AoE2 Specialist Cup Season 2

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Most Age of Empires II tournaments hand players a standard map pool and let the best all-rounder win. The AoE2 Specialist Cup Season 2 flips that idea on its head. Organised by Xardas_AoE, this online series splits into four completely separate cups, each one built around a single style of map. Running from May 15 to July 12, 2026, the four events ask competitors to prove they are not just strong 1v1 players, but genuine specialists who can thrive when the terrain is forced into one familiar mould. Continental rewards land-map control, Stronghold leans into walls and defensive booming, Thalassocracy is all about the water, and Nomad strips away the comfort of a starting Town Center. Win one and you are the master of that domain.

The four cups share the same DNA: identical scheduling, the same prize structure, the same worldwide online format, and a heavyweight entry list that repeats many of the same names across all four brackets. What changes is the map pool, and with it the entire flavour of the competition.

Guide Contents

PRIZE POOL

Each of the four cups carries its own $350 USD prize pool, bringing the combined Season 2 payout to $1,400 across the series. The per-cup distribution is identical:

Place	Prize (per cup)
1st	$150
2nd	$100
3rd – 4th	$50 each

Lower placements are tracked in the standings but do not carry a stated cash reward.

FORMAT

All four cups follow the same blueprint. Forty players are drawn into eight groups (A through H) for a round-robin group stage, where every match is a best-of-three. The top three from each group survive into a single-elimination playoff bracket. Group ties are settled first on maps won, then matches won, then head-to-head. In the knockout stage, every series is a best-of-five right up until the grand final, which extends to a best-of-seven. It is a long, demanding road that rewards consistency in the groups and nerve in the bracket. Because the four cups run in parallel, top players are juggling four very different map styles at once, which is exactly what makes a multi-cup sweep so impressive.

CONTINENTAL CUP

Continental is the closed-land cup. These are maps where both players start on the same large landmass with no water separating them, so early aggression, map control and clean macro decide everything. The pool includes Aztlan, Badlands, Boulder Forest, Crownwood, Desert Void, Glacis, Higher Ground, Hollow Woodlands, Outcrop, Spiral, Sunburn, Terrace and Vale da Selva, plus two surprise maps revealed during the event. With nowhere to hide behind a shoreline, this is the cup for players who back themselves in a straight land fight.

The seeded field is headlined by:

Austria: FreakinAndy
Serbia: DauT
Mexico: Kingstone
France: Ciskhan
Argentina: Lucho
Germany: Running
Argentina: Capoch
India: Dragonstar

The full 40-player roster also features NeoZz (France), StonePleaseAoE (Germany), chart (Japan), Prisma (Argentina), Ozone (Colombia), Youpudding (Taiwan), Rodrixs (Argentina), F1Re (Brazil), Blve (Taiwan), Overtaken (Estonia), Dennis (Hong Kong), Benanji (Germany), Bad Koala (China), Monoz (Argentina), Combito (Mexico), Whocl (Chile), Gabi (Brazil), Gali (Venezuela), Andre_2i (Romania), ThunderboltX (Bulgaria), Keno (Mexico), shiXo (Germany), Dobbs351 (Denmark), Volg (Mexico), buddybadi (Austria), Yomi (Japan), Godsprisoner (USA), SoyLaHostia (Mexico), Nacional (Uruguay), chanchilaru (Chile), Hellequinn (Italy) and Antymon (Czechia). The cup was still in progress at the time of writing, with no champion yet crowned.

STRONGHOLD CUP

Stronghold is the cup for the patient and the cunning. Its maps tend to favour heavy walling, defensive booms and well-timed pushes, turning each game into a test of how well you can fortify and then crack a position. The map pool runs through Basmo, Bypass, Copenhagen (Reg), Danakil, Dzong, Festa da Pólvora, Forest Pond, Glade, Summer’s Clearing, Todai-Ji, Treasure Beach, Veldschans and ZeWall, finished off by two surprise maps.

Forty players are spread across eight groups. Early group-stage results showed several favourites advancing cleanly: FreakinAndy (Austria) topped his group with a perfect run, DauT (Serbia) went unbeaten, Ciskhan (France) swept his pool, and Dennis (Hong Kong) also advanced without dropping a match. The bracket had not yet produced a champion when this was written.

THALASSOCRACY CUP

Thalassocracy is the water cup, and the name says it all: rule the seas to rule the game. These maps demand strong docking, fishing economies and naval control, a skill set that not every land specialist enjoys. The pool features Amazônia, Arctic Circle, Blue Wells, Coast Arena, Comeer, Cup, Desert Paradise, Fernando de Noronha, Mangrove Flood, Migration, Seychelles, Shorelines and Typhoon, plus two surprise maps.

The full 40-player field, by seed, is:

Austria: FreakinAndy
Serbia: DauT
Mexico: Kingstone
France: Ciskhan
Argentina: Lucho
Germany: Running
Argentina: Capoch
France: NeoZz
Germany: StonePleaseAoE
Japan: chart
Argentina: Prisma
Colombia: Ozone
China: DuDuZhu
Germany: Target331
Taiwan: Youpudding
Argentina: Rodrixs
Estonia: Overtaken
Hong Kong: Dennis
Brazil: DaddySt4rk
Poland: TheKroks
Germany: Benanji
China: Bad Koala
Argentina: Monoz
Mexico: Combito
Brazil: Gabi
Venezuela: Gali
Brazil: F1Re
Mexico: Keno
Germany: shiXo
Poland: ElNoniro
Australia: Noszombie
Mexico: Volg
Poland: Dziamdziak
Austria: buddybadi
United States: Godsprisoner
Mexico: SoyLaHostia
Uruguay: Nacional
Germany: e1sTea
Taiwan: Navvy
Chile: ZARC

The cup was still ongoing with no winner decided.

NOMAD CUP

Nomad is arguably the wildest of the four. Players begin with no Town Center and their starting villagers scattered, so where and when you settle becomes the first and most important decision of the game. It rewards quick thinking, scouting and adaptability above rote build orders. The map pool includes Bedouins, Compass, Golden Hill, Hoodoo, Inundation, Island Hopping, Keilir Mountain, Lençóis Maranhenses, Mired, Monte Pascoal, Prospector’s Grail, Stranded and Winter Lakes, rounded out by two surprise maps.

This cup lists team affiliations alongside its 40 entrants: