1. Players can sign up for tournaments directly on The Jousting Pavilion as soon as they are opened. Links available in our calendar page.
2. You are encouraged to sign up as early as possible, even if you are not sure of your faction and agenda yet. However, you must confirm your faction and agenda at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. You can do so by signing up again with the same name, or by sending the relevant information to one of the organizers.
3. You must play the same deck for the duration of a tournament, you are not allowed to change it in any way between rounds. You may play different decks in different events/episodes though.
4. You may also change decks only between the swiss and the cut Event 5. Standard format (redesigns), and the latest Restricted List will be used. Any new cards released during a season will be legal as soon as they are available on The Iron Throne.
5. All games are played on The Iron Throne https://theironthrone.net/.
6. When creating a game during our tournament, please select Mode - Friendly Open.
7. All games except finals have a time limit of 55 minutes. There is no time limit in the final of any event, unless both finalists agree to use one.
8. There are no modified wins in this series, so players always get a full win even if the game goes to time. The players can enter the result of the game themselves directly on The Jousting Pavilion.
9. Spectating is allowed and encouraged.
10. All communication is handled on the Friendly Open discord server. A voice channel is provided in case you wish to chat with other players, but it is not mandatory to use it. If you are unable to use discord during the tournament, make sure you have some other way of receiving the announcements and communicating with the other players.
11. In case your opponent does not show up for your game within 10 minutes of the scheduled start, contact the organizers. You will receive the win and your opponent will be dropped from the tournament. A BYE win is awarded instead of a Dropped player win in this case (this gives the player a slightly better SoS score).
12. If any latecomers join the tournament after it has already started, those players are also ranked below anyone with the same number of wins, just like dropped players. In case there is a rules issue, you can use the #fo-judge channel.
13. Anyone who is good with the rules is encouraged to help out with any questions that arise. If the dispute is still not settled, one of the judges will make a ruling, and that ruling will be final. Remember though, this is supposed to be a series of friendly, casual tournaments, and some of the players will be new to the game.
14. Make sure everyone feels welcome, and please do not try to take advantage of anyone’s unfamiliarity with complex rule interactions or with The Iron Throne interface.
15. We try to keep things as casual as possible, but organizers will still keep an eye on things and make sure all the rules are followed, especially whenever prizes are involved.
Have fun!
1. Each season will consist of five individual tournaments, held once per week over a five-week period. Unlike the earlier seasons of the series, the overall winner will no longer be determined by points accumulated across all five tournaments. Instead, Event 5 will serve as the final, with the winner being crowned the Friendly Open champion for the season. The final event will have a top 8 cut (previously top 16 cut prior to Season 8), for which players can qualify directly by doing well in the previous events.
2. Events 1-4 will follow a standard format. There will be 4 swiss rounds, and then a final if there is still more than one undefeated player. An overall Leaderboard is available, awarding each player points according to their final placing in each event, adjusted for the number of participants. Players who did not play in all 4 rounds of a tournament will be ranked below anyone with the same number of wins, regardless of their Strength of Schedule.
3. After Event 4 concludes, the players who have qualified for the top 8 cut for Event 5 will be asked to confirm their participation in the event. Additional players will then be invited from the top of the Leaderboard until we get a total of 8 players. Note that this format was devised on the assumption that the number of participating players will be somewhere close to those of previous seasons, or perhaps a little higher. If the number of participating players vastly exceeds our expectations, it is possible that the numbers will not work out as described above. In that case, the organizers will adjust the format accordingly, but the basic premise will remain the same.
4. Event 5 will have a top 8 round played over 3-4 days. Players communicate together to schedule their game. The top 4 and final round will be played in the same fashion. Each player must lock their deck for Event 5 in TIT and they are not allowed to change deck or make any adjustment to their deck. The pairings in the cut will be done randomly after deck choices are submitted.
The winner of Event 5 is also the overall winner of the season.