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Writer's pictureHigh School Esports League

HSEL Premier Updates

Updated: Sep 26, 2023

Rocket League and VALORANT


Welcome to the first-ever HSEL Premier qualifier stage! Our tournament operations team has kept a close eye on registration numbers and participation within each region with the goal of always facilitating a healthy competition for players as committed as yours.


With this in mind, we are implementing a few changes to the regional structure of HSEL Premier to ensure that your students have the best possible experience


Below is a comprehensive list of the changes, which are effective today.


Match results from the first rounds of qualifiers will stand, so as not to negate a team’s hard-earned win (or wins). Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. For now: good luck and have fun in the remainder of the qualifiers!


Qualifiers

  • No adjustments to match days

  • The Central, South, and East regions have combined into one "Atlantic" region.

  • VALORANT queue times are now a choice between 4:00 pm & 4:30 pm Central

  • Rocket League queue times are now a choice between 4:00 pm & 4:30 pm Central for the first round of the day, with the second round queue time at 5:30 pm Central.

  • Participants still must play at least 3 matches to be considered for the regular season

  • Teams still must place accordingly on the leaderboard


Central, South, and East (Atlantic) Regular Season

Below is a comprehensive list of changes that will apply to the Atlantic Conference, effective at the start of the regular season.


Instead of 1 group of 8 participants, we will push to field 3 groups of 6

  • The top 18 will be distributed evenly amongst the 3 groups

  • This # depends on overall registration/participation in the qualifiers stage and is subject to change.

The regular season will be a 5-week round-robin (10/2 - 11/3)

  • “Default” match time is now 4:30 pm Central, but teams are encouraged to reschedule if there is a better time for both parties. Since this is Round Robin, matches can be reschedule to any day/time during the regular season stage!

The top 4 from each group will qualify for playoffs (12 participants total)

  • With more teams, we want to ensure we are equitable in providing an opportunity for playoff runs and Nationals qualification.

Double-elimination playoffs will run from 11/6 - 12/8

  • There will be a maximum of 7 playoff rounds for the 12-team double-elimination bracket. Therefore, we want to make sure matches are comfortably distributed across a larger timeframe.

In this scenario, the competition pool is roughly 2x larger in the Atlantic than in the West. Therefore, the top 2 participants from the Atlantic season will receive a Nationals invitation.


Qualifications for Nationals

8 teams will qualify for HSEL Nationals:

  • 1 Fall West

  • 2 Fall Atlantic

  • 1 Fall Wild Card winner

  • 1 Spring West

  • 2 Spring Atlantic

  • 1 Spring Wild Card winner


Brawlhalla


After closely monitoring registration and participation data for this fall season, we have come to the conclusion that we cannot host a Premier competition for Brawlhalla this fall that would live up to the experience we want for our participating students. Your students will be automatically re-registered for the Major-level competition prior to the next round of Tuesday queues.


We are planning to host a Premier competition for Brawlhalla in the spring of 2024, with the following adjustments:

  • The top players from the Fall Major ‘23 playoffs will receive invites

  • The exact number is TBD, based on participation & region population

  • The Spring ‘24 Premier season (and Spring ‘24 Wild Card) will be the pathways to qualifying for HSEL Nationals 2024

Looking ahead, we are confident that the HSEL Brawhalla community is strong enough to support a Premier competition. We are continuing to evaluate the qualification process for such a tournament and are excited to try something different in the spring.


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