Payback

Hello Everyone, Last Friday was the conclusion of the first season of the Mini League, where we saw Max’s Rancid Rats take out the whole tournament undefeated. Hazard had put up a good fight against the rats, taking them to game five in the Grand Final. We would like to extend a personal thank you to everyone involved in the first season of Mini League. In this post, we will be providing details on the Mini League Season 2 and some of the more permanent changes that we are making to the Weekly Bash. Mini League Season 2 After seeing the potential that has come from the first season of the ‘Mini League’, we are back for the second season of the 'Mini League’, starting on the 18th of September with the qualifiers. For those that don't know what the Mini League is, it is a structured, short league for the top 6 to fight for their share in the $250 AUD prize pool. Each season will operate in a 5-week cycle, to provide that consistent and refreshing experience. About the Mini League (Season 2) Format 6 teams will qualify for the Mini League season from The Weekly Bash’s #6 and #7 (Top 3 from each week). 2 Weeks - Qualifiers from Challengers Division (Top 3 Qualify Each Week) 2 Weeks - Mini League Play Single Round Robin (Bo5) 1 Week - Top 4 Finals Gauntlet Format (Bo5) Team requirements Team Logo (if not provided, a generic logo will be used) Team Captain Roster A team roster must consist of at least 3 members. Teams must keep 2/3rd of the core roster used in the qualifiers. Any roster change made, will be subject to admin approval. Additional Notes (Changes are in bold) If a team qualifies during Week 1 of qualifiers, then they cannot play in week 2 of the qualifiers. 1 game per round will be streamed on the BlueBird Rivals Twitch channel. For games that aren’t streamed on the main broadcast, we will be partnering with community streamers that will cover those games. Additionally, that will mean that replays for every game played will be available. After the season is concluded, every team will have to requalify for the next season. Season 2 will last for a period of 5 weeks. Any team that qualifies for the Mini League will now have to accept an invite from the admin team, so they are fully aware of the schedule and can commit to it. Prizes Mini League Qualifiers (Weekly Bash #6 and #7) 1st - $30 AUD + Mini League S2 - League Play Spot 2nd - Mini League S2 - League Play Spot 3rd - Mini League S2 - League Play Spot Finals $250 AUD Baseline 1st - $150 AUD (60%) 2nd - $75 AUD (30%) 3rd - $25 AUD (10%) Just like last season, we will be having the finals prize pool be crowdfunded thanks to Context. So if you want to increase the stakes for these players, we would encourage you to donate the Context prize pool. (Donation link will be available on Friday 18th September) Rules For this season, we will be having a dedicated rulebook for the Mini League, that which can be found here: https://bit.ly/3hu7ffa. Schedule Mini League (Season 2) W1-2 - Qualifiers (Done via Challengers Division from Weekly Bash) Duration: 2 weeks Teams: Open Stages: 2 Format: Round Robin to Single Elim (with Third Place tiebreaker) Top 3 from each week qualifier to Round Robin - Mini League Play Week 1 - 18th Sep Week 2 - 25th Sep W3-4 - League Play Duration: 2 weeks Rounds: 6 Teams: 6 Format: Round Robin 4 teams qualify for playoffs 2 teams eliminated Week 3 - 2nd Oct Rounds 1-3 Week 4 - 9th Oct Rounds 4-6 W5 - Finals Duration: 1 day Matches: 3 Teams: 4 Format: Gauntlet Week 5 - 16th Oct Round 1 - 4th Seed v 3rd Seed Round 2 - 2nd Seed v Winner of Round 1 Grand Final - 1st Seed v Winner of Round 2 Weekly Bash Changes During ‘The Weekly Bash’ #4 and #5, we announced that we were trialing a series of changes with the goal of making ‘The Weekly Bash’ fairer and more enjoyable for everyone. These were the following trials that were announced. In the Weekly Bash #4, the playoff format is now a double elimination, with lower-seeded teams starting in the lower bracket. For the Weekly Bash #5, there will be no round-robin group stage and will only be a Double Elimination format. The top 20 teams (and players of those teams) in the Liquipedia OCE ratings will now be barred from entering the Amateur Division. Any team which places highly in the Amateur Division may be automatically promoted to the Challengers Division the next time they enter any of our events. For the Challengers Division, established teams will now be seeded using the Liquipedia ratings. After some deliberation, we have decided to make the following changes; The format for The Weekly Bash #6 and #7, will revert back to a 2 stage tournament, where the first stage is a BO3 round robin with teams of up to 4 per group, and the top 2 from each group will progress to the BO5 single elimination playoffs (with a third-place tiebreaker for