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- Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:44 pm
Sat Dec 16, 2023 10:26 am
Overview
My name is John (aka Juiced JC) and I am going to be the Commissioner of the Mystery Card Players Championship tournament again this year. I will be assisted this year by jaywalker72 who will be running the tournament next year. This year, the tournament is a FIVE round tournament in which all participants will play a league for each of the five mystery card sets – 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s. Each league in these five rounds will be an auto-draft with an $80 million salary cap. This year the DH will be used in all leagues but the 60’s (DH use in the 70's alternates every year). Each of these first five rounds will start every two weeks. This aggressive schedule is not only to make managing multiple teams part of the challenge of the tournament, but also because it allows for the tournament to be fully completed within 10 months to allow for a short off season before the next tournament starts. This is the third year that the regular tournament will consist of 5 rounds. This is the third year that the winners of the two semi-final rounds automatically advance to the championship league. So like last year if you get into the top 24 you control your own destiny!
For all the new participants, I want to make it clear that I am not affiliated with Strat-o-matic in any way, I am a 365 player just like you and I volunteer to run this simply because I love this tournament so much I want to see it thrive. Like last year, I'm going to highlight the key rules, key terms and key dates below.
How to sign up for the tournament
For those of you reading this that haven't yet signed up, go to the thread in this "Mystery Tournament" section of Discussion Forum that is titled "Signups for the 2024 Mystery Tournament". Click on that thread, and navigate to the end of the thread (the last page of the thread) by clicking on the numbered "bread crumbs" on the top right where it says "Pages 1 to x". When you get to the last page, select and copy the last post in the thread, and then click the "Post Reply" button at the bottom. Paste the list that you copied from the last post, and then add your name to the next number in the list. If you are unable to copy the previous list, simply just type your name in the reply. New this year, you can optionally add your email address to the list, or send me a private message with your email address. This is not required but it will allow me to email you when there are any relevant tournament updates or deadlines.
What you are committing to by signing up
You are committing to playing the first 5 rounds of the tournament. You will need 5 Baseball 365 credits to do this, using one every 2 weeks for the next couple of months. If you qualify for the playoffs you will need 1-2 more credits, but if you have qualified for the playoffs you more than likely have earned those credits with your success in the first 5 rounds.
What happens next after you sign up
Early on Monday January 15th, I will post the randomized list of 60's league assignments. I will then send an email invitation to every participant to their assigned league. Some people have trouble receiving these email invites. Please check your junk folder / email filters if you don't receive them, or check with Strat 365 support to see if they have an old email address on file for you. The league assignments and pass codes will also be shared here on the Discussion Forum. Please note that I will not be sending private messages with the pass codes this year. So if you do not receive the email invitation, look for the league assignment and pass code on the Discussion Forum. Since we are using a trust model this year and sharing the pass codes publicly, please make sure that if you are a tournament participant that you join the correct league, and if you are not a tournament participant that you do not join any league. If you join a league in error you will be removed from it. You will have one week to join your assigned 60's league. It is important to note that you can/will lose your spot in the tournament if you do not join your assigned league between January 15th and January 21st. So, it is important that you check in here at this Discussion Forum regularly.
Key rules / details
The deadline for signing up for the 2024 Mystery Card Players' Championship is Sunday January 14th at 11:59 PM Eastern time. 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 five season commitment and will therefore eventually require 5 credits to enter your teams in this tournament. 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. As mentioned above, once you have signed up for the tournament, please check the Mystery Tournament thread on the Discussion Forum site regularly for updates such as league assignments and passcodes, and keep track of your private messages on this Discussion Forum page (up where it says "x new messages") as some important notifications are sometimes sent out that way.
