T90 Titans League | Announcement

Announcement | Handbook | Maps | Questions & Answers | Registration | Discord | Schedule​

The ‘T90 Titans League’ is a recurring league that aims to provide a consistent high-level stage for pro players to hone their skills, and give newcomers a chance to prove their ability and advance into the upper echelon of players.

For this inaugural season, the winner of the Platinum League will earn an invitation to the Red Bull Wololo Legacy event in October.

There will be a Silver Qualifier for Season 2 later this year after RBW Legacy, and before Christmas. The exact dates & details are yet to be confirmed.

Format

The 48 highest ranked players on the 1v1 ATP Rankings who sign up will be placed into two divisions of 24 players. Within these divisions, players will be seeded into groups of 6, and play a 3 games series against each of their 5 opponents over 5 weeks. At the end of this group stage, the 1st placed player will advance to the quarterfinals, while 2nd & 3rds meet in the Ro12 of the playoffs, while the lowest 2 players will be relegated.

Every player in both divisions will earn prizemoney for every game that they win, as well as bonuses for their placement at the end of the league.

Before the 2nd season begins, there will be a large open single-elimination qualifier to determine which players will replace those who are relegated.

Prize Money

The prize pool of $22,500 has been sponsored by Microsoft.

Platinum League: $17,300​

1st place: $2,100
2nd place: $1,400
3rd & 4th place: $1,000
5th - 8th place: $500
9th - 12th place: $200
13th - 24th place: $150

Plus $40 per game won in the group stage (a maximum of $600 if you win all 15 games)

Gold League: $5,200​

1st place: $200
2nd place: $160
3rd & 4th place: $100
5th - 8th place: $80
9th - 12th place: $60
13th - 24th place: $40

Plus $20 per game won in the group stage (a maximum of $300 if you win all 15 games)

Timeline

Sign-Ups: June 03rd - June 24th
Seeding: June 25th

You can see all the signed-up players on the registration page.

Platinum League​

Spoiler

Group Stage: June 27th - July 28th
Round 1: June 27th - July 01st
Round 2: July 04th - July 08th
Round 3: July 11th - July 15th
Round 4: July 18th - July 21st
Round 5: July 25th - July 28th

Playoffs: August 05th - August 07th
Ro12: Friday 05th August
Quarterfinals: Saturday 06th August
Semifinals & Final: Sunday 07th August

Gold League​

Spoiler

Group Stage: June 27th - August 05th
Round 1: June 27th - July 01st
Round 2: July 04th - July 08th
Round 3: July 11th - July 15th
Round 4: July 18th - July 21st
Round 5: July 25th - July 28th
Extra Week: August 01st - August 05th

Playoffs: August 12th - August 14th
Ro12: Friday 12th August
Quarterfinals: Saturday 13th August
Semifinals & Final: Sunday 14th August

All group stage matches will be played & broadcast on weekdays (Monday - Friday) to avoid clashing with RMS Cup 2.

Maps

T90 Titans League will feature

• Arabia
• Atacama by Mr ED
• Cross by TheMadCADer
• Fortified Clearing by Chrazini
• Gold Rush
• Golden Swamp
• Houseboat by Yo_Dan
• Jungle Swamp by TheMadCADer
• Ravines
• Serengeti
• Yucatan replaced by Arena

Start practicing today by downloading the map pack here or by searching for “T90 Titans League - Map Pack” in the in-game mod workshop.

The map pack is edited and maintained by Chrazini.

 

It seems the only drama is mostly around the fact the first iteration of TTL will award a RBW invitation.
Normally, I would say this doesn't matter, since the chances of the #17-24 seeds placing top 4 is close to zero, but in this case, it's actually pretty reasonable.
Given that Viper, Lierrey, Daut, Villese, and Mr. Yo are already qualified, and 2 additional spots will come from RMS cup 2, you will have at least 5 of the top 8 players, and potentially 7 of the top 8 players qualified (according to the almighty ATP).
So TTL could potentially award the last non-qualifier RBW spot to the only non-invited quarterfinalist, and I think it's totally within the realm of possibility that a #17-24 seed places top 8
I guess we will have to wait and see if the RBW spot goes to someone outside the normal top 8 crowd to see if all this drama actually mattered

I think I'm with you here. If this were the one and only qualifier, I'd say #17+ probably wouldn't have a chance of winning anyway. But since so many people have already qualified, you're absolutely right. That last qualifier spot is wide open, so it's disappointing to be an invite-only affair for the RBW spot.

AoEZone would care, but without the RBW I think most people would agree that the league would self-correct after a season or two, so the initial seeding wouldn't be as important.

 

I'm surprised to see Nili in Gold League. I thought he can't play due to MS sponsoring the event...?

 

That is definitely the thoughest Group out of all those Groups (MbL's Group).
On the other side it is the only Group without a Top 4 Player.
So it's "harder" to remain in Platinum League, but "easier" to get into the Playoffs.

