EPTMy aim is to talk about things which people don't really discuss, but I kinda feel is still important to talk more about. Of course, I'm not sure how much discussion it will generate, but I do hope that it does.
Since this is the first blog of this type, I welcome all forms of feedback and suggestions. And of course, discuss away!
Issue #1 - GSL's Code A qualifiers bracket generation musing
This weekend saw 21 players qualify for Code A. While it seems the GSL qualifiers don't seem to generate as much interest as it used to (think back to those F5-fest we had back in the day), there were quite a few interesting talking points. The biggest story out of it was urGGanDoL, a former BW B-teamer
Chise, who received 3 consecutive byes all the way to the finals where he beat Cella 2-1 to make it to Code A. He has proceeded to join dtG.The qualification does bring up a question regarding GOM's bracket generation system for the qualifiers. While byes are fairly normal, it seems rather unfair that a player gets 3 byes, while some players in the same qualification session have to play through all 3 of their matches before arriving at the finals.
I'm strongly of the opinion that this shouldn't happen and I feel there is no logistical issue preventing GOM from changing this up. But could I be unaware of the administrative and logistical procedures that GOM have? Does anyone feel that having this sort of "random" byes make the qualifiers more exciting and unpredictable?
Issue #2 - More GSL format musings
This season has probably been GSL's best season in terms of format. They've extended it, made Code S Ro32 and Ro16 group games Bo3s rather than Bo1s. Heck we're seeing a lot less TvTs, but yesterday's Up/Down session brought to light another issue that GOM hopefully have a plan for.
With 3 of 6 players already at 3-2, and with the 15th game of the night between
JYP and 
Maru (at 2-2 and 3-1 respectively) left, we could have seen a very interesting situation where there would have been a 5 way tie between 5 players at 3-2, with no other way of breaking the tie and possibly forcing another 10 games to be played between the 5 remaining players to break the tie. The possibility had always been there, even back when Up/Downs had only 5 players in each group where all 5 players would be tied at 2-2 and a replay would have been forced, but we never really got as close to that event as last night.
This leaves the question to GOM about how they would settle that sort of scenario logistically. They had been broadcasting for about 4 hours by then and another 10 games could have extended the broadcast by another 3-4 hours. Would GOM have been prepared to end about 1-2 am Korean time? Do they have an alternative plan? Does anyone else feel that there could be a better format to the Up/Downs?
Issue #3 - PuMa gets snubbed
Despite a strong showing at Assembly (3rd place) and at the IEM World Championships (runner-up + very close final game),
PuMa was not given one of the Code S or Up/Down seeds for next season. To add to PuMa's misfortune the Code A qualifiers were on the weekend that the IEM World Champs ended. It was strange then that GOM decided to give
NaNiwa and HuK, both of whom had less results in the past few tournaments than PuMa, the seeds and completely ignoring Puma. Interestingly enough their proposed 2nd Up/Down seed pulled out due to "sickness". I do wonder if PuMa was indeed that 2nd Up/Down seed, and if he wasn't why didn't he get called as a replacement? Will GOM save a seed for him in the next season? Should Puma even be getting a seed in the first place?
Issue #4 - Fnatic Korean team house?
A recent announcement of the upcoming RaidCall SC2 Invite #2, makes a mention of the future unveiling of a Fnatic team house in Korea. With Fnatic's recent aggressive expansion into Korea, signing the likes of
Moon, aLive and a couple of "upcoming" players like DeParture, Son and Ares, this seems to have the implication that they are trying to make a play to grow an actual Korean team. While it's been no secret that Fnatic had something for Korea in the works since the aLive controversy, it is really interesting to see how much further Fnatic want to push into Korea. Will they be hoping for a GSTL spot soon? Will the team house bring out the potential of their Academy players and of course Moon, who's Fnatic days have been disappointing so far?
