What is this?

A year ago, Explorers' Sanctum hosted a corporation PvP tournament. But we're not your usual corporation... nor was it a regular PvP tournament! We made people shoot one another in battleVentures! This started a chain of meme tournaments that were all designed to generate as much fun as possible while also allowing everyone to participate. We used ships that gave little, or even no bonuses at all to veterans via their traits and we got complete newbros and carebears to fully commit to blowing up friendly corporation members.

Since then, EX-SA hosted four of these meme tournaments (more info below) so for this fifth one, we decided to open the doors to our whole coalition and give the opportunity to the rest of you guys to finally shoot one another in ridiculously cheap fits that would, otherwise, make no sense at all!

This is NOT your regular tournament where veteran PvPers win the fight! Forget about bling and optimizing strategies! We're here to set up meme fits that might completely fail or completely baffle your opponent with sheer brilliance and counter mechanics! Most of our winners were people that either did little PvP or didn't know how to leave hisec! This is mostly due to the quirky rules of the tournament that usually contain a "secret" rule that gets revealed on the day of the tournament or only a couple days before the big brawl day.

Rewards

All of our previous tournaments awarded ships to the lucky winners, and we're not about to change that any time soon!

The great LinkNet shootout makes the reward pool bigger and better than ever with tons of ships awaiting winners, but also some other contestants as well!

You can expect anything from simple frigates and cruisers up to beefy shiny Triglavian battleships!

Leshak

EVE SKINs allow you to apply custom paintjobs to your ship hull.

And what good is your new ship without a spankin' SKIN slapped on top?!

After the shootout is done, some of you will get the chance to peek into Skipp's hangar and pick out the SKIN of your choice as a reward.

SKINs

Even though CCP removed walking in stations where you could bask at your character's perky posterior, there is no reason your capsuleer can't look her/his best!

Once again, qualified winners will get to jump into a hangar full of various character apparel and pick out some cool outfits.

Winter is coming... and space is usually cold. Make sure your capsuleer is nice and cosy!

Apparel

1st place

Our tournament winner gets his own Leshak - a Triglavian battleship that will dominate the grid. On top of that, you get to choose five items from the tournament SKIN/Apparel hangar.

2nd place

Tournament runner-up wins a Loki - the pride of the Minmatar cruiser line of ships! Alongside the ship hull itself, you get to choose three items from the tournament SKIN/Apparel hangar.

3rd place

The last podium place gets to fly away with a Confessor - a hair-iron shaped Amarrian T3 destroyer that will be accompanied by an extra item from the tournament SKIN/Apparel hangar.

Abyssal survivors & duelists

Every pilot that lives through the initial Abyssal phase to tell the story gets to commemorate the occasion with a T1 empire cruiser of choice while first-round duel winners go home with a brand new Damavik.

Rules

T1 empire frigates only
To get everyone on fair ground, only T1 frigs are allowed. This means no pirate faction, no navy, no Triglavians... Full list of allowed ships is available below. These will be handed out for free!
T1 / meta modules only
Same as with the hulls - No T2, faction, blue, purple, or any kind of fancy modules are allowed! You will be scanned before the engagement
Beefier pewpew
You are allowed to use faction drones and ammo.
Module restriction - MWD
No kitey bullshit! Microwarpdrives are not allowed on your ships!
Charge restriction - Nanite paste & Cap boosters
You thought of trolling in a quadruple ancil Heron? Well, your cargo hold is not allowed to contain anything but ammo, scripts and dancers!
Fit cost must be below 8 mil ISK
Not everyone sits on piles of ISK. Think of the newbros! Keep your fits cheap (ammo price not included; drones are)!
Stick with it!
Once you have your ship and fit ready - you are not allowed to change it as you progress through the tournament stages.
Finals benefits
Tournament finalists are allowed to modify their ship fits (not the ship itself) if they so wish. All other restrictions are still in place!

Surprise rules

Once the signups are closed, we will randomize all contestants into groups of 3 (in case the total participant number is not equally dividable by 3, some of you might end up in groups of 2). This will start the initial stage of the tournament where you can meet your new fleet members and start working on tactics (or the lack of).

Stage I - The Abyss

  • 1. Each initial group of pilots will jump into the Abyss (Tranquil Dark filament). It is up to you to work with or against your fleet members and live through 3 Abyssal pockets
  • 2. Only one pilot may get out - the other two need to be destroyed and podded inside
  • 3. Pilots that reach normal space will be promoted to "Abyssal survivors" and rewarded with a T1 empire cruiser of their choice.

Stage II - Duels

  • 1. All Abyssal survivors will be paired into duels outside in the regular knockout phase of the tournament
  • 2. The loser will self-destruct his/her pod
  • 3. Pilots winning the initial duel round will be promoted to "Duelists" and rewarded with Damaviks
  • 4. Duels commence until there is one last standing Abyssal survivor
  • 5. If they so choose, finalists (1st & 3rd place duels) are allowed to change their fit (not the ship)
  • 6. Once only the champion is standing, he/she will self-destruct for everyone's enjoyment proving no foul play and misusage of implants

Special scenarios

In case of uneven duelist numbers, depending on the stage of the tournament, we may put up new fun challenges to determine who gets to move onto the next stage of the tournament.

