MB 2013 Preview

As MegaBracket 2012 slows to a halt with all of the final placings determined, we turn our focus to the upcoming 3rd season of MegaBracket, MB 2013. The dawning of MB 2013 is nearly upon us with the Indoor Football League serving as our kickoff event. The IFL Playoffs begin Friday night at 7:05 pm CDT. The picks page is open and accessible via the user home page that appears when you login. MB 2013 is also serving as a beta run of the website as we still hope to branch this out to a larger audience in the future. To that end, we have expanded the MB field for this season. The exact numbers of users in for the new season has not yet been determined, but we are hoping to have a minimum of around 20 to get more and fresh eyes on the website. This post, along with links below, is intended to familiarize you a little bit with MB if you are new and highlight the changes if you are a returnee. We hope you enjoy the preview as the new season dawns – the madness of MB 2013 is about to begin…

Informational Links

• MB 2013 Information Headquarters – A central place for all of the MB 2013 links
• MB 2013 User Home Info – A brief introduction to the MB 2013 user home page
• MB 2013 Primer – A rundown of the MB 2013 season
• MB 2013 Events – A list of the events currently scheduled for MB 2013
• MB 2013 Sports – A list of the sports contested in MB 2013
• MB 2013 Blocks – A list of the time periods (MegaBlocks) in MB 2013

A Look Ahead

While much of this information can also be found on the links above, this post will take you through the ins and outs of the MB 2013 season.

To the New Folks

Welcome to MegaBracket and our website. Please look all around the website and let of us know of any and all questions, suggestions, concerns, improvements, etc. The site is a work in progress, especially in the early stages of the new season as we try to convert everything from the previous season. We want your MB experience to be fun and crazy and eventually have you cursing out some poor D-III tennis player who submarined your entire season (true story).  So, welcome and enjoy…

Events

The upcoming events will always display on the user home page when you login. Click on the event link to navigate to the picks page. There is a handy “Field Set” column in the Upcoming Picks table that will let you know if the picks page is ready to go. The picks page will display the bracket to be picked as well as instructions to let you know the specifics for picking that event. There are also links to the event’s website and other useful event information, as well as MB standings and other pertinent MB information.

You will also be able to track events that are currently underway via the Current Events tab and events completed in the last two weeks via the Recently Completed Events tab.

There are essentially two types of events in MB 2013 – bracket events and user vs. user events. Bracket events are the usual type of picks – select winners throughout an event and you earn the associated points for each correct pick. We also have many “modified” bracket events for team events such as wrestling and track & field. In these events, you select your top 8 finishers and then earn points for correctly slotting teams in the Top 8, Top 4, Top 2, and Champion. For all bracket and modified bracket events, each user who finishes with the top point total will earn a 5-point bonus for winning that event.

The second type of event is the user vs. user event, which adds a different level of excitement and larger point swings to events contested by a large group of individuals like PGA tour events. In these events each user selects a team of individuals and his team competes against all the other users’ teams. The scores for each team are compared and points earned based on placement. The eight members of MB 2012 found the golf events very entertaining to follow and compare scores over the four-day tournament. For MB 2013, the User vs. User point structure will look like this:

• 1st Place – 80 points
• 2nd Place – 72
• 3rd Place – 64
• 4th Place – 56
• 5th Place – 48
• 6th Place – 40
• 7th Place – 32
• 8th Place – 24
• 9th Place – 16
• 10th Place – 8

If you finish 11th or worse, you will earn 0 points for that event. A 32-point win bonus can also be earned in the user vs. user events for correctly selecting the event’s champion.

Regular Season

New in 2013, the regular season is broken into 13 different time periods, called MegaBlocks. The MegaBlocks were designed to have a similar number of points available during their span and thus have varying lengths. The blocks are longer when events are fewer in number, such as in July-August and December-January, and are much shorter when things get fast and furious as they do in November, March, and May. The MegaBlock schedule is shown below:

The block schedule was devised to make it simpler to follow the action as the points build during the season. On whatever day a game or occurs or an event or series ends, the points earned by a user count towards that active MegaBlock on that day. Each user will have an accruing total for the current MegaBlock as well as an overall total. The winner of each block earn a spot in the MB postseason. A user can only earn one spot, however. If a user who has already qualified for the playoffs finishes atop another block standings, the highest user who has not already clinched will earn the spot. Thus, 13 users will qualify for the playoffs by virtue of winning a MegaBlock.

Due to the widespread popularity of filling out its bracket, the Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament serves as a stand-alone block. The user who piles up the most points in that event will earn a ticket to MegaBracket’s big dance. Finally, the top two users in the final overall standings who have not already earned a spot will clinch the final two spots in the 16-person playoffs.

Playoffs

As mentioned previously, 16 users will qualify for the postseason, playing out a season-ending MegaBracket. The 16 qualifiers are seeded 1-16 (via a method yet to be determined) and compete through 4 rounds to determine the MB 2013 champion. We feel that the season-ending tournament gives MegaBracket added excitement over single-event  competitions decided only by points in which many people are eliminated from contention early on. In MB, there are 16 chances available all season long to qualify for the playoffs. From that point, it’s a battle to the finish to see who can survive four rounds of prognostication to earn the title of MegaBracket champion.

Leagues

While the overall race for the MB 2013 title goes on, another facet of our website is the ability to form leagues with a smaller number of users and compete as a smaller group, just as in fantasy football. The person who creates a league will serve as the commissioner and has control over which events are contested by the league as well as the playoff structure. A league can include as many or as few events as they wish – the events included are fully customizable. Each league can also choose to end their season with a bracket finish (2, 4, 8 or 16 members) or crown its champion by point total. Leagues do not crown individuals MegaBlocks winners, however, as playoffs spots in leagues are set by overall points only. The reason for this is so each league can include as many or as few events as they wish without having to try to plan around each time block.

The bracket and modified bracket events work in the same way as the overall standings – each person earns points for correct picks. For the user vs. user events, your team of picks will compete only against other members of your league to earn the user vs. user points. Thus, you may finish 1st in your league, but 5th overall in a user vs. user event and have different point totals for overall and in your league.

You can be in as many different leagues as you wish. However, you will submit only one set of picks for each event, regardless of how many leagues you are in. Unlike other sites with bracket competitions, you get only one chance to get things right in MegaBracket.