GotFrag eSports

While this release made little of the updated rules and the new format, they are a surprising departure from precedent for the original professional CS league.

The biggest change is the move away from the double elimination format. The tournament is now split into two group stages, one of 64 teams and one of 32 teams, followed by a 16 team best of three single elimination bracket. Mike Allen, Tournament Director for the CPL, said the change was made to improve the tournament experience for all gamers.

"We were not fans of single elimination for teams that travel to the CPL and play only one match and if they lose are completely out of the tournament," said Allen, in a GotFrag interview. "We were looking at something that can offer the gamers a better tournament experience at the CPL... By switching the tournament to group play, we give every team at least three matches to play in a full tournament. We believe that this is going to offer gamers an enhanced experience at the CPL, by giving them more matches against differently skilled teams."

Seedings will be done by committee, with the actual seeds having less impact than in the double elimination tournament due to the addition of group play. Also similar to how the seedings were done at CPL Winter 2005, seeds will be based on all known results including CPL events and CAL results. The rules also specify that up to 14 teams will receive berths to the CPL, but does not specify exactly what that entails. In addition a berth does not guarantee a team a specific seed.

The CPL released their map list, which is subject to change up until one month prior to the tournament.

Update: The CPL has announced a new map list for their Winter Championship Finals which consists of Train, Nuke, Inferno, Dust2 and CPL_Mill.

Map list is:
De_Train
De_Nuke
De_Inferno
De_Dust2
De_CPL_Mill

The way maps will be selected for the best of three will be different as well. Out of a five map pool, both teams will select one map to play, with the higher seed going first. Then each team will discard one remaining map and the map that has not been eliminated will be the tie breaker map.

Check out Jason "Alchemist" Baker's interview with Michael Allen, Global Tournament Director of the CPL on their new rules HERE.

User Comments

Well hopefully this will help better the CPL in the coming years.. I agree with the change and think it's for the better. Hope other teams agree..

Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose.

I personally think the CPL is on the downfall, and the WSVG doesn't seem like the future.

Hopefully this new format can bring the CPL back to it's former greatness.

This comment was edited at 08/10/2006 1:21 AM

That's retarded.
Round Robin is the reason why the ESWC sucks.

Judgment Passed.

lol thats sick, ESWC style =]

the group play is okay but the single elim bo3 is good.

good for the teams seeking more competition and not just gettin knocked out first round

where's bogus?

good maps!

MY MOM JUST MADE SOME COOKIES WANT SOME?

Thats dumb, because then although it helps the lower tier teams with more matches to play the top tier teams who are going for maybe a top 5 finish it really hurts. With double elimination you know that the two best teams always make it to the finals. But in single elimination the top two teams could end up playing in the first round of single elim once out of group stage and the team that would have gotten number two could drop out below 8th place. I always thought CPL was the best because even if a team lost a match they could still have a chance to come back through the lower bracket, and i often found the lower bracket matches to be some of the best.

pzzzz l8 #dyingbreed

Group play is better!

i hope this works out better then the summer event..... i was disapointed this summer

Zach " lostxp� " Denmeade

:D this will be so much better :D

One reason I liked the CPL events was because of the double bracket thing, but I guess I'll watch this one extra closely to see how it goes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osru4ojkSw8

#10, can't really blame the CPL because the CPL had no event this summer. :)

Thank you CPL!! WSVG didn't have a clue what they were doing and screwed over a lot of teams (like mine!)

Good Format.

Ditch the 3 CPL maps so there can be some sort of consistancy in tournament maps and they'll be in business.

look like ESWC...

Very nice. Group play is a lot more fun for tournaments.

nice, although I doubt I`ll be going there any soon

straightouttaBhutan

A best-of-three format makes it so that the change to single elimination instead of double elimination doesn't hurt as much, since it's unlikely a worse team will win a best-of-three series against a superior opponent. For those saying a switch to single elimination is worse, take that into account.

I really cant wait to see how it would work. This may just shake things up a little.

#team2dv

#15 i'd rather see them keep mill, and ditch strike, fire, and cbble.

JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY

I like the idea of group play, but going through on total rounds own rather than points

best of 3 is great, allowing for some epic matches, no more Loser bracket comebacks though :(

Overall I think its a good change

Good move!

