PvP Fire Emblem Fates: Tournaments - Let's balance PvP and win prizes!

[DeltaRouge]

Are you disgusted by the number of Midoris you see while playing online?

Does the incessant grind to perfect your teams get tiring and ever quell your desire to play?

Does seeing the same team formats over and over drive you to the brink of insanity?

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What if there was a Fire Emblem community eager to improve the PvP aspect of Fire Emblem Fates that also welcomed casual play, competitive play and diversity in team building?

What if you could actually win prizes for playing?

What if this was a place that catered to players from North America AND Europe?

Does such a place even exist? It does! Introducing: Fire Emblem Fates: Tournaments!

Hey everyone! I’m Delta, a moderator over at Fire Emblem Fates Tournaments: a community where we strive make the online battling aspect of Fates as fun and as fair as possible! Unfortunately, as Standard Fates PvP is so unbalanced, we try to make it more appealing to play by limiting some common and overly powerful sets, along with engaging our users through hosting standard tournaments, running gimmicky/theme based tournaments, and having some real prizes up for grabs!

At Fire Emblem Fates: Tournaments, we strive to make PvP appealing to players of all types and keep the community engaged. We are a mix of casual and competitive players with differing levels of experience and skill in Fire Emblem. In one way or another, we help each other out -- and are completely willing to!

And aside from Fire Emblem, we have different interests as well: Fanart, Smash, other video games, music, you name it! We try not to only limit ourselves to Fire Emblem just because of who we are as a subreddit -- we play other games on the side as a community as well, so feel free to participate and get to know everyone!

Most of our discussion happens on our Discord server, where you can talk with other players, request battles, discuss team building and more! This is also the best place to head to if you have any questions that you need answered right away -- there should always be someone available to help you out!

And finally, our subreddit is where any updates and important information can be found. If you're looking for a list of rules for tournaments, team-building resources, tournament date schedules, etc, you'll be able to find it there! You can also post there if you have anything to say regarding opinions and anything else!

In terms of how our battling plays out, players participate in seasons. In these seasons, we hold tournaments with varying battle formats such that players earn invitations to a grand championship tournament - where large prizes are up for the taking! I’m going to go through our battle formats, rulesets and prizes and how they all work, so let’s get right in!

Seasons

Near the beginning of each month, a new season will start with various tournaments to enter throughout. Entering these tournaments may earn players real, modest cash prizes and invitations to enter the championship tournament at the end of the season -- where top players earn even greater prizes! All of our tournaments showcase varying themes and rulesets to encourage diversity in team-building and playstyles, so that tournaments never grow stale!

A season typically lasts three months to host six tournaments: two per month, with two weeks to prepare. One Prize Tournament and one Free Tournament are held per month. Prize Tournaments use the Core or Eternal Rulesets while Free Tournaments utilize Casual or Gimmick Rulesets -- which are all explained in greater detail below (rules, etc). Championship tournaments showcase at the end of each season, with larger prizes in play for the top 4 players.

Our Eternal ruleset is for players seeking to go all out through grinding, our Core ruleset is meant for players looking to go into a competitive scene with team-building diversity, and our Casual ruleset is meant for players just looking to have fun (without so much of a focus on grinding)! Take note of these rulesets: they’ll be some important terminology for our next little bit.

Prizes

What ARE our prizes, you say? Well, smaller prize tournaments held during a season are distributed either cash or gift cards with a monetary value that can be used towards nearly anything of your choice! In order to receive a cash prize, you must have a PayPal account in which we can send it to. If not, alternatively we can send gift card codes! (eShop, iTunes, etc.)

NOTE: For EU, we’ll be resorting to PayPal only until we can find an EU moderator that can potentially cover the EU region (for eShop codes, gift cards, etc.) If you’d like to help out, please let us know!

Tournaments

Our tournaments have different formats depending on the ruleset used for that particular tournament. Casual and Gimmick tournaments use Swiss Pairings to determine matchmaking. This format matches players by their records throughout the tournament so that they’re able to compete against opponents with similar skill levels. This format also runs pretty similarly to Round Robin, so everyone gets a chance to fight against more people, and overall just have a fun time!

Eternal tournaments use Single Elimination to determine who wins and who loses, quickly. This is to simulate a high-risk, high-reward setting as these tournaments host cash prizes, and so players can finish quickly and prepare for future tournaments.

Finally, Core and Championship tournaments play with a combination of Swiss Pairings and Single Elimination: Swiss Pairings are played at the beginning so that players aren’t completely out of the game due to bad RNG. This way, players still have a chance to make it to the top 8 players who then advance to the second phase of the tournament: Single Elimination.

