ESOC New Year's Classic - Tournament Rules & Information

[QueenOfdestiny]

Time Line

Sign Ups

December 10th - December 22th
Sign up in the MyESOC tournament panel

Round of 32 (BO5)
December 24th - December 30th

Round of 16 (BO5)
December 31th - January 6th

Quarter Finals (BO5)
January 7th - January 13th

Semi-Finals (BO7)
January 14th - January 20st

Finals (BO7) - 3rd/4th (BO7)
January 21nd - January 27th

Note: When necessary, the tournament staff may extend the deadline for any match if scheduling proves to be an issue.

The tournament administrators for this event are @QueenOfdestiny, @Cometk, and @n0el.

This thread is for information on the upper bracket of the New Year's Classic (Top 32). For the timeline and more information on the lower bracket, click here.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Tournament Rules

Civilization Restrictions

An individual player may only use one civilization throughout the duration of the event. A player's civilization must be selected before the end of the sign-ups period on December 22nd, and can be done by sending a message to @QueenOfdestiny. Civilization picks are locked when the sign-ups close.
If you wish a random Civilization, please let us know.

If you don't pick Civilization your sign up will be void!

[QueenOfdestiny]

Gameplay Rules

1.1 - All games must be played on the ESOC Patch.

1.2 - Every game must be recorded.

1.3 - Winners must submit recorded games to the "Results" forum here.

1.4 - Every player must respect their opponent, casters and organizers. Misbehavior** will result in a warning and can lead to disqualification. Racism and/or insults will not be tolerated. More information regarding this can be found in the Disqualification Rules section.

1.5 - When a player disconnects from the internet BEFORE 2 minutes, the player can (when both agree) restart and replay the game. When the opponent does not agree to restart, the outcome of the game will be determined by the tournament staff.

1.6 - When a player disconnects AFTER 2 minutes, the players can (when both agree) restart and replay the game. When the opponent does not agree to restart, the player who lost connection will be given a loss.

1.7 - Every player may restart a game BEFORE the 2 minute mark when necessary. This is allowed ONCE per map when the game is NOT casted by an official caster. Restarts for CASTED games will be determined by the caster him/herself.

1.8 - The caster is allowed to restart a game as many times as necessary for optimal play.

1.9 - Recorded games must be submitted at most 4 days after the deadline. Failure to do so may result in disqualification.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Scheduling Rules

2.1 - Please read the ESOC Guide to Scheduling!

2.2 - Players must respond with the times they are available to play in their dedicated scheduling thread. Players will then play out their games on the given maps.

2.3 - Posts in scheduling topics will be considered along with interaction with admins when making decisions regarding scheduling. Other communications will not be considered.

2.4 - Players may issue their vetoes any time before the series.

2.5 - If a player forgets to issue his veto before a series begins, the last map in the pool will automatically be removed.

2.6 - Players must play the series in the map order given, after vetoes have been issued.

2.7 - Players cannot deny casters without consulting with the tournament admins first.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Map Pool, Map Rules, and Map Vetoes

The tournament map pool consists of 7 maps. The map pool for each round is as follows:

Round of 32: Mendocino / Cascade Range / Florida / Klondike / Pampas Sierras / Hudson Bay / Fertile Crescent
Round of 16: Cascade Range / Florida / Klondike / Pampas Sierras / Hudson Bay / Fertile Crescent / Mendocino
Quarter finals: Florida / Klondike / Pampas Sierras / Hudson Bay / Fertile Crescent / Mendocino / Cascade Range
Semi-finals: Klondike / Pampas Sierras / Hudson Bay / Fertile Crescent / Mendocino / Cascade Range / Florida
Finals and 3rd/4th Place: Pampas Sierras / Hudson Bay / Fertile Crescent / Mendocino / Cascade Range / Florida / Klondike

Map Vetoes

3.1 - When the veto rule is in effect, each player is entitled to ban (1) map from the map pool.

3.2 - The veto rule is in effect from the Round of 32 until the Round of 8. There will be no map vetoes in the Semi-finals or Finals.

3.3 - The player with the highest 1v1 ELO at the time of seeding will pick their veto first.

3.4 - Players may issue their vetoes any time before the series.

3.5 - If a player forgets to issue his veto before a series begins, the last map in the pool will automatically be removed.

[spoiler=Example of veto procedure]The map pool for a BO5 is:
1) ESOC Mendocino
2) ESOC Cascade Range
3) ESOC Florida
4) ESOC Klondike
5) ESOC Pampas Sierras
6) ESOC Hudson Bay
7) ESOC Fertile Crescent

Player 1 has an ELO of 2200
Player 2 has an ELO of 2100

Player 1 issues his veto first.

