RGL HL Season 18: Updated Whitelist, Map Pool, and Qualifiers

Jercer - 5/17/2024

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Updated Whitelist

Loch ‘n’ Load has been removed from the Highlander whitelist. Click here to see the complete list on whitelist.tf. This change has been added to serveme and to the RGL Updater plugin, so if you are using a personal server, please make sure that all of your configs are up-to-date ahead of the season.

Map Pool

Below is the completed Season 18 Map Pool:

koth_ashville_final1
pl_vigil_rc10
cp_steel
koth_product_final
pl_upward_f12
koth_lakeside_r2 (Alternative Map for Invite Only: koth_cascade_rc1a)
pl_swiftwater_final1

The current versions of Clearcut, Eruption, and Valor aren’t ready to be played in the regular season just yet. However, with your feedback from the cup, we are hopeful that we will see them soon! The post-event survey results for both Season 17 and Experimental Cup #6 will be released in a future article ahead of Season 18.

In the meantime, we have thrown two old staples back into the mix: koth_lakeside_r2 and koth_cascade_rc1a. Invite players ~~have been whining~~ have been politely asking to see the older version of Cascade re-incorporated into the map pool for many seasons now, so that request is being granted by including it as an alternative map in place of Lakeside for the Invite division only. This means that, if both teams agree, Cascade may be played in place of Lakeside during the regular season. All eight maps will be included as a part of the pick/ban pool for Invite playoffs.

Qualifiers

There will be no Invite Qualifiers this season. Here is the list of eight confirmed Invite teams:

However, we will be hosting Advanced Qualifiers! This season, Advanced Qualifiers will be held over two weekends, May 18th-May 20th & May 25th-May 27th. In contrast to previous seasons, only two teams have been confirmed for Advanced and twelve teams that requested Advanced will participate in Qualifiers! This change has been made in combination with feedback from Advanced players and think-tanking from the Advanced staff.

The tournament is in the single round robin format, so with twelve teams, there will be eleven matches (hence the need for two weekends). For each qualifiers match, one Payload map and then one KOTH map will be played.

The Qualifiers ban order will be as follows:
Home Bans Payload | Away Bans Payload | Away Bans KOTH | Home Bans KOTH

Qualifiers Map Pool:

Here is the list of teams that will participate in Advanced Qualifiers