Challengers Division). We decided that we still need to do some finetuning to provide an excellent format for the players to play in while balancing it for a consistent broadcast experience (especially during Qualifiers). We may be doing further trials from the Weekly #8 - #10 and hope to find a good experience for both the players and stream while not impacting the duration of the tournament. The top 25 teams (and players of those teams) in the Liquipedia OCE ratings will now be barred from entering the Amateur Division. We have decided to up this from the original top 20 team, after some further analysis on the rankings and the skills of those teams. Any individual from the top 25 teams wanting to participate will need admin approval to participate. We will still be using our discretion to determine if a player or team is appropriate for the Amateur Division. Any team which places highly in the Amateur Division may be automatically promoted to the Challengers Division the next time they enter any of our events. This remains unchanged from the trials. For the Challengers Division, established teams will now be seeded using the Liquipedia ratings. This remains unchanged from the trials. Conclusion We can't wait to see what the second season of the Mini League brings, in terms of play and we hope you enjoy these changes to the Mini League and The Weekly Bash. As per always, we do take into consideration the feedback that people do give us and are vital to providing you with a better event experience. Therefore, if you have any feedback (or compliments in that case), please let us know. We will have the registration announcement for the Weekly Bash #6 ready tomorrow night on our Discord server. Thanks for reading - BBR Team

Good News Everyone, While we are in the middle of the first season of the Mini League, we are planning to test some small but key changes to the Weekly Bash with the goal of making it fairer and more enjoyable for everyone. In preparation for the second season of the Mini League these changes will be implemented during weeks 4 and 5 of the Weekly Bash, and after deliberation may be permanent. Any feedback regarding the changes is greatly appreciated and the BBR team is always here to help if any gamer is having difficulty understanding these changes. Format Change Trials For both Challengers and Amateur divisions, we will be replacing the single-elimination playoff bracket with a special double-elimination format in which the teams who placed second in their group will start in the lower bracket (for the Weekly Bash #4 only). Example Bracket Important Note: All Lower bracket matches will be Bo3 up until the Lower Final, after which it will be a Bo5. Only the Upper Semi-Final will be a Bo3 (and prior rounds, if there are more than 4 groups) in the Upper bracket, the Upper Final and Grand Final will be a Bo5, with the Grand Final having a NO GAME ADVANTAGE OR BRACKET RESET. In the Weekly Bash #5, we are testing the format being a straight up double-elimination tournament, with no group stage. Amateur Division Specific Changes The top 20 teams in the Liquipedia OCE ratings will now be barred from entering the Amateur Division and any individual from the top 20 teams wanting to participate will need admin approval. The rankings can be found here - https://liquipedia.net/rocketleague/Portal:Rating#The_Rating We are fully aware that this does not cover every team that exceeds the expected skill level for the Amateur Division, therefore we will still be including our rank recommendations as a general guideline and admins reserve the right to move teams up to the challengers division. Additionally, any team who places highly in the Amateur Division, as long as they retain 2/3rds of their core roster, may be automatically promoted to the Challengers Division the next time they enter our Weekly Bash event. This auto-promotion will last for a minimum period of one event (depending on their performance in the Challengers Division, the admin team may choose to allow them to go back down to the Amateur Division in future events or keep them in the Challengers Division on a more permanent basis). Challengers Division Specific Changes Seeding is an important and sometimes overlooked aspect of esports and we want to make sure that we are getting it as accurate and fair as possible. Moving forward, it is important to give the upper echelon of the oceanic based player base a more transparent seeding process. For existing rosters who meet the requirements, this will be done using the liquipedia rankings (found above). We are aware that there are pick-up teams that do participate in our events, therefore until we can come up with a fair and transparent process to rank the players against established rosters, we will still be using our own judgement to rank those