2023 Summer Gem Hunt Tournament

Get ready to have your fingers dashing, PQ crashing, and laptops smashing, because WE'RE BACK FOR THE 9TH ANNUAL SUMMER GEM HUNT TOURNAMENT!!!!!!! The time-tested tradition of gathering the finest social recluses...I mean...marble blasters in town for a summer of competition in this fabulous game mode that descended from our big-balled MBU grandparents is a tradition that dates back to when I was in elementary school (I'm halfway through uni now). (Look how sweet eguy is awww, he wrote this not me ANYWAY)

Please read this post thoroughly before announcing your intent to participate. If you hate reading like I do, I sympathize but also kindly ask you to do it anyway cause I put a lot of effort into this and I want to HELP mitigate any confusion for all y’all. Without further ado, let's jump right in with the format!

Basic rules:
ALL MATCHES THROUGHOUT THIS TOURNAMENT MUST BE PLAYED WITH COMPETITIVE MODE ON (that's if competitive mode is in multiplayer). QUICK SPAWN MUST BE OFF REGARDLESS.
Make sure to agree on which server or dedicated server to use based on fair and even ping. If there is no server that is fair or even, consider alternating: for example, in the 2021 finals, I played against Eguy. He lives in the Western US and I live in Southeastern Europe. We used a server set up in the Midwestern US and one located in the UK for my picks, counterbalancing the ping advantage with a map advantage.

Preseed
This year’s tournament will have a preseed round.

On the week of the 19th of June, there will be a pre-seed round, where each player will complete solo Gem Hunt runs on four pre-determined levels. A person will have to accompany you in the server to confirm that you did not cheat your scores. They have the option of recording those runs on video if they so choose. Players are forbidden from respawning for a better first spawn - once you enter the level you have entered your only run. The Pre-Seed map draw will take place on 11th June 2023 at 18:00 UTC, in the Marble Blast Community Discord Server, so be sure to be in the server (you should be in regardless)


Swiss rounds
Then we have the regular season, which will be in the Swiss format, starting Monday June 26th and lasting 5-6 weeks depending on number of participants. It’s very simple. You will be assigned a new matchup each week. Your first opponent will be drawn based on the preseed round, and the rest of your opponents will be based on how well you fare. The start and cutoff times for each week will be Mondays at midnight Pacific time (GMT-. The matches will be best of five. The lower seeded player (as in, with a seed that is a higher number) gets to choose whether they want to pick first or not. The fifth game will be randomized if a match gets that far. Brace yourselves for King of the Marble mothafuckas.

This year we are trying a NEW RULE for swiss rounds: a map cap. You only get to pick the same map up to a total of three times if the swiss rounds end up being 5-6 weeks, and twice if 4 weeks.

Playoffs
Playoffs will begin when swiss rounds end. Number of players to qualify TBD once we know how many have signed up in total. We may involve play-in rounds. Same deal except best of seven (nine for the finals), and you will only get to pick any given map TWICE for the entire playoffs (as opposed to once in previous years). Choose wisely! Play to your opponents’ weaknesses, use your prime weapons as aggressively or conservatively as you desire, and if you pick Fault Line against me, you’d better be a trans girl who needs help transitioning cause I'll rip your dick off.

No-Shows
Because the matchups for any given week are determined by what happened the week prior, it is essential that all matches get played. No-shows will be dealt with on a case by case basis. If it is clearly the fault of one player, they will get an automatic 3-0 loss. If both players are clearly at fault, a 0-0 game will be considered. We really, really hope these scenarios end up being purely hypothetical. Cmon bro all you gotta do is make time for one MP sesh per week. That’s it. Let’s make this tourney a historic first in that regard, with no no-shows.

Map Choices
All of the STANDARD gem hunt maps are fair game. No winterfest or frightfest maps will be allowed. A shame, really, as I’ve been saying for YEARS that some of the customs have earned their place amongst the official levels. And I’m still salty that Gym got the boot right before I was gonna use it as my secret weapon in the inaugural tourney. *angry egy noises* (lol get rekt)

Hosting, Recording and Writing Up Matches

Hit any of us up on discord via the official PQ server to plan match times and dates. You are all encouraged to schedule in advance rather than be spontaneous. So we can stream and/or record with commentary! If not stream, PLEASE at least make sure to at least get them recorded. If it’s absolutely necessary i. e. Sunday evening and there is no person available to record, just go ahead and play the match, with an additional spectator to verify the scores and ensure that the rules were followed. If the match has not been recorded, please report the final scores of each game to either this forum thread or the #hype channel in the PQ discord server, along with a brief synopsis/writeup of how the games played out. In fact, write-ups for all matches are encouraged but optional if the matches were streamed/recorded. On to my most important point...

