ISML 2016

ISML 2016 was the 10th edition of the International Saimoe League, an online animated character popularity contest. After 8 years, Shana has finally claimed ISML's ultimate prize by defeating Illya in the final. In the Male division, Sora edges out Hachiman Hikigaya in the final to win that year's Scepter.

This was the first year of the Reunification Era, a time period where the Nova and Stella divisions were merged into a single Female division. As a result, the number of participants in the Main Tournament increased to 120. The number of regular season periods was restored back to seven, and the gem order for the necklace / pendant awards was changed back to the original one.

As a result of overhauling the tournament format, ISML 2016 is home to several firsts: First contest to abolish the Preliminaries (meaning nominations decide who gets in the Main Tournament), and the first to award Direct Invites to Seasonal winners and runners-up (meaning they are automatically qualified and do not need to be nominated).

The contest is also unique in several ways: the regular season's format was decided by implementing a notoriously complex seeding algorithm for grouping its contestants, which means that a contestant cannot appear in all periods. This year is also the only one to implement a final group stage in the postseason.

Rules & Tournament FormatEdit

NominationsEdit

Nomination Ballot Rules:

• Eighteen (18) nomination entries / slots.
• Must nominate AT LEAST 5 valid characters
• Must have AT LEAST 3 valid anime series/franchises represented.
• Must nominate AT LEAST 1 valid male and 1 valid female character.
  • Note that you NEED to fulfill these three criteria above when nominating; otherwise your entire ballot will be VOIDED, meaning ALL of your nominations WILL NOT COUNT towards the results,
• All nominations have equal weight and have no ranking.
• Each nomination must have a COMPLETE name of the character (any order, language, or spelling, and diacritic usage is allowed) and its anime source (any language is acceptable; shorthand titles like those used for those notoriously long light novel titles are allowed).
  • If a character doesn't have the anime source next to it (and vice versa), only that entry will be DISCARDED (aka doesn't count). However, they will NOT VOID your entire ballot.
  • Slight misspellings are generally accepted, so long as they are understood by the staff.
• Each nomination must be unique:
  • Multiple entries with the same character name but different language / spelling / name order will only count as ONE nomination towards that character.
    • Example: If you enter "Shinobu Oshino" in one entry and then "Oshino Shinobu" in another, both entries will only count as one nomination for Shinobu.
  • Aliases, Nicknames, Alter-egos, Secret identities, and Alternative forms will only count as ONE nomination towards that character they represent.
    • Example: "Shinobu Oshino" and "Kiss-Shot-Acerola-Orion-Heart-Under-Blade" will only count as one nomination for Shinobu. Pls don't do it; it will only waste slots.
• A ballot can only be submitted once. Incomplete ballots can be submitted, however, you CANNOT save it for later. Remember, once your ballot is submitted, that's it. That's why you need to plan your nominations carefully; it's one of the reasons why the nomination stage lasts a week. ^{thank god this thesis-length legalese is finally fucking done}

Qualification

• 128 characters will play in the main tournament. However, 8 of the female slots are pre-occupied by Direct Invites.
• Hence, only the top 120 females and top 128 males with the most nominations will qualify.
• Last-Place Tiebreaker: The ISML staff gives priority to characters who haven't appeared in the ISML tournament yet.

Regular SeasonEdit

Gem Periods:

• Number of Players:
  • Round of 128: Aquamarine - Sapphire
  • Round of 64: Emerald & Ruby
  • Round of 32: Diamond
• Each period is limited to 8 groups each for male and female. As a result, NOT ALL contestants will show up in a single period, as all of the players are split into 32 players of both genders per period.
  • Because of this unique format, a contestant only needs to go through three (3) group stages in order to reach the playoffs. If we include the FINAL 16 group stage, then only four (4) group stages are needed to reach the final bracket.
  • Consequently, this edition has the fewest possible maximum amount of games required to win the Tiara / Scepter: 15 games (3 games each from group stages, then 3 games in the final bracket)

Period Format:

