The Teamliquid Map Contest will return for a seventh installment...soon. The contest that has produced maps such Cloud Kingdom, Frost, Ohana, Habitation Station, Echo, and Coda is in its planning stages and we couldn't be happier to kick off the first Legacy of the Void map contest in the near future. While we haven't finalized all the aspects of this contest, we can announce that all the 1v1 maps submitted to the contest will be in contention to appear in the next ladder season as well as the WCS Summer Circuit.
This announcement of an announcement is for a good reason as we will be on a tight deadline heading into the next ladder and WCS season, which will both begin in just a few months. As maps can typical take many weeks to create, we want to ensure that mapmakers have ample time to submit their creations. So if any mapmakers are reading this, take this as your call to action. Start up those map editors to create the best maps you possibly can for the LotV ladder.
Keeping in tradition with announcements of announcements, I guess we also have to hype something up as well. And here it is: TLMC7 will have significant improvements over previous iterations that are designed to better showcase each map and ensure the absolute best maps get onto the ladder. What those improvements will be you'll find out when we post final details in approximately two weeks.
EDIT on April 20th: Categories added!
One issue with previous TLMCs was that Blizzard was unclear with what types of maps they wanted from the mapmaking community. In order to remedy this situation, we have been provided with 4 distinct categories of maps Blizzard is specifically requesting.
- Macro maps where it's very straight forward to play and take expansions on
Examples:- Akilon Wastes: The first macro map of the HotS-era.
- Newkirk Precinct: A heavy macro map that featured of the best TvTs of all time: Taeja vs Innovation.
- Dusk Towers: The most recent example of a typical macro map.
- Akilon Wastes: The first macro map of the HotS-era.
- Rush map that promotes heavy early game play
Examples:- Scrap Station:Lots of potential for early-game aggression with close air distance and destructible rocks in the middle as well as a relatively hard-to-defend natural.
- Daedalus Point: The large natural ramp allows for very easy early aggression.
- Scrap Station:Lots of potential for early-game aggression with close air distance and destructible rocks in the middle as well as a relatively hard-to-defend natural.
- A new map type! A "hasn’t been seen before" type of map
Examples: Any of the maps that were considered new, different when they first came in.- Crevasse: Introduced rocks at the main ramp and one of the first maps to have a backdoor expansion.
- Korhal Floating Island: Provides completely different games depending on the spawn positions.
- Ulrena: Short rush distance but that distance is able to be closed off via a depot or pylon-sized blocker as the game goes on.
- Crevasse: Introduced rocks at the main ramp and one of the first maps to have a backdoor expansion.
- A map that has cool high yield resource usage
Example:- Habitation Station: There were many interesting decisions based around when to take the gold on this map. For example, Terrans would float to the gold, Protoss and Zerg would take it as their natural, and sometimes players would ignore it altogether, instead opting to take the more safe expansions.
Mappers who submit maps MUST summit in one of these four categories. Also, instead of picking seven finalists as we normally do, we will take fifteen finalists, four from each of the first three categories and three from the gold base category. Maps will be judged not only on the quality of the map, but also on how good the map is within the context of the category. For example, how well does the map in the last category utilize its high-yield resources?