The rules are generally the same as last year. The top 24 teams will be moving on to a semi-final round like last year. Also like last year, the winners of those semi-final leagues will automatically move on the championship final league. The only other 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 and we did not use the DH in the 70’s last year. Any use of the 70's in playoff rounds will NOT use a DH. There are 5 rounds to the tournament for ALL participants- one each for the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000’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 list 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 5th round of the tournament (the 2000's) the top 24 teams will be divided into two leagues (Mystery set TBD) and assigned in a "snake" distribution based on the standings after 5 rounds (1-4-5-8-9 etc in one league, 2-3-6-7 etc in the other) and the total from those two leagues simply get added to the cumulative standings. This gives teams 13-24 a chance to do well in this 6th round and get themselves into the championship finals. Division assignment for the semi-finals is random. More details on the playoffs can be found below. For additional general tournament info, you can go to the 2023 (last year) Tournament website: http://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/46
In the event of a tie to determine placement/order in the top 24 for the semi-final round or the top 12 for the final round, the following tiebreaker steps will be taken:
1. Championships won
2. Finals made
3. Playoffs made
4. Total run differential across the first 5 rounds
5. Best single season run differential through the first 5 rounds
6. Best single season total in runs scored through the first 5 rounds
7. Coin flip
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. If there is any dispute about rules interpretations or if a decision is required to resolve a conflict of any kind, the commissioner's decision will be the final decision.
League Closer - The commissioner will assign two closers for each tournament league. The closers can join their assigned league at any time, but they are to wait until the correct 12 teams have joined the league before they set their team as “Ready for Draft”.
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).
Ballparks, Draft Type, Salary Cap
Each league in ALL rounds will use the default salary cap of $80 million. The regular tournament (first 5 rounds) and the two semi-final leagues (round 6) will use auto-draft and your ballpark can be anything you want with no restrictions. The championship final league (round 7) will use a Live Draft format and the ballpark will be unique in this league and be drafted as part of the draft. You can re-use a ballpark that you used earlier in the draft, no restriction there, you just can't use the same ballpark as someone else in that championship final league.
Key dates / deadlines
Please note that the leagues for each round will start on the same day and that start date will be preset for each league created.
Sunday January 14th - Deadline to join 2024 Mystery Tournament (at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Sunday night)
Monday January 15th - 60s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday January 22nd – All teams must join their assigned 60s league BEFORE this date
Monday January 29th - Opening Day for the 60s leagues
Monday January 29th - 70s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday February 5th – All teams must join their assigned 70s league BEFORE this date
Monday February 12th - Opening Day for the 70s leagues
Monday February 12th - 80s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday February 19th – All teams must join their assigned 80s league BEFORE this date
Monday February 26th - Opening Day for the 80s leagues
Monday February 26th - 90s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday March 4th – All teams must join their assigned 90s league BEFORE this date
Monday March 11th - Opening Day for the 90s leagues
Monday March 11th - 2000s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday March 18th – All teams must join their assigned 2000s league BEFORE this date
Monday March 25th - Opening Day for the 2000s leagues
Wednesday May 29th – 2000s league championships complete
Friday May 31st – Semi-final leagues membership will be determined and leagues created
Tuesday June 4th – All teams must join their assigned semi-final league BEFORE this date
Monday June 10th - Opening Day for the semi-final leagues
Wednesday August 14th – Semi-finals league championships complete
Thursday August 15th – Championship league membership will be finalized and league created
Tuesday August 20th – All teams must join their assigned semi-final league BEFORE this date
Thursday August 22nd – Live draft for the Championship league will take place at 9:30 PM Eastern time
Monday August 26th – Opening day for the Championship league
Playoff format
