First of all, sorry for the really late newsposts. This newspost is here in the first place thanks to Infamous because he helped me out with creating it. Also, Infamous is now appointed as Tournament Planner(Extra-Staff) so if you have suggestions for off-season events, just go to him.

This post covers the catchup week and playoff dates, newcomer tournament, nations cup, Draft tournament and how to sign up for a contest(in that order)

A newspost regarding Season 9 will come up next week, the signups of season 9(which aren't up yet) close on Friday February 26th at 6 PM CET and the season will start on Sunday February 28th.

Catch-up week and Playoffs:

The Catch-up week starts today(Sunday Jan 24th), You have until January 30th at 10:00 AM CET to play your matches. All unplayed matches will be forfeit. Regarding playoffs, there are 2 weeks reserved for them with a draft tournament on the 2nd weekend. Please prioritise your match planning.

Newcomer Tournament Winter 2016

It's that Time of the year again for the NSL. time for another Newcomer Tournament! In case you've missed the last few, newcomer tournaments are tournaments that feature teams composed entirely of people who have never played in the NSL or Aus league before! In other words, it's a great way for people new to competitive to get their feet wet against other teams of equal experience. 

If you're a player who has never played in the NSL or the Aus leagues before and would like to try competitive, you should absolutely sign up for this tournament! You can sign up with a premade team or as a single player--we will put players who have signed up on their own into teams so everyone will be able to have a chance to play!

When is the Newcomer Tournament?
The tournament itself will be played on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th of February

Saturday (Group Stage):
Start: 19:00 CET = 13:00 EST = 10:00 PST*
At most 3 matches, with 4 rounds each 
All games, if not finished earlier, will end at 00:00 CET / 6:00 PM EST

Sunday (Finals):
Start: 19:00 CET = 13:00 EST = 10:00 PST*
Semi-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.

Who can register?
All players who have not played in any of the Natural Selection Leagues (NSL/AusNS2League) 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 Tyrwing.

Nations Cup:

At long last we're going to be hosting another Nations Cup! It's time for each nation to field the strongest team they can in order to show the full capabilities of the nations. Each nation can have one team participating and all of your players have to be from your nation, but the team can have an unlimited amount of backup players.

Depending on the amount of teams that sign up, the cup will either be single or double elimination. The cup will take place Sunday February 21st. make sure to get your nation represented! Starting time also depends on the amount of teams that sign up.

To start, you can use one of the old topics in the recruitment forums or make one yourself to get your nation together.

Draft Tournaments:

So the community has asked and we have listened! We've put in place several proposed dates for draft tournaments, your feedback on them would help us facilitate which ones should happen. The dates right now are Saturday February 6th, Sunday February 7th and the early afternoon(1-2 PM CET) on Sunday February 14th. Like other draft tournaments, anyone can play and you will be picked into teams by designated team captains. Don't worry if you're new, everyone new and old alike will have fun! The sign-up sheets for the draft tournaments will go up and be edited into the post / added to the next post in the coming week.

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. We will be using the Newcomer Tournament as an example.

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 Newcomer Tournament Winter 2016
5. Check the Contest page for your team name to see if you've done it correctly.

Good luck and have fun everyone!