Flash Flash Revolution - [Concluded] Benguin and Xelnya's AAA-fest Rates Tournament

Introducing,

What is this all about?
Hello! It's Xel and I here, bringing you a what we hope to be a fun, not-so-cookie-cutter tournament! This tournament will revolve around the idea of two things: AAA's and rates. Now, we understand for some people, AAA'ing files is difficult. But surely you can AAA any file on some rate, yes? In a sense, every file is just as difficult as any other file if you adjust the rate! :D But the main question is: what's the highest rate you can AAA that file on?

Anyways, it's been awhile since I've been active in the community, so I would like to use this tournament as an opportunity to reconnect with some people, see some new faces, and to make sure everyone has a good time (^)> Last but not least, please take the time to read the rules below, we'd really appreciate it!

How do I register?
Simply post in the thread that you would like to participate! You may register at any time between now and the end of the first round.

How will this tournament work?
1) This is an culmulative style tournament with 6 rounds with each player in 1 of 7 divisions. Each round will last one week.
2) At the start of each round, each division will be given a file to play.
3) You will play the file for your division, attempting to AAA* the file on the highest rate possible
4) For the purposes of scoring, your rate IS your score. Any non-AAA score or incomplete playthrough will receive a score of 0.
5) Rates must be in 0.05 increments. If your rate is not divisible by 0.05, we will round your rate DOWN to the nearest 0.05.
6) At the end of the tournament, for each participant we will sum up their best score from each round. The participant with the highest sum in each division wins!
7) We may introduce bonuses/powerups for players, so although the tournament is cumulative, you still want to try to do your very best in each round!

*D1 will instead only need to achieve 75% of the maximum raw score for their score to be considered a 'valid' submission.

Powerups
-The players with the top score in each round will be awarded a powerup item that they can use.
-The description of the powerup item will be posted in the round information
-Powerup items are one-time use only.
-A single person can not win two powerups in a row (in the case that they do, the powerup instead goes to the person that got the second highest score that round).
-A single person can not be targeted by powerups twice in a row.
-Powerups will be labeled in the spreadsheet accordingly

How do submissions work?
1) Submissions will be via screenshot submissions. After you finish the file, take a screenshot of the result, making sure to include your username and timestamp. Afterwards, post your submission in the thread.
2) Replays are not a valid form of submission.
3) You may submit as many times as you want during the duration of the round in an attempt to improve your score. Your best score for that round will be taken when determining your final score for that round.

Cheating?
Don't.

What division will I be placed in?
For preliminary placements, we will use the FFR leaderboards here in order to place you. Based on your levelranks/replays/etc, we reserve the right to move you to another division we feel is more appropriate if need be.

Credits/Prizes
We will be starting off the tournament with 200,000 credits. We will happily accept donations of both the credit and non-credit variety. Any credit donations can be sent to XelNya. We will add your contribution to the list once we have received it. Credit distributions will be determined at the end of the tournament.

Also, please note that we will give out small participation prizes for each round but we will also give out an additional participation prize for participants that participate in all the rounds (late scores are ok, please see late scores section below). (*updated as of round 3 post, please see round 3 information below)

If you are struggling to AAA the file on any rate but would still like to be eligible for the participation prizes, then you can instead submit a non-AAA score of the song on 0.5x rate or slower. You will still receive a score of zero for that round, but we'll make a special note in the spreadsheet that you participated for that round.

Late Scores
We will allow people to submit late scores with a penalty of -0.11x per round that the score is late. Since this allows everyone to submit scores for all rounds, even if they are late, we will be removing the per-round participation prize (there will still be a participation prize for those that complete all the rounds including those who submit late scores).

Song Choice
I picked them, so if you'd like to complain, it's my fault. ^_^
-Xel
Blame Xel
-Ben

Questions/Concerns
Any questions about the tournament can be sent either myself (reuben_tate) or XelNya via PM. Alternatively, you can post in the thread as well and one of us will respond appropriately.

Current Round Information

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelNya (Post 4494439)

Final Round: ___

D1: iPatch's OP 39
D2: Nebula [Rushjet1] 56
D3: Prismatic Lollipops 65
D4: jelly 66
D5: The Replicator 73
D6: Eclipse (Luna) 81
D7: Hardkore Atomic 89

Ends on 11 / 27 @ 11:59PM Server.

Spreadsheet is updated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelNya (Post 4486795)

Hey guys, sorry again for the lack of this being done at proper time.

On that note, Benguin will be coming in later with the round power up information and distribution. :D

Round Three: CAPS LOCK

D7: Session 64
D6: Kirby Smash 63
D5: Seven 53
D4: Electrorush x8 45
D3: Sepia
D2: Dragon Slayer 35
D1: Chaos [Easy] 19 (must get 25875 raw score or higher)

Round three will end October 30th @ 11:59PM Server time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reuben_tate (Post 4487585)

Updated to here

Xel and I apologize for the mishap of getting round 3 up on time. We've noticed that there has been a lack of submissions for this tournament which we've been trying to counter with round extensions which doesn't seem to help much.