From here, it’s all or nothing. One mistake can cost you, so risks just may need to be taken.

Who will make it to the top? Let’s find out together!

Battling Formats: Eternal, Core, Casual and Gimmick Tournaments

From the experience of playing Standard PvP, it seems that the community is split into three different categories in terms of play style, or how players want to play:

• Players that love to grind, have many options within moderation, play the most broken strategies, and analyze the metagame with a paywall (access to DLC)
• Players that seek to transition into a semi-competitive format with less grinding and more creative team-building
• Players who want to play freely without having to constantly grind their teams to perfection, especially for new players who have just entered the Fire Emblem series through Awakening or Fates

Therefore, we have three battle formats to cater to these three types of players: The Eternal Battle Format, the Core Battle Format and the Casual Battle Format.

Eternal Ruleset

The Eternal Battle Format appeals to players who are looking to go nearly all out! This battle format looks to bring out the most in competition as possible, with rules that change infrequently. It is tailored for players that enjoy grinding, have many options to choose from, look to go through the best possible strategies within the limits of the rules, and deeply analyze the meta from access to DLC.

Specific Rules are as follows:

• No Forges greater than +3.
• Weapons with the Brave property may not be forged, such as the Brave Sword, Lance, Axe, Snake Spirit, etc. Lightning is excluded from this rule.
• Tonics are allowed, but Rainbow Tonics are not.
• A max of 4 boots may be used on any team.
• No Einherjar or bond units.
• Pavise and Aegis may not be used in tandem, including through Nohrian Trust.
• No Warp or Lethality.
• No Castle Maps, Valley Settlement, or Fort Dragonfall.
• A maximum of two flying units per team.
• Songstress class is banned.
• DLC is limited to what is available in NA or EU (depending on the region). Only skills a unit may get legally are allowed (consult here)
• You may bring a max of 1 Rescue staff.
• Rescue staves are not allowed on Falcon Knights
• A max of two Replicate units allowed per team.
• A max of two Nohrian Trust units allowed per tem.
• Galeforce may not be combined with any combination Life and Death, Aggressor and Spendthrift more than once. This means you can only use Galeforce in combination with one of these skills, not two or three.
  NOTE: Quick Draw and the six Faire skills do not apply to this rule.

Core Ruleset

The Core Battle Format appeals to players who are familiar with the Fire Emblem series and are looking to transition to a format with Eternal rules, but are still looking for creativity in teams and fair games. Though this format appears to be casual, it’s deceivingly deep!

Specific Rules are as follows:

• Parent units may only use Heart Seal classes/skills
• Child units may only use classes/skills from their two default sets
• Players may only forge shop weapons with unlimited shop inventory up to +3
• No DLC skills/classes
• No Nohrian Trust Corrin/Corrin kids
• All other Eternal Rules

Casual Ruleset

Finally, the Casual Battle Format appeals to players who are just looking to have a good time! This battle format provides a fun atmosphere for players of all styles to play, and focuses more on community engagement rather than competitive engagement. The Casual Battle Format is recommended for players who are just starting out with the series and/or just looking to have a fun time!

Specific Rules are as follows:

• Parent units only use Heart Seal classes/skills
• No Child Units
• No Forging any weapons
• No DLC skills/classes
• All other Eternal Rules

Gimmick Ruleset / Tournaments

Just as implied, Gimmick Tournaments have a certain theme or rules in order to make some interesting team-building ideas, such as our upcoming 3v3 Royals and Retainers Gimmick Tournament and past 3v3 Beaststones and Dragonstones Gimmick Tournament!

Gimmick Tournament rules include all other Casual and Eternal rules, and a few special rules depending on the tournament, which normally won’t exceed one or two.

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Introduction Tournament

If you are interested in the sub, we will be having our introductory tournament on Saturday, July 23rd, 2016. This tournament will use our Core ruleset, and is a 5v5 Tournament! Specific rules such as times and the like will be posted on the subreddit and Discord channel soon -- so you’ll still have time to prepare your teams!

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And that’s all!

If you have any questions, please feel free to post on this thread and even leave some feedback! I’ll try my best to answer.

You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FE14Tournaments and on tumblr at www.fe-tournaments.tumblr.com . We’re still under construction, but you’ll find important posts there in the future!

Happy Embleming!

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Discord! Click here
Subreddit! Click here

※ Many thanks to Balcerzak for the permission to advertise!

[EvilElectro]

As much as I wish I want to do this, my team is too underleveled and I haven't been very build based unlike Awakening.

[DeltaRouge]

As much as I wish I want to do this, my team is too underleveled and I haven't been very build based unlike Awakening.

Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to read through.

