May 1st Global League Update

It's been bumpy road this month, and this time around the Map Committee worked on the May Rotation maps for almost the entire month of April. This patch will be enacted over the next 6 hours or so. Here are the results.

May 1 Global League Update:

Persistent Maps
Remove Aphotic Arena
Add Baelor

WalkerBoh wrote:Aphotic Arena
Tends to develop into a relatively static midgame without much conflict. Never really stalemates, largely due to the airport position, but I think we have better options.

After a significant amount of testing and analysis, we have decided as a group to remove Aphotic Arena from the Global League and move it to the Hall of Fame. Aphotic Arena has had close to a thousand games in the 4 or 5 years since its design, and it's a genuinely great map to play on, but it will be cycled out for a new Persistent Map that has so far been well liked by the committee and players alike.

WalkerBoh wrote:walkerboh01 (02/18/2015 01:02am):
This map is so good. The diagonal mountains bordering a city is freaking genius. The capture phase is awesome, the front-switching is perfect. I'm giving this map a 10/10 and strongly recommending for a shift in the League.

Baelor features a volatile but balanced capture phase, a wide variety of carefully calculated terrain, and some truly unique CO matchup possibilities. We hope you enjoy this new Persistent Map option in your future League and Tournament games.

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Rotation Maps
Remove Corporeal
Remove Distant Memories
Remove Off Guard
Keep Bandit Revolver GL
Add Binary Star
Add Force of Nature
Add Lunatic
Add Portal 7



We decided to keep Bandit Revolver GL in for 1 more month, as there's still significant internal debate and analysis going on with exactly where we want that map to end up. As such, it will remain in active Rotation for 1 more month. This means that only 3 maps will be removed from Rotation, with 1 more (Baelor) moving to Persistent. This leaves us with 4 open slots for new Rotation Maps, and Binary Star, Force of Nature, Lunatic, and Portal 7 will fill those slots this month.  

Binary Star

Walker Boh wrote:The neutral base is positioned to create very interesting choices on where to deploy troops, and the capture phase in general is interesting. The fronts develop in the right place and the map is just open enough near there to allow many options for tactical positioning.

Force of Nature

Walker Boh wrote:Really, really like the look of this map. The pipe seam idea is fantastic and the fronts look really well-designed.

Best Sakuya NA wrote:You'll need to play around the fact that you will be building from your weak front rather late here, since that base starts as neutral. Be mindful as to how you can use the mountains on the fronts to your advantage.

Lunatic

Best Sakuya NA wrote:The maze of pipes, rivers, and black boats create a somewhat unique feel here, both aesthetically and from a gameplay perspective. Be aware of the double airport here as well as their positioning, which allows some additional freedom in builds in the midgame, but don't fall into a trap and overproduce more air than you need.

Portal 7  

WalkerBoh wrote:bohwalker (07/04/2011 03:11am):
In case you don't see it right away, the point of this map is that the two bases near the black boats will be able to send units to the area in between the enemy bases, right near the HQ. This means that those 2 bases are supporting fighting on both sides of the map, making decisions on where to send units especially difficult and important. Air units will also have fun here, being able to be deployed to both fronts.