There will be 3 tournaments each week, held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The top 16* players at the conclusion of the live tournaments will play in a single elimination, best-of-three playoff.
5. What does BFL mean?
BFL, or Best Finish Limit, is a restriction that limits how many placings you may count for your Circuit Point totals and is also used in the Official VGC Circuit. Since the BFL for Seasonals is 2, only your top 2 results from Seasonals during the 2019 circuit will count. If you play in all 3 Seasonals, you will only receive points from 2; if you play in 2 or less Seasonals, all of your points will count. The idea behind a BFL is to reward high placings and not consistently average performances. It also becomes a safety net for people who, for whatever reason, have a bad performance, can't play in one Seasonal, or have to drop out midway due to extenuating circumstances.
6. When are all these tournaments happening?
Check the second post in this thread for the circuit schedule!
*Regarding Grand Prix and Live Challenge Playoffs
The current plan is for the playoffs of both Grand Prix and Live Challenge to consist of 16 players. However, we reserve the right to lower this number if participation in these tournaments is less than expected. Should the playoffs for these tournaments shrink, the CP payout will not change. For example, someone who qualified for a 16-man playoff and lost in the first round will receive the same CP as someone who finished 11th in an 8-man playoff scenario since both of their placements fall in the 9th-16th range. Since these are both new tournaments for our circuit, we cannot be entirely sure of participation out of the gate. A decision will be made regarding the size of playoffs no later than the 2nd week of the 3rd Cup for Grand Prix or the 2nd week of live tournaments for Live Challenge.
*Regarding restricting access to tournament matches
In order for access to be restricted to a tournament set, both players must consent (i.e., the default is public room, modjoin off). Furthermore, viewing access to tournament matches may not be restricted in any way in the following scenarios:
- During or after Top 8 of single elimination tournament brackets, including playoffs of tournaments with a qualifying + playoff component
- During or after Round 10 of Seasonals
- At any point during Doubles Premier League
- At any point during Doubles Invitationals
Any games with restricted access under the specified scenarios will be considered invalid and must be replayed. For example, Player A wins game 1 of a set, then modjoins game 2 and wins game 2. Game 2 will not be counted and must be replayed for the set to be complete.
Anyone found to be abusing the rule (e.g. hiding a room when you know you'll lose so it will be invalid) will be punished severely.
We're looking forward to another great year of tournaments!
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