Meta Plays SpellForce 3 League Season 4 Announcement

We are pleased to announce the Meta Plays SpellForce 3 League Season 4!
Nakamura will cover key matches via personal Twitch and YouTube channels.

Introducing the Pro League Season 1:
(Note: all leagues are rebooted in terms of numbering)

Pro League Tournament 1 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting September 13 - 1 round per week
Pro League Tournament 2 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA
Pro League Tournament 3 - GSL Group Stage - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA

Introducing the Rising Star League Season 1:

Rising Star League Tournament 1 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting September 13 - 1 round per week
Rising Star League Tournament 2 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA
Rising Star League Tournament 3 - GSL Group Stage - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA

Introducing the Amateur League Season 1:

Amateur League Tournament 1 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting September 13 - 1 round per week
Amateur League Tournament 2 - Double Elimination - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA
Amateur League Tournament 3 - GSL Group Stage - 1000 Ladder Points - Starting Date TBA

Note: this article and our calendar will be updated as we progress through the season and new info becomes available.

Return To Tournaments & Casual Approach

As you can see, these events are not going to receive the usual Meta Plays package of full live coverage, and self-funded prize pools. This is purely a passion project in an effort to give SpellForce 3 players a fair, structured environment to play in consistently.

More importantly, we think that our new Provisional Ranking System has real potential to allow players to play in their own skill division.
This is extremely important for growth, both in terms of player interest and overall retention. We understand that no new player wants to go up against the top players and get smashed in round 1, hence the separate leagues.

Given players' schedule constraints, we are also going with single events over a qualifier -> main event system, as we want new players to be able to join our events for the first time any time, rather than having to sit out a main event they didn't qualify for.

In the new year, once we have gathered enough players, we will also investigate hosting 2v2 tournaments.

Lastly, while there will be both a short and long-term ladder for players to compete in, monetary prizes are entirely community-driven.
Only the Pro and Rising Star Leagues will accept community donations. 100% of proceeds will go to prize pools.

Access To Sign Ups - The Provisional Ranking System

Since we last hosted SpellForce 3 events, we have added a new leapfrogging ranking system. This will allow us to segment the leagues, stopping top players from playing in the Amateur League, and likewise stopping low and mid level players from playing in the Pro League. This approach is strongly in line with player feedback we have seen over the last few years.

Provisional Ranking Tiers will give you access to sign up to specific events like so:

• Pro League: S and A Tiers
• Rising Star League: A, B, C, D, E, F Tiers
• Amateur League: B, C, D, E, F Tiers

Moving through Provisional Rankings happens every time a tournament series or a showmatch gets a result on our website with immediate effect. So if you are currently rank 8, and beat rank 5, you will be the new rank 5, and the former rank 5 is now rank 6. Everyone in-between loses a rank as well.

You will be able to view the Provisional Rankings on this page.

The tiers are distributed as follows for SpellForce 3:

• S Tier: Rank 1-4
• A Tier: Rank 5-12
• B Tier: Rank 13-24
• C Tier: Rank 25-40
• D Tier: Rank 41-60
• E Tier: Rank 61-84
• F Tier: Rank 85+

We will start with Provisional Rankings that are based our staff's best judgement, but we expect any errors will be corrected within a single season, especially with the help of showmatches.

Caveat: 2v2 is not supported by the Provisional Ranking System. For 2v2 events, we will manually restrict sign ups for some players.

Of course, there will be badges on your profiles, in event sign-up lists, and in the ladders as eye-candy. See them below for all games.

How the Seasonal Ranking Ladder Works

Each tournament we host will reward players that have won any series with Meta Plays Ladder Points. The more you win, the more points you receive.

These Meta Plays Points then will go towards a Seasonal Ranking Ladder. Each League has its own separate Ladder.

The Seasonal Ranking Ladder will start everyone at 0 points when a new season comes around.

The scaling of the ladder points works as follows:

• Base value: 10x Prize pool in GBP (or monetary value in prizes).
• 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.

Cosmetic Features In The Seasonal Ranking 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 Profile. For the Main Event, we will only take our own ladder into account for your seeding. Check out the Class icons below.

The top 4 players will also receive medals corresponding with their final placement in each Tournament. 

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

Where To Watch

Nakamura will cover key matches via personal Twitch and YouTube channels, using replays.
Community casters will have access to cover matches live or otherwise without restrictions.
Please contact @Nakamurafor clearance in advance if you want to cast.

Can I Host Tournaments Too?

Yes! We are in fact looking for additional Content Partners that are interested in either helping to cover our own events, or to host their own leagues with separate Seasonal Ranking Ladders. W-e will closely work with you to help you set up your events.
You can apply as a content partner here.

That is pretty much it! Let us know what you think in the comments below, join Nakamura's Discord for SpellForce 3 events, and the Meta Plays Discord if you're interested in the other games we cover. We will see you on the battlefield!