We announced the TLS Championship over five months ago and now it is time to provide you with all the necessary details which will focus mostly on the preliminary round, the first stage in our tournament. Seeing as this tournament could be considered a culmination of three TeamLiquid Legacy Starleagues and twenty TeamLiquid Legacy Cups, we have decided to do something non-standard for our preliminary stage, which in effect serves as new version of open qualifiers. Please read the format section carefully!

One thing must be mentioned before explaining the format and that is the matter of seeds from the previous three TLSs. It was mentioned multiple times during the original three TLSs that there would be some kind of a seeding process in TLS Championship based on your performance. However, after spending a lot of time thinking and discussing this with our staff, we have decided to get rid of the seeding process and wipe the slate clean for everyone. The reason for this is quite simple; when we originally said that there would be a seeding process, we did not expect to have a two year break between the last TLS and the championship. In this time, a lot of the things have changed, most notably, quite a few of the players who would get seeded have stopped playing BW altogether and their results do not carry enough weight anymore.

With all of that being said, we hope you all join the TLS Championship and show everyone, including the potential sponsors, that foreign BW is not dead!

Preliminary stage is a modified Swiss format, where instead of everyone playing everyone, players will play seven rounds of bo3 matches against the opponents with the similar results as them. Upon signing up for the TLS Championship, everyone will be placed into a single group. For the first round, we'll randomize the matchups and everyone will play a single bo3 match. After the first round, four groups of players will form: those who won their first round with a 2-0 score, those who won with 2-1, those who lost with the 1-2 score and those who lost 0-2. For the second round, each player will be matched against another player who has the same/similar score as them. This will continue for the total of seven rounds.

The maps used in a preliminary stage are: Fighting Spirit, Neo Medusa and Heartbreak Ridge. And they are played in that order. Which means that each round of the preliminary stage is a bo3 match in the following format:

Elimination stage is a standard single-elimination format, where the 32 players with the best result in the preliminary stage will be placed in a bracket. Seeding of the single-elimination bracket will be determined based on your ranking in the preliminary stage; 1st place plays vs 32nd, 2nd place vs 31st etc. All rounds will be bo3 until semi-finals, which are bo5 along with the third place match. Finals are bo7. Maps used in the elimination stage will be announced at a later date.

For players, designated time for each round in the preliminary stage is every Saturday at 18:00 GMT (+00:00). If you're unavailable to play at this date, it's up to you to reschedule your match to a time that you're available.

Broadcast of the TLS Championship will be every Sunday at 19:00 GMT (+00:00).

First round starts on January 9th at 18:00 GMT (+00:00) for the players and broadcast will follow on January 10th at 19:00 GMT (+00:00).

Seeing as there is no software that supports our ambitious format of the preliminary stage, we had to improvise a bit. TL Tournament system that you're all familiar with from TLCs will be used for registration, displaying the matchups and uploading the replays. This, in combination with Liquipedia where full results will be posted, should be enough to be as transparent as possible with minimum confusion.

Read this part carefully - Everyone who wants to play in the TLS Championship has to sign up only once. It's not necessary to check-in in the TL tournament system; everyone who signs-up will be considered as participating player in the tournament, checked-in automatically and included in all the next rounds. TL's tournament system will be used to generate a bracket and display the matchups (only the first column in the TL's bracket will be used). For the first round, the matchups will be randomized; after you have finished your games, you have to report the result and upload the replays for that round. After each round, results will be gathered and checked, total score for each player will be posted on Liquipedia and matchups for next round will be determined. At that point we'll reset the bracket that was used for the previous round in TL's tournament system and fill it in with matchups for next round. This may sound a bit complicated at first, but it will be really simple once you see how it works after the first round.

Register for TLS Championship
TeamLiquid Legacy Starleague Championship
TLS Championship Announcement
TLS Championship Information and Rules
Stream on twitch.tv

Who is eligible to play in the TLS Championship?
For the TLS Championship, we have decided to stick with the same eligibility rule as we had in TLC series. You can read that rule in the TLC info, under the FAQ.

Seeing as it will undoubtedly be asked, yes, this means that Scan is not participating.

How long will the preliminaries last?
There will be seven rounds in the preliminary stage. Only one round will be played per week, so that means there will be seven weeks of preliminary stage.

What if I can't make one of the rounds?
Designated time to play each round will be on Saturdays at 18:00 GMT (+00:00). If you can't make it for one of the rounds, it's up to you to reschedule your match to a time that you're available. Matchups for each week will be available by Monday after each round, so you'll have five days to do so. If you fail to play one round, you will be given a 0-2 score for that round.

My opponent isn't responding/doesn't allow me to reschedule.
Please contact the administrator with any disputes regarding the scheduling of matches.

What about walkovers?
Walkovers result in a 2-0 victory for the player that was present at the scheduled time. You may not be walked over more than twice this tournament. If you receive a third walkover, you will be removed from the tournament.

What happens if there are odd number of players in the preliminary stage?
The lowest ranked player will receive a walkover in each round.

Can I sign up late?
You may sign up late only for the duration of the first two rounds. Starting with the third round, sign ups will be closed. If you sign up late, you will receive 0-2 result for each round you've missed.

How are the matchups for each round determined?
Besides the first round, which has randomized matchups, in each subsequent round we'll start with the top player and pair him with a player of same score as him. If there are none who has the same score as him, the one closest below him will be chosen. If there are multiple players with same score to choose from, one will be chosen at random.

Is it possible to play against the same opponent twice in the preliminary stage?
Yes, but this is unlikely to happen.

What happens if there are multiple players with the same score at the 32nd place after the last round?
Tiebreakers, if necessary, will be determined in the following order: (1) previous head-to-head results, if any, (2) total rounds won, (3) additional games played between involved parties.

What about banned or previously disqualified users?
Banned users (for any reason) cannot enter these tournaments. Do not try to circumvent by creating smurf accounts. We will find you, and you will be disqualified from the TLS and future TL events.

What about hackers / cheaters / abusers?
Any sort of cheating may result in disqualification from the TLS and from future TL events. We take cheating very seriously, and we will hand out harsh punishments.

Sponsor: Rus_Brain
Server: iCCup
Casters: Sayle, Cats_Paw, Artanis[Xp] and others
Organization: TL BW Staff
Graphics: v1