Format
You can view dates & times for every stage of the tournament on the Schedule page.
Here's how Gridlock's tournament works, from signing up all the way to the Finals:
1. Signing up (June)
Once the signup window opens, you'll be able to sign up to compete. You'll need:
- a Discord account;
- a paid, legitimate Minecraft: Java Edition account;
- a streaming service account for Twitch or YouTube
You'll also need to agree to our Code of Conduct before you can invite a duo to pair up with you. Once your duo partner has accepted your invite, you'll be ready to compete once the qualifiers begin. Signups are only open for 5 days so be sure to sign up in time if you'd like to compete!
2. Practice Weekend (June)
All registered duos will have the chance to compete in an optional practice weekend, held in the same format as the Open Qualifiers. Each region will have an 8 hour window in which duos can compete in 7 matches, but with no stakes and no eliminations at the end of the day. It's entirely optional, but is a good chance to practice and strategise!
3. Open Qualifiers (June)
Over three weekends (EU playing Saturdays, NA playing Sundays), duos will compete in 7 matches in an 8 hour period. At the end of each day, any duos from that region with under 50% win rate will be eliminated, and the remaining duos continue to the next week. After the third weekend, the top 16 teams based on win-rate will go through to the next round.
You must play all 7 matches to qualify for the next round! Each round is 30 minutes, so to be sure you have enough time to complete all matches, plus any wait time while queuing, you will need to start playing within the first 4 hours of your region's window.
In the event of a tie for the final 16, tie-breakers are calculated by taking a total of the point differentials of all your matches. For each match, your differential is counted by subtracting your opponent's points from your points, and the final tie-breaker value is the total of this differential from all your matches.
If a team disconnects at the start of the match, that is counted as a win for the remaining team. If they disconnect during, the game can be manually paused and they have a 5-minute grace period to reconnect before the game automatically ends early.
4. Bracket Stage (August)
The top 16 teams from each region then compete in Best-of-3 matches over 2 weekends, competing for one of the eight spots in the Circuit. These matches are seeded based on the teams' win/loss ratio from the qualifiers. Four matches will be played per region per weekend (4 for EU on Saturday, 4 for NA on Sunday).
5. The Circuit (August-November)
From August to November, the last two weekends of each month will be Circuit matches. The first weekend has a Swiss format, where the 8 teams are separated into round-robin groups of 4 to play Best-of-3 matches. The top 2 teams from each group will compete in a Bracket-style tournament in the second weekend, with the winner getting the largest share of that month's $15k total prize pool.
6. The Finals (December)
From each region, the top 2 teams of each Swiss format group will compete for the final prize pool. In the first weekend, each team will a play a Best-of-3 match against each other to decide the seeding for the final bracket. The second weekend is the Final Bracket, with Best-of-3 matches in the semifinals, and a Best-of-5 match for the final to earn the grand prize from their region's prize pool.