• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:48
CEST 22:48
KST 05:48
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy2[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon101Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?179Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)9
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) SC4ALL II: StarCraft 2 Player Announcement 8/8 The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser Yamato Cup Series
Tourneys
2026 GSTL Announcement Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 Fall
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 544 Double Trouble The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses Mutation # 542 The Ascended
Brood War
General
Bot on ladder an AI researcher's take on the ladder bot BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[BSL23] SM: Ret vs TerrOr -> DragOn vs StRyKeR [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Ro16 Group D [ASL22] Ro16 Group B
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation Diablo IV
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25! Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine All you football fans (soccer)! Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Gaming Intensity, Problemati…
TrAiDoS
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 15015 users

TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners

Forum Index > SC2 General
12 CommentsPost a Reply

TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
Graphics byv1
November 6th, 2025 19:08 GMT
TLMC21
Voting for TLMC #21 has concluded, and it's time to announce the winners and future ladder maps!

The top three vote-receiving maps from TLMC #21 are confirmed to be part of the upcoming ladder map rotation, joining six maps selected through progamer and tournament organizer voting. We will announce the full list of nine new ladder maps in the coming days.

As we wrap up TLMC for 2025, we'd like to thank Monster Energy for their long-term support, the map-making community and its endless creativity, and Blizzard for working with us to continue the tradition of regular map rotations. Of course, we also thank the StarCraft II community for their interest and participation in TLMC, and we hope to deliver some good news about our 2026 plans soon.

TLMC #21: Results

Read our finalists post for full descriptions and overviews of all sixteen finalists.

Runners-up (16th to 6th place)
  • #16: Risen Memory
  • #15: Tourmaline
  • #14: Taito Citadel
  • #13: Ruby Rock
  • #12: Throne of the Dunes
  • #11: Satellite Years
  • #10: White Rabbit
  • #9: Old Republic
  • #8: Magnetic North
  • #7: Andromeda
  • #6: Missing You Today



5th place

"Winter Madness" by Marras


Winter Madness is a macro map with 16 bases total, two of which have a single rich gas. There are two third base options, no overlord pillar at the natural, some airspace around the edges, rocks and line of sight blockers.


4th place

"Talisman" by Patches


Talisman is an unorthodox map that makes use of "Worker Only Paths." While the linear expansion direction is normal, the triangle expansion direction features a hybrid triangle base with 4 rich patches, 4 regular patches, which when mined out, opens up a ramp into the main (this ramp can be somewhat easily walled), and a hybrid forward base which has 3 rich patches and 3 regular patches.

The Worker only path next to the hybrid base allows players to use workers to scout in the early game if the main ramp has been walled off (the Reaper cliff surface area has been reduced to account for this) and also allow players to more easily expand to the hybrid base before the ramp is mined open (each reduced node has 65 minerals). Debris on the ramp leading into the triangle base creates a dynamic where the hybrid is more separated from the other bases until it has been knocked down, which creates an interesting dynamic where you can expand to the hybrid as a natural (depending on your race/matchup) or 3rd base before the debris is down. Depending on the player's setup this debris may hinder or help the player take the hybrid base while it is still up.

The forward hybrid base is not as strong mineral wise as it only has 3 rich, 3 regular patches, but it's still stronger than a regular base. While the base is exposed, if the player is able to hold the base it provides them with a very strong forward position. That being said, the base is still very exposed to attack due to its proximity to the opponent and openness.

Finally, this map also features a rich gas half base. In the past rich gas bases, which can be taken as a third have been frowned upon due to all ins and cheeses, but with this setup, the base is much more exposed to small harassment forces and drops from the high ground (compared to a map like Crimson) making it much harder to take as a 3rd base. The rich gas base may still get taken for all ins, but it's much more balanced than previous versions of forward rich gas bases. In a regular game it would likely be taken as a 5th or 6th+ (or in some cases a 4th). This rich gas base only has 6 mineral patches.


3rd place

"10000 Feet" by KillerSmile


Zerg Rocks limit the options for paths across the map early on and protect an expansion right next to your natural, which you can access faster by mining out the minerals on a connecting backdoor ramp. The map features many small patches of sightblocker bushes. There is a backwards facing base very close to your natural entrance, that is however very vulnerable to being sieged from the middle of the map.


