TYB 616 Open: Marvel Snap Zone Partners With the Biggest Online Tournament to Date!

Hi everyone, welcome to a very different kind of article from what I usually do on Marvel Snap Zone. Indeed, today, we are not going to share decks, talk about the current metagame, or look at some accomplishments around the community. Instead, I’d like to invite you to honor someone who contributed a lot in several card games communities, and also was invested in Marvel Snap: Bemmie. You probably don’t know who that person is, so here is a little backstory:

A few weeks ago, we learned about the tragic passing our one of the most passionate person I have met in my life: Bemmie.

For those of you who never interacted with Bemmie, they were a tournament organizer, admin, host, team owner, and everything else you could imagine in the esport industry. For a lot of us, Bemmie was the heart and soul of third party events in various CCG communities. Most of all, they were the kindest soul to ever grace the real and internet world.

I met Bemmie years ago while playing Hearthstone. They were organizing a team league (House Rivalries) alongside a few solo tournaments as well (Hearthstone Nations). Through the House Rivalries, Bemmie aimed at giving the community a special environment, where both aspiring competitive players, but also casters, producers, and basically anyone looking to get started in esports had a shot to prove themselves. I can’t remember a time Bemmie said “no” to anyone. Even when all the roles were filled, they would contact you for the next event, offer you another way to contribute, thank you publicly for reaching out…

Within those Hearthstone leagues, I got my first casting experience, my first paychecks as well, and some of the best memories of my esport life as a player and caster. About a week ago, I shared on this very website my experience in Switzerland for the Framebreak tournament. This would likely have never happened if not for Bemmie giving me a shot at casting years ago.

Bemmie grew as an event maker, notably partnering with DreamHack to create bigger events, but never lost this joy and will to include as many people as possible. The 616 Open Tournament was Bemmie’s creation for the Marvel Snap community, and the first ever “sideboard” format for the game. The first edition happened on March 26th. Shortly after, the team was delighted to receive this message:

Unfortunately, Bemmie will never get the chance to run this tournament he was so proud to tell us he got approval for. After reaching out to a couple of people in Bemmie’s entourage, we decided this tournament will happen nonetheless, be dedicated to Bemmie, and their outstanding work in the CCG community through the years. With this homage tournament, we’re aiming to keep this aura of kindness Bemmie was all about, and make it all about what they loved the most: The community.

Thanks to Marvel Snap Zone and Community Gaming, we have secured one of the largest prize pool to date for an online tournament, $1,000! Also, we have planned a way for everyone to be involved, even if you are not a competitor and want to have some fun while watching some high level Marvel Snap. Particularly, we have planned a card variant contest, something which needed to be settled in the community for a while now: What is the best Marvel Snap variant?

I want to personally thank everyone involved in the making of this event, casters, production, streamers, competitors, sponsors… I am not a tournament organizer and decided to do this without knowing how difficult, and time consuming it would be. In the end, we will have one of the biggest online Marvel Snap tournament to date. I hope Bemmie is proud of us.

Here is everything you need to know about the event.

How to compete

Qualifying for the playoffs

We will have four qualifiers, two on May 13th and two on May 27th. On each day, there is an American friendly time, and an Asian friendly time. Europeans should be able to join both, depending on their schedule:

Each qualifier will be a 128 players bracket, where players will compete in Best of One, single elimination matches. Both finalists will earn their spot into the top 8 playoffs, and compete for their share of a $1,000 prize pool.

Qualifiers will function based on a first come, first served principle. Anyone can sign up to participate as long as there is available space for it. Players might sign up and not show on the day of the tournament, so we will allow more than 128 sign ups. Anyone is allowed to compete in the TYB 616 Open, up to one time per qualifier. Each player will be held responsible for their own device and internet.

You can already sign up to these qualifier events on community gaming:

• https://www.communitygaming.io/tournament/tyb-616-open-qualifier-1
• https://www.communitygaming.io/tournament/tyb-616-open-qualifier-2
• https://www.communitygaming.io/tournament/tyb-616-open-qualifier-3
• https://www.communitygaming.io/tournament/tyb-616-open-qualifier-4

Final top 8 playoffs

The top 8 bracket will take place on June third, reuniting the finalists from each qualifier. The event will have casters whom Bemmie gave a shot when they were completely unknown, alongside up and comers from the Marvel Snap community. We will also share some memories and have a minute of silence in Bemmie’s honor.

There, players will compete for a share of the $1,000 cash prize, spread amongst the top 4 competitor. Compared to the qualifiers, the playoff will have a little twist, as the side deck format will return to test each player’s deckbuilding skills. Indeed, Players will submit 18 cards ahead of the playoffs, and will craft their 12 cards deck for each match using those 18 cards only. This should lead to some interesting choices depending on their opponent, and give some flexibility to the archetypes in the competition.

During the playoffs, players will compete in Best of One, double elimination matches, meaning they have two lives going into the tournament, and will keep competing until they lost two matches. When only two players remain, they will face off in the grand finals, competing in a Best of Three series. In the grand finals, players can change their deck in between each round, still remaining in the limits of the 18 cards they submitted.

How to watch

Each Qualifier will be covered by a featured Marvel Snap streamer : Specimen, Kawatek, AniOmalY and Moyen. Go give them some strength as they compete and bring some excitement to the early stages of the tournament. You will also be able to enjoy both qualifying matches of the qualifier they cover for the Top 8 playoffs on their channel, where they will be joined by a production crew. A little peak at what the playoffs stream will look like.

• https://www.twitch.tv/kawatek
• https://www.twitch.tv/aniomaly
• https://www.twitch.tv/specimen
• https://www.twitch.tv/moyen_hs

In addition to these four featured streamers, everyone is welcomed to stream their own point of view, and encouraged to share their stream with us on Discord, so we can follow their journey.

How to enter the Card Variant competition:

During these Qualifiers, we will also have a Marvel Snap Card Variant community contest. Each of the four featured streamers will pick three variants their communities can submit during the qualifier’s stream. Then, our two judges, and proud owners of all the Marvel Snap Variants in the game, SiX1SE7EN and SuperTechGod will pick their favorite from each community.

The person who submitted said variant will be rewarded with a Season Pass for the June 2023 season. They will also qualify for the grand final, where their variant will compete for the title of “Best Variant in Marvel Snap” with the other three winners. This final competition amongst the top 4 variants in the game will happen during the Top 8 playoffs. The reward for the best variant in the game is kept secret for now, but will be well worth your best variant.

Closing Words

I already said so in the introduction, but this project was way too big for me to handle. I did it on a whim to honor a friend’s death, and would have never made it without the many supports I received along the way. Special thanks to DuckeyWizard and Soav, working on the production side of things, who immediately offered to help and support my crazy idea. I sincerely hope everyone will have fun during the event, no matter if you enter, watch or just cheer for your favorite player from afar.

For more information about the event, you can find me on the Marvel Snap Zone Discord, or reach out directly on Twitter. I can’t wait to see the action unfold and all the work put into this event come to fruition, until then…

Good Game Everyone.