With the Intel Extreme Masters Season V over in the Americas, StarCraft II competitions are just heating up. Today the National ESL proudly announces the addition of the very popular GO4SC2 Series! StarCraft II fans will have plenty of action over the next few months. More details below!
Details
Two (2) GO4SC2 cups a week (Sunday and Wednesday) Winner of the Sunday Cash Cup receives $50 The Top 16 Cup Finishers earn points towards the monthly standings The Top 8 from the monthly point leaders qualify for the GO4SC2 Monthly Finals and a chance at $200!* The Cup series are OPEN to anyone with a North American Battle.net account!
*Any ESL member will be able to join the cup with Premium Account. Details regarding Premium will be announced later this week.
Schedule for the month of October
Schedule Check-in Period: 7:00 - 7:40 pm EST Matches Start: 8:00pm EST
10/24/10 SUN - Go4SC2 Cash Cup 1 - Winner: $50 10/27/10 WED - Go4SC2 Open Cup 2 10/31/10 SUN - Go4SC2 Cash Cup 3 - Winner: $50 11/09/10 TUE - Go4SC2 Monthly Final (October) - Winner: $200
The easiest way to sign up is to simply go to our GO4SC2 Portal and find the newest cup advertisement in the upper left and upper center page. Also, you can visit our SC2 Portal to find the cup information.
New to National ESL? No problem!
We have created an easy to understand Registration Guide CUPS Guide with instructions on how to register and how to find your match and opponent. You can also visit our Beginners Guide .
*Cash prizes will be paid out as soon as possible via Paypal
Guys, If you don't want to compete for $50 from 512 then simply buy premium and you can join the monthly final where the winner will be receiving $200. We think those tournaments will be smaller in size.
I think there was some initial impression that this is an on-site tournament hosted somewhere with an amazing prize pool of $50. Should be clarified that this is an online tournament
go4sc2 for europe has a similar prize-money (100 € for sunday-cups, nothing on wednesday), still every tournament is packed with top-notch players from all over the world. if you can run an event very smoothly and deliver great coverage, the importance of your prizemoney-pool is fading out. top-tier players want/have to represent their organisation to the max, second-class players are looking to shine under the observation of these great teams and it's great place for young talents to acquire some experience.
so stop bitching about the prize-pool already
(kinda cheap to be able to buy yourself into the monthly final though, disappoint)
On October 21 2010 09:10 fueNN wrote: go4sc2 for europe has a similar prize-money (100 € for sunday-cups, nothing on wednesday), still every tournament is packed with top-notch players from all over the world. if you can run an event very smoothly and deliver great coverage, the importance of your prizemoney-pool is fading out. top-tier players want/have to represent their organisation to the max, second-class players are looking to shine under the observation of these great teams and it's great place for young talents to acquire some experience.
so stop bitching about the prize-pool already
(kinda cheap to be able to buy yourself into the monthly final though, disappoint)
lol if you think top players will continue to play for these ridiculously meager prize pools. Many have already ducked out of Go4SC2 Europe. Go4SC2 will become a nice "stepping stone" where amatuers can cut their teeth (and cheat off livestreams, etc), but that's about it. It shows no ambition for ESL to start this league in NA and only offer $50 for the Sunday prize. Couldn't they find a sponsor?!
Would you rather have no tournament at all? Its not like the majority of you complaining would even have a chance of winning a single dollar, even if the prize was $1,000,000. Jesus.
I, for one, am ecstatic that we're getting these cups. I've been waiting for some regular, automated tournaments for the NA scene. Now if only we could get Take commentating for these too :D.
awesome news, despite some of the people that are disappointed at the prize pool. Its very cool to see esl bring the go4sc2cup to NA server as well. Will be nice for people to practice and get there name out there.
On October 21 2010 10:41 koolaid1990 wrote: this is why starcraft will never be a sensation as it is in Korea, frekin 80,000 prize pool to 50 dollars..
My little sister organized a soccer game with her friends at the park. koolaid1990 drove by and yelled "this is why soccer will never be a sensation as it is in Europe, frekin Wembley Stadium to cones for goals.."
this is good for people who want a chance in atournament but arnt good enough to get all the way to Korea and live there...even at MLG u need to travel there. i work full time i cant just get up and go to dallas or DC. these tiny cups will bring a lot to the sport and allow people who otherwise cant get into tourneys get some play time. overall im glad
These grass-root tournaments are very important for the community, don't fucking dismiss them just beacuse they have a small prize-pool. Just embrace the competition and the possibility of becoming a better and more well known player.