2nd place

"Celestial Enclave" by Patches


Celestial Enclave is a macro map with small twists to make it more interesting and allow for players to come up with new strategies. The map features a pocket base with 5 minerals and 1 gas, so while much safer it comes at the price of reduced resources.

The rocks in the natural allow the defenders to open up a path to the triangle 3rd, or for attackers to open up an additional entrance to their opponents natural. The rocks take a while to break down, so as long as the defender is aware it's difficult for the attacker to break open the second entrance into their enemy's natural during the early game.

The worker only path on this map allows players to use workers to scout even if the player has walled off their main (because of this, the Reaper spots are slightly reduced on this map). The worker path can also be walled with a single 2x2 structure. The worker only path can be used to retreat workers from the triangle base to the pocket as well.

The forward rich gas half base is designed to be a base taken later in the game due to its reduced mineral count. You can also take this base if you want to all in (such as Zerg taking rich gas bases to all in), but unlike maps like Crimson Court, the base is more exposed and has less resources.


1st place

"Mothership" by KillerSmile


A 3 player map with airblockers, where air units can only exist above the safety of the Mothership. All 3 players have a 90 degree corner like on a normal square map. Your 3rd base is on high ground protected by 2 debris. The path to the opponent always leads through the middle over ramps. You can choose your 4th base to be away from the opponent on the lowground, either next to your 3rd base or next to your natural. Between the low ground bases you can walk over see-through platform walkways.


Once again, thanks to everyone for voting, and look forward to seeing nine these maps on the ladder soon!
Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
sidasf
Profile Joined February 2023
108 Posts
November 06 2025 19:45 GMT
#2
Congrats to the winners! Thanks for all the hard work by the mapmakers and admin who make new map rotations a possibility.

I wonder if there's two things we can do moving forward to improve player experience.

First: Would it be possible to take into account player vetoes as a metric for player enjoyment of maps? Statistics show that last season the 3p and healing shrine maps were very heavily vetoed by the playerbase. I think it's only fair to take this into account considering that a) the majority of the playerbase does not vote in these contests and b) the majority of people who vote in TLMC don't even play SC2 anymore. We really should have the playerbase's interest in heart for the sake of the game's health and people's enjoyment of the game.


Second: Is it possible to ask blizzard to give us more vetoes? We already have a map with untested worker paths, a pocket base map, a 3p map, and possible more freestyle maps to be added. I think an extra veto would be fine considering we have more maps in the pool than we used to, 4 vetoes would leave us with plenty of maps to play while letting people veto more now that we are using a record low number of actually standard maps in the pool.
IrregularProjects
Profile Joined September 2025
6 Posts
November 06 2025 20:08 GMT
#3
Congratulations to all the winners! I am happy for ye all!
[PkF] Wire
Profile Joined March 2013
France24239 Posts
November 07 2025 00:13 GMT
#4
Congrats to the winner, though I personally am not too enthusiastic about the two first places. Can't wait to see what the next competitive map pool looks like.
OmniSkeptic
Profile Joined January 2021
Canada87 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-11-07 03:01:56
November 07 2025 03:00 GMT
#5
On November 07 2025 04:45 sidasf wrote:
First: healing shrine maps

Istg you were literally born on this planet with the sole purpose of bringing up healing shrines at every opportunity you possible can. Did you receive a full ride to the clown college or did you pay for it yourself?

Further vetoes are not possible.

-----

Glad to see Mothership and Celestial Enclave did well, even if I still maintain that Celestial is unfinished. I do not like 10000 feet, and the other ones are boring
Mapmaker from Canada. “Be the change you wish to see in the cushions”.
Cygnus
Profile Joined February 2004
United States853 Posts
November 07 2025 07:01 GMT
#6
Mothership ftw!!!

And 1st!?

Congrats to all the winners! Look forward to playing on these. I may not have given Celestial Enclave enough attention, looks super fun to play on.

Kind of a bold series of map choices this time around I feel.
KillerSmile
Profile Joined November 2018
Germany96 Posts
November 07 2025 11:29 GMT
#7
Many thanks to everyone who voted and congrats to the other winners.

Glad Mothership took 1st place, map took insanely long to decorate and adjust everything to be as symmetrical as it can reasonably be.

10000 Feet will look different with a more realistic looking natural decoration courtesy of Avex, who lent me his expertise in art design and only left me to do small touchups. I changed the terrain behind and around the backwards facing base so tank pushes can be engaged more naturally and tanks can no longer hit the base building itself from the middle of the map, but defensive tanks might be slightly stronger sitting behind the minerals now.

Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out, same with Patches' Celestial Enclave which I hope is a map players will try to actively figure out instead of resigning to vetoeing it because it has a feature they haven't seen before.

I'm very happy that the voting actually guarantees the winners go to ladder, not because my maps did well, but because it makes the votes actually have meaning and gives the average community mem(b)er a voice in the map selection process, which is really important imo. I hope we can continue to go in this direction and gather even more interest for the TLMC this way next time. I think Wax and the other admins are doing a great job currently coordinating the selection process for the maps and balancing out the forces of everybody who has to ultimately play, cast and watch games on these maps, which is usually an impossible task if you want to make everybody happy, yet they somehow manage. Big thumbs up from me.
Mapmaker, author of Mothership LE, 10000 Feet LE, Data-C, Solaris, Ley Lines, Torches and Reclamation LE
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1451 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-11-07 11:51:49
November 07 2025 11:36 GMT
#8
On November 07 2025 20:29 KillerSmile wrote:
Gonna be interesting to see how it plays out, same with Patches' Celestial Enclave which I hope is a map players will try to actively figure out instead of resigning to vetoeing it because it has a feature they haven't seen before.

If they don't veto it because of the features they haven't seen before, they will veto it once they get Cannon rushed on it a few times.

EDIT:

If both Talisman and Celestial Enclave make it onto the ladder, the strength of Protoss cheese is going to go through the roof. As an unabashed Cannon rusher and cheese enjoyer, I'm all for it.



EDIT2:

Obligatory comment about how I'm going to automatically veto Mothership because fuck >2P maps in Legacy of the Void.
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3548 Posts
November 07 2025 15:14 GMT
#9
We voted it into ladder, meaning we want to play on it..
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
JimmyJRaynor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada17818 Posts
November 07 2025 23:03 GMT
#10
thanks to everyone adding some proper variety to Starcraft2... even 15 years later!
Ray Kassar To David Crane : "you're no more important to Atari than the factory workers assembling the cartridges"
anku1542
Profile Joined November 2025
India1 Post
November 08 2025 10:33 GMT
#11
--- Nuked ---
ragna_sc2
Profile Joined September 2025
2 Posts
November 10 2025 08:47 GMT
#12
Well, question is How Long will this Soon Be haha
sidasf
Profile Joined February 2023
108 Posts
November 14 2025 18:56 GMT
#13
On November 07 2025 12:00 OmniSkeptic wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 07 2025 04:45 sidasf wrote:
First: healing shrine maps

Istg you were literally born on this planet with the sole purpose of bringing up healing shrines at every opportunity you possible can. Did you receive a full ride to the clown college or did you pay for it yourself?

Further vetoes are not possible.

-----

Glad to see Mothership and Celestial Enclave did well, even if I still maintain that Celestial is unfinished. I do not like 10000 feet, and the other ones are boring


Every single post I see from you is nothing but toxicity and insults. Grow up.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
BSL
19:00
S23 - Announcement Showmatch
Ret vs TerrOr
DragOn vs StRyKeR
ZZZero.O218
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 640
ProTech137
-ZergGirl 82
JuggernautJason45
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 517
ZZZero.O 218
Dewaltoss 123
Trap 44
soO 17
NaDa 10
zelot 9
Dota 2
monkeys_forever205
febbydoto13
NeuroSwarm5
League of Legends
Doublelift2692
JimRising 271
Heroes of the Storm
Grubby3350
Liquid`Hasu695
Khaldor296
Other Games
summit1g3274
FrodaN2614
Liquid`RaSZi2534
B2W.Neo700
KnowMe236
XaKoH 213
Pyrionflax141
ZombieGrub69
Mew2King67
CosmosSc2 19
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• mYiSmile127
• Reevou 7
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix14
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota2988
Other Games
• imaqtpie642
• Scarra599
• Shiphtur157
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 13m
Afreeca Starleague
13h 13m
Shine vs Rush
WardiTV Weekly
14h 13m
Monday Night Weeklies
19h 13m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 13h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 13h
Light vs EffOrt
OSC
1d 15h
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
GSL
6 days
Yamato Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

K-JUNGMAN
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Acropolis #5 - GSA
Calamity Invitational
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.