Mutechno: "Ok kid, GRADULATE before you talk to me." [q8200@2.8|asus p45|evga 9800gtx+|4gbOCZreaper]

i'll miss the lower bracket =(

shiny penny

when will they get rid of cbbl? Its so CT sided it's not even funny.

This comment was edited at 08/10/2006 4:02 AM

۩ ONE LOVE ۩

Better for the weaker teams I guess ...

Whenever you're feeling down, just remember: SURPRISE BUTTSEKS

The changes aren't bad, but the order that the maps are picked for the best of 3 is dumb. The lower seeded team should pick their map before the higher seeded team does. If the first choice for both teams is the same, then essentially the lower seeded team practically picks two maps. If they have the same first choice, the higher seeded team should be the one that gets to pick the other map. Letting the lower seeded team pick second is a small advantage for them. They should change it so that the lower seeded team picks first, with that map being played in the second game. Then the higher seeded team should pick, with that map being played in the first game.

An example of why the new order is dumb:
NiP vs. SK
NiP has the #5 seed.
SK has the #8 seed.
Both teams believe that de_nuke is their best map, and thus both will pick de_nuke.
NiP has the higher seed so they pick first.
NiP picks de_nuke.
SK gets to pick the second map.
SK was going to pick de_nuke since it is their best map, but now they realize that NiP has already picked it so now they choose their next best map, de_train, instead.
NiP's second best map is de_dust2 and they would have picked de_dust2 instead if they knew that SK was going to pick de_nuke.
See the flaw?

#27 who cares... the fact is they feel MOST confident of beating SK on nuke therefore they choose it.

Whether SK wants it too is irrelevent.

My opinion: this is a fairly good change, I don't see anything wrong, the only thing I don't like is that I am a big fan of the double elimination brackets and the lower bracket bo1 :D

but i thought everyone wanted these changes so I am all for it if the community wants it

#27 That's not how it works, you pick a map before you know what the other team is picking and if they both pick the same map the next two maps become random.

double elimination is a lot better. at least they're not going for a best of one single-elimination after groupstages.

wooooo aztec and dust finally taken out. I really like this format though :D

#ESEA.TF2 \\ http://www.youtube.com/user/hallelujahmovies

#8 i agree, u got a good point there.
i'll say that they should do these changes but leave the double elimination system kind of intact...
like a mix of them both sounds like a long enough and entertaining event... go CPL ,):}

Agreed with moto, badass format and good idea with the maps.

I AM LEGEND

haha 16 teams single elimination..thats just boring if u ask me..even if its two maps..with the double elmination system u atleast get more maps played between the different teams.

#35, that single elim bracket comes after TWO DAYS of group play. that's more than enough variety in matchups for anyone.

this is a good change, single elim bo3 results in the best team winning imo, especially after such rigourous group play.

cobble -.-

cbble sux!!!!!! forge rox!!!!!

Best decision CPL has ever made. Finally will be fun to watch instead of random double elimination.

Interesting mapcycle! Love the cpl-maps.

VIVA ESPANIA

imo, the best thing would be bo1 DE until the semi-finals of both the WB and the LB, where it would be bo3 DE. That way, the problem of single elimination (bo1 or bo3), which is having a possible final early in the tournament with one of the favorites eliminating the other, is avoided AND it reduces the map luck factor in the final stages of the competition, to avoid losing too much time.

It's still better than the ESWC's retarded bo1 SE system, though.

N God said, "Let there be light. Keep da party crackin while I'm steady rappin'": n there was light.

all tournies should be run like this. single elimination after the group stages in eswc is so stupid.

de_forge?

<3 Best of 3

double-elimination doesnt make sense, you dont see that in any real sport.

I like the new format

the best format you can have
BO3 will have less random as compare to double elimination
good decision that CPL made this time

i like it =]

zuanx

i like it, CPL is getting better

#45 you actually have double elimination in olympic tournaments for martial arts, with the small difference that all you can get to in the lower bracket is a bronze medal - you dont get to be in the grand final

Excellant decision this is the best format.

Your as ColdAsIce, Willing to sacrifice...

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