2026 Winter Warm-Up Information
2026 Winter Warm-Up Announcement
The WWU takes place exclusively on discord. Please sign up there in the #tourney-announcements channel if you wish to participate!
The event will start at Saturday, March 7, 2026 11:00 AM EST, with a pre-seed currently running on the maps Triple Trail, Galactic Islands, Nadir. There are no limits to the amount of players that can sign up, but there are a few format changes:
There will once again be a pre-seed round on three randomly selected maps from the new pool. These maps can't be maps picked in the past WWU, summer premier, or solo hunt event.
Seeds 1-4 are the bye seeds. They start off with a bye to the second round of the upper bracket.
Seeds 5-12 are the standard seeds, participating in double elimination.
Seeds 13-20 are the wildcard seeds. They start in the lower bracket and play with single elimination. All matches are best of 3 this year with the exception of the lower bracket final and the grand final. This saves us a lot of time and ensures we can finish the event respectful of everyone's time. Since we will need to run four games at once, we'll need players help to host their own servers for others to use when they aren't currently playing.
Prize Pool
$25 steam gift card to 1st place.
$10 steam gift card to 2nd place.
The top 4 players who aren't already qualified will qualify for the Contender's League in the 2026 summer tournament.
Map Additions The following maps have been added on a trial basis for the 2026 season. Like last year, if they play poorly they may be removed before summer. Narrows (Endy) Foundry (Endy) Stingbee Valley (Frostfire) Galactic Islands (Frostfire) Fractured Islands (Connie) These maps are currently on marbleland and will be updated into the base game later this month. A reminder that this tournament is an opportunity to playtest and provide feedback on these changes.
Hunt Bot and Match Format The match format will be functionally the same as the recent 2v2 event. Each round, 5 maps will be selected and players will ban until one remains. The grand final will once again be a single match with 6 maps selected, the higher seed having double ban advantage. I have developed a discord bot to make this process significantly easier. Run a simple discord command and the bot will automatically randomize 5 maps that haven't already been picked in the series, allowing players to ban back and forth. It also handles server/draft advantage selection for the higher seed. This way, there is less confusion and better record keeping as the drafts will be visible to all on discord. We will be trialing HuntBot this event for potential usage in the summer tournament!
Resources
Pre-Seed and Schedule:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A7L0nZHK...4Ss/edit?usp=sharing Challonge Sample Bracket:
challonge.com/3cyhs9kh
Frostfire's WWU Preview:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CcO64eMm...hyM/edit?usp=sharing
SV's WWU Preview:
The WWU takes place exclusively on discord. Please sign up there in the #tourney-announcements channel if you wish to participate!
The event will start at Saturday, March 7, 2026 11:00 AM EST, with a pre-seed currently running on the maps Triple Trail, Galactic Islands, Nadir. There are no limits to the amount of players that can sign up, but there are a few format changes:
There will once again be a pre-seed round on three randomly selected maps from the new pool. These maps can't be maps picked in the past WWU, summer premier, or solo hunt event.
Seeds 1-4 are the bye seeds. They start off with a bye to the second round of the upper bracket.
Seeds 5-12 are the standard seeds, participating in double elimination.
Seeds 13-20 are the wildcard seeds. They start in the lower bracket and play with single elimination. All matches are best of 3 this year with the exception of the lower bracket final and the grand final. This saves us a lot of time and ensures we can finish the event respectful of everyone's time. Since we will need to run four games at once, we'll need players help to host their own servers for others to use when they aren't currently playing.
Prize Pool
$25 steam gift card to 1st place.
$10 steam gift card to 2nd place.
The top 4 players who aren't already qualified will qualify for the Contender's League in the 2026 summer tournament.
Map Additions The following maps have been added on a trial basis for the 2026 season. Like last year, if they play poorly they may be removed before summer. Narrows (Endy) Foundry (Endy) Stingbee Valley (Frostfire) Galactic Islands (Frostfire) Fractured Islands (Connie) These maps are currently on marbleland and will be updated into the base game later this month. A reminder that this tournament is an opportunity to playtest and provide feedback on these changes.
Hunt Bot and Match Format The match format will be functionally the same as the recent 2v2 event. Each round, 5 maps will be selected and players will ban until one remains. The grand final will once again be a single match with 6 maps selected, the higher seed having double ban advantage. I have developed a discord bot to make this process significantly easier. Run a simple discord command and the bot will automatically randomize 5 maps that haven't already been picked in the series, allowing players to ban back and forth. It also handles server/draft advantage selection for the higher seed. This way, there is less confusion and better record keeping as the drafts will be visible to all on discord. We will be trialing HuntBot this event for potential usage in the summer tournament!
Resources
Pre-Seed and Schedule:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A7L0nZHK...4Ss/edit?usp=sharing Challonge Sample Bracket:
challonge.com/3cyhs9kh
Frostfire's WWU Preview:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CcO64eMm...hyM/edit?usp=sharing
SV's WWU Preview: