Gameplay Update: Welcome to Divisions

What October Taught Us

One month ago, we opened SoClassic with a simple vision: give Sorare managers an intense, fast-paced 5v5 mobile side-game where tactical decisions matter on every fixture.

In October alone, 162 managers stepped onto the pitch and played at least one battle. Together, you generated thousands of duels, close finishes, and incredible Decisive moments.

Yet running a single global ladder for four weeks revealed structural limitations we knew we had to tackle before growing further:

• Podium monopoly: A small core of dedicated managers with deep galleries and high volume consistently locked down the top 3 spots. For the rest of the community, competing for meaningful weekly rewards quickly felt out of reach by Saturday night.

• The "Top Free" paradox: While reserving a guaranteed €3 Limited card for the best Free manager was a good initial incentive, it created an all-or-nothing bottleneck. Out of over 100 Free managers fighting all week, exactly one took home something tangible, while 2nd, 3rd, and 10th got nothing.

• Mismatch in experience: A newcomer playing their first five matches shouldn't be judged on the exact same ladder as a Premium manager grinding 30 battles with dozens of specialized cards.

• The need for natural breathing room: Competition thrives on rivalries between peers of similar activity and gallery depth, not on an endless uphill climb against the top 1% of the player base.

We designed the Divisions System to fix these friction points and lay the groundwork for the next year of competitive play.

The Four-Tier Pyramid

Starting with Gameweek 6, managers will compete within dedicated divisions rather than one crowded leaderboard:

Initial Seeding

For Gameweek 6, seeding is calculated on your total cumulative points scored throughout October:

• D1 (Top 15%): The most consistent managers of our inaugural month.

• D2 (Next 15%): High-performing challengers on the cusp of the elite.

• D3 (Next 30%): Active managers with steady weekly participation.

• D4 (Remaining 40% + New Recruits): Casual managers, late arrivals, and all newly registered managers.

(Note: Inactive accounts that never played a battle remain unseeded until their first match.)

Asymmetric Promotions & Relegations

Every Gameweek still runs from Tuesday 12:00 to the following Tuesday 12:00 Paris. At settlement:

• Promotions (↑): Top finishers earn an instant step up to test their mettle in higher brackets.

• Relegations (↓): To keep each tier sharp and avoid static rosters, underperforming or inactive slots drop down to make room for hungry managers rising from below.

• Stability: The middle pack stays in place to defend their tier next week.

3. Rewards Re-imagined: Fueling the Entire Community

Instead of concentrating prize money into just two or three hands, the new model distributes weekly Sorare Limited cards, tactical enhancers, raffle tickets, and 341 bonus battles across the four divisions.

Why Raffle Tickets in D4?
Every Tuesday at 10:00 Paris, our automated Weekly Raffle draws a Sorare Limited card with a 60% winner ratio across all participating tickets. By distributing dozens of tickets in D4, developing galleries get multiple real chances at winning genuine cards while sharpening their 5v5 lineups for a promotion push to D3 and D2.

(The Monthly Premium leaderboard remains untouched with its dedicated €100 prize pool on the Best of 100 format. But the number of winners will change: €40 or 1st, €30 for 2nd, €15 for 3rd, 10€ for 4th and 5€ for 5th).

Why This Prize Pool is Not Carved in Stone

We want to be completely candid: this starting prize structure is a baseline,.

As an independent project, our priority is long-term sustainability over unsustainable upfront burn. We committed to €18 in guaranteed weekly cards and hundreds of in-game perks because we aime to make it 100% funded and safe to deliver week in, week out.

However, as SoClassic grows:

• If monthly Premium subscriptions increase,

• If tournament engagement surges,

• If community and partner events expand our prize reserves,

every surplus euro will be injected back into upgrading card values and expanding prize tiers across D1, D2, and D3. We will continuously re-evaluate the distribution curves with your direct feedback.

What We Will Monitor Closely

Launching a multi-division league is a live balancing act. Over the coming Gameweeks, we will keep our eyes on five key telemetry indicators:

1. Division Churn & Fluidity: Are promotions motivating, or are managers bouncing between tiers too violently? We will adjust promotion and relegation cutoffs if certain divisions feel either too stiff or too unstable.

2. Bonus Battle Velocity: We want players to actually use their earned battles rather than letting them expire at day 30. We'll track whether bonus battles lead to higher enjoyment and tighter leaderboards.

3. Gallery Cap Synergy: Cap 280 was introduced to level the playing field against mega-galleries. Combined with divisions, we'll measure whether squad variance and underdog wins increase as intended.

4. Matchmaking Liquidity: Ensuring that pairing times stay instantaneous across all four tiers, especially during peak kickoff windows.

5. Manager Retention in D3 and D4: Making sure that a tough week in D3 or D4 never feels discouraging, and that the weekly reset genuinely feels like a fresh start.

What’s Next

Gameweek 6 opens officially on Tuesday 3 November at 12:00 Paris.

Head over to the Leaderboard tab on Tuesday afternoon to discover your starting division, preview your tier's prize pool, and study your direct rivals.

Thank you for being part of the beta. The pitch is ready—let's play. ⚽