Grand Champions League


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The Grand Champions League or GCL is the highest level of competition in Cookie Run: OvenBreak, even more prestigious than the Champions League. It is a month long event where top Champions compete in nine rounds for valuable rewards, including special Costumes and Titles, and other players or eliminated Champions can spectate, practice, or cheer for the competitors.

Each Grand Champions League occurs at the end of a Big Season of the standard Champions League, and shares the Season's namesake Cookie. While the Grand Champions League is occurring, the Champions League does not take place.

The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grand Champions Leagues, all in 2020, are organized into a Grand Prix, slightly changing the rules. Players are evenly divided into four regions, and there is a winner for each region. At the end of the Grand Prix, the top three players of each region for the year will compete in an as yet unspecified competition to crown an overall Grand Prix Champion, who will receive a monetary prize.

Rules
The Grand Champions League has nine rounds. like Champions League and Guild Runs, each round has a limited selection of Cookies, Pets, and Treasures; and special rules, with more unique rules than Champions League. Each round lasts between two and five days. Round 1 lasts five days and corresponds with the entry period, with other rounds taking three to four days for the first five rounds, and two days for later rounds and three days for the final round. There is a period of approximately one hour between rounds, where scores are calculated. During a round, players can view the replays of competitors in their group except for the one in first place. Placing above a placement threshold allows a player to continue to the next round, and placing below it will disqualify the player. Each player that qualifies to the next round receives a reward, which includes but is not limited to Crystals, Magic Powder, Spirit Potions, and special Titles and Costumes. Rewards have also included Cookies and Pets. Reaching Round 2 gives players a Puzzle Key, which lets them access the Rainbow Cube Mine in the next Curious Rainbow Mine Event. In the first Grand Champions League, this was rewarded in Round 4 instead.

Disqualified players, and those who did not qualify, can still play on the same maps as competitors, but their scores are not compared against others. This allows them to experience the unique maps and rules, as well as collect special Magic Ingredients that are normally collectable in the Champions League, such as Little Star and Pale Leaf. All players can also Cheer for Champions and receive rewards for doing so.

Entering the Grand Champions League
To enter the Grand Champions League as a competitor, a Grand Champions League Ticket is required. This is earned by placing in the top 10% of any Champions League in the preceding Big Season, so players who earned at least a Gold Statue and Profile Border have earned a Grand Champions League ticket. If a Grand Champions League Ticket is not owned, there is also the option to pay 3,000 Crystals to compete, though this is not recommended, as players who did not have the ability to score high in Champions League are unlikely to place well in the Grand Champions League. Entrants are only accepted during the Entry Period, which starts and ends a few hours before the beginning and end of Round 1. Even if a player has a Ticket, they can not compete unless they join during this time.

Rounds
There are nine total rounds in the Grand Champions League, five Group Rounds and four Tournament Rounds.

In the Group Rounds, competitors play against a number of other, randomly assigned players, and only those who rank above a certain threshold continue onto the next round. As the number of players decreases, the threshold gets increasingly strict, until at the end of Round 5, there are only 16 competitors remaining.

In the four Tournament Rounds, all remaining players are put into a bracket and must outscore only a single other player. Half of the competitors are eliminated in each round of the bracket. During each Tournament Round, only a limited number of attempts are allowed, but practice runs are unlimited. The tournament rounds are the Octofinals, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Final.

Cheering
All players, whether competing or spectating, can cheer for other players. Cheer Bonbons are used to cheer, and are earned from daily Cheer Missions. Each player can cheer for one of four competitors per round in Group rounds, and one of each bracket pair during Tournament rounds. Players can cheer until one hour before the results of the current round are released. When the results are processed and announced, players receive a reward of Crystals or Coins. The reward is based on the rank their chosen Champion placed in and the amount of Cheer Bonbons used, with better placement and more Cheer Bonbons used both increasing the reward. If not all of a players' Cheer Bonbons are used, they carry over to the next round, but they are deleted after the Finals.

