This weekend, teams of all skill levels in both North America and Europe will compete for the chance to take part in the upcoming BTS LAN, taking place this January 18th and 19th in California. From this qualifier, at least two lucky teams, one for each region, will move forward to compete in the event, with the possibility of further teams being invited.
Format
The qualifier tournament is split into three parts.
- First, in the Open Qualifier, teams will compete using a Swiss system for a yet-unspecified number of rounds. From there, the top-placing teams will advance to the closed qualifier, the exact number of which will depend on signups.
- At the first stage of the Closed Qualifier, teams will play five Swiss rounds to determine the top 8 teams which will continue forward. (This will not occur if 8 or fewer teams qualify for the Closed Qualifier).
- Finally, there will be a double-elimination stage, where teams will compete in best-of-three rounds. Ultimately, the qualifier will culminate in a Best-of-Five grand final, where the respective winner from each region will be admitted to the BTS Invite stage.
Note: while two substitutes are allowed to play for each team during the qualifier, any player that plays for a team during the qualifier may not play for any other team during both the qualifier and the LAN tournament.
Schedule
Times are in CDT for the North American qualifier and CEST for the European Qualifier.
- First round of Open Qualifier: Saturday, October 5th, 9:00 AM
- Swiss portion of Closed Qualifier*: Saturday, October 5th, 1:00 PM (13:00)
- Double Elimination portion of Closed Qualifier: Sunday, October 6th, 9:00 AM
*If there are 8 teams or fewer in the Closed Qualifier, the first round of the Double Elimination bracket will instead be played at this time.
Ruleset
The qualifiers will be using the same ruleset used in Rewind II, a 30-minute time limit with a 5-round win limit. In the event of a tie after time expires, teams will compete in a standard Golden Cap as a decider.
Map Pool
- cp_badlands
- cp_granary_pro_rc8
- cp_gullywash_final1
- cp_metalworks
- cp_process_final
- cp_snakewater_final1
- cp_sunshine
The map selection process is a pick/ban format as follows:
Best of One:
- A bans 2
- B bans 3
- A picks map
Best of Three:
- B bans 1
- A bans 2
- B bans 1
- A picks Map 1
- B picks Map 2
Best of Five:
- A bans 1
- B bans 1
- A picks Map 1
- B picks Map 2
- A picks Map 3
- B picks Map 4
- Remaining map is Map 5
The choice to be Team A or B will be given to the higher seeded team if one exists. Otherwise, one team will be randomly given this privilege.
Signups for both the NA and EU qualifier will close Saturday, October 5th at 9:00AM CDT/CEST for their respective regions. Until that time, eager teams from both regions may sign up for their respective qualifier here.
This article has been updated to correct the schedule and ruleset.