Nakamura

Showmatch commissed by: @Defender707. Thank you! Remember you can commission your own showmatch in our store! The showmatch will take place on Sunday, September 3rd, starting at 5 PM GMT. Make sure to catch our live stream! But in case you can't make it, a YouTube VOD will be available. EVENT PRIZES Winner takes it all: $40 USD GAME SETTINGS First map is pre-defined: Rift. Losing player each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. If all maps are used already, you may re-pick maps one time each. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders. If all leaders are used already, you may re-pick leaders up to one time each. Voridus may not use Combat Spoils. No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. Players must use in-game or DMs to notify casters of the node-strat. Casters will need to confirm for validity. Mild cases of node strat will result in a warning (eg accidental retreats). 3 warnings will result in a match loss. Severe cases of node strat will result in a match loss (eg purposefully forced capture or cloak-based node strat). Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither player has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one player has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one player has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the player with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Alternating hosting between players. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord for communication purposes. Forfeiting/not showing up to the showmatch without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will not be considered for future showmatches. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither player is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a player wins via lateness penalties, the late player is disqualified. No harassment or discrimination of players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. PAYMENT You will be paid approximately 2-5 work days after the event. Please reach out to @Nakamura with your payment information after the event. If you do not provide payment information despite requests within 60 days after the event, you forfeit the prize money. You confirm that the account you provide is owned by you. We do not take responsibility for funds getting lost to third parties in the event of the account not belonging to you. We will not pay out to a known third party. We can pay out via bank transfers or PayPal. We do not pay out via other methods. We do not pay extra to cover transfer fees. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Players: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site.

Event page:

Showmatch commissed by: @Apexsean. Thank you! Remember you can commission your own showmatch in our store! Defender will be allowed to be coached in voice chat with his choice of a partner, whereas Liam is on his own! The showmatch will take place on Friday, September 1st, starting at 6 PM GMT. Make sure to catch our live stream! But in case you can't make it, a YouTube VOD will be available. EVENT PRIZES Winner takes it all: $30 USD GAME SETTINGS First map is pre-defined: Rift. Losing player each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. If all maps are used already, you may re-pick maps one time each. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders. If all leaders are used already, you may re-pick leaders up to one time each. Voridus is banned by default. Picking him results in a loss (even via random). No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. Players must use in-game or DMs to notify casters of the node-strat. Casters will need to confirm for validity. Mild cases of node strat will result in a warning (eg accidental retreats). 3 warnings will result in a match loss. Severe cases of node strat will result in a match loss (eg purposefully forced capture or cloak-based node strat). Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither player has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one player has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one player has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the player with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Alternating hosting between players. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord for communication purposes. Forfeiting/not showing up to the showmatch without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will not be considered for future showmatches. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither player is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a player wins via lateness penalties, the late player is disqualified. No harassment or discrimination of players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. PAYMENT You will be paid approximately 2-5 work days after the event. Please reach out to @Nakamura with your payment information after the event. If you do not provide payment information despite requests within 60 days after the event, you forfeit the prize money. You confirm that the account you provide is owned by you. We do not take responsibility for funds getting lost to third parties in the event of the account not belonging to you. We will not pay out to a known third party. We can pay out via bank transfers or PayPal. We do not pay out via other methods. We do not pay extra to cover transfer fees. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Players: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site.

