Rules
The tournament consists of 9 maps driven in TimeAttack-Mode with a time limit of 9 minutes for each map. On each map only a player’s fastest run driven within the time limit counts towards the final result. A player’s final result will be determined by adding up their best run on each map – whoever has the lowest total time wins the tournament.
If a player wasn’t able to finish a map at least once within the time limit, he or she will score the respective map’s Author Time + 15 seconds.
Map Lineup
The exact maps played during the event are not known to the players beforehand, since it is intended to be a tournament no one can train for. It was designed to test the players ability to adapt to a given map and it’s playing style and aiming for the best time possible without the possibility to extend the time limit.
As for the possible types of maps used in this tournament: Any map with a length between 30 seconds and one minute is a possible candidate, but some more exotic map styles like Screwdrivers, LOL and of course RPG won’t be used here for various reasons. The map lineup for a single LEVEL9 tournament will contain a bit of everything in order to avoid players specialized in driving a specific map style won’t gain an advantage over others.
Example
Nothing illustrates better how things work than real data. The following document represents the final result of the APEX Monthly held in October 2021 and offers some insights in how a LEVEL9 tournament looks like on paper. Future installments of this tournament mode will use the exact same result sheet format as the one shown here.
Variations
The following variations may be applied to this tournament mode in addition to the rules described above:
- Variations regarding the amount of maps played in a tournament:
If the available timeframe for conducting the tournament is somehow limited, LEVEL9 can be held in two shorter versions:
LEVEL8 is a “medium” long version consisting of 8 maps TA played with a time limit of 8 minutes each, thus reducing the length of the tournament below 75 minutes.
If the event needs to conclude in under one hour the tournament mode can be cut down to 7 maps with a time limit of 7 minutes each (LEVEL7), but mustn’t be shortened any further due to the limitations a 6 minute time limit would apply to the map lineup.
Extending the tournament beyond 9 maps is not recommended, since the amount of time needed to conduct it increases according to the formula x².