What if the top 8 or top 16 cuts were based on the highest ranking players in each faction rather than highest rank overall after swiss?
How it would work:
At the end of swiss, the highest ranking player for each faction (mini factions being one faction) advances to the cut. In a top 16, you just take the top two for each. My first thought is that it could encourage diversity at large tournaments. To make the cut, I don’t have to be the best player, just the best Adam or Weyland player.
It would get complicated if one player was top in both their runner and corp faction. For example: I go undefeated as Anarch and NBN. In that case, I get to choose which faction gets me into the cut. I choose Anarch and then the next highest NBN player gets into the cut.
The cut pairings would be the top player’s top faction vs. the lowest ranked player of the opposite side, similar to a 1st seed vs 8th seed. That way, each player plays their best faction in the first round.
Would this solve some meta staleness problems? Would it make tournaments more interesting and accessible to mid tier players?
I came up with this idea like 10 minutes ago. Curious what people think.