Finances - Report for 2022 We decided to start publicly sharing the overall project finances starting now, with the results of last year. The 2022 data is a baseline to compare ourselves against - it was the first complete calendar year of Meta Plays activity. This was still a time where we took major risks and explored unviable spaces like Age of Empires 4 and SpellForce 3, where we were unable to create revenue from the content itself. The majority of income (60%) has been event contributions - of which naturally 100% went directly into the prize pool, offsetting the expenses. Naturally, double expenses compared to income is not a sustainable situation long term, and we will be looking for that gap to be closed over 2023. This is all expected however, considering that we are still developing the website, as well as that new games were not expected to carry their own weight as much as Age of Mythology and Halo Wars 2. Finances - Projection for 2023 The first half of 2023 has already passed, so we have fairly good data to project how 2023 will go if we make no changes. The below charts are the worst case scenario that could happen at the end of the year - we are taking many steps to avoid the stagnant outcomes we project here. With development still being active, turning a profit is not expected, but we will need to close the gap between expenses and income further. Notable positives: Subscription revenue has increased, and optimistically we can project to reach over $1000 for 2023. Thank you very much for the support, this is great progress! We project a 70% increase year over year. Tipping revenue has increased, with an optimistic projection of $400 for 2023. Thanks to your help, we can offer our staff fair payment for their hard work. We project a 40% increase year over year. YouTube revenue has drastically increased, considering that we were not yet monetized in the first half of 2022. We appreciate your viewership, and would encourage more of you to subscribe, as this is the highest quality version of our content (1440p, high bitrate, edited without breaks). We project a massive 200% increase year over year. Twitch revenue has also drastically increased. This stems largely from a larger focus on our core games, Age of Mythology and Halo Wars 2, higher viewership, and most importantly, your support! We project a massive 175% increase year over year. We have also committed more to sponsorships in 2023 so far. After our short break, we will be continuing down this path, and would like to ask for your support and patience in this area, as it's one of our major revenue streams that makes the project possible. We project a 65% increase year over year. Halo Wars 2 prize pool contributions from the community have also increased. Thank you all for your support on this front! This increases the earnings of players, and makes them train harder. We project an increase of up to 70% year over year. The bad news: Unfortunately, this is where the good news end. We have been facing greater costs due to the nature of scaling up the project, such as via more video editing and art required, as well as inflation-induced cost increases. These were not really avoidable, but thanks to our 2 game focus from this point forward, we can expect a slightly more optimistic result than in the charts. Reducing Age of Mythology budget: The greatest negative thus far though is the drop in prize contributions for Age of Mythology. We project a drop of more than 50% year over year. We were expecting to continue the great momentum with Age of Mythology, and so have increased our budget for our leagues this year, but doing so has completely stopped community contributions since our Wisdom of Thoth League was announced. We are not going to be able to maintain doubling our prize pools compared to before, especially if it means that the community contributions stop - it makes no sense for us to do so, considering that the net result for players is the same. We must rely on the community to push our events to the next level. The exact adjustment is to be announced, however we need to make the decision to reduce our Age of Mythology budget until Retold is released. On Retold, we will start out strong to create some great initial competition, but will still be looking towards the community to aid our longevity. Reducing Staffing Budget: Staffing cost has increased this year due to greater revenue in general, as well as due to equipment needs. We project an increase of 33% year over year. Looking at our percentile stagnation when looking at totals (which result in a decline in absolute values), we will need to make an adjustment on this front so as to increase the project's viability. As the current season ends, our current casters will be offered a content partner or moderator position. Future event coverage will be held with optional, invited guest casters, which will be a networking-based slot, as we currently cannot afford paying for this. As we grow and turn profitable, in the long term, we will revisit this stance. Eliminating development costs in 2024: While we are committed to developing the proposed Tier ladder system, as you can see from our charts, development is one of the major cost components of the project. As this work is completed, feature-wise we aim to go into maintenance mode, at least until we turn profitable. We will also consider having a development-related subscription goal. More on this later. Subscription System Updates Our website subscription system is one of our most important revenue streams, seeing as no third party takes a cut (Twitch takes 50%, YouTube takes 30%). This makes our website subscribers our most valued supporters. We want to make sure that you are satisfied with the benefits and that you see them as worthwhile, so we have made some adjustments: All tiers now feature voting rights regarding our events. We will offer several options to subscribers for voting, such as about rule sets, formats and event art themes. Tier 4 and above gets double power. Tier 3 and above now gain ad-hoc game key giveaways. We have updated our goals: We added monthly showmatches for each game. This will unlock once we reach $200/month. We added a mystery goal at the end ($500/month). We have some ideas, and will offer subscribers a chance to vote. Once the mystery goal is unlocked, we will start a second tier of goals. We removed the PayPal fee coverage goal. This was a boring goal. We will stop covering prize pool contribution fees to help the project's finances. See the full current list here: Staffing Update: With us moving away from dedicated casters, we also have decided that this is a good time to review how we function when it comes to management. Going forward, we will have the following roles at Meta Plays: Project Director: Owner of Meta Plays. Handles finances, such as planning, pay-outs or sponsor interaction. Handles development management and decision making. Responsible for coverage of key events. Creates announcement articles. Creates tournament and showmatch listings. Responds to comments across social media. Manages content partner program. Project Manager: Contractor. Recruits and assigns moderators to chat and score reporting management. Collects community feedback. Manages unban requests and internal decision making around them. Syncs with Media Manager about upcoming events and key news. Resolves disputes. Community Manager: Contractor. Handles all matters related to the game they are dedicated to. Must be a well-connected member of the community. Manages tournaments and is in charge of rule enforcement and dispute handling. Directly invites players and content creators to participate in individual events. Directly engages with the community, turning chats into conversations. Encourages the community to share feedback, guides and more. Media Manager: Contractor. Video editor for YouTube purposes. Responsible for social media, sharing events and updates. Developer: Contractor. Working on website features, streaming tools, or art assets. Moderator: Volunteer position. Keeps chat/comment sections clean, handling time-outs and bans together with the other mods and Project Manager. Enters scores in tournaments and showmatches. Approves or rejects reports in the Tier Ladder. Currently we are looking for moderators to join our project. Feel free to apply here, or send a message to @Olvadi or myself directly.

