As some of you already know if you follow the Steam Group, I asked for some help from players of the County Champs in regards to the format.
You may remember when we originally planned the County Champs we were going to use a 128 team double elimination bracket over 2 weekends. There were multiple problems with this format, for example: teams got one real chance to prove themselves, if they lost 2 Bo1’s they were out and that’s not fun for anyone, especially in a tournament you’ve been waiting months for.
After our delay, I thought up a new format which has proved useful in other competitions and tournaments across the Counter Strike scene. Four 64-team “qualifier” brackets leading into one 8-team double elimination bracket. The advantage of this format is that it allows teams to have up to four chances to qualify for the main bracket, so a disappointing loss on day one can be turned into a finals run on day two. It also allows teams some leeway in scheduling so if they can’t play the first qualifier tournament then they can always play the second, third or fourth.
The response I received on the steam group was 100% positive and you seemed to like it, so we’ll be implementing it into the County Champs. This however does not come without some adjustments. Now this format is going to used we have to expand the schedule to 3 weekends. The first 2 weekends will be used for the four qualifier tournaments with the third weekend used exclusively to stream every match possible of the double elimination bracket.
To recap:
- The County Champs format will change from a 128-team double elim bracket with Bo1 games.
- The new format will have four 64-team qualifier tournaments, giving teams up to four chances to qualify for the finals. 2 teams will go through each qualifier.
- We’ll stream what we can of the qualifier tournaments.
- The final bracket will be an 8-team double elimination bracket, with every game possible streamed on our social channels.
- This adds an extra weekend to the County Champs to accommodate the finals bracket.
More news will be coming soon as we get what we need to make this the best County Championship ever seen and make the delay worth it. If you haven’t already join the Steam Group by clicking here and help us out when we need it!
