ISML 2020

ISML 2020 will be the 13th edition of the International Saimoe League contest.

This tournament will mark the return of ISML 2011 champion and two-time Tournament of Champions winner Mikoto Misaka, and 2011 Male Exhibition winner Lelouch vi Britannia.

Major Format ChangesEdit

Nominations

• Lasts seven days.
• Only 106 (female) and 114 (male) characters with the highest nominations will make it in the Preliminary rounds.
• Nominating Direct Invites and the 8 most recent champions are NOT ALLOWED.
• If last place is a tie, then all of the tied players will advance to preliminaries. There is no tiebreaker.
• If a female does not qualify for the main tournament, but is eligible for Winter seasonal contest, she will compete there instead.

NOMINATION RULES IMPORTANT CONDITIONS: Minimum 2 male and 2 female Maximum of 4 persons per franchise Minimum of 5 shows/franchises must be represented Any violation of these conditions will render your entire ballot VOID. Invalid entries are discarded independently, and will not void your ballot unless it results in a violation of the conditions mentioned above. All nominations have equal weight and have no ranking. Nominations must be unique. E.g. don't try listing Shinobu Oshino, Oshino Shinobu, and Kiss-Shot as three separate entries; It will only count as one nomination for Shinobu, and the latter two entries are discarded. You can only submit the ballot once, so you gotta take your sweet time on who to nominate as there's no second chances. It's the reason why this phase lasts 7 days. EVERY. SINGLE. NOMINATION. COUNTS. Your waifu got 107th or below in the nominations? Tough luck for ya,you're gonna carry that salt through the entire year 'cause your waifu's gonna sit the entire year out. ^(or hope they play in Divine circlet/Crown but who gives a shit about that award)

Preliminary rounds will return in this edition.

PRELIMINARIES

• Direct Invites will skip this stage entirely.
• Round 1: All nominees ranked 83rd and below (females) or 91st and below (males) will be subject to a range-voting match.
  • Top 6 will advance to round 2, the rest will GO HOME.
• Round 2: Survivors from round 1 will join nominees ranked 59th - 82nd (females) or 67th - 90th (males), this time in an approval voting match.
  • Top 18 with the highest votes advance to Seedings Round 3, the rest will GO HOME.

SEEDING ROUNDS (abridged)

• These seedings will decide the match-ups of the initial group stage.
• Round 1: Top 24 nominees will play, including Direct invites. Range-voting. Top 18 players will be seeded from 1-18. The remaining six will play in round 2.
• Round 2: 6 players from Rd 1 will join the next 18 nominees. Approval voting. Top 18 players will be seeded from 19-36. The remaining six will play in round 3.
• Round 3 Upper Tier: 6 players from Rd 2 will join the next 18 nominees (24 total). Range-voting. These players will be seeded from 37-60.
• Round 3 Lower Tier: Preliminary survivors will join the last 6 nominees (24 total). Approval voting. These players will be seeded from 73-96.
• Remaining contestants (61-72) will be sorted by number of nomination ballots.

Regular Season GROUPS

The 2020 format saw another drastic change in the regular season format. It now works like this:

• Top 96 (Aquamarine) - Players are split into 16 groups of 6. Top 3 and the top eight 4th placers based on necklace / pendant criteria will advance. Sixth placers are outright eliminated. The rest are relegated to Wildcards.
• Top 64 (Topaz, Amethyst, Sapphire) - Surviving players are split into 4 groups of 16
  • Top 6 advance, 7th to 11th relegated to Wildcards, 12th and below outright eliminated.
• Top 32 (Emerald, Ruby, Diamond) - Remaining players are split into 2 groups of 16.
  • Top 8 advance to the playoffs, the rest are outright eliminated.
• All group stages employ a single round-robin format.
• Each period lasts 5 matches.
• Group Tiebreakers:

1. 1. Points (1 win, 0.5 draw)
   2. Head-to-head record
   3. Vote difference
   4. Votes earned
   5. Staff selection

Gem Rounds

• Each period lasts 5 matches. After each period, the top 8 players based on necklace / pendant crietria will qualify for the necklace / pendant round. These criteria only applies to that particular period only.

1. 1. Group position
   2. Points earned in the period (1 win, 0.5 draw)
   3. Vote difference (period only)
   4. Votes earned (period only)
   5. Staff selection

• Instant-runoff vote (IRV) format. Rank your favorites in order of preference.
• The winner receives the Necklace (females) or Pendant (males) of the respective period, plus a Shiny New Poster™ made by the staff themselves. They will also receive a Direct Invite on next year's tournament should they fail to win it all this year.
• Each contestant can only win a necklace/pendant once per year. Once they win a necklace/pendant, they will be banned from participating in further gem rounds on that year.
• Consolation gems with different accessory names return after a 5-year absence.

