I saw a thread earlier suggesting how NA franchising will be broken up. Heres my proposition
TLDR
-2 splits + LCQ, same as now
-3 international tournaments (two masters one champions)
-4 regions, All of Americas, EMEA, APACN, APACS
-Groups -> Playoffs, top seeds qualify to regional bracket to qualify for masters, lower seeds play through groups similar to how Masters is formatted now
-16 teams at masters, 24 at champions with play-ins
-Bottom seeds from each group go into relegation with highest seed from regional leagues/VRLs
Disclaimer
-I'm unsure of logistical issues such as bringing China into the mix, ping issues with BR and LATAMS, or if groups would be played in a studio. This also doesn't account for the formation and qualification process for VRLs
-Ideally, all playoff matches would be on LAN
Region 1: Americas, broken down into North and South (kinda)
North: NA/LATAMN
-8 slots NA, 4 slots LATAMN
-2 groups, top 6 teams advance to Americas playoff qualifier, top seeds from each group start in playoffs
-Bottom seed sent to relegation against top seed from VRL/Region leagues
South: BR/LATAMS
-6 slots BR, 6 slots LATAMS
-2 groups, top 6 teams advance to Americas playoff qualifier, top seeds from each group start in playoffs
-Bottom seed sent to relegation against top seed from VRL/Region leagues
Playoffs:
-Lower 8 teams go through double elimination group stage
-upper 4 teams seeded into SINGLE ELIM playoff bracket (same as Masters now but playoffs is single elim), Top 4 teams go to masters
Region 2: EMEA
West: Area covered by VRLs in Germany, Spain, France, North Europe
-12 teams, two groups of six
-Top 8 teams advance, top seed from each group advance to playoffs
-Bottom seed sent to relegation from VRL (sort of like how it is now)
East: Area covered by VRLs in Turkey, MENA, CIS, and Eastern Europe
-12 teams, two groups of six
-Top 8 teams advance, top seed from each group advance to playoffs
-Bottom seed sent to relegation from VRL
Playoffs:
-12 lower teams split into 4 groups in double round robins, top seed qualifies for bracket (kind of like Group D at Berlin last year when bren had visa issues)
-Upper teams seeded into single elim bracket, Top 4 teams go to masters
Region 3: Asia North: KR, JP, China(?),
-6 slots each (18 teams total)
-Groups split into three groups of six, no more than 3 teams from one region in each group
-Top seeds from each group automatically qualify for masters, play in single round robin for seeding
-Bottom seeds from each group play against top seed from VRLs for relegation
Region 4: Asia South: APAC, Oceania, SA
APAC:
-Twelve teams, two groups of six, top 8 teams seeded into playoffs
-Teams seeded into double elimination bracket, top 3 teams qualify for masters
Oceania
-Eight teams, two groups of four, top 4 teams seeded into playoffs
-Teams seeded into double elimination bracket, top 1 team qualifies for masters
SA
-Eight teams, two groups of four, top 4 teams seeded into playoffs
-Teams seeded into double elimination bracket, top 1 team qualifies for masters
-All qualified teams play against each other in single round robin for seeding
Masters would look like:
-Four from LATAM/NA/BR
-Four from EMEA
-Four from China/JP/KR
-Four from APAC/SA/OCE
Champions would look like (off of circuit points)
-T4 LATAM/NA/BR
-T4 EMEA
-T4 China/JP/KR
-T4 APAC/SA/OCE
-VCC/SA circuit winner (if two different teams with between splits then there is a qualifying match)
-OCE Tour winner
-GC global winner
-Redbull Campus Clutch winner (collegiate val global championship)
-Americas LCQ winner
-EMEA LCQ winner
-APACN LCQ winner
-APACS LCQ winner
Total 24 teams
All of the following would be put into a swiss format with the top 8 advancing
-VCC/SA circuit winner (if two different teams with between splits then there is a qualifying match)
-OCE Tour winner
-GC global winner
-Redbull Campus Clutch winner (collegiate val global championship)
-Americas LCQ winner
-EMEA LCQ winner
-APACN LCQ winner
-APACS LCQ winner
-Lower 2 Americas seeds
-Lower 2 EMEA seeds
-Lower 2 APACN seeds
-Lower 2 APACS seeds
-Remaining teams and upper 2 seeds from each region would play through groups
-Top 8 advance into single elim bracket