The tournament is to launch the 3rd of December 2012 and last untill all rounds are completed, with one round lasting one week.
Sign ups open 21st of November and last for 10 days untill 1st of December - 23:59 GMT.
There are 128 spots open for teams to sign up. Any team of any level are free to participate.
FORMAT:
The tournament will follow a format of Single Elimination untill 16 teams remain. The 16 teams will then enter a Double Elimination stage, meaning there will be one Winner's Bracket and one Loser's Bracket. In the Grand Final, if the team coming from the Loser's Bracket wins the initial Best of 7, they will enter a new Best of 5 in order to determine the final winner.
Game Settings:
Game : Random Map
Map : Arabia (Unless specified different)
Size : 4 player map
Difficulty : Standard
Resources : Standard
Population : 200
Game Speed : Normal
Reveal Map : Normal
Starting Age : Standard
Victory Condition : Conquest
Team Together : [X] Yes
All techs : [ ] No
Allow Cheats : [ ] No
Lock Teams : [X] Yes
Lock Speed : [X] Yes
Record Game : [X] Yes
Round 1 to Quarter Finals – Best of 3
Semi Finals and Loser's Bracket Rounds 3, 4 & 5 – Best of 5
Finals - Best of 7
Best of 3 Setup:
Game 1: Random Civilization
Game 2: Switch Civilizations of game 1
Game 3: Huns + Mongols war
Semi Finals and Loser's Bracket Rounds 3, 4 & 5 – Best of 5:
Game 1: Free Pick
Game 2: Random Civilizations
Game 3: Switch Civilizations of game 2
Game 4: Huns + Mongols
Game 5: Free pick but cannot repeat Civilizations used by both teams in G1 and G4.
Grand Final and Winner + Loser Bracket Finals – Best of 7:
Game 1: Free Pick
Game 2: Random Civilizations
Game 3: Switch Civilizations of game 2
Game 4: Huns + Mongols
Game 5: Double Arabia – Free Pick
Game 6: Free pick but cannot repeat Civilizations used by both teams in G1 and G4
Game 7: All Huns
Best of 5 in case of extended Grand Final:
Game 1: 2x 1v1 Simultaneous - 1x Huns war and 1x Mongols war
Game 2: Mayans + Huns
Game 3: Mongols + Aztecs
Game 4: Green Arabia - Mongols + Huns
Game 5: Free Pick
In cases where civilization are free to pick, the two players on the same team can NEVER use the same civilization.
Example:
Team A - Spanish + Goths vs Japanese + Japanese - Team B
Explanation of "Free pick but cannot repeat Civilizations used by both teams in G1 and G4":
G1: Team A - Mongols + Huns vs Mongols + Huns - Team B
G4: Team A - Aztecs + Mayans vs Spanish + Goths - Team B
This means neither team can use Mongols, Huns, Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish or Goths for the current game. Any other civilization is free to pick.
If the simultaneous 1v1s ends 1-1, the two winners of the games will enter a final 1v1 with a Huns war to determine which team gets the win.
STAFF
Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition staff consists of:
- _PkZ_
RoR_BzH
BugA_the_Great
ZeroEmpires
DreaIVIs
whack
TheViper
JorDan_23
If you feel any of the staff members is favouring or treating any teams different than others without reason, you are to message another staff member in order for them to bring it up to the rest of the staff and investigate it. The staff that participates as players will have no say in anything that can affect their position in the tournament.
SCHEDULING
Every round will last 1 week, meaning each team has 1 week to schedule and play the games before the deadline of the round which is Sunday 23:59 GMT. Your team is encouraged to provide your best times and schedule as efficient as possible throughout the whole week in order to get the games played in time.
The staff will be very strict regarding scheduling, and difficulties might end up in Admin Times or Admin Wins.
If you feel that your team is making superior effort compared to your opponents and the other team is stalling the scheduling progress, you are to send a PM to one of these staff members: JorDan_23 or ZeroEmpires, and it will be examined.
PRIZES
1st) 1 year platinum membership
2nd) 6 month gold membership
3rd) 6 month silver membership
4th) 3 month silver membership
The length of the memberships might be smaller, depending on the number of the starting teams, to be fair with the previous tourneys prizes.
Shields:
The total amount of donations will be split between the tournament winners as follows:
First place: 60 %
Second place: 30 %
Third place 10 %
The Official Rules of Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition:
#01. Every participant must respect their opponent. Insults, racism or flaming will not be tolerated. Bad behavior (determined by staff) will be warned or can result to immediate disqualification of a team. This tournament values not only great skills and teamwork, but also sportsmanship and fairness. Laming and mind games in game are allowed, it is a part of the game.
