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It's time to announce the 2016 Team! As many of you know each year the U.S. sends a team overseas to compete in the European Team Championships in August. This is the second year of the revamped qualification system, and the competition was fierce as always. To summarize how the qualification system works again, you can read the article I posted earlier this year regarding how everything works at either of these links:

http://www.torrentoffire.com/6856/team-america-qualification-system-updates-for-2015-2016-season
https://www.frontlinegaming.org/2015/04/07/team-america-qualification-system-updates-for-2015-2016-season/

And you can follow us on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/Team-America-40K-145055442323058/?fref=nf

The results of the qualification circuit are attached to this post. Remember, it's limited to events with 5 or more games, 50 or more players as of day 1, and the final caveat of - someone needs to make me aware of it so I can include the results.
The top 5 from the circuit were offered spots (Nick, Aaron, Justin, Alan, Sean). From here, the last two slots were voted on by the team. Each team member was allowed to propose and justify one person they felt should be on the team, based on their prior contributions, event finishes, or the army they played. Once this was done, a list to vote from was created which included:

Brad Chester
Kurt Clauss
Tyler Devries
Alex Fennel
Frankie Giampapa
Tony Kopach
The voting involved the existing team members (the above five) providing me with a list of their top 3, ranked in order, they'd like to see on the team. I then gave 3 points for being ranked first, 2 for 2nd, and 1 for third, and tallied up the scores. After the voting it was a clear choice, Brad and Kurt got the nod from the team after appearing on every players ballot in some fashion.



Of them, all were able to accept except Sean, who had to bow out this year due to a wedding around the same time. Based on team composition, the results of the above vote, and overall performance this year I then used a Captain's Choice selection to award Sean's spot to Alex Fennel, filling out our ranks with an exceptional Necron player. This left us with our final team:

Andrew Gonyo
Nick Brown
Brad Chester
Aaron Aleong
Justin Curtis
Alan Bajramovic
Alex Fennell
Kurt Clauss
Coach: Tyler Moose DeVries

LVO just finished this past weekend and will be the first event included in the 2016-2017 season to decide the team that will attend the ETC in August 2017. As always if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask!

Thanks everyone,

Andrew Gonyo
Captain America

Looks like a strong team! Way to go, guys!

Congrats to everyone who made the team, how have America performed in the past at this event?

USA should be allowed to field at least two teams imo .

Generally on the upper end in recent years, in 2015 we placed 9th, which was after playing for 2nd place against Sweden in the last match and getting leapfrogged by that many teams due to how close everyone was ranked.

Edit: To give perspective, about 30 nations send a team each year for 40k.

2015 - 9th
2014 - 4th
2013 - 10th
2012 - 19th
2011 - 3rd
2010 - 5th (first year USA attended)

GL team east coast Awesome voting system there.. should make sure you guys keep on the way you are!

iNcontroL wrote:
GL team east coast Awesome voting system there.. should make sure you guys keep on the way you are!

Geoff, not sure the problem you see with the above system, when I revamped it two years ago away from a veteran re-qualification/single event win system it became by far the fairest it's ever been, or can be, to players across the U.S - the east coast currently has the *least* amount of events of any region if I recall correctly. The rules for the system were clearly published (including on FLG) - the top fiveplayers get a spot that they earn via winning, only 2 are voted on. For voting, players valued what they valued, which isn't something I can control. The west coast actually has *more* events listed on the above page then the east coast and had more events in the system as a whole then any other region. It's just that it's primarily east coast and midwest guys winning the midwest and west coast events - there's nothing I can do to help you with that, heck if you look at a recent event like LVO, over half of the top 8 were members of team america (Brad, Aaron, Sean, Alex, Alan) - we didn't vote them into top 8

You nearly made the team this year coming in 7th - so you likely *will* qualify for the team in the next year or two given how you've been rising on the circuit in the last two years, so keep in mind that the people you take jabs at will at some point probably be the people you need to work with when you earn a spot and want to go to Europe to battle it out for 'Murica.

I'd point out this is actually the least east coast the team has been. If you look at the people on it you've got on the team you've got 2 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, and one from Ohio with the coach coming from Minnesota.