If you're afraid of your team being too underleveled, there's always the handicap option so you can be on par with your opponent in terms of stats. Depending on who has the lower power level, they may request to turn it on or not.

And if you're having trouble looking for skills, you can always request them on the thread here or over at our Discord -- we'd be glad to help you out! Alternatively, our Core and Casual Battle format limit skills to those available through Heart Seals only -- so they should be easy to get!

[EvilElectro]

As much as I want to do this, my internet is going to stay pretty bad for 2 or more weeks. I live in New Zealand (NO ITS NOT IN AUSTRALIA PEOPLE) and internet is a problem for me, however I think that this was a great idea.

Being me, I'm probably gonna go for Core or Casual, as DLC access isn't something that I have too much (then again I got the two main grinding ones lol).

Season 2 is for me.

This is a great idea for those that like the game and don't actually HACK it.

Look forwards to see what it becomes.

Electro

(I HATE SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLL)

[Cyas]

Is there any chance some of these battles are going to be recorded? I think seeing a balanced PvP gameplay in action would incentivize a lot of players to participate in tournaments as well.

Unfortunately for me, the tournament is on the 23d so I'll be on vacation already without Internet access meaning that I won't be able to participate.

[mysticalEnchanter]

When you say that Parent Units can only use Heart Seal Classes/Skills, does that mean we can or cannot use classes or skills from their starting class?

[shadowofchaos]

Now this... this is encouraging to see after all my years of being "the grumpy old man" when it comes to Fire Emblem PvP.

It's a breath of fresh air seeing a community from the broken system. Haha.

I'd participate, but I've lost interest over the years and primarily use my excuse of not being able to play the majority of people for having my JP copy be my primary copy of use.

I'll start pointing people here or your links whenever they ask me regarding FE PvP stuff on Tumblr, Twitter, or Youtube. People tend to think I'm the FE expert a out everything in certain circles of people outside the immediate FE community, but I really know next to nothing about optimization or PvP related elements.

Edited July 13, 2016 by shadowofchaos

[DeltaRouge]

Is there any chance some of these battles are going to be recorded? I think seeing a balanced PvP gameplay in action would incentivize a lot of players to participate in tournaments as well.

Unfortunately for me, the tournament is on the 23d so I'll be on vacation already without Internet access meaning that I won't be able to participate.

Unfortunately, Fates doesn't have any sort of Spectator Mode we could use in order to view matches, so our best bet is to point a camera at the screen until one of our moderators can possible purchase a capture card. Once we do, we can likely get some footage of Grand Final matches!

And thanks for the suggestion, by the way!

Sorry to see you can't participate! But there's always next time -- our first season starts near the beginning of August, so you'll have plenty of time.

When you say that Parent Units can only use Heart Seal Classes/Skills, does that mean we can or cannot use classes or skills from their starting class?

1st gen units can use any skills and classes available for them by default, which means they can use skills/classes from their starting class and classes available through Heart Seals. Sorry for the confusion there!

Now this... this is encouraging to see after all my years of being "the grumpy old man" when it comes to Fire Emblem PvP.

It's a breath of fresh air seeing a community from the broken system. Haha.

I'd participate, but I've lost interest over the years and primarily use my excuse of not being able to play the majority of people for having my JP copy be my primary copy of use.

I'll start pointing people here or your links whenever they ask me regarding FE PvP stuff on Tumblr, Twitter, or Youtube. People tend to think I'm the FE expert a out everything in certain circles of people outside the immediate FE community, but I really know next to nothing about optimization or PvP related elements.

Hey Rey! Nice to meet you!

I'm glad to see you like our idea, thanks! It sucks you can't really participate, but thank you for offering help! I'm sure we could really use the push.

[Petersheikah]

This seems intresting! Core and Casual seem a little too limited to me, but Eternal looks balanced. I think you've made quite a nice job with those restrictions. I'll definitely check the subreddit!

[DeltaRouge]

This seems intresting! Core and Casual seem a little too limited to me, but Eternal looks balanced. I think you've made quite a nice job with those restrictions. I'll definitely check the subreddit!

Thank you so much! We tried to make our restrictions based on experiences from previous tournaments we used to have, so I'm glad we managed to balance it out this time around, haha.

[PeaceRibbon]

So for Royals and Retainers, is that just the eight nobles or are Corrin and/or Azura (by some stretch of a miracle) allowed in it?

[DeltaRouge]

So for Royals and Retainers, is that just the eight nobles or are Corrin and/or Azura (by some stretch of a miracle) allowed in it?

