OP > Premier Events > Ratings and Rankings Update
 

Ratings and Rankings Update

(updated 1-24-2007)

POP Premier Rating Invitational Tiebreakers

After the final Premier Event in a Rating Zone has been uploaded, Pokémon Organized Play will verify the validity of the ratings and will then award invitations to the 2007 Pokémon TCG World Championships to the top-ranked player or players in that Zone. For more information on the number of invites available in each Rating Zone, please see the Premier Ratings and You document.

In the event that two or more players are tied for a rating-based invite, Pokémon Organized Play will determine who receives the invite based on a series of tiebreakers. These tiebreakers will only be applied after the final Premier Event in a Rating Zone has been uploaded and after the validity of the ratings has been verified.

The tiebreakers will be applied in the following order:

Premier Event Match Win Percentage

  • The win percentage of a player is an excellent indicator of overall performance over the course of the tournament season. Pokémon Organized Play will review the Premier Event match-win percentage (wins / total matches) of the tied players and rank them based on the result, with the higher win percentage ranked above the lower win percentage.

Total Matches Played

  • Players who participate in more events and complete more matches have put their ratings on the line to a greater degree and have shown a high level of dedication to the Pokémon TCG and to Pokémon Organized Play. Tied players will be ranked in order of highest total matches played to lowest total matches played.

Average Size of Premier Events Attended

  • Larger events have more rounds and tend to be much more challenging for players than smaller events. These large events also tend to draw more top-level players than the smaller events do, making it harder for players to do well in them. Tied players will be ranked in order of highest average Premier Event attendance for that player’s Age Division to lowest average Premier Event attendance for that player’s Age Division.

Average Record at Common Tournaments

  • As the Championship Series progresses, Premier Events get larger and spaced further apart. This increases the likelihood that players with identical ratings have competed in one or more of the same events. Tied players will be ranked based on the average tournament record of each event that they have in common, with the highest average ranked above the lowest average.

Coin Flip

  • While it’s unlikely that this tiebreak will be necessary, a deterministic tiebreaker as the final tiebreaker is important. The coin flip will be conducted at the Pokémon USA, Inc., offices with several key POP and administrative staff present to validate the result.

Cross-Age-Group Match Ratings Change

After much research and discussion, the POP rules team has determined that it is in the best interest of the program for Cross-Age-Group Matches to no longer be rated. Our findings show that a significant portion of players who play a match against an opponent in an age group above their own will lose that match. This means that even a highly rated Junior player is at a severe ratings risk and disadvantage when playing against a Senior player.

We believe that this change is imperative to the integrity of the Premier Ratings System and is a fair and balanced decision for those players affected. Therefore, this will be implemented retroactively to the beginning of the City Championships series. Players can expect to see changes in their ratings shortly after this change is implemented.

Thank you for your continued support.
Pokémon Organized Play Staff

Ratings and Rankings Display Update

With the introduction of Premier Rating Invites, it has become more important for players to know more accurately where they stand in the rankings as the season progresses. Because Pokémon Organized Play allows players to opt in and out of ratings and rankings at their discretion, POP believes it is important that players who remain opted in throughout the season know where they actually stand against players who may not opt in until the last moment.

Therefore, effective immediately, all players will appear in the rankings list. However, those players who have not opted in will be displayed as "Not Opted In." This will allow players to see that there are other players potentially ranked higher who could opt in and earn an invite, pushing some players out of the top rankings by earning those invites.

POP will not announce the date of the final Rankings pull until it has been completed. It will, however, take place be on a date after the final Premier event in a given Ratings Zone. Players not opted in to the Rankings prior to this pull will not be eligible for a 2007 World Championships invite and Travel Award.

Thank you for your continued support.
Pokémon Organized Play Staff

Decimal Rating Display

Effective immediately, POP will be displaying player ratings down to two decimal points. This will allow POP to better separate the rankings, avoiding some tiebreakers later on. We hope this change will help our players better track their own ratings and those of others rated close to them as they strive to earn an invitation to the World Championships in 2007.

Thank you for your continued support.
Pokémon Organized Play Staff