Scheduling overlaps in MDL Macau, Captains Draft 4.0 and BTS Summit 8 Minors create conflict for HellRaisers and MidorFeed, both forced into defloss situations.
With at least 22 Major/Minor events in the Pro Circuit, the schedule is jam packed with open and regional qualifiers, many of which overlap. The first wave of events that kicked off in September with qualifiers saw numerous conflicts arise for teams.
Round 1 ProCircuit Events
As the manager for Team Tuho last round, it can safely be said that for the most part, tournament organizers worked diligently together to at least address clashes that arose between their regional qualifiers. Time management and communication were essential to make things flow and it required a fair amount of cooperation between organizers, teams and players. The biggest area of contention was for tier 2 teams and newly formed squads. The conflicts were mostly between regional and open qualifiers - leaving many of those teams to make decisions regarding participation.
While Valve did promise to "directly manage the schedule of Majors and Minors to help avoid collisions during the year" it applied only to the LAN event itself it seemed. Many personalities, fans and the community weighed in to say it was designed as such for teams to be forced to choose between events, opening up opportunities for more teams to participate overall.
Round 2 ProCircuit Events
As the second wave of Pro Circuit qualifiers went into effect several weeks ago, it seems that instead of things settling in a bit easier, things have only gotten worse.
With little to no breathing room, regional qualifiers continued to overlap with the same teams participating in multiple events in the same time frame again. This time, it appears that tournament organizers were unable to make the same adjustments and accommodations.
MDL Macau, Captains Draft 4.0 and BTS Summit 8 Minors
HellRaisers were scheduled to play in Summit 8 best-of-three semi finals at 17 CET, then in the Captains Mode 4.0 best-of-three semi finals at 19 CET - clearly not enough time to do both. Manager Ivan Karpov reported that the issue was addressed early on when the schedules were announced to the teams, but over the course of the following weeks a resolution was not able to be reached. The team had no choice but either choose or hope for the best with a quick end to the first series in time.
MidorFeed were in the same boat. Their best-of-three quarter finals in MDL Macau was set for 17 CET with their series against HellRaisers in Captains Mode 4.0 scheduled for 19 CET.
MoonduckTV and BTS Row
Both teams were still in the second match of their series when Captains Mode was ready to commence. Neither team was able to show up to the lobby and both teams were given a defloss. The announcement caused an uproar on social media with immediate backlash from members of the community and some players.
Clearly upset by the situation Shannon "SUNSfan" Scotten, co-founder of MoonduckTV, updated fans on stream what the situation was including his attempts to resolve it previously. The statement paired with the response from those on reddit/social media triggered a response from David "LD" Gorman in attempt to provide a second side to the story and clarification.
In the end, MidorFeed were knocked out of MDL Macau by OG 2:0 and HellRaisers have advanced into the Grand Finals for The Summit 8. For Captains Draft 4.0 the teams will participate in a best-of-one match up. The loser will drop to the lower bracket Round 1, the winner will be dropped to the lower bracket finals.
Regardless of the reasons, the scheduling for events continues to be a problem for teams with teams and organizers alike faced with difficult decisions and potential consequences for such. No simple solution seems to be on the horizon as teams are hungry and vie for the much coveted TI8 qualifying points.
