3rd TOPANGA Leauge A rules and prizes [Updated]

 [Update] We have added the character change rule. (They use the same rule in TOPANGA Asia League.)

The biggest change in the rules in this season is head-to-head result becomes more important than GD in the second and third stage. (That means dominating weak players won't give you huge advantage over strong players.)

The 3rd TOPANGA League A consists of 3 stages.

First Stage (Round 1-6)
- 12 player round-robin
- Online match.
- First-to-Three.
- GD is used to determine who will place higher than another in case two or more players have the same win/loss. Head-to-head result is used if the players have the same GD.
- The player who finished 11th place and 12 place will be relegated to League B.
- The player who finished 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th will advance to the Second Stage.
- The player who finished 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th will advance to the Third Stage without playing Second Stage.

Second Stage (Round 7-9)
- 6 player round-robin
- Offline match.
- [NEW] First-to-Seven.
- [NEW] There is deuce when the score is 6-6, but whoever reaches 10 game first will win the match.
- The player who finished higher than the opponent in previous stage will be given 1 game win in advance each match.
- The player who finished 10th place (last in this stage) will be relegated to League B.
- The player who finished 9th place (second last in this stage) will have to play against League B's 4th place in a play-off match at the end of the next TOPANGA League B. If he wins, he gets to stay in League A. Otherwise he will be relegated to League B.
- The player who finished 8th place (third last in this stage) will have to play against League B's 5th place in a play-off match at the end of the next TOPANGA League B. If he wins, he gets to stay in League A. Otherwise he will be relegated to League B.
- The player who finished in top 2 will advance to the Third Stage.
- [NEW] Head-to-head result is used to determine who will place higher than another in case two players have the same win/loss. The GD will be used in case head-to-head result can't decide.
- [NEW] Players will be able to use up to 2 characters.

Third Stage (Round 10-12)
- 6 player round-robin
- Offline match.
- [NEW] First-to-Seven.
- [NEW] There is deuce when the score is 6-6, but whoever reaches 10 game first will win the match.
- The player who finished higher than the opponent in previous stage will be given 1 game win in advance each match.
- The player who finished 1st place in this stage wins the whole competition.
- [NEW] Head-to-head result is used to determine who will place higher than another in case two players have the same win/loss. The GD will be used in case head-to-head result can't decide.
- [NEW] Players will be able to use up to 2 characters.

GD
GD (Game Difference) will be used to determine who will place higher in some cases. Winning 3-0 is equal to +3 GD, losing 2-3 is equal to -1 GD.

Character Change Rule
Each time after 3 games are played, the player who lost more in the 3-game period can choose new character (regardless whether he lost in the last game or not), but he can only play up to 2 characters in the whole tournament.

Example
Player A 2-1 Player B = Player B can switch character in the 4th game
Player A 2-4 Player B = Player A can switch character in the 7th game
Player A 4-5 Player B = Player B can switch character in the 10th game (Player B is leading but he lost more in the last 3 games.)


Prizes
1st place - 1 million yen
2nd place - 300,000 yen
3rd place - 150,000 yen