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.

 

I think the only objectively perfect method of seeding is send out a poll to everyone who is upset on aoezone and ask them to seed everyone

I am the most upset therefore my seeding should be weighted 99.99%.

 

same argument to win golden league and 6 months later participate in platinum league

Forgetting the fact that the money potentially lost will never be regained and the place for the Redbull event will not be considered.

But we're going in circles

 

From now on people will prioritize B-tier tournaments than S-tier

Good, I'd love to see the scene thriving like that.

However something tells me winning B or A tier tournaments isn't easy. And winning is the only way to get some meaningful ATP score.

Robo, regarding ATP I think you mentioned you're going to rebalance S vs A/B tier scoring... please don't overdo it. A and B tier tournaments having too little importance would hurt the competitive scene imho.

 

vinchester got 1100 points from winning a $1000 arena tournament. yea i think an aoezone poll carried out by philipe le bon would do a better job at seeding than this system

 

Your post has too much "ifs", first of all, I consider Sitaux better than 30%(counting me) of the platinum league players yeah. But seeding doesnt work like this, you find a system and you use it for the tourneys.

For example, you used Holy Cup as an example, but if you see there i missed first day coz i was super sick and lost in the second day(which was one day after), its not Hallis fault, he just went there and won me.

Then, on KOTD4, I played the RO32 vs Villese because my seeding in the tournament was bad, I was probably playing close to my peak of the game there, and I would say i would have won like many of the other matchups, mainly because people were focused on AoE4 back there, but I would never come to a forum to blame seeding because i felt this was unfair(which i didnt think so).

Then on WWC, again I felt I was playing one of my best games, and I had to face DauT in round of 32, I lost to him in the same score that villese and vinchester lost later, don't you think that I asked myself if I shouldnt be higher because of that? We can't change the structure of a whole tourney because one or two players felt they felt system was unfair with them.

I don't really understand how sitaux is seed25 and what made Running higher than him. I think this is the only mistake there in my opinion, so the argument that the system is broken doesnt really work for me.

As i said, I used those names as an examples, but i think this is all said when u see the S Tier ranking and Global ranking, so we do not need to talk about none in particular anymore (and as you could see in my post i said that i know you can have personal issues like you feeling sick one day and that).

So I invite you all to check S Tier rank and Global rank and everything is said. Personally if I would have to say which one is more accurate I would pick S tier one. Because its all about A and B tier tourneys farming.

 

Good, I'd love to see the scene thriving like that.

However something tells me winning B or A tier tournaments isn't easy. And winning is the only way to get some meaningful ATP score.

Robo, regarding ATP I think you mentioned you're going to rebalance S vs A/B tier scoring... please don't overdo it. A and B tier tournaments having too little importance would hurt the competitive scene imho.

We've done a lot of testing and tweaking over the past year or so with this, and the changes are ultimately very, very minor in terms of how it affects the ATP rankings. We can make all the minor or major changes we like, but it comes down to the fact that regularly participating in S, A and B tiered tournaments is the best way to improve your ATP ranking.

 

Because its all about A and B tier tourneys farming.

Please see the post above from @Degaussed

 

While this may hold true for ranked games, where indeed top players mostly grind Arabia (with the exception of clowns and Bugum, who would probably Nomad if it's in the mappool), the overwhelming majority of tournaments (pretty much every tournament except for KotD) have a variety of maps, and not only Arabia. If the intention is to seed players for tournaments in which several maps will be played, then it's entirely reasonable to consider a single-map tournament as less valuable, and the popularity of that map in ranked games is absolutely irrelevant.

If the majority of tournaments is played on mixed maps, isn't this factor already considered exactly by counting in all these tournaments compared to the few Arabia-only tournaments?
Decreasing the factor for KotD because of it having 1 map only was always the issue that striked me most, which led to my main concern with ATP rankings: There are so many factors to consider and there is never a "right" option, there will always be huge discussions no matter what you do. Hence I still prefer aoe-elo for the simplicity it offers, while providing at least a similar data quality in terms of prediction skills (even minimally higher based on the analysis shared on aoezone some time ago).