Let's look at ESL Europe. Since release they have hosted the same type of cup series. Every Sunday cup offers 200 Euros to the winner. The end-of-the-month Final offers 500 Euros. That's about 5 times the size of what ESL is proposing for the NA Cups. The Euro cups have 1024 players every Sunday, requiring players to go for 7-8 hours straight. It's almost as packed on Wednesdays, where they play just for points towards the end-of-the-month tournament. They're basically getting roped in. ESL broadcasts the events and charges for premium membership and hi-q streams. It has been a relatively successful series, but face it, many top players have stopped playing in these events because they're simply too long and don't offer much reward in return. IMO, the players are getting screwed.
And now they want to branch into the NA market, but kick it off with this joke of a prize pool? It's a bad move. I'm 100% for growing E-Sports on all fronts, so don't give me this "stop complaining, any organized event is good for E-Sports." I think they should have waited until they found a proper sponsor, and could have at least matched the European prize pools. 1/5th? Seriously? That's a slap in the face of NA players.
LOL after reading this I seriously have to ask: what the fuck is wrong with you?
don't you realize nobody cares about the prize money in Europe when it comes to Go4Sc2? Go4Sc2 is a way for top gamers to match themselves, to test their skill on tournament level; for pride and for practice; in every 1v1-sport you have FEW prestigeous events and MANY low-tier events....but of course the pros also go to the low-tier events to keep themselves in shape because training isn't everything that matters; do you think nadal, federer etc. would be so good if they played just at the grand slams? of course not, they play a shitton of tournaments nobody cares about to keep themselves "in the game", to stay focused, to have tournament-experience; Go4Sc2 Europe is the perfect analogon to this - basicly you can't expect pro-gamers to perform amazingly when it comes to the big stuff when all they have is to play ladder games 24/7; Go4Sc2 provides the perfect platform to have the adrenaline-shot only tournaments (with casts/etc.) can give you....twice a week; why the hell do you think many of the european top-gamers play Go4Sc2 AND Zotac at the same time? because they are sooo dependent on the prize-money? seriously?
also Go4Sc2 is a perfect way for amateurs to show their skill and to play the occasional game vs top-notch gamers; I improved a lot from winning 1-2 rounds each tourney and then getting stomped by a FAR better player who showed me some weaknesses of my strats my ladder-opponents couldn't, because they were too bad themselves; Go4Sc2 has always been packed, 1024 players every Sunday speaks for itself
and now Go4Sc2 comes to NA and all you can do is complain about the prize-money; as if this was all that matters when it comes to regular tournament experience....Jesus....
And if you think ESL is just taking advantages of premium accounts that pay to watch the stream don't forget ESL also runs huge lan tournaments like IEM!
You might argue that the pro's will eventually leave this and it might be true but won't the regular player ou wannabe pro benefit from this competion much more then 10 ou 20 ladder games?
If you wan't to talk about the diference in money from korea to usa then also talk of the difference of money in USA to the world in basketball money!
Or the money football has in england and china for instance..
E-sports are only pro in korea where hundreds live of games.. they have TV channels and USA have streams.. is totally different..
I do not understand the complaining. National ESL i providing a platform for all gamers to enjoy and compete in on a regular basis. Not everything dobe by ESL, WCG, MLG and other organisations should be geared towards the people that want to make a full time job out of playing StarCraft II.
I would even argue that the amateurs are much more important - the next IdrA will not magically appear out of nowhere. Today "the next IdrA" is one of the nameless amateurs that needs a weekly competition to keep wanting to play and compete until he's picked up by a coL or an EG. He needs to come up somehow.
It's quite simple. And if you happen to not like it, ignore it, but do acknowledge that amateur competitions are immensely important for the community.
On October 21 2010 09:10 fueNN wrote: go4sc2 for europe has a similar prize-money (100 € for sunday-cups, nothing on wednesday), still every tournament is packed with top-notch players from all over the world. if you can run an event very smoothly and deliver great coverage, the importance of your prizemoney-pool is fading out. top-tier players want/have to represent their organisation to the max, second-class players are looking to shine under the observation of these great teams and it's great place for young talents to acquire some experience.
so stop bitching about the prize-pool already
(kinda cheap to be able to buy yourself into the monthly final though, disappoint)
lol if you think top players will continue to play for these ridiculously meager prize pools. Many have already ducked out of Go4SC2 Europe. Go4SC2 will become a nice "stepping stone" where amatuers can cut their teeth (and cheat off livestreams, etc), but that's about it. It shows no ambition for ESL to start this league in NA and only offer $50 for the Sunday prize. Couldn't they find a sponsor?!
What kind of position are you in to criticize this? If people want to compete in their tournament, they will. They'll see themselves if the prizepool is not big enough (not attracting decent players). Many people play tournaments for fun and experience.
