Hello all,

I spent a few hours designing a new format aimed at being a faster, more fun version of clan league. The issue is I do not have any skills in automating games, designing scripts to update games to a spreadsheet. Essentially, I would do everything manually and likely want to end everything one or two weeks. To put this another way, I'm good at designing the car, designing the interior. But designing the engine, the most important element to make it all work. I'm not your guy. So I'm just going to spit it out on a public thread and leave it at that for what little it's worth.

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New Format: (Super short explanation)

Two stages. 1. League stage 2. Knockout stage.

Example: 16 clans sign up. Seed them via CL places to put in relevant Division. Ideally randomise groups via seeds to ensure balanced groups.

Division A

Group 1

Masters
OP
USB
Icelandic Turtles

Group 2

TLA
Harmony
Hawks
MB

Division B

Group 1

101
CORP
VS
Blitz

Group 2

VIW
Vikinger
PE
Kill

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Each clan plays against each other once under this format:

1 x 3v3 (5 points per win)
2 x 2v2 (4 points per win)
5 x 1v1 (3 points per win)

So in the group stage. Everyone is guaranteed 3 games against everyone in there group.

12 slots is required to be filled by 6 players or more. 1 player can only play 2 slots maximum. Templates decided by a panel of 3 + Organiser. Templates can't be repeated more than once in a 3 season period.

Now here it gets a bit confusing. Lets do the Division A/B again but with example results. Then a explanation of how the Knockout stage works and ties in with this league simultaneously.

Group 1 (84 points available - Most points wins)

1st Masters (1st - Will go to the knockout stage to win the whole competition playing the 2nd placed finisher in Group 2)
2nd OP (2nd - Same as above but will play the 1st place in Group 2)
3rd USB (Goes into a Relegation play off with the 2nd finisher in Division B) 1 round again.
4th Icelandic Turtles (Relegated - Season over)

Group 2

1st TLA (Plays OP in the finals)
2nd Harmony (Plays Masters in the finals)
3rd Hawks (Goes into a relegation play off with either VS or PE)
4th MB (Same as Icelandic Turtles)

Division B

Group 1

1st 101 (Plays against VIW to decide who is the overall winner of Division B)
2nd CORP (Plays against either USB or Hawks)
3rd VS (Season over as there's no Division C)
4th Blitz (Season over as there's no Division C)

Group 2

1st VIW (Plays against 101 for Division B trophy)
2nd Vikinger (Plays against Harmony or CORP for promotion to A)
3rd PE (Season over as there's no Division C)
4th Kill (Season over as there's no Division C)


Knockout stage so would be as follows.

Overall winner - Semi Final #1 Masters vs Harmony vs Semi Final #2 OP vs TLA … Same format as League stage. Just a once off game on multiple templates though.

Promotion/Relegation play off - #1 USB vs CORP (Winner stays/promotes to A) #2 Vikinger vs Hawks

Division B winner - Final - 101 vs VIW.

Then the new season begins again.

Boot Times for Group Stage - 1v1 3 days + 3 days banked. 2v2/3v3 - 3 days + 5 days banked.
Boot Times for Knockout - 1v1 3 days only. 2v2/3v3 3 days only + 3 days banked.

Workout practicals/rules/boring details later.

After consulting a couple of people I made a few modifications:

- If a knockout game ends in a tie, ideally a clan nominates a player to play a real time game play-off to decide the winner. Ideally livestreamed.

- Knockout templates can be decided by clans in a pick format. E.g. Clan A picks first, Clan B picks following two. In this specific case, The first picker can decide to take 3 out of 5 of the 1v1s templates or take both of the 2v2s to have 2/3 of the team templates. To ensure quality you can have a template pool so not weird templates are chosen.

- Game allocation would be substantially condensed compared to how CL does it. Ideally if you are in a 1v1 slot, you would have your games allocated in a 1 week period. So in theory, you should have all 3 games at the same time.