This will be really interesting, are the groups completely random? Feels like it.

Bit confused, the groups MbL posted are a bit different from the ones on Liquipedia.

 

That is definitely the thoughest Group out of all those Groups (MbL's Group).
On the other side it is the only Group without a Top 4 Player.
So it's "harder" to remain in Platinum League, but "easier" to get into the Playoffs.

This will be really interesting, are the groups completely random? Feels like it.

Bit confused, the groups MbL posted are a bit different from the ones on Liquipedia.

The Liqupedia ones are correct I assume. And IMO MbL's group is among the more playable ones regarding advancing to top12, but also requires the highest level to not get relegated, while A/B and to some extent C are far more predictable.

 

I think I'm with you here. If this were the one and only qualifier, I'd say #17+ probably wouldn't have a chance of winning anyway. But since so many people have already qualified, you're absolutely right. That last qualifier spot is wide open, so it's disappointing to be an invite-only affair for the RBW spot.

AoEZone would care, but without the RBW I think most people would agree that the league would self-correct after a season or two, so the initial seeding wouldn't be as important.

I agree its a bit unfortunate about the RBW spot, but there are a couple of other opportunities to qualify for RBW. So i think the relevant players should stop complaining and prepare for their other chances.

One of the most fun things about first season of the titans league should be seeing Nili directly relegated to Silver League LuL

 

I'm surprised to see Nili in Gold League. I thought he can't play due to MS sponsoring the event...?

We figured out a solution that would allow Nili to participate.

 

We figured out a solution that would allow Nili to participate.

Please tell me he has to delete a vil every time he builds a house

 

Since when does a league need to have a relegation/promotion component? That's nonsense.

God damn please keep Americans away from anything related to "league".

That includes so called Super League in football, trying to be established via funding of a US bank.

 

Please tell me he has to delete a vil every time he builds a house

Looks like deleting a vil for each house was too much, so he quit Microsoft instead
All the best to Nili in Grind 2.0!
I honestly hope he performs very well and gets everything he wants out of the game!

 

To be honest @T90Official , if I were you I would do a weekly show like TNT basketball or football shows (not sure you are familiar with those). You can invite players or other AOE celebrities, talk 10 min league, 10 min random stupid funny stuff. You need to find a Shaq though (Dave seems like a good candiate), who knows may be you can create an episode like titan'a fool.

 

I see arena was added into the map pool after initially not being in. I think that is a good decision. Thanks for listening to my suggestion.

 

Did anyone cover Slam vs. Liereyy today? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still like when matches are posted on the aoezone calendar so you can see who plans to cast the games. I'd rather not have to scroll through X number of vods to find a match...

 

Did anyone cover Slam vs. Liereyy today? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still like when matches are posted on the aoezone calendar so you can see who plans to cast the games. I'd rather not have to scroll through X number of vods to find a match...

T90 will be casting the recs at ~23gmt.

 

Did anyone cover Slam vs. Liereyy today? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still like when matches are posted on the aoezone calendar so you can see who plans to cast the games. I'd rather not have to scroll through X number of vods to find a match...

JonSlow casted the match

 

Did anyone cover Slam vs. Liereyy today? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still like when matches are posted on the aoezone calendar so you can see who plans to cast the games. I'd rather not have to scroll through X number of vods to find a match...

If you go to https://aoe2recs.com/, then the "Casts" tab, then filter by TTL, you can see the casts that happened live as well. It has timestamped VOD links.

 

If you go to https://aoe2recs.com/, then the "Casts" tab, then filter by TTL, you can see the casts that happened live as well. It has timestamped VOD links.

Super useful tool. Any chance this will ever be tied to recs as well? In my case I stack the recs & cast them back to back as it adds more flow, I am guessing the site just can't account for that in the same way haha.

 

So hyped for this.

 

Super useful tool. Any chance this will ever be tied to recs as well? In my case I stack the recs & cast them back to back as it adds more flow, I am guessing the site just can't account for that in the same way haha.

This feature would require CaptureAge to report some extra data. I asked them about this awhile ago but I don't think there was much motivation since it's pretty niche.

 

The idea behind this is league is good but it's really suffering from scheduling issues at the moment. Being flexible with players is fine but it reaches a point where it starts to feel kind of absurd. If Liquipedia is correct Daut and Viper are scheduled to play their round 5 match tomorrow, which in theory is the start of the week of round 4. Since that's likely a match that will determine if Daut makes it to the next stage it feels really weird and anticlimactic to play it a week early. In other groups several round 3 matches have not been played and even a round 2 match has not been played.

Hopefully in the next edition games will be cast as recs on weekends and players will be forced to play within the correct timeframe (crazy as that sounds). Right now it's making the viewing experience is suboptimal.

