[1500$] SC2 Edmonton Open Nov 26-27th - Page 4

On November 08 2011 11:10 DYEAlabaster wrote:
Ithaca wasn't (it wasn't stated as such anyway).

And yes, while we saw them all once, they were rarely (if ever) played.

also ONCE < #times/ladder/gsl (do keep in mind that replays on those maps help dev. strategies)

Edit: Once doesn't make the maps not-new.

On November 08 2011 11:29 Clonze wrote:
I hope nobody gets stabbed over this map pool discussion... careful though, it is Edmonton, ANYTHING is possible.
+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. I don't think your maps suck :D

On November 07 2011 04:39 DTK920 wrote:
I'll definitely be there to watch but I doubt I'll compete. How much is the venue fee for just watching?

On November 08 2011 11:39 prodiG wrote:m since before the last tournament.

I understand player's frustrations with a map pool like this. I'll acknowledge that there are MANY ways to skin this cat. At the end of the day however, one thing is clear to me: If you're a fraud, you're going to get exposed hard in this tournament. If you've got what it takes to get to the next stage of high level SC2, you're going to do well.

On November 08 2011 11:39 prodiG wrote:

Ah you're right I remember now. I agree, once doesn't make the maps not new. The point I was trying to make there was that this shouldn't be the first time the majority of these players are seeing these maps. Technically speaking, they'd have been practicing them since before the last tournament.

I feel like a lot of people here are misunderstanding a lot of things so I'm going to attempt to clear the air. These opinions are mine and mine alone and should not reflect CASL.

This tournament is unlike the ones we've had in Edmonton thus far. A prize pool that is several orders of magnitude larger combined with a larger entry fee and a relatively unorthodox map pool should indicate one thing: this is a tournament for serious players. To the best of my knowledge, CASL was created with the philosophy that it would be a stepping stone for up-and-coming Canadian Amateur SC2 players to move on to bigger and better things - teams, tournaments, etc. To give them the opportunity to get put on the map and maybe get noticed by some talent scouts or something equivalent.

This has some known implications. The first and foremost of which is the alienation of the casual player. Unfortunately, this is VERY hard to avoid when creating a strictly - competitive tournament. Diamond nailed it on the head in an earlier post - Johnny Bronze isn't going to be the one winning this tournament. The players successful in this tournament will however display aptitude in all areas of SC2 - beyond that of which you can accomplish by grinding hundreds of hours on ladder maps.

As an example, I'm going to single out Archaic here. As most of you know he's a fantastic player and a great guy, but in the last tournament he made a huge effort to go above and beyond. During the Edmonton SC2 practice sessions he put in time on the new maps that he wasn't familiar with and guess what? He bodied *everyone* I saw him play on both Sungsu Crossing AE and Sandshorn Mists. To me, that indicates a few things. First off, if you look at his success on those two maps in a vacuum you'll quickly come to the conclusion "he practiced those maps more than anyone else and just has more time on his hands." While a claim like that might have some validity, he went on to win the tournament equally as successfully in the remaining maps in the map pool. He used creativity, mechanics and all around solid play on all of those maps to secure that victory and all of those things - and more are required to be a successful SC2 player. At this point I'm going to fall back again to the CASL philosophy here: "to be a stepping stone for up-and-coming Canadian Amateur SC2 players to move on to bigger and better things"

Let's talk about the map pool itself. It's pretty clear that CASL came directly to me for my opinions on the maps. While there is some personal bias towards the maps, this map pool also represents what I feel is the most well-rounded set of maps that you can get in a map pool today. This map pool has been very successful in the Korean Weekly giving us a ton of data to examine and take into future events. I won't get into all of the specific details because I don't have three hours to explain everything, but here's the jist of it: The chosen maps are the ones the KW comes back to time and time again for plenty of reasons. The maps are all relatively balanced, they're all tested (barring publication issues on NA which I'll make sure are sorted out as soon as I click the post button), provide exciting gameplay (viewership for the live cast is extremely important here as well as it provides evidence of CASL's success to take to sponsors and investors in the future) and presents the widest array of different types of maps you can have, showcasing player's strengths and weaknesses ultimately resulting in what should be considered the better player to come out the victor. (For example,the map pool includes maps that are easier to cheese or rush (Dual Sight, Sungsu Crossing) on and maps that are easier to play a turtle-y macro style on (Tal'Darim Altar, Ithaca)).

I understand player's frustrations with a map pool like this. I'll acknowledge that there are MANY ways to skin this cat. At the end of the day however, one thing is clear to me: If you're a fraud, you're going to get exposed hard in this tournament. If you've got what it takes to get to the next stage of high level SC2, you're going to do well.

EDIT: ESV Sandshorn Mist AE is correctly published on NA by SUPEROUMAN. Sungsu Crossing still isn't, I'm on monitor's ass about it

The first and foremost of which is the alienation of the casual player. Unfortunately, this is VERY hard to avoid when creating a strictly - competitive tournament. Diamond nailed it on the head in an earlier post - Johnny Bronze isn't going to be the one winning this tournament.

On November 08 2011 14:58 VforValdes wrote:
Lets promote this event positively guys.

I'm giving big ups to GoFarMan and OK Gaming for hosting another rad event. This is one of, if not the biggest local SC2 tournaments to date. Props for pushing the envelope and making things bigger and better. And even bigger props for undertaking the task of running the event. Yes, double props for simply hosting and running the event.

Get your game faces on people, this one is gonna be sick.

As an example, I'm going to single out Archaic here. As most of you know he's a fantastic player and a great guy, but in the last tournament he made a huge effort to go above and beyond. During the Edmonton SC2 practice sessions he put in time on the new maps that he wasn't familiar with and guess what? He bodied *everyone* I saw him play on both Sungsu Crossing AE and Sandshorn Mists. To me, that indicates a few things. First off, if you look at his success on those two maps in a vacuum you'll quickly come to the conclusion "he practiced those maps more than anyone else and just has more time on his hands." While a claim like that might have some validity, he went on to win the tournament equally as successfully in the remaining maps in the map pool. He used creativity, mechanics and all around solid play on all of those maps to secure that victory and all of those things - and more are required to be a successful SC2 player. At this point I'm going to fall back again to the CASL philosophy here: "to be a stepping stone for up-and-coming Canadian Amateur SC2 players to move on to bigger and better things"

On November 08 2011 17:14 SniperVul5 wrote:
Will we have to pay extra on top of this just for getting the all day play pass? That would seriously be pushing how much we pay.

I mean 40 dollars is expensive in itself please don't squeeze any more money out of us.