I love playing in tournaments.
I'm never going to be the best player, that competitive part of playing and pulling off that upset is always a draw for me, but I was thinking about my recent Splinterlands tournaments and realised that I rarely go back and check my battles in the Splinterlands asynchronous events that don't complete as I enter the battles so I am missing that hit, I am sometimes happily surprised when I see a prize drop into my account but that's not what I should be doing in tournaments, I should be also learning from my results. I try to enter all Modern Novice, Adept and Intermediate events for regular foil and gold foil so plenty of events for me to enjoy reviewing.
Just thinking more about the advantages and disadvantages of asynchronous tournaments.
👍Advantages
Flexibility and Convenience: This is the biggest advantage. Players don't need to be online at a specific time for their matches. They have a long window to submit their teams at their convenience, making it ideal for players in different time zones or with busy schedules.
No Check-in Required: Unlike live tournaments, the Anytime format typically not require a manual check-in, eliminating the chance of missing the start.
More Accessible: Since it removes the real-time commitment barrier, it allows a wider range of players to participate and compete for prizes.
👎Disadvantages
Forgetting to Submit Teams: The primary pitfall is the risk of forgetting to submit teams before the round deadline. An unsubmitted match is automatically counted as a loss, which can completely ruin a player's standing, even if they were performing well.
Slow Pace: Because each round can last 24 hours, the overall tournament takes significantly longer to complete (often days) compared to a real-time event that concludes in a few hours. This can make the process feel drawn out.
Less Direct Competition/Interaction: The competitive feel is different. You submit your teams and wait for the results; there's less of the immediate, back-and-forth action or the pressure of a live opponent.
As I said above the main issue I have with asynchronous tournaments is the "set and forget" approach to it, would love to see more Live events but I understand this is a different crowd of players, I appreciate @bunsbagsandcaps and @aftersound (@lorkus) running their events and play when I can, although time zones are the problem so I understand the flexibility and convenience of the anytime events is important to the player base.
Why do we play tournaments
The majority of players who play ranked enjoy the competitive grind of moving up and down in ranking, reaching a certain level and adapting their deck or improving their skill levels to move on (something I need to do...) especially with the current no league restrictions, but tournaments take away that issue and provide a, nearly, level playing fields to card collections, for example I'm not going to play in an Expert level event with my Intermediate deck and that means tournaments are showing who has the most skill not the biggest collections, obviously to play at the top end of the tournament structure you need to have invested in or rented your high level deck, but you should be competing against like minded individuals on a skill basis. Ghost card events, like those @ehmaywuntee puts on, take away the barrier of ownership and are even more so a battle of skill.
Being able to prove your skill at different levels of play should be why we compete in tournaments so a request to all the competitive players out there, support the tournaments we have and come and prove how good you are.
Your deck has a place in tournaments, don't miss out on the low level events that the DAO provides, don't over stretch your Bronze deck and jump into an Expert level tournament because you wont be competing you will be a sacrifice, but join in those Adept events when you see them in the tournament section of the Splinterlands website and show your skill.