EPT![[image loading]](http://i42.tinypic.com/16a8yz8.png)
Welcome to the FRB Grand Tournament! $150 is up for grabs as a wealth of mega-talented players duke it out while playing under the Fewer Resources per Base concept and the unique variant of StarCraft II that it creates.
![[image loading]](http://i39.tinypic.com/18ljc3.png)
Fewer Resources per Base is the brainchild of Barrin, the Starcraft 2 mapmaker who first started drawing attention to the question, “What effect does the amount of resources available at each base have on Starcraft 2?”
The basic answer is that with the large amount of resources available at each base players have less incentive to expand and greater incentive to build maxed out "deathballs" or attack aggressively off of a relatively small number of bases. FRB addresses this by lowering the amount of minerals at each base from "8 minerals, 2 gas geysers" to "6 minerals, 1 high yield gas", effectively reducing the amount of both resources available at each base by 25%. With less economic power gained from low base counts, players are encouraged to expand more aggressively and split their army to protect their holdings rather than take a small number of bases, build a "deathball" in a defensive choke, and then attack.
For more information on what "Fewer Resources per Base" entails, check out the thread that started this entire movement, "Breadth of Gameplay in SC2".
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PLAYERS
The FRB Grand Tournament is proud to reveal our official 16 player bracket!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/48irC.png)
And here are the up-to-date brackets leading all the way up to the finals:
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WfrAp.png)
We would like to extend our deepest thanks to the FRB community who have been so passionate and inspired us to make this tournament come to life in the best way possible!
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The tournament race breakdown is as follows, and be sure to follow up on the Liquipedia entries to learn about the considerable accomplishments of each player.
Terran:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/GanZi (CompLexity Gaming)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Illusion (Vile Gaming)
NMxMasa (Team Nightmares)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/LuckyFool (NrG Gaming)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/RainBOw (StarTale E-Sports)
Protoss:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Axslav (Infinity Seven)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Shew (Team Clash)
areaSaroVati (Area 51 Gaming)
stsZephos (Community Applicant)
puCK (Community Applicant)
Zerg:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/ViBE (It's GoSu)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Goswser (CompLexity Gaming)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Tgun (It's GoSu)
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Heavens (LighT eSports)
cvgFitzyHere (Convergence Gaming)
cvgSasquatch (Convergence Gaming)
We'll be using z33k.com to organize and gather replays, so all players who don't have an account already should create one. We'll also be sending PM's with information on your first opponent and your invitation code to the z33k tournament entry in the next couple hours. The z33k page for the FRB Grand Tournament is:
http://www.z33k.com/games/starcraft2/tournaments/6488-frb-grand-tournament-1
And the brackets, as well as where players can upload their replays, are here:
http://www.z33k.com/games/starcraft2/tournaments/6488-frb-grand-tournament-1/brackets
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TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Round of 16* (Best of 3) - Friday, April 13th (8PM EST)
Round of 8 (Best of 3) - Friday, April 20th (8PM EST)
Semi Finals (Best of 3) - Friday, April 27th (8PM EST)
Finals** (Best of 5) - Friday, May 4 (8PM EST)
Each Friday's broadcast will feature live commentary by Senex and Pull.
* Due to time constraints, four series will be casted live on stream, while the rest will be made available in VOD format.
** Also includes the 3rd Place Match, a Best of 3*
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PRIZE POOL
The Prize Pool will be distributed to the winners as follows:
1st Place: $100
2nd Place: $60
3rd Place: $25
4th Place: $15
Update: Thanks to support from our sponsor from Peepmode we've upped the prize pool to $200! The new distribution will be as seen above.
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FAN GIVEAWAY
Check this space soon for information on some awesome prizes made possible by our wonderful sponsor, Youre.Pro! In the meantime, please show your support by signing up for their site. You are given a bank of Credits that you can wager against other users - attain enough credits and you can redeem them for various rewards such as a GSL Annual Pass, a Korean StarCraft II account, Amazon.com vouchers, and more!