So it's actually a 4/4 split with the alternate/coach tipping the balance to the midwest.

 Hulksmash wrote:
I'd point out this is actually the least east coast the team has been. If you look at the people on it you've got on the team you've got 2 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, and one from Ohio with the coach coming from Minnesota.

So it's actually a 4/4 split with the alternate/coach tipping the balance to the midwest.

Brad you have been in MN too long. From the west coast the midwest is the east coast. To be more exact I think the point he is making is that there is no one from west of the Mississippi River.

Where is team Canada when you need it, eh?

This helps to show why two teams from USA would better represent the country. Which I think is fair considering the size and population.

You'd get another team not doing as well, etc won't allow it, and you'd get even more negative bs stateside. Andrew's points are valid. People who travel to and do well at the most events generally are on the team. Playing politics to try and discredit a process, captain, or team is not exactly a compelling approach to being considered a quality competitor. I certainly wouldn't want to be represented by such. I do, however, get frustration at doing really well, being qualified, and barely missing the cut. Plus everyone wants to rep their country.

Keep it up, Andrew. I know it's not always a thankful role.

 SkizO wrote:
Where is team Canada when you need it, eh?

Actually I believe Canada is putting together their first team this year for the 40k side! Should be exciting to have another team join in on the fun

And keep in mind guys, as always, I have zero control over how many teams our country gets. The ETC organization is based on FIFA rules, you may not feel it's fair, but that's not something I can impact.

iNcontroL wrote:
GL team east coast Awesome voting system there.. should make sure you guys keep on the way you are!

Maybe the west should quit letting players east of the Mississippi (including England) play in their biggest event being the LVO. They might have a chance at winning one sometime in the future and earning more qualification points.

Well 4 of the top 10 are from west of the Mississippi. Just none of them managed to squeak into the top 5.

And yes Alan. I've been here to long. But east of the Mississippi is hardly east coast.

And the coach/alternate is from west of the Mississippi

It would be awesome to have more west coast players on the team if it worked out, but the process seems pretty fair (only exception you could really take is the "captain's choice" selection to replace someone who could not attend). Almost all of the names are familiar and you couldn't go wrong with most of these!

Regarding the region discussion - I don't think anyone really thinks of the midwest and the east coast as the same region... if they do, they should look into it more because they are extremely different areas! (Just as an aside)

Target wrote:

 SkizO wrote:
Where is team Canada when you need it, eh?

Actually I believe Canada is putting together their first team this year for the 40k side! Should be exciting to have another team join in on the fun

Can confirm.

I'm surprised that you didn't include the results from LVO, since they were finalized before you made this post. It is the most recent event and now the largest. What is your rationale for pushing that event off to next year's qualification?


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Target wrote:

iNcontroL wrote:
GL team east coast Awesome voting system there.. should make sure you guys keep on the way you are!

Geoff, not sure the problem you see with the above system, when I revamped it two years ago away from a veteran re-qualification/single event win system it became by far the fairest it's ever been, or can be, to players across the U.S - the east coast currently has the *least* amount of events of any region if I recall correctly. The rules for the system were clearly published (including on FLG) - the top fiveplayers get a spot that they earn via winning, only 2 are voted on. For voting, players valued what they valued, which isn't something I can control. The west coast actually has *more* events listed on the above page then the east coast and had more events in the system as a whole then any other region. It's just that it's primarily east coast and midwest guys winning the midwest and west coast events - there's nothing I can do to help you with that, heck if you look at a recent event like LVO, over half of the top 8 were members of team america (Brad, Aaron, Sean, Alex, Alan) - we didn't vote them into top 8

You nearly made the team this year coming in 7th - so you likely *will* qualify for the team in the next year or two given how you've been rising on the circuit in the last two years, so keep in mind that the people you take jabs at will at some point probably be the people you need to work with when you earn a spot and want to go to Europe to battle it out for 'Murica.

I'm not Geoff, but I would imagine if I had finished above the 3 members that were voted in and wasn't I'd feel that the process was not fair.

