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Greetings!
After winding down from this weekends Redbull Battlegrounds, we have had the time to get our ducks in a row and ourselves organized to be able to officially announce YOUMACON StarCraft II Detroit 2014!
This will be the second year in a row that our team will be producing and bringing you this great event straight from the Renaissance Center in Detroit, MI!
Have a sample of Youmacon SC2 2013 here --> http://bit.ly/1qfex7T
For Youmacon SC2 2014 we will be having an even larger prize pool, consisting of $500 paid out to the top 4 finalists. In addition to the base prize pool, an additional pot bonus of $10 per tournament entry will be split equally between the top 4.
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TOURNAMENT ADMINS Tim "Bubbarowley" Rowley Jeff "FuzzyWaffles" Ballard
Tim and Jeff have loved the SCII scene since the early Wings of Liberty beta. Their love for Starcraft has grown more and more since his discovery of eSports and like to be a part of the community for the greatest game on the planet. They have years of experience running and attending Michigan LAN parties and their passion makes them a good fit for running a smooth and exciting tournament.
HOSTS/PRODUCERS/COMMENTATORS Ehren "WingnutSC" Benson Nick "Gallagation" Gallagher
WingnutSC and Gallagation have been a fixture in Midwest eSports for years, casting, commentating and producing StarCraft 2 streams at most regional events including Youmacon 2013, and other large LAN events. They were the primary casting duo of the Starcraft 2 Community Team League for two seasons consisting of some of the best professional and amateur teams in the EU and NA regions. For a full sampling of WingnutSC and Gallagations work check out https://www.youtube.com/user/wingnutstarcraft/playlists
Interview with WingnutSC at Battlegrounds Detroit about YOUMACON 2014
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/oWIeBP9.png)
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http://twitch.tv/sc2ctl
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Register for Youmacon early to secure discounted rates: Youmacon 2014 Registration Information
Tournament entry is $10 in addition to the Youmacon Badge, of which 100% goes to the prize pot. Upon arrival in the gaming area you will register for the tournament.
Tournament registration times at the game area are: Thursday Oct 30th @ 6pm - 10pm Friday Oct 31st @ 8am - 10pm Saturday Nov 1st @ 8am - 10am
All players should be present for bracket and match announcements at 10:30am on Saturday at the SC2 area, the tournament matches will begin at 11am. We will be using a google hangout to announce matches and for general player coordination. If you plan to participate PM me your google info and we can add you into it.
If you intend to come and participate, please let us know in the comments/replies. This is not a requirement but helpful 
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DATE Saturday Nov 1st - Sunday Nov 2nd We will play out the bracket until the quarterfinals on the 1st if possible. On the 2nd we will play Quaterfinals, Semifinals and Finals.
FORMAT
- Double Elimination.
- Best of 3 up to semis.
- Best of 5 for Semis and Finals.
PRIZES
- 1st Place - $350 + (0.16 * $10 * #entrants) + RAZER MOUSE from MYTHLOGIC
- 2nd Place - $200 + (0.16 * $10 * #entrants) + RAZER MOUSE from MYTHLOGIC
- 3rd Place - $100 + (0.16 * $10 * #entrants) + RAZER MOUSE from MYTHLOGIC
- 4th Place - $60 + (0.16 * $10 * #entrants)
- 5th/6th Place - $20 + (0.16 * $10 * #entrants).
EXAMPLE: If 20 Entrants, 1st - 4th would be as follows: $382, $232, $132 and $92 respectively, and 5th/6th would be $52.
1st - 6th place will also receive a MYTHLOGIC mouse pad and T-Shirt
RAZER MICE - http://imgur.com/RgGeCsp - 1st through 3rd will choose a mouse in order beginning with 1st place.
MAPS
Streamed matches will utilize GameHeart
Map picks will be veto based. The two players will flip a coin, winner gets to veto first. Players will veto maps until one map is left, after which loser picks next map
- King Sejong Station LE
- Overgrowth LE
- Catallena LE
- Merry Go Round LE
- Deadwing LE
- Foxtrot Labs LE
- Nimbus LE
ACTION ITEMS
- Every player must set their online status to Busy when playing a tournament game.
