Announcement 2023 AG Tournament Schedule

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Art by Albi​

OP mostly stolen from here

We're here to announce the 2023 AG circuit! The circuit is a collection of individual tournaments spread throughout the year with varying classifications, generations, with and formats all coming together to allow players to earn points for the final showdown - the AG Championship, where the top 16 performers will battle to earn the title of AG circuit champion! This will reward a banner and a custom avatar to showcase their achievement as the top AG player of 2023. This thread will also give information on the details behind the tournaments that have been revamped from 2022.

Key:
Tournament Name | Classification - Signups Start Date - Expected Finals Date (host)

2023 AG Tournament Schedule

Winter (January / February)

AG Winter Seasonal | Type A - January 9th - March 13th - Hosted by Frozoid

Spring (March / April / May)

AG Classic Playoffs | Type B - March 20th - June 12th - Hosted by pichus

SS AG Cup - Hosted by Fc
SM AG Cup - Hosted by Geysers
ORAS AG Cup - Hosted by pichus

AG Ladder Tournament | Type A - April 17th - May 29th - Hosted by Spellcaster

AG Homefield | Type B - May 22nd - July 10th - Hosted by baconeatinassassin

Summer (June / July / August)

AG Summer Seasonal | Type A - 24th - October 23rd - Hosted by Nineveh

DPP AG Tournament | Type C - August 7th - September 11th - Hosted by Frozoid

AG Triathlon | Type B - August 28th - October 30th - Hosted by Fc

Autumn (September / October / November)

AG Last Chance Qualifier | Type B - October 30th - December 11th - Hosted by Geysers

December
AG Championship V

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AG Team Tournaments
(Participation doesn't earn circuit points)

AG Snake Draft III | Starting January 2nd - Hosted by Spellcaster and Theia
AG Premier League V | Starting June 5 - Hosted by Theia

Note that some dates may be subject to change.

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- Tournament Points System:

Scoring Tables

- Tournament Details:

Details

AG Seasonals:
Seasonals are Bo3 SV AG double elimination tournaments that will run twice (Winter and Summer) throughout the course of the circuit. The matchups for a Seasonal are not seeded.

AG Ladder Tournament:
This tournament is divided into two main components: a 2-week qualifying phase and a playoffs phase.
The qualifying phase is divided into 2 cycles of 1 week each. Players will ladder on designated alts and try to reach the highest Elo score possible by the end of the cycle. The 8 players with the highest Elo will qualify for playoffs, and then players will start laddering again on fresh alts for the next week. Once the 2 qualifying cycles have concluded, the qualified players will be entered into a seeded best of three single elimination bracket that will progress until one player is crowned the winner.

AG Classic:
This two-phase tournament will use previous AG rulesets in similar fashion to the Smogon Classic. The first phase of AG Grand Prix consists of three individual tournaments: the SS cup, the USUM cup, and the ORAS cup. Each of these tournaments will be unseeded best of three single elimination. Players who advance in these tournaments will earn points towards the Grand Prix playoffs - the top 16 players with the most points at the end of all 3 tournaments will be entered into a seeded single elimination bracket to determine the winner. The playoffs format will be a best of three of all three formats, so players must excel in multiple formats to come out on top! The individual cup tournaments do not give points towards the Circuit Playoffs. However, you will receive points for qualifying for the playoffs.

AG Triathlon:
A single elimination Bo3 featuring the 3 old generations of AG - SS, USUM, and ORAS. The loser of the first match (fixed to SS unless both players agree to a different generation) will then decide on the next generation to be played.

AG Homefield:
A single elimination Bo3 where each player selects one old generation of AG to be their "homefield". They will then play a Bo3 which starts in SV AG, then goes to the loser's homefield generation.

DPP AG Tournament:
A single elimination Bo3 tournament featuring DPP AG. A low stakes bracket to give exposure to our least represented metagame.

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Anything Goes Premier League:
A team tournament where managers will draft players in an auction to assemble their team, after which all the teams will face off in a round robin. Once all the teams have played one another, the top team will advance to finals, while the second and third placing teams will face off for a chance to make it to finals as well. The tiers played and the number of teams will be determined closer to the date of the tournament.

Anything Goes Snake Draft:
This is Anything Goes' winter team tournament, featuring a snake draft as opposed to the auction-based AGPL.

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AG Circuit Playoffs:
At the end of the year, the top 16 players with the most Circuit Points will compete in a seeded, 16-player single elimination tournament; the winner will earn the AG Ribbon! The playoffs will be an SV AG Bo3.

 

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Changes from 2022 to 2023
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Natdex AG has been removed from the circuit. The tier is no longer fully under AG, instead being a part of natdex's other tiers section. The metagame has also become too far from what AG is defined as, that being anything legitimately obtainable ingame is allowed, due to all the combinations of Pokemon, mechanics, and moves that are added to natdex. With 3 proper old gens the numbers work out fine for our tournaments, so we're removing it for the forseeable future.

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AGLT was moved back to the beginning of the year, due to it being a good tournament for innovation as we expect a new metagame to drop in the spring, as well as it helping development before AGPL. It also crowded the end of the year and delayed circuit playoffs due to the length, so it felt right to move earlier. The format changed from double elimination to single elimination, as to not drag on the tournament. It may slightly move in time depending on when we get confirmation of a new metagame dropping.

AG Classic is the exact same as AG Grand Prix in concept, except now it can truly be called classic since we have 3 old gens, with it featuring SS SM and ORAS AG. Triathlon will also be featuring those 3 gens, being our only single elimination bracket where all 3 gens can be played by anyone, unlike classic's qualification phase.

To fill out our relatively small tournament scene for circuit qualifications, we've added 3 new tournaments as well:
AG homefield is a type B best-of-3 single elimination tournament where every set starts with SV AG, and each following game takes place in one tier chosen by each player, their "homefield". This tournament gives old gens a small boost and gives SV more guaranteed playtime, so it was seen as a good addition.

The DPP AG Tournament is our only type C, focusing on the lesser played but existing metagame of DPP AG. Since it's the only pre-ORAS generation with Pokemon that are banned from Ubers it has an AG tier to explore, and so we're giving it a shot here in a smaller stakes tournament.

Last chance qualifier is a type B tournament that can give people fighting for a circuit slot the boost they need to make it in, with a best-of-3 single elimination SV AG bracket.