March is already here, which only means one thing – March Madness starts soon! Eight armies have signed up to take part in the tournament this year, and hence we will be starting directly with the Elite Eight round (Quarter-Finals), skipping the Qualifier Round this time. This post will have more information on the Elite Eight round, dates of the further rounds to take place and clarify the rules and the seedings of the tournament.

Information and Rules

March Madness IX is all set to commence on March 9th, this time beginning directly with the Quarter-Final round, which is also known as the Elite Eight. The tournament will go forward following the Single-Elimination format, as decided upon by a vote made by the Army Board. Given that eight armies have signed up for this year’s edition, we will not be having the Qualifiers’ Round. The duration of the tournament is going to be three weeks, with each round taking place on a consecutive weekend. Since Easter is on March 31st this year, we were willing to see a break during that weekend, however, now that there are only three rounds to this tournament, we would like to conclude the tournament on March 23rd, with the Grand Finals and third place match taking place on that day.

Elite Eight (Quarter Finals): March 9th & 10th

Final Four (Semi Finals): March 16th & 17th

Grand Finals and 3rd Place Match: March 23rd and March 24th

In order for the tournament to run smoothly, we are putting together the following rules, which are based on previous tournament policies:

• Reviews will only be allowed for the Grand Final and the match for third place and will be conducted by Head Judges who are unaffiliated with the battle.
• Just like in the previous tournaments, there have been deadlines set in regard to the review process:
  • Leaders cannot request a review after 3 hours from the long results being posted, and they cannot submit evidence more than 21 hours after requesting a review (videos should be submitted as soon as possible).
  • Head Judges must inform both armies about the review, and if it is going ahead as soon as possible.
  • The deadline for the Head Judges to review the battle will be 24 hours after the evidence deadline.
• Dual enlistment is not allowed, and non-enlisted individuals may only attend for one army. Participants must stick with their chosen army for the duration of the tournament, even after an army is eliminated. In the case of dual enlisting, holding a rank in any active army found on our active armies list will be adhered to.
• The judging will be undertaken by Club Penguin Army Judges and organized by the Head Judges.
• All armies have a right to veto two judges per battle. Once an army has vetoed two judges, it cannot decline any more for that battle. Vetos cannot occur past the four hour mark, and the Head Judges can not be vetoed per new judging guidelines.
• Judges will be announced well in advance (typically shortly after the week’s schedule is announced).
• All battles will have three judges, with the exception of the finals, which will have five judges.
• Each army will have two vetos per battle. However, in the Grand Finals, the participating armies will be allowed to have three vetos, only if there are enough judges to ensure the places are filled. If there aren’t, the current veto rules will remain.
• Anybody banned from Battleground cannot participate in tournament battles (including but not limited to attending on alts, leading from Discord or other third-party websites, etc.) If found guilty of violating this rule by administrator discretion, the army they are involved with will be disqualified.
• In order to avoid color clashes in battles, the Head Judges have requested that the following armies wear the respective colors for the battles that may have a clash in color during the tournament –
  • Water Vikings: Purple
  • Rebel Penguin Federation: Pink
  • Special Weapons and Tactics: Black
  • Help Force: Blue
  • People’s Imperial Confederation: Light Blue / Turquoise
• If you are spectating a battle and are asked to log off and you do not, you will be kicked from the game. You will also be kicked for interrupting an event by trolling. If you keep logging on, the punishment may end in a temporary ban until the event has ended.

SEEDINGS

The seedings for March Madness IX were based on the last four weeks before the tournament’s organization commenced. In case of a tie, the higher maxes were the deciding factor.

[1] Army of Club Penguin

[2] Elite Guardians

[3] Rebel Penguin Federation

[4] Help Force

[5] Water Vikings

[6] People’s Imperial Confederation

[7] Special Weapons and Tactics

[8] Penguins of Madagascar

Click here for the seeding statistics

Quarter final Timings

The eight armies will be battling in the coming weekend, competing amongst themselves to advance to the Semi-Finals of the tournament. Hence a total of four battles will be taking place, which are as follows:

March Madness IX

Saturday, March 9th

Army of Club Penguin vs. Special Weapons and Tactics 
3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | 12pm PST | 8pm UK | 1:30am IST

Help Force vs. Water Vikings
4pm EST | 3pm CST | 2pm MST | 1pm PST | 9pm UK | 2:30am IST

–

Sunday, March 10th

Elite Guardians vs. People’s Imperial Confederation
3pm EST | 2pm CST | 1pm MST | 12pm PST | 7pm UK | 12:30am IST

Penguins of Madagascar vs. Rebel Penguin Federation
4pm EST | 3pm CST | 2pm MST | 1pm PST | 8pm UK | 1:30am IST

(Please note that on both days, the battles will be commencing at 3 pm and 4 pm EST respectively, so if there are any changes in the timings for any timezone, do not hesitate to reach out to the Administration).

UPDATE: It has come to our attention, that Daylight Savings will be taking place in the US on Sunday morning, hence the UK and IST times have been adjusted accordingly.

We would like to take this moment to thank Master DS, who has worked so hard on the graphics for this tournament. Additionally, we are grateful for the judges’ support and their supervision of the tournament. None of this would have been possible without all of them helping us out.

We hope March Madness will bring with it, a lot of excitement and joy, and we wish the very best to all the participating armies! Who is going to emerge victorious this year?

More Information