For the most up to date information about the raffle as information becomes available, follow @FRBGrandTourney and get one step ahead of the game!
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HOW TO WATCH
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KDk7O.jpg)
We are thrilled to announce that each of our four broadcasts will be featured on the wonderful 24/7 e-sports channel, CyberSports.TV! Show your support by following them on at @CyberSportsTV
Alternatively, you can also tune in on one of our casters, PullSC's stream.
Miss the live stream? No problem! Check out the VODs hosted on the channel of our other caster, Senex!
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Map Pool
The 5 maps that are currently accepted by FRB's creator Barrin and will be used as the map pool for this tournament are:
6m FRB Devolution
6m FRB Braxis Delta
6m FRB Shakuras Plateau
6m FRB Tal'darim Altar*
6m FRB Cross Point
Each match in the Round of 16 will start on the map '6m Devolution', the Round of 8 with '6m Shakuras Plateau, the Round of 4 with '6m Tal'darim Altar' and the Finals with '6m Cross Point.' After that first map the loser of each game picks the next map from the map pool until the overall winner is decided. Repeat maps will be allowed to help the players compensate for the smaller map pool.
*6m Tal'Darim has been changed in more ways than just adjusting the resource counts. The rocks blocking third bases have been removed and the main is now a high ground with a ramp down to the natural. We highly recommend players explore the map before playing official games on it.
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Additional Content
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Watch the FRB Grand Tournament and talk about it! Tweet to your favorite e-sports community figures about the idea and the tournament! The best way for the Tournament and FRB in general to grow and succeed is for you, the community, to be active in supporting them. For those interested, writing Blizzard or major community figures, (I'm looking at you Day9, this needs to be a Funday Monday!
) is another great way to get the ideas of FRB out there. If you want to play some FRB games yourself or just hang out with other FRB fans, you can go to the channel 'FRB' (without quotes) on both the NA and EU servers. If you want to find the FRB maps via the Custom Games finder search for '6m' or '6m1hyg' (without quotes) to see all the maps currently available in FRB format!
![[image loading]](http://i40.tinypic.com/sdeikk.png)
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Q: This isn't Brood War, this is Starcraft 2. Why are you trying to turn Starcraft 2 into Brood War?
A:The goal of FRB isn't to transform Starcraft 2 in to a copy of Brood War, it's to find some of the features that have made other strategy games successful and incorporate those elements into Starcraft 2. No one is saying that Starcraft 2 is a bad game; indeed everyone involved in the FRB project is working so hard because we love the game and hope to find ways to make it even better, not transform it into something it's not.
Q: Is there any real chance of Blizzard taking these ideas seriously, or would such a change be too radical and too disruptive to core gameplay for them to implement?
A: There has already been indications that Blizzard is paying attention to the idea of Fewer Resources per Base, for example, in the talk show below starting at 49:50
That aside, it's the size of the community response that will determine how seriously the FRB ideas are considered. So if you like the concepts in FRB be sure to support the FRB Grand Tournament, post in the 'Breadth of Gameplay in SC2' thread on Team Liquid and write Blizzard to voice your opinions.
As a final note: it could very well turn out that the 6 mineral fields and 1 high yield gas version of FRB we're using in this tournament is not the optimal distribution for Starcraft 2. We're far more interested in getting the key ideas out there among the community and developers than trying to find the perfect 'fix' Starcraft 2 ourselves, (if it's even 'broken.') The FRB Grand Tournament and FRB in general are meant to serve as proofs of concept rather than solutions.
Q: Doesn't having fewer resources per base create imbalances in the game?
A: Thus far there have not been any glaring imbalances between races or units demonstrated in FRB games, and indeed many previously underused units have seen a resurgence in popularity and usefulness. However, it could very well be that there are some imbalanced aspects created by having 6 mineral fields and 1 high yield gas, but that's all the more reason to have this tournament. It's only by having a large number of well-analyzed games that potential problems with FRB can be found and corrected, and this tournament is a unique opportunity to explore the positive and negative effects of having fewer resources per base.
