The hastily-stitched-together Audioslavian/Syndicatian bid for World Cup 66
Who or what is The Inexplicable Syndicate?
The Inexplicable Syndicate comprises of Audioslavia and The Inevitable Syndicate, two nations with... contrasting.... histories when it comes to sporting success and hosting prowess.
Who's this Audioslavia chap?
Pfft, where to begin? Audioslavia is me. I was involved in the Nationstates World Cup since almost the word 'go', competing in World Cups four to twenty-nine, hosting the 7th and 25th edition along the way. Since returning to NS in early 2012 I've embedded myself firmly back into the World Cup scene, RPing like a man posessed until finally winning the damned thing. Then I did it again. Now I'm here. I also run Kirola, that NS kit manufacturer which used to be famous mainly for its garish and, as we call it, 'aesthetically uncompromising' designs, but are now principally known for putting far too much time and effort into the whole creative process behind kit-making.
Wow, you sound boring. What's an Inevitable Syndicate?
An Inevitable Syndicate is what happens when two nations, named Fligsive and Magnaeus, finally agree to form a union. What you're probably asking about, though, is the user behind the nation. He goes by the nickname 'TIS' or 'Inevitable' or 'Oi You' and has been around the NSWC scene since World Cup 63. TIS's success has been moderate on the field, reaching the semi-finals of the Baptism of Fire and the quarters of AOCAF 40, without yet having troubled the latter stages of the World Cup. As far as hosting is concerned, TIS has successfully hosted the Syndiciatian Slam and the fourth International Chess Championships with no mis-haps at all, and is the current front runner to host AOCAF41 before the upcoming World Cup. TIS also regularly scorinates the Claycomms Premier League - the major domestic football competition in the Syndicate.
So... why you two? Why now?
Audioslavia and The Inevitable Syndicate have formed various RP partnerships in recent months, the highlights of which being the 12th World Grand Prix championship, in which 'slavia's Alec Lund and Syndicatia's Roger Bunn stole the show as part of the McPahan racing team, joined by an RP'd cast of half a dozen that livened up a sometimes quiet thread.
Furthermore, the Bulls/Syndicate match in AOCAF40 was a barnstormer, and one that cemented the rivalry between the two nations I'll get you back for that, TIS, if its the last thing I do
All well and good. You know what I'm going to say though, don't you?
Indeed I do.
Hosting Experience. You guys are woefully under-experienced to be taking on this, the mother of all tournaments..
This is true. You'd ideally want your World Cup co-hosts to have hosted a regional tournament, BoF or CoH in the recent past, but TIS will - touch wood - have hosted an AOCAF by the time the tournament starts, and has had plenty of scorinator practice via his domestic leagues. My two World Cup hostings were a long time ago, sure (2003 and 2005) but I remember the basics and, in any case, I'll be limbering up with a wee Jamboree first.
A wee what?.
Jamboree. The second installment of the Jeremy Jaffacake Jamboree, to be precise. The first one was held before World Cup 25, to celebrate the tournament's 25th anniversary and provide an extra bit of experience for myself. While TIS is hosting the AOCAF (touch wood) I'll be running the Jamboree, an invitational tournament containing eight teams, invites for which will be sent out shortly.
Fine. What about the World Cup, then, what's the plan,
Well, sign-ups for World Cup 66 will be started soon after this post goes live, so we'll be waiting on numbers, first of all. Our ideal figure is 180 nations (not including the hosts), to be whittled down to thirty teams by virtue of thirty groups of six, with the top team from each group progressing. This yields only ten matchdays, which will account for the long wait before the start of the tournament (IRL commitments mean we'd prefer to begin in late August or early September).
Should we reach 180 far too quickly to justify the cap, we'll look towards larger groups. Don't worry, however, we've no plans to do anything weird.
Scorination will be done using the SQIS formula in Xkoranate, the same used in the preceding three World Cups. Audio-scorinated matches will probably be done at about midnight UTC, with Syndicatian scorinations done a couple of hours earlier.
And RP bonus?
Cumulative and generous.
Fine, but why you?
Why us? Because we are, thus far, the only users to have stood up and offered to take on the responsibility. Hosting the World Cup is an arduous and often thankless task that some users understandably shy away from. I've spent the last eighteen months, since my return, letting other people do the dirty work. Neither of us are the sort of people to find number-crunching a fun activity, but we're both willing to step up and keep the juggernaut rolling, and we've utmost confidence in our ability to make the tournament a success.
We know each other, we know the community, and we know what experience people want from a World Cup. Lets get this party started.
Now, then, for questions not posed by the voice inside my head. Ladies and Gentlemen, fire away:
EDIT: Those tie-breakers in full: Points, H2H points, H2H GD, GD, wins, GS, coin-toss. In that order, of course.