Battle of Africa 2 - Announcement (Prize: $20.000+)

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It is a great pleasure to finally announce the return of Battle of Africa.
Two years after the first instalment - Battle of Africa 2 will help set the standard as the first major team game tournament on Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. The teams will be competing over multiple weeks to earn a portion of the fantastic 20.000$ prize pool thanks to the amazing sponsors that helped make this event happen:
Microsoft (11.000$)
Oracle455 (4.000$)
PkZ (1.000$)
MembTV (4.000$)

Once the event is concluded, MembTV will add 1$ per current subscriber to the total prize pool

Battle of Africa 2 will take place between 10th of May and 7th of June. It will feature an extended qualification stage with 24 teams - and the main stage, which will include the best eight teams in the world. In terms of maps, you will get to experience some great old classics from the original Battle of Africa, as well as some new exciting environments to shake things up.

An extensive thread with a full timeframe, rules and settings will be created very soon - but for now, the most important details are - all the games will be played as 3v3, fixed positions will be enabled and slinging will be banned until the slinging player has reached the Imperial Age. A general timeframe can be seen below:

Streaming is open for everyone - check the official handbook for more details.​

 

Aguasome!

 

If only there were actual Africans who played

 

Really looking forward to this, BoA1 was great, so hoping this will top it!

Regarding Round 1, 2 and 3: Is this a group stage or are these the first rounds of a single elimination bracket?

 

Regarding Round 1, 2 and 3: Is this a group stage or are these the first rounds of a single elimination bracket?

Two groups of 4 teams, playing Round Robin. 1st place straight into semis, 2nd & 3rd play vs other groups 3rd & 2nd in Quarterfinals.

 

Amazing, so hyped for this!

 

All the top teams are composed by 4 players at least. Why does it have to be 3v3?

secret: viper tatoh daut nili slam
am: mbl lierey hera me heart (inactive)
suomi: villese max ruben zuppi pike (inactive)
SY: lyx yo vivi paladin yinghua (not sure about this one)
vietnam: bact saymyname accm cool
heresy is probably the only exception at the moment with laaan dogao miguel (melkor is inactive)

Im glad to finally see a major tournament happening but not having 4v4 like it has always been is rather dissapointing for me.

I wish it was a combination of 3v3 and 4v4. Different play styles for both so would be exciting. Also make it hard for a team with 2 top 5 players to dominate if you make some of the games 4v4. Also gives more players a chance to play. I think alternating would be best but start with 3v3 so it gets played the most.

 

Two groups of 4 teams, playing Round Robin. 1st place straight into semis, 2nd & 3rd play vs other groups 3rd & 2nd in Quarterfinals.

Noooo, not Round Robin!!!!
Please reconsider and use the GSL system, the matches will probably more interesting and the system is better at placing the teams as well. You won't have any problems with draws in a group or a result from one match impacting the seeding of another team.

For those that don't know: in a GSL system the first round is between 1st and 4th seed and 2nd and 3rd seed. Then the winners of these matches play eachother where the winner is first place in the group. The losers of the first round will also play and the loser of that match is out. Then the two remaining teams play each other for second and third place.

 

All the top teams are composed by 4 players at least. Why does it have to be 3v3?

secret: viper tatoh daut nili slam
am: mbl lierey hera me heart (inactive)
suomi: villese max ruben zuppi pike (inactive)
SY: lyx yo vivi paladin yinghua (not sure about this one)
vietnam: bact saymyname accm cool
heresy is probably the only exception at the moment with laaan dogao miguel (melkor is inactive)

Im glad to finally see a major tournament happening but not having 4v4 like it has always been is rather dissapointing for me.

I understand your dissapointment, but i think of a few reasons why a 3v3 tournament is better at the moment in my opinion.
I think the most important reason is DE performance in 4v4. I dont see it possible to play a lagfree 4v4 in DE if everybody has 150+ pop. You need NASA PCs for that.
Other thing is the timetable. Its not a weekend tournament. It means, that every player has to be available in every match for more than a month. Not an easy task for many teams i think and the main reason in the first place, why teams have often more players. And apart from the well known teams you mentioned, i think its easier for the rest of the players to create a team with 3 instead of 4.

 

Noooo, not Round Robin!!!!
Please reconsider and use the GSL system, the matches will probably more interesting and the system is better at placing the teams as well. You won't have any problems with draws in a group or a result from one match impacting the seeding of another team.

For those that don't know: in a GSL system the first round is between 1st and 4th seed and 2nd and 3rd seed. Then the winners of these matches play eachother where the winner is first place in the group. The losers of the first round will also play and the loser of that match is out. Then the two remaining teams play each other for second and third place.

I think the biggest drawback of Round Robin format is it's too difficult for casual viewers to keep track of what's going on, and thus difficult to maintain a general hype for the tournament. The streamers will probably have to answer questions like "Is team X moving on?", "if team Y is for sure moving on, is this set not necessary? etc. 10 times after every set.

If admins do decide to move on with Round Robin format, they will need to think of ways to easily communicate to viewers the importance of each game in every set.