Good for you guys. Europe has been doing well for quite a while in terms of weekly prized tourneys, so good to see ESL decided to expand. Even if the prize pool isn't much, I'm sure it's going to be packed every sunday. I really don't get why many of you are complaining, seriously. If you don't like it, don't play in it. It surely is better than not hosting this tourney at all.
ESL could remove the prize pool altogether and I bet they'll still have no trouble filling these tournaments even if they do last 8+ hours. A lot of people ARE playing this game for fun (contrary to the belief of many of the people posting in this thread). They know they aren't FruitDealer, BoxeR, Genius, etc. They know they can't go to the GSL. Heck 99% of them probably cant make it to the events in the states. They still may enjoy playing in a tournament setting and this is for them. If you can't appreciate what you're being given I don't know what you're doing here in the first place.
PS: The greatest piano player in the world was at a party and decided to leave. His friend asked him where he was going. The pianist responded, "Well I'm going home, I must practice". His friend said, "But you're the greatest pianist in the world, surely you needn't practice". To this the pianist said, "If I didn't practice I wouldn't be the best player in the world".
This is what these low tier tournaments is all about, giving the no-names a place to practice, have fun, enjoy their time spent playing this great game and even giving some of you "take everything for granted and appreciate nothing" people some games to watch.
Good to see some tournaments finally making it to NA, I was wondering how long I'd have to wait for the option of joining in without purchasing a EU product key .
North America getting quality players and great games? Don't make me bloody chuckle until I die. GSL is the only tournament that produces anything vaguely watchable, and that at only 25% rate tops.
Every NA tournament is Huk doing some crap 1-2 base collosi rush and beating people because they suck more than he does.
On October 21 2010 19:35 Carmac wrote: I do not understand the complaining. National ESL i providing a platform for all gamers to enjoy and compete in on a regular basis. Not everything dobe by ESL, WCG, MLG and other organisations should be geared towards the people that want to make a full time job out of playing StarCraft II.
although I agree, you still seem to miss that Go4Sc2 Europe STILL attracts LOTS of good players....well, at least on Sunday
just some players from last Sunday (tournament #47):
Interesting online tourney, I just decided and sign up for this tourney. Well i better be prepared to get squashed like an incest. Time to polishing my skills in little time.(even though i just started out playing Sc2 since two(three?) weeks now. I will be surprised if i just got a win in a tourney somehow. :p
Hey Guys.. as Tournament Director of the National ESL.. I too would love to see huge prize pools for these events! This is something that I hope we all look forward to. This is not Korea though and the only way we will get there is to offer up as many organized events as possible and look for sponsors and investors to fit the bill.
National ESL is very new and all of us admins do this for free. We do it for the same reason that many of you play in the cups.. for the passion of it. I wish they offered me $50 to run the events, but they do not at this point. I am looking forward... and for Esports to be Reborn and then sustain growth in the US and even in Europe, we need to all work together. Currently, National ESL does not have any sponsors for the Go4SC2 series of cups. Europe does and this affords them the opportunity to offer up bigger a prize pool. We hope to do the exact same if not bigger here in the states!
Please, be patient and lets all work together to get Esports and SC2 to the next level in the Americas!
Signed up, now I need to figure out if I'm busy Sunday night or not. Think I should be available so may as well give it a shot and see how badly I get stomped . Thanks again to Midway for posting this and ESL for bringing it live in NA! If nothing else this should be excellent practice and something to look forward to participating in.
We are working on making sure every weekly cup will be casted. Obviously the focus will be to make sure that every Sunday Cash Cup is casted for sure. I will post any casting information that I get as I get it!
When I follow the setup guide there is no option for #3 to setup sc2_bnet_webid_us which the hyperlink references. The link will bring up the default option of BFBC2_xxxx and there is nothing Starcraft 2 in the dropdown to enter this ID.
It may not be required at this point but thought I would point this out in case it's a bug, etc.
I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to post a little blog about my experiences at the IEM North American Championship Finals in NYC and where I see SC2 headed!
Just so you all know.. I run tournaments and I love doing it. A lot of times, I do not play the games that I run events for, but I always make it a point to understand the game and especially the community of players that the game embodies. While at the IEM event, I had the chance to meet a few of the SC2 players and eventually I met all of them. I was very impressed. In as many years that I have been doing this, I do not think I met an entire group of gamers as nice as those guys. They were all very respectful and had few complaints and even when they did, they handled it with respect.