With 5 rounds in the regular tournament, we will have a 6th cumulative points playoff round for the top 24 teams. After the first 5 rounds, the top 24 teams will be split into 2 leagues (based on a snake order of the final standings after 5 rounds, leagues $80m salary cap and auto-draft) and those 24 teams will have their points from this 6th round get added to the cumulative standings. So no team has earned or clinched anything after 5 rounds. However, with the 6th round points getting added to the totals accumulated through 5 rounds, the teams that were the best positioned going into the semi-finals are at an advantage with respect to qualifying into the final 12 championship league participants. The set used in this 6th semi-final round will be a “mystery” and will be randomly generated for this 6th round close to the time of its commencement. Anyone who is in the 25th spot or later will not participate in the 6th round. The top 10 teams in the cumulative standings after the 6th round will move on to the championship finals. The two teams that win the championships in the semi-final round automatically go the championship final regardless of where they are positioned within the top 24 after 6 rounds. If one of the semi-final champions is in the top 10 (a scenario that is very likely) then the 11th place team in the cumulative standings after 6 rounds moves on to the 12 team championship final. If both of the semi-final champions are in the top 10 (a scenario that is very possible) then the 12th place team in the cumulative standings after 6 rounds moves on to the 12 team champions final. The Championship final league will use a LIVE DRAFT which is scheduled to take place at 9:30 PM Eastern time on Thursday August 22nd. Everyone knows now when the Live Draft is scheduled for, so please make note of this. If there are multiple people in the top 12 that cannot make the date/time of the draft, the commissioner will try and re-schedule to a more agreeable time but no promises can be made that this can be accommodated. If a Live Draft time just cannot be determined / set based on availability, a 6 round snake draft will take place on the Discussion Forum and then an auto-draft will take place to fill out the rest of the rosters. Order of the draft will be determined by the final standings, as will the division assignment (unlike last year). New this year, the set used in this final round will be a “mystery” and will be randomly generated for this final round close to the time of its commencement (just like the semi-finals was last year). Other settings for this final will be as follows: DH will be used unless 60's or 70's is the set chosen; 80 million is the salary cap; unique stadiums (to be picked as part of the draft); repeat stadiums from your previous rounds allowed; divisions determined by rank (1-6-7-12, 2-5-8-11, 3-4-9-10); live draft pick length is 120 seconds.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Tournament veterans, please reply with comments if I have left out any important details.
Juiced JC
My name is John (aka Juiced JC) and I am going to be the Commissioner of the Mystery Card Players Championship tournament again this year. I will be assisted this year by jaywalker72 who will be running the tournament next year. This year, the tournament is a FIVE round tournament in which all participants will play a league for each of the five mystery card sets – 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s. Each league in these five rounds will be an auto-draft with an $80 million salary cap. This year the DH will be used in all leagues but the 60’s (DH use in the 70's alternates every year). Each of these first five rounds will start every two weeks. This aggressive schedule is not only to make managing multiple teams part of the challenge of the tournament, but also because it allows for the tournament to be fully completed within 10 months to allow for a short off season before the next tournament starts. This is the third year that the regular tournament will consist of 5 rounds. This is the third year that the winners of the two semi-final rounds automatically advance to the championship league. So like last year if you get into the top 24 you control your own destiny!
For all the new participants, I want to make it clear that I am not affiliated with Strat-o-matic in any way, I am a 365 player just like you and I volunteer to run this simply because I love this tournament so much I want to see it thrive. Like last year, I'm going to highlight the key rules, key terms and key dates below.
How to sign up for the tournament
For those of you reading this that haven't yet signed up, go to the thread in this "Mystery Tournament" section of Discussion Forum that is titled "Signups for the 2024 Mystery Tournament". Click on that thread, and navigate to the end of the thread (the last page of the thread) by clicking on the numbered "bread crumbs" on the top right where it says "Pages 1 to x". When you get to the last page, select and copy the last post in the thread, and then click the "Post Reply" button at the bottom. Paste the list that you copied from the last post, and then add your name to the next number in the list. If you are unable to copy the previous list, simply just type your name in the reply. New this year, you can optionally add your email address to the list, or send me a private message with your email address. This is not required but it will allow me to email you when there are any relevant tournament updates or deadlines.
