NSL Invitational Cup

Welcome to the biggest event in Natural Selection history. The combination of Strategy and Shooter gameplay makes NS a unique competitive play experience, for spectator and player alike. To celebrate the release of the Gorgeous update, Unknown Worlds has teamed up with ENSL.org, Twitch.tv, Logitech Gaming, and the Electronic Sports League to bring you the NSL Invitational Grand Final.

The NSL Invitational Cup Featured some of the biggest names in NS, including Mercury, All-In, Nexzil and Archaea. It took place in February and will now culminate in a live studio grand final in Cologne, Germany. The top three teams will share in a prize pool worth over $7,000.

The Grand Final will be broadcast live on twitch.tv/naturalselection2, and the show starts at 2000CET, and will last about four hours. There will be team interviews, highlights from qualifying matches, strategy analysis and more. To see what time that is in your local timezone, check out this map:





If you would like to use your chosen social network to remind you of the event timing, you can do so using these Facebook, Google+ and Steam events!

The studio is seriously slick. We visited last year for the finals of the NS2 launch tournament. There is even room for a live studio audience, and you are invited to attend! Head on over to the eventbrite page to grab tickets. They are free, with a voluntary donation (you can grab them for 1 cent) to make sure people are not hoarding the tickets. Before, during, and after the show you will be able to mingle with UWE developers (including Charlie!), casters, and the players.

All casts will feature the new Insight Spectator System: First Person Spectating, improved ‘SkyCam’ aerial view, instant team resource analysis, improved tech display, and enhanced player status visuals. In between matches, some of the best NS2 community casters will provide insight into team strategy and tactics.

Natural Selection 2 has competitive scenes in all regions of the world. Those scenes are separate, due to time-zone differences and the ping differentials that arise over long distances. Until now. Nexzil, a team from the United States, won qualification for the NSL Grand Final. They will face Archaea, the champions of the previous Cologne event. Unknown Worlds is paying to fly and hotel both teams. This is truly a clash of continents that we hope will draw global competitive NS2 closer together.

The kind folks over at Logitech Gaming have provided six G930 headsets, G500 mice and G710 mechanical keyboards for the prize pool.

We here at Unknown Worlds are putting $5,000 (USD) cash into the pot to be shared amongst the winning teams. All flights and hotel expenses of the grand finalists will also be covered by Unknown Worlds. The distribution of prizes is as follows:

3rd place: $1,000

2nd place: $1,500 + Flights to and hotel in Cologne, Germany

1st place: $2,500 + Logitech gear + Flights to and hotel in Cologne, Germany

To keep up to date on all the action before and during the show, follow @NS2 on Twitter and like Natural Selection 2 on Facebook, +Natural Selection 2, or subscribe to r/ns2. Fellow NS2 players, new NS2 players, prospective NS2 players: Stay tuned. This event will be like nothing the NS community has ever seen. It will be a triple-A spectacle, a display of the greatest skill, an entertaining and inspiring event.