ESV TV Korean Weekly Season 3 - $5000+ - Page 26

Q: Why make this new complicated system instead of doing what you did before?
A: Multiple reasons. One of the big ones is we found some instances where players were qualifying for the Grand Prix with a one off Top 16 performance (since we don't restrict already qualified players) while a player that has hit Top 8 multiple times and played amazing in even more weeklies was left out. I personally felt this was a grave injustice to the players.

Another major sour point for myself and ESV was that once a player (not named Taeja) qualified, they stopped playing in the normal weekly assuming they could not play or having non benefit besides $ to do so. Even worse if they did enter you could see spots where it was very obvious a already qualified player would not give the normal weekly 100%. We (and you the fan) want nothing but 100% all the time.

The last major issue is the previous system made it impossible to replace a missing player in the Grand Prix. This happened in the Grand Prix #1 with two players, and thus the groups with those 2 players only had 3 players (2 advance).

Thus this system was born.

Q: What is the basis (concept) of how this system works?
A: There are four core concepts behind this system: 1: Rewarding consistent & dominant play. 2: Creating small advantages for players. 3: Making sure every player has a reason besides the cash prize to play 100% every single game. 4: Allowing a fluid system that can adapt to change.

Q: So who qualifies for Grand Prix #2?
A: The 32 players with the highest point scores are seeded into the Grand Prix #2.

Players are classified in two groups.

Invites:
More details in next question. Invite status guarantees you will finish in the Top 20 and only invite seeds can achieve Top 8 seeding. Currently for Season 3, there is 19 invite slots due to FXO.Gumiho double qualifying.

Open point qualifiers:
There will be a minimum (again see invites below) of 12 players picked. These players will have a rating of below 2000 points (as they have not had a 1st/2nd place finish or invite), and cannot achieve a Top 8 seeding. Currently for Season 3, there is 13 open point qualifiers due to FXO.Gumiho double qualifying.

In case one of the Top 32 does not accept his seed, or is a no show, the next highest player is put in. So if this system was in use with Grand Prix #1, the two walkovers would have their seeds given to the 33rd and 34th ranked players.

Q: 1200 pts for invite? What? That seems out of place. What is this invite system?
A: The invite system is given to a maximum of 20 players broken down as follows:

(1) - Korean Weekly Finals #3 Winner - ST.Squirtle
(1) - Grand Prix #1 Winner - Liquid`Taeja
(2) - Actual invites, players TBD by ESV TV
(16) - 1st/2nd Place finishers in Korean Weekly Season 3, Weeks 1-8

In the event that a player qualifies twice for an invite, they are not given another one. Any one player may only get one invite. In this case the invite seed is moved to the open point qualifiers. So for example in this season FXO.Gumiho has had two second place finishes (Weeks 1 & 2). So one of the 16 invites now goes to the open point qualifiers.

Q: Bonus points seem confusing, can you explain more?
A: The bonus points system is designed to create the small advantages. The biggest of the bunch is obviously the invite status. This automatically moves you into the Top 20 in rankings. It is detailed more above.

The next biggest set is the Grand Prix and Championship bonus points. At ESV TV we always reward the players that have played with us the most, and the Grand Prix #1 Top 8 means not only did they play in Grand Prix #2, but also the regular season. So they are rewarded for this. Also this will be the first season we will be able to reward champions of major lans, and we have done so. This can stack as many times as needed. So for example MKP would gain +20 points (1x MLG Arena, 1x MLG Winter Championship), while a players like MvP would get +40 (3x GSL Code S, 1x Blizzcon).

The smallest (but most stackable) of the bonus points is the "Series Sweep" bonus. This is rewarded in the Season 3 normal season, Week 1-8. Every time a player sweeps a series (both 2-0 and 3-0) they get +2 points. There is no limit to this bonus and it applied every single time a player sweeps a series.

For example in a 64 man bracket (6 rounds) if the winner is to sweep every series he will get his normal points, and then an additional +12 points for that tournament. Again this is a system to create small advantages.

Q: -20 points for a no show? How does that work?
A: This works to both stop the rampant walkovers that were happening, as well as make it punishing for a player to forfeit because he was playing a teammate and had already qualified in the later rounds. Now in ANY round if you do not show for your game, you will get -20 points. As an example in Week 2 Departure gained +24 points for reaching the Round of 16, as well as series sweeps. In the Round of 16, he was not online for his match. So he then gained -20 points leaving his net gain at +4.

This is no longer a small minor circuit. The Korean Weekly has $5,100 in prizes this season and millions of viewers, walkovers are bad for everyone and now they will be bad for the players too to discourage this.