It's the end of the August, and that can only mean one thing. The Medics are fully charged, the Soldiers are bombing in, the Demoman is laying his traps, and the Scouts are out there doing 280 DPM. That's right, the Insomnia Gaming Festival is in town (if your town is Birmingham) with Insomnia65, featuring the top teams in Europe, as well as one of North America's best, duking it out at the NEC in Birmingham for the title of world champions.
Format
The tournament is split into three parts :
An Open group stage using the swiss system, where all teams are in the same group. The first 8 teams will move on to the playoff stage.
At the same time as the Open Groups, an Invite Group of 8 teams will also take place. They will face each other in a round robin system.
A double elimination playoff stage, where the top 8 teams from the Open Group and the 8 Invite teams will battle it out in Best-of-3’s until a champion is crowned. The Grand Final will be a Best-of-5 series.
A for-fun tournament will also be held for the teams that did not manage to make it out of the groups. Signups will open for the side tournament after the Open Swiss Stage ends on August 24th, with signups closing at 10:00 AM BST (11:00 AM CEST) that same day.
Map Pool
All maps will be selected using a pick/ban system.
- cp_prolands_rc2t
- cp_snakewater_final1
- cp_sunshine
- koth_product_rcx
- cp_gullywash_final1
- cp_process_final
- cp_granary_pro_rc8
5CP: 5 rounds win difference, 30 minutes timelimit.
KOTH: 3 rounds win limit, no time limit.
Teams
Insomnia65 currently features eight teams in the Invite group as well as 30 teams signed up for the Open stage currently, the latter of which remains subject to change.
Check out our team preview articles:
Prize pool
The current prize pool is dependant on the amount of signups for the Insomnia65 Open Swiss Stage, which are still yet to be determined.
Schedule
all times in CEST
Friday, August 23rd
- 14:30 | Round 1 of the Invite Group
- 15:45 | Round 2 of the Invite Group
- 17:00 | Round 3 of the Invite Group
- 18:00 | Round 4 of the Invite Group
- 19:15 | Round 5 of the Invite Group
- 20:00–21:25 | Invite Group Dinner Break
- 21:30 | Round 6 of the Invite Group
- 22:30 | Round 7 of the Invite Group
- 23:30–00:45 | Slot for tiebreakers
Saturday, August 24th
- 11:30–12:15 | Slot for tiebreakers
- 12:30 | Upper Bracket Round 1
- 15:00 | Upper Bracket Round 2/Lower Bracket Round 1
- 17:30 | Upper Bracket Round 3/Lower Bracket Round 2
- 20:00 | Lower Bracket Round 3
- 22:30 | Upper Bracket Final/ Lower Bracket Round 4
Sunday, August 25th
- 14:00 | Lower Bracket Round 5
- 17:00 | Lower Bracket Final
- 20:30 | Grand Finals
Broadcast
The following talent will be covering the event:
- eXtine — Host
- TurboTabs — Host
- GrumpyKoi — Commentator
- Kermit — Commentator
- Plunk — Commentator
- Adysky — Commentator
- Surny — Commentator
- Bum — Commentator
- alba — Analyst
- eepily — Analyst
- DuMmTm — Analyst
- Hamaham — Observer
- gemm — Observer
- Sim — Observer
All of the Insomnia65 action will be broadcast on EssentialsTF's Twitch channel, beginning on August 23rd. For more information, check out LAN.tf and keep an eye on teamfortress.tv for more coverage and discussion.
Update at 12:37 CEST: Essentials.TF have postponed the event an hour, our schedule now reflects that.