That being said, some of the concerns raised here appear quite weird when considering that we have had a system that was a million times worse (rated ladder only) for years before that and, while there were regular complaints, I can't remember that much drama around it. Yes, Sitaux is underrated and Running is overrated (well, they will both end up in Gold League anyway). And to be honest I don't fully understand where this is coming from and don't want to spend time digging deep into the data. Therefore I fully understand why Sitaux is complaining. But indicating that the system is horrible when it is much better than various seeding methods used for 99% of previous tournaments is just nonsense.

What is the consequence? A missed chance for the players who should have been top 24 to qualify for RBW, which is minimal compared to the chance they still have to qualify. Potentially less prize money, although it could as well be slightly more prize money for winning Gold League.
Both is not ideal but it's really not the end of the world.

 

Please see the post above from @Degaussed

Yes, I see the message we are sending here is for those big players who can not reach more than quarters or semifinals in big tourneys where they can face opponents of their size (which in my opinion its a GREAT performance), its to farm A, B and minor tourneys to get better ATP rank.
And as I said before, if you are honest, if you would have to put your own list of the best players, I would bet my house your list would be more similar to S Tier rank than Global one in the ATP list.

Anyway I just wanted to share my opinion with the organizers so we could have a better and more competitive tourney (obv thats why its my opinion) but I absolutely respect them (specially T90 who I consider a great and honest organizer) for taking the effort to organize and gather the prizes so I will see the tourney and I will support and hype it as well as I can with my community because obviously this league is awesome for we all who love this game.

 

From now on people will prioritize B-tier tournaments than S-tier

I mean... if you can win 4-5 B-tier events by routinely beating players such as TaToH, ACCM, Nicov, F1Re, Barles, Vinchester... etc, then you probably deserve your spot in the top 24.

 

Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel here when you could do the most sensible thing and just run a qualifier? GSL, the greatest RTS tournament of all time, invites the semifinalists from the previous season and then forces everyone else to qualify whether they're one of the best of all time with a million in career earnings or a nobody. Use the ATP rankings to seed players who make it, sure, but it makes no sense to give spots based on it.

 

Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel here when you could do the most sensible thing and just run a qualifier? GSL, the greatest RTS tournament of all time, invites the semifinalists from the previous season and then forces everyone else to qualify whether they're one of the best of all time with a million in career earnings or a nobody. Use the ATP rankings to seed players who make it, sure, but it makes no sense to give spots based on it.

For this first season, or every season?

At this point, it is too late to include a qualifier for the bottom 8 or so spots in Gold League.

In the future having entire fresh qualifiers for 80% of each league defeats the purpose of promotion and relegation doesn't it?

 

Why are we trying to reinvent the wheel here when you could do the most sensible thing and just run a qualifier? GSL, the greatest RTS tournament of all time, invites the semifinalists from the previous season and then forces everyone else to qualify whether they're one of the best of all time with a million in career earnings or a nobody. Use the ATP rankings to seed players who make it, sure, but it makes no sense to give spots based on it.

Qualifiers do take time and money, and would probably necessitate a reduction in the size of the main event

If you want you can just imagine the group stage is a qualifier and the playoffs are the main event then you get exactly what you want

 

In the future having entire fresh qualifiers for 80% of each league defeats the purpose of promotion and relegation doesn't it?

Yes it does.

If you want you can just imagine the group stage is a qualifier and the playoffs are the main event then you get exactly what you want

I want the fairest, simplest, and most time tested method to determine who's allowed to play in the league, which is a qualifier.

 

Yes it does.

Well, that wouldn't be the league format that we want anymore, would it?
It would be an entirely different tournament that is hardly a league at all

 

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

 

I mean... if you can win 4-5 B-tier events by routinely beating players such as TaToH, ACCM, Nicov, F1Re, Barles, Vinchester... etc, then you probably deserve your spot in the top 24.

one tournament win without any top player is enough to have a high atp ranking it seems, no one considerered as overrated won 4-5 B tier tournaments

 

one tournament win without any top player is enough to have a high atp ranking it seems, no one considerered as overrated won 4-5 B tier tournaments

Which tournament is that? Specific examples make it easier to fix any perceived issues (if they exist).

