Number of Preliminary Rounds. Play as many preliminary rounds as you have time for, allowing time for the Final Round. Players must use the same deck that they began with throughout the duration of the tournament. The reserve may never exceed 20 cards, but it may go below 20. A player may begin a tournament with no reserve and later choose to switch cards from their deck to their reserve between games, so long as their reserve does not exceed its maximum size, and their deck does not go below its minimum size.
Players select their starting ambassador.
They may select an ambassador from their reserve as long as it is from the race they are designated to play for this tournament. Non-Aligned players reveal their other starting characters. All players may alter their decks using their reserve. All players choose their starting hand, and play commences. After each preliminary round, the following scoring method is applied to the players at each game.