The Rektreational

Rektreational’s first Grand Champions are back for more. 

From the darkest depths of Pit Lord's sacred bunker come members Joolz and Rooplee from Zynga, DualEclipse and Froot from Press Play to Save, Studio from Games Done Quick, and JSauce and Glenn from Bandai Namco. Together we are PIT LORD META.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

A ragtag team of teachers, games writers, developers, and game design students from your friendly neighborhood NeoGAF Dota thread.

British internet computer videogame people: assemble! Philippa Warr (RPS), Chris Thursten (PC Gamer), Phill Cameron (Gamasutra) and Matthew Cox (PCG/RPS) join Dota 2 merch illustrator Robin 'Robbobin' Wild. You knew them as the three people you hadn't heard of in TEAM VENO. Now know them as UPTOWN DUNK!

Twitters: Chris Thursten - @cthursten Philippa Warr - @philippawarr Phill Cameron - @phillcameron Matthew Cox - @coccyxx Robin Wild - @robbobin

Handles

Undead Labs is made up of developers working on State of Decay and Moonrise. Peter is a game designer and ex-LoL pro. Chris is a real life wizard. CPH is a professional car stacker. Garrett is a worldwide webomancer. Cale tries to not bother people with too many silly questions.

Cale Schupman @caleschupman

Chris Willoughby @chris_killabi

Peter Lim @HeartbeatLoL

Chris Paul-Hayter Lorerunner

Garrett Amini @mgamini

TEAM HAMBURGERS was formed out of a Boston-Seattle axis of friends, eager to fill the bellies of their foes and wreak havoc on their couriers.

Rektreational veterans return with a new team: Razorlight Social Club, a furious combo of AAA and indie in search of glorious Dota 2 millions*.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Aaron Artessa (@aguyincatshirts) Chase Martin (@theplayerpiano) Aaron Oak (@gdnws_) Will O'Neill (@willoneill) Ben Ruiz (@benruiz)

Rektreational 3rd place winners Poutine King Bar are back.

Authentic Square Enix Montréal developers

5 medium potatoes, cut into fries 1 ounce beef gravy 2 cups cheese curds

Serves: You and your amateur DotA team

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Etienne Giroux, @barichnikov, barichnikov: http://steamcommunity.com/id/barichnikov barichnikov 

Etienne Jauvin, @vespene_jazz, Olive Juice: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198005447067

Francis Pétrin, @fpetrin, mak: http://steamcommunity.com/id/makoro/

Carl-André Corbeil, @zcorbs, Warshop: http://steamcommunity.com/id/warshop 

David Desrochers, @ddrochers, Names: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197999433636 

Hailing from the great city of Chicago, these young mobile & PC game devs at Phosphor Games sought a chance to make a name for themselves in the first Rektreational. Although defeated, they are determined to beat anybody unlucky enough to challenge them.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Peter Bennett, @pocketarmor, provokingastorm: http://steamcommunity.com/id/provokingastorm/ 

Adam Coriglione, adamo: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197989963376/ 

Joey Manso, clivewinston: http://steamcommunity.com/id/joeboxer522 

Shajee Fakih, shajeecool: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197977293548/

A ragtag group of underdogs assembled from parts unknown. Three indie devs, two web devs, zero prisoners, and one burning desire to win!

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Ryan Schaefer, Programmer (Wallride Games) @Digitalistic Digitalistic

Jason Flack, Artist/Designer (Imangi Studios) @jasonflack ohnosushi

Lexie Dostal, Programmer (Hitbox) @hxLexie Lexie

Joe Slack, Web Developer (CBS Interactive) @SlackJoe Slack

Suicide Kings brings new and old Rektreational players together in search of throne-smashing glory -- whatever the cost.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Drew Shelton-Stewart, @DrewSheltStew, slark wahlberg

Brian Leahy, @bleahy, empathe

Bret Kiraly, Punky Brewmaster: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197971259183

Jim Griffin, Polemus: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198020056838/

Jacob Bornemann, @bashlordbutters, Butters

Kappa.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Bugatti Lifestyle unites scattered Rektreational 1 teams in a shameless effort to secure the astonishing Rektreational 2 prize pool of $0.00.

