Meta Plays Age of Empires IV League Season 2 Announcement

We are pleased to announce the Meta Plays Age of Empires IV League Season 2!

This season features large changes compared to the previous one:

• All of the league's prize pool is concentrated in the main event.
  • Especially with community contributions, we can generate more hype for the main event.
  • The larger prize pool will help eliminate unnecessary forfeits, as there is more on the line.
  • Top players won't necessarily have to commit to playing all qualifiers if their schedule is busy.
  • This system allows us to get all these benefits for a similar investment.
• The season's length will be 3 months, down from 6.
• We will rebrand the event names.
  • The Main League will now be referred to as a Pro League.
  • The Skirmish League will now be referred to as an Amateur League.
  • Instead of Monthlies, we are now calling them Qualifiers. Each named after the main event.
  • We will refer to the season finale as the Main Event. The lore-like theming will remain.

Introducing The "Genghis Khan's Legacy" Pro League:

Genghis Khan's Legacy Qualifier 1 - Single Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - January 28 - One day event
Genghis Khan's Legacy Qualifier 2 - Single Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - February 26 - One day event
Genghis Khan's Legacy Main Event - $500 + Community Donations, GSL Group Stage - March 11- One day event

Promotional Showmatch:

We wanted to spread awareness of our league better than we did in the previous season, and so we are hosting a showmatch between Beastyqt and IamMagic! There will be special rules for this one where each player will pick the others' landmarks. We can't wait to see what they come up with!

Make sure to join us on January 15th.

How the Ladder Works

Each tournament comes with Meta Plays Ladder Points. These points go towards the corresponding ladder. Based on your position in the ladder, we assign you to a "Class" - one of D(lowest), C, B, A and S(highest). The classes give you a badge and will be featured on your Tournament Profile. Check out the Class icons below. While we will handle invites to the Main Event based on our ladder, the actual seeding will be done by ATR standings.

The top 4 players will also receive medals corresponding with their final placement in each Tournament. While qualifiers are generic, the Main Event will receive custom medals.

For additional info, please check our Tournament and Ladder explainer posts!

Give Us The Numbers

Based on the number and quality of signed up players, we modify the number of total points that a tournament can provide. Our guidelines for this are below:

• Base value: 10x Prize pool in USD (or monetary value in prizes).
  • For qualifiers the base value is 1000.
• For any class exclusion combination, remove 10% points per class removed.
  • S+A Class only tournaments are excluded from this ruling on a case-by-case basis.
• The number of players in the tournaments will scale the points in the following way:
  • 4-8: -50%
  • 9-15: -25%
  • 16-23: no change
  • 24-31: +50%
  • 32-47: +75%
  • 48-64: +100%
• You can review the point spread between player placements using our Tournament Point Calculator.

Can I Host Tournaments Too?

Yes! We are in fact looking for additional Content Partners that are willing to contribute to our Seasonal Ladders, or to cover matches alongside us.
You can apply as a content partner here.

Where did the low Elo events go?

We are currently looking to focus on our main league and establishing ourselves better in the scene. After this season, we will revisit the topic of other formats.

Can I Help Meta Plays Directly?

For any of you looking to support our project, the best way to do so is becoming a subscriber on the website. This is a monthly recurring payment that you get perks and exclusive news for. The more goals we hit, the easier and safer it is for us to keep the project going.
We are also currently looking for Moderators to join our team, so that we can keep our chats, discord and website a pleasant and friendly environment for all. You can apply here.

Where To Watch

We will live stream the main events on our Twitch, and VoDs will be available on our YouTube.
Community casters will have access to cover games as well - all games that we don't cover are open casting for live streamers. Please contact each event's manager for clearance. Bear in mind though, that in Age of Mythology, due to limited spectating slots and lag reasons, our Content Partners have priority in key matches.
We also provide replay packs that may be used for replay casts or learning purposes.

That is pretty much it! Let us know what you think in the comments below, join us on Discord for real-time chats, and we will see you on the battlefield!