 

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

This is the normal way for leauge systems in the whole world exept for USA

 

Which tournament is that? Specific examples make it easier to fix any perceived issues (if they exist).

refering to visible cup

 

The guys who developed atp rankings, probably were thinking that the players put the same efforts or importance to low profile events, for them losing or winning those events is like losing one ranked match, several of those events giving lots of tournament points are far worse than using the ladder positions for the seeding, now we will have far too weak players who played euro/world rumble in the platinum league and far too strong players in the gold league who didn't sign up for low profile events.

They should acknowledge the issues right now and fix it before it starts, not for the players but the event itself to bring the best competition instead of what we could see if things are following this trend, who in the world can justify sitaux in the gold league now, with f1re it was already nonsensical, those players belong to the next tier no matter what the atp systems says.

 

The guys who developed atp rankings, probably were thinking that the players put the same efforts or importance to low profile events, for them losing or winning those events is like losing one ranked match, several of those events giving lots of tournament points are far worse than using the ladder positions for the seeding, now we will have far too weak players who played euro/world rumble in the platinum league and far too strong players in the gold league who didn't sign up for low profile events.

They should acknowledge the issues right now and fix it before it starts, not for the players but the event itself to bring the best competition instead of what we could see if things are following this trend, who in the world can justify sitaux in the gold league now, with f1re it was already nonsensical, those players belong to the next tier no matter what the atp systems says.

Some minor points but Euro Rumble isn't included in the ATP points because it was more than a year ago. Secondly, both F1Re and Sitaux played in World Rumble (with Sitaux also in Visible Cup I believe).

I'm not saying that Sitaux isn't deserving of a place in the platinum league (I think he is) but I can make a case for about 40 players deserving a place.

ATP ranking is one of a few options that could have been used. It rewards participation and success in events at a variety of levels. People have been offering alternatives all day and suggesting that having to play smaller events will lead to burnout whilst suggesting that they should use the ladder (so make every single game they play matter to their tournament seedings). The hosts have chosen this. They are going to go ahead with it I expect, regardless of people suggesting that other similar systems are better (because that system favours one player or another).

Saying that anyone on the list is "far too weak" is incredibly disrespectful to everything they have achieved in the last 12 months.

 

In my mind, it is intended for players to switch leagues frequently, as it;
a) allows different players to jump into the spotlight and prove themselves
b) Gives players an opportunity to take a break. Maybe someone doesn't want to play in a season for whatever reason, I imagine it would feel worse to throw away a Platinum spot, but it would be more natural to take a break after being relegated. It allows for a natural stopping point, if a player wanted that.
c) allows different players to earn prizemoney. Currently, the top ~4 of the Gold league will more prize money than the bottom 4-8 of Platinum, simply because they will win more games. If the same 8 players continue to swing back and forth every season then they will earn comparatively similar amounts of money averaged out over the season, but if a player doesn't spend those seasons in the Gold League then they won't get those earnings.

Appreciate the thought behind this, but I have to say I can't disagree more strongly with this reasoning.
a) I appreciate this sentiment, but it does not address my main concern of those spots being unearned. I think in general a league like this is great for putting a spotlight on new talent, but relegating 1/3 of the top league without the replacements having to beat or even play anyone in the top league is just astounding.
b) 'Now that the ridiculous system has unfairly demoted a player in place of someone who does not deserve the spot, so now they can quit and take a break!' Seems to make my point for me rather than yours. As earlier discussed, if taking a break and coming back and maintaining top levels of competition are a concern, I'd much rather see a more direct way for top competition to go directly back to platinum league.
c) Again, I just don't think that 'it might be a good thing for people who deserve to be in platinum league to get demoted to gold, so they can beat up on the lower competition to earn more money' is a good argument. None of these points hit against my main concern that we are very likely to relegate people out of platinum in favor of people from gold who would not be able to win against the people they are replacing. If this tournament aims to have the highest levels of competition, I don't see anything here that tells me why that is the case. If that is not one of the goals, then fine, but then every complaint of undeserved spots and player frustration that comes with it is very well fair in my eyes.

 

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

Your flag checks out

 

This is the normal way for leauge systems in the whole world exept for USA

dont the leagues in every other country also have like 2-3 competitive teams and like 10 ass ones that have no chance to win