Some quick notes before we begin. Everything will remain the same aside from mappooling. I've had lot's of feedback from players during my tenure, and the biggest issue I've come across the most is players being unable to get enough time to practice maps to a good level of quality. In this premier events, we want the highest quality of matches and entertainment. Therefore we will reduce the mappool size for the entirety of the tournament, using a mappool of 21 to 25 maps for the Qualifiers, Swiss Stage, and Playoffs. Not only that but we will be releasing the mappools 2 weeks before each starting point.

General Information

Dates:
Qualifier 1: 7th of November, 14 UTC
Qualifier 2: 14th of November, 15 UTC
Swiss Stage: 12th/13th of December
Playoffs: 19th/20th of December
Bracket: TBA
Chat: LotS26, FAF Tournaments, And the appropriate discord channel
Live coverage:
Official: https://www.twitch.tv/faflive
Tournament Organiser: hybrid
Tournament Directors: TBA

Format:

Open Qualifier

The open qualifier will be a double elimination bracket. The upper bracket will be BO3. However, depending on the amount of signups, the number of BO1s vs BO3s in the upper bracket may be adjusted to ensure a timely tournament. The losers bracket will be BO1.
The seeding will be based on your ladder rating. So for example, the highest rated player will play the lowest rated player in the first round.

Once the top 4 is decided in the bracket, the tournament will not continue. Top 4 will qualify to the Legend of the Stars Swiss Stage.

The players that are closest to qualifying (5th+) will be substitutes for the Legend of the Stars Swiss Stage.

Qualifier 1: https://tournaments.faforever.com/t/1049c6b1c7

Qualifier 2: https://tournaments.faforever.com/t/df343f8644

Swiss Stage

• The Swiss Stage will be a 16 player Swiss format.
• Players that reach 3 wins advance to Finals.
• Players that reach 3 losses are eliminated.
• Elimination and advancement matches are BO3
• All other matches are BO1 in this stage
• Rematches are not permitted
• Players will be matched with equal score opponents.
• The invited players will pick their first round opponent.

Playoffs

The finals stage will be a classic single elimination bracket with all matches being BO5 (including 3rd place decider) apart from the Grand Finals which will be BO7.

Mappool

• TBA two Weeks before each stage starting point.
• A collective 21-25 maps for the entire tournament(including qualifiers, swiss stage and playoffs).

Mappool Dates:
Qualifier #1 - 24th of October
Qualifier #2 - 31st of October
Swiss Stage - 28th of November
Playoffs - 5th of December

Faction and Map Veto System

The same as LotS and previous Invitationals. The functionalities are added to the website.

Rules

The official FAF Tournament Rules apply.
Some of the most important of these rules are:

1. Disconnects within 5 minutes may result in a rehost. The Tournament Director has the last say afterwards.
2. Players will replay the same map if they draw.
3. If the incorrect map is hosted, the correct map will be hosted and the incorrect map will not count towards the score
4. Players who do not appear without valid reasoning will be given a warning that may result in being temporarily suspended from tournaments.
5. If a player does not show up in Round 1, they may be replaced. For all subsequent rounds, it will be treated as a forfeit and they will be eliminated and not replaced.
6. All participants will be allowed a 15-minute wait at the start of a tournament to show up however after this 15 minute wait the Tournament Direct has the right to disqualify you from the tournament. In the case where you will be late but do intend to arrive you need to message the Tournament Director preferably via Discord to inform them you will be late but will show up. When doing this please provide an approximate time delay until you arrive, it will then be the Tournament Directors decision whether than delay is too long or acceptable. If your team loses a member, you may find a substitution within the rank requirements.
7. The Tournament Director's decision is final.
   You can read the rest here: https://forum.faforever.com/assets/uploads/files/1685891393985-official-faf-tournament-rules.pdf
8. Please make sure all lobbies are passworded and inform your opponents the password and casters if applicable.

Prize Pool

1st Place: $450, 2026 LOTS Champion Avatar
2nd Place: $300, 2026 LOTS 2nd Place Avatar
3rd Place: $150, 2026 LOTS 3rd Place Avatar
4th Place: $100, 2026 LOTS 4th Place Avatar

Prizes are from the FAF Tournament fund.
If you would like to donate towards the tournament and receive a cool avatar, please contact me on discord (hyb/tbounce).

Reminder that all payments of official FAF fund prizes are subject to the official FAF tournament payout guidelines.
https://forum.faforever.com/topic/7161/faf-official-tournament-payout-guidelines

Invites

The invites will be based on the players with the highest amount of LotS points. If a player declines, an invite will be sent to a player next in line. If a player has an equal amount of points with another player, the most recent gain will be prioritised. There are 8 total invites. To find out how the LotS points work, you can find the information here.

Any ties for LOTS Points will be determined by the most recent result. If a player declines, the player who would be next in line. The remaining players will be decided from the qualifier.

reminder, with the invites its either you accept the invitation or decline the invite and forfeit your right to participate. Players cannot opt in to play the qualifier instead of using the direct invite.

Invitees

Nexus-
waffelznoob
Grimplex (Accepted)
Lunyshko (Accepted)
Farmsletje
Blast_Chilled (Accepted)
Tagada
BlinChik (Accepted)

Qualified Players

TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA
TBA