One challenge.
A whole year.
The Major Challenge runs across the season. Your team builds its solution while every Minor shapes its path to the final bracket.
EXPLORE THE PATHThe Major is the highest level of competition in SFE. The Major Challenge is revealed at the start of the season, and teams develop their solution across the entire year while they compete in Minors.
Nothing about the bracket is random. Where you start in the Major Championship is earned in every Minor you entered since September — which is why the Standards in October matter as much as the Signatures in March.
Your route to the title
One season.
Two ways through.
Explore how the work you do all year shapes your path to the Finals. Choose a stage below.
Teams build the Major Challenge all year and earn Seed Points. At the Pre-Major meeting, the competition format, the twist to the system and game, and how to present the work are revealed. Seed Points determine whether teams enter the Upper Bracket or Lower Bracket. The strongest Lower Bracket performers earn Wildcard qualification to join Upper Bracket teams in the Finals.
One challenge is revealed at the start of the season, and every team works on the same problem all year.
Start early. The teams that place have usually rebuilt their solution twice by March.
- 01
The Major Challenge
One challenge is revealed at the start of the season, and every team works on the same problem all year.
What it means
Start early. The teams that place have usually rebuilt their solution twice by March.- Announced at the Season Kickoff, in front of everyone, on the same day.
- Teams develop their solution in the background of every Minor they enter, between meetings and on their own time.
- There is no separate submission window. What you show at the Major is the thing you have been building since September.
- 02
Seeding
Season performance decides the bracket. Nothing is drawn at random and nothing is decided on the day.
What it means
A Standard you nearly skipped in October is the reason you start a round ahead in May.- Seed Points from every Minor are totalled at the end of the regular season.
- The top-ranked teams qualify directly for the Upper Bracket and skip a round of elimination.
- Ties are broken by Signature placements first, then by the number of Minors entered.
- 03
Pre-Major meeting
At the Pre-Major meeting, the competition format is revealed: how teams will compete, the twist to the system and game, and how to present their work.
What it means
The challenge starts the year. The Pre-Major meeting reveals how you will compete with the work you have built.- The competition format explains how teams will compete in the Major.
- The twist to the system and game is revealed at this meeting.
- Teams learn how to present their work and what the presentation needs to cover.
- 04
Lower Bracket
Everyone outside the top seeds competes here, and the strongest teams fight their way back in.
What it means
Missing the Upper Bracket is not the end of your season. It is a harder road to the same room.- Teams present to judges in an elimination format — losing once ends your run.
- The strongest performers earn Wildcard qualification into the Finals.
- Wildcards arrive having already survived a round, which has a habit of making them dangerous.
- 05
Finals
Upper Bracket teams and Wildcards meet for the title, judged on the full year of work.
What it means
One team. One championship. One season.- Full presentation and defence: the problem, the solution, the evidence, and what you learned when it did not work.
- Judges weigh how far the solution actually moved across the season, not just how it looks on the night.
- The winner is named SFE Major Champion for the season.
One team. One championship. One season.