Hello ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, and welcome to the 4th EQ Cup which will be coming to you soon in the New Year. It will be showcasing the latest and final instalment in the Equilibrium project. Team NV are the reigning double-champions of the Equilibrium Cup, but are they still in existence and if so, will they show up once again to defend their crown and make it a hat trick? Or will new champions emerge to take the title currently held by the hugely successful Japanese team? We shall find out in March next year!

What type of tournament is this and is it international?

In response to it being international, yes and no. The reason for both answers is because of the format of the tournament: we are separating it into two phases where the first phase is split into groups and is completely domestic. This means that in the group phases, EU teams will only play other EU teams, Russian teams will only play other Russian teams, NA teams will only play other NA teams, etc.

The top finishers of all the groups will then advance to the single-elimination knockout phase which is when international competition will start taking place. Depending on how many teams sign up, we are looking at this tournament to last for a maximum of 2 months, provided there are no delays.

Why is it done this way and not in swiss format?

For several reasons; international competition is a great spectacle for fans and viewers of comp L4D2 but it does not come without its inherent difficulties for players and teams when it comes to scheduling, sometimes being enough to keep a few teams away. Done in this fashion, the only teams that will experience international competition are those that succeed in the group phases. This makes it a lot easier for all teams in the domestic phase to experience the competition without the same problems and risks associated with organising international draws.

We opted not to go swiss this time because a) we wanted to try something different from the usual format and b) because elements of swiss (such as resistance points) also present their own problems which is completely out of the hands of the teams and can result in debates about fairness, etc.

Is there a limit as to how many teams sign up?

No, there is no limit. The great thing about the format here is that it's flexible enough to accommodate any number of teams, it wouldn't matter if we had an odd number of total teams. Even if a large number of teams enter the tournament, the group phases are there to essentially defragment the competition in its entirety and make it a smoother process that sticks to a reasonable time frame.

What config will be used?

The newly-released EQ 3.0 config will be featured and used in the tournament. Any previous version of EQ or another config used for a match will render the result null and void, so make sure your servers have it installed in advance!

Which maps will be played?

Depending on how many rounds are played in the competition, all nine stock L4D2 and L4D1 campaigns are included in the rotation, along with Detour Ahead as the one and only selected custom campaign. But there is no guarantee that all 10 of them will be played.

Are there any prizes?

As of yet, there are currently no planned prizes. If the tournament gets sponsored then perhaps that might change. But a couple of hundred dollars/euros divided between at least 4 people is pocket money which you could probably earn in just a day or two's work in a minimum-wage job, and shouldn't really be a factor that decides whether teams enter a competition or not.

And finally, where do I go to find out more and sign up for the league series?

You can sign up, read and hear about all the latest developments, post your match schedules, your match result screenshots and match VODs, all on the Neo Earth 4 Dead steam group which is where the entire thing will be hosted. Signups are officially open now and you have until 00:00 Pacific Standard Time on January 10th to register your team. So spread the word, get yourselves signed up and we'll see you in the New Year!

EDIT: Direct link to the official signup thread is right here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/ne4d/discussions/0/485624149151760860/

dey

edit:
ouch got removed from Admin from my own site dafuq

Here you have it folks, the domestic group stage for the EQ Cup is all set, with 30 teams split into 8 different groups and without further ado, they are:

Group A (EU)

Team France
Team Almania
Vindictive L4D2
Team P
Team PUBSTAR

Group B (EU)

Helheim
Team Vatican`
Boy Scouts
Team Spas

Group C (RUS)

Royal Flush
Rekt by
Sexy Team

Group D (RUS)

Abnormal
Minerva
Millennium

Group E (NA)

Team ECLIP5E
Ducatell Boyz
Team Paragon
Better Ingredients, Better Pizza

Group F (NA)

Team Tableflip
Babadook
Urine Danger
Team Status Quo

Group G (SA)

[N]exus
Team "ey b0ss?"
MTC
Team Luz
Team Relentless

Group H (AUS/NZ)

Salmon Catchers
The Miracles


The groups were put together the way they were to avoid making the opening phase go on for too long. Teams in Group H will play each other in a best of 3 due to there only being two teams in their domestic group. But for every other group, each team is to play each other once as normal.

The order in which your teams will play will be decided when the draws and maps are decided for each new round. Each week, you will be told which team to play and on which campaign.

Do not forget that if you plan on using any servers of your particular choice, they MUST have the most recent version of EQ 3.0c downloaded and installed. If you're playing on the wrong version, your match result will be rendered null and void! You can find the latest version via this link: http://www.l4dnation.com/community-news/equilibrium-3-0/

You can also find the official ruleset via this link: https://github.com/Attano/l4d2-tourney-rules/blob/master/rules_EQCup4.md

Good luck to all of you!

We also have a POV list for this tournament, where a player marked with POV status is required by the rules to stream their perspective of every match they play in for reasons discussed by the admins. The list currently consists of:

Miro

Ha Ha. The "list" consists of...............Miro....................

I'm not trolling btw. I just found that a funny ole' read.

Before this cute chat continues, I must add that miro most certainly isn't going to play on EQ Cup #4.

You may resume your talk now.

I see you changed your mind

inb4streamsnipeyolokills

A fair decision i think

Why are we still bargaining with known/assumed cheaters for tournaments? Doesn't seem like a fair decision for the rest of the community... There are cheats made specifically for livestreaming in CS:GO, that won't show on stream as well.

Good luck with the tournament?