teams. Mini League Specific Changes While we are in the middle of the first season of the Mini League, issues have appeared and thus improvements are being worked on to better improve the event. However, it is far too early to announce any changes to the future seasons of the Mini League and we will be announcing those changes closer to the second season. Conclusion Once again, we believe that these changes are an ample start towards making our tournaments fairer and more enjoyable for everyone. For those that want to provide feedback or need more clarity on these changes, please reach out to the BBR team. TL;DR: In the Weekly Bash #4, the playoff format is now a double elimination, with lower seeded teams starting in the lower bracket. For the Weekly Bash #5, there will be no round-robin group stage and will only be a Double Elimination format. The top 20 teams (and players of those teams) in the Liquipedia OCE ratings will now be barred from entering the Amateur Division. Additionally, any team which places highly in the Amateur Division may be automatically promoted to the Challengers Division the next time they enter any of our events. For the Challengers Division, established teams will now be seeded using the Liquipedia ratings. These changes are not guaranteed and are a part of a trial that will run during the Weekly Bash 4 and 5. - BBR Team

Introducing The Weekly Bash (featuring the Mini League) The Weekly Bash is BlueBird Rivals’ refreshed weekly tournament series, designed to provide a highly competitive experience for those wishing to push through the bubble scene and test their skills to their limits. A part of 'The Weekly Bash' is the 'Mini League', a structured, short league for the top 6 to fight for their share in the $250 AUD prize pool. Each season will operate in a 5 week cycle, to provide that consistent and refreshing experience. About the Weekly Bash (Weekly Events) Divisions Challengers Division (First two weeks are used for Mini League qualifiers) Recommended 6man Rank A-X/Mid GC (1700) and above Amateur Division Recommended 6man Rank B-C/GC and below Format Groups to Playoffs (Same for each Division) Group Stage Round Robin Groups of up to 4 teams Top 2 Advance to Playoffs Bo3 Playoffs Single Elimination Bo5 (Challengers Division only) Third Place tiebreaker in place for the first two weeks only. This is so we can figure out our third qualifying team for each of these two weeks. About the Mini League Format (Season One) 6 teams will qualify for the Mini League season from the first two weeks of the Weekly Bash 2 Weeks - Qualifiers from Challengers Division (Top 3 Qualify Each Week) 2 Weeks - Mini League Play Single Round Robin (Bo5) 1 Week - Top 4 Playoffs Gauntlet Format (Bo5) Team requirements Team Logo (if not provided, a generic logo will be used) Team Captain Roster A team roster must consist of at least 3 members. Teams must keep 2/3rds of the core roster used in the qualifiers Notes If a team qualifies during Week 1 of qualifiers, then they cannot play in Week 2 of the Weekly Bash 1 game per round will be streamed 1-2 games per round will be played off-stream (or via a community stream) 2 broadcasted games per team during the season After the season is concluded, every team will have to requalify for the next season A season lasts for 5 weeks. Prizes The Weekly Bash Challengers Division 1st - $30 AUD Each Week Mini League $250 AUD Baseline **Based on Playoffs Placements 1st - $150 AUD (60%) 2nd - $75 AUD (30%) 3rd - $25 AUD (10%) Schedule Weeklies (Weekly Bash) Will run on every Friday and the first two weeks of each Mini League's season, will be used as qualifiers in the Challengers Division Divisions: 2 (Challengers and Amateurs) Format: Round Robin to Single Elimination Mini League (Season One) Aug 14, 21 - Qualifiers (Done via the Challengers Division from The Weekly Bash) Duration: 2 weeks Teams: Open Format: Round Robin to Single Elimination (with third place tiebreaker) Top 3 from each week qualifier to Round Robin - Mini League Play Aug 28, Sep 4 - Mini League Play Duration: 2 weeks Teams: 6 Format: Round Robin 4 teams qualify for playoffs 2 teams eliminated Sep 11 - Playoffs Duration: 1 day Teams: 4 Format: Gauntlet Summary Here are some pretty images to summarise everything As per always, we are looking for feedback to help make The Weekly Bash and Mini League as good as it can possibly be. Please make your voices heard in the feedback section of our Discord. We have also opened up registrations for the first two weeks of The Weekly Bash, so sign up today! https://smash.gg/WeeklyBash1 - Aug 14 https://smash.gg/WeeklyBash2 - Aug 21 Join the BlueBird Rivals Discord https://discord.gg/TmnP7K5 p.s. In other news Broadcasts are making a comeback. So keep an eye out over at https://www.twitch.tv/bluebirdrivals every Friday!