Sat, Mar 11, 2017 by Kumori

Playoffs are just around the corner! Here is the breakdown of how we're structuring things for Season 21 as well as some exciting changes!

NA Platinum Title bracket: Double-elimination -- Top 8 teams
NA Silver Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 16 teams
NA Steel Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 16 teams

EU Platinum Title bracket: Double-elimination -- Top 8 teams
EU Silver Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 8 teams
EU Steel Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 8 teams

SA Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 4 teams

AUS/NZ Platinum Title bracket: Double-elimination -- Top 4 teams
AUS/NZ Steel Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 8 teams

Asia Steel Title bracket: Single-elimination -- Top 8 teams

Last season in our North America and Europe Platinum divisions we did a trial run of playing every regular week of Playoffs to Best of 3 Maps. At the end of the season we received very positive feedback and thus have decided do away with set maps for every week and extend that structure to all divisions!

This season, the format of all regular Playoff matches are changed to Best of 3 Maps with Map Elimination being used to decide the maps.
The changes can be viewed on the schedule page.

Map Elimination is used for choosing maps for all regular Playoff BO3 matches, Lower Bracket Finals BO3 and Grand Finals BO3.

Map Elimination System (with each map played as 1 half only)

1. Home Team bans 1st map (8 choices)
2. Visiting Team bans 2nd map (7 choices)
3. Home Team picks Map #1 (6 choices)
4. Visiting Team picks Map #2 (5 choices)
5. Visiting Team bans 3rd map (4 choices)
6. Home Team picks Map #3 (3 choices)

Map #1 : Visiting Team picks starting color and map is played on Home Team's server.
Map #2 : Home Team picks starting color and map is played on Visiting Team's server.
Map #3 : Home Team picks starting color and map is played on Home Team's server.

Only maps played in regular season of the current season can be picked.
Once a map is picked, it can't be picked again.
If a second Grand Finals BO3 match needs to be played, then the Map Elimination System will be used again.
Map choices MUST be made in Match Comms in the proper order and will be reviewed by an admin.

Playoffs/Finals - BO3 Structure

Remember that during the Playoffs/Finals - Best of 3 Maps we play each map a little differently than we did during the regular season. Please read below:

1. KOTH Maps - Played to 3 wins. This map type cannot be tied.
2. CP Maps - Played to 4 wins or highest score after 30 minutes.**This map type can be tied after 30 minutes. If this occurs then you MUST play 1 additional Overtime round to determine the winner of the map. Whichever team caps all the points first in the OT round will be declared the winner of that map. If neither team manages to capture all points during the first OT round, a second special OT round is to be played. In this round, whichever team caps the center CP first wins the game. Note: This ONLY occurs if a 2nd OT round is actually needed.
3. Stopwatch Maps - Played as *1 half (i.e. each team attacks and defends once).* These map types cannot be tied. Optional: Teams may agree to play Stopwatch like a normal match instead of just 1 half, but both must post their agreement in Match Comms prior to the match.

Scoring:

• Each map win counts as 1 point
• Possible scores are: 2-1 or 2-0
• Please post the map list you played and the scores per map in the Match Writeup box when you submit the scores.
• Matches without Match Comms and Match Writeup with detailed map scores (and maps played) will not be accepted!

1. Map choices must be made and posted to Match Comms by Saturday 11:59 PM (your local time zone) for Monday (default) matches. Teams cannot agree on map changes after Saturday. Once maps have been picked and banned they are considered to be locked-in!
2. Map choices must be made and posted to Match Comms by Tuesday 11:59 PM (your local time zone) for Lower Bracket Thursday matches. Teams cannot agree on map changes after Tuesday. Once maps have been picked and banned they are considered to be locked-in!