The Midseason Tournament @ BCO

After finishing a more subdued MLP NYC tournament (due in part to a late venue change), the league season is at the midway point and teams are now prepping for the Edward Jones MLP Presented by Door Dash Mid Season Tournament at Beer City Open.

The tournament starts Wednesday with College All-Stars vs. Las Vegas Night Owls on Grandstand at 9 a.m. CDT, and the Cali Black Bears vs. Bay Area Breakers kicking off the remaining Challenger events on Championship Court. Here’s the rundown of the format:

• ALL teams in both Premier and Challenger will be participating, in double-elimination bracket play.

• Seeding for brackets was determined by points-per-match, since not all teams have played the same number of matches at this point. Seeding tie-breakers were determined by total matches won.

• Standing points will be awarded for the top 3 finishing teams: 1st place earns 6 additional standings points, 2nd place earns 4 points, 3rd place earns 2 points

• Prize money payouts, paid by the league to players:

  • Premier: 1st = $50,000, 2nd = $25,000, 3rd = $12,500

  • Challenger: 1st = $7,000, 2nd = $3,500, 3rd = $2,000

Current Standings

Here are the comprehensive league-wide standings following last week’s MLP event in New York City. It's important to note that these standings should not be mistaken for the seeding used for the Mid-Season Tournament.

Premier

Given that Dallas Flash are undefeated, and the St. Louis Shock have just 1 loss, you may be surprised to find Columbus Sliders atop the standings. Since they’ve played the most matches, they currently have the most standing points with 20 matches played. Brooklyn is #2 with 19 matches played, while Flash and Shock have 14 each. We’re still anticipating impressive performances from the Flash and Shock, but they’ll need to keep an eye on the Sliders, Brooklyn, Mad Drops, and the 5s, all of whom are eager to claim the top spot.

Rounding out the current top 10 are Squeeze, Ranchers, Black Diamonds, and Miami. Meanwhile, the Chicago Slice are holding onto 12th place, but they've played five fewer games than Miami. With a higher average points per match than Miami, they've got a solid chance to catch up and break into the top 10 for a playoff spot.

Challenger

Las Vegas was expected to shine this season with their star-studded team featuring Brooke Buckner and Pablo Tellez, and they’ve certainly lived up to the hype. What’s been more of a surprise, though, is the impressive performance of the Nashville Chefs. They’ve secured a strong 2nd place, boasting 6 regulation wins and 5 victories in Dreambreakers.

All Challenger level teams make it to Playoffs, but the top 2 teams earn a bye in the first round. (Note: there is no selective promotion this year— all Challenger teams advance to Premier in 2026, making one single league)

MIDSEASON TOURNEY BRACKETS

Premier

Starts with a Round of 16 in double elimination. Losers of each match go into a backdraw; winners of the backdraw will take 3rd place.

Challenger

What’s going to make Challenger really interesting is the addition of two college teams. The top 2 winners of the DUPR Collegiate National Championships (CNC) earned a spot in the bracket, and see if they can knock off top Challenger teams.

Players for CNC winners (University of Texas and Texas Christian University) had limited availability, so the College All-Stars team consists of a mix of players from top collegiate teams: Zoeya Khan (UT), Ellie Douglas (TCU), Liam Duffin (Utah Tech), and Aj Khawaja (TCU).

The second college team competing is Florida Atlantic University (FAU), who tied for 3rd in the National Championships. Their team consists of Ava Cavataio, Bella Nelson, Zachary Card, and Zachary Marceau.

If you’re attending the Midseason Tournament at BCO this year, be sure to secure your tickets using code KOTC!

PLAYOFFS - Mark your calendar

After BCO, there are 3 more MLP events before the playoffs. Click to buy your tickets (and use KOTC at checkout)

St. Louis: July 17-20

Dallas: July 24-27

Salt Lake City: July 31 - Aug 3

Episode 150:

Recap of MLP San Clemente, what’s going on with the Phoenix Flames, plus fan questions

PLUS - catch our interview with Kelsea Thompson of PickleCon!