Newcomer Tournament:

Are you bored by the chaos of public games?
Have you ever wondered how this game plays in a 6 man team willing to speak and work together? Ready to try something new?

Join the Newcomer Tournament!

Bring your friends, or find new ones, and fight in a competitive 6v6 environment against other newcomer-teams to be crowned the best new NS2 team of 2015. All of this will be streamed by our experienced shoutcasters. Our previous one was a huge success so we’re hoping to see a lot of new teams signing up again.

When is the Newcomer Tournament?
The tournament itself will be played on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th of September.

But the fun starts when you are ready!
We strongly advise that all players who wish to take part start attending training and scrimming sessions hosted by experienced NS2 players every Sunday and Wednesday (see below for more information). This will give you the feel and the buzz of fast-paced competitive 6v6 NS2 before the tournament!

Saturday (Group Stage):
Start: 19 CEST* / 1 PM EST*
At most 3 matches, with 4 rounds each
All games, if not finished earlier, will end at 00:00 CEST / 6:00 PM EST

Sunday (Finals):
Start: 19 CEST* / 1 PM EST*
Half-Finals and Finals, played in a best of 5 format

* Depending on registrations these times might change.

Do I need a complete team?
No, you don’t! Everyone can register. It doesn’t matter if you register only yourself, with a few friends or a complete team.

During training sessions we will give you the opportunity to find other players. Also, we have an infrastructure in place in which you can actively search for a team or complement your roster.
Even if you don’t find a team before the day of the first match, we have some ideas for how you can participate.

Who can register?
All players who have not played in any of the Natural Selection Leagues (NSL/AusNSL) can participate.
If you have played only a partial season, you may still be able to participate. Just contact us (see below).

Where do I register?
Registration is run by the ensl.org homepage. This video explains the process. It is also the page where you can find teams, players, and your results. See our Help Document for more information!

Also please fill out this form if you wish to participate to make it easier for captains to sort out teams!

The Help Document and Steam Group
We provide much more information in our Help Document. Check it out for more information about anything related to the Newcomer Tournament. 

Don’t miss any news about the Newcomer Tournament by subscribing to our Steam Group.

Contact
If you have any questions not covered feel free to message us on steam: infamous and Kmacg Or you can email us at newbietourney (at) gmail.com

Also a special thanks to tudy who organised the previous newcomer tournament, his notes and previous work have been a big help.

Season 7:

Here we go again. It's almost time for another regular NSL Season, Season 7. We have been thinking hard to make it better than ever and we thought it would be best if seasons are compact, coherent across all divs, and focused. In other words, short and sweet. The season will have several steps in which it's planned and played out.

1. Before the season starts, signed up teams will be seeded into one big list.
2. That list will be cut to divisions of 5 or 6 teams.
3. Teams will play out group stage as classic round robin we are all used to.
4. Playoffs will consist of 2 top teams duking it out in the finals.
5. After that the top team will switch place with bottom team of the higher division.
6. New seedings are done according to rankings from group stage/finals and up/down switches.
7. Before the next season starts, we crop the disbanded teams and insert new teams and are ready to cut into divisions again.
8. New season, goto #2.

If we keep the div sizes to 5 or 6 teams, we will be able to run 1 season in about 7 weeks, including makeup and finals week. There will still be plenty of matches to play. There won't be disparity in season length in different divs. No downtime for teams. Teams will know that they are committing to exact time window and we might see less disbands/forfeits.

Some could say that if we mercilessly cut the seedings like this, some teams might wind up stomping or getting stomped. But that's the competitive life where we struggle to be the best (and have fun). This might force some team to practice against better teams and they might see quick rise in their skill. But honestly, you saw the last season, we cannot accommodate everyone to give nice equal matches and equal chances at getting to the playoffs. It's just not possible.

Organizational bits

Signups deadline: September 25th

Season start: September 27th

How to create a team and sign up
If you don't have a team, it's easy to create one with the following steps. If you want to register a pre-existing team, skip to step 4.

1. To create a team, register an account and go to Agenda -> Create a new team
2. Get your players to register and tell them to Join your team in their Agenda.
3. To accept your players on the team, go to Agenda -> Click your team name -> Edit (scroll down) -> Members -> Change their status from Joining to Member, Leader, or Deputee.
4. To join the tournament, go to Agenda -> Click your team name -> Edit (scroll down) -> Contests -> Join NSL Season 7 Signups
5. Check the Contest page for your team name to see if you've done it correctly.

Good luck and have fun everyone!