After two seasons of the Japan Nationals 2020, as well as the ongoing Japan Nationals 2020 Grand Final, Ubisoft has announced a brand-new Japanese tournament. Called the Japan Championship 2020, this tournament -- and not the Japan Nationals 2020 Grand Final -- will decide the team set to play in the APAC North relegation tournament.
In addition, the Japan Championship 2020 will also boast a massive ¥15,000,000 (US$141,000) prize pool, making it have the second-largest domestic prize purse in history -- just behind the US$156,000 US Nationals 2019.
Format
In the Qualifying Phase 1 round, all teams will be divided into a total of eight groups, with a maximum of 32 teams per group. After a double-elimination bracket, the top two teams from each group, totalling 16, will then join the four APAC North Japanese teams -- seemingly invited -- and play in the the Qualifying Phase 2 round.
Of note is the fact that NORA-Rengo's invite as one of the four APAC North teams will mean that its strong and experienced domestic team NORA-Rengo NRG will be unable to play, with each organisation limited to one team.
NORA-Rengo at the Six Invitational 2019.
In this the Qualifying Phase 2 round, teams will be divided into four groups of five teams each. Each group will play a single-elimination bracket, but it is unclear if it will be a five-team bracket (with the APAC North team in each group given a first-round bye) or a four-team bracket (with the winner of that bracket then facing the APAC North team in a final match for Finals seeding).
The top two teams per group in the Prelimary Round will then advance to the closed-door offline Finals at the Makuhari Messe Event Hall in Chiba Japan, set to be played in the standard single-elimination format. There will, however, be a third-fourth place tiebreaker game played, presumably off-stream.
The highest ranked non-APAC North team(s) here will then be invited to play in the APAC North relegation tournament or be directly promoted, both contingent on the number of Japanese teams in the relegation zone come the end of the APAC North 2020 season.
It is as of yet unclear, however, whether games will be Best-of-Ones, or Best-of-Threes, or will also feature Best-of-Five Grand Finals.
The Japan Championship 2020 tournament structure. (Image: Ubisoft Japan)
Furthermore, details about the possibly-necessary joint-fifth place tiebreakers to decide the best non-APAC North team have not been revealed, given the scenario that all four teams already in the APAC North Divsion progress to the semi-finals.
Schedule
Phase 1 of the Qualifiers for the Japan Championship 2020 will be played online with a double-elimination format on the following dates:
- 19th September, Saturday
- 20th September, Saturday
- 3rd October, Saturday
Following this, Phase 2 of the Qualifiers will also be played online with a five-team single-elimination bracket on the following date:
- 4th October, Sunday
Finally, the tournament will close out with the eight-team single-elimination LAN Finals, to be held without an audience at the Makuhari Messe convention center, on the following dates:
- 17th October, Saturday
- 18th October, Sunday
Prize Pool
As mentioned above, the Japan Championship 2020 will feature the biggest APAC prize pool to date, and the second-biggest domestic prize pool in Rainbow Six across the globe.
The ¥15,000,000 (US$141,000) will be split as follows:
- 1st place - ¥10,000,000 (US$94,000)
- 2nd place - ¥3,000,000 (US$28,200)
- 3rd place - ¥1,000,000 (US$9,400)
- 4th place - ¥500,000 (US$4,700)
- 5th-8th place - ¥125,000 (US$1,175)
For more information, visit the official tournament page here and keep an eye out right here at SiegeGG for more coverage.