What you are committing to by signing up
You are committing to playing the first 5 rounds of the tournament. You will need 5 Baseball 365 credits to do this, using one every 2 weeks for the next couple of months. If you qualify for the playoffs you will need 1-2 more credits, but if you have qualified for the playoffs you more than likely have earned those credits with your success in the first 5 rounds.
What happens next after you sign up
Early on Monday January 15th, I will post the randomized list of 60's league assignments. I will then send an email invitation to every participant to their assigned league. Some people have trouble receiving these email invites. Please check your junk folder / email filters if you don't receive them, or check with Strat 365 support to see if they have an old email address on file for you. The league assignments and pass codes will also be shared here on the Discussion Forum. Please note that I will not be sending private messages with the pass codes this year. So if you do not receive the email invitation, look for the league assignment and pass code on the Discussion Forum. Since we are using a trust model this year and sharing the pass codes publicly, please make sure that if you are a tournament participant that you join the correct league, and if you are not a tournament participant that you do not join any league. If you join a league in error you will be removed from it. You will have one week to join your assigned 60's league. It is important to note that you can/will lose your spot in the tournament if you do not join your assigned league between January 15th and January 21st. So, it is important that you check in here at this Discussion Forum regularly.
Key rules / details
The deadline for signing up for the 2024 Mystery Card Players' Championship is Sunday January 14th at 11:59 PM Eastern time. 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 five season commitment and will therefore eventually require 5 credits to enter your teams in this tournament. 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. As mentioned above, once you have signed up for the tournament, please check the Mystery Tournament thread on the Discussion Forum site regularly for updates such as league assignments and passcodes, and keep track of your private messages on this Discussion Forum page (up where it says "x new messages") as some important notifications are sometimes sent out that way.
The rules are generally the same as last year. The top 24 teams will be moving on to a semi-final round like last year. Also like last year, the winners of those semi-final leagues will automatically move on the championship final league. The only other 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 and we did not use the DH in the 70’s last year. Any use of the 70's in playoff rounds will NOT use a DH. There are 5 rounds to the tournament for ALL participants- one each for the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's, 2000’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 list 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 5th round of the tournament (the 2000's) the top 24 teams will be divided into two leagues (Mystery set TBD) and assigned in a "snake" distribution based on the standings after 5 rounds (1-4-5-8-9 etc in one league, 2-3-6-7 etc in the other) and the total from those two leagues simply get added to the cumulative standings. This gives teams 13-24 a chance to do well in this 6th round and get themselves into the championship finals. Division assignment for the semi-finals is random. More details on the playoffs can be found below. For additional general tournament info, you can go to the 2023 (last year) Tournament website: http://365.strat-o-matic.com/tournament/46
In the event of a tie to determine placement/order in the top 24 for the semi-final round or the top 12 for the final round, the following tiebreaker steps will be taken:
1. Championships won
2. Finals made
3. Playoffs made
4. Total run differential across the first 5 rounds
5. Best single season run differential through the first 5 rounds
6. Best single season total in runs scored through the first 5 rounds
7. Coin flip
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. If there is any dispute about rules interpretations or if a decision is required to resolve a conflict of any kind, the commissioner's decision will be the final decision.
League Closer - The commissioner will assign two closers for each tournament league. The closers can join their assigned league at any time, but they are to wait until the correct 12 teams have joined the league before they set their team as “Ready for Draft”.
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).
Ballparks, Draft Type, Salary Cap
Each league in ALL rounds will use the default salary cap of $80 million. The regular tournament (first 5 rounds) and the two semi-final leagues (round 6) will use auto-draft and your ballpark can be anything you want with no restrictions. The championship final league (round 7) will use a Live Draft format and the ballpark will be unique in this league and be drafted as part of the draft. You can re-use a ballpark that you used earlier in the draft, no restriction there, you just can't use the same ballpark as someone else in that championship final league.
Key dates / deadlines
Please note that the leagues for each round will start on the same day and that start date will be preset for each league created.
