ESOCommunity

The Team Manager is essentially the boss of a team. The Team Manager has the final word in all decisions (barring the admins) regarding his team. The Team Manager decides which players are drafted onto the team and who is rostered from week to week. Managers also make sure that the team keeps running on a day to day basis. If a team fails to complete their matches by the end of the allotted time, the onus is on the manager to inform the admins as to what happened in case activity decisions need to be made.

Because of these responsibilities, The Team Manager is probably the most important part of the team. As such, the position of TM is not one to be taken lightly.

• Team Managers are not eligible to play in the ESOC Premier League. One can either play or manage, not both.
• Team Managers are chosen primarily on the subjective opinion of the admins as to who they believe would be fit for the position. Being fit for the position includes knowledge of players in the community and having above average activity on the forums and other AoE3 platforms.

Lastly, the Team Manager has the following duties:
• They will be present at the live auction, or appoint someone (preferably the champion) to participate in the live auction in their stead.
• They will arrange match pairings with the other team managers.
• They will ensure to the best of their abilities that their players complete their matches on time.
• In the event that a match fails to be completed, they will inform the hosts as to why the match failed to be completed, and what their player did in order to finish the match.
• They will communicate any grievances with the admins.
• They will oversee all trades the team makes.

The 4 Team Managers for the ECL will be selected on September 19th following the EPL Auction, and the ECL auction will take place the following Sunday, September 26th.

All players must sign up for the EPL Auction if they wish to play in the either the EPL or the ECL. It is important to note that participation in the league is a 4 week event and that the activity level of a player is important. Do not sign up to play for a team if you do not intend to see the tournament through to the end. This includes maintaining a competitive attitude if your team is already eliminated from playoff contention. You never know whether or not winning your end-of-season matches will make you a more valued player in future iterations of the EPL, so even if your team isn’t necessarily in the playoff picture anymore, there’s always value in playing your best. Failure to complete matches or forfeiting from the league during its course may result in being barred from entrance in future ESOC tournaments.

ESOC Premier League (EPL) Player sign-ups are open now. You can sign up in your MyESOC panel. Sign-ups will close Friday, September 18th at 17:00 GMT.

Team Manager sign-ups for the ESOC Challengers League (ECL) will open on September 12th and have a dedicated thread. Keep in mind that the Team Manager is a non-playing role. Team Managers will not directly play in the ECL, and will be chosen following the EPL Auction on September 19th.

ESOC Challengers League (ECL) Player sign-ups will open on September 19th following the EPL Auction. In order to be considered eligible for the ECL, a player must have signed up for the original EPL auction.

If you are interested in playing, be aware that any team may buy you, and you are expected to play for them. If you were only considering playing for the team with your friends on it, please do the admins a favor and do not sign up. Messaging managers requesting that they not bid on you or refusing to play for a team after you are drafted for them or are both grounds for a tournament ban. For the integrity of the event, and with respect to everyone involved, one must have a competitive attitude no matter who they play for!

You are generally expected to participate in your team's Discord. While we understand that activity levels may vary, this is the core portion of the EPL, and what makes it fun. Your team's Discord server is where your team will hang out, discuss strategies, and have fun without worrying about the game. This is where teams come together (or fall apart), and likely the most integral part of the entire tournament.

Each Team Manager will start the bidding with 12,000 duck coins.

In the weeks preceding the live auction, a time will be chosen between the Team Managers and admins to meet and perform a live auction in order to choose players. Managers will be expected to remain at the auction for the entire duration, which should take approximately 2-3 hours. If the Team Manager is not available for the Live Auction, then the admins will appoint someone to draft in their place or select an entirely new Team Manager.

More information on the format of the EPL3 Auction to be released soon.

It is at this time that the tournament will commence. The league stage consists of a Round Robin tournament. Each team will face every other team through 3 weeks of play. Team Managers competing against each other in the next week will agree on Match Pairings for their players and submit their starting roster to the admins no later than the deadline of the current week. In case two Team Managers cannot come to an agreement in regards to the Match Pairings, both managers will submit their rosters to an admin through PM and the admin will create the Match Pairings for the week.

When the week starts, players will face off against their respective opponent in a Play-all-5 series. This means all 5 games of a series will be played out, even if a player is ahead 3-0 in the match.

For example:

Maps: Map Pool 1 (Gran Chaco / Florida / Alaska / Mendocino / Arizona)

The Nilla Ninjas (11) vs Somali Kabuli Gaming (14)
diarouga (4) vs Hazza54321 (1)
Conquerer999 (1) vs SomppuKunkku (4)
Stanley_Winston (0) vs iamturk (5)
Chusik (3) vs Yurashic (2)
SirCallen (3) vs tedere12 (2)

The Nilla Ninjas would earn 11 game wins towards their season total, and Somali Kabuli Gaming would earn 14 game wins.

Whichever team wins the most games will be declared the victor for the week. At the end of the round robin stage, the two teams with the highest number of game wins proceed to the playoffs.

There are a few regulatory things during the league stages that need to be outlined.

1. Match Pairings - Match Pairings refer to who players play against during a given week. Match Pairings will be finalized between two Team Managers before a Week begins. Generally, the strongest player on one team will face the strongest player on the other team, the weakest player will face the other weakest player, etc. In case two Team Managers cannot come to an agreement on the Match Pairings, both managers will submit their rosters to an admin through PM and the admin will create the Match Pairings for the week.

2. Substitutes – At any point during the week, a team may make a substitution for an inactive player. In order to do this the Team Manager must PM an admin on the forums or discord saying which player is substituting out, and which player is substituting in. A substitution will be decided at admin discretion; for example, a request to substitute in a 2500 JP Elo player for a 2100 JP Elo player will NOT be accepted. For a substitution to be accepted, the involved players should be somewhat equal in skill level. A player that has been substituted out for a week cannot be substituted back in.

Beginning immediately after the conclusion of the Live Auction, team managers may trade players with each other. In order to complete a trade, both managers involved must PM an admin detailing which player(s) on their team they are trading. Trades become finalized with admin approval. Trades may be conducted until the end of the day following the Auction. After that, team rosters are finalized until the end of the event.

At the end of the league stages, there will be a playoffs involving the top 2 teams in Total Game Wins. In the event of a tie in the standings, the following criteria is used for breaking ties.

• # of Weeks Won >
• Result of the week where the two vying teams played against each other

Instead of Play-all-5 series', the playoffs will be constituted of Play-all-7 series'. Admins will create the final map pool just before the Playoffs begin.

More information on the prize pool to be released soon.

@Squamiger
@cezzarmert
@Patrick20872
@Gretchen
@fitzbro
@Zanerre
@chis
@Victor_swe
@jesus3
@Passi_99
@manuelbc100
@musketeer925
@Afroholic
@Ungurs
@lenlenlena3