• Players are divided into groups of four (4).
• Single round-robin format.
• Contestants are awarded points after each match:
  • 3 points for a win
  • 1 point for a draw (very rare)
  • A loss adds points equal to (Votes for / Votes against).
    • Example: Luffy loses 4200 - 6969 against Ash. While Ash gets the full 3 points, Luffy gets 0.6027 points (rounded off) as consolation.
  • Tiebreakers: Points > Wins > Head-to-head record > Votes For (VF) > Vote Difference (VD) > Staff selection.
• Eight (8) top-ranked contestants will qualify for Necklace (female) or Pendant (male). Criteria used are discussed in the "Gem and Wildcard Rounds" section below.
• Bottom two (3rd & 4th) contestants in each group are eliminated outright. Some of them may qualify for Divine Circlet (female) / Divine Crown (male) contention.
• After each period, the remaining contestants are re-drawn into different groups, and their points are reset to zero.

Elimination Stage / PlayoffsEdit

Final Group Stage

• Unlike other editions, the 2016 playoff phase has the 16 finalists split into 4 groups of 4, with the group members playing each other once (single round-robin) to determine the top 2 players who will advance to the quarter-finals. Tiebreaker criteria used for the regular season still apply.

Final Bracket

• Single-elimination bracket.
• Surviving players are seeded using the Cumulative Vote Percentage (CVP) stat earned throughout the regular season AND the final group stage. Note that seedings are subject to change by the staff without prior notice.
• Seeding Order: 1v8, 4v5, 2v7, 3v6.
• All losers (except the runner-up) will play consolation matches to determine their final rankings.
• The winner of the final match claims the grand prize: Heavenly Tiara for females, and Lapis Scepter for males.

NominationEdit

For more details, please see ISML 2016 Nominations & Regular Season

Direct InvitesEdit

2015 Seasonals
Winter Diadem	Spring Diadem	Summer Diadem	Fall Diadem	Winter Runner-up	Spring Runner-up	Summer Runner-up	Fall Runner-up
Megumi Katou	Isla	Nao Tomori	Mitsuki Nase	Japanese battleship Kongou	Iroha Isshiki	Umaru Doma	Sakurako Kujou
Saekano	Plastic Memories	Charlotte	Kyoukai no Kanata	Kantai Collection	Oregairu	Himouto! Umaru-chan	Sakurako-san

Gem RoundsEdit

Qualifying Criteria for Necklace / Pendant:

1. Group position
2. Points
3. Wins
4. Votes earned (VF)
5. Vote difference (VD)
6. Whatever the fuck the ISML staff smokes
7. Gem Winners are banned from participating in further gem rounds.

All Necklace / Pendant rounds use the First-past-the-post Voting format.

• In the First-past-the-post Voting format, voters can only choose one and only one contestant from a group. The contestant with the most votes is the winner.

Round of 128 - AquamarineEdit

Aquamarine Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Mashiro Shiina	1058	27.64%
2	Iroha Isshiki	628	16.41%
3	Maki Nishikino	485	12.67%
4	Kuroko Shirai	402	10.50%
5	Victorique de Blois	339	8.86%
6	Japanese destroyer Yuudachi (KC)	337	8.80%
7	Rize Tedeza	332	8.67%
8	Nadeko Sengoku	247	6.45%

Aquamarine Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Koro-sensei	728	19.35%
2	Saitama	597	15.87%
3	Rintarou Okabe	586	15.58%
4	Shidou Itsuka	503	13.37%
5	Tomoya Okazaki	495	13.16%
6	Rider (Fate/Zero)	329	8.75%
7	Shizuo Heiwajima	314	8.35%
8	Akihito Kanbara	210	5.58%

TopazEdit

Topaz Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Nao Tomori	675	17.26%
2	Kurumi Tokisaki	656	16.78%
3	Asuna Yuuki	622	15.91%
4	Kurisu Makise	493	12.61%
5	Shinobu Oshino	414	10.59%
6	Azusa Nakano	383	9.80%
7	Rikka Takanashi	375	9.59%
8	Jibril	292	7.47%

Topaz Pendant
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Hachiman Hikigaya	675	17.26%
2	Izayoi Sakamaki	652	17.51%
3	Nagisa Shiota	419	11.25%
4	Edward Elric	409	10.98%
5	Yato	345	9.26%
6	Ryuuji Takasu	320	8.59%
7	Seiya Kanie	281	7.55%
8	Yuuta Togashi	251	6.74%