The reason that I bring this up is because it reminds me of a lot of my experiences in Esports and some of the reasons that I see games and organizations fail. The community of players is so vital to the success of a game as a viable Esport competition. Each game community has it's own 'quirks' about them and each has its fair share of 'douche bags'.. but I was very impressed with the SC2 players and it made me think....
SC2 could be huge in the Americas, but it will take a community of players like the one's that I met to make it happen. Money was never the driving factor for why these guys play the game or why they competed in the ESL events.... its because ultimately, they love playing the game and they are competitors. I think that even if I had a million dollars to spend only on Esports, I would use very little of it for prize money. I say this because there is so much left to be done in Esports to make it a sustainable entity. If we do not all work together for the love of the game and the love of competition, then we will never create something that will grow and last.
National ESL is about to announce (leak..sorry ) a full LEAGUE for SC2 Players. The league will NOT have huge prize attached to it, but what it will have is stability and weekly competitions that allow the players to continue their enjoyment of the game.
The League could be huge, but it will take the community to make it a success.. which can lead to bigger and better things. If we all want more 'money', then we have to show investors/sponsors that we can create a sustainable and stable product. I have big ideas for the League and how to make it a huge success..... and maybe my ideas are too grand, but I want to think that if we do things right, those ideas can become reality.
This week, I asked my head SC2 Admin (Kevin), if he could round up about 20 of the more active and skilled SC2 players. I wanted to just sit and talk with them (on skype of course) and pick their brains for their ideas on how to make the community better. I wanted to express a lot of what I have just spilled here now. I really have a good feeling about this game and about the players that play it. Trust me.. I have ran many 'console' game tournaments.... these guys were saints compared to them.
If anyone has ideas.. please share them with me.. anything.. lets build this game into something we all want out of it!
OK.. sorry for the rant/blog.. I get a bit long-winded and just carry on.. but I hope you see a lot of what I see in this opportunity and do what you can to help make it a reality!
On October 22 2010 04:24 Trentelshark wrote: Just an FYI for ESL_John:
When I follow the setup guide there is no option for #3 to setup sc2_bnet_webid_us which the hyperlink references. The link will bring up the default option of BFBC2_xxxx and there is nothing Starcraft 2 in the dropdown to enter this ID.
It may not be required at this point but thought I would point this out in case it's a bug, etc.
Trentelshark, I will look into this and get back with you as soon as I can. I will make it a public post here so that others that might be having the same issue can see the resolution. Thank you for making light of it and I will keep you posted!
On October 22 2010 04:18 ESL_John wrote: We are working on making sure every weekly cup will be casted. Obviously the focus will be to make sure that every Sunday Cash Cup is casted for sure. I will post any casting information that I get as I get it!
Thank you guys!
John
Thanks for the response. I like watching live games but am usually working or unable to watch the korean time zone games.
On October 21 2010 10:41 koolaid1990 wrote: this is why starcraft will never be a sensation as it is in Korea, frekin 80,000 prize pool to 50 dollars..
My little sister organized a soccer game with her friends at the park. koolaid1990 drove by and yelled "this is why soccer will never be a sensation as it is in Europe, frekin Wembley Stadium to cones for goals.."
I loved watching these for Europe and it helped me become more familiar with many of the European players. Happy to see it moved to NA and am excited to see some more NA mid level players.
How do you know if someone doesn't have a friend to tell them info via another computer/Phone/Skype/Ventrilo/Teamspeak/mumble
"How do Cheaters get caught? ESL Wire Anti-Cheat can detect current cheats and modifications on the player's system and inform us in different ways. First we collect the data, compare it and then ban some time after the match took place. That means you will NEVER know for sure if your hack is Wire Anti-Cheat proofed or not. Even if it is not recognized at the moment, it may be recognized in the near future." It only checks what you have on that one computer...
With the IEM over and Go4SC2 series coming, we have prepared a nice raffle and two lucky winners will receive BitFenix Case. If you would like to find out how to win it please VISIT US.
The main thing people should take out of something like this is the thrill of playing in a tournament. The prize money certainly adds to the excitement of playing in such a cup, even if it is only 50$. It's something different playing "for fun" on ladder than having money to look forward to if you win
Well, first one down and I'd say not a bad turnout being the case and more people will need to catch wind of it. Maybe next time around I won't make a dumb decision that results in me getting facerolled 2 minutes later and put out in the first round lol. I wish all my online matches were as mannered as my opponent in this case, good first tourney experience all around. Next up, Wednesday to try to redeem myself .
EPT![[image loading]](http://gfx.esl.eu/media/special/us/sc2/Go4SC2.JPG)
) a full LEAGUE for SC2 Players. The league will NOT have huge prize attached to it, but what it will have is stability and weekly competitions that allow the players to continue their enjoyment of the game. 
