Sixes Spring Season Announcement
After 19 seasons and over six years of the same 8-week scheduled seasons, the time has come to mix things up a little bit.
So, we have decided to put our regular seasonal schedule on hold for one season and put on a series of three events that will allow us to experiment.
The Sixes team will run three events between January and April 2026 in place of a typical spring season. The first will be a Map event the weekend of Jan 10th, the second a longer Cup event in which we will experiment with divisions and match times, and a third very special event that we will have to wait a little bit before unveiling.
Event 1: Sixes Experimental Map Cup #6
In the first two weeks of January, we will hold a Cup to try out four maps that are in active development with an eye to being viable for Sixes league play. Matches will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with each team playing a best of 2 format - meaning they play a 30 minute half (no overtime) of two maps to make a total match. In this format, ties are entirely possible during regular (non-playoffs) matches. To incentivize teams to push the maps to their limit, this will be a paid cup with a prize pool for the top 3 divisions. A portion of fees will be set aside to help fund the 2026 RGL LAN event as well.
We have several strong map candidates under consideration for this event—but are still open to reviewing more before finalizing. If you've seen a map that you think has potential, make sure to mention it in your post-season survey responses. We will be reviewing map suggestions from the survey before finalizing the pool for this event. Maps with an active mapper will be given priority so that feedback from this cup can be implemented in future versions.
The event will be structured like many of our recent Experimental Cups, with divisions set in alpha groups by experience/skill. We aim to have minimal class restrictions for this event.
For the top 3 divisions, the total fee will be $10 ($6 towards the prize pool and $4 for LAN sustainability), and for the bottom 4 divisions, the total fee will be $4, entirely supporting LAN costs for 2026.
Experimental Map Cup: (all dates subject to change)
Registration Opens and Map Pool Announced: Dec. 15
Registration Closes: Jan 4
Teams Assigned to Divs: Jan 5
Fees Due: Jan 8
Matches Created: Jan 9
Matches: Jan 13, 15, 20, and 22
Playoffs: Jan 27 and 29
Event 2: Mini-Season Cup
Our second event will be a mini-season event in February and March. This event will be a shorter season of Sixes in which we will experiment with a different division structure and schedule.
We've heard requests in the post-season surveys for differing start times and feedback that the traditional season can be a long grind, so this special miniature season will let players experience a very different schedule. Through this, we hope to find out if there is appetite for different match times and schedules for future seasons and events in RGL Sixes.
Instead of our typical divisional structure, we will have only Amateur, Main, and Invite divisions.
The Amateur and Main groups will be split into two divisions each, a BLU version that has 9:30PM start times and a RED version that has 10:30PM start times. Teams can self-select BLU or RED based on what works best for their schedules at registration.
To ensure we can populate the time-based groups, we will compress the divisions. Teams coming from Newcomer through Intermediate (non-playoff) will be eligible for the Amateur division. Teams coming from IM playoffs and above will be eligible for the Main division. We will look to minimize player restrictions for this format.
Teams will be allotted two matches per week for four weeks, with matches default scheduled to Tuesday and Thursday. A 4-team playoff for each division will be scheduled in March.
The fees for this event will be flattened, with a $15 player fee for Amateur ($9 into the prize pool, $4 LAN sustainability, $2 Anti-Cheat fee) and $25 for Main and Invite ($18 prize pool, $5 LAN, $2 AC).
Mini-Season schedule: (all dates subject to change)
Registration Opens: Jan 12
Map Pool Announced: Jan 19
Registration Closes: Feb 2
Teams Assigned to divs: Feb 7
Fees Due: Feb 8
Matches Scheduled: Feb 8
Matches: Tuesdays and Thursdays- Feb 10 through March 5
Playoffs: March 10 and 12
Event 3: Special Event Cup
Our final event of the Spring season will be another Experimental Cup, but the dates, teams, and details will be announced later in January. This event is slated to take place in late March into April, featuring more traditional weeknight matches and divisional structures. This event will be a free event, and we believe the sixes community will be extremely excited once details are released!
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