- In my vision, in a perfect world, I would like to think this event could be completed from start to finish in 3 months. Ideally meaning you could have 2-3 editions of this event per year. Meaning any new clan could win in a year.

In my opinion, substantial improvement to the existing Clan League format. We have to change our attitude at 18 day games and take a turn that playing faster and just enjoying the game win/lose, is a healthier attitude then playing long games trying to be perfect.

I think this is a great starting point :)

I am of the strongest opinion that Clan League needs a major revamp to generate high levels of interest in the league. It is dwindling, it is dying.

I believe it is fundamentally ridiculous that a new clan has to spend 3/4 years to get to the highest league in this competition. The same equivalent of how often the Olympics, World Cup occurs.

That the pursuit in perfectionist game play in a format that has 3 days + 15 days banked, is in fact more damaging to the average quality of games and leaves a more stressful commitment to what should be a fun competition that is enjoyable to play in. Not about spending a lifetime of biting your nails wondering if this is the right move to make.

How is it justifiable that Clan League as an event can last longer then some of my friends relationships. To the point we only want one once a year. It's January when it started and now it's May and I don't even think we are 70% of games completed. Do you want to be commited to a community event for almost half a year? It's not appealing concept. We need to end this ridiculousness.

Players need to seriously shake their heads and give up this endless damaging and counter-productive mindset that we need all the time in the world to execute our moves. If there is ever a mental disorder associated with this game, this is it. You will end up hating the game, you will end up playing quite frankly not great moves. In the long term it damages everything. It should be a events organiser to almost over-ride the demand for higher times to execute moves and develop a environment where one can enjoy the game. Or at the very least, make the suffering confined to a condensed period then a long lasting torture of a several months creating fatigue in a game. It's not elitism, it's player welfare at this point cause I speculate nobody deep down is enjoying this nonsense.

My strongness on this, compelled me to create a altnernative format that significantly addresses the major issues. We can have endless discussion on the details of the format, but the core fundamental issue is we need faster play. Will we have community wide agreement? Probably not. But a discussion atleast would be atleast informative and interesting. I'll be the strong minded guy to kick it off!

I am fully behind a reformatting of Clan League and have discussed various formats extensively with Plat. Clan League remains the most successful community-driven event on Warzone and has had a profound impact on the growth and development of the backbone of the Warzone competitive community: it's clans.

However, for all its triumphs Clan League has also in recent years seen a decline that has contributed in part to stymieing the growth of the clans that it used to empower. It has resulted in the cannibalization of clans and the homogenization of diverse communities forced to adapt to the increasingly demanding pressures of sustaining an robust playerbase that can sustain several months at a time of high-stakes gameplay.

This proposal to reformat Warzone's premier community competition is borne out of these pressing causes. Myself and others have identified two key issues of utmost importance that need addressing by any alternative format to be proposed to carry on the legacy and prestige of Clan League: slow 3+15 day turns and an 18-slot roster. Any possible potential restructuring absolutely needs to begin from these underlying causes.

With that out of the way, I will present my alternative format for the first phase which has some notable advantages over that which Plat has shared here but may suffer from its difficultly to properly implement. Me and Plat are in general agreement that a new format should be two-phased. That is, with a group/league phase followed by a knockout-style competition. Although, we are open to alternatives. My alternative format for the first phase proposed here, just like the one Plat has proposed, for now serves as a merely expository demonstration of what is possible.

Alternative First Phase

Clans are divided into 4 pots. Consider the results from the 17th edition of Clan League. From this, the pots would be organized as follows (based on current participants).

Pot 1
Masters
USB
Optimum
Icelandic Turtles (from merger of Python and ONE)
HAWKS (first in div B)

Pot 2
Blitz (relegated from div A)
TLA
Harmony
CORP
101st

Pot 3
MB
VS
Vikinger
VIW
MHunters

Pot 4
Partisans
Polish Eagles
Undisputed
Kill 'Em All
BIA

Ideally there are a multiple of 5 participant clans so that the pots can be organized in groups of 5 but this format is flexible enough for alternative proposals that organize clans in groups of groups of 4 or groups of 6. Given the placement of Simulation and German Warlords in CL17, they are not included here unfortunately but a method to accommodate them into the Clan League competition would be by organizing a playoffs between them and the bottom 2 placed teams from the previous season of clan league with the top 2 places being granted a spot in pot 4. This rule can also be applied to complete newcomer clans.

