March 20, 2022 April 22, 2022

Pirate101 April Fools’ Day Tournaments 2021

Last year, I ran two April Fools’ day tournaments: one serious (normal rules) and one more lighthearted (joke rules). The community reception to running both tournaments was quite good. Furthermore, many people are still interested in tournaments. Once again, we’ll have TWO TOURNAMENTS.

The first will be a “joke” tournament with absolutely no rules, including doubloon legality. The second tournament will be similar to our other 1v1 tournaments, with a focus on skillful play and balanced rules. Most importantly, you CAN participate in both tournaments! We have lots of awesome prizes, generously provided by Kingsisle, so these aren’t competitions that you’ll want to miss! But first, let’s go over the basic info for each tournament.

IMPORTANT: WHEN YOU SIGN UP, YOU WILL RECEIVE A FRIEND REQUEST FROM DISCORD USER MATTHEW#9684. PLEASE KEEP YOUR FRIEND REQUESTS OPEN SO I CAN INVITE YOU TO THE PARTICIPANT SERVER.

General Tournament Info

The following information applies to BOTH tournaments!

We have separate signups for each event, found in the below sections.
All participants must play on the US Pirate101 server and be level 65+. Players declare a single pirate for each tournament they sign up for. You can’t switch pirates between rounds. However, you can declare different pirates if you sign up for both tournaments.
Both tournaments will be Swiss tournaments, with a record-based cutoff to a single-elimination knockout stage and will start April 4th (signups remain open until the 3rd at 11:59 PM eastern time). The number of Swiss rounds is TBD and depends on turnout (plan for 6 rounds in the serious tournament and 5 in the joke). As in the past tournament, having 2 or fewer losses in either tournament is sufficient to qualify for the knockouts. This is a slightly more lenient criterion than the cut to the top 8 we’ve had in the past, and eliminates the need for tiebreaks to decide qualifiers.
- All rounds in both tournaments will be best of 3, including the knockouts. All participants will join a tournament-exclusive Discord server in order to schedule their matches with their opponent. Within this server, participants are to be civil to one another and refrain from using inappropriate language. Breaking these rules are grounds for immediate disqualification. You will receive a Discord friend request from Matthew#9684 to invite you to the server.

Also worth noting: this server is not a general gameplay server. While you’re welcome to chat with fellow participants, pinging everyone to ask for help farming for something or to do random pvp matches isn’t this server’s intent. There are lots of other wonderful places to get in-game help.
Participants have 1 week to complete the matches for each round. However, if you and your opponent cannot schedule a mutually acceptable time, let an organizer know and we can look into providing an extension.
All matches will take place in the Spar Chamber.
Your internet connection is your responsibility. Should both players disconnect simultaneously, however, (due to a server DDOS attack, for instance), the match will be restarted with no consequences to either player.
If you have any conflicts during your match (an opponent breaking the rules, a game-altering glitch, etc.) it is your responsibility to provide concrete visual proof of these claims, preferably a screenshot or video recording. Only then can I force players to redo a match.
In both tournaments, you must show gear should your opponent request you do so. Be a good sport.

Finally, let me re-emphasize: You can sign up for both tournaments! Each will have its own section in the participant server.

“Joke” Tournament

What is a joke tournament, you may ask? Essentially, the tournament will feature rules that radically alter the PvP environment, forcing you to use gear, companions, and strategies that you would otherwise find insane. The tournament, obviously, doesn’t take itself very seriously. 😉

The prizes are as follows:

First place- 10,000 Crowns + April Fools’ Day Mount
Second place- 5,000 Crowns + April Fools’ Day Mount
Third and Fourth place- 2,500 Crowns + April Fools’ Day Mount

Joke Tournament Signups

The next section detail the rules. READ THEM VERY CAREFULLY!

Rules- Joke Tournament

There are no rules. None whatsoever. This means that doubloons are allowed. This means that summons from gear, such as fall Trees and Moo robes are allowed. This means that Overwatch 5 and Tide 5 are allowed. This means that Blast of Discord is allowed. Inevitably, someone will misinterpret what this means, so let me re-emphasize:

THERE ARE NO RULES

A fellow fansite, Pirate101central, did a similar event with doubloons legal a few years ago (back when the cap was 65), and I’m curious what the optimal strategy is now that we’ve gotten a few new additions to the doubloon pool plus some new strong gear pieces and companions.

“Serious” Tournament

This tournament is more like other tournaments we’ve ran in the past. We have a general set of balancing rules, found below, but nothing else. The prizes are as follows:

First place- 10,000 Crowns + Empire Bundle
Second place- 10,000 Crowns
Third and Fourth place- 5,000 Crowns
Fifth through Eighth place- 2,500 Crowns

Serious Tournament Signup

Rules

Players are subject to the following rules in all matches during the tournament. Breaking these rules may result in your disqualification. There are a few changes to the rules, so please read carefully.

All Doubloons are banned.
Old Scratch is banned.
The Spring, Fall, and Dark Sea Champion weapons are banned.
- I’m not hugely concerned about the power level of Spring and Deep Sea weapons (although they are very powerful on certain classes). However, the combination of their power and exclusivity justifies banning them for the time being.
All tiers of the Beastmaster Banner are banned.
The Imperial Robes of Moo Manchu are banned.
Ghor is banned, due to his Eagle Eyes glitch.
Overwatch 5 is banned.
Turn the Tide 5 is banned.
- We are adding this rule on a trial basis since the epic was recently made functional and there is community concern about its power level.
Blast of Discord is banned.
Haywire Companions are legal, but note that Overwatch 5 cannot be given to them.