Grand Prix
For the third, fourth, and fifth Grand Champions Leagues, the rules are modified slightly for the Grand Prix on Grand Prix Island. All players, both competitors and spectators, are evenly distributed into one of four regions. Cheers can be given to the top player from each region, and at the end of the League, there is a top player from each region. In each round, competitors earn Grand Prix Medals based on their placement in their group, with higher ranking players earning more Grand Prix Medals, and later rounds giving more Grand Prix Medals. At the end of all three Grand Champions Leagues, the three players from each region with the most Grand Prix Medals will compete in the Cookie Run: OvenBreak Grand Prix, which is currently planned for January 2021.

Regions
Each region has roughly the same amount of players, and only differ cosmetically. The regions are represented by Legendary Pets, and are the Glacier, Plains or Plain, Ocean, and Desert regions.
 * Glacier
 * Banner Pet: Thundersnow Yeti.png Thundersnow Yeti
 * Associated Cookie: Snow Sugar Cookie
 * Description: "A snowy glacier atop a frozen mountain. No one has ever been able to reach the peak, but maybe a Cookie with burning passion to melt the ice could!"


 * Plains
 * Banner Pet: Emerald Golem.png Emerald Golem
 * Associated Cookie: Tiger Lily Cookie
 * Description: "Calm, serene fields extending as far as the eye can see. Many wonder what it's like to run on these vast plains. It'll take a lot of stamina, for sure!"


 * Ocean
 * Banner Pet: Ocean Dragon.png Ocean Dragon
 * Associated Cookie: Soda Cookie
 * Description: "The soothing patter of waves calms the mind. But be careful, the waves can get rough! Only Cookies with the sharpest wits are able to enjoy the waves here!"


 * Desert
 * Banner Pet: Magmabird.png Magmabird
 * Associated Cookie: Red Pepper Cookie
 * Description: "A scorching desert that creates mirages at every corner of the eye. Running here requires a certain fortitude that only the braves of Cookies possess."

First Grand Champions League
The First Grand Champions League was added in the eponymous Grand Champions League update on January 30th, 2019, and concluded the Again Brave Season. Reaching Round 2 gave GingerBrave's The First Grand Champion Costume, and was the only way to receive this Costume. Reaching Round 4 gave the Puzzle Key for the Curious Rainbow Mine. The winner was LUC이리오너라. However, this winner was revealed to have abused account sharing to win, getting the entire LUC team sanctioned by the developers.

Second Grand Champions League
The Second Grand Champions League was added in the Mighty Duo update on June 27th, 2019, and concluded the Again Angel Season. A special event, Grand Champions League Cheer Missions!, gave all players Cheer Bonbons and other rewards, and the Grand Champions Set was added. The special rewards were the Puzzle Key for reaching Round 2, Purple Yam Cookie's Champion of Valor for reaching Round 3, Milk Cookie's Herald of Victory for reaching Round 5, and Angel Cookie's Voice of Virtue for reaching the Octofinals. The winner was 반반.

Third Grand Champions League
The Third Grand Champions League was added in the Valorous Champions League update on January 29th, 2020, and concluded the Again Devil Season. This was the first of the three Grand Prix Grand Champions Leagues, and added the Radiant Grand Champion Jelly Set. The special rewards were the Puzzle Key for reaching Round 2, Raspberry Mousse Cookie's Noble Knight-Captain for reaching Round 3, White Choco Cookie's Blazing Knight for reaching Round 5, and Devil Cookie's Horns of Gold for reaching the Octofinals. The winner was PJE Lover from the Desert Region, and the highest scorers of the other regions were kimjimin from the Glacier Region, yellow from the Plains Region, and IZ from the Ocean Region.

Fourth Grand Champions League
The Fourth Grand Champions League was added in the Marshal Arts Champion update on June 8th, 2020, and concluded the Again Ninja Season. In addition to the Puzzle Key for reaching Round 2, each round gave a unique Title to competitors who reached it. The winner was 남땅 from the Glacier Region, and the highest scorers of the other regions were 葵 Kuei Yi from the Plain Region, Clength Vlabs from the Ocean Region, and Ideology from the Desert Region.

Fifth Grand Champions League
The Fifth Grand Champions League was added in the Glittering Cheddar Mine update on October 8th, 2020, and concludes the Kiwi Season. The Radiant Grand Champion Set was updated to have Frozen and Rainbow Bear Jellies.

Trivia

 * Each Grand Champions League has included two Coupon Codes. The first code is written in Jellies, four letters at a time, at the start of the first four rounds, and the second code is written the same way at the start of the four final rounds.