Well well, it's been a while and I'm finally happy to announce my new tournament venture, SHOUTcraft Kings, which is directly sponsored by and partnered with Blizzard Entertainment. I've been thinking for a while now about what the Starcraft 2 scene could do better and my conclusion is, story-telling. Any sport lives or dies based on stories. Stories get people to tune in. Stories fuel the passion of the fans. Stories are the basis of competition. Storytelling can be tricky with a complicated system and so many different tournaments. It can be hard to keep track. I wanted to host a format in which it wasn't, something where the story could not be simpler.
Who is at the top of the mountain? How long can they defend it?
King of the Hill is that format. It's a little underused in Starcraft 2, which is a shame, because it's easy to follow and it naturally creates stories. Epic runs, surprise opponents, shock dethroning. I wanted to create something akin to WWEs Royal Rumble, but in Starcraft. Why do people watch that? For surprise entrants, long runs, big elimination streaks. It's exciting to tune in and be surprised. King of the Hill does all of that naturally and it's a compact, easy to follow format with month-to-month continuity.
We're going to do 20 maps in a one day event every month. Each map victory pays out $250 prize-money to the winner. The winner of the map becomes the King and will then play their next opponent. They will not know who that opponent is in advance, it will be a surprise to both them and the audience. If they keep winning, they keep playing and they keep getting paid. If they lose, they're out of that months event, to be replaced by the new King. That said, being King has its advantages. The King gets to choose the map. We use a 5 map pool from the ladder. Once a map is picked, it cannot be used again until the entire pool is exhausted. The King will choose the map and there are no vetoes.
I'm excited to bring you this event in close cooperation with Blizzard who will be providing the prizepool. We've been working on this idea for a number of months and we think it will provide something awesome to the online tournament scene and an entertaining event for the viewers. Join us on July 24th live for the first edition and on Youtube for spoiler-free VoDs. We will be revealing some of the players who will participate over the next month, but of course some will remain a mystery until they appear during the event.
Any chance for a side qualifier to get a shot at one of those invites? I'm sure you could outsource those qualifiers to Basetrade and have a good amount of signups/views
On June 24 2016 08:50 desRow wrote: Any chance for a side qualifier to get a shot at one of those invites? I'm sure you could outsource those qualifiers to Basetrade and have a good amount of signups/views
I'm thinking a qualifier for what is potentially a BO1 is not worth the effort in organizing. However, we will be actively looking at the results of online events in all regions as a reason for invites. Distinguish yourself in smaller events, get noticed, get an opportunity.
On June 24 2016 08:50 desRow wrote: Any chance for a side qualifier to get a shot at one of those invites? I'm sure you could outsource those qualifiers to Basetrade and have a good amount of signups/views
I'm thinking a qualifier for what is potentially a BO1 is not worth the effort in organizing. However, we will be actively looking at the results of online events in all regions as a reason for invites. Distinguish yourself in smaller events, get noticed, get an opportunity.
This is awesome to hear! Can't wait to watch the show
If you do 20 maps, it means you have 21 players in mind (let's forget about the additional life).
If the players don't know the orders in which they are supposed to play, that's going to be a long-ass wait
If they do, then I would feel slighted if I am supposed to be the player #21. It's actually possible that I don't play at all (because of the extra life rule). At most, I can pocket $250, while the first player can pocket $5000
On June 24 2016 22:07 fezvez wrote: There's something a bit weird.
If you do 20 maps, it means you have 21 players in mind (let's forget about the additional life).
If the players don't know the orders in which they are supposed to play, that's going to be a long-ass wait
If they do, then I would feel slighted if I am supposed to be the player #21. It's actually possible that I don't play at all (because of the extra life rule). At most, I can pocket $250, while the first player can pocket $5000
Anyways, I like it a lot!
I think that answer to that is, "tough shit". They accept the conditions of the event when they accept the invite. If they don't want to, there are plenty more people who will gladly take the money. It's ridiculously good money for what they have to do and frankly right now I don't think all that many players can afford to be so picky.
Players will have a rough idea of when they're going to play. They're just not gonna know exactly, so they need to be around during a certain time period, which is not at all hard. Let's be honest after the nonsense with Clan Wars I've had quite enough of diva players not showing up, then having the audacity to complain that there isn't enough money in the scene anymore for them. Oh it's there, you're just not showing up to claim it, you're not acting like a professional so you won't be treated like one.
It's not like you can't practice while waiting. That's what they're supposed to be doing anyway, practicing.
WCS![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/d6YR2xT.png)
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