AmethystEdit

Amethyst Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Shana	1128	28.59%
2	Megumi Katou	554	14.04%
3	Kosaki Onodera	495	12.54%
4	Shiro	440	11.15%
5	Rin Tohsaka	435	11.02%
6	Chino Kafuu	368	9.33%
7	Illyasviel von Einzbern	301	7.63%
8	Sinon	225	5.70%

Amethyst Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Koyomi Araragi	699	18.67%
2	Yuzuru Otonashi	521	13.92%
3	Touma Kamijou	520	13.89%
4	Saika Totsuka	493	13.17%
5	Kiritsugu Emiya	472	12.61%
6	Keima Katsuragi	434	11.59%
7	Yuu Otosaka	355	9.48%
8	Light Yagami	249	6.65%

SapphireEdit

Sapphire Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Yukino Yukinoshita	750	19.37%
2	Saber	581	15.01%
3	Yoshino	490	12.65%
4	Kuroyukihime	439	11.34%
5	Isla	422	10.90%
6	Nanami Aoyama	406	10.49%
7	Sora Kasugano	401	10.36%
8	Yui Yuigahama	383	9.89%

Sapphire Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Sora	924	24.89%
2	Soma Yukihira	551	14.84%
3	Archer	518	13.95%
4	Tatsuya Shiba	424	11.42%
5	Karma Akabane	381	10.26%
6	Gilgamesh	325	8.75%
7	Levi Ackerman	296	7.97%
8	Shirou Emiya	294	7.92%

Round of 64 - EmeraldEdit

Emerald Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Rin Tohsaka	701	17.83%
2	Kurumi Tokisaki	689	17.53%
3	Shiro	550	13.99%
4	Nanami Aoyama	540	13.74%
5	Illyasviel von Einzbern	472	12.01%
6	Ayase Aragaki	357	9.08%
7	Komachi Hikigaya	353	8.98%
8	Jibril	269	6.84%

Emerald Pendant
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Yuzuru Otonashi	664	17.46%
2.5	Touma Kamijou (Tied)	571	15.02%
2.5	Saitama (Tied)	571	15.02%
4	Izayoi Sakamaki	429	11.28%
5.5	Gilgamesh (Tied)	417	10.97%
5.5	Soma Yukihira (Tied)	417	10.97%
7	Edward Elric	410	10.78%
8	Yato	323	8.50%

Ruby Edit

Ruby Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Saber	762	19.31%
2	Kurisu Makise	686	17.38%
3	Asuna Yuuki	544	13.78%
4	Chino Kafuu	526	13.33%
5	Yui Yuigahama	492	12.47%
6	Iroha Isshiki	375	9.50%
7	Isla	348	8.82%
8	Sinon	214	5.42%

Ruby Pendant
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Archer	641	17.02%
2	Rintarou Okabe	552	14.65%
3	Nagisa Shiota	474	12.58%
4	Keima Katsuragi	465	12.34%
5	Kyon	462	12.26%
6	Yuu Otosaka	460	12.21%
7	Ryuuji Takasu	357	9.48%
8	Rider (Fate/Zero)	356	9.45%

Round of 32 - DiamondEdit

Diamond Necklace
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Kurisu Makise	731	17.20%
2	Kurumi Tokisaki	697	16.40%
3	Iroha Isshiki	641	15.08%
4	Asuna Yuuki	614	14.44%
5	Illyasviel von Einzbern	559	13.15%
6	Shiro	450	10.59%
7	Nanami Aoyama	379	8.92%
8	Jibril	180	4.23%

Diamond Pendant
Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Kiritsugu Emiya	680	16.62%
2	Touma Kamijou	646	15.79%
3	Rintarou Okabe	529	12.93%
4	Soma Yukihira	521	12.73%
5	Izayoi Sakamaki	509	12.44%
6	Ryuuji Takasu	463	11.31%
7	Kyon	394	9.63%
8	Keima Katsuragi	350	8.55%

Playoffs Edit

Unlike other editions, the 2016 playoff phase has the 16 finalists split into 4 groups of 4, with the group members playing each other once (single round-robin) to determine the top 2 players who will advance to the quarter-finals.