Event page:

Welcome to our Halo Wars 2 promo showmatch! Sean will be allowed to be coached in voice chat with his choice of a partner, whereas Liam is on his own! The showmatch will take place on Sunday, August 13th, starting at 7 PM GMT. Make sure to catch our live stream! But in case you can't make it, a YouTube VOD will be available. EVENT PRIZES Winner takes it all: $30 USD GAME SETTINGS First map is pre-defined: Rift. Losing player each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. If all maps are used already, you may re-pick maps one time each. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders. If all leaders are used already, you may re-pick leaders up to one time each. Voridus may not use Combat Spoils. No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. Players must use in-game or DMs to notify casters of the node-strat. Casters will need to confirm for validity. Mild cases of node strat will result in a warning (eg accidental retreats). 3 warnings will result in a match loss. Severe cases of node strat will result in a match loss (eg purposefully forced capture or cloak-based node strat). Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither player has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one player has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one player has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the player with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Alternating hosting between players. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord for communication purposes. Forfeiting/not showing up to the showmatch without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will not be considered for future showmatches. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither player is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a player wins via lateness penalties, the late player is disqualified. No harassment or discrimination of players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. PAYMENT You will be paid approximately 2-5 work days after the event. Please reach out to @Nakamura with your payment information after the event. If you do not provide payment information despite requests within 60 days after the event, you forfeit the prize money. You confirm that the account you provide is owned by you. We do not take responsibility for funds getting lost to third parties in the event of the account not belonging to you. We will not pay out to a known third party. We can pay out via bank transfers or PayPal. We do not pay out via other methods. We do not pay extra to cover transfer fees. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Players: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site.