Sunday January 14th - Deadline to join 2024 Mystery Tournament (at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Sunday night)
Monday January 15th - 60s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday January 22nd – All teams must join their assigned 60s league BEFORE this date
Monday January 29th - Opening Day for the 60s leagues
Monday January 29th - 70s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday February 5th – All teams must join their assigned 70s league BEFORE this date
Monday February 12th - Opening Day for the 70s leagues
Monday February 12th - 80s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday February 19th – All teams must join their assigned 80s league BEFORE this date
Monday February 26th - Opening Day for the 80s leagues
Monday February 26th - 90s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday March 4th – All teams must join their assigned 90s league BEFORE this date
Monday March 11th - Opening Day for the 90s leagues
Monday March 11th - 2000s leagues membership will be randomly generated and leagues created
Monday March 18th – All teams must join their assigned 2000s league BEFORE this date
Monday March 25th - Opening Day for the 2000s leagues
Wednesday May 29th – 2000s league championships complete
Friday May 31st – Semi-final leagues membership will be determined and leagues created
Tuesday June 4th – All teams must join their assigned semi-final league BEFORE this date
Monday June 10th - Opening Day for the semi-final leagues
Wednesday August 14th – Semi-finals league championships complete
Thursday August 15th – Championship league membership will be finalized and league created
Tuesday August 20th – All teams must join their assigned semi-final league BEFORE this date
Thursday August 22nd – Live draft for the Championship league will take place at 9:30 PM Eastern time
Monday August 26th – Opening day for the Championship league
Playoff format
With 5 rounds in the regular tournament, we will have a 6th cumulative points playoff round for the top 24 teams. After the first 5 rounds, the top 24 teams will be split into 2 leagues (based on a snake order of the final standings after 5 rounds, leagues $80m salary cap and auto-draft) and those 24 teams will have their points from this 6th round get added to the cumulative standings. So no team has earned or clinched anything after 5 rounds. However, with the 6th round points getting added to the totals accumulated through 5 rounds, the teams that were the best positioned going into the semi-finals are at an advantage with respect to qualifying into the final 12 championship league participants. The set used in this 6th semi-final round will be a “mystery” and will be randomly generated for this 6th round close to the time of its commencement. Anyone who is in the 25th spot or later will not participate in the 6th round. The top 10 teams in the cumulative standings after the 6th round will move on to the championship finals. The two teams that win the championships in the semi-final round automatically go the championship final regardless of where they are positioned within the top 24 after 6 rounds. If one of the semi-final champions is in the top 10 (a scenario that is very likely) then the 11th place team in the cumulative standings after 6 rounds moves on to the 12 team championship final. If both of the semi-final champions are in the top 10 (a scenario that is very possible) then the 12th place team in the cumulative standings after 6 rounds moves on to the 12 team champions final. The Championship final league will use a LIVE DRAFT which is scheduled to take place at 9:30 PM Eastern time on Thursday August 22nd. Everyone knows now when the Live Draft is scheduled for, so please make note of this. If there are multiple people in the top 12 that cannot make the date/time of the draft, the commissioner will try and re-schedule to a more agreeable time but no promises can be made that this can be accommodated. If a Live Draft time just cannot be determined / set based on availability, a 6 round snake draft will take place on the Discussion Forum and then an auto-draft will take place to fill out the rest of the rosters. Order of the draft will be determined by the final standings, as will the division assignment (unlike last year). New this year, the set used in this final round will be a “mystery” and will be randomly generated for this final round close to the time of its commencement (just like the semi-finals was last year). Other settings for this final will be as follows: DH will be used unless 60's or 70's is the set chosen; 80 million is the salary cap; unique stadiums (to be picked as part of the draft); repeat stadiums from your previous rounds allowed; divisions determined by rank (1-6-7-12, 2-5-8-11, 3-4-9-10); live draft pick length is 120 seconds.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Tournament veterans, please reply with comments if I have left out any important details.
Juiced JC