Monocerotis VII - Cycle 1, Tick 38 - Victory

And victory. A quick game, and one that won't count for records since my opponent resigned 2 ticks before the end of the second cycle. I hope these posts have been instructive and I hope you can see some of the considerations and I hope this motivates more people to play 1v1's.

A quick soap box on the 2 cycle rule. This is the second game I've won in 1v1's that hasn't counted because it ended too fast. Whilst both were against inexperienced players and were not difficult victories, I should have gained a win and ELO from each of these matches though.

1. One of the things that separates players in strength is the ability and commitment to see out matches. An opponent going AFK and you not going AFK is not a random fluke or some anomaly of the universe. It's because you were more committed than your opponent. Commitment is part of ability and so it should be reflected in ELO. An opponent that goes AFK or quits on cycle 1.5 is also more likely to quit on cycle 7.5 when the going gets tough. 
2. Asgana is now over-rated compared to a random player who has never played 1v1's before. They will both be rated 1200. However, our random player has not lost a game and has not been AFK through parts of a game. They're likely to be slightly better than Asgana. You might only think they're maybe 52% likely to beat Asgana in a match based on what you know, but statistically the odds of a 1200 player beating a 1192 player would be 51%. 
3. I am now under-rated compared to what I should be. This will correct over time (I'll get slightly more ELO on my next win, and the one after until eventually there was no difference) but it will affect my future opponents too.  Beating me will now be worth slightly less, and losing to me will now hurt their ELO slightly more. By discarding this game we push the impact down the road.
4. I don't blame my opponent for quitting, the game was lost on tick 2 and they shouldn't be required to play it out. It's very unlikely they even knew about the 2 cycle rule. 
5. The blog shows the thought process and level of effort put in to a match. I wouldn't usually document it and a lot of these considerations are usually done rapidly in a few seconds, maybe with help of a few checks of the ruler tool, but I still did the work and put in the effort. I should be rewarded with a win in this game. 

Finally, Asgana if you're ever reading this. Thanks for the match. You had an uphill struggle. Hopefully you took something from it.