The DM Revival Cup is a rolling event series to provide the community with practice opportunities until Age of Mythology: Retold releases. They will exist alongside the Meta Plays seasons, but have no main event to qualify to, and are funded by sponsorship activities via Nakamura's Twitch channel. $100 and 1000 Meta Plays Points are up for grabs. The purpose of these events is to provide practice to the community until Age of Mythology: Retold releases. The tournament will begin on August 14th, and players must complete 1 round per week at a time of the players' choice. The winner finals, losers finals and grand finals must be live streamed. Seeding is based on Meta Plays Ladder Points. @Nakamura is the manager for this tournament. For any questions, concerns or requests, please reach out to him on Discord, or @ him in the comments here (if not urgent). Thank you to @Phenomenon @GanG and @strausshaus for participating in sponsorships, and to @WizSanji for rolling his previous winnings back into the events. EVENT PRIZES 1st place: $40 | 255 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Gold Medal Icon 2nd place: $30 | 185 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Silver Medal Icon 3rd place: $20 | 135 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Bronze Medal Icon 4th place: $10 | 95 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Copper Medal Icon 5-6th place: 54 Meta Plays Ladder Points 7-8th place: 37 Meta Plays Ladder Points 9-12th place: 24 Meta Plays Ladder Points 13-16th place: 17 Meta Plays Ladder Points GAME SETTINGS Use Age of Mythology: Extended Edition on Steam. Game mod: DM Patch 2023. No repeats of any god you won with in the current series. Accidental pick of an already used up god will has the following penalties: The match is invalid - head back to lobby. Your opponent may optionally pick a specific god for you that hasn't been used yet. The lower seed should start the map ban. Alternate bans until the number of remaining maps matches the series size. First map per round is picked by the higher seed. Losing player each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. Valid maps: Alfheim, Arabia, Arctic Craters, Blue Lagoon, Frozen Wastes, Mirage, Oasis, Olympus, Savannah, Tundra, Wetlands. No excessive wall connector spamming allowed. Banned cases: Connector spam to clog up the map Acceptable cases include: 4 pieces around towers 4 pieces to save dock builder Segments to seal off a gap that was meant to be walled No hunt deleting. No unnatural wall usage, such as deleting wall segments and setting up a gate network. No Gaia Forests around Gold Mines or Settlements. No cheating of any form. HOSTING Games will be hosted by the higher seeded player. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the DM Discord. Report match results there, with replays, even if they were casted. Replays should be named with the following format: Round X - Player 1 Name vs Player 2 Name - Game # We will not count matches that you fail to properly report. Please cooperate for the sake of timeliness. Forfeiting/not showing up to any match with prizes and without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will be banned from the next event. Repeat offenders will receive a ban from the entire season. There will not be a fourth chance after the season-long ban expires. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither player is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a player wins via lateness penalties, the late player is disqualified. Players must play live streamed games with the assigned streamers present. Failing to do so will be counted as lateness. All live games played on non-approved channels are invalid. No harassment, discrimination, or cheating accusations against players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. Cheating accusations are meant to handled in private with Meta Plays staff. Stalling games after final staff decisions (e.g. via cheating accusation arguments) will result in lateness penalties. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. Live coaching or any other external communication during matches is unacceptable and will result in a permanent ban from all Meta Plays events. Do not sign up with smurfs. Match all account usernames. We will remove suspicious sign-ups. In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. PAYMENT You will be paid approximately 2-5 work days after the event. Please reach out to @Nakamura with your payment information after the event. If you do not provide payment information despite requests within 60 days after the event, you forfeit the prize money. You confirm that the account you provide is owned by you. We do not take responsibility for funds getting lost to third parties in the event of the account not belonging to you. We will not pay out to a known third party. We can pay out via bank transfers or PayPal. We do not pay out via other methods. We do not pay extra to cover transfer fees. This tournament takes place during a war period. Ukraine has been invaded by Russia and Belarus. In light of NATO sanctions against Russia and Belarus, we are not able to pay out prizes to Russian and Belarusian competitors residing in Russia or Belarus. Russian or Belarusian citizens are not affected by this if they reside in an un-sanctioned country, or have financial accounts in such a country able to receive payments. Affected prizes will be paid to a selected charity unrelated to the war, chosen by our staff. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS Everyone: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site. For casting, we recommend you use the Meta Plays Casting Tool for the best viewer experience. Content Partners: 60s delay is required for live games. You may stream any match from replay, and any live game before the final 4. Please contact @Nakamura to be linked from the bracket. Content Partners are prioritized for live games over non-partners.. You may upload videos at your leisure. Non-Partners: Casting approval is required. Please contact @Nakamura to request permission. Once approved, you may stream any match from replay, and any live game before the final 4. 90s delay is required for live games. We request you wait with video uploads until the Meta Plays channel has posted its version of the identical match.

