The 2022 competitive season is finally upon us! This year, as detailed in a previous article, the introductory tier on the competitive track will be taken up by Circuit Openers! Due to the improvement in the COVID situation in many places, playmats make a welcome return as part of the prize structure. As was the case before the pandemic, kits will be ordered centrally and distributed via our regional OP representatives, rather than being available via print-on-demand services.
Inside each kit you will find the following:
- 3× Hákarl 1.0 playmat (Jakuza)
- 15× Obokata Protocol (Olie Boldador)
- 27× Simulchip (Kira Nguyen)
- 6× Biotic Labor (Olie Boldador)
These kits will only be available for sale until 10 April 2022 at 23:59 UTC (2 weeks after this announcement). You can purchase the Circuit Opener kit below with secure checkout through Paypal. The basic price of the kit is $40 USD (United States Dollar), which includes free shipping worldwide.
This kit is smaller than kits from previous years, in an effort to make it affordable to hold tournaments with smaller expected turnouts. It is expected that you follow the Basic Prize Structure outlined below. If you expect a larger turnout, we recommend you buy the Boosted prize kit, which costs $80 USD and contains the same prizes in exactly double the quantities, and follow the Boosted Prize Structure instead.
Purchase links for each kit are below. Once you click “continue” on Paypal’s site, your order will be placed, so please make sure your shipping address is correct!
Basic Prize Structure
- Winner: Invitation to the Circuit Breaker Invitational Championship. (Details forthcoming, provisionally to take place Q4 2022. Only valid for events with 8 players or more.)
- Top 2: Hákarl 1.0 playmat (Jakuza).
- Top 4: 3× Obokata Protocol (Olie Boldador).
- Top 8: 3× Simulchip (Kira Nguyen).
Each kit contains additional playsets of Obokata Protocol and Simulchip, and an additional Hákarl 1.0 playmat for the Tournament Organizer to keep. The kit also contains 6× Biotic Labor. Originally a Worlds 2019 promotion, all sanctioned events will include six copies of a rebooted promo card. These can be used as side-event prizes, door prizes, or anything else at the Organizer’s discretion.
Boosted Prize Structure:
- Winner: Invitation to the Circuit Breaker Invitational Championship. (Details forthcoming, provisionally to take place Q4 2022. Only valid for events with 8 players or more.)
- Top 4: Hákarl 1.0 playmat (Jakuza).
- Top 8: 3× Obokata Protocol (Olie Boldador).
- Top 16: 3× Simulchip (Kira Nguyen).
There is no limit on the number of Circuit Breakers each Organizer may hold, as long as each event is supported by at least one kit. You may collect an entry fee to cover the cost of the kit (and venue hire, where applicable).
Tournament Organizers are also allowed and actively encouraged to supplement the prizes with other prizes sourced from GNKs or the amazing stuff made by the community. Players should log on to AlwaysBeRunning.net to find events, as well as claim their finishes on events they played in.
Event Restrictions:
Circuit Openers are sanctioned events for the purposes of the Organized Play Policies. This means you are expected to follow the prize structure above, and the tournament structure outlined in the Policies for Casual Tier events. Circuit Openers can be run in either the Startup or Standard formats. You are also expected to advertise your event on AlwaysBeRunning.net. This event can be run at any point during the 2022 calendar year. However, for the winner to be able to take advantage of their Circuit Breaker Invitational entry, it must take place before November 2022.
Addendum: As a sanctioned event, purchasing this kit means you are obliged to run a Circuit Opener. Buying a keep to either keep for yourself or to resell undermines the spirit of these competitions and the legitimacy of the prizes which other players had to enter and place in a tournament to win. Excepting extenuating circumstances, not using your kit to run a tournament may lead to you being barred from purchasing non-GNK kits in the future.
2020-2021 Store Championship Kits:
We encourage any Tournament Organizers who are still in possession of kits from the 2020 and 2021 Seasons to schedule events and run them within the next two months. The winners of events run this year using those older kits will also be eligible for invites to the Circuit Breaker Invitational!
COVID Guidance:
Although we expect that many Organizers will be able to run their events in-person this year, please follow your local government’s safety guidelines for COVID-19. In the event that you elect to run your event online for safety reasons, please remember to price entry accordingly to take account of costs you may incur for posting prizes. We are constantly reviewing our COVID-19 policies, and will post updates if they change. Please remember to put your and your players’ safety first.
For Tournament Organizers who need help running an event on Jinteki.net, we have a dedicated Events Discord where veteran TOs and NISEI staff will be happy to help you, as well as an article with helpful tips we previously published.
Season Tracker
To help both players and Organizers keep track of which type of tournament is happening at any given point in the calendar, we created the 2022 Competitive Season Status Page. There, you can find information on what types of tournaments are running now, what the permitted period to organize them in is, which tournaments are in the application stage and when the application period is, and other useful information. Please keep checking back, as it will continue to be updated as we solidify more of the Competitive Season schedule!
Safety First, friends, and Always Be Running.
