Recently, our European rivals announced that Razer had helped them to host the Challengers Cup, a unique tournament featuring open qualifiers, an amazing platform, and some significant prize money.
One of you even went as far to say:
900 dollars might make it worth it for high tier NA teams to give it a shot despite the ping.
If only you knew... we were secretly scheming to do the same, and our time is finally here! In conjunction with Razer, we are proud to announce The Fall Classic.
Format
The Fall Classic runs fairly similarly to the Challengers Cup - four top teams are directly invited to the main event, while four others will rise above the rest in an open qualifier and prove themselves worthy to challenge.
Qualifiers
The Qualifiers will allow a maximum of 32 teams to participate, and anyone can join - whether they're the newest kids on the block or Invite veterans. However, only four of these teams can be anointed Challengers and move on to the Main Event.
These teams will duke it out in a single elimination bracket, with each match being a best-of-three series. The first three rounds of this bracket will be Sunday, October 4th, Tuesday, October 6th, and Wednesday, October 7th. Only four will remain after the first three rounds, ensuring their spot as a Challenger. However, two rounds remain, which will be on Sunday, October 11th in order to determine the seeds the four Challengers will have when they move on.
Update: With the completion of the qualifiers, the four Challengers have been determined as:
- Getawhale Fanclub
- Unbridled Dreams
- Running with Scizors
- Sultans of Swing
Main Event
Once the Qualifiers have finished, the Main Event is where the real fun begins. The following four teams are the veritable Legends, having proven themselves by their performances in the previous ESEA season:
- froyotech
- Ascent
- woodpig
- Team SoloUber
They will be joined by the four Challengers, seeking to prove themselves worthy, with the opening matches on Wednesday, October 14th being:
- froyotech vs. Sultans of Swing
- Ascent vs. Running with Scizors
- woodpig vs. Unbridled Dreams
- Team SoloUber vs. Getawhale Fanclub
From there, they will proceed to follow a double elimination bracket, with the next round in the upper and lower brackets taking place on Wednesday, October 21st. The event will then conclude with the remaining rounds on Saturday, October 24th and Sunday, October 25th, where a new pecking order for North America will be established.
Prizes
The top four teams will take home shares of the prize pot, split as follows:
- $800
- $400
- $200
- $100
Conclusion
Well, what more could you ask for? The best teams in North America (and the world, as Insomnia55 showed), the tournament casted live on Twitch, a chance to take part and prove yourselves worthy to challenge the top teams, the amazing Razer Arena tournament platform, a sizable prize pool... the list goes on and on.
What won't go on and on, however, are the open spots for this tournament - because there are only 32! Sign up before it's too late and make your mark on TF2 history!
(Credits to jesse, who designed the logo, and uberchain, whose i55 intro was used in the cover image.)