KO-OREN AND MERTAGNE BID TO HOST THE 79th BAPTISM OF FIRE
Banner image courtesy of The Plough Islands, Anaia's resident cartographer.
FORMAT:
Based on previous BoFs, we are anticipating numbers between 28-36. Luckily, any even number works for our format: Casaran. Casaran, if you don't know, pits teams of similar quality againt one another for each matchday.
The round-robin phase will last for six matches, before giving way to a knock-out phase, which will consist of (at least) the Quarterfinals, Semifinals, the 3rd Place Playoff (in Mertagne), and the Baptism of Fire Final (in Ko-oren). Due to the nature of the competition, all teams level on points with the team that is eighth in the standings (using tiebreakers to sort the order) will advance to the knockout phase, with a single play-in round used to pare the teams down to the eight. Teams will be seeded for the play-in round (if necessary), and will be re-seeded for the quarterfinal, however all brackets will be fixed from that point.
We believe that the Casaran format (which has also been called Swiss-system format) provides a number of good benefits to the competitors in the Baptism of Fire, the most important being that it is more likely to pair teams who consistently RP - and RP well - than nearly any other conceivable format. This also means that every match is important, either in the immediate (i.e., eligibility for the knockout rounds) or in the near future (since for even the teams out of the running for the knockout stage, a game against a similarly-placed opponent is possibly the difference in which pot you end up in for the World Cup Qualifying draw). This format was also used for CAFA 4 to get an idea of the practical workings.
The tiebreakers, in order, will be: Points; Strength of Victory; Strength of Schedule; GD.
RP BONUS AND SCORINATION:
Scorination will be performed in xkoranate using the SQIS formula, with additive style mods. One matchday will be scorinated every 48h. A generous roster bonus will be provided, which will be worth up to 2 matchdays’ worth of RP bonus.
Cutoffs will aim to be between 19:30 - 20:30 UTC for both hosts, as they are in similar parts of the world.
IC INFORMATION:
Ko-oren is an island nation in western Anaia, whose government is meritocratic with an incentive to provide services and education at the highest level to all of its citizens - not just the most well-off ones. Education and environment are the pillars of most policies: education to help a new generation blossom (and to encourage the use of our nation's eleven main languages), and the environment as we feel the obligation to protect the many different climate areas, from the frozen tundras up north to the subtropical rainforests in the east. We play sports, almost all of them, with a history in football (association, American, rugby union, rugby league, Australian), bat-and-ball games (cricket and baseball), and the hockeys (field and ice). We're starting to build an Olympic tradition as well. As far as legislation goes: some in the Multiverse think that we are very much no-fun-allowed, but we beg to differ.
Mertagne is a nation situated on the continent of Calania, in central Anaia. The recently refurbished bicameral legislature is continuing to tackle the problems of a nation shortly over a decade out of a period of international isolation. The nation has an increasingly rich sporting history, with great success at the youth levels in football that is burgeoning to catapult to the senior international level, as well as moderate success in other sports and regional activity. The nation is rapidly becoming more well equipped to deal with a frankly unexpected increase in tourism, utilising its central Calanian location, in which it rubs shoulders with international heavyweights such as Starblaydia, Krytenia, and Huayramarca, to create transport and business links with the world over. Legislatively and culturally, Mertagne is a nation of opposites - from its rural-urban divide to its regionally divided legislature.
Both nations are fully equipped to host the throngs of fans that are sure to come along for the ride as teams make their first foray into WCC football. Full IC information, including stadiums, will be provided in the tournament thread.
EXPERIENCE:
Ko-oren is an experienced host who hosted the ODI World Trophy and the CAFA just last month. In the last 3-4 years, there's some rugby union World Cups, a World Bowl, a T20 World Cup, and a field hockey World Cup.
Mertagne is an increasingly experienced host who hosted the Baptism of Fire 78 and the Cup of Harmony 83, which occurred just last cycle. If it was good enough then, it's even better now!