ESEA

ESEA
Full name	E-Sports Entertainment Association
Competition formats	6v6
Area	North America/Europe
Current season	Season 15 (6v6)
Website

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

Divisions

Within the TF2 league, there are four divisions:

• ESEA-I (Invite)
• ESEA-M (Main)
• ESEA-IM (Intermediate)
• ESEA-O (Open)

The Invite division currently 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 teams from the Invite division participate in a LAN event to compete for the Invite prize pool.

ESEA introduced an European TF2 Open division in S15, which opens up the possibility for an intercontinental TF2 LAN in future seasons like currently hosted for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Format

The ESEA regular season consists of 16 regular season matches, played over 8 maps with one map per week. The top teams from each division participate in double-elimination playoffs to compete for the division's prize pool. Each game in the playoff bracket at ESEA LAN is played as a best-of-3-matches, while playoff games in the other divisions are single-game.

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 3 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.

Between seasons, teams may be promoted or relegated to another division based on their performance during the season.

Fees

To participate in ESEA, all players are required to pay a league fee and subscribe to ESEA Premium. The fees are as follows:

• Invite: $60 (includes free premium)
• Main: $15
• Intermediate: $12
• Open: $10

Links

• Official ESEA website
• ESEA TF2 rules