The Trackmania Grand League and the Trackmania Open Grand League are back in January for the Winter 2021 Season. Both regular seasons will still consist of 6 steps with 6 maps for each step and the point system will not change. The first TMGL step will take place on Sunday January 24th and the OGL will start on the following Saturday.
Shorter maps and more diversity
Some of the Fall 2020 maps were too long and repetitive. We decided to increase the mapping crew to 8 people to increase diversity and the time limit of a flying lap is now 1’10 for all Winter 2021 maps. The number of laps remains at 6 for a regular step and 2 for the Final mode.
16 maps will compose the Winter 2021 season with 2 new maps to learn each week. Additionally, we are bringing back the 100€ rule for the winner of each map throughout the whole TMGL regular season. Concerning cash prizes, we have decided to allocate 2,500€ for the top 3 of Open Grand League. To be eligible for this cash prize, a player must be self-employed or supported by an organization.
Final mode adjustments
For the Fall 2020 season, the playoffs phase was replaced by a brand-new game mode: the Final mode. This game mode will still be there for the Winter 2021 season with some adjustments. The Final will still consist of the top 8 TMGL players following the regular season leaderboard.
Some rounds may not have been interesting to spectate due to players having too big of a gap to come back to the first player. We decided to bring a new way to win a round that will solve this matter called « Win by K.O ». To win by K.O the first player in the round needs to have a 1.5-second lead during 3 consecutive checkpoints, bringing a new strategy into each match.
Final 4 was also a bit short compared to the other matches. For the Final 4 only, players will now need to win 2 maps instead of 2 rounds to qualify for the Final 2. To win a map a player needs to win 2 rounds on that one. Final 8, 6, and 2 remain the same.
Combine becomes head-to-head
The combine format needed to be revised. We felt like it wasn’t a qualification format which obviously didn’t fit with the idea of a Combine where two players would qualify to the most prestigious Trackmania event at the end. To improve upon this format, we decided to switch back to Rounds mode and give the chance to 20 players instead of 8 from Open Grand League to try and qualify.
Also, from now on, only the 4 bottom TMGL players on the regular season ranking will be at risk.
This head-to-head match will also be played by the best Open Grand League players. From the Winter 2021 season, there will now be an Open Grand League Final and an Open Grand League Super-Final to determine who will play the head-to-head.
- Open Grand League – Final: players ranked from 5th to 20th place in Open Grand League will play an additional step without point-loss. The best 4 players qualify to the Super Final.
- Open Grand League – Super Final: players ranked from 1st to 4th place in Open Grand League will face the 4 best players from the Open Grand League – Final in a series of 18 rounds (3 rounds of 2 laps each) without point loss. The best 4 players from this phase qualify to the head-to-head phase.
- Head-to-head:
- OGL seeds will be determined by the Super Final.
- TMGL seeds will be determined by the number of points won without point-loss by the players throughout the TMGL season. This seeding is done on the players ranked between 13th and 16th place.
- Each match will be played in a BO5 where each map will be played in a BO7 using the same rules as in the TMGL (including the Win by K.O).
- Winner of each match stays/promote to TMGL, the other player is staying/relegated to OGL.
Match 1: Seed 1 OGL VS Seed 4 OGL
Match 2: Seed 1 TMGL VS Seed 4 TMGL
Match 3: Seed 2 OGL VS Seed 3 OGL
Match 4: Seed 2 TMGL VS Seed 3 TMGL
We wish you a happy end of the year and we look forward to see you in a month for the beginning of the Winter 2021 season!