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RGL HL Season 17: Playoffs Information and Post-Season Survey #1

   Jercer   - 3/12/2024

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Season 17 Playoff Structures


Invite: 4-team double elimination
Advanced: 4-team double elimination
Main: 6-team double elimination
Intermediate: 8-team single elimination
Amateur: 8-team single elimination
Newcomer: 7-team single elimination (1st Seed will have a BYE Week for Round 1 of Playoffs)

Season 17 Playoff Default Match Dates


Single Elimination

Playoffs 1 (Round 1): Mon, Mar 18th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 2 (Semifinals): Mon, Mar 25th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 3 (3rd Place Match and Grand Finals): Mon, Apr 1st @ 9:30 PM EDT



4-team Double Elimination

Playoffs 1 (Round 1): Mon, Mar 18th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 2 (Losers Round 1 and Semifinals [AKA Upper Bracket Finals]): Mon, Mar 25th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 3A (Losers Round 2 [AKA Lower Bracket Finals]): Sat, Mar 30th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 3B (Grand Finals): Mon, Apr 1st @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 4, if necessary (Bracket Reset): Mon, Apr 8th @ 9:30 PM EDT



6-team Double Elimination

Playoffs 1A (Round 1): Sun, Mar 17th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 1B (Round 2): Mon, Mar 18th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 2A (Losers Round 1): Sun, Mar 24th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 2B (Losers Round 2 and Semifinals [AKA Upper Bracket Finals]): Mon, Mar 25th @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 3 (Losers Round 3 [AKA Lower Bracket Finals]): Mon, Apr 1st @ 9:30 PM EDT
Playoffs 4 (Grand Finals with Bo5 Map Advantage): Mon, Apr 8th @ 9:30 PM EDT



Introducing Best of 5 Map Advantage to Highlander

This season, our Main Admin team has spoken extensively with the Main team leaders about what they want to see in Playoffs (6-team double elimination is a first for HL as well!). With this, we decided to add a few experiments of our own. Main Playoffs will conclude with a Grand Finals match with Bo5 Map Advantage!

Bo5 Map Advantage has been used in Invite 6s and other esport leagues for quite awhile now, but here's an explanation for those who might not know what the format is. For Grand Finals map pick/bans, there will be four maps chosen to play. The winner of the Upper Bracket Finals match will receive one free map point, meaning that they will only have to win two of the four maps. However, the winner of the Lower Bracket Finals match will need to win three maps.

Furthermore, due to our smaller map pool as compared to Invite 6s, we are also implementing a new rule for how maps will be picked during Grand Finals. The first three maps will be chosen in the same way as usual:

A Bans | B Bans | B Picks | A Picks | A Bans | B Picks

Once the three initial maps are picked, the fourth map will be picked by the Upper Bracket Finals winner from the game mode that has the least amount of maps picked. Here are a couple of example cases:
  • pl_swiftwater_final1, pl_vigil_rc10, and koth_proot_b6c-alt2 are the maps that are initially picked. Since there are more Stopwatch maps than KOTH maps, the fourth map will be chosen from the pool of KOTH maps left that haven't already been chosen. In this case, this pool of maps consists of koth_product_final and koth_ashville_final1.
  • koth_product_final, pl_swiftwater_final1, and koth_ashville_final1 are the maps that are initially picked. Since there are more KOTH maps than Stopwatch maps, the fourth map will be chosen from the pool of Stopwatch maps left that haven't already been chosen. In this case, this pool of maps consists of pl_upward_f10, pl_vigil_rc10, and cp_steel_f12 (or cp_steel if both teams agree).


Tiebreakers


Should there be a tie in match points, the tiebreakers for rank are (in this order):
1. Head to Head Winner (if teams played each other prior in the season)
2. Quality of Opponent / Strength of Schedule
  • Median-Buchholz (used in Swiss Divisions)
  • Sonneborn-Berger
  • Tiebreaker Score
3. Rounds Won

Demo Requests During Playoffs


Due to the competitive nature of playoffs, we will be more strict during playoffs regarding the requirement to record demos. Any missed demos during playoffs will immediately result in a ban instead of a warning for a first offense. Furthermore, all players participating in a division grand finals must submit their demos.

Players have the responsibility to double-check their demo files to make sure they are the correct ones before submitting them to an admin. Submitting the incorrect demo will be considered a fraud attempt for falsification of demos, and will receive an additional penalty.

Should you need to provide a demo please upload it to Google Drive, Discord, OneDrive, Dropbox, Mega, demos.tf, or MediaFire. Other methods will be ignored.