 

The idea behind this is league is good but it's really suffering from scheduling issues at the moment. Being flexible with players is fine but it reaches a point where it starts to feel kind of absurd. If Liquipedia is correct Daut and Viper are scheduled to play their round 5 match tomorrow, which in theory is the start of the week of round 4. Since that's likely a match that will determine if Daut makes it to the next stage it feels really weird and anticlimactic to play it a week early. In other groups several round 3 matches have not been played and even a round 2 match has not been played.

Hopefully in the next edition games will be cast as recs on weekends and players will be forced to play within the correct timeframe (crazy as that sounds). Right now it's making the viewing experience is suboptimal.

Viper and Daut play their match in advance so they wont get accused of matchfixing. Its something Viper has brought up internally and externally. There is no reason for us to doubt the integrity of the GL guys but its just best to not leave any room for doubt (also its better for the players who would potentially have to read those stupid comments).
As for the delays, multiple players were on vacation or were seriously sick. I mean sure, you can force it and end up with like ~10 admin wins. But imo thats not desirable.
Edit: the vacation situation might get better if the next season is in next winter/spring.
Generally, we are not there (yet) to force the players to constantly play at the best times. So I'm fine with a mix - KotD, BoA or RBW has fixed times. Then you've got TTL, RMS Cup 2 or Resurgence with more flexibilty in the earlier stages and a fixed schedule for the later stages.

 

The idea behind this is league is good but it's really suffering from scheduling issues at the moment. Being flexible with players is fine but it reaches a point where it starts to feel kind of absurd. If Liquipedia is correct Daut and Viper are scheduled to play their round 5 match tomorrow, which in theory is the start of the week of round 4. Since that's likely a match that will determine if Daut makes it to the next stage it feels really weird and anticlimactic to play it a week early. In other groups several round 3 matches have not been played and even a round 2 match has not been played.

Hopefully in the next edition games will be cast as recs on weekends and players will be forced to play within the correct timeframe (crazy as that sounds). Right now it's making the viewing experience is suboptimal.

the players explicitly have been given freedom to play the group stage games at their preferred time and are not limited to a specific week - otherwise, the idea of a league wouldn’t work for enough players given the time of year and time commitment. I also quite enjoy that there is the odd series to watch during the week.

Also, the result of viper vs DauT actually doesn’t matter at all as long as DauT and Viper win their next games, so the climax just moves on to the next game - whatever that will be.

 

The idea behind this is league is good but it's really suffering from scheduling issues at the moment. Being flexible with players is fine but it reaches a point where it starts to feel kind of absurd. If Liquipedia is correct Daut and Viper are scheduled to play their round 5 match tomorrow, which in theory is the start of the week of round 4. Since that's likely a match that will determine if Daut makes it to the next stage it feels really weird and anticlimactic to play it a week early. In other groups several round 3 matches have not been played and even a round 2 match has not been played.

Hopefully in the next edition games will be cast as recs on weekends and players will be forced to play within the correct timeframe (crazy as that sounds). Right now it's making the viewing experience is suboptimal.

As someone who participates in the league, I'd definitely not be able to play (at least summer version of the league) if we wouldn't be given any freedom regarding the games. And seeing some delays in other groups, that's the case for big part of the scene. I'd assume winter season should be affected by that a bit less, especially if we don't have any other big tournament happening on weekends in that period.

And personally, this has been the most enjoyable event to play in a while. Greatly organized, very good and balanced map pool (only missing Nomad and 1 water map in it IMO) and definitely very motivating for everyone.

 

the players explicitly have been given freedom to play the group stage games at their preferred time and are not limited to a specific week

From the handbook: "All players are expected to schedule their matches during the prescribed timeframes to the best of their ability". It also allows for exceptions, but saying they're not limited to a certain week is incorrect. As for Gold League it's probably good to give those players more flexibility since few if any are full time. Plus, to be frank, most fans aren't exactly following the group stage there so it doesn't matter as much.

Viper and Daut play their match in advance so they wont get accused of matchfixing.

Teammates play all the time in group stage settings, not sure why it's a problem here. If it really is, maybe they need to schedule all inter-team matches for the earlier rounds next time.

 

Teammates play all the time in group stage settings, not sure why it's a problem here. If it really is, maybe they need to schedule all inter-team matches for the earlier rounds next time.

That is already the plan, it was not something I considered when creating the schedule.

 

From the handbook: "All players are expected to schedule their matches during the prescribed timeframes to the best of their ability". It also allows for exceptions, but saying they're not limited to a certain week is incorrect. As for Gold League it's probably good to give those players more flexibility since few if any are full time. Plus, to be frank, most fans aren't exactly following the group stage there so it doesn't matter as much.

Teammates play all the time in group stage settings, not sure why it's a problem here. If it really is, maybe they need to schedule all inter-team matches for the earlier rounds next time.

I didn't refer to the handbook with respect to the flexibility, but rather to statements by robo and/or T90 made here on aoezone