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Jayson, @geg, geg: http://steamcommunity.com/id/gegnre 

Nick H., @nickisnixed, Garbage Baby: http://steamcommunity.com/id/NickisNixed 

Sam, @_SamStewart, Applesteak: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198029219628 

Joel, Azantys: http://steamcommunity.com/id/azantys

Kyle, @cocoadisanjh, Kdisanjh: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198010341604 

Brian, @albinoalbert, albinoalbert http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197991823739 

League of Legends returns to extremely professional Dota 2 play in Rektreational 2. 

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Twitter Profiles: Matt Pascual - https://twitter.com/mattpascual Brad Shoemaker - https://twitter.com/bradshoemaker Crispy - https://twitter.com/crispylovesyou Matt Kessler - https://twitter.com/mattbodega Refleksy - https://twitter.com/refleksy

Perfect World Entertainment’s 1992 Dream Team brings fresh meat / ballers  to Rektreational. 

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Mark Hill,  Homework: http://steamcommunity.com/id/_Homework

Andy Brown,  Obah: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Obah

Ryan Clark,  Rogers Indigo Wingspan: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Rogers_Indigo_Wingspan/

Summee Farooqi,  summx:     http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198025413480

Alex Monney, yetweallfalldown,@alexmonney: http://steamcommunity.com/id/yetweallfalldown/

First-time Rektreational players 5 Guys 1 Mango brings more Canadian flavor to this year’s tournament. 

Watch them on twitch.tv/rektreational

Welcome back. We’re almost ready to go! 

Before we begin, check out the Rektreational 2015 Bracket for a look at our new structure this year. You’ll also get a sneak peek at some teams before we formally announce everyone this week.   

You can also add the game times to your Calendar.

We’re trying something very different this year. Please let us know your feedback on Reddit, where we’ll be talking about matches and teams during the tournament. Here’s how the tournament works this year.

We have 15 teams in three groups, as you can see in the bracket.

On Weekend 1 -- soon, July 11-12 -- each team in their group will compete against four other teams.

The teams with the worst records in each group will be eliminated from Rektreational 2 --  we wanted a faster and more lean tournament this year, so we’re going to see some rapidly broken hearts and an equally speedy ascent to the championship. 

The teams with the three best records in each group will advance to Weekend 2. The two teams who advance to Weekend 2 with the worst record, however, enter the Wildcard on Weekend 2.

Weekend 2 is set after EVO 2015 -- so return for the finals on July 24-26. Friday has the best-of-3 Wildcard, while Saturday/Sunday have the remaining BO3 series. The BO5 Grand Finals happen Sunday evening.

And then we’re done, head to The International, and brainstorm ideas for Rektreational 2016. 

Thanks for your interest in playing in The Rektreational 2: The game's industry's Dota 2 tournament. We're a casual/for-fun league, and we're excited to try some new stuff this time around. This tournament is going to move much faster than the last one -- most notably, we've ditched Double Elimination and set it across just 5 days. It's going to be two fun, crazy, busy weekends full of Dota, and we're thrilled you're looking to join us.

Here's how it'll work:

We'll kick off Saturday July 11th and Sunday July 12th. We'll take a break the following weekend because of EVO 2015, and return to wrap up Rektreational 2 Fri/Sat/Sun on the 24th, 25th, and 26th. For convenience, we're going to favor a Pacific time zone schedule, with matches beginning as early as 9am. Rule 7 of Fight Club applies.

The tournament involves 16 teams selected at the discretion of our illustrious management. We'll announce the 16 teams in the first week of June. If you aren't selected, don't take it personally -- we're expecting quite a few team applications, and we'd love to include you in Rektretional 3 if we can't fit you in this time!

Want to apply? Awesome. Just a couple things before you get started:

- Please only apply if you're available during all of the Rektreational 2's days - We'll be assigning teams match times, and winners are expected to be available as they advance through the tournament. - Only apply when you've got a full team of 5 players - You are welcome to include 3 substitute players in your roster, but they cannot also be playing/standing in for another team. - Deadline for application is May 31, 2015 at 11:59pm PST.