Now for how it will actually work. Pots of 5 will mean 5 templates will be played. 1 x 3v3 (5 points total), 1 x 2v2 (4 points total), and 3 x 1v1 (3 x 3 = 9 points total). A clan will get one game against every other clan (and an extra single 1v1 game against one clan at random in their pot or a pot directly above or below) for a maximum possible of 72 points with all the clans being organized in one giant league (league phase play). A clan will play each template against one team selected at random from each pot for a total of 4 games for each slot with a total number of 8 slots. One player can only play on 1 slot.

Consider Harmony for example. They are in pot 2 here. They might get a game against OP on 3v3, against USB on 2v2, and against Masters, Turtles, and HAWKS on the 1v1 templates. From pot 3 they might get VIW on 3v3 and MB on 2v2 and VS, Vikinger, MH on 1v1s. Now within their pot they could get TLA on a 3v3, 101st on 2v2, and Blitz, CORP on 1v1s. That missing extra 1v1 game will be played against a randomly selected team from pots 1-3 that they have already played a 1v1 against. In this case the potential candidates are either Masters, Turtles, HAWKS, Blitz, CORP, VS, Vikinger, and MH. A 1v1 template can be dedicated for these "extra" games.

By the end of the league phase the top 8 teams in this league of 20 teams qualify for the knockouts. Or you could have top 6 auto-qualify for quarterfinals and 7-10 do an elimination play-off to play the top 2 seeds. Or you could have top 4 auto-qualify and 5-12 do a play-off. Top 16 to knockouts is probably overkill... but you get the idea. Given that the league phase is more of a preamble to the knockouts, I'm envisioning 2+2d games that one can get through more quickly with 3+3d potentially for the knockout games, which will largely follow what Plat has already described.

Edited 5/16/2025 18:04:21

I also enthusiastically support the format to be two-staged. It is not conceivable that the problem of several seasons (years!) being required for a new clan to enter the top group could be addressed otherwise.

I think making the group stage 1 3v3, 1 2v2, 3 1v1 and forcing a one slot per player is actually very clever and I'm such a big fan I would have it in the original suggestion without a doubt.

Nice to see the proposal are coming through and there seems to be agreement on the two most pressing issues. If you don't mind, I would like to add a third, not nearly as important as the first ones, but since you're at it...

If it's a clan league, it's a bit ridiculous to have people jumping around from clan to clan just to participate for a specific clan, with inter-clan substitutions and people playing for one clan while effectively being affiliated to (or even being in) another clan. It kind of defeats the purpose of calling it 'Clan' league.

You eventually reach a point where some clans are distinct entities with a unique player base, while others are a mishmash of whatever they can get for however long.

Yes let's keep it going! Could you give a example so I/others can better understand? Of a player that fits this description?

Edited 5/16/2025 19:54:02

How is it justifiable that Clan League as an event can last longer then some of my friends relationships.

I'm afraid this is on you, not on Clan League ;)


I think reconsidering the format of CL is something we should always be doing. The format we use now does indeed have its negatives; the question is whether they outweigh the positives. I think the keypoints to consider are the following:

1) Is the newly proposed format feasible for the CLOT? Is Justin willing to implement it and how would you organize this if he is not?

2) Do you think a major change to the format will attract more players than it loses because of it? And if it might make some clans or players leave or join, are they in the lower or higher divisions?

3) Will the prestige of winning Clan League remain the same, or change in a positive or negative way?

4) If you decrease the amount of games and opt for a knock-out system, what is the potential impact of upsets, boots or a player going AWOL? It's likely larger in a knock-out system, but how much? And do the benefits outweigh this potential impact?

5) Why is Farah so pretty?