The final day with the top 4 remaining players of the Wisdom of Thoth Age of Mythology League: Kimo, Ulysses, Nullus and Suppe. $1000 and 20000 Meta Plays Ladder Points are up for grabs. Brackets:

The final day with the top 4 remaining players of the Wisdom of Thoth Age of Mythology League: Kimo, Ulysses, Nullus and Suppe. $1000 and 20000 Meta Plays Ladder Points are up for grabs. Brackets:

The main event for for the Meta Plays Halo Wars 2 2v2 Amateur League Season 2! $250 and 1875 Meta Plays Ladder Points are up for grabs. The tournament will take place on Sunday, July 22nd, starting at 4 PM GMT. Brackets get locked at 3:45 PM GMT. This tournament is a ONE DAY EVENT - please ensure you have enough time to play in 1 go. Thanks to all contributors who made this prize pool possible. See their contributions below: @Psyalac: $30 @DarkangelJSB: $30 @jimmins31: $25 @Theta_Goliath: $20 @Bankai: $20 Seeding is based on the Season 5 ladder standings. Sign ups are only accessible to the top 16 players in the ladder. @_TheLegend_ is the manager for this tournament. For any questions, concerns or requests, please reach out to him on Discord, or @ him in the comments here (if not urgent). EVENT PRIZES 1st place: $100 | 633 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Gold Medal Icon 2nd place: $75 | 502 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Silver Medal Icon 3rd place: $50 | 408 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Bronze Medal Icon 4th place: $25 | 333 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Copper Medal Icon Confused about the tournament system? Check our Tournament and Ladder info posts, and the Halo Wars 2 Season 3 announcement! GAME SETTINGS First map is picked by the higher seeded team. Losing team each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders in a series. No Voridus. Leader repeats are judged on a team level, not a player level. No double leaders. Accidental pick of Voridus results in loss. No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither team has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one team has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one team has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the team with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Games will be hosted by the higher seeded team when staff is not present. Casters will host if they are present. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord. Report match results there. Forfeiting/not showing up to any match with money prizes without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will be banned from the next event. Repeat offenders will receive a ban from the entire season. There will not be a fourth chance after the season-long ban expires. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither team is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a team wins via lateness penalties, the late team is disqualified. No harassment, discrimination, or cheating accusations against players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. Cheating accusations are meant to handled in private with Meta Plays staff. Stalling games after final staff decisions (e.g. via cheating accusation arguments) will result in lateness penalties. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. Live coaching or any other external communication during matches is unacceptable and will result in a permanent ban from all Meta Plays events. Do not sign up with smurfs. Match all account usernames. We will remove suspicious sign-ups. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Everyone: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site. For casting, we recommend you use the Meta Plays Casting Tool for the best viewer experience. Content Partners: 60s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. You may upload videos at your leisure. Non-Partners: 90s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays or Content Partners. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. We request you wait with video uploads until the Meta Plays channel has posted its version of the identical match.

