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:
• He will be present at the live auction.
• He will send the admins weekly rosters.
• He will ensure to the best of his abilities that his players complete their matches on time.
• In the event that a match fails to be completed, he will inform the hosts as to why the match failed to be completed, and what his player did in order to finish the match.
• He will communicate any grievances with the admins.
• He will oversee all trades the team makes.

All players must sign up if they wish to play in the ESOC Premier League. It is important to note that the ESOC Premier 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 consistently may result in being barred from entrance in future ESOC tournaments.

Player sign-ups are open now. You can sign up in your MyESOC panel. Sign-ups will close Friday, August 23rd at 23:59 GMT.

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. 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 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 10,000 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 a Team Manager cannot, for some reason, find a feasible time that he can attend a Live Auction, then his champion will be called upon to fill the spot. At the date of the auction, all 4 managers + admins will enter a discord voice channel where the auction will be held and livestreamed on ESOCTV.

The admins will first ask a Team Manager to nominate a player. The order by which managers will nominate players will go in a snaking pattern from the top of the voice channel to the bottom, then the bottom to the top. The admins will then tell the details of said player and bidding will commence, starting at 500 duck coins, with the nominating team automatically placing the first bid. The auction will then be in real time. Managers will simply speak their bids, raising a minimum of 25 duck coins. Bids may only be made on intervals of 25 duck coins. If after 15 seconds there are no new bids, the player is sold to the highest bid in the channel. The admins will provide a 5 second warning before bidding is closed on a player. The admins will post updated duck coin totals and team rosters and then prompt the next manager in the rotation to nominate a player.

Managers are asked to have a predetermined list of players they intend to nominate as well as potential bid caps, in order to make the process go as quickly and seamlessly as possible.

Here is a sample of how the live auction is expected to take place.

<Cometk> Aizamk - 10,000
<Cometk> princeofkabul - 10,000
<Cometk> TheNameDaniel - 10,000
<Cometk> Aizamk is up to nominate.
<Aizamk> I nominate Conquerer999.
<Cometk> Conquerer999 - dad of treaty, weekend tour winner, 2450 max JP Elo
<Cometk> The bidding starts at 500 duck coins to Aizamk.
<TheNameDaniel> 525
<princeofkabul> 600
<Aizamk> 650
<princeofkabul> 900
<TheNameDaniel> 1000
<Aizamk> 1400

--10 seconds pass--

<Cometk> 5 seconds remaining.
<TheNameDaniel> 1900
<Aizamk> 2250

--10 seconds pass--

<Cometk> 5 seconds remaining.

--5 seconds pass--

<Cometk> And SOLD to Aizamk for 2250 duck coins.
<Cometk> Aizamk - 7,750
<Cometk> princeofkabul - 10,000
<Cometk> TheNameDaniel - 10,000
<Cometk> princeofkabul is up to nominate.

Managers: it is necessary for you to purchase at least 5 players during the auction, of which all must be paid at least 500 duck coins. This creates a soft cap of 8,000 duck coins on any particular bid - that is, the maximum amount of coins you can spend on any one player while still having enough funds to pay at least 500 duck coins on 4 more players. The maximum number of players a team is allowed to draft during the auction is 8.

Following the auction will be a one week break for the teams to get to know each other and cement strategies for Week 1 of the event. During this time, Team Managers may also 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. There will be no further trades allowed once Week 1 has begun.

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.

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', with managers creating the map pool. More information on how maps will be selected for the playoffs are included in the Gameplay Rules thread.

The starting prize pool for the ESOC Premier League is $500 USD. In addition, 50% of donations received throughout the month of September will go towards the tournament prize pool.

The winning team of the playoffs will be declared the victors of the ESOC Premier League, and have the prize pool winnings divided evenly among its members. All members will also receive the illustrious EPL Reigning Champs badge.