Tiebreakers: Points > Wins > Head-to-head record (final groups) > Head-to-head (Regular season) > Votes for (VF) > Vote difference (VD) > Staff selection.

Final Bracket Seedings: Surviving players are seeded using Cumulative Vote Percentage (CVP) earned during the course of the entire regular season AND the final group stage.

Female DivisionEdit

Final Group StageEdit

Group A
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		ILYA	MAS	KSU	NAN
1		Illyasviel von Einzbern	3	0	0	15.3063	Quarter-finals		----	1883	1549	1661
2		Mashiro Shiina	2	0	1	16.8008			1849	----	1708	1638
3		Kurisu Makise	1	0	2	14.7418			1484	1504	----	1822
4		Nanami Aoyama	0	0	3	13.9035			1575	1237	1803	----

Group B
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		SHA	SHI	KUR	AYA
1		Shana	3	0	0	16.1233	Quarter-finals		----	2027	1856	1843
2		Shiro	2	0	1	15.0885			1691	----	1525	1791
3		Kurumi Tokisaki	1	0	2	15.8783			1363	1515	----	2120
4		Ayase Aragaki	0	0	3	13.2555			1174	1351	1477	----

Group C
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		YNO	NAO	IRO	JIB
1		Yukino Yukinoshita	3	0	0	15.6104	Quarter-finals		----	1619	1588	1624
2		Nao Tomori	2	0	1	14.6563			1517	----	1412	1655
3		Iroha Isshiki	1	0	2	13.9188			1484	1370	----	1822
4		Jibril	0	0	3	14.5652			1227	1422	1447	----

Group D
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		SAB	RIN	ASU	YGH
1		Saber	3	0	0	15.1212	Quarter-finals		----	1514	1558	1461
2		Rin Tohsaka	2	0	1	14.9419			1487	----	1512	1649
3		Asuna Yuuki	1	0	2	14.5238			1528	1357	----	1700
4		Yui Yuigahama	0	0	3	14.4712			1427	1470	1520	----

Tiara PlayoffsEdit

Seedings: Surviving players are seeded using Cumulative Vote Percentage (CVP) earned during the course of the entire regular season AND the final group stage.

Female Seeds
Seed	Contestant	Grp	Pos	CVP (Total)
1	Mashiro Shiina	A	2nd	16.8008
2	Shana	B	1st	16.1233
3	Yukino Yukinoshita	C	1st	15.6104
4	Illyasviel von Einzbern	A	1st	15.3063
5	Saber	D	1st	15.1212
6	Shiro	B	2nd	15.0885
7	Rin Tohsaka	D	2nd	14.9419
8	Nao Tomori	C	2nd	14.6563

Tiara Playoff Bracket
	Pic	Quarter-finals				Pic	Semi-finals				Pic	Final
1		Mashiro Shiina	1740
8		Nao Tomori	1597
					1		Mashiro Shiina	2204
					4		Illyasviel von Einzbern	2233
4		Illyasviel von Einzbern	1659
5		Saber	1634
										4		Illyasviel von Einzbern	1860
										2		Shana	3240
2		Shana	1975
7		Rin Tohsaka	1545
					2		Shana	2588
					3		Yukino Yukinoshita	2086
3		Yukino Yukinoshita	1706
6		Shiro	1668

Male DivisionEdit

Final Group StageEdit

Group A
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		8MAN	RYU	SOMA	IZY
1		Hachiman Hikigaya	3	0	0	17.0917	Quarter-finals		----	1833	2211	1774
2		Ryuuji Takasu	2	0	1	13.9738			1228	----	1450	1953
3		Souma Yukihira	1	0	2	12.5527			1244	1282	----	1338
4		Izayoi Sakamaki	0	0	3	12.4312			1020	1470	1336	----

Group B
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		SORA	TOMA	STMA	KYON
1		Sora	3	0	0	15.6805	Quarter-finals		----	1705	1589	2075
2		Touma Kamijou	2	0	1	13.9369			1273	----	1767	1365
3		Saitama	1	0	2	12.3633			1285	1700	----	1502
4		Kyon	0	0	3	12.8627			1426	1274	1423	----