Blackmoor wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:
I'd point out this is actually the least east coast the team has been. If you look at the people on it you've got on the team you've got 2 from Illinois, 1 from Indiana, and one from Ohio with the coach coming from Minnesota.

So it's actually a 4/4 split with the alternate/coach tipping the balance to the midwest.

Brad you have been in MN too long. From the west coast the midwest is the east coast. To be more exact I think the point he is making is that there is no one from west of the Mississippi River.

Last time I checked the great Mississippi River does not bisect the United States in the middle of the country geographically, although it is a fair demarcation point based upon the population center.

Dozer Blades wrote:This helps to show why two teams from USA would better represent the country. Which I think is fair considering the size and population.

Agreed.

And, the FIFA team model is a bit antiquated and uses some semantic loopholes to determine who can form teams. Oh, and it has been promulgated by a highly corrupt organization whose primary goal is to line their own pockets. Yes, this is a great reason to support this system of national teams...

MVBrandt wrote:You'd get another team not doing as well, etc won't allow it, and you'd get even more negative bs stateside. Andrew's points are valid. People who travel to and do well at the most events generally are on the team. Playing politics to try and discredit a process, captain, or team is not exactly a compelling approach to being considered a quality competitor. I certainly wouldn't want to be represented by such. I do, however, get frustration at doing really well, being qualified, and barely missing the cut. Plus everyone wants to rep their country.

Keep it up, Andrew. I know it's not always a thankful role.

I'm not knocking Andrew. We went about 8 months since the last update. I could not find updated standings online despite a lot of searching though out the year. A little more transparency for your west coast friends would be helpful. As a TO for a large event I had to search Andrew out to get the event added to his list. There at least a handful of other West Coast GTs with 50+ players not listed (that I can see). I'd wager that most of them aren't aware of the process to become a qualifier. And having become one, it was a bit arbitrary, including sending Andrew my mission packet to determine if it was "too wonky." All of this contributes to a feeling that the system is designed to achieve the results it has been achieving. Perception is as important as reality Mike, especially for those of us on the outside who can only guess at what takes place behind the scenes.

Vegas is included. Last years Vegas. As the qualification process follows a true calendar year not the itc year. You can see it up near my name and nick rose. As the largest event it holds a lot of weight. In fact a bunch of west coast events hold major weight. Alan won bao and wargamescon for big points.

the process is much more transparent than five years ago. It's even easy to track. If players want to get on the team they will ask there tos to send results to Andrew. Or they can contact him themselves and alert him to results they are apart of. Obviously if attendees at an event have no interest in making the squad they won't spread those results to Andrew or whatever captain. He catches most of the big big events and does try to reach out to people scoring well through the year to alert them if they are high in the process so they can make the choice to push onto the team. I know two years ago me and some others on the bubble had a strong push in November of that year rushing to a few last minute big events to try and qualify.

As far as the votes go of course people will vote for those they know who they think fit the team well. But I know for a fact that Frankie from frontline got some votes in that process so was considered for the team. in the end though it's not too complicated go win a couple of these events and you get on the team. Or make friends with me and Alan and I guess nick since the three of us have made the team the last few years and I'm already number one this year for next years qualifying process.

bingo

OrdoSean wrote:
Vegas is included. Last years Vegas. As the qualification process follows a true calendar year not the itc year. You can see it up near my name and nick rose. As the largest event it holds a lot of weight. In fact a bunch of west coast events hold major weight. Alan won bao and wargamescon for big points.

the process is much more transparent than five years ago. It's even easy to track. If players want to get on the team they will ask there tos to send results to Andrew. Or they can contact him themselves and alert him to results they are apart of. Obviously if attendees at an event have no interest in making the squad they won't spread those results to Andrew or whatever captain. He catches most of the big big events and does try to reach out to people scoring well through the year to alert them if they are high in the process so they can make the choice to push onto the team. I know two years ago me and some others on the bubble had a strong push in November of that year rushing to a few last minute big events to try and qualify.

As far as the votes go of course people will vote for those they know who they think fit the team well. But I know for a fact that Frankie from frontline got some votes in that process so was considered for the team. in the end though it's not too complicated go win a couple of these events and you get on the team. Or make friends with me and Alan and I guess nick since the three of us have made the team the last few years and I'm already number one this year for next years qualifying process.