 

I understand your dissapointment, but i think of a few reasons why a 3v3 tournament is better at the moment in my opinion.
I think the most important reason is DE performance in 4v4. I dont see it possible to play a lagfree 4v4 in DE if everybody has 150+ pop. You need NASA PCs for that.
Other thing is the timetable. Its not a weekend tournament. It means, that every player has to be available in every match for more than a month. Not an easy task for many teams i think and the main reason in the first place, why teams have often more players. And apart from the well known teams you mentioned, i think its easier for the rest of the players to create a team with 3 instead of 4.

To add to your points, I think 3v3 is easier to cast and also more strategic to play, since 4v4 often devolves into two separate 2v2s.

 

omg, this 2020

 

Personally I always think 4v4 is far better, but to be honest is DE performance that good for 4v4 atm?

So 3v3 might be a good call.

 

All the top teams are composed by 4 players at least. Why does it have to be 3v3?

secret: viper tatoh daut nili slam
am: mbl lierey hera me heart (inactive)
suomi: villese max ruben zuppi pike (inactive)
SY: lyx yo vivi paladin yinghua (not sure about this one)
vietnam: bact saymyname accm cool
heresy is probably the only exception at the moment with laaan dogao miguel (melkor is inactive)

Im glad to finally see a major tournament happening but not having 4v4 like it has always been is rather dissapointing for me.

Just bench MbL, man.

 

Let's make it 4v4, so Nicov doesn't have to be benched. He'll even do his eco upgrades in time. He promised. Also teams will be much closer in a 4v4 contest, because of Jor.. Nili. And imagine a Nilpferd winning the Battle of Africa.. so many reasons not to limit this to a 3v3.

 

Tg hype!!!

Btw, is Jordan (always) back?!
And also, [SY] Vivi?!?! Didnt know he is SY

 

Tg hype!!!

Btw, is Jordan (always) back?!
And also, [SY] Vivi?!?! Didnt know he is SY

He was in boa1. He left for ecl.

He is playing for the one China team supposedly in TeTe with yo and Lyx which is basically SY.

He probably should be SY for SY to challenge the top tier teams. If China tries to field two teams it will be two teams at the bottom half of the top 8. If they can field one team it challenges top 4.

 

finally a great TG tournament!

BoA1 was 3v3, BoA2 and its continuations has to be too

Improved maps and Capture Age?

 

BoA 1 was really fun to play and I remember being super hyped to watch the final stages. Hope this tournament matches the success of the last!

 

Amazing! Super excited. Thanks Memb!

All the top teams are composed by 4 players at least. Why does it have to be 3v3?

secret: viper tatoh daut nili slam
am: mbl lierey hera me heart (inactive)
suomi: villese max ruben zuppi pike (inactive)
SY: lyx yo vivi paladin yinghua (not sure about this one)
vietnam: bact saymyname accm cool
heresy is probably the only exception at the moment with laaan dogao miguel (melkor is inactive)

Im glad to finally see a major tournament happening but not having 4v4 like it has always been is rather dissapointing for me.

I don't know about for others, but for me 3v3 is the best team game format. 4v4 is chaotic for viewing and 2v2 doesn't involve as much team-based strategy.

 

I understand your dissapointment, but i think of a few reasons why a 3v3 tournament is better at the moment in my opinion.
I think the most important reason is DE performance in 4v4. I dont see it possible to play a lagfree 4v4 in DE if everybody has 150+ pop. You need NASA PCs for that.
Other thing is the timetable. Its not a weekend tournament. It means, that every player has to be available in every match for more than a month. Not an easy task for many teams i think and the main reason in the first place, why teams have often more players. And apart from the well known teams you mentioned, i think its easier for the rest of the players to create a team with 3 instead of 4.

This is actually not true. I play a lot of 4v4s and it's not laggy at all. It's only laggy if someone has a woodpc from early 2000s. If all have decent PCs with max 4-5 years old, you wont experience any issues.

 

Also teams will be much closer in a 4v4 contest

Wouldn't be too sure about that, the gap between each of the top 4 teams would be probably closer, but on the other side the gap between top 4 and the rest, would be way bigger.
If aM/Secret have too many active players for 3vs3 they should just consider starting with 2 teams and mixing it a bit up, the Tournament needs 16 Teams after all.
Would obv. be great if that way new teams getting formed or "new" players get integrated into the top teams.
Because as Nicov counted all the top teams there were only 6 of them, imagine tournament being 4vs4, it would be even harder to get 16 top teams.

 

This is amazing hype! I love teamgames. I hope to see more Donut action, it is by far my favorite teamgame map to watch - if not my favorite competitive map ever.

Also glad to see recorded games - non-stop action, no DE failures during critical moments, players should be able to prepare and be on their prime when they schedule, all very good.

Thanks to Memb for putting this together and thanks to the the sponsors for putting up the money!

 

This is amazing hype! I love teamgames. I hope to see more Donut action, it is by far my favorite teamgame map to watch - if not my favorite competitive map ever.

Also glad to see recorded games - non-stop action, no DE failures during critical moments, players should be able to prepare and be on their prime when they schedule, all very good.

Thanks to Memb for putting this together and thanks to the the sponsors for putting up the money!

Donut may or may not make a reappearance
I've said too much!

 

+1 for 4v4.

 

Very excited for this, high-level team-games are always so fun to watch.

I don't follow a lot of AOE2 teams, what other high-level teams are out there? Is there a big discrepancy between the top 5 teams and everyone else?