WILDCARD ROUND, WHERE WEAKLINGS ARE CULLED

• 2020's wildcards will only occur two times: after Aquamarine (24 players) and Sapphire (20 players).
• For the 2020 edition, selected players will be placed into an approval voting match.
  • Top 8 players will survive in the next stage, and the rest will say goodbye to this contest.

ELIMINATION STAGE / PLAYOFFS

• Good old 1v1 Single-elimination tournament. Players are seeded based on their group position. (A1 vs B2, B4 vs A5, B2 vs A7, A3 vs B6, and so on).
• Consolation matches are present in order to rank players 3rd and below.
• The winner of the final match claims the Heavenly Tiara (females) and Lapis Scepter (males) and declared as the champion.

Direct InvitesEdit

Female DivisionEdit

2019 Necklace Winners
Topaz	Amethyst	Sapphire	Emerald	Ruby	Diamond
Rin Tohsaka	Yukino Yukinoshita	Sagiri Izumi	Kurumi Tokisaki	Mai Sakurajima	Kurisu Makise
Fate Series	Oregairu	Eromanga-sensei	Date A Live	Bunny Girl Senpai	Steins;Gate

2019 Seasonals
Winter Diadem	Spring Diadem	Summer Diadem	Fall Diadem	Winter Runner-up	Spring Runner-up	Summer Runner-up	Fall Runner-up
Kaguya Shinomiya	Fumino Furuhashi	Gray	Ishtar	Miku Nakano	Nezuko Kamado	Yuuko Yoshida "Shamiko"	USS Enterprise CV-6
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai	Bokuben	Lord El-Melloi II Case Files (Fate)	Fate/Grand Order: Babylonia	5-toubun no Hanayome	Kimetsu no Yaiba	Machikado Mazoku	Azur Lane

Male DivisionEdit

Pendant Winners
Topaz	Amethyst	Sapphire	Emerald	Ruby	Diamond
Riku Dola	Sakuta Azusagawa	Kiyotaka Ayanokouji	Tomoya Okazaki	Touma Kamijou	Yuuta Togashi
No Game no Life: Zero	Bunny Girl Senpai	Classroom of the Elite	Clannad	Toaru series	Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai!

Nomination ResultsEdit

QualifiedEdit

To view nomination results by anime, go to this page:

Female Division

Male Division

Did Not QualifyEdit

Female Division

Male Division

Regular SeasonEdit

Because there will be plenty of matches, all of their results will be displayed in a separate page. To view all of the Regular Season rounds, go to the page below:

Gem and Wildcard RoundsEdit

FormatEdit

Necklace / Pendant:   Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) format.

Instant-runoff voting (IRV) format explained Voters rank the contestants in order of preference. (1st - 8th) Results start by counting the first-choice votes. If someone earns a majority (more than 50% of all votes), that player wins. If there is no majority, then the player with the least amount of votes is eliminated. The eliminated player's votes are transferred to their voters' respective second choices. Example: A voter has Saber as his 1st choice, and Rem as his 2nd choice. Unfortunately, Saber lost in the first round, so in the second round, his vote is added to Rem's tally instead. If a voter has no other preferred candidates (lets say, he voted only one contestant and nothing else), then that vote becomes exhausted, and its vote doesn't count for other contestants, thereby wasting his ballot if his contestant loses. The entire counting process repeats until a majority vote is declared, or there are only two contestants left, in which case the contestant with the higher votes wins.

Wildcards: Approval Voting format.

• Voters may choose any number of contestants they wish to advance. Top eight contestants with the highest number of votes advance, and the rest are eliminated.

