ESEA

ESEA
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Full name	E-Sports Entertainment Association
Competition formats	6v6
Area	North America
Current season	Season 14 (6v6)
Website

ESEA is an e-sports organisation based in North America, hosting competitive leagues for 6v6 TF2, alongside other titles, such as League of Legends, Counter Strike: Source and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

Divisions

Within the TF2 league, there are three divisions:

• ESEA-O (Open),
• ESEA-IM (Intermediate),
• ESEA-I (Invite)

The Invite division hosts the highest level of 6v6 competition in North America. Although ESEA is hosted in North America, players from other continents are allowed to participate in any of the divisions. At the end of each season the top 4 Invite teams travel to Dallas, Texas for a LAN event. In their most recent season, Season 14, the prize pool totaled $15,840.

On August 12, 2013, a Main division and an inaugural European Open division were introduced. These divisions will run from season 15 onwards.

Format

ESEA is currently in its 14th season, with 104 teams signed up across 3 divisions. A season consists of 16 regular season matches, played over 8 maps, and the playoffs, which contain the top 4 (Invite), 8 (Intermediate), or 16 (Open) top teams.

Matches are played on a single map, with two halves of 30 minutes. Depending on the game type, the win conditions differ:

• On 5CP maps, the first half is played until the time limit runs out or one team wins 4 rounds; the second half and the match ends once the time limit runs out or one team wins 5 rounds;
• On King of the Hill maps, the first half is played until the time limit runs out or one team wins 3 rounds; the second half and the match ends once the time limit runs out or one team wins 4 rounds;
• On Attack/Defend maps, each half consists of a stopwatch round. The teams alternate between attacking and defending, such as if team A defended first, team B will be the first to defend in the next round. Each team can score one point in a half. The game ends once one of the teams reaches 2 points.
• Capture the Flag maps have no capture limits, but the duration of each half is shortened to 20 minutes. The team with the most captures by the end of the second half wins.

The playoffs are played in a double-elimination format, with every game in the bracket being a best of 3 maps game. The top Intermediate and Open team are moved to higher divisions in the subsequent seasons if they decide to stay together.

Fees

To participate in ESEA, all players are required to subscribe to a premium account. The costs are as follows:

• 1 month for $6.95/month
• 3 months for $6.65/month
• 6 months for $6.33/month
• 12 months for $5.83/month

In addition to these monthly premium fees, there is a per season league fee for each of the divisions, with the exception of Invite that is only required to pay the 50$ league fee once per season, but they are exempt from paying the monthly premium charge.

The league fees are $8 for Open teams and $12 for Intermediate teams.

Links

• Official ESEA website
• ESEA TF2 rules