A new esports mechanic was tried out at the WARPOINT ARENA VR tournament in Yekaterinburg
On 24 November Yekaterinburg hosted the first VR tournament of the Ural season of WARPOINT ARENA games. Eight teams from Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Miass and Kirov competed for a prize fund of $1,200. Before the matches the teams were invited to pick the maps they wanted using the map veto mechanic, new to WARPOINT VR tournaments.
The map veto mechanic lets team captains choose the maps to play and ban the ones they consider unfavourable. This raises the level of competition, because even before the match the opposing team can shape the line-up of maps to its advantage.
How the map veto works: Before the match the captains choose the desired map pool by a coin toss. At the start of each game the teams take turns banning 1 map, starting with the Winner. Then the teams take turns picking 1 map, starting with the Winner. A picked map cannot be removed. After that the Winner may ban 1 more map, and the remaining map is played third. The maps are played in the order in which the captains picked them.
The map veto revealed the following player preferences:
Most popular maps:
Least popular maps:
The tournament was played with a lower bracket, which gave the teams the right to make a mistake. The winner was the Tyumen team Vanilny Zayka, which took $600. Second place went to the Sotsiopaty team, also from Tyumen, with $360. Third place and $240 went to the players from Kirov — the Kak popalo team.
All the game results were entered into the rating system WARPOINT BATTLE, which officially recorded the teams’ progress in the tournament season.
This VR tournament opened the Ural series of games, which will continue throughout 2025.
The map veto mechanic lets team captains choose the maps to play and ban the ones they consider unfavourable. This raises the level of competition, because even before the match the opposing team can shape the line-up of maps to its advantage.
How the map veto works: Before the match the captains choose the desired map pool by a coin toss. At the start of each game the teams take turns banning 1 map, starting with the Winner. Then the teams take turns picking 1 map, starting with the Winner. A picked map cannot be removed. After that the Winner may ban 1 more map, and the remaining map is played third. The maps are played in the order in which the captains picked them.
The map veto revealed the following player preferences:
Most popular maps:
- Cargo Docks (picked 13 times)
- Proving Ground (9 times)
- Alcatraz (9 times)
Least popular maps:
- Paintball (banned 12 times)
- Rooftop (10 times)
- Bunker (8 times)
The tournament was played with a lower bracket, which gave the teams the right to make a mistake. The winner was the Tyumen team Vanilny Zayka, which took $600. Second place went to the Sotsiopaty team, also from Tyumen, with $360. Third place and $240 went to the players from Kirov — the Kak popalo team.
All the game results were entered into the rating system WARPOINT BATTLE, which officially recorded the teams’ progress in the tournament season.
This VR tournament opened the Ural series of games, which will continue throughout 2025.