Aquamarine Edit

Aquamarine Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Aquamarine Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Aquamarine Female Wildcard (Approval Voting)
Survived - 8
Eliminated - 16

ELIMINATED IN GROUPS (Female) - 16

Aquamarine Male Wildcard (Approval Voting)
Survived - 8
Eliminated - 16

ELIMINATED IN GROUPS (Male) - 16

TopazEdit

Topaz Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Topaz Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

AmethystEdit

Amethyst Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Amethyst Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

SapphireEdit

Sapphire Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Sapphire Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Sapphire Female Wildcard (Approval Voting)
Survived - 8
Eliminated - 12

ELIMINATED IN GROUPS (Female) - 20 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

Sapphire Male Wildcard (Approval Voting)
Survived - 8
Eliminated - 12

ELIMINATED IN GROUPS (Male) - 20 Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4

EmeraldEdit

Emerald Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Emerald Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

RubyEdit

Ruby Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Ruby Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

DiamondEdit

Diamond Necklace
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

Diamond Pendant
Contestant	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
4th place
5th place
6th place
7th place
8th place

PlayoffsEdit

Tiara Playoff BracketEdit

Tiara Playoff Bracket
	Pic	Round of 16				Pic	Quarter-finals				Pic	Semi-finals				Pic	Final
A1		[[ | ]]	score
B8		[[ | ]]	score		Q1
B4		[[ | ]]	score		Q2
A5		[[ | ]]	score							S1
B2		[[ | ]]	score							S2
A7		[[ | ]]	score		Q3
A3		[[ | ]]	score		Q4
B6		[[ | ]]	score												F1
B1		[[ | ]]	score												F2
A8		[[ | ]]	score		Q5
A4		[[ | ]]	score		Q6
B5		[[ | ]]	score							S3
A2		[[ | ]]	score							S4
B7		[[ | ]]	score		Q7
B3		[[ | ]]	score		Q8
A6		[[ | ]]	score

Scepter Playoff BracketEdit

Tiara Playoff Bracket
	Pic	Round of 16				Pic	Quarter-finals				Pic	Semi-finals				Pic	Final
A1		[[ | ]]	score
B8		[[ | ]]	score		Q1
B4		[[ | ]]	score		Q2
A5		[[ | ]]	score							S1
B2		[[ | ]]	score							S2
A7		[[ | ]]	score		Q3
A3		[[ | ]]	score		Q4
B6		[[ | ]]	score												F1
B1		[[ | ]]	score												F2
A8		[[ | ]]	score		Q5
A4		[[ | ]]	score		Q6
B5		[[ | ]]	score							S3
A2		[[ | ]]	score							S4
B7		[[ | ]]	score		Q7
B3		[[ | ]]	score		Q8
A6		[[ | ]]	score

Seasonal ContestEdit

Rules and results TBD.

This page will display only the final stages of each seasonal competition. To view all of the stages as well as the rest of the seasonal contests, see the Seasonal Diadem page.

Tournament of ChampionsEdit

Format

• Single round-robin group stage. Top 2 advance to the final round.
• Final round: Range-voting format.

Female DivisionEdit

Group Stage
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	VF	VA	VD	Qualification
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Group Stage Results Table
Votes against
Votes for	VE	REM	MGK	SHA	ERU	KTI	RUR	KAN	MKO
	----
		----
			----
				----
					----
						----
							----
								----
									----

Final Round

-

Male DivisionEdit

Group Stage
Pos	Pic	Contestant	W	D	L	VF	VA	VD	Qualification
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Group Stage Results Table
Votes against
Votes for	RIM	8MAN	KORO	SORA	ACC	HID	HOT	KIR
	----
		----
			----
				----
					----
						----
							----
								----

Final Round

-

Divine Circlet & CrownEdit

Rules and results TBD.

Other Exhibition MatchesEdit

Winner's GalleryEdit

Necklace & Tiara

Pendant & Scepter

Seasonals

ToC & Exhibitions

Site navigationEdit

International Saimoe League (link)
Main Pages	2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 · 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020
Prelims & RS	2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 · 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020
Gem Awards	Necklace • Pendant
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

Major Saimoe Contests
ISML ★	2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020
r/anime Best Girl ★	BG1 (2014) • BG2 (2015) • BG3 (2016) • BG4 (2017) • BG5 (2018) • BG6 (2019) • BG7 (2020)
r/anime Best Guy ★	BGuy1 (2015) • BGuy2 (2016) • BGuy3 (2017) • BGuy4 (2018) • BGuy5 (2019) • BGuy6 (2020) • BGuy7 (2021)
r/anime Best Chr. ☆ ‡	BCh1 (2015) • BCh2 (2016) • BCh3 (2017) • BCh4 (2018) • BCh5 (???)
Bilibili Moe ★ †	2015 (Japan) • 2016 (Japan // China) • 2017 (Japan // China) • 2018 (Japan // China)
AST ☆ †	2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014
KBM ☆ †	2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012
Information	What is "Saimoe" ? • Roster • List of champions • Records
Legend: † Defunct, ‡ Hiatus / Unknown fate