Lower Division
Format
The Lower Division is a Swiss-style tournament reserved for the 16 lowest seeded players. In the first round, players will initially match up based on their initial seeding. Subsequent rounds will match up players by their win-loss record. A player will be promoted into the Upper Division once they attain 3 wins. Players with 3 losses will be eliminated from the tournament. In the event there are less than 16 players in the pool, a bye will be given to players depending on the round and their seeds.
In total, 8 players will be promoted to the Upper Division bracket, while 8 players will be eliminated from the tournament.
All matches are Best of 1 until a potential elimination match, where the match will be Best of 3.
All Lower Division matches will be determined by song wins and not overall achievement score.
Pairings
Players’ initial match-ups are based on pairing the top half of players directly with their counterpart in the bottom half. Please see the following example provided by Chess.com:
| Match ID | Player 1 Seed | Player 2 Seed |
|---|---|---|
| A | 1 (i.e. 16th from the bottom) | 9 |
| B | 2 | 10 |
| C | 3 | 11 |
| D | 4 | 12 |
| E | 5 | 13 |
| F | 6 | 14 |
| G | 7 | 15 |
| H | 8 | 16 (i.e. the bottommost seed) |
Song Pool Probabilities
Songs will be selected from EXPERT, MASTER, and Re:MASTER difficulties. Each level constant has an equal chance of appearing in the Card Draw. Song Pool probabilities are subject to change.
| Round Title | 11 | 11+ | 12.0 | 12.1 | 12.2 | 12.3 | 12.4 | 12.5 | 12.6 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 12.9 | 13.0 | 13.1 | 13.2 | 13.3 | 13.4 | 13.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 (0-0) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 2-A (1-0) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 2-B (0-1) | x | x | ||||||||||||||||
| Round 3-A (2-0) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 3-B (1-1) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 3-C (0-2) | x | x | ||||||||||||||||
| Round 4-A (2-1) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 4-B (1-2) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x | |||||||||||
| Round 5 (2-2) | x | x | x | x | x | x | x |
Match Procedures
Best of 1 Match Procedure
- TO asks the higher seed whether to ban 1st or ban 2nd. TO assigns the lower seed the option the higher seed did not pick.
- The TO will draw 5 songs.
- If both players agree, they can redraw the songs once. Otherwise, keep the draw as is.
- Players will now execute their preferences: P1 Ban 1, P2 Ban 1, P1 Ban 2, P2 Ban 2.
- Players will play the remaining song left.
Best of 3 Match Procedure
- TO asks the higher seed whether to ban 1st, pick 2nd (Pick Order 1, or PO1) OR ban 2nd, pick 1st (PO2).
- TO assigns the lower seed the option the higher seed did not pick.
- The TO will draw 7 songs.
- If both players agree, they can redraw the songs once. Otherwise, keep the draw as is.
- Players will now execute their preferences: PO1 Ban, PO2 Ban, PO2 Pick, PO1 Pick
- Players play the songs in this order: PO2 Pick, PO1 Pick, then the remaining song from left to right.