We find ourselves on the Eve of the first ever “Official” Zed.Run Tournament with a ton of excitement in the air on Novus Earth.
There’s a total of $316,000 USD being awarded in Prize Money and one lucky winner will walk away with $24,000 after a set of 6 ‘Grand Final’ races.
That is absolutely ridiculous (in a good way) for a Blockchain game about Digital Horses that is still in Beta.
Today, I am taking a look at some data from the ‘Top 100” Marathoners to extrapolate some thoughts about what we’re about to see as a “Tournament Preview”.
I’ve been gathering this data for the “Zed Draft” Tournament – so definitely take a look over at that site when you’re done here. It’s literally DFS for Zed.Run – also absolutely ridiculous, (in a good way) in my opinion.
If I have time, I’ll try to update this article with data from the Sprinters & Mid-Distance funnels too!
Tournament Format
To analyze the Tournament properly, we need to understand how the Tournament is going to work.
First of all, the top 192 Horses in each Funnel in terms of overall Place Rate during Qualifying will make up the field.
That’s 576 Horses in general… but for now, I’m going to stick in terms of 192’s to make it a bit easier to think about.
Quarterfinals: 192 horses will be split into 16 Races.
How will these fields be matched up? Here’s what Zed has to say:
During the Quarter Finals, racehorses are matched up against other similarly rated Racehorses in order to ensure a wider distribution of prize money and fairer, more competitive races. Therefore, match ups will occur based on Class Rating.
The BIGGEST question in all of Zed.Run right now should be one thing:
Will these races be split up by “Class” or “Class Points”??
If it’s simply by Class, well most horses are up to either C1 or C2 if they’re going to Qualify, but even still – it will allow for a lot more variance from race to race potentially.
The REAL chaos is if Zed is going to choose these fields strictly by “Class Points”. Here’s what the top-level field would look like if they did that in the Marathoner Funnel:
| Name | Breed | Blood | Z # | Q Win % | Q Show % | Class Pts | Paid C1 Show % |
| Terms Of Engagement | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 41 | 80 | 1120 | 49 |
| Dank Dank Goose | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 44 | 76 | 980 | 39 |
| Saber Trust | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 44 | 83 | 937 | 49 |
| Battalion | Genesis | Nakamoto | 2 | 28 | 71 | 771 | 38 |
| One Man Grand | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 36 | 73 | 695 | 40 |
| Breathless Edge | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 60 | 82 | 675 | 46 |
| Happiness Defined | Genesis | Szabo | 3 | 38 | 67 | 638 | 41 |
| Forever New | Genesis | Nakamoto | 2 | 48 | 60 | 630 | 45 |
| Talladega | Legendary | Finney | 7 | 32 | 67 | 445 | 50 |
| Grandeur | Genesis | Nakamoto | 1 | 43 | 84 | 433 | 48 |
| Grand Jury | Exclusive | Nakamoto | 3 | 6 | 60 | 416 | 42 |
| Music City | Legendary | Nakamoto | 2 | 26 | 73 | 409 | 55 |
Can you say Yikes?
Sending 9 of these horses home in the 1st Round would certainly be a shocking move from Zed…. But this is a team that is known for making shockers to be honest.
However, at the end of the day — I don’t really expect this.
So let’s take a look at these top 100 Marathon Horses to see what we can expect from these very talented fields.
Remember, 192 make it – not 100. So these ratios will change (especially to include ‘lesser’ horses) and that’s why I’m writing a whole new article recapping everything once the Tournament ends.
However, these 100 are locked in… so it gives us an idea of what will be in the Field at a minimum.
Looking at the Top 100 Horses in the Marathoner Funnel
First, let’s get some stats on these 100 Horses that are essentially locked into the field (60%+ Show Rate) with 24 Hours left in Qualifying:
- 35 Genesis, 44 Legendary, 18 Exclusive, 2 Elite, 1 Cross
- 36 Nakamoto, 11 Szabo, 20 Finney, 33 Buterin
- AVG Z#: 8.65
- 46 of the 100 Horses have experience (more than 20 Races) in Class 1 Paid Racing. 40 of THOSE 46 have a Show Rate at 30% or higher in Class 1 Paid
- 24 of the 100 Horses do not have significant Paid Racing (more than 20 Races) experience at Class 3 or above.
What To Expect During the Tournament
My favorite sporting event throughout the year is March Madness. If you’re not familiar with the US’ College Basketball Tournament, I have to apologize as this is really the best comparison for this Zed Tournament. Okay, here we go:
First of all, a lot depends on how Zed structures the Quarter Final races. I’m assuming they’ll use the broad ‘Class 1’, ‘Class 2’ structure.
Thinking of March Madness – and even with that structure, that allows for a lot of room for Horses that you could consider to be a #12-16 Seed to make some money and advance through to the Semi Finals.
You’ll also see some very high performing C1 Horses get knocked off simply due to tough fields and the fact that it’s a ‘one and done’ set-up.
It’s funny because a “#15 Seed” won’t be actually beating the #2 Seed directly in a race; but there will be ‘unknown’ C2/C3 horses and even a few Exclusive Butes that make it to the Semi’s. There should also be some low Z# Genesis that don’t make it to the Semis and come away with nothing.
However, after the cut from 192 to 48, I think you will only see top-tier horses placing in the Top 3 and winning any money in the 2nd Round.
At that point, there will only be 4 Races going on – those will all be the equivalent of a C1 Paid in my opinion.
The End Game
Just to recap the format:
- 192 Horses compete in 16 Quarter Finals races in each funnel
- 48 Horses compete in 4 Semi Finals races in each funnel
- 12 Horses compete in 1 Final race in each funnel
- Top 4 Horses from each “Final” funnel compete in the Grand Final (6-race set)
As I said above, I think we see a few surprise horses making it from the 192 to the 48. However, past that it is going to be a “Who’s Who” of Zed.Run.
Just so everyone is clear – I think that’s perfectly fine. I don’t say that in a negative way or to complain. If you won’t be featured in this Tournament, keep in mind it is a showcase of the best horses out of the 130,000+ or so that exist.
And this isn’t the LAST Tournament….. it’s the 1st one. So stay tuned to the changes that Zed will make in the future.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY – we are putting a TON of work in over at ZedDraft.com so that you’ll have a way to make Predictions and have fun watching the Races even if you don’t personally have an entry.
PLEASE go sign-up and at least enter the $100 Freeroll – there’s no catch for simply playing and you can win Credit to use on the site!
Enjoy the Tournament everyone and be sure to come back to ZedGuru.com for a Recap once the Tournament ends!
The post What The Top 100 Marathoners Tell Us About The 1st Zed.Run Tournament appeared first on Zed Guru.