- All players must turn off toast notifications.
TIMINGS
- Should a player be less than 15 minutes late for the start of a tournament match, the player will forfeit the first game of the match.
- Should the player be more than 15 minutes late for the start of a tournament match, the player will forfeit the match.
- The players are allowed a 5 minute break between the games in a tournament match.
- Administrators reserve the right to change these timings if circumstances require it.
- Players may change settings in the game client, but must not change the graphic settings to Ultra, or change any window settings. Including sound.
STANDARD TOURNAMENT THINGS
- All games must be played on the North American Battle.net server
- No macro functions on keyboards/mice are allowed to be used in any tournament games
- If a game is interrupted by a computer, network or software failure the game will be resumed using the Recover Game function. The game time is set 5 ingame seconds before the disconnect. Neither player is allowed to view the replay of the game before it is fully finished
- No observers are allowed in any tournament games, except for approved streamers and administrators
- Players may not watch or listen to any streams of the tournament while playing
- If a player must pause the game due to technical difficulties the player must if possible tell the opponent about this before pausing. If a game is paused without a reasonable explanation such as a technical difficulty the game might result in a forfeit
- If a player deliberately plays for a stalemate, administrators hold the right to decide the outcome of the game
- If there is a natural stalemate the game will be replayed
- Each game must be played in Faster mode, with Locked Alliances set to Yes, and Game Privacy set to Normal or No Build Order
- Players may switch races during the tournament, but only in-between rounds. What race you start a round with, is what you finish that round with
Rules subject to change
EDITS: 10/10/14: Added tournament registration dates and times, updated INCREASED prize pool, added tournament start time.
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finally some information super excited for youmacon this year!!
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Yeah, should be great, we have a good crew this year. We are also attempting to find ways to augment the prize pool so there is a chance it could grow or we could add more payment tiers Spread the word!
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hope you get lots of attendats :D
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Is this bring your own computer or not?
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It is not, there will be stations set up to play at for the tournament, you may bring your own peripherals as in any tournament that do not require external power.
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What are the specs of the computer? I might bring my laptop depending on the specs.
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Let me check into that for you wih the tech crew. I will also find out if it would be possible to have a spot for people to hook up a laptop and get back to you. I would guess not based on space, power and network but I will find out for sure.
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On September 16 2014 06:15 WingnutSC wrote:Let me check into that for you wih the tech crew. I will also find out if it would be possible to have a spot for people to hook up a laptop and get back to you. I would guess not based on space, power and network but I will find out for sure. 
Thanks :D
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On September 16 2014 06:33 desRow wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2014 06:15 WingnutSC wrote:Let me check into that for you wih the tech crew. I will also find out if it would be possible to have a spot for people to hook up a laptop and get back to you. I would guess not based on space, power and network but I will find out for sure.  Thanks :D
This is what I was told "They are mostly i5s with 8gb ram and 760 card or better"
Also there will not be the ability for participants to use their own PC/laptop to compete in the actual tournament.
And lastly, Happy Birthday :D
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I look forward to another paycheck and welcome all challengers
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Don't be too sure about that Winter
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will be there!!! it'll be soo much fun playing!
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On September 16 2014 22:35 WinterStarcraft wrote:I look forward to another paycheck and welcome all challengers 
#shotsfired
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Hype! Really glad to see it's the same casters and tourny admins again! You guys were amazing last year!
Is the tournament planned to run past the youmacon end time on sunday? Just worried because last time the final day was just loser's final and grand final (didn't even go past the first of two possible matches) or 11 games and it ended past 5pm, and with quarter, semi, and finals being held on one day it would be 7 Bo5s shortest, only counting those in the winners' bracket. Or maybe not all the games will be casted one by one this time?
That would make things run a lot faster, I rather did not like how much time the tournament ate up out of Youmacon last year, though maybe that's just me, someone who previously went to Youmacon for things other than a tournament (I think I played from 11am to almost midnight on saturday straight). If not as many matches will be casted as last year, I just hope as many people can have a chance casted on stage as possible cus that's one thing that makes it so fun IMO.
