What is MLŻ?

The full name of MLŻ “Minecraftowa Liga Żużlowa” means “Minecraft Speedway League”. We know what Minecraft or League is, but what exactly is Speedway? Speedway is a motorcycle sport started over a century ago, in around 1923. Riders go on oval circuits using motorcycles with only one gear and no brakes whatsoever.

The sport itself is considered popular in Central and Northern Europe, while being known also outside of that Old World in countries like Australia, Argentina or the US. The most prestigious and profitable speedway league – Ekstraliga – is located in Poland. And speedway is one of the most popular sports in country – There are towns, in which speedway clubs are way more popular than their soccer counterparts. Fans of speedway in Poland are often looking for ways to recreate speedway in other games as there are not many games showing that sport to the wider audience.
This was likely one of the reasons MLZ was created back in 2022.

How does it work?

The rules are simple. Four players are facing each other in races called Heats. Once they are declared ready and the starting line goes in, they start racing. The heat itself is four laps long.

Tracks may look similar to each other, so often their initial tuning and turn geometry can make or break the starting position. Starts are also position and reaction based – the worse internet you have and further you are from server location, the faster reflexes you may need to get a good initial position. If you end up outside of the turn – think about it like running head first into an inflatable band. You end up excluded and bring no points in that heat. If you go too early – you destroy the starting system end up excluded. Think about it like you are going fast with a real motorcycle – what would likely disfigure you in real life, here would get you “just” excluded.

Details: League

Multiple heats form an event. And within MLŻ, there are many different official and unofficial events in which players can take part.

The core of each season is the League itself. In currently ongoing season 04 it is a two-tiered division system. Currently there are 14 teams, under which over 180 players are signed in. 

Those teams during the season are scheduled to face other teams within their divisions in a form of 7v7 matches. Teams arrange and schedule those matches themselves. These matches consist of 15 heats, where for each heat team sends two riders. Each rider has a limited number of heats in which he can go and in every heat players bring points to the team score. 

Whichever team has the most points at the end, wins the match. 

Despite what it sounds like, the match schedule is not as hardcoded as it seems – teams have some options to change the lineup with usage of one of three types of Reserve:

• Standard reserve, to replace one of the riders with players which have scheduled less heats
• Tactical reserve, to give any player another go if your team is in a dire situation
• Rider Replacement – in case one of the stars is unavailable to give your other riders another chance.

Season itself consists of two phases: round-robin phase and the playoffs. A Victory in a match brings 2 points to the team in its League table. A Tie gives 1 point. And if your team manages to be better than the opposite team in your home-away combo, you get an additional point in standings. Typically, the top teams from each division within tier advance to the Playoffs phase. In the playoffs if your team gathers more points in the home-away combo against a scheduled opponent, you advance further in the bracket, up till the grand finals.

MLŻ Culture

The staff team behind MLZ aims to show the competition as similar to its IRL counterpart and as faithfully, as possible. 

For example players there are known more by their chosen names rather than their game handles. Commentary regularly mentions them on streams (most of the MLŻ events are streamed to the wider audience!) and sometimes players even give interviews or take part in post-match conferences a.k.a. mixzones. Well – many players also contribute to the server by building new tracks or – after passing the specified exams – serve as either referees or start directors in the League’s events.

Also, almost every player competing in MLZ is part of one of the teams. Teams themselves do not only compete and train together. They also faithfully build their chosen real-life location track, sometimes adding some personal touch to it, take care of it and interact with other teams, arranging unofficial competitions, improving relations… or ruining them, depending on the teams approach towards others.

Teams may also prepare their rookie players in Junior League system, following a bit simpler 5v5 format.

What may be seen as crazy for some is teams also contributing to the servers wellbeing. MLZ is not that lucky in terms of finding a sponsor. So to let the league continue, costs of the server maintenance are divided among competing teams to the point of them being relatively small per single competitor. There are teams which have that part covered way ahead. There are teams which struggle with that due to various reasons. Just like the real thing.

Details: Other Competitions

The league goes for a couple months, yet is not the only competition for players within the MLZ universe. Throughout the season League organizes various events for players with various skill levels.

For the individuals, there are series like the Speedway Grand Prix, Speedway European Championships, or Poland Championship, each with its own Challenge series happening beforehand. 

People who would rather represent a country than a team, may also find something for them. In MLZ, there is something named Regions Team Cup in which players may enter as a country. Or as a region of said country, which pretty much overpopulated here Poland has to go with. There, depending on the season, players take part in a pair competition or in a 4v4v4v4 match with top teams in them moving forward.

Almost nothing stands in the way of other players to organize and stream their minor events on a server, as long as they aren’t scheduled during the main competition.

You may even take a break from racing on MLŻ… on MLŻ – the League sometimes also organizes tournaments inspired by winter and summer games like biathlon, ski jumping or even sumo.