Photo Credit: Saber Tour Website

Within a Saber Tour tournament, fighters are ranked based on their performance in the Pool Stage(s), but when I first started researching the system and read through the Rules and Presentation documents (linked at the end of this post) I found it more than a little confusing.

With that mind I decided that I would run over how the rankings within individual tournaments are created and how fighters are ordered.

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The first phase of any tournament is the Pool Phase, in this phase fighters are drawn into pools, usually of 4 or 5, and they each fight everyone else in that pool.

At the end of the pool matches, fighters are ranked by their total score. Unlike other sports like Football/Soccer where a Win is worth 3 points, a Draw is worth 1 point, etc. Saber Tour uses a system where a fighter’s score is equal to their total margin of victory.

For instance, if a fighter wins their matches with the following scores:

• 8-0
• 2-1
• 6-0

Their margins of victory would be as follows:

• 8 – 0 = 8
• 2 – 1 = 1
• 6 – 0 = 6

Therefore their Pool Score would be

• 8 + 1 + 6 = 15

Fighters are then ranked based on their Pool Score.

If two fighters are tied then the fighter who won the most matches is considered to have finished higher.

If the fighters are still tied, then the fighter with the highest total Health Pools remaining (the sum of all their remaining HP in all matches) across all the pool will be considered to have finished higher.

If the fighters remain tied after this, the winner of their head-to-head pool match is considered to have finished higher.

If they are still tied, then the fighter with the least red, then yellow cards is declared to have finished higher.

There are no further tiebreakers after that, if the fighters are still tied then they remain tied.

After the Pool Phase has ended, the fighters are ranked by the following criteria:

• Position in pool – e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc
• Percentage Score – the fighter’s score divided by the score they would have received if they’d won every match by the full 15 point margin.
• Victory Percentage in their Pool
• Total Health Points remaining at the end of all Pool Matches.

The Direct Elimination phase matches are drawn from the Overall Ranking at the end of the pools, with the best fighter facing the worst qualifier (usually 32nd place) and then the 2nd best fighter fights the 31st placed combatant, etc.

In the Direct Elimination matches, the losers are eliminated upon their defeat and the winners advance to the next round.

After the end of the Direct Elimination phase, fighters are ranked based on:

• Final Knockout Position (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, Quarter-Finals, Round of 16, etc)
• Position in Overall Ranking from Pool Stage

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There you have it!

I hope this information was useful and helped you to understand more about how the ranking system works within a Saber Tour tournament, whether you’re a new fighter or a spectator following the sport, knowing how the scores and ranks are calculated is very useful when you’re trying to get your head around the process surrounding the events.

I’m hoping to get a post similar to this one but covering the Overall Ranking out soon, until then I shall sign off for now.

May The Force Be With You

Sources:

Saber Tour Presentation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a8CW5wes7_Yl4OzwCl9815J77PxwoPO3/view

Saber Tour Rules: https://drive.google.com/file/d/18pcrlk1EWLOADLTxPidecXtJDJu46HU-/view