[NA] Custom Map Olympic Games!

It's not often you get to participate in a tournament focussed on Custom Maps and it's even less often you get to represent your country in StarCraft. Now is your chance to do both with the Custom Map Olympics! The premise of this event is that people can sign up as individuals or a team to play for their nation and do their part to earn 'medals'. It will work roughly like the Olympic Games in that say 15-20 maps will take the roll of Olympic events and a set number of teams or players each representing a different nation participate in round robin, elimination, or heats to determine the three podium positions and hence earn those medals for their nation's tally. More details will be available once the maps to be played are finalised!

I was going to save this for my 4000th post but I'll have to do something else for that because I need everyone's votes on what maps to include Sorry for heaps of text.


This is where I need TeamLiquid's help! Please suggest maps to use and then we will vote on which should make the final cut. Note that due to the nature of the competition there are criteria that must be met for the maps. Also, I am not 100% familiar with every map so if you suggest something can you give a short paragraph detailing what it's about? Map requirements:

• 2 or more players (i.e. keeping away from time- or score-based maps)
  
• 1v1 maps and team vs team maps preferred
  
• If the map has more than 2 'teams' it must have a reliable way to determine 2nd, 3rd place etc.
  
• Must be relatively popular so it is competitive
  
• Must be reasonably balanced (well, balanced as far as UMS maps go...)
  
• Must be available on the North America server

Due to my uni exams I will only be taking signups and map opinions for now, and competition will start no earlier than the 27th of November. Play times will be scheduled at either set times or negotiated between competing national teams depending on which map it is. If you sign up, make sure you are free!



Once all of the teams competing are finalised (see how to enter below) they will play over a number of weeks, with a separate competition for each event. Each event will include teams from a separate nation who will then play each other in the maps to determine gold, silver and bronze medallists. These medals will then go on to that nation's medal tally and count towards the winning nation for the entire event. The rules and format will change per map, for example in Desert Strike it would follow a regular single elimination format with each team of three being one nation.

Other maps might be free-for-all between individuals and these could be determined by heats, like several instances of the map being run at once and a winner from each qualifies for the next stage. Similarly there may be maps with 3-4 teams and again it may be a case of the top 2 advance. I will get more specific when the maps are finalised and I am familiar with all of them.

Obviously some maps really won't lend themselves to this format, like Phantom or various types of Tower Defence where you are working together.

Here's an example of what the standings table might look like (shut up it could happen):


Sign up as a team or individual (depends on the map) with the following information:

Bnet NA name and identifier:
Nationality:
Map:
Bnet IDs for other team members:

Signups are open to anyone and will be selected on either first-in first-serve but if you can prove that you are particularly qualified to represent your nation in a given event you may be picked ahead of others. There may be cases for more than one national representative for very popular maps but otherwise it will be one team per nation. If you are a well-known player or can somehow prove you are a very competent Custom Map player (replay, screenshot of how much you play it) you may be picked over other teams.


Anyone! It's open registration and while you are not guaranteed to get picked as a team if entered you are allowed to enter for more than one event to try your luck elsewhere. Remember, providing proof that you are extra qualified to represent your nation in an event increases your odds! Note that in general you can only represent your nation and not your race, so you must hold citizenship for the country you wish to represent. For example if you are a US citizen of Korean heritage you may only represent the USA. Having said that, there may be a case where people have dual citizenship or there might be a country that would otherwise not be represented unless this rule were waived so sign up anyway!


I'd rather keep it 'for fun' because that is what custom maps are always about so I won't actively seek a prize, but if someone has an idea for a small perk it'd be fine just let me know.


If you have great ideas or are very familiar with custom maps but don't want to play in the competitions please swing me a PM and you might be able to help out running the event, seeing it will be quite a lot of work if we get a lot of signups

Also, some of my ideas for the banner didn't eventuate because I couldn't get them how I wanted in photoshop, so if you have a better banner by all means share it because this one was rushed!