Tournament ships

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Signups

Lana Dawnstar
Log into EVE and find Lana Dawnstar from the main search window
Donate
Donate* 1.000.000 ISK (1mil ISK) or 1.000.001 if you're a criminal and can't enter hisec
Rifter
Start theory crafting on your fit and sit tight until the tournament

Tournament timeline

Stage I - Abyssal depths

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V Tsero [RASAX]
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Xua Tayuun [EX-SA]
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Garen Willow [N0M3D]
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DrBreak [SPRAL]
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Numa Unu [EX-SA]
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LocusAzzurro Orisis [XSINY]
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Xifon Naari [SEADC]
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Ganemede Skylet [N0M3D]
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Vant Neth [SPRAL]
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Shkema III [HVEN]
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Padoona Broekman [SPRAL]
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Bobby Presley [PPEP]
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Cephast [HVEN]
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Sam Lagadec [N0M3D]
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AlphaChalk [APEE]
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Sutsiko Miyaka [DLSC]
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Ylari Noir [EX-SA]
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Morpphius Aldent [SPRAL]
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Spartan Onzo [SEADC]
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Alex Torent [EX-SA]
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Boleon Siray [N0M3D]
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Plagus Dextros [RASAX]
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Sierra Sin [N0M3D]
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So Pagano [SPRAL]
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Shiry Vereynor [N0M3D]
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Barrote Pax [EX-SA]
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Kevin Grumman [N0M3D]
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Starman666 [EX-SA]
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Eowyn Serenity [EX-SA]
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Averse Andolar [N0M3D]
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Ase Drey [EX-SA]
Did not qualify into Stage II via scanning minigame

Stage II - Duels

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Garen Willow [N0M3D]
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Bobby Presley [PPEP]
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Vant Neth [SPRAL]
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DrBreak [SPRAL]
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Sam Lagadec [N0M3D]
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Plagus Dextros [RASAX]
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Kevin Grumman [N0M3D]
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Barrote Pax [EX-SA]

Stage III - Quarterfinals

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Garen Willow [N0M3D]
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Vant Neth [SPRAL]
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Sam Lagadec [N0M3D]
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Barrote Pax [EX-SA]

3rd place duel

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Vant Neth [SPRAL]
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Sam Lagadec [N0M3D]

Finals

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Garen Willow [N0M3D]
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Barrote Pax [EX-SA]

Tournament history

It all started on the 28th of October 2019. when the initial idea of a ridiculous tournament emerged... Anyone can run a tournament in combat ships so we decided to put a twist on our version by doing it in battleVentures! The tournament was blessed with Rynn and Mateus warping in their ships without guns or drones (some say they are still orbiting one another locked in a permanent duel to infinity), while Noys landed the final blow against Tsjoenders in the tournament finals.

Venture tournament
Corvette tournament

Our 2nd tournament pitched together contestants in vicious corvettes! Some really interesting fits were made but only one lived through multiple fights! Aria's experience in PvP engagements won the tournament finals against EX-SA's biggest carebear Rynn, while Eowyn reached 3rd place by taking our last year champion Noys Lambent in an extremely tight fight where her active tanked Velator managed to hold the incoming damage of the opponent's rustbucket.

At this point, the tradition of the winner hosting the next tournament was already formed, and Aria didn't wait long to come up with his own new and improved version! Since we always try to pick the ships with minimal impact over newbros, Aria's ship of choice was the Sunesis while the prize pool consisted of Guristas ships and apparel. After moving through the initial two knockout rounds, Rynn grabbed the 3rd place by blowing up Numa Unu with her extremely kitey fit, while Skipp's trolly tripple-rep Sunesis won the finals against Barrote who took 2nd place.

Sunesis tournament
Explorafrigates tournament

Our fourth tournament had a few extra rules and limitations. By now, everyone already half-expected Rynn to be a smartass (as she usually is) - but no one could even imagine her undocking a no-prop smartbombing Magnate! Her tactics were extremely simple and deadly. Sit still, rep up and simply 2-shot enemy drones. With literally all of the opponent DPS eliminated, her grinning face laughed at the slow death her tiny T1 drones inflicted upon the helpless ships on the receiving end.

Elial even had some solid counters in form of webs and missiles but forgot to utilize them properly during the fight which got him the 3rd place while Aria, although his neuting looked promising, didn't manage to keep his drones alive long enough to do any significant damage - making him take 2nd place.

Join the pewpew

And this brings us all here - to the Great LinkNet shootout! Make sure to sign up and reserve your spot in one of the most unique PVP experiences you've ever had in EVE!

You get free ships to welp, a clear allowance to shoot your fellow blues right in their faces and laugh about it! Only this time - we're introducing new surprise rules you wouldn't even dream of!

Tournament hosts

Skipp Doe

Skipp Doe

[EX-SA] CEO, tournament founder & reward provider
Aria Nakatsuri

Aria Nakatsuri

Secret rules mastermind & reward provider
Rynn Malukker

Rynn Malukker

Aftermath logi, drone dispenser & that girl your mom warned you about. Also, will be in yellow

Explorers' Sanctum - The Great LinkNet shootout

Join in on the most unique PVP experience in EVE