Test Phase is a one-day event being run to test the viability and effect of a map striking system on competitive Guns of Icarus. The format will be a scrimmage round robin, played as 'best of three' sets.
We'll be testing a '5+2 map strike'. The procedure is detailed below.
Before the first game of a set, the captains of both teams will begin a map strike with their referee. A coin will be flipped to determine who makes the first strike. The striking order will be 1-2-1: the first team strikes the first map, the second team gets to strike two maps, and then the first team gets to pick between the remaining two.
The starter map pool for the first game is as follows.
- Canyon Ambush
- Clash at Blackcliff
- Northern Fjords
- Paritan Rumble
- Water Hazard
For each subsequent game, the loser of the previous game gets to choose any map from a combined list of the starter maps and the following two. Their opponent may strike one map from this combined list.
- Battle on the Dunes
- Fight over Firnfeld
Duel at Dawn is excluded from this test event.
Test Phase is currently scheduled for January 14th (Saturday) at 8pm UTC (3pm EST).
The event will be streamed at
https://www.twitch.tv/urzy.
Details for the communication of map striking is still being worked out.
