Regional Open · EU — the European feeder for the Crown Open

The Regional Open · EU is the European feeder for the Crown Open. Open bracket → closed qualifier → regional final. The Regional Open · EU is the tournament that decides which EU sides take the two Continental Major slots.

The format is a three-week cycle. Week one is the open bracket — 128 sides, single elimination, Bo1 until the round of 16, Bo3 from the quarter-finals onward. Week two is the closed qualifier — the eight open-bracket survivors join the eight invited sides for a double-elimination Bo3 bracket. Week three is the regional final — a Bo5 grand final between the upper-bracket winner and the lower-bracket winner.

The host city is Berlin. The venue is the Velodrom, the same venue that hosted the Season 13 Crown Open playoff bracket. The regional final is the only match of the cycle played in front of a live audience; the open bracket and the closed qualifier are played online.

The invited sides for the Regional Open · EU are selected on the basis of the regional power ranking. The eight invited sides are the top eight from the EU power ranking at the close of the previous cycle. The open bracket is open to any EU-registered side that has cleared the eligibility check.

The two Continental Major slots are the prize of the regional final. The upper-bracket winner and the lower-bracket winner both advance. The regional final is the only match of the cycle with a guaranteed Continental Major slot on the line.

The Regional Open · EU broadcast is the deepest cast rotation outside the Crown Open. Two play-by-play casters rotate through the closed qualifier, supported by a four-person analyst desk. The analyst desk includes a former EU IGL, a current EU coach and the desk's tactical analyst.

The desk's standing note on the Regional Open · EU is that the open bracket is the most volatile week of the cycle. Lower-seeded sides come in with one map prep, upper-seeded sides come in trying to read the meta. The open bracket is the read; the closed qualifier is the answer.

The Regional Open · EU is also the one tournament where the desk's power ranking is reset at the start of the cycle. The previous cycle's regional power ranking is the seed for the open bracket, and the cycle's power ranking is published weekly. The desk's standing rule is that the regional power ranking is reflected on the regional open page within an hour of any change.