In addition to the seeding tournament mentioned in the previous news entry, the other changes to the Charter this weekend include a rewrite of Phase III and the resulting delay of the Regular Season by one week.

Some difficulty in programming the original Phase III proposal had arisen (though its organization was perhaps a little confusing or even overly ambitious), so we have devised an alternate plan for the final preliminary phase — one that still retains balance and gives our less fortunate Candidates a few final shots at making it into the Regular Season.

Instead of a free-for-all pool, we will organize the remaining (98) Candidates into groups again for Round 1, but it will be just one match in which you can vote for up to two girls per group/arena. The top 3 winners from each group (total of 42) advance to Round 2 where they are grouped again for a single match. Here is where we decide our final 6 Contestant slots.

The Phase III revision requires two extra days on the Preliminary schedule. And because we still need some preparation time for Regular Season, Aquamarine will be pushed back one week. The Regular Season will start on 21 March instead of 14 March. (Also, the last round of Phase II and the first round of Phase III won’t occur on the same day like on the old plan. Things will be much better separated.)

Thank you, everyone, for your understanding. There’s still a lot more excitement to come.