There has been much dismay about a lack of Open Brackets in the StarCraft II scene and in the eSports scene in general losing it's openness.
At IPL we value underdog and breakout stories; obviously Scarlett got her break out performance at IPL4 and has since blossomed into the best North American player.
Such success stories are why we still hold online qualifiers, and have plans to for the forseeable future.
We are pleased to announce our Open Qualifier for the Heart of the Swarm Invitational at IPL6.
North American Online Qualifier 12:00 PM PST February 20th 2013 Bracket
European Online Qualifier 15:00 CET February 20th 2013 Bracket
Korean Online Qualifier 15:00 KST February 21st 2013 Bracket
Heart of the Swarm Live Open Bracket 10:00 AM PST March 29 2013 at IPL6 Signup
The map pool has been decided and we will have 5 maps in the Bo3, single elim bracket, with 1 veto for each player: GSL Akilon Flats KeSPA Neo Planet S TPW Phantasm Blizzard Howling Peak Blizzard Cloud Kingdom
The winner of each Online Qualifier will receive flight and hotel to compete at IPL6 in the Heart of the Swarm Invitational.
The top 4 players of the Heart of the Swarm Live Open Bracket will receive spots in the Heart of the Swarm Invitational.
We are also here to announce additional information on IPL6:
Yup. MLG is gonna have to really bring the thunder if they want to compete with this level of flexibility. I know we're all a bunch of entitled jerks, yet the IPL guys seem to really have a handle on the whole "the customer is always right". It might not be accurate, but I have a feeling it's gonna work out pretty well for them.
Edit: With that said, I guess I do question the prize distribution. 24x more for 1st place rather than 5th is a little disconcerting. Always something to improve I guess On the whole, this looks awesome.
Players who are already qualified for the HotS Invitational can play in the main WoL IPL6 event. However, the HotS Open Bracket will overlap with matches in the IPL6 WoL Main Tournament.
Therefore, a player will have to choose either the WoL Main Tournament OR HotS Open Bracket.
The Open Bracket will take place on Friday (1 day).
The ironic thing is IPL started this no open bracket thing first with no open bracket at IPL 5. Now they're taking pot shots at MLG for no open bracket. So, if I have it right, they valued the open bracket to find stars like scarlett at IPL 4, but then didn't value it anymore for IPL 5. However, they still don't value it for IPL 6 for their WoL tourney, but do value it for their Hots tourney. I think that's how it goes in their valuation system.
On February 02 2013 04:30 Canucklehead wrote: The ironic thing is IPL started this no open bracket thing first with no open bracket at IPL 5. Now they're taking pot shots at MLG for no open bracket. So, if I have it right, they valued the open bracket to find stars like scarlett at IPL 4, but then didn't value it anymore for IPL 5. However, they still don't value it for IPL 6 for their WoL tourney, but do value it for their Hots tourney. I think that's how it goes in their valuation system.
On February 02 2013 04:30 Canucklehead wrote: The ironic thing is IPL started this no open bracket thing first with no open bracket at IPL 5. Now they're taking pot shots at MLG for no open bracket. So, if I have it right, they valued the open bracket to find stars like scarlett at IPL 4, but then didn't value it anymore for IPL 5. However, they still don't value it for IPL 6 for their WoL tourney, but do value it for their Hots tourney. I think that's how it goes in their valuation system.
It is the same format as IPL5. Anyone can play in them.
That is still not an open bracket at the live event, which was missing at IPL 5 and is still missing at IPL 6 for the WoL tourney. I like both MLG and IPL, but it's clear that MLG gets more shit for everything they do, when IPL can do the same things such as no open bracket at IPL 5 and not much noise is made about it. I think it stems from MLG trying the PPV thing which is something people still haven't forgiven MLG for.
I had a feeling once Kevin posted the mention of the open bracket on Twitter, it was a bit of a push at MLG. I like how they are incorporating open bracket and HotS without forsaking WoL.
On February 02 2013 04:30 Canucklehead wrote: The ironic thing is IPL started this no open bracket thing first with no open bracket at IPL 5. Now they're taking pot shots at MLG for no open bracket. So, if I have it right, they valued the open bracket to find stars like scarlett at IPL 4, but then didn't value it anymore for IPL 5. However, they still don't value it for IPL 6 for their WoL tourney, but do value it for their Hots tourney. I think that's how it goes in their valuation system.
Totally different scenario than what we are seeing unfold with MLG Winter. You had to play in the qualifiers at least to get into the tournament (and they had quite a few), so at least you could get in that way. What MLG is doing is making it STRICTLY INVITE which is what people are ticked about.
I honestly think live open brackets aren't needed. They're a plus, but I think online qualifiers are more open than open brackets because people actually have to go to the event, and that can be tough for a teamless player or one who's in a small team. They can give a second chance to players though, so that's the plus.
On February 02 2013 05:01 Arbee wrote: Will the actual player registration be at the event, because there was nowhere to fill in player information during purchase?
Yes, we will contact those who sign up for Open Bracket by email to collect additional information before the event.
On February 02 2013 05:29 cutiepie8000 wrote: why are your qualifiers always during the weekdays and at 3 pm est? How can people who have school qualify?
Guessing because people whined over the IPL5 qualifiers being in weekends(which hurt the pros). Cant please everyone
This is my personal opinion of what could be a pretty good map pool, each map chosen for some different reasons--and it would certainly create a lot of variation in build order based on the maps. Feel free to discuss and/or disagree, you know where to find the mappers. :D
Careful -- Images are large. But you already knew that!
WCS
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