6) How will you transition to a new format? Do you have to rework divisions, place clans in bigger or smaller groups? What are the criteria for certain clans being in another division or group than they would have been with the old system?

7) Are people allowed to vote yay or nay regarding a new format? If so, who gets to vote?

Now, I have no answers to those questions, but I think they are worth considering for any system you come up with. Every idea is of course appreciated! If the format ends up changing, I'd be very interested to see what happens. I never thought I'd say these words, but I'll have to: nice idea, Plat. Now work it out and see what the community thinks :)

I agree that an overhaul is due.

I prefer 1+2+5 over 1+1+3. If there is only 5 templates each season, it will limit the variability of the templates ("oh you won that season where there was 3v3 INSS, it doesn't really count"). It is also more forgiving to clans that have only a few great players, giving the good players chance to carry their clan instead of switching to a clan with better players.

CL participation numbers vary greatly between seasons, which I feel is a problem in PS system. Overall I feel like Plats suggestion is not that much different from the current system, and as such would be easier to adapt to.

We have lot of events going trough the year, even with current system I think 1 season per year would be enough. It is still lot of work to select templates and organize within clan, and making it biannual would increase the work instead of reducing it.

To Farah, regarding Plats suggestion:

1) League phase is the same as current system. Knockout phase can be implemented as 2 team season. No big changes needed.

2) I think the new system will lower the effort to play CL for both clans and players.

3) Even if the prestige would lower slightly, I think it would still be worth it.

4) Impact of boots and upsets would be lower in league stage and higher in knockout stage. Since there are only a few knockout stage games, I think overall it would decrease the impact.

6) We already have a clan seeding based on previous CL results, it would be easy to distribute clans to new system.

7) All clans gets a say, but in the end its the organizers who get to decide the system. And older clans / players probably have more impact on their decisions.

I would like to see Plat's format applied to a more difficult number of clans instead of 16. Let's say that we have 25 signups?

Why do Hawks play a relegation playoff with VS or PE? Why does Harmony participate in championship playoffs and relegation playoffs at the same time? I'm so lost.

- In my vision, in a perfect world, I would like to think this event could be completed from start to finish in 3 months. Ideally meaning you could have 2-3 editions of this event per year. Meaning any new clan could win in a year.

No way this would ever complete in 3 months. Realistically I expect around 6.

Edited 5/20/2025 12:40:54

I think that more than one CL per year would be a mistake.

@Naviiso:

Curious to ask why you think my proposed system would be less suited to varying participation? My system has its problems (lack of current feasibility on the CLOT is the major one) which is why I am actually more in favor of something like Plat's system being what is transitioned to - at least initially.

But Plat's system is quite challenging to implement if you don't have a total multiple of 4 clans. With my system, you could conceivably have 3 pots of 6 and play with 6 templates if there are 18 clans. And you can have 4 pots of 6 or 6 pots of 4 with 24 clans. In cases where there are is a trickier number like 21 or 22, I'm thinking of a pre-season play-off between the bottom one/two clans from the previous season in the league stage and the one/two aspiring entrant clans. (This is applicable to numbers like 17 or 19 too of course with 4 pots of 4 and a pre-season play-off between the bottom clan and the entrant clan in the former case and 3 x 6 pots and a pre-season play-off.)

That is kind of the system I would imagine it would pivot to in the long run as well. With the 1st division being capped at 20 clans most likely. If clan participation increases given the lower demands of entry and lower burden, then you could have a 2nd division that doesn't have a knockout stage like the 1st division but the top x clans can promote while the bottom x clans of the league phase in the first division relegate. I don't think clan participation will reach 40 clans where both divisions will be filled but this could prove crucial if say 30 clans participate. The first division has 20 clans with a knockout phase for the top 8 while the second division has 10 clans with a promotion spot for the top 3. Could have top 2 auto-promote and 3-6 do a play-off. Or could have 3rd do a play-off with 18th from the first division. Lots of flexibility with this layout I think. The major hurdle, of course, is implementation.