ANYONE CAN JOIN!
Remember, most of all, to have fun. I don’t condone punching holes in Ikea tables, breaking your dad’s ribs, or getting saltier than your average MB community member after a five second discord mute. Incidents akin to the Great Pee Torter Saltfest of 2014 are, while iconic, not really what we wanna see. And of course, players of all skill levels are welcome to join. This is a tired cliche, but even if you think you ain’t gonna beat the top tier players, there’s no better time to improve, and it’s a great experience regardless. I sure as hell didn’t have a shot the first few years I participated but I enjoyed it.

Prize
With the generosity of DKman00, there is a Prize Pool of $250 American
This will be allocated by the following:

Quarter Finalists: $10
4th Place: $20
3rd Place : $40
2nd Place: $60
1st Place: $90
I am planning on sending out the money through Steam, Revolut, or PayPal (not finalised yet)

YOU CAN ALSO:
become mod
get neck rub from jojo
get PQ 2 top secret build

FAQ
If there are any questions I’ve failed to answer here, hit up Yoshi, Eguy or myself on discord. All of us are available round the clock cause let’s be real, none of us have lives.


PQ crash!!

Crashes will be dealt with on a case by case basis. Let’s just say, assuming it’s a five minute map, one player has an insurmountable lead with less than a minute left, there is no need to replay it. If there is less than two minutes left, it’s up to both players to come to an agreement. If we’re not through the halfway point, the game is replayed, period. If it’s anybody’s game even if there’s not much time left, the game is replayed, period. Again, this is just a basic framework and should be case by case.


Tie game!!

Play it again.


Voice taunts!!

...are fair game. Just be tactful.

This forum post is a good resource for FAQ, as are all the tourney posts from years past.

marbleblast.com/index.php/forum/mb-tournaments/7647-1v1-v1-multiplayer-marble-blast-tournament?start=0

Players Currently Signed Up (28)
Eguy
Jean
Connie
Red_zone
[email protected]
TrueSlayer74
Nockess
serjG2005
Gittles
jacob69431
theturk1234
freeziez
husemat69
Kwill
thearst3rd
Kalle29
petalflurry
Wilchz
Yoshicraft224
Eurobeater
Robert
.5
Xedron (directly been told will join)
Tue27
subtract
MBOUltimate
bobirika12 (directly been told will join)
A-Game

Challonge Link:
challonge.com/j09nnvh2

Good luck!

tl;dr joj HoH SiS whatever idk 2016 memes i was 12

Who are you talking to right now? Who is it that you think you see? Do you know how many blues I get in a match? I mean, even if I tell you, you wouldn’t believe it. Do you know what happens if I suddenly decide to stop playing in Tournaments? All of the excitement in a tournament goes belly-up. Gone. It doesn't exist without me. No, you clearly don’t know who you’re talking to so let me clue you in. I am not going to be beaten at Gem Hunt, Skylar. I will beat other people at it. A guy goes for a blue and gets blasted off the map, and you think that of me? No. I am the one who blasts.

Anyways... I am participating! Time to kick some ass!

I volunteer as tribute.
Also, this is my first time in a tourney, so wish me luck

you know it bby

---

Another year, another tourney! -- Let's see how I go this year!
If I am not mistaken, I have literally nothing to lose as I did not make the Playoffs last year.
I would be surprised if I make them this year, and perhaps even further(?), as I was able to make the Playoff's Survival Round during the 2021 tournament.
So, let's test my luck, let's test my agility, let's test my blasting, let's test whether my almighty ping will screw me over again!

---

TL;DR: LET'S DO THIS BAYBEEEEEEEEEEE!

Singleplayer gem hunt is better

a

YES

I'm in!

I'm in as well

I'm in

yessir let's run it back

count me in!

I’ll join!

Put me in chief!!

Thanks for hosting this year, I look forward to it

yeah sure i can't do worse than last year

dead i am

"All y'all" (as egy put it) shall be fucked gayly and with copious semen. Count me in fellers

i'm participating or whatever

let's go

I'll enter the fray. working on getting multiplayer to work on my Mac but hopefully devs can help me in time



discord tag is .5#2928

I'll join, with more rust than ever

Let’s get this show on the road!

it's time to duel

No more lucky group stages
Also, no more comp mode! (Can either be bad or good)
Pre-2.50 returns. (maybe)

I'll join!


/v13