TLDR 8 player tournament, 10k in prizing, June 16-18, Toronto, Canada
North by Northeast (sister company to the popular South by Southwest) is hosting a music & arts festival at Yonge-Dundas Square, Toronto. They wanted to feature some gaming content, and lucky for all of us, that means Starcraft 2. The location is great, and the plaza is huge, and with this we're hoping to really show off to a crowd just how great Starcraft 2 is! This event will take place June 16-18th, and while it's the same days as Dreamhack (unavoidable!) we will be trying to start our show after Dreamhack finishes so nobody has to pick & chooose.
PRIZE POOL: $10,000 (All prizes are in CAD) 1st $4000 2nd $2000 3rd $1500 4th $900 5th-8th $400
*Please note that the distribution may change
FORMAT
2 day event. Ro8 will consist of 2x4 player WCS style groups, all bo3 on the current ladder map pool. Day 2 will feature 2x Bo5 semi-finals, Bo5 bronze match, and a Bo7 grand finals.
We will cast as many of the matches as scheduling allows, but we may allow some (such as both group preliminary matches) to play at the same time for sake of time.
THE 8 PLAYERS
**IMPORTANT**IF YOU ARE NOT SURE OR DO NOT KNOW ABOUT GETTING A VISA IN TIME FOR THIS EVENT, PLEASE DO NOT PLAY IN THESE QUALIFIERS(this event is introducing some new sponsors to esports/starcraft and we can't afford no shows due to visa issues)
All invited/qualified players will be provided with hotel accommodations & travel. (Possible exceptions to travel being the WC qualifiers below. There will be a cap on assisted flight costs to be discussed depending where you're flying from. It's safe to guess that any flight $1,000 or below will be covered, however)
3 Invited Koreans: Leenock, KeeN & Zest (we wanted to bring some koreans over, because the korean vs foreigner element is always entertaining, but while we could have invited Gods, we tried to aim for demi-gods, increasing the chance for some cool foreigner upsets!)
1 Invited NA Player:TBA
Top 1 player from the North America Qualifier (USA/Canada/Mexico only)
(we wanted to bring some koreans over, because the korean vs foreigner element is always entertaining, but while we could have invited Gods, we tried to aim for demi-gods, increasing the chance for some cool foreigner upsets!)
Why? And does China includes Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau?
Probably because of possible visa issues, as they stated. Can totally understand why they don't want to risk, getting no-shows at such event with new sponsors would be really bad.
I personally don't like the invited Koreans. They are good players and all but most of them are just OK at best at the moment (I point at you Zest). I would prefer more solid Korean players to have some quality games.
On May 19 2017 09:30 AshC wrote: Very cool event! Best of luck guys.
I personally don't like the invited Koreans. They are good players and all but most of them are just OK at best at the moment (I point at you Zest). I would prefer more solid Korean players to have some quality games.
On May 19 2017 01:58 [MD]Frostbite wrote: I'm assuming there will be tickets of some sort to attend?
It's free to attend! No tickets required. For those out of town trying to make their way in, I suggest parking at a subway station and then riding the train down to Dundas Station (located right next to the square).
Why? And does China includes Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau?
I would really like to hear the reasons from the organisers! (Of course, you guys have all right to set these rules and I have no doubt you have good reasons)
Why? And does China includes Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau?
I would really like to hear the reasons from the organisers! (Of course, you guys have all right to set these rules and I have no doubt you have good reasons)
LOL, WC qualifiers don't allow Korean players but somehow I saw Innovation, Classic, GuMiho, Armani, Tails and Losira signed up... This is gonna be awkward...
We changed the start time of this to reflect the players who have signed up and attempted to play so far. There's been very little Europe turn out (understandable!) so we're hoping this will accommodate those that want to compete in the qualifier a little bit easier.
REMINDER if you don't know if you need a visa, go look it up before signing up to play.
Leenock had some good games last night in the Wardii cup, still a very competitive Zerg imo. SC2 can use all the love it can get, props for getting this tournament going! Looking forward to it.
On May 19 2017 09:30 AshC wrote: Very cool event! Best of luck guys.
I personally don't like the invited Koreans. They are good players and all but most of them are just OK at best at the moment (I point at you Zest). I would prefer more solid Korean players to have some quality games.
Reminds me of the old MLG /KeSPA days
those were some funny days, when we would invite the bad koreans and take pride in almost beating them
On May 19 2017 09:30 AshC wrote: Very cool event! Best of luck guys.
I personally don't like the invited Koreans. They are good players and all but most of them are just OK at best at the moment (I point at you Zest). I would prefer more solid Korean players to have some quality games.
All the best foreigners will be at WCS Jonkoping so it's not really realistic to expect second tier foreigners to compete with tier 1 koreans
We will cast as many of the matches as scheduling allows, but we may allow some (such as both group preliminary matches) to play at the same time for sake of time.
Judging by his stream and recent online stuff, Zest looks to be practicing at least somewhat seriously again. Will be interesting to see how much form he's managed to regain.
I'm a bit confused here. PiLi and Masa both are on signed-up players list for WCS Jonkoping. So how come they will play at Gameland given two events overlap?
On June 12 2017 15:39 AshC wrote: I'm a bit confused here. PiLi and Masa both are on signed-up players list for WCS Jonkoping. So how come they will play at Gameland given two events overlap?
On June 18 2017 09:23 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Omg amazing by Zest. Can't believe he managed to beat souL
Zest might be the next big deal
He should train in Korea
I mean i think he should first get some more lan experience in tournaments like this to see if he can compete against the likes of noregret, etc. But yeah korea might be the next step
Well I guess Zest is best enough to beat KeeN (which is not that impressive but hey I guess it's something), hope he can keep improving his form for Season 3.
On June 19 2017 09:31 Shellshock wrote: embarrassing loss for Keen is he slumping?
Don't you have to be doing well to have a slump?
Losing to Zest is a slump for anyone but sOs.
Zest won his way into SSL premier beating Dark and herO. Sure, that was 3 months ago, but the last thing of note Keen did was getting into the GSL round of 16 back in January.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/OsKWmM2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BkyAGQm.jpg)
Zest vs 
KeeN
NoRegreT vs ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/A204msv.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IIDki5J.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XWXnDNt.jpg)
