Magnus World Cup - Qualification Round (Groups A-E)

Welcome, folks, to the inaugural Magnus World Cup! Over the next few weeks, we'll be attempting to answer that trickiest of questions: which episode of The Magnus Archives is the best?

This will be decided by a simple Strawpoll vote every step of the way, though I will always encourage discussion on why you've voted the way you have.

The structure of the tournament is very simple: for the qualification stage, every single episode will be split into randomly drawn groups as detailed in this spreadsheet. The top 3 of each group will enter a Top 64 Group Stage which has also been randomly drawn. The qualification round will be split into four parts of five groups, and the highest scoring 4th place episode from each part will also go through to the Top 64 as a play-off winner.

In the Top 64 Groups, only the top 2 episodes will go through to the knockout round. From there, 32 episodes will face off one-on-one taking us through to a Round of 16, a Quarter Final, a Semi Final, 3rd place match and - of course - the grand final.

You can use whatever judging metric you'd like when casting your vote - scariest ep, best voice acting, biggest contribution to the meta plot... part of what will make this tournament interesting is seeing what it is people value most in the episodes. You are strongly discouraged from voting more than once, although I have neither the technical capability nor the will to stop you. Honour system, everyone!

In the event of a tie I will cast a deciding vote, otherwise I myself shall abstain from voting. I think that's enough for now, but please let me know if you have any questions about the structure of the World Cup. In the meantime...

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##MWC Qualification Round - Groups A to E

[Group A]

• The Bone Turner's Tale
• Strange Music
• Children of the Night
• Underground
• Return to Sender

[Group B]

• Dreamer
• Skintight
• Recluse
• Book of the Dead
• Dead Woman Walking

[Group C]

• Desecrated Host
• First Hunt
• Tightrope
• Held in Customs
• The Coming Storm

[Group D]

• Confession
• Old Passages
• High Pressure
• The Tale of a Field Hospital
• Possessive

[Group E]

• Burned Out
• Colony
• Lost in the Crowd
• The Kind Mother
• Absent Without Leave

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EDIT: VOTING HAS CLOSED FOR THESE GROUPS. STAY TUNED FOR THE RESULTS AND FOR THE VOTING TO OPEN ON GROUPS F TO J