EPTEdmonton Big Little Paired Tournament Sept 17 2011 - Page 3
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s[O]rry
Canada398 Posts
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Kowdbuff
Canada22 Posts
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Versailles
Canada108 Posts
(PS. Think about that mixed doubles...!) | ||
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VforValdes
Canada96 Posts
I arrived at the venue early in the day, about 10:30 or so, and there were already some gamers getting their practice in. I settled in and started doing administrative work and as the clock ticked down towards our 1pm start time, the line for sign ups kept growing and growing. We eventually got everyone signed up, a total of 50 people, well after 1 pm and from there we ran into a couple more issues... Bnet kicked us out, again! We were met with the unfortunate issue of having too many clients logged into battle.net at one time, with no proper response from our "friends" at Blizzard. After being given the run around from Blizzard for about an hour, our computers were able to once again log back into battle.net. Unfortunately, the issue had not been resolved so to be certain not to have a day-ending second lock-out we set aside 14 computers to compete at. We felt that 20 was our limit, and as the venue was busy, we took into account the likelihood of other non-competitors logging into battle.net. Thankfully 14 proved to be a safe number, and no more hiccups occurred. By now we were running quite behind, and with the lack of stations able to compete upon we were seriously in a time crunch. It would be logistically impossible to give everyone BO3 matches against everyone in their groups, so the decision was made to change the BO3 to BO1. There was justified grumbling, but everyone understood that this tournament had to finish the day of. The fuss died down as soon as the SC2 matches were underway, and boy were those matches great! The matches were back and forth, with the skill levels of players never being too vast. Add in the atmosphere of 36 people crowded behind you watching you compete, and your teammate giving you pointers along the way. This made for a rich atmosphere of competition where all players shared the spotlight! After the initial group stage wrapped up, more excitement was on the way. Raffle tickets were handed out (I apologize for not doing it earlier, it slipped my mind) and shortly before our dinner break the raffle draw commenced. Everyone huddled around the front desk, wishing for their number to be called. The first prize was a $10 Oodle Noodle gift certificate, then a $25 dollar, and finally the big $50 Oodle Noodle gift certificate. After those prizes had been handed out (a nice gift from our friends at Oodle Noodle Jasper ave), next came the peripherals. Three more numbers were called, and three more prizes given out. A high quality gamer mousepad and two fancy headsets awaited the winners. We paused for dinner and when we came back there were 12 competitors left in the tournament. The pairs were; Brockemon and ForAuir, TQSunshine and Terrapith, TossUASalad and Frost, SkyCobra and Bloodshadow, Gold and Alabaster,and Styx and Versailles. Another BO1 group stage commenced and everyone quickly got their hands dirty. Zealots perished, marines were cut into two, and zerglings splattered. When the dust settled we had our top two pairs, TQSunshine-Terrapith and Gold-Alabaster preparing to square off in a final BO3 series. Our other 8 competitors didn't make the cut, but were rewarded with $20 apiece for their efforts. The final series was a BO3 Big vs Big and a BO3 Little vs Little. Alabaster and TQSunshine swept their series, leaving the overall Win-Loss ratings in a deadlock. According to the rules (and thankfully so, we were just past 2 am at this point) a sudden death, 2v2 occurred. Sunshine was elected to throw Rock Paper or Scissors for his pair to determine the map, and with the help of some mind tricks won the contest! The players hunkered down and as the load screen crept towards 100% the final game was about to be played. The 2v2 lasted no longer than 15 minutes, but many close calls occurred. At one point Sunshine was running his first speedlings towards his opponents base, and to his horror ran straight through a couple banelings! Unfortunately for Gold+Alabaster, these banelings were on move command and all the speedlings zoomed past. The speedling pressure took on a new twist when the baneling nest popped, and reinforcements from Terrapith arrived in the form of reactor hellions... lots of hellions! Blue flame was also on the way, and it was devastating. Some great hellion micro from Terrapith helped seal the deal when Sunshine's pack of zerglings were unable to attack due to the fierce banelings keeping watch. Gold+Alabaster couldn't handle the mobility of speedlings and hellions, and the protoss base was overrun. From here on out Terrapith+Sunshine played it safe as they knew they had the economic lead, and grinded out a victory against Alabaster+Gold. It was 2:30 am when everything ended. TQSunshine+Terrapith walked away with $60 each, and Gold+Alabaster took home $30 each. We chatted about how another tournament of the like was in order, and how I should plan another one soon. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I'd like to give out some numbers on the demographics of the tournament. This tournament was first and foremost intended to cater to all skill levels, and secondly was an effort to bring many new faces into our local SC2 scene. I believe it succeeded on both accounts, but I'll let you check the numbers and decide for yourself. We had 8 master players, 11 diamond players, 13 platinum players, 11 gold players, 4 silver players and 3 bronze players. Of the 50 competitors, 21 had never been to the venue before. | ||
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VforValdes
Canada96 Posts
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Oinksters
3 Posts
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Gprime
Canada198 Posts
anyways. REALLY awesome time. 14 hours felt like 4. lots of fun | ||
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DYEAlabaster
Canada1009 Posts
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OldManTekh
Canada47 Posts
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