Player 1 bans ESOC Mendocino W
Player 2 bans ESOC Klondike

The new map pool for a BO5 is:

1) ESOC Mendocino
2) ESOC Cascade Range
3) ESOC Florida
4) ESOC Klondike
5) ESOC Pampas Sierras
6) ESOC Hudson Bay
7) ESOC Fertile Crescent

Therefore:

1) ESOC Cascade Range
2) ESOC Florida
3) ESOC Pampas Sierras
4) ESOC Hudson Bay
5) ESOC Fertile Crescent[/spoiler]

[QueenOfdestiny]

Casting Rules

4.1 - It is every players responsibility to work with tournament staff for the casting of games.

4.2 - Players and caster(s) may request during a match that measures be taken to reduce lag. At the discretion of the tournament admins, or casters if no admins are available, a streamed match may have its casters switched out, have its number of casters reduced, or be casted from replays.

4.3 - Only casters that have been authorized by the tournament staff will be permitted to stream matches.

4.4 - The players in casted matches will be required to schedule their matches with their opponents and with the authorized caster(s).

4.5 - All streamed games must have a time delay of 2 minutes. This includes games streamed by players themselves.

4.6 - The tournament staff reserves the right to extend the deadline of the match if deemed appropriate.

4.7 - All tournament-streamed matches must be recorded.

4.8 - No additional observers may be present in games.

4.9 - If issues preventing players from playing on ESO occur, players and casters will meet on GameRanger to play the series out.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Disqualification Rules

5.1 - All external exploits and game modification software are forbidden. The tournament administration reserves the right to disqualify a player for use of any exploits to gain an unfair advantage.

5.2 - Exploits include but are not limited to: Map Hacks, Trainers, Explorer Revival Glitch, Explorer ROF Glitch, OOS / Intentional Lag (Stacked downloads or other game crashing exploits), mods (building rotator, zoom modification), and UIs (Ekanta, Transparent UI).

5.3 - If you suspect your opponent has violated any of the player integrity rules, finish the game and submit it for review with an explanation of why you think the game was unfair. If the tournament staff members find someone to be guilty of cheating, the cheater will be disqualified from the tournament.

5.4 - The tournament staff has the right to disqualify a player in cases where there is severe lag to the point where the playing and/or viewing experience is unusually burdened.

5.5 - The registered account name must be the main account of its owner for proper seeding.

5.6 - One-Touch Forfeiture: Once a player has expressed that he has forfeited the match, he will be disqualified from the tournament and not permitted to continue playing. Having an insufficient reason for forfeiting may result in a tournament ban.

5.7 - When a player is disqualified, he/she has no right to claim any prize money.

5.8 - In casted games, a disqualification may only be committed when two tournament admins agree. In non-casted games, a disqualification may only be committed when all tournament admins agree.

**Misbehaviour includes excessive shit-talking and disrespecting casters and staff. More severe misbehaviour such as racism will not be tolerated in any form and may result in immediate disqualification from the tournament.

The discipline procedure for misbehaviour during casted matches will be:

1) Informal Warning
2) Official Warning
3) Disqualification

An informal warning is a yellow light to cease offending behaviour. Informal warnings may be issued by the caster, who will also notify the stream manager. Continued misbehaviour will escalate to an official warning. Informal warnings will not carry over from series-to-series during a player's tournament lifespan.

An official warning warning is a red light to cease offending behaviour. Official warnings will be issued by the stream manager. Continued misbehaviour will escalate to a disqualification. A player will only receive one official warning during the course of the tournament; should his misbehaviour continue, the admins reserve the right to disqualify him at any time.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Seeding Rules

6.1 - For proper seeding, players must sign up with their highest EP Elo account. After seeding, and upon special request, a player's sign-ups account may be swapped with their most "known" account.

6.2 - The top 8 finishers from the 2018 Autumn Championships will be pre-seeded into the event. The remaining seeds will be filled based on ESOC EP 1v1 ELO.

6.3 - The upper bracket will contain the Top 32 players, based on past tournament finishes and ESOC EP 1v1 ELO. The lower bracket will contain everyone who did not qualify for the upper bracket and be run as a seperate tournament. You can find more information on the lower bracket here.

6.4 - In exceptional circumstances, the tournament admins reserve the right to manually edit the seeding.

[QueenOfdestiny]

Prize Pool

The total prize pool is $400 (USD).

1st: $200
2nd: $100
3rd: $50

Betting champion: $50