The third and final qualifier for for the 2v2 Amateur League Season 2! 1000 Meta Plays Ladder Points are up for grabs. The tournament will take place on Saturday, July 1st, starting at 4 PM GMT. Brackets get locked at 3:45 PM GMT. This tournament is a ONE DAY EVENT - please ensure you have enough time to play in 1 go. Seeding is based on 2v2 MMR - check yours here by searching for your Gamertag. To participate, your account: Must have 3.5 MMR or less in Ranked 2v2 War. Gamerscore in multiple games. Must have at least 500+ matches played. The Meta Plays team reserves the right to remove your sign up if you are deemed a high level player in other formats. We also reserve the right to allow players who slightly deviate from the above thresholds. @_TheLegend_ is the manager for this tournament. For any questions, concerns or requests, please reach out to him on Discord, or @ him in the comments here (if not urgent). EVENT PRIZES 1st place: 272 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Gold Medal Icon 2nd place: 202 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Silver Medal Icon 3rd place: 152 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Bronze Medal Icon 4th place: 112 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Copper Medal Icon 5-6th place: 75 Meta Plays Ladder Points 7-8th place: 59 Meta Plays Ladder Points Confused about the tournament system? Check our Tournament and Ladder info posts, and the Halo Wars 2 Season 3 announcement! GAME SETTINGS First map is picked by the higher seeded team. Losing team each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders in a series. No Voridus. Leader repeats are judged on a team level, not a player level. No double leaders. Accidental pick of Voridus results in loss. No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither team has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one team has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one team has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the team with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Games will be hosted by the higher seeded team when staff is not present. Casters will host if they are present. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord. Report match results there. Forfeiting/not showing up to any match with money prizes without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will be banned from the next event. Repeat offenders will receive a ban from the entire season. There will not be a fourth chance after the season-long ban expires. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither team is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a team wins via lateness penalties, the late team is disqualified. No harassment, discrimination, or cheating accusations against players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. Cheating accusations are meant to handled in private with Meta Plays staff. Stalling games after final staff decisions (e.g. via cheating accusation arguments) will result in lateness penalties. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. Live coaching or any other external communication during matches is unacceptable and will result in a permanent ban from all Meta Plays events. Do not sign up with smurfs. Match all account usernames. We will remove suspicious sign-ups. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Everyone: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site. For casting, we recommend you use the Meta Plays Casting Tool for the best viewer experience. Content Partners: 60s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. You may upload videos at your leisure. Non-Partners: 90s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays or Content Partners. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. We request you wait with video uploads until the Meta Plays channel has posted its version of the identical match.

