@Balladeer:
I’m intrigued but unsure, I’d be new to all of the games, would the brackets all be started at the same time (so I’d get 8 new games with 8 sets of rules I have to learn)?
Hi Balladeer! In essence, the plan is to start the brackets one per day starting on December 15. However, play during the first round will be slower for two reasons. One, a lot of us are in the same boat as you regarding new maps. :-D Another is the fact that it’s the holidays, so turns will be moving slowly during that time of a “learning curve.”
In addition, the slots are drawn at random. So, unless there is an exact factor of 2 that enter each tournament (8, 16, 32, 64), there will be first round byes, and you won’t have games in all 8 brackets ever going at the same time (well, unless you keep winning, but then that’s your own fault. :-P And even then you will have down time waiting for other games to finish, etc.)
An example of this is if there were 24 players in a certain bracket. In that case there would be 8 first round matches and 8 byes, so that 1/3 of the players would get a first round bye in that bracket.
Also, I am currently in the process of finding as much detail as I can (via the TripleA sites and other places) on each game, and I will be posting my findings on the Cellar Gaming message boards as I find them, so hopefully that will help with understanding the initial strategy and so forth. The general page is at this link: http://cellargaming.com/phpbb/index.php You only have to join the board if you want to add your own posts (and feel free!), otherwise you can stalk at will. :)
Does that fully answer your question? Sorry, shockingly I got to rambling a bit….