Hey Sean, thanks. For those of us that don't have an inside track, and I don't mean that negatively, none of this is transparent. The only published data I've seen are those two posts that Andrew linked above. I think an event needs to have 50 players and 5 rounds, and not be wonky. Beyond that I'm not seeing a lot of detail on what makes an event a qualifier. Do you know in Andrew screens the ITC event results and adds all events over 50 players for consideration?

Also, neither of the two posts from Spring 2015 makes it clear that qualification is a calendar year. In fact, it starts by talking about the 15-16 season and then later switches to 15 and 16 separately. All of that said, if it is more transparent today than in years past I applaud you all, but I respectfully suggest that you still have a ways to go.

The fact that votes were cast for Frankie, who wasn't even in the top 20 leaves me scratching my head. No offense to Frankie, but you have a whole list of people who had GT wins to choose from.

Regardless, I wish team America the best of luck in Europe again this year. Maybe you'll get to play against Team Puerto Rico and their mercs...

Yeah basically if an event has 50 people and he hears about it or is notified of it it counts. The wonky verbiage basically never comes up but it is there because andrew is one of those people who is thorough and wants the ability to upfront ignore things that are silly. For example if your event was to say declare winners based solely on beard length and handsomeness. He has told me that no event has ever not been counted that had 50 people, that he was alerted of.

I realize that Frankie isn't on top of these lists. I just used that as an example of the blended process which is I think good. With 5 spot being chosen solely on results it a nice thing to have 2 spots that are more or less up to discussion. Thi is the first year that was done previously it was 4 returning players plus 3 qualifiers. So the process has expanded a ton to invite new blood, I made it for the first time last year for example. Frankie got votes because someone who qualified nominated him, the 5 of us got to nominate one person each, and then we each had 3 votes from that list. That kind of nomination process allows to expand past the black and white lines of gt results to the gray realm of player skill which has its good and bad for sure.

He definitely screens Dakka and other places to get as many results as he can. But like I said if there are obscure 50 man events out there it would be up to attendees to contact and let him know.

Andrew has I think made one of the most transparent and open systems around. I've heard talk of some of the other countries processes and some are very unfair. But like you said any system has flaws that can be improved. I've heard that Andrew might be on his last year as captain so it will be interesting to see what plans a new captain will have.

And Geoff you and I need to play at one of these events.

Thanks for the interest everyone, to cover the general thrust of points I see being talked about:

1) The system is always a work in progress, I designed it about a year and a half ago and it's improved from it's first iteration, and I'm sure will improve more going forward. The main thing I need to work on is finding a spot to host it in the future so it's easily accessible. I may beg a mod on here for a stickied post where I can put in updates and leave contact information for new GTs.

2) The list of events on that image above just includes the ones that contributed to the scores of the players on the top 20. The events that were part of the system this year making the 5 round, 50 player cutoff, include:

Las Vegas Open 2015
Tshft Open
DarkStar GT
Renegade Open
Michigan GT
Bay Area Open
Da Boyz GT
NOVA Open 2015
Adepticon 2015 Championships
Battle for Salvation GT
American Team Championships
Adepticon Team Championships
Alamo GT
Railhead Rumble GT
Broadside Bash
Killadelphia
Storm of Silence
WarGames Con
Know No Mercy

I believe that's all of them - let me know if I missed any and I'll make sure to keep an eye out for them next year. The "can't be too wonky" requirement is maybe me just being a bit more casual than I should when talking to TOs, and I'll keep this in mind for the future. I've never not allowed an event that met 5 rounds and 50 players to count. Ever. And I have no plans to. But I want to reserve the right to not allow an event that does something utterly outlandish, as I know we've had ones on the east coast before where the event was basically won by a 2-3 player, and there were all sorts of whacky rules in play during games.