Hey all, We wanted to provide a project update summarizing recent changes we have made, as well as a look into the future. Tournament and Showmatch Medals in Profile While before we used a separate profile page for your tournament stats, we have put in some effort to integrate the medals and tournament ladder rank cards into the main website profile. We have also defaulted to the "overall" setting, which shows your lifetime ranks and medals, rather than just 1 season at a time. The tournaments and Showmatches tabs will only appear on those players' profiles that have participated in our events. This makes the profiles a lot more linkable and interactable, while also providing better SEO. We hope you enjoy this update! Our Struggles with Halo Wars 2 Sign Ups We have recently shared a VLOG on YouTube about our struggles with especially the Halo Wars 2 pro league, where we would receive insufficient sign ups, in strong contrast to Age of Mythology, where a high number of players want to play. The feedback was overwhelmingly leaning in one direction - players want skill-based segregation, more than what we have been offering. Essentially we need something between our Amateur and Pro Leagues - perhaps a "Rising Star League" (feel free to suggest names). This isn't particularly simple to set up, and to ensure that we can make fair decisions about who belongs to which skill bracket, we must develop a system that makes these decisions 100% objective, as opposed to relying on personal decisions by our team (which can easily become sources of frustration). While the above is mostly a Halo Wars 2 problem, we could see our solution move Age of Mythology in a positive direction, too. What is the Tier Ladder? With all this in mind, we would like to propose the Tier Ladder (working name, we are open to suggestions): Players with a Meta Plays account will be able to sign up to a ladder A moderator will determine an initial placement. This can be based on a recent tournament and showmatch result, if available. If the player is not known, a showmatch/duel will be arranged by mods. The tier range will determine which league you will be allowed to participate in: S tier - Pro League players A tier - top Rising Star League players B tier - contending Rising Star League players C tier - new Rising Star League players D tier - top Amateur League players E tier - contending Amateur League players F tier - new Amateur League players Each tier will have a maximum size, with numbers to be determined, and subject to change over time. You can gain better spots in the list by defeating someone above you in a tournament or showmatch. By winning, you will take the spot of the person above you, whereas everyone you skipped past loses 1 spot Bo 5 and above required The event has to be relevant to the Tier Ladder format (2v2 results don't impact a 1v1 ladder etc) Non-Meta Plays events will count as well, but are subject to moderator approval Requesting showmatches is also an option where needed: Subject to moderator approval This avoids spammed requests, or cases where the players will face off in another event soon You may only issue such challenges 1 tier up Your opponent may decline with certain TBD valid reasoning At the highest levels, we, or our content partners may offer coverage and/or prizes on a case-by-case basis If we are not already aware of the event, you will have to self-report the results. Only the most recent result will count. What are the Benefits of the Tier Ladder? We have had a lot of feedback since we started regarding how the tournaments aren't for everyone. We believe the Tier Ladder, and splitting competition into Amateur, Rising Star, and Pro Leagues will service the majority of the competitive community, and offer a maximized number of players the ability to participate. In points: Everyone with a competitive mindset can participate Participants get to have the controlled tournament/showmatch experience that ranked does not offer Everyone gets clear goals to work towards, or maintain Fair play, similarly skilled opponents Separate Prizes for Amateur/Rising Star/Pro League - not just for the best few players in the world We get to work together with other content creators more When can we expect the Tier Ladder's Launch? While development of the official page has not yet started, we are about to begin working on the system. That said, we are discussing testing this with a simpler format, such as a Discord-based list for the moment. Before that though, we'd love to hear what you all have to say, as we have not yet decided on several details and rules. For the moment, we will not commit to a release date, and will run with the classic "it's ready when it's ready". This is all we have for today, but stay tuned - upon the completion of our currently active leagues, we will release a project finance update. Best wishes, The Meta Plays Team