Group C
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		YUZ	ED	KORO	KEI
1		Yuzuru Otonashi	3	0	0	15.1999	Quarter-finals		----	1502	1537	1532
2		Edward Elric	2	0	1	12.7908			1115	----	1378	1435
3		Koro-sensei	1	0	2	13.0168			1440	1364	----	1386
4		Keima Katsuragi	0	0	3	12.5314			1198	1336	1124	----

Group D
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	CVP	Qualification		ARC	KSG	KOY	OKA
1		Archer	3	0	0	14.1803	Quarter-finals		----	1352	1575	1462
2		Kiritsugu Emiya	2	0	1	13.5275			1237	----	1343	1379
3		Koyomi Araragi	1	0	2	14.1729			1402	1298	----	1349
4		Rintarou Okabe	0	0	3	12.7984			1282	1410	1308	----

Scepter PlayoffsEdit

Seedings: Surviving players are seeded using Cumulative Vote Percentage (CVP) earned during the course of the entire regular season AND the final group stage.

Male Seeds
Seed	Contestant	Grp	Pos	CVP (Total)
1	Hachiman Hikigaya	A	1st	17.0917
2	Sora	B	1st	15.6805
3	Yuzuru Otonashi	C	1st	15.1999
4	Archer	D	1st	14.1803
5	Ryuuji Takasu	A	2nd	13.9738
6	Touma Kamijou	B	2nd	13.9369
7	Kiritsugu Emiya	D	2nd	13.5275
8	Edward Elric	C	2nd	12.7908

Scepter Playoff Bracket
	Pic	Quarter-finals				Pic	Semi-finals				Pic	Final
1		Hachiman Hikigaya	1914
8		Edward Elric	1267
					1		Hachiman Hikigaya	2357
					4		Archer	1915
4		Archer	1663
5		Ryuuji Takasu	1612
										1		Hachiman Hikigaya	2087
										2		Sora	2120
2		Sora	1756
7		Kiritsugu Emiya	1441
					2		Sora	2077
					3		Yuzuru Otonashi	1922
3		Yuzuru Otonashi	1651
6		Touma Kamijou	1468

Exhibition Edit

Sapphire Edit

• Index L. Prohibitorum > Akari Akaza (1467 - 995)
• Yozora Mikazuki < Yui Kotegawa (1072 - 1311)
• Komari Koshigaya > Saki Yamagishi (1377 - 670)
• Illyasviel von Einzbern > Miku Hatsune (1428 - 1283)
• Akane Sakurada > Manaka Mukaido (1162 - 951)
• Cthugha > Isumi Saginomiya (1489 - 758)
• Tina Sprout > Saya Sasamiya (1199 - 1083)
• Flamie Speeddraw > Nanoha Takamachi (1146 - 1062)

Ruby Edit

• Kirei Kotomine < Lancer (710 - 1722)
• Shiki Ryougi > Arcueid Brunestaud (1513 - 881)

Necklace and PendantEdit

Rank	Contestants	Votes	Percentage
1	Riki Naoe	516	15.80%
2	Gray Fullbuster	475	14.54%
3	Hiroomi Nase	475	14.54%
4	Guts	442	13.53%
5	Alibaba Saluja	414	12.68%
6	Kuroh Yatogami	410	12.55%
7	Kurapika	356	10.90%
8	Rin Matsuoka	178	5.45%

Exhibition Winner: Riki Naoe

Divine Circlet Edit

Winner's GalleryEdit

Necklace & Tiara

Pendant & Scepter:

Seasonals

Exhibitions & ToC:

External LinksEdit

???

International Saimoe League (link)
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Exhibitions	Exhibitions • Seasonal Diadem • Divine Circlet / Crown • Tournament of Champions
Tiara Winners	Fate • Hina • Mio • Misaka • Tenshi • Kuroneko • Kotori • Eru • Shana • Katou • Rem • Violet • ???
Scepter Winners	Lelouch† • Kirito† • Houtarou† • Hideyoshi† • Accel • Sora • Koro • 8man • Slime • ???
† - Male exhibition victory

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Legend: † Defunct, ‡ Hiatus / Unknown fate