Author: ToorAdmin

New bracket format available: the Gauntlet

We introduced with our recent structure update the Gauntlet bracket, a format that our organizers have been asking for, and we are delivering!
A Gauntlet is a type of duel-match bracket used as final stage in a tournament, usually following a League or Swiss Stage. It is a mono-branch single-elimination bracket in which only a handful of teams will play, with an important advantage given to the highest-ranked teams from the first stage.
In fact, in this type of stage, you place participants in matches up to the grand finals, depending on their #Seed:

This format is widely used in League of Legends Asian leagues, and is gaining traction in Europe too, with this season’s French Official League planning to use it aswell.
Here is an example of this new stage in our widget:

APEX Legends – The latest Battle Royale sensation!

It is hard to believe you would not have heard about Apex Legends, but just in case, it is the latest Battle Royale released by Electronic Arts and developed by Respawn, the creators of the Titanfall series. It’s fast-paced, brutal and seems to have understood everything a Battle Royale must be and do to succeed.

The post-launch numbers are quite eloquent:

Apex Stats

And the first weekend saw a peak concurrent players at more than 2 Million players, and almost 500,000 viewers on Twitch. Needless to say, the launch has been a huge success, and we felt it on Toornament too, with a lot of Apex Legends Tournaments created since the release of the game!

Official tournaments have also started, with the first Twitch Rivals on Apex Legends having been held earlier this month, with European and North American teams challenging each other to a points race during an evening:

So if you want to join the hype train, gather two of your friends and drop in King’s Canyon with your powers and weapons to claim the victory! And if you have the soul of an organizer, we have the perfect guide to help you organize your Apex Legends tournament!

Introducing Brackets for Free-for-All tournaments!

Our latest Structure update brought two new Free-for-All structures to our ever-expanding list, and those have been among the greatest challenges we have had to face. But we prevailed, and are proud to present to you our two new additions:

FFA Single-Elimination Brackets

These brackets work just like the standard Duel ones, except there can be up to 100 participants in a single match, with a portion of them advancing forward in the next round.
We adapted the rules of the standard duel brackets to the Free-for-All format, with a smart distribution of seeds in matches between rounds and no re-match between participants for as long as possible, thus keeping everything that makes a bracket interesting and competitive. Our FFA brackets are not just a linear series of matches where people will keep playing against the same opponents every time!

FFA Bracket Groups

We also created a variation upon this new format, with FFA Bracket Groups, that allow you to split your participants into several groups, where they will play Single-Elimination FFA Brackets to qualify for a final match or bracket!

With these two new structures, we confirm our will to remain the leading technology for all things esports, and no doubt our organizers will make good use of these new structures! And with the increasing number of Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Apex Legends tournaments, to quote only a few remarkable examples, no doubt the need for more advanced structures was becoming a pressing one, and here they are!

The Toornament API now has Webhooks!

We are excited to announce that Webhooks are now part of the Toornament API! Webhooks are a way for two applications to quickly and easily communicate with one another. Think of it as a ‘reverse API’, our Webhooks will let your application know that something happened in one of your tournaments, without the need for you to monitor everything at all times.

Our current set of webhooks, bound to be expanded, covers the whole spectrum of participant actions, from the registration to the check-in, so that you get notified whenever a participant performs an action in one of your tournaments, so you can automatically act upon it, or receive a notification, or build anything you want, really!

For example, imagine you want to send newly-registered players a customized email, thanks to the registration.created Webhook, you will receive a notification when a new registration is created in your tournament, and you will be able to configure any reaction you want to it, including custom emails!

This is a huge step to leverage the Toornament technology and to develop your own platforms (such as the French League of Legends official league or the Splatoon 2 tournaments website)!

You can find more about our Webhooks in our Developer Documentation, and don’t hesitate contacting us for questions and business inquiries!

What to expect from Esports in 2019?

Now that we are almost one month into 2019, it’s time to see what this new year has in store for us, esports-wise. The big names will of course keep doing what they do, some with major changes, others on well-known formula.
We must also keep an eye on some challengers and newcomers that plan on claiming their share of the market.
We have selected some interesting titles that we will hear about in 2019.

First off, we do not see the big current actors going out any time soon, and some games such as DotA 2, Counter Strike: GO, Rainbow Six: Siege, FIFA, Call of Duty, Rocket League and Overwatch will just keep on doing what they do, with the same formats, circuits etc.
Others are trying to bring new things in the mix, like the franchising for League of Legends, but ultimately, spectating-wise, it should not break your habits.

Unfortunately, it will not be the case for all games, and Blizzard recently announced it was stopping esports activities around Heroes of the Storm, so the game competitive scene will only be alive through community tournaments.
Bad news for Valve too, as their Artifact game really has trouble taking off, and they will have to bring a new vision to the game if they want it to compete with the other Card Games out there…

But let’s move on to clearer skies, with games that will probably leave a lasting mark on 2019, whereas they are newcomers, or plan exciting new things for their new season!

First off, newly released Super Smash Bros Ultimate will probably know a flourishing year, especially now that Nintendo has really started investing in esports. Some tournaments are already announced, and great things are to be expected. Pretty much the same can be said for Dragon Ball FighterZ, which has only growth in competitive interest since its release.
Two other games are on our radar, namely Magic the Gathering: Arena and PUBG, with their large scale circuits announced, they both are in a hit or miss situation, especially given the concurrence they are facing in their respective domains.

Speaking of the concurrence, PUBG is of course often compared to Fortnite, which is currently the most played game around the globe. But it still has to prove it has what it takes to become a successful esports title, and the 2018 experience has shown it was popular, but the game must find its format and pace, which PUBG has apparently found with their Pro League.
On the topic of Card Games, the main contender, Hearthstone, is to undergo some important changes for the next season, and after Heroes of the Storm, fans were getting anxious. We will know more next month, but Blizzard should not drop what is currently its most successful esports title (though Overwatch receives much more love).

Moving on to fighting games, we already mentioned Dragon Ball FighterZ, who is coming in a landscape where established titles like Street Fighter and Tekken are king, but some other challengers are on their way, with the new installments of the Soul Calibur and Mortal Kombat series. Hard to tell which will be voted in by the community, and there is probably room for several of them, given their different styles.

And it would be a mistake to forget mobile games in all of this. Fortnite, PUBG and Hearthstone all have their mobile versions, but some exclusive mobile titles are also going strong, like Clash Royale (and new Brawl Stars by Supercell about to make its entrance), Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends or Critical Ops! They might be less talked about, or even frowned upon, but their qualities and interest they generate are very real!

Finally, 2019 might be the year the Real-Time Strategy comes back to the front of the stage, with Starcraft II still alive (though in smaller circles), with the revival of the Warcraft III series. We doubt that Blizzard will take the reins to drive a new competitive scene, but we must not underestimate the power of nostalgia of the game that re-invented modern strategy and created the MOBA genre…

All in all, 2018 has been a tremendous year for esports, with records beaten on a monthly basis, and it is not looking like it is slowing down any time soon! Success stories happened, and games will keep building on them, whereas new ones will try to claim their spot in the fray, so it’s time to step right in and let your voice be heard, and skill be witnessed!