[Obselete] VF Circuit Team Battle - Rules and Guidelines

Last Updated - October 16, 2013​

Major Changes made for Team-related events on the VF Circuit (below info is currently outdated)

Season 2 Team Lists

Monthly Team Battle Scheduling​

1. Season Teams will confirm at the beginning of the month, their Monthly Squad(s) composition for the month’s Team Battles. In addition, one player for each Squad will act as the “captain” (in other words, the person who will help set-up the team matchup).
2. The month’s team battles will be posted in the Tournaments and Events forum section with teams listed as Home Team and Away Team.
3. A VFDC group conversation will be made for each of the paired teams plus the organizer (s). The two teams will come to an agreed time and date to have their team battle for that month (I would recommend trying to schedule a date and time within the week).

Regular Season Team Battle Outline​

• Unless specifically mentioned, all individual matches are played with the standard number of rounds and health. Character switching is not allowed during a Team Battle.
• The Team Battle consists of 3 Rings for a team to try to "conquer." Up to 3 Turns for each Ring are played. If a team have already won both Turn 1 and 2 for a Ring, then a 3rd Turn is not played for that Ring. For each Ring in a Turn, two matches are played.
• A win in a Ring is worth 3 points, A tie in a Ring is worth 2 points, and a loss in a Ring is worth 1 point.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Team Battle​

1. Before the Team Battle begins, the Home Team’s captain declares their player for Ring 1. The Home Team’s player gets to decide which side he or she plays on (1P or 2P side).
2. The Away Team’s captain declares their players for all three Rings. The Away Team's players for Ring 2 and 3 get to decide which side he or she plays on (1P or 2P side).
3. The Home Team’s captain declares the players for Ring 2 and 3.
4. All three Rings within a Turn are played simultaneously (see example below). For every Turn in each Ring, two matches are played. Home Team players save the first match while the Away Team players save the second match. Once the two matches are completed, upload the matches to XBL or PSN sever.
   
5. There is a 20 minute break in between Turns. This allows time for teammates to discuss and also review replays before starting the next set of matches. If agreed with both teams, players can choose to bypass the 20 minute break to start the next Turn.
6. After each turn, teams have some options to change the player order for the three rings.

• player substitution or switching are allowed for players that either loss or tied in their previous Turn.
  
• Players that won the previous Turn are not allowed to be substituted or switched out.
  
• An individual player can only be substituted or switched out only once in a Team Battle.

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Spoiler: Example of how a team battle runs

Team 1 only has 3 players, while Team 2 has 4 players (1 of them acting as a Bench Player)

Turn 1 (2 Matches in each Ring per Turn – Save and upload all matches)

1. Ring 1 - Team 1, Player A (1-1) vs Team 2, Player D (1-1) – Tied
2. Ring 2 - Team 1, Player B (2-0) vs Team 2, Player E (0-2) – Team 1 Win
3. Ring 3 - Team 1, Player C (0-2) vs Team 2, Player F (2-0) – Team 2 Win

Turn 2 (2 Matches in each Ring per Turn – Save and upload all matches) - Player substitution or switching allowed for players that either loss or tied their Turn 1 Matches (See above, bold+italics). Players that won Turn 1 are not allowed to be substituted or switch out. An individual player can only be substituted or switched out only once in a Team Battle.

1. Ring 1 - Team 1, Player C (switched) (2-0) vs Team 2, Player D (0-2) – Team 1 Win
2. Ring 2 - Team 1, Player B (0-2) vs Team 2, Player G (Substituted) (2-0) – Team 2 Win
3. Ring 3 - Team 1, Player A (switched) (0-2) vs Team 2, Player F (2-0) – Team 2 Win

Turn 3 (2 Matches in each Ring per Turn – Save and upload all matches) – Player substitution or switching allowed for players that either loss or tied their Turn 2 Matches. Players that won Turn 2 are not allowed to be substituted or switch out. An individual player can only be substituted or switched out only once in a Team Battle.

1. Ring 1 - Team 1, Player C (0-2) vs Team 2, Player D (2-0) – Team 2 Win
2. Ring 2 - Team 1, Player A (2-0 vs Team 2, Player G (0-2) – Team 1 Win
3. Ring 3 - not played since Team 2 have already won both Turns in this Ring.

Overall Score
Matchup 1 – Tied
Matchup 2 – Team 1 Win
Matchup 3 – Team 2 Win

Playoffs Team Battle Outline​

I am still working on the details. This will be a more familiar elimination type format. The current plan is to have two playoff team matches for the best Season Teams after October and after December.

Definitions

Spoiler: Season Team

Season Team – This consists of 3 to 6 players that will represent a team for the entire season. Once you are part of a Season Team, you cannot switch to a different team until the next season. The regular team matches during the season are based on the Monthly Squads. However, during the “post-season playoffs” all season team members participate together. Thus, it is in a Season Team’s advantage to have more players on your Season Team than less.

Spoiler: Monthly Squad

Monthly Squad (formerly called 3-Person Teams)– This consists of 3 players forming a squad for a month. A squad is composed either of all members from the same Season Team or 2 members from the same Season Team and a Rental Player. A maximum of two Monthly Squads (α Squad and β Squad) can represent the Season Team. Members composing of a 3-Person Team can be changed on a monthly basis. For example, for the September Team Battles, the Season Team “VFers for Life” is represented by α Squad (Players A, B, and C) and β Squad (Players D, E, and F). For the October Team Battles, “VFers for Life” is represented by α Squad (Players B, D, and F) and β Squad (Players A, C, and E). It is to a Season Team’s advantage to field two teams each month.

