EPT
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Hello everyone! IGN Pro League is thrilled to announce our second iteration of Team Arena Challenge, featuring many respected and elite invited teams! This edition of Team Arena Challenge also has a semi-open, application-based qualifier element. If you are unfamiliar with IPL Team Arena Challenge, check out the following links:
Bracket Link: Official IPL 2 TAC Bracket
Stream Link: http://www.ign.com/ipl
The Invited Teams!
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/images/forum/wiki_icon.png){kind=icon}
Note: The team Incredible Miracle, a joint winner of Team Arena Challenge 1, have declined their invitation. We are sorry that they did not wish to participate, and we hope to see their players in our various other events!
* : SlayerS has ultimately decided to withdraw from the tournament, so their position has been given to the third-place qualifying team
StarTale instead.The Format!
Semi-Open Qualifiers
Semi-Open Qualifiers
IPL TAC 2 welcomes any uninvited team to apply for participation in our two online qualifiers. The first online qualifier will begin this Sunday, January 8th at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (18:00 GMT (+00:00)). To apply for the semi-open qualifiers, send an e-mail to ffields (at) ign (dot) com with the subject line "IPL TAC 2 Application: (Team Name)" Please include your team roster and website if you have one in the e-mail. We are not placing a cap on how many teams may enter, but we do ask that only serious teams with Masters and Grand Masters players (with a MINIMUM of 5 players) send applications. All applications will be accepted or declined at the discretion of IGN Pro League. Our second online qualifier will be on Sunday, January 15th, also at 10:00 a.m. PST (18:00 GMT (+00:00)) and any team that is accepted may play in one or both of the qualifiers. Only team managers may observe games, maximum two managers per team. ALL REPLAYS must be submitted to IPL admins from both teams to ensure that no games are missing or disputed. If all replays are not submitted, teams may be asked to re-play their matches.
All teams that are accepted for our qualifiers will be placed into a fully randomized, single-elimination bracket. The format of each match will be Winner's Format best of 9. The first map of each round will be determined by IPL, and the first players for each team will be declared to an IPL admin before the match begins. The default server for this tournament is North America unless both teams agree to play a game or series on another server. The top two teams from each of the two qualifiers will be seeded into the main tournament against our invited teams!
The Main Tournament
This tournament is a double-elimination bo9 Winner's Format. Each match will consist of five players from each team. Teams choose their first player blind, then the winner of the first game stays on to play a new player from the losing team. The winner of each game stays on until all five players from the opposing team have been defeated. This can result in an all-kill, where one player defeats all five of the opposing players in a row. It can also result in a reverse all-kill, where a team's anchor player can come back from 0-4 to win it all for their team!
If Team A loses to Team B in their first match, they will drop into the lower or losers bracket and will have another chance to fight their way to the finals. The grand finals will require the team coming from the lower bracket to win twice in order to become the champions, while the team coming from the winners or upper bracket will only need to win one bo9. There will be 16 total teams competing from around the world!
Prize Breakdown
- 1st Place: $9,000 split between the team any way they see fit.
- 2nd Place: $4,000
- 3rd Place: $3,000
- 4th Place: $2,000
- 5th/6th Place: $1,000
Schedule
As always, our live casts will begin at 5 p.m. PST, or 01:00 GMT (+00:00) each day and qualifier broadcasts will begin on Monday, January 9th! The main tournament will begin on Monday, January 23rd. The grand finals are currently scheduled for early March.
There will be a European rebroadcast each day following the first broadcast at 18:30 CEST (17:30 GMT (+00:00))
Keep watching for more information on a fully-defined schedule.
Map Pool
We are pleased to add three NEW maps to our tournament pool from our Mapmaking Contest!
Terminus SE
Darkness Falls
Sanshorn Mist
Atlantis Spaceship
Shakuras Plateau
Calm Before the Storm
Shattered Temple
Antiga Shipyard (Cross Only)
Daybreak
Tal’Darim Altar
We are pleased to add three NEW maps to our tournament pool from our Mapmaking Contest!
Terminus SE
Darkness Falls
Sanshorn Mist
Atlantis Spaceship
Shakuras Plateau
Calm Before the Storm
Shattered Temple
Antiga Shipyard (Cross Only)
Daybreak
Tal’Darim Altar
*All of our maps can be found easily by searching "IPLMap" when creating a game on NA! Maps will be finished uploading to Europe and Korea as well by the end of the week.
Casters
Every game will be commentated by our in-house IGN Pro League casting team of CatsPajamas, HDStarCraft, PainUser, and Doa!
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