I decided to put up more of an informational page about the OP CUP, in case there is anyone who may be interested in competing in this event but has not heard all the details about it yet.
    As always, if you have any ideas that could make this event even more fun, please feel free to email me and let me know.
    I have also put some of my ideas for the possible future of the OP CUP on this page.

1.  What is the OP CUP?
2.  What is the tournament format used?
3.  What do I do if I don't make it to the Finals?
4.  Why is there an entrance fee?
5.  What are the prizes?
6.  What are my ideas for this type of event?

What is the OP CUP?
    The OverPower Cup tournament event is mostly the "brainchild" of Chris Vezina, using a two day tournament format that I first heard about from Norm, who I believe told me he first heard about it from Phil Keffer.  Whether or not the idea for this format came from someone else, I do not know.
    Chris decided to host the first OP CUP in Ohio and I jumped on board to judge the event so he could still compete.  Doug Simms then hosted the second one, also in Ohio, as we only heard that everyone had such a good time at the first event.  It is called the OP CUP because they "made" a cup to be given as a prize to the winner, in addition to the big money prize.
    The OP CUP is a great way for people to meet other OverPower players from many different locations.  How many tournaments have you attended that have had players from Canada, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Alabama all at once?

 

What is the tournament format that is used?
    So far, we have used a two day format for the event - the Qualifiers on Saturday and the Finals on Sunday.  The qualifiers are a standard swiss format, with just enough rounds to find the top 5 through 8 players to compete in the Finals.  The number of rounds of play required and the number of finalists both depend on the number of starting players.  The Finals are a round robin format.  This way, if you make it into the Finals but start out with one bad game, you do not necessarily lose the event.
    It may be possible to hold the qualifiers and the Finals in one day, but the other events would need to be sacrificed and we would have to strictly adhere to the time limits.

 

What do I do if I don't make it to the Finals?
    There are other non-sanctioned side tournaments held to make this one jam packed weekend full of OverPower, including a sanctioned event held at the same time as the Finals on Sunday.  Some of these tournaments may be specialized instead of the boring, standard unrestricted deck constructed however you wish, but that is up to the host as well as popular demand.
    Some of the possible side tournaments that could be used are:

• Restricted Homebase - usually no Any Team Locations or Four Freedoms Plaza allowed
• DC characters only
• Non-Marvel characters only
• Any Heroes only

Why is there an entrance fee?
    For some people, the potential of a fairly large cash prize is the major factor in attending a tournament like this.  In order to give out a large cash prize, an entrance fee is required.  To help make this event draw a larger crowd, we try to give out other cash prizes to the winners of the side tournaments and maybe even to some of the top finalists of the CUP.

 

What are the prizes?
    In addition to the cash prize generated by the entrance fee, we have tried to provide a wide variety of OP related prizes.  These prizes have included complete sets of some expansions, promotional cards that are hard to find now, old promotional posters, as well as rare cards from certain sets which were given out randomly to the players that do not make it into the Finals for the CUP.  The second sanctioned event that is held at the same time as the CUP Finals usually receives the standard prize support, while those supplies still last.
    As I have judged the two OP CUP events so far, it has been easier for us to provide prize support that is much greater than what would normally be given out to an event that draws this number of people.  But, for us to keep giving out this much product for prize support to one tournament, the turnout may need to be greater.

    The table below is a rough breakdown of how the cash prizes may be awarded based on 30 players each paying a $50 entrance fee.  The "losers" event is the second sanctioned event held at the same time as the CUP Finals.  The optional events depend on how late it may be possible to keep everyone together to play and how fast we want to rush things, both of which would be decided by the host of the event.
 

    In the two previous CUP events, we did not award any prize money to 2nd through 4th place of the Finals, but in hindsight we probably should have.  If the optional events are not held, then that money would either be added to the grand prize or used for 5th and 6th place.
    Of course, these figures are based on 30 players paying $50, so your mileage may vary.
    There is one last prize that has not yet been mentioned.  There will be an uncut sheet of OverPower cards awarded to someone who meets a certain criteria at any one CUP event.  This criteria will remain a secret and may change from CUP to CUP, although it will be decided before the event begins.  Since no one met the criteria in Columbus, it will be added to the next CUP event, which has not yet been scheduled.  This prize will continue to accumulate until someone does meet the criteria at one CUP event.  There are a wide variety of uncut sheets available, so there will not be any duplicate sheets awarded, unless there are 20 or so CUP events held before someone does meet the criteria.

 

What are my ideas for this type of event?
    The only thing I have wanted to do with this event is make it as much fun as it can possibly be for as many players as I can.  Part of the fun for some players may be winning some prize money or some free cards.  For other players it may be just having the opportunity to compete with some of the highest rated players in the game today.  Still other people might be happy just to be able to play against some people they have never met before.  I have tried to come up with ideas for each of these, although none of these are necessarily going to be in place at future CUP events.  That all depends on the level of response I receive from my OP CUP poll and the host of the event.
 

1.  Three different levels for the entrance fee
    In all honesty, some players will not have a chance to win the grand prize.  Since that is the case, what would make them want to spend $50 to play in 3 to 5 tournaments and only walk away with a few rare cards they might already have?  I think that if people have the opportunity to spend less money to enter the tournament, this might make things more worthwhile for them.
    But, if some people do not have to pay the full entrance fee, why would anyone want to pay the full amount?  I think that the best downside for players who do not want to pay the full entrance fee would be that if you win any cash prize, then you would only receive a pre-announced percentage of the prize and not the full amount.  Also, it might be a good idea to say that anyone who does not pay the full amount does not qualify for any card prizes if they make it to the Finals.
    I am still working on the theoretical numbers behind this idea, plus I would like to hear what other people think about this.  Here is what I have come up with so far:

2.  Hold a junior tournament as well
    Since some people may stay away because of the high caliber of players that they might have to compete against at a tournament with such money on the line, some people have suggested that another tournament be held at the same time.  I think it could work if we set it up so anyone with a rating of around 1650 or less [new players start out at 1600] could compete in the "junior" tournament.  Any player that wants to could enter the CUP, but only those under a certain rating level could enter the junior tournament.  I am not sure what else could be done for this event, as the main focus of the weekend would be the CUP itself.  The entrance fee for the junior event would be a little less than the main event, but there would probably not be any cash prizes on the line.  After the junior event, these players would be allowed to compete in the other side tournaments as well.
    I am still not too sure about this idea yet.
 

Swiss tournament format
    In the first round, the player with the highest ranking will play against the player with the lowest ranking.  Number 2 will play the second lowest ranked player, number 3 the third lowest, etc., etc.
    After the first round, the players are grouped together according to their win-loss records.  The players that are 1-0 will be one group and those at 0-1 are another group.  The player with the highest ranking will play the player with the lowest ranking within the same group.
    After the second round, there are 3 groups - 2-0, 1-1, and 0-2.
    After the third round, there are 4 groups - 3-0, 2-1, 1-2, and 0-3, although you can start to group the players even more to eliminate the possibility of pairing the same players more than once.
    Things are much easier when there is a total number of players equal to a power of 2 [4, 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.].

 

Round Robin format
    In a round robin format, each player will play each of the other players, in a completely random order decided before any of the rounds have started.  When there is an even number of players, it is much easier to seat everyone.  At the first CUP, we had an odd number of players and I had to work out how they would play each other in advance.
    Since each player plays 5 to 7 games, you still might have a chance to win if you lose the first game or if you have one game with bad draws [or whatever excuse you want to come up with].