Greetings managers!
Its time to talk about the CS Manager circuit, and what you can expect throughout your season. Your experience will vary from whether you are an amateur team grinding for invites, or a top team aiming to win the major. Lets dive into it!
There are two seasons per year, spring and fall. A season has 30-40 tournaments available to participate in, and concludes with the most prestigious event that all players dream of winning, the Major. Each season can be roughly divided into 4 blocks. Lets look at the spring season as an example:
Which events to participate in?
January - player break
Time for your players to get some down time and recover. Lots of transfer activity goes on during the player break. Make sure to have your best players on a contract, or other teams may try to poach them!
February/March - league
The season starts with a large tournament in a classic league structure with promotions and relegations. There are 3 tiers, the Masters League, the Challengers League, and the Regional Leagues. The Masters League and Challengers League each has 14 teams, while the rest of the teams compete in the Regional Leagues.
Mouse isn't doing great in the Masters League, and Gamer Army is on top!?
April/May - stand alone events
Stand alone events are primarily invitation driven, with few open qualification spots. Teams with the most ranking points will find themselves invited to virtually all tournaments, while smaller teams will have to grind the qualifiers or participate in smaller and less prestigious events.
June - the major
The final and largest event of the season, with big open qualifiers and several stages. A good result in the major can be a pivotal moment for your team!
Teams with big budgets must ensure they earn respectable results throughout the year, as the prize money from tournaments is a crucial component in keeping their finances healthy. For smaller teams, a good run at a big event can elevate them to new heights, and allow them to invest in their facilities and players!
Burnout
With tournaments constantly going on, it may be tempting to participate in as many as possible to earn more money and ranking points, but be careful! Constantly playing tournaments will burn out your players, especially LAN events that require travel. Burned out players will have severely reduced performance during practice and matches, and may even see their skills decrease. The reward of playing tournaments have to be carefully managed with the risk of burnout on your team. Burnout is easier to manage with quality staff and by signing players with resilient personalities, but ultimately you must pick and choose which events are worth the effort.
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