2020 Mystery Tournament - Key Dates, Key Rules, Key Terms

Key Rules / Details
The deadline for signing up for the 2020 Mystery Card Players' Championship is Monday January 20th. There is a separate thread for sign ups - please go there to be a part of this year's tournament! By signing up you are making a four season commitment. New players are welcome in the tournament! Veterans will generally be glad to get you quickly up to speed in playing the mystery format - so just ask! You'll be playing like a pro in no time. Once you have signed up for the tournament, please check the Mystery Tournament thread on the Discussion Forum site regularly for updates, and keep track of your private messages on this Discussion Forum page as league assignments and other notifications are sent out that way.

The rules are generally the same as last year. The only difference from last year is the 70s league will be using the DH this year - we have been alternating this every year the past few years. There are 4 rounds to the tournament - one each for the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's. Each round, the tournament participants are divided randomly into 12 team leagues (i.e. if we have 120 participants we will have 10 simultaneous 12 team leagues running each round). A random number generator will be used to assign each manager to one of the 12 team leagues and this will be done for each decade so you will play against mostly different managers in each decade. Each of these individual leagues run exactly the same as the regular 12 team Mystery leagues do, including the championship participants receiving credit bonuses. These individual league results roll into an overall tournament standings in which every league win counts as 1 point, with bonus points coming for every round of playoffs that you advance to in each decade round. At the conclusion of the 4th round of the tournament (the 90's) the top 12 overall teams in points in the overall tournament standings advance to the finals round (Mystery set to be used to be determined by vote by the 12 finals participants). The winner of the finals tournament is the 2020 Mystery Tournament Champion! Please note that each round of the tournament has a staggered start date, but they are run in parallel, with just a 2-3 week break between drafts for each round. So by the 4th round you will have all 4 teams "active" at one time.

For additional rules and other info, please go to the 2019 Tournament website: http://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/33

Key Terms / Definitions
Tournament Participants - These are the 365 strat members that have signed up to participate in the tournament.
Tournament Commissioner - This is the person organizing tournament activities. This is a 365 strat member who is participating in the tournament, not a strat employee. The commissioner will however be in regular contact with 365 support to resolve any issues and assist with any setup.
League Closer - The commissioner will assign two closers for each tournament league. The closers do not join the league until the other 10 league participants join, and they are to ensure the correct members have joined before they do, and they are to ensure they do not join before the designated date for closers to join. It's important leagues close at the proper time so that the leagues for each round all have the same opening day.
League Fillers - Fillers are 365 strat members who are taking up league spots if we start, or end up with, a total number of participants that is not divisible by 12. Filler teams scores do not count toward the overall tournament standings. There are two types of fillers - guest fillers, who are not tournament participants , and participant fillers, who are tournament participants who are entering a second team for that round of the tournament (but only their primary team's totals count).

Key Dates / Deadlines
Monday January 20th - Deadline to join 2019 Mystery Tournament (at 12:00 midnight Eastern Time on Sunday night / Monday morning)

Monday January 20th - 60s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Saturday January 25th - Non-closers must join their assigned 60s league before this date, closers must NOT join before this date
Monday February 3rd - Opening Day for the 60s leagues

Monday February 3rd - 70s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Saturday February 8th - Non-closers must join their assigned 70s league before this date, closers must NOT join before this date
Monday February 17th - Opening Day for the 70s leagues

Monday February 24th - 80s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Saturday February 29th - Non-closers must join their assigned 80s league before this date, closers must NOT join before this date
Monday March 9th - Opening Day for the 80s leagues

Monday March 9th - 90s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Saturday March 14th - Non-closers must join their assigned 90s league before this date, closers must NOT join before this date
Monday March 23th - Opening Day for the 90s leagues

Please let me know if you have any questions. Tournament veterans, please reply with comments if I have left out any important details.

Thanks,
Juiced JC

Awesome. Thanks for this, JC!

As a new player, can you confirm the process of setting up your team/draft list.

I infer once the random league assignments are generated, they are set up as private leagues. We receive a messaged on what league ID to use. Then we just join the private league and set draft lists like we would any other team??

Thanks for setting this up!

As a new player, can you confirm the process of setting up your team/draft list.

I infer once the random league assignments are generated, they are set up as private leagues. We receive a messaged on what league ID to use. Then we just join the private league and set draft lists like we would any other team??

Thanks for setting this up!

Yup - that's how it works!

What's the salary cap? Can't find it listed in the rules. Maybe it's too small on my phone.

Thanks.

I replied to the PM. Just an FYI.