The second qualifier for for the 2v2 Amateur League Season 2! 1000 Meta Plays Ladder Points are up for grabs. The tournament will take place on Saturday, June 17th, starting at 4 PM GMT. Brackets get locked at 3:45 PM GMT. This tournament is a ONE DAY EVENT - please ensure you have enough time to play in 1 go. For those looking to contribute to the main event, you may do so via our Donation Page, using the HW 2 option! Seeding is based on 2v2 MMR - check yours here by searching for your Gamertag. To participate, your account: Must have 3.5 MMR or less in Ranked 2v2 War. Gamerscore in multiple games. Must have at least 500+ matches played. The Meta Plays team reserves the right to remove your sign up if you are deemed a high level player in other formats. We also reserve the right to allow players who slightly deviate from the above thresholds. @_TheLegend_ is the manager for this tournament. For any questions, concerns or requests, please reach out to him on Discord, or @ him in the comments here (if not urgent). EVENT PRIZES 1st place: 435 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Gold Medal Icon 2nd place: 330 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Silver Medal Icon 3rd place: 225 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Bronze Medal Icon 4th place: 195 Meta Plays Ladder Points | Copper Medal Icon 5-8th place: 74 Meta Plays Ladder Points Confused about the tournament system? Check our Tournament and Ladder info posts, and the Halo Wars 2 Season 3 announcement! GAME SETTINGS First map is picked by the higher seeded team. Losing team each game picks next map. Each map may only be played once. Valid maps: Ashes, Badlands, Bedrock, Fissures, Frontier, Mirage, Rift, Vault. No repeat leaders in a series. No Voridus. Leader repeats are judged on a team level, not a player level. No double leaders. Accidental pick of Voridus results in loss. No node strat - do not take nodes without the intent of killing Sentinels. Exception: you can draw the Sentinels to attack an enemy minibase or units, and still capture the node. Exception: Cannon Fodder can take nodes any way you want. 1 hour time limit. If base and slot building count is even/very close, and neither team has a large army advantage, the game is a draw. If one team has an army advantage, casters will send a final attack prompt. The outcome of this last attack determines whether a winner or a draw is called, based on the base/slot building count afterwards. If one team has a clear base and slot building count advantage and their opponent is not in a position to even out the game with the next attack, the team with more slot buildings wins. Replay match if the series ends on tie. The previous loser picks map in this case. No cheating or intentional exploiting of any form allowed. Hosting Games will be hosted by the higher seeded team when staff is not present. Casters will host if they are present. SOCIAL RULES Participants must be in the Meta Plays Discord. Report match results there. Forfeiting/not showing up to any match with money prizes without notice will result in disqualification and you forfeiting the prizes. 1 rescheduling opportunity is granted when external conditions force it. There will not be a second rescheduling. Forfeiting players that break rules on any of our platforms, or do so out of malicious intent will be banned from the next event. Repeat offenders will receive a ban from the entire season. There will not be a fourth chance after the season-long ban expires. Penalties for not showing up: Timer starts when 1 player is ready and neither team is currently playing a match. Late by over 10 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win. This is the wait time BEFORE a series begins. BETWEEN games in a series, the lateness limit is 5 minutes. Late by additional 5 minutes: opponent gains 1 match win for each 5 min. Once a team wins via lateness penalties, the late team is disqualified. No harassment, discrimination, or cheating accusations against players/viewers/staff on any of our platforms. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. Cheating accusations are meant to handled in private with Meta Plays staff. Stalling games after final staff decisions (e.g. via cheating accusation arguments) will result in lateness penalties. No excessively derogatory messaging targeting our staff on any platform. This will result in a permanent ban on all Meta Plays platforms. Win trading will result in forfeit. Do your best to win. You may resign if you are clearly losing. Live coaching or any other external communication during matches is unacceptable and will result in a permanent ban from all Meta Plays events. Do not sign up with smurfs. Match all account usernames. We will remove suspicious sign-ups. No account sharing. You will be disqualified, forfeit of prizes in this event, and be permanently banned from all event participation. STABILITY RULES In the event of player lag disputes, players must submit speedtest results. The event manager will make a judgement call. In the event of a glitch where a building isn't building itself (the symbol preview never disappears): Within the first 3 minutes of the game, the player must type into the game chat, or notify the casters in DMs. Casters will need to confirm for validity. If the glitch is verified, an admin restart will be issued. If the glitch is not verified, the game should continue. Resigning without admin permission will be counted as a loss. In the event of a disconnection or crash: If the game was relatively even: If all parties crash, re-play the game. The game doesn't count for score in the first instance. The player who didn't disconnect may choose a new map, and both players may choose a new leader. In the second instance, the player who didn't disconnect receives a point on the score board. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. If both sides crash 3 times, reset PC/Xbox and internet. If a player was significantly ahead: Admin win is awarded for the match for all cases. In the third instance, the player who didn't disconnect wins the series. Johnson/Jerome crash: The Johnson/Jerome player loses. In the event of both players causing a crash, we will treat this case as a disconnect and follow rules around them. LIVE STREAMING & VIDEOS: Everyone: You may stream all of your own matches. You are required to feature the provided Meta Plays Logo over gameplay at all times. We request you give Meta Plays one shout-out mid-commentary, such as an invitation to make an account on the site. For casting, we recommend you use the Meta Plays Casting Tool for the best viewer experience. Content Partners: 60s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. You may upload videos at your leisure. Non-Partners: 90s delay is required. You may stream matches that aren't marked to be covered by Meta Plays or Content Partners. Please contact @_TheLegend_ for approval. We request you wait with video uploads until the Meta Plays channel has posted its version of the identical match.

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!

We're going to cast all the games of The Wisdom of Thoth!