For the Royals and Retainers tournament, only the eight nobles are allowed. Corrin does have retainers, however it would likely cause a lot of players to choose Corrin over any of the other royal siblings. Azura doesn't have any retainers of her own, so she's excluded from this tournament.

We'll have more details about the Royals and Retainers tournament fairly soon. c:

[PeaceRibbon]

For the Royals and Retainers tournament, only the eight nobles are allowed. Corrin does have retainers, however it would likely cause a lot of players to choose Corrin over any of the other royal siblings. Azura doesn't have any retainers of her own, so she's excluded from this tournament.

We'll have more details about the Royals and Retainers tournament fairly soon. c:

Alright, thank you for clarifying! Welp, guess I'll have to grind out an extra character if I wanna enter, but thankfully just one. : ]

[Right_Here]

Just out of curiosity, do amiibos apply to the "No Einherjar or bond units" rule?

[Sieghart]

Hi, i have a question the combination of hoshidian unity + quixotic can be use in the tournament?

[DeltaRouge]

Just out of curiosity, do amiibos apply to the "No Einherjar or bond units" rule?

amiibo do not apply to this rule. In Eternal Tournaments, they are allowed as they are considered DLC. The only thing to watch out for is their stats, since they're in the logbook at everything. Respectfully, they wouldn't be allowed in Core or Casual for the same reasons.

Hi, i have a question the combination of hoshidian unity + quixotic can be use in the tournament?

Depends on the tournament! This is freely allowed in Eternal tournaments, since units have access to any legal skill. However, in Core and Casual, only Corrin and Kana would have access to these skills if Corrin's talent is Diviner or Spear Fighter.

Edited August 12, 2016 by DeltaRouge

[Roxachronc]

Awesome thread, I was hoping something like this existed and I just ran into this, this should be stickied or something.

Anyways the ruleset is pretty good, I suppose some bans are done premeditated? since like Azuratress is broke mostly because of Warp, though still the ban doesnt hurt me.

The only thing that makes me sad is not being able to use my Flame Blood bond unit, is too cool, though with banning Forging of Braves Flame Shuriken could get some love so is not that bad.

Also weird to not ban Battle Seal, since it is more broken than Rainbow Tonic because not needing a turn.

Not complaining or anything, just wanted to share my thought, anyways hope I can get accustomed to the rules and build a team for the next tournament.

Also I suppose the answer is yes, but this is with max statues right? since i dont see any rule against them I need to ask, lol.

[DeltaRouge]

Awesome thread, I was hoping something like this existed and I just ran into this, this should be stickied or something.

Anyways the ruleset is pretty good, I suppose some bans are done premeditated? since like Azuratress is broke mostly because of Warp, though still the ban doesnt hurt me.

The only thing that makes me sad is not being able to use my Flame Blood bond unit, is too cool, though with banning Forging of Braves Flame Shuriken could get some love so is not that bad.

Also weird to not ban Battle Seal, since it is more broken than Rainbow Tonic because not needing a turn.

Not complaining or anything, just wanted to share my thought, anyways hope I can get accustomed to the rules and build a team for the next tournament.

Also I suppose the answer is yes, but this is with max statues right? since i dont see any rule against them I need to ask, lol.

Yeah, some bans are put in place due to experience with them. In particular, Songstress was banned since one-turn teams were very common and Warp Songstress played a part in many of them. We're still deciding on some of these, such as removing Galeforce fliers and only allowing them on other units, for example.

We're planning to have a Bond Unit Tournament at some point, so don't lose hope!

You bring up a fair point with the Castle Seals: Considering the Visitation and Battle Seals aren't really accessible to all and act as a Rainbow Tonic to anyone who has them in their inventory. And no problem! Any input is appreciated. c:

I actually have to revise the rules once again, because it seems as though I forgot to add some stuff that were supposed to be there. Statues actually are not allowed. We've decided on this because it puts players who didn’t grind with statues in effect at a huge disadvantage, even with handicap on. To keep the playing field even, they are not allowed in any tournament setting. There _may_ be a tournament where we'll just decide to go all out, but at the moment is highly unlikely.

Sorry for the late reply!

[WinterOkami]

Read it all the way and as interesting as it is the rules are too restreining for my playstyle. I don't use dlc skills but I try my best to get the best from buddy seals, heart seals and master seals so yeah. However it's impressing non the less keep going the way you're going.

Edited September 10, 2016 by WinterOkami

[DeltaRouge]

Read it all the way and as interesting as it is the rules are too restreining for my playstyle. I don't use dlc skills but I try my best to get the best from buddy seals, heart seals and master seals so yeah. However it's impressing non the less keep going the way you're going.

Sorry to hear that! But thank you! I'll try and keep what you said in mind.