3) Why are people seemingly "passed over" in the qual rankings? The fact of the matter is, what makes a good team isn't necessarily just slapping stickers on the "top" (defined by my arbitrary but trying to be fair system) players and expecting them to do well. I'll try to cover my philosophy a bit below which may give some insights into why the system is set up how it is:

Each army can only be used by one player at the ETC. For example, there can be one Tau player. If a player is using war convo, no one else on the team can use Codex Skiitari, Mechanicus, or any of the other books they utilized. This means that in years past when the team (5th ed) had 3-4 players qualify using Grey Knights, we had 2-3 players who couldn't play their primary army and had to just grab something new. This is why many nations just pick their teams, with no qualifying system. Some others qualify the top couple spots, and then those players pick the rest, and so on - each nation is different. I've attempted with this to make the team fair and accessible (five qualifying spots) but also keep the ability to do some "fixing" as to what armies/players I have to work with.

For this years example, we had three demon players qualify (Alan, Nick, and Justin). All excellent demon players - Alan plays other armies however, he plays War Convo, which is a valid army for the meta right now (downright great), he also plays orks, which lets be frank, we likely won't be taking even with Alan at the helm. Nick and Justin both play no other armies, so this is already something we're having to figure out. Ending the qual process I had:

Andrew - Tau (most of my experience), IG (no), and Gladius (ran it in some RTTs and at Nova, won battlemaster, that's my only real experience with it)
Alan - Demons, Orks (no), War Convo
Nick - Demons
Justin - Demons (smattering of daemonkin)
Aaron - Thunderstar (SW/DA)

I've now got to determine my optimal team composition, and the other codices I likely want are, in no particular order:
Tyranids
Gladius
Necrons
Eldar (How did we not have a primary eldar player qualify?!)

A team is more than the sum of its parts. Any team player can tell you that to win a big team event like the ETC, you need to pick the right people, not just the highest ranked. You need a team that has a strong desire to work together as part of something, to put in the effort planning, and that is going to support each other in a positive manner. Many things are needed to win the ETC, you need a couple people who are great at pairings, you need some crack list designers, you need experienced players that won't choke, etc. When the team voted for who they wanted, these reasons all came into play for who they suggested for the team. I can say that Frankie was suggested for the role of a Gladius player, and because the person who nominated him felt he would put in the effort, work great as a part of the team, and really be a positive impact for us. It's not all about how well you finish - not everyone can attend every event as a player.

Given all of these factors, we assemble the last 2 players to round out the team. After the voting, Kurt and Brad came in as clear choices and had been voted/ranked by every voting player. Kurt was our eldar player last year, does a ton of work list building and organizing our strategy, and in general is just a really positive guy to have on a team - there's a reason he's led the team that won the ATC and Adepticon Teams over the last couple years, and it's not entirely Sean's strong, strong back. Brad on the other hand, due to life and adulting, hasn't attended as many events as most of us, yet still ranked 8th somehow. He's got an extremely long history in the game, and is our anchor for doing pairings on the team, as well as a lot of our team strategy and list building. Both deserved the spots they got.

After all of that, I had one spot open, due to Sean having to drop due to a wedding he's in being the same weekend. I then reviewed my list of armies, and realized of the 7 players I had, I didn't have a single player with real Necron experience. It then wasn't a hard call to look up Alex. For proof of his Necron chops, he was just back in top 8 with them at LVO a week ago. He's also got a huge amount of ETC experience, and in general is a guy that I have faith will bring the right attitude, knowledge, and drive to help the team out this year.

The rest is history! That's your team, how it was composed and my thought process behind it.

4) I've updated my spreadsheet to reflect the BAO discrepancy someone just pointed out to me regarding Geoff's list. He should properly be ranked as #14, behind Matt Shuchman in the above list. I'm glad this doesn't impact our team or the rankings in any consequential way this year, but an illegal list is a serious deal, and is definitely one of the dangers of sourcing information like I do, without knowing specifics that go on at events. If this were to happen and he made the team, the community backlash would be...unfortunate. If this were to happen with his list when he were on the team, it could cost Team America a round loss, and take us out of the competition before we even flew over to Europe. This should also set at ease anyone who felt he was slighted by being passed over, even after reading the above reasons about why we handle the voting spots like we do. How do you think those players who were previously ranked below him would feel if the #6/7 players were automatically included on the team, then they found out he (#7) had an illegal list in one of his contributing events?

