Happy New Year. Take two.

In Ranked Tactical Arena (RTA), nothing depends on skill; it's all pure luck (which hero you get, whether you're lucky with hero upgrades, whether you're lucky with the race).

In standard duels, there's an irreplaceable, pointless grind; I haven't seen anything worse. And random standard duels are just awful.

So why do some players do well in RTA duels, while others don't? Luck certainly plays a role, but no more than anywhere else. You can upgrade a hero in different ways, depending on the current situation. The same goes for selecting artifacts.

If everyone hates the randomness so much, you can just grind. But the question is: do you want to grind? If so, why not make it happen?
Tournaments usually take place in several stages (semi-finals, finals, etc.), and absolute randomness is only present in the first stage.

And another question for the organizer: Will the tournament be ranked, and if so, will the games – duels or maps – count towards which ranking?

In general, the plan is to make it a ranked tournament :) with medals, praise, flowers, ice cream, and other goodies.
This isn't maps, though. There's no economy, no battles with neutrals, no castle development, no mines, and no large number of heroes available for development.

And the goal of this tournament isn't to compete for a ranking, but to play, in a festive, New Year's spirit, over a cup of tea and a delicious cake. It's more about learning than about tactical and strategic battles.
It's New Year's, after all! :smile36:
But we'll still shower the winner with roses :smile49: