EPTI'll be attempting to contact the big name players and casters to see if they would be interested. Someone has offered to sponsor this with $1,000 and I'm not completely against finding ways for others to help increase that amount, plus I'd set up a TipJar system.
Everyone who wants to see this happen should contact their favorite players and personalities to encourage them to support this idea! (Note: Further adjustments can be made.)
If you don't see anything further about the Great American Ladder Tournament in the next week or two I'll still be trying to organize this but it will be for the new ladder season rather than the one just completed.
The groups in this infograph are (extra)hypothetical. For example based on a tweet, the barcode #1 is puCK who also appears at #12. The [CJ] Zerg barcode, [TeamIM] LGIMMvp, [CG] Dragon, and perhaps some of the other barcodes would not be allowed either.
40 players. The top 12 GMs of each race on the Americas server plus 4 from an open bracket qualifier.
8 round-robin groups of 5, playing Best of 3. Top 2 in each advance.
16 player single elimination playoffs. Best of 3 Rounds of 16 and 8. Best of 5 Semi-Finals. Best of 7 Finals.
Proof of citizenship or residency in North or South America required.
No shared accounts. No multiple accounts. No win trading. No negotiated draws.
Map pool: Blizzard 2013 Ladder Season 5/WCS Season 3. (See Map discussion below for reasoning.) Highest seed gets first veto and first map pick.
Group stage tie-breakers: Head-to-head, map score, ladder points, ladder wins, FFA playoff.
In the event I haven't thought of something: Head Admin (in this case me) will make whatever additional decisions deemed necessary and proper.
Qualifier tournament: 4 spots determined in an open bracket for current Masters, Grandmasters, and former Grandmasters. Best of 1 until the deciding matches which would be Best of 3.
To maintain the incentive of qualifying by ladder, these 4 are placed into the 2 strongest groups.
Hypothetical scheduling: Tomorrow we see who the top 12 NA GMs are for each race.
The open bracket qualifier tournament could be Saturday August 31st.
Group stage games can then be scheduled by the players at their convenience during the week to be completed by midnight the following Sunday, September 8th. Players can stream their games or have replays sent in for casting (if we have casters).
Playoff Round of 16 on Saturday September 14th and Sunday September 15th.
Round of 8 on Saturday September 21st.
Semi-Finals and Finals on Sunday September 22nd.
Estimating a typical Best of 3 match to last about an hour, this could run 3pm Eastern/12pm Pacific to 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific each day.
If this weekend is too soon to prepare and setup, all of the above could be shifted a week.
Map discussion: A strong argument can be made for playing the maps used during the season this would be based on, however I do not think players should continue to practice maps that have been removed, players who learn and adapt quickest are rewarded, and it adds freshness and a bit of unpredictability to the viewing experience.
Maphacks: I've been talking to the developer of OBS about a custom version of that program. Players would record their games at a very low resolution and fps, making small videos to show no hacks were used. I do not know if that would be problematic and/or pointless so if anyone can share knowledge on the idea, please do.
Tournament management: I know of the BinaryBeast site but are there any others and if so pros and cons?
Note on use of race for qualification and seeding: Some object to quotas and seeds over a strict egalitarian system. I believe there is a general preference towards racial balance in tournaments and the added seeding format gives motivation to top players who don't have a good chance for the number one spot but also aren't in jeopardy of not qualifying.
Comments, suggestions, and volunteers are welcome!
