Hello everyone! IPL5 is still months away, but it's coming back with a whole new format! This time around we are running multiple Satellites that will earn you a spot in our live event, and one Regional for North America, Europe, Korea, China, International, and International Amateurs that will earn you a spot in the tournament AND a free trip to the event!

All sign-ups are open RIGHT NOW: http://www.ign.com/ipl/all/news/ipl5-regionals-and-satellites/

Regionals and Satellites

Here is the list of online Regional qualifiers (these will have a small entry fee and will earn the winners free flights and hotels for the live event) Players must live in and be able to fly from the listed region at the time of the qualifier and may only play in one of the European, North American, or Korean Regionals:

European Regional - 1 Player
North American Regional - 1 Player
Korean Regional - 1 Player
Amateur Championship (Amateur Regulations Below) - 1 Player
International Qualifier - 2 Players
Chinese Regional (Live Event) - 1 Player

Here is the list of Satellites (these will not have an entry fee and will not receive flights or hotels) These players will only earn spots in the live event. Players must live in the listed region at the time of the qualifier and may only play in one of the European, North American, or Korean Satellites:

North American Satellite – Top 8 Qualify
European Satellite – Top 8 Qualify
Asian Satellite – Top 8 Qualify
International Amateur Satellite – Top 4 Qualify
Team Arena Challenge 3 – Top 4 Players Qualify (The top 4 teams from TAC3 will each choose one player subject to our approval to enter the event)

Dates and Times

North American Regional – Saturday Saturday, May 26 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) (3:00pm EDT)
European Regional – Saturday Saturday, Jun 02 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) (3:00pm CEST)
Korean Regional – Saturday Sunday, Jun 24 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00) (3:00pm KST Sunday)
International Regional – Saturday Saturday, Jun 30 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Amateur Championship – Saturday Saturday, Jul 07 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

North American Satellite – Saturday Saturday, Jul 14 7:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
European Satellite – Saturday Saturday, Jul 21 1:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
Asian Satellite – Saturday Sunday, Jul 29 6:00am GMT (GMT+00:00)
Amateur Satellite – Saturday Saturday, Aug 04 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)

Amateur is defined by the following:

Amateurs must not have earned more than $1,000 in live events.

This rule were put in place to encourage new players to sign up and try to earn a free trip to a major tournament that they otherwise would not be able to attend. Players defined as Amateurs may also play in their appropriate Regionals if they choose to.

Again, all sign-ups are open RIGHT NOW: http://www.ign.com/ipl/all/news/ipl5-regionals-and-satellites/

These Satellites and Regionals will provide us with 39 players total. They will be joined at IPL5 by FnaticRC.aLive, our IPL4 Champion, to make a field of 40. The format of IPL5 will be one large double-elimination tournament. Regional winners and FnaticRC.aLive will receive a seed into Winners Round 3. Satellite qualifiers will start as usual in Winners Round 1. More details about the format of IPL5 are still to come.

Sign-ups for these Regionals and Satellites will be available very soon, so keep your eyes open on TL, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, and our site for information!

Please keep in mind that anything here is still subject to change! We will respond to feedback and suggestions, as well as try to answer any questions or concerns you may have about the new format. We are excited to open the doors to each region as well as amateur players all over the world to see who will earn their way to our next major event!

Stay up to date with IPL5, IPL TV, IPL Fight Club, and IPL Team Arena Challenge by
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YouTube, and Twitch.TV!

Inside.Out

Canada559 Posts

May 15 2012 22:32 GMT

will there be an open bracket?

ReturnStroke

United States798 Posts

May 15 2012 22:36 GMT

Yay regionals!!

desRow

Canada2640 Posts

May 15 2012 22:36 GMT

Wow sick love the format and love the fact that Korean's can't play in the NA qualifier ^^

IGNProLeague

1147 Posts

May 15 2012 22:37 GMT

On May 16 2012 07:32 EcstatiC wrote:
will there be an open bracket?

Not a live open bracket. These many online Regionals and Qualifiers will be the only way in for IPL5.

Seanza

154 Posts

May 15 2012 22:38 GMT

REALLY nice!

laoji

United Kingdom355 Posts

May 15 2012 22:38 GMT

love the opportunity for the lesser earners to get 2 attempts at qualification...good job!

Tidus Mino

United Kingdom1105 Posts

May 15 2012 22:39 GMT

Can you explain the term satellite in this context please

Pokebunny

United States10417 Posts

May 15 2012 22:39 GMT

What tournaments qualify as live events? Does it have to be a major LAN?

Wrathsc2

United States1998 Posts

May 15 2012 22:39 GMT

#10

really great format for new players. Thanks ipl

zezamer

Finland3797 Posts

May 15 2012 22:39 GMT

#11

I really love the amateur qualifier idea

Weaklink123

United States158 Posts

May 15 2012 22:40 GMT

#12

Love the Amateur qualifier addition.

Snugglebutt

England21 Posts

May 15 2012 22:40 GMT

#13

Where do SEA players fit in?

IGNProLeague

1147 Posts

May 15 2012 22:40 GMT

#14

On May 16 2012 07:39 Pokebunny wrote:
What tournaments qualify as live events?

Events that you physically attended in order to play and compete.

Dexington

Canada6519 Posts

May 15 2012 22:41 GMT

#15

Thank god, I found the last tournament format was terrible. Invites into pool play where they immediately win money is ridiculous. Having pure qualifiers (with the exception of aLive, which is reasonable) is definitely the best process and I love double elimination too.

Also, I think the qualifier restrictions (with the living and flying rule) is a better way of doing qualifiers than MLG.

johnnywup

United States3548 Posts

May 15 2012 22:42 GMT

#16

wait so this is live qualifiers? where are they?

Gorlin

United States2749 Posts

May 15 2012 22:43 GMT

#17

Very exciting stuff! I guess the bit about "The top 4 teams from TAC3 will each choose one player subject to our approval to enter the event" just means that you won't let them send a player who barely contributed to TAC3?

IGNProLeague

1147 Posts

May 15 2012 22:43 GMT

#18

On May 16 2012 07:42 johnnywup wrote:
wait so this is live qualifiers? where are they?

These are all online, with the exception of China. They are holding their own live tournament to produce a player for IPL5.

mrRoflpwn

United States2611 Posts

May 15 2012 22:44 GMT

#19

Why not invite the second place from IPL4? Squirtle is more than worthy of an invite.

Alex.IGN

United States1047 Posts

May 15 2012 22:44 GMT

#20

One major question might be "Why the major sweeping changes to the IPL live event format?"

After IPL 4, we sat down and read as much of the feedback we could get our hands on. We ended up with the following goals for changing out event:

Have the format be simpler
Have more distribution of players from around the world
Have more coverage of the bracket

We feel like with these changes we've accomplished these goals. By only have 1 bracket, it makes it easier for people to understand how the tournament is progressing. Having region-specific regionals and satellites gives us a more varied player base. Having a smaller bracket at the actual event means that we can stream and cast a much higher percentage of the games, in addition to having the average quality of the games played at the event be higher overall. Basically we moved the live open bracket online and ensured the high quality of players actually at the event.