Spoiler: Rental Player

Rental Player – A player that is not is part of any Season Team. A Monthly Squad short of a Season Team player for the month can fill the third spot with a Rental Player. Points the Rental Player obtained while playing on the team do not count toward the Season Team’s points for the overall season. The Rental Player is part of the Squad for the entire Month’s Team Battle. The Rental Player option allows players without a Season Team to act as a filler for teams in need of players.

Spoiler: Bench Player

Bench Player – This is a Season Team player that is not in the starting lineup of a Monthly Squad. In the middle of a team battle, the bench player can substitute a teammate that either loss or tied his or her matches Round 1 or Round 2 of Team Battle. This is for Season Teams that have players with obligations that prevent them from participating regularly in the VF Circuit Team Battles.

Monthly Squad Composition Options:

Spoiler: Season Team with 3 Players

Season Team with 3 Players
· One Squad with all Season Team Members.
· One Squad with 2 Season Team Members and a Rental Player.

Spoiler: Season Team with 4 Players

Season Team with 4 Players
· Two Squads with each squad consisting of 2 Season Team Members and a Rental Player.
· One Squad with all Season Team Members (3 Starters and 1 Bench Player).
· Same squad composition options as “Season Team with 3 Players.”

Spoiler: Season Team with 5 Players

Season Team with 5 Players
· Two Squads with one squad consisting of 3 Season Team Members and the second squad consisting of 2 Season Team Members and a Rental Player.
· One Squad with all Season Team Members (3 Starters and 2 Bench Players).
· Same squad composition options as “Season Team with 4 Players.”

Spoiler: Season Team with 6 Players

Season Team with 6 Players
· Two Squads with each squad consisting of 3 Season Team Members.
· Two Squads with one squad consisting of 3 Season Team Members and the second squad consisting of 2 Season Team Members and a Rental Player.
· One Squad with all Season Team Members (3 Starters and 3 Bench Players).
· Same squad composition options as “Season Team with 5 Players.”

 

Saved for later information

Looks like a lot of stuff, but I will be guiding people through it. Will update tonight. If you have questions please ask away!

Because this is entirely new to the Circuit, Season Teams will not be set in stone until the end of September.

 

I actually was going to do the Japanese style format, but several reasons made me change the format:

1. Not enough players. If we had many teams playing at the same time, then the Japanese style would be fine. But currently it is such a small size of teams it would not work well for online format. For example, a night where you guys play and one person just sweeps the entire team - that ends the team battle night. Since we are making it such that people set their own time schedule, it seems better to make a format that allow people to play multiple matches. If we had 10-20 teams playing at the same night, the Japanese format would definitely be the way to go.

2. Room Mode issues. The elimination format would benefit greatly with the Room Mode, but as everyone now knows, the network (mostly PSN) is unstable causing a lot of headaches in Season 1. So I thought of some way to run an online event without use of the Room Mode. Which is the Replays.

3. The use of replays and planned breaks between sets. Somewhat of an experiment. I want to see how feasible we can use the time to actually help each other improve or show others certain weaknesses or patterns in their play styles. Might not be something that anyone wants (you can use that time to play against others). As someone mentioned a while back, the team events is somewhat of an excuse to get people to play the game

Don't know how the "Set" Team matches will run, so the more constructive feedback I get, we can use it to improve the online team battles.

Please note, that for the "playoffs" I will be doing something more similar to the Japanese format (but again something that makes more sense for online VFing).

 

Same reason as for round robins last season and also for the purpose of uploading replays saved from your matches. Each person can only upload one match at a time.

Basically the decisions on format was made based on what would work best (my opinion) with what we are given. As always depending on feedback, things can changed.

A question from one of the private group conversations:

Q: Can the bench player take a day if one of the primary trio are unavailable for whatever emergency? A: The short answer is yes. The "bench player" is just someone who is not starting the first set of matchups. You can always have a different lineup for each team battle if you will only make one 3-person team with more than 3 players. Making a 3-person team with bench players give people more flexibility. All the players might not be able to have matches in the team battle, but they of course can contribute in other ways.

Edit: So people don't need to say who are the bench players and starting players (that will be decided right before the Team match begins).

Suggestion for all the Season Teams: Everyone on the team should give a general idea of what their normal schedule is like. That way when we pair off each team to fight, it will make running these events much more efficient (less of a headache).

 

Correct. If your teammates expect to be very busy though, it might be better to just make one 3-person team for that month. If everyone have a lot of free time or commitment to the circuit, go for the two "squads." You change the squads each month.

 

It is required to do the replay upload, but it is not required to wait 20 minutes to proceed to the next match sets. I still need to explain in details the replay thing, but yes, you are correct in how the replays should be saved/upload (1 for each player).

In Set 2, Player D loses the games, but is not eliminated from playing in the next set. Players that lose are not eliminated in the above team battle format. Since In Set 1, Player D tied, there is still a chance he can overall get a tie against his opponent (by winning Set 3). Which is why there is a Set 3 matchup for Player C vs Player D.

Hope it makes sense (yeah, it is a wall of text!)

 

Ah the reason, is Team 2 already won Matchup 3 in both Set 1 and Set 2.

So hypothetically, even if Team 2 loses Matchup 3 in Set 3, Team 2 already have the overall win for Set 3. Thus, there is no need to play Matchup 3 in Set 3.

 

The "Season Team" and "3-Person Team" is a bit confusing (or a lot to some people!). Team VFLive kept refering the "3-Person Team" as a "Squad," which is a good way to distinguish the "Team" from the "Squad." So I am replacing "3-person Team" term for "Squad" instead now.

 

Does not play a role, just record keeping. If you forget, its not important. The replays saved is meant for opposing team and your team to be able to watch them in between sets.