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Schedule

• Signups: NOW! – April 3rd 18:00 CEST (Late joining is only possible in Swiss divisions until the end of the first week of the Group Stages)
• Provisional Tiers & Provisional Class Restrictions : April 4th or April 5th
• Final Tiers & Class restrictions: April 5th or April 6th
• Group Stage: April 6th – May 10th (5 weeks)
• Playoffs: May 11th – May 31st (3 weeks)

Map Pool, Rotation & Votes

Based On the Highlander AFA Feedback poll we are moving back to Best-of-5 ruleset and 2 maps in the “KOTH week(s)”:

Here is the list of confirmed maps for the season:

• pl_vigil_rc10
• cp_steel_f12
• koth_ashville_final1
• koth_product_final

As most of you know, we are currenlty voting on whether one of the Highlander Experimental Cup #10 maps will replace upward for this upcoming season. (If you have not voted on this yet please do so here!)

The current round structure of this upcoming season will be as follows:

• Week 1: pl_vigil_rc10
• Week 2: koth_product_final & koth_ashville_final1
• Week 3: cp_steel_f12
• Week 4: Payload #2 based on cup poll results (could still be upward depending on results)
• Week 5: Map #1 (and Map #2) from the vote below

As you can see there is still one week that needs it’s maps decided. Please vote for a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4 maps that you would like to see in the upcoming season.
The first (and second) most voted maps will make it into the upcoming season

Rules

King of the Hill

As stated above we will be reverting to the Best-of-5 KOTH ruleset as the standard.
This means the etf2l_9v9_koth_bo5 config will be replacing the etf2l_9v9_koth config as the standard config (the etf2l_9v9_koth_bo5 config will be removed and become the default etf2l_9v9_koth config instead). In addition to that the following rule change will also apply:

2.2. Maps
KOTH (King Of The Hill)
There is no time limit. A win limit of 3 rounds (mp_winlimit 3) is set. The first team to win three rounds in the map wins.

If the final score of a KOTH map has a difference of only 1 point (3-2 or 2-3) it is classified as a “Golden Cap” result, with the winner being the team who won 3 rounds.

In “KOTH week(s)” 2 different KOTH maps, or a KOTH & a 5CP map will be played.

Setup

Roster Lock

We will be maintaining a roster lock starting on the 4th of April (after sign-ups close), after which players can only join through admin requests instead. This will be possible up until the start of the last week of the regular season after which no new players will be able to join teams.

For all divisions players cannot be more experienced (in accordance with rule 2.7) than the tier of the team they want to join. Experience in other leagues is also included.

Between the signup deadline and the season start we might be more lenient when it comes to players, however adding higher skilled players will affect your team’s seeding.

We are currently in the process of looking at changes to the player experience and late joiner rules. So stay updated to any potential rulechanges ahead of the season!

Class Restrictions & Division Helpers

We’ll avoid trying to apply class restrictions at the start of the season, however based on feedback from previous seasons we will be applying limited restrictions on specific players. This means that teams might have large skill gaps between its players but we’re trying to put a bit more emphasis on allowing people to play with their friends on the class they enjoy playing the most. For this purpose we are also employing Division helpers for Season 35 as we did in the previous seasons.

Are you interested in being a division helper for Highlander Season 35? Sign up below!

Furthermore teams WILL NOT be transitioned between divisions during the season, neither will teams in the playoff positions.

Playoffs

Playoff information will follow at a later date. For Premiership and Division 1/High teams (2nd highest division) we will be employing a double elimination bracket where the top 4 teams make playoffs. The top 2 teams will enter the Upper Bracket Final and the 3rd and 4th place teams will start in the Lower Bracket Semi-Final.

Fresh Division

We will determine if this division will be used based off of signups. After gathering feedback from Fresh players, we will be more strict on which players are eligible to participate in this division. Players who meet any of the criteria below are not eligible to play in the Fresh division:

• played more than 10 matches in ETF2L Open
• played in ETF2L Open playoffs or above (this does not include cups)
• participated in the playoffs of a previous Fresh season or Fresh Meat Challenge
• played more than 10 matches in RGL Amateur
• participated in RGL Newcomer playoffs

6v6 experience will be considered. Any previous experience from leagues not listed above will be judged on a case by case basis.

Sign-up Process

First and foremost, you must sign your team up here: 

Then, if you are applying for Division 6/Open/Fresh (which are our entry divisions), you do not have to provide any proof that you are capable of playing at that level.

Otherwise, we encourage you to send in an application through the ticket system in our Discord or by directly contacting a league admin, with the following information:

– Team name, Division you apply for and ETF2L team link
– Roster
– Recent results and logs associated to them
– Reasons why your team deserves to be placed in the tier you applied for (optional)

e.g.
– Team BIG EXPLOSION, Premiership, https://etf2l.org/teams/1/
announce the roster with the classes
– 5-2 vs Team Aoshi’s All Stars (Prem) : https://logs.tf/012345

Teams that do not contact the admins risk losing their spot in the division they are asking for. If your team is signing up for the High division, we strongly recommend that you tell us if you are looking to play in Division 1 or Division 2; the same goes for Mid teams that have a preference for Division 3 or Division 4.

Please note that the success of your request also strongly depends on the free slots in the tier you aim for. Established teams will be favoured over new teams or teams that request to jump a tier.

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