#02. A team must try their best to schedule and play their match against the opposing teams. If the staff determines that a team tries to avoid scheduling and playing the tournament games, the team may be warned, receive an admin loss for the match, or be disqualified from Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition.
#03. In order to be as fair as possible to all teams, Admin Time will not be a set time, but admins will decide a time based on what the local time is for the players in a team.
As an example, if a European team is playing a Japanese team, the time difference is 10 hours more or less. If the European team starts to play at 10am Saturday morning, the Japanese team would start playing at 8pm Saturday evening. Both times are inside an acceptable range. Whereas if a Brazilian team were to play a Japanese team, the time difference is 15 hours. If the Brazilian team started to play at 8pm Friday night, the Japanese team would start playing at 11am Saturday morning. Both times fall inside acceptable hours, this is how the staff will work to make times fair on all people.
#04. a) Each team must have a minimum of two players and a maximum of three players.
#04. b) Players can only play in one single team. If a player is caught playing for two or more teams, then the player will be banned from the tournament and the teams he was involved with will be investigated and in danger of being disqualified.
#04. c) Each person can play in the tournament using only one nickname. If a player is caught using more than one nickname in the tournament, but was not smurfing (played for his team using another nickname), their team will be warned and all the games that he played with the wrong nickname in will be in danger of admin loss'. After a second warning for using a different nickname that player’s team will be disqualified.
#04. d) Only players listed in the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Teams Roster are allowed to compete in the tournament. If a player is not listed in the team roster and plays for that team, the team will be disqualified.
#04. e) There are no roster updates available once Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition has begun.
#04. f) The nicknames listed in the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Teams Rosters list must be exactly the same as the ones used in the agreed game lobby and in-game, so the Voobly accounts which are signed up must not have its nicknames changed for the duration of the tournament.
#05. All games must be played on Voobly in the Tournament Games Lobby unless something else is agreed and unrated. Gameranger can be used aswell in need. NAT is to be used regardless of the need so that restoring the game is possible. If a NAT game drops and circumstances from rule #09 to restore arise, the game must be restored using the new NAT-game restore function at Voobly. View rule #9 for more detailed explanation in case restore has to be used.
#06. Patch 1.0c must be used in all matches. Note that it may say version VLY (instead of 1.0c) when playing on Voobly, which is fine. Using different version of the game makes the game invalid.
#07. a) Before posting Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition recorded games in the recorded games forum, the files must be renamed in the following format: MOA2v2 Round # TeamA (POV) vs TeamB Game#.mgx and packed inside one ZIP file named MOA2v2 Round # TeamA (POV) vs TeamB.zip. If games aren`t renamed correctly it might result in warnings. Continuous abuse of the rule might result in harsher penalties.
Examples of correct renaming, LB meaning Loser's Bracket.
MOA2v2 Round 3 TyRanT (POV) vs RVK G1.mgx
MOA2v2 Quarter Finals TyRanT (POV) vs RVK G1.mgx
MOA2v2 LB R1 TyRanT (POV) vs RVK G1.mgx
MOA2v2 LB Final TyRanT (POV) vs RVK G1.mgx
MOA2v2 Grand Final TyRanT (POV) vs RVK G1.mgx
Pack naming examples:
MOA2v2_Quarter_Finals_TyRanT_(POV)_vs_RVK.zip
MOA2v2_LB_R1_TyRanT_(POV)_vs_RVK.zip
MOA2v2_Round_3_TyRanT_(POV)_vs_RVK.zip
MOA2v2_Grand_Final_TyRanT_(POV)_vs_RVK.zip
#07. b) The winning team is the team that HAS to post the recorded games untill the Quarter Finals. The following rounds both teams will rename the recorded games immediately, regardless of result, and send them through a Private Message to either TheViper or JorDan_23 for them to release the records to the public without spoiling result.
#08. a) Extended time for games can only be given upon admin decision and extended time must be requested before Thursday 23.59GMT of the current week.
#08. b) All the games must be scheduled and confirmed by both teams in the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Scheduling forums.
#08. c) If there is no agreement about the playing time by Thursday 23.59 GMT, Admins will set a time which may not be desirable to one of the teams but falls within the acceptable range of times outlined above (see Rule #03).
#09. In case of disconnections, and the game dropped before the 8th minute of the game, it must be saved and replayed, otherwise it must be restored right after the drop and the recorded game (even if it is not complete) provided along with a screenshot proving the team’s victory. If restoring is not possible, the recorded game should be posted in the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Recorded Games forums, and the tournament staff should be informed about the case immediately. Facts will be analyzed and a final decision made on the game.
If there is a reason to believe that the disconnection was made on purpose, the tournament staff need to be informed and a final decision will be taken after all the facts have been investigated by the staff. Remember to make sure that you have "Multi" folder in your "Save Game" in order to be able to restore a dropped game.
