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Windmill Windup Tournament Central
Teams had a lucky day yesterday with sunny games and relatively wind-free conditions, but today Amsterdam reared it’s unpredictable head and offered players a variety of interesting weather conditions. In the first round of the day early in the morning, I witnessed the weather be turned upon it’s head literally every single point – one point it was absolutely lashing rain, the next it was partly cloudy with no rain, but huge gusts of wind. The conditions made for some fairly surprising results. Good Lord! started off the day upsetting the previously undefeated Prague Devils 15-8. The Devils had a lot of trouble working against Good Lord!’s tight cup in the strong winds. Mubidisk also fell to UFO in a blowout, 15-4.
In Round 5, the last Swiss draw round before the top eight were assigned to quarterfinals, the teams on the brink fought for their chance to make it into bracket play. The key games here were Rebel Ultimate’s 13-8 victory over Sexy Legs and the Star Spangled Hammers’ 9-15 loss to the Stockholm Syndromes. The Legs and the Hammers finished 9th and 10th in the Swiss ranking, respectively, while Mubidisk snuck in at 8th with a 15-8 rout of Thundering Herd.
The final Swiss draw ranking was not without controversy. I spoke with a disappointed Quijotes+Dulcineas team, who went 4-1 in the Swiss rounds, but found themselves ranked 12th, unable to play the caliber of opponents necessary to jump up into the top 8 in the rankings. With the switch to the new Swiss points system where Swiss ranking depends on the average of opponent’s Swiss points, many teams came out of rounds with a win, only to find that their previous opponents had tanked and their Swiss ranking had remained virtually unchanged, or even dropped. These teams often got caught in a loop, playing weak opponent after weak opponent and never getting the chance to test their skills against any of the quarterfinals-destined teams. In previous years, winning a game almost assuredly meant that your Swiss ranking would increase and you were guaranteed a matchup against a stronger team to defend your position.
As the quarterfinals started, the sun came out, but the wind picked up to be the strongest we had seen all tournament. Many teams chose to play huck and D, afraid of losing the disc near their endzone and gifting a point to their opponents. In one side of the quarterfinals, a hurting Good Lord! team outlasted Israel Mix 10-9. Good Lord!’s roster was down to only 9 players after two late injuries. In the second quarterfinal, Ireland’s Under-23 Team put a beatdown on Stockholm Syndrome 13-7. These young players have continued to impress and it will be interesting to see what they can accomplish in Toronto. Meanwhile, they’ll look to use their large roster to make Good Lord! run in the semifinals tomorrow. In the third quarterfinal, Mubidisk upset the Prague Devils. The Czech team’s problems with the wind continued, and although they were able to keep it close, Mubi eked out the victory 12-10. Finally, Rebel escaped with a victory over UFO on universe point in an upwind/downwind game in the stadium. They’ll take on Mubidisk tomorrow morning in the semifinals.
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