5) I refuse to call Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois part of the East Coast. Mostly because I only have two eyes and that leaves four players wanting to punch me for it.

6) It's calendar year, and if I make a stickied Dakka post, I'll make sure to highlight that as well. By doing it Calendar year I get to digest the qual system, offer the spots, handle any that are turned down, and determine preliminary team strategy before going public. Most years I'd like to do this in January, then have 5-6 months to work with the team before lists are due in June, this year I was a bit slow due to real life - sorry guys.

7) FIFA rules are silly and antiquated, but unfortunately not something I can control beyond voicing my opinion when it is discussed on the Captains council, which I have done (same goes for multiple country teams).

8) How long will I be captain?! I told Greg when I took this over I felt no one Captain should, in general, keep the position for more than 2-3 years, and I still feel the same way. New captains bring a new perspective and change that helps us improve. This year or one more will likely be it for me before I pass the torch.

Caveat - I wrote this late and am exhausted, so excuse any typos or rambling, I may edit tomorrow if I notice any - cheers all!


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Sidenote, after typing out the list of events I got the urge to categorize them by region:

West Coast
Las Vegas Open 2015
Tshft Open
Bay Area Open
Broadside Bash
Storm of Silence
Know No Mercy

East Coast
Da Boyz GT
NOVA Open 2015
Battle for Salvation GT
Killadelphia

Midwest
Adepticon 2015 Championships
DarkStar GT
Renegade Open
Michigan GT
American Team Championships
Adepticon Team Championships
Alamo GT
Railhead Rumble GT
WarGames Con

I tossed Texas events in the midwest just because I was trying to stick to three designations. To be more accurate they should likely fall in the southwest, but then I'd have to do more work classifying the North East vs South East and it's late. East Coast scene has definitely seen a downturn this year as 11th Company wasn't run, Templecon missed the 50 player cutoff, and I think one or two others dropped away.

It is my understanding that the organizer of the Darkstar GT is sadly not going to be running it this year.

You may look at Capcon which just took place ...

Hank

yes I at my first tourney taking the war convocation accidentally had 1 extra vanguard. A number of mistakes was made by people on your list as well including nick nanavati (spelling?) screwing over sean at a tourney with improper rules as well... but you don't count that against him because he is obviously a fething talented player and friend. I don't get that excuse from you because we aren't friends and I haven't made it into the clique yet I guess.

Please for god sakes don't embarrass us more by posting stuff like I cheated a major tourney and thus cannot be counted for the team when your entire team snorts cocaine and feths hookers at tourneys while also accidentally cheating from time to time... it's a fething joke.


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ok that script to make me sound less mad and more nerdy is awesome haha

iNcontroL wrote:
yes I at my first tourney taking the war convocation accidentally had 1 extra vanguard. A number of mistakes was made by people on your list as well including nick nanavati (spelling?) screwing over sean at a tourney with improper rules as well... but you don't count that against him because he is obviously a fething talented player and friend. I don't get that excuse from you because we aren't friends and I haven't made it into the clique yet I guess.

Please for god sakes don't embarrass us more by posting stuff like I cheated a major tourney and thus cannot be counted for the team when your entire team snorts cocaine and feths hookers at tourneys while also accidentally cheating from time to time... it's a fething joke.


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ok that script to make me sound less mad and more nerdy is awesome haha

Geoff, I understand that you think when you have an illegal list it's excusable - however so does everyone else, as I doubt your cheating was malicious or intentional. However in your case it was documented, verified, and you acknowledged it on the forums. Sean and Nick misplayed rules, which happens frequently in game, and settled it there. The one time I caught Nick with an incorrect list (about a year ago, templecon) and it was brought to my attention and he acknowledged it, I took away his placing as well. I'm handling this the same way, and thankfully in both cases it hasn't affected whether the player was on the team or not - as you weren't on the team before I chose to remove that result from your rankings for last year.

Frankly, the only one embarrassing himself is you. Your attitude is incredibly poor, as is your behavior online. You've taken a small community, intentionally alienated yourself amongst a group of guys who if you treated like people and not internet screen names on call of duty would have welcomed you, and been intentionally rude to myself whenever given the chance. That, in fact, is the only reason we aren't friends yet.