#10. Once two teams arranged and confirmed a time to play, the maximum waiting time is 30 minutes. More than that, the team that came and is waiting must take a screenshot showing http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_UTC.aspx (so the current time is clearly visible) and Tournament Lobby Game Room, and post the screenshot in Admin Win Requests topic, with a link to the post in the Scheduling forums where the game time was arranged and confirmed. The screenshot must show enough waiting teams players to start the scheduled game. This way, tournament admins will know how long the team waited and upon Admins decision, the team that did not come gets an Admin Loss for the games.
Do not try to edit time arrangement posts in an attempt to get free wins, because our forum registers the exact date and hour of each edited post, and such actions are considered cheating and will get the team punished.
#11. If a game is not recorded, it must be replayed (this doesn't apply to dropped games, where the recorded game isn't available after the game restore).
#12. Each team must have one Team Leader who is fluent in English. Each team’s Team Leader is responsible for scheduling, possible disputes and everything else regarding their team. If a Team Leader is not fluent in English, a team can have an External Operator who assumes this role as specified in Rule #13. Team Leaders or External Operators are encouraged to manage the scheduling. Noone outside the team unless they're signed up as External Operator can involve themselves in the scheduling.
#13. In case none of the members in a team are fluent in English, each team is allowed to have an External Operator for scheduling and communication with the Tournament Staff and other teams. The operator may schedule games for multiple teams but is not allowed to play for them. He may, however, play for a team which he is a member of (like everyone else, he may be a member of one team only).
If a team has an external operator, they must state their nickname when signing up.
An External Operator still has to follow the official rules of Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition. If he does not follow the official rules, he or she will be disqualified. Then the team of the banned External Operator must choose another person as their External Operator in a week. If the team could not find a new External Operator that team will be disqualified.
#14. If a team is out of the tournament (no matter if they got disqualified or left on their own), all of their games to come will be turned into an Admin Loss.
#15. a) When signing up for MOA2v2, Team leaders must provide the following information in their signup post: Team Name, Team Leader/External Leader with a link to his AoCZone profile and Players with links to their Voobly profiles.
Example of a sign up post:
Team Name: TyRanT
Team Leader: TheViper - memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=9471
Players: JorDan_23 - http://www.voobly.com/profile/view/817
_DauT_ - http://www.voobly.com/profile/view/12926
TheViper - http://www.voobly.com/profile/view/123211439
#15. b) The players do not have to belong to the same clan or team on Voobly. Any player at any team can sign up together with their own team name.
#15. c) Team names may not include any form of clearly offensive words. Some names are easy to see that they're just for fun, but a team might be asked to change the name if the staff finds it unappropriate.
#16). Repeated warnings may result in disqualification.
Gaming Rules:
#17 a). In every round that is decided by a best of 3, each of the teams can restart only once. The restart has to be done before the 5 minute mark in the game. In order to restart, the players on the restarting team must make the opponents aware that they want to restart before 5 minutes have passed and resign. The restarts must be included in the zip file containing the played recorded games.
#17. b) In every round that is decided by a best of 5, the two teams can restart two times each. The restarts have to be done before the 5 minute mark in the game. In order to restart, the players on the restarting team must make the opponents aware that they want to restart before 5 minutes have passed and resign. The restarts must be included in the zip file containing the played recorded games.
#17. c) In every round that is decided by a best of 7, the two teams can restart 3 times each. The restarts have to be done before the 5 minute mark in the game. In order to restart, the players on the restarting team must make the opponents aware that they want to restart before 5 minutes have passed and resign. The restarts must be included in the zip file containing the played recorded games.
#18. If a player starts with a bugged map or a stuck unit, meaning one of the main resources are unable to reach or missing, or a villager, scout or eagle warrior is stuck, the team can request a restart without affecting the teams total of remaining restarts. Main resources meaning the initial 8 sheep, 2 boars, 7 pile gold and 5 pile stone.
#19. Any graphic changes that affects only the player's Age of Kings: The Conquerors are allowed.
#20. Cheating is not allowed. Players executing any form of cheating will be disqualified from Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition and banned from future AoCZone events, as well as the AoCZone forums. The team whose player is caught cheating will be disqualified from the Tournament as well.
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#21. New rules can be added and current rules can be changed, but the staff MUST inform the teams about any changes at the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Rules and Settings forum. All the latest additions in Rules / Settings will be in red.
#22. By signing-up for the tournament, you automatically agree with all the Rules and Settings of the Masters of Arabia 2v2 Edition Tournament.
Later stages of the tournament will be Live Streamed unless it doesn't fit time-wise. The stream will have delay to avoid any possibilities of cheating via the stream.