For those who still want participation prizes but don't want to bother with AAA'ing the file, see the OP for details on how to do so (in summary, you can get participation prizes for that round by posting a completed score on 0.5x rate or less).

I've gone ahead and hid the rows in the spreadsheet corresponding to people who haven't submitted for two rounds in a row. The information is still there, I would just need to unhide it. We would like to encourage more people to submit, including those who haven't submitted and at the same time, we want to be fair to those who have submitted on time. With that said, we will allow people to submit late scores with a penalty of -0.11x per round* that the score is late. Since this allows everyone to submit scores for all rounds, even if they are late, we will be removing the per-round participation prize (there will still be a participation prize for those that complete all the rounds including those who submit late scores).

Also, it seems no one has bothered to use their powerups yet. I don't know if there is a source of confusion for them or not. It is already too late to use the reflection powerup since you need to declare that you are using it within the first 24 hours of the round. So if you want to use your reflection powerup for round 4, you need to declare that you are using it within the first 24 hours of round 4 (from Oct 31 12:00:00am to Oct 31 11:59:59pm).

The next powerup goes to those that got the best score in round 2 (or the second best if the person with the best score got a powerup last round). This powerup is called refinement. You can use it at any time (you don't need to declare that you are using it at the beginning of the round). This powerup (refinement) allows you instead submit a score in increments of 0.025 instead of 0.05. Like all the other powerups, this one is single use only.

Here is a list of those that have powerups. This information is also included in the spreadsheet.
===========================
Reflection:
D1: TheAwesomeOnion
D2: Kossusama
D3: Red Blaster
D4: RenegadeLucien
D5: MarcusHawkins
D6: FFR Pro 21
D7: OWA & _Zenith_

Refinement:
D1: N/A
D2: Precarious
D3: N/A
D4: grizz13114
D5: axith
D6: remedy1502
D7: OWA
===========================

*Disclaimer: the -0.11x is subject to change, still gotta discuss the actual value of the penalty with Xel

Quote:

Originally Posted by XelNya (Post 4485082)

Benguin and I have decided due to the server wackiness and a little of my own disappointment in submissions, to extend this round as well.

Though this time round three will not be posted till the extension is done.

Round two now ends on October 18th @ 11:59PM Server time.

Also, all users with two 0's will be pulled off the spreadsheet for cleaning purposes come the end of this round.

Quote:

Originally Posted by reuben_tate (Post 4482720)

Hello everyone!

Hope all of you enjoyed the first round; we hope you'll continue to book with us for the rest of your stay! Moving on, we are glad to bring you the next installment of song selections a little bit early, courtesy of everyone's favorite co-host Xel. Make sure to tell him thank you when you have the time!

ROUND TWO: 'CAUSE XEL EMBRACES YOUR FRUSTRATION

Round 2 Files
D1 (round 1): Pita 5 (must get 3975 raw score or higher)
D1 (round 2): Shade 12 (must get 15565 raw score or higher)
D2: Trisection 23
D3: AM-3P (House Party Dub) 31
D4: Destiny 37
D5: esc (super version) 46
D6: Ivaltek 55
D7: Addict 58

Round 1 Bonus
The players with the top score in round 1 have been awarded a powerup item that they can use. Here's a quick rundown of how items work:
-We will be handing out powerup items for the other rounds as well, so be sure to try your best every round!
-Powerup items are one-time use only.
-A single person can not win two powerups in a row (in the case that they do, the powerup instead goes to the person that got the second highest score that round).
-A single person can not be targeted by powerups twice in a row.
-Powerups will be labeled in the spreadsheet accordingly

This round's powerup is Reflection: for the round in which this item is used, force another player to either play exclusively mirror or non-mirror, your choice. You must declare that you are using the item during the first 24 hours of the round if you wish to use the item for that round. Whoever you target will be able to submit their score up to 24 hours after the round has finished.

Division 1
We have decided of the current people already in D2, there is not a need to place those people in D1. Feel free to contact Xel or myself if you disagree with our placement. However, we did receive notice of a few other D1 players interested in joining, so there will be a D1 for our tournament after all. You will have a extension on the round 1 files; both round 1 and round 2 scores must be submitted by the end of round 2.

We realize that AAA'ing files is a bit more difficult for D1 players so we will adjust things to make the tournament a bit more feasible for them. For D1, a score will be considered valid if obtain at least 75% of the maximum raw score for the file. We will post the threshold score you need to get at the beginning of each round. Thus, your goal is to get a valid score on the highest rate possible (as opposed to a AAA score). We will adjust the threshold/percentages as needed to accommodate you folks.

Round two ends October 14th @11:59PM SERVER TIME.
Round one scores will still be accepted until tonight at 11:59PM SERVER TIME.
Powerup items will be distributed after Round one is officially finished.
Sign ups are now closed
All of this information will be available on the OP