This threads purpose was to discuss the qualification results, and I think you've had your chance to say your piece regarding how you feel personally wronged. I'd ask you at this time to bow out, unless you have something on topic and pertinent to the qual system as a whole, and not geared towards personal attacks.

Thanks for putting all this work in Gonyo! having been there on the sidelines since you made the team and later became captain, I've seen how much work you put in and how you've made some positive changes to an already good system!

We're getting a little too personal in this thread, lads - please remember that rule #1 of Dakka is "Be Polite". It might be best to take some things to PM if possible - thanks

Target wrote:
1) The system is always a work in progress, I designed it about a year and a half ago and it's improved from it's first iteration, and I'm sure will improve more going forward. The main thing I need to work on is finding a spot to host it in the future so it's easily accessible. I may beg a mod on here for a stickied post where I can put in updates and leave contact information for new GTs.

6) It's calendar year, and if I make a stickied Dakka post, I'll make sure to highlight that as well. By doing it Calendar year I get to digest the qual system, offer the spots, handle any that are turned down, and determine preliminary team strategy before going public. Most years I'd like to do this in January, then have 5-6 months to work with the team before lists are due in June, this year I was a bit slow due to real life - sorry guys.

A sticky thread in the tournament section here is a great idea for information about the ETC qualification process and circuit - if you make such a thread, just PM me and we'll get it sticky'ed up!

Such a thread could be really good for any other system that has national implications, too, such as the ITC circuit, etc. I'll warn you, it's a thankless job, though . Hulksmash has been beavering away updating his Formation & Dataslate sticky since 2014, but you don't always get to see that it's having any impact! Although it seems like this might not need as much regular updating, unless you were to actually be posting standings as the year progressed.

Anyway, a very good idea!

I think people dont like Geoffs online voice.... whats up with that. When I read his posts I just imagine his voice and smile and his head nod and you can then get into the tone of the conversation.

Target wrote:

iNcontroL wrote:
yes I at my first tourney taking the war convocation accidentally had 1 extra vanguard. A number of mistakes was made by people on your list as well including nick nanavati (spelling?) screwing over sean at a tourney with improper rules as well... but you don't count that against him because he is obviously a fething talented player and friend. I don't get that excuse from you because we aren't friends and I haven't made it into the clique yet I guess.

Please for god sakes don't embarrass us more by posting stuff like I cheated a major tourney and thus cannot be counted for the team when your entire team snorts cocaine and feths hookers at tourneys while also accidentally cheating from time to time... it's a fething joke.


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ok that script to make me sound less mad and more nerdy is awesome haha

Geoff, I understand that you think when you have an illegal list it's excusable - however so does everyone else, as I doubt your cheating was malicious or intentional. However in your case it was documented, verified, and you acknowledged it on the forums. Sean and Nick misplayed rules, which happens frequently in game, and settled it there. The one time I caught Nick with an incorrect list (about a year ago, templecon) and it was brought to my attention and he acknowledged it, I took away his placing as well. I'm handling this the same way, and thankfully in both cases it hasn't affected whether the player was on the team or not - as you weren't on the team before I chose to remove that result from your rankings for last year.

Frankly, the only one embarrassing himself is you. Your attitude is incredibly poor, as is your behavior online. You've taken a small community, intentionally alienated yourself amongst a group of guys who if you treated like people and not internet screen names on call of duty would have welcomed you, and been intentionally rude to myself whenever given the chance. That, in fact, is the only reason we aren't friends yet.

This threads purpose was to discuss the qualification results, and I think you've had your chance to say your piece regarding how you feel personally wronged. I'd ask you at this time to bow out, unless you have something on topic and pertinent to the qual system as a whole, and not geared towards personal attacks.

Without buying into the back and forward, isn't it more relevent, whether it had a material outcome?

Being one model over, or playing core faction rules wrong in numerous games, either way it should obly rule someone out if it's deliberate, or made a serious material difference. Also, sniping back, about an issue that wasn't a deciding factor inflames the situation.