Welcome to the 72nd edition of the Baptism of Fire, hosted by the Esportivan nations of Appalachia and Ethane and the Atlantian Oceanian country of Delaclava!
The Baptism of Fire is the tournament which opens each WCC cycle, and features the nations who are entering the World Cup for the very first time. All teams who enter the competition start with no ranking and every chance to win it all. Your chances of success will be boosted by your RP quality and perhaps a little luck, and the best teams will fight to take home the Baptism of Fire title, and enter the World Cup qualifiers with confidence and some ranking points.
Below is further information on the format and mechanics of this tournament, and how you can take part. Please reserve this thread for IC posts only - if you have any questions, feel free to send a TG to any of the three hosts, or post in the World Cup Discussion Thread. If you are new to sports RP or roleplaying in general, the Guide to Sports Roleplaying and World Cup FAQs are great resources that may also have the answer to your question.
List of Entrants
Group A
Southern Esportivan Union
Adyatin
Sylestone
Jamestownnnn
Res Publica Nova Roma
Pangurstan
Floyssauu
Group B
Muradil
Bushkrub
EGM
Sanctanus
Porticalia
Khazajamal
Balaslandia
Group C
Sabalonia
South Charlia
Maccian
Daskel
Kuriko
Zeta Reka and Hugeltaldom
Valentine Z
Group D
Atheist Democratic Freehold
The Mann Clan
Lo Santano
Great Lausitz
Drunk People at the Local Tavern
Necosia
Xuzaqiy
Group E
Villablanca
Mavinet
Shokpos
Donnacona
When U Die
The Appraisal To The Allmighty MR TAYTO
Lake Esper
Group F
Sankt Konrad
Riena
Monglechabagd
Soracana Islands
Jerauuk
Caelapes
Simpralia
Group G
Tequilo
South Newlandia
Twicetagria
Kohnhead
Revatnagar
Baggieland
Havynwilde
Group H
The Grearish Union
The Veiled Islands
Audiasania
Alba and Cymru
Qvardax
Independent Athletes from Quebec
Ottoman Syldavia
Format:
We are fortunate to have a field of 56 teams, the largest field in Baptism of Fire history! All matches will take place within the three hosting nations. These 56 teams will be drawn into 8 groups of 7. Each team will play each other team in their group once for a total of 6 group stage matches per team. The group standings will be sorted by points, wins, H2H, overall goal differential, overall goals scored, then coin flip. At the end of the group stage, the top 4 teams from each group will advance to the round of 32 and play a single-elimination tournament all the way through the semifinals; there, the losers will settle for a third-place playoff, and the winners will square off for the championship!
The hosts will conduct the group draw on Thursday, April 30. Subsequently, on each matchday, we will post a cut-off, after which RPs will no longer count towards the RP bonus for the current matchday, but be counted for the next day instead. Your RP bonus is calculated based on whether you RPed and the quality of the RP. We will then generate scores with a program called a scorinator, which is designed to generate random numbers and turn them into scores. The scorinator for this tournament is xkoranate, which employs a formula called NSFS. This program determines who wins and who loses and also by what score. Typically, a tournament will use the KPB rankings as a factor in determining who wins; however, since no team in this competition has a rank, results are determined by RP/roster bonuses and randomness.
Schedule:
All cut-offs and scorinations will occur at 2100-2359 UTC.
Thursday, April 30: Group Draw
Group Stage:
The number corresponds to the order in which each team is listed in their group, when the group draw is posted
Sunday, May 3: MD1 - 2v7, 3v6, 4v5
Monday, May 4: MD2 - 6v4, 7v3, 1v2
Tuesday, May 5: MD3 - 3v1, 4v7, 5v6
Wednesday, May 6: Off
Thursday, May 7: MD4 - 7v5, 1v4, 2v3
Friday, May 8: MD5 - 4v2, 5v1, 6v7
Saturday, May 9: MD6 - 1v6, 2v5, 3v4
Sunday, May 10: MD7 - 5v3, 6v2, 7v1
Monday, May 11: Off
Tuesday, May 12: Round of 32 (the letter and number pairings correspond to the group name and each team's finish in that group):
A1 vs. E4, B2 vs. F3, C1 vs. G4, D2 vs. H3
E1 vs. A4, F2 vs. B3, G1 vs. C4, H2 vs. D3
A2 vs. E3, B1 vs. F4, C2 vs. G3, D1 vs. H4
E2 vs. A3, F1 vs. B4, G2 vs. C3, H1 vs. D4
Wednesday, May 13: Round of 16
Thursday, May 14: Quarterfinals
Friday, May 15: Semifinals
Saturday, May 16: 3rd Place Playoff and Final
What To Do:
The first step you can take to participating in the Baptism of Fire is to post your roster. At its simplest, this is a list of the eleven players in your starting lineup, as well as any reserve players. There is no restriction on the kind of players who can compete for your team - male, female, humans, elves, monks, animals, robots, sentient kitchen objects, or anything else you could dream up. We encourage you to provide as much background and detail as you'd like about your team and players - age, club teams, physical appearance, playing style and skills, and any other interesting information.
You can also include a style modifier anywhere between -5 and +5. Teams with higher (positive) modifiers will both score and allow more goals, while teams with lower (negative) modifiers will score and allow fewer goals. Your style modifier is input into the scorinator to determine how high- or low-scoring your games are, although the modifiers do not affect the outcome or margin of victory. If your roster does not include a style modifier, the default modifier is 0 (neutral). You should also include RP permissions, which is intended to inform your opponents of what you are willing to let them do and what you aren't willing to let them do, should they roleplay your match before you do. Below is a sample list of permissions - you can replace each choice with Y/Yes or N/No, and you can also include more detailed preferences if applicable:
- Code: Select all
[floatleft][pre]I Give My Opponent Permission To:
=================================
Choose My Goalscorers: Y/N
Godmod Goalscoring Events: Y/N
Injure Players: Y/N
Godmod Injury Events: Y/N
Red Card Players: Y/N
Yellow Card Players: Y/N
Godmod Other Events: Y/N
=================================[/pre][/floatleft]
As the tournament continues, you can post roleplays (RPs), and these can take on many forms - a summary or story of the match itself, part of the match, your team's pregame preparations, post-game celebrations, and so on. Or it can be a story entirely unrelated to the match - current events in your country, politics, historical background, anything you want. These can take on the form of newspaper articles, play-by-play commentary, personal narrative, inner monologue, poetry, or any other form you could imagine. The only requirements are to respect the RP permissions of your opponent, and abide by the generated scores, as well as whatever facts about the match your opponent has already established (if they RPed first).
You can RP in isolation, or you can seek opportunities to work together with opponents and other players. Maybe you know exactly how you're going to RP - maybe you have no idea yet. We will be providing some RP tips from NS Sport's most experienced players throughout the tournament. RP in NS Sport is a rewarding collaborative pursuit, and perhaps you will be inspired and get ideas from seeing how your fellow players RP. Regardless, the higher the quality of your RP, the better your chances of winning. No outcomes are guaranteed, but by giving it your best effort, you can hope to win more than you lose.
We hope you enjoy the tournament - and ask if you have any questions, either by TG or in the World Cup Discussion Thread. Since this is the tournament for first-time nations, you can only be in the Baptism of Fire one time, so make it count!