Also just throwing out an idea, I'm all for evening out the prize pool more to the lower places -- I think for this kind of tournament, having even a $10 reward for the top 8 or something would be great. Not only would it not affect the top four's prize very much, it would encourage more people to participate in the tournament for fun even if they don't think they'll win. That way it's realistic for lower level players to join the tournament and have fun and try to get into the top 8 and get their entry fee paid back, and the increase of players could compensate by increasing the pot. But maybe that's not the direction this tournament is going for.
Maybe I'm just rambling but I just wanted to share some thoughts and concerns to make this year as good as it can be X) There's a lot of different things to worry about for such an event so I understand a middle ground will have to be found and some things prioritized over others. Either way I'm sure it'll be awesome again!
Edit: Also, last year when the game room was getting packed up before the tournament finished, aside from it being slightly distracting with all the take down crew moving about, the decrease in sound made it possible to hear the commentary, and it was very hard to focus and try to ignore it.
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Also there will not be the ability for participants to use their own PC/laptop to compete in the actual tournament.
id assume we also cannot do the same for just playing in the game room say thurs/fri night right?
it's pretty hard to get computers late at night 
is anyone interested in meeting up thurs/fri night? maybe play some 2s/ go drinking??
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Hey Yoshi! Let me tackle some of your thoughts:
Prize pool: I agree with you, however we also want to make it worthwhile for players to travel for the event. I am in favor of paying as many as possible. As such we are looking to aquire additional sponsorship which is in the works, if that comes through we could be able to do just that, as well as sweeten the pot for the top as well. Look for news on that in the next couple of weeks.
Admin Crew: Last year the administration side of the tournament was a mess, the admins either were not very experienced and weren't so...punctual. This let to us producing, commentating, streaming AND administrating the tournament. Its a miracle it went off as good as it did, but it was very hard on us having to wear 4 different hats. HOWEVER, this year we have recruited our very own admin staff that is experienced and capable. So it will be organized, expedious and easy to find out what you need, when you need it.
Tournament running long: This was largely a side affect of the lackluster admin crew last year. We expect this year will not be the same result. We ended up having too many matches on sunday, and running series that were too long. Our goal this year will be to likely get to the point where the semis through Grand finals will be held on sunday this year so the people that do not make it that far are not forced to hang around, or can do other Con event related things on sunday.
Tournament taking all your Con time: If you are in it to win it, plan to spend most of your time at the tournament 
Hearing Commentary: We are going to do a better job of working that out this year, with either headsets or being farther away from the players.
Overall if you thought last year was great, this year will blow your mind! 
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On September 17 2014 08:26 Nel- wrote:Show nested quote +
Also there will not be the ability for participants to use their own PC/laptop to compete in the actual tournament.
id assume we also cannot do the same for just playing in the game room say thurs/fri night right? it's pretty hard to get computers late at night 
As we get closer to the event I will try and nail down from the Youmacon staff how many stations we will have dedicated to SC2, IIRC last year the stations were pretty open thurs/fri evenings.
The big issue that really prevents people from bringing their own stuff is space, there simply will not be extra tables to set up a system on.
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Thanks for the response wingnut!
On September 17 2014 22:40 WingnutSC wrote: We ended up having too many matches on sunday, and running series that were too long. Our goal this year will be to likely get to the point where the semis through Grand finals will be held on sunday this year so the people that do not make it that far are not forced to hang around, or can do other Con event related things on sunday.
Awesome! Also I really like the change to Bo5s. While I was fine with finals and beyond being Bo7, last year I felt really tired upon hearing the semis and finals would be changed to both be Bo7 X)
Also about the volume: Actually on 100% with those headphones, surprisingly I could not hear the commentary at all when playing, while being a good volume when spectating. It was only when all the ambient noise went away. I was also surprised that the max volume somehow didn't hurt my ears.
I wasn't aware of all the issues going on, on my side it was a very satisfying experience. For example, I expected the computers to be shared between games and that none would be open due to all the LoL players, but they were able to be reserved just for SC2 and later on for competitors to practice haha.
Any improvement from last year would be impressive!
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On August 28 2014 11:01 Nel- wrote: finally some information super excited for youmacon this year!!
Nel easy winner of this tourny
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