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EVERYONE PLEASE NOTE THIS IS KIND OF A PRE-SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY! MLG HAS NOT REVEALED ANYTHING ABOUT THE REAL SEASON YET. COMPARE THIS TO A GSL ANNOUNCEMENT OF AoL 
![[image loading]](http://wordpress.tools.majorleaguegaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/procircuitheader.jpg) First Details about the MLG 2012 Pro Circuit!
It’s time! 2012 is here! It seems like just yesterday that Leenock was hoisting the trophy and big check at the 2011 MLG National Championships in Providence. We hope the off-season has been a time of productivity for you, but unfortunately – that’s all about to change. The first details on the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit are below. It’s not everything (we’ve gotta save some juicy details for Sundance to spill on Twitter) but it’s the first reveal of the new 2012 Pro Circuit.
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty Returns to the Pro Circuit
Blizzard’s hit RTS StarCraft 2 is back for the 2012 Pro Circuit. Shocking, we know. Additional games and details will be announced as soon as possible.
A Well-Seasoned Experience
MLG fans of old will notice things in 2012 are going to be a little… different. The 2012 MLG Pro Circuit will be made up of four distinct Seasons, each with their own Live Championship Event. We wanted to move to a season-based Pro Circuit for a couple of reasons. First, it allows us to make changes to our format and game lineup easily throughout the year. Second, it enables us to maintain a steady stream of competition throughout the year for our players and fans to enjoy. Finally, it helps to ensure that the best of the best are winning prizes on the Pro Circuit, and that every player has a chance to make it big. While we’re not ready to reveal everything about our season structure for the entire year, here’s what we can tell you (WARNING: information overload ahead).
Winter 2012 Season
138 of the best SC2 players in the world (based on the results of all notable 2011 SC2 competitions) will be invited to compete in their choice of three regional double-elimination online tournaments (North America, Europe, and Korea/Taiwan). Competition dates are as follows:
January 31-February 2 (Europe)
February 3-5 (Korea/Taiwan)
February 6-8 (North America)
Details on MLG’s video coverage of the regional online tournaments will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Top 8 finishers from MLG’s 2011 National Championship in Providence will be invited to join the Top 8 finishers from each regional online tournament (24 total players) for the MLG Winter Arena in New York City on February 24-26.
All 32 players will receive all-expenses-paid trips to the MLG Winter Arena, where a $26,000 prize pool will be up for grabs. The full prize breakdown is as follows:
1st – $10,000
2nd – $6,000
3rd – $3,600
4th- $2,200
5th/6th – $1,400 (no consolation matches will be played)
7th/8th – $900 (no consolation matches will be played)
While players can choose which of the three regions they wish to compete in, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:
All matches in a specific regional online bracket must be played on that Battle.net region’s server.
Players will only be eligible to receive MLG-paid travel if they request a flight from an airport located in the region they competed in. If a player is not eligible to receive MLG-paid travel, they will instead receive a $400 stipend. All players, regardless of eligibility for paid travel, will receive MLG-paid hotel accommodations.
In addition to the lovely prizes that will be awarded at the Winter Arena, the Top 16 will also receive spots in Pool Play at the Winter Championship. The bottom 16 finishers in the Arena will receive byes into Open Winners Bracket Round 5 at the Winter Championship. Furthermore, the Top 16 finishers at the Winter Arena will also receive an all-expenses paid trip to the Winter Championship. That’s two all-expenses paid trips for 16 of the world’s best players!
The Winter Arena will be live streamed for your viewing pleasure, but there will not be a live spectator component.
The Winter Championship will be a massive, open, live competition in Columbus, Ohio at the Columbus Convention Center on March 23-25. Spectator passes will be available and the Championship will be streamed live. Further details will be released in the coming weeks, including the full tournament format and prizes.
The Top 8 players from the Winter Championship in Columbus will qualify for the MLG Spring Arena.
A Quick Recap
That’s all we can talk about for now, but there are still a lot of details to be released for both the Winter Season and the remainder of the 2012 MLG Pro Circuit. It’s hard not to get excited about 48 all-expenses paid trips for the world’s best StarCraft 2 players, a $26,000 prize pool for a pre-Championship Event, and the return of MLG to the site of one of our most successful events in 2011, Columbus, Ohio. More details in the coming weeks; stay tuned!
http://www.majorleaguegaming.com/news/the-first-details-about-the-mlg-2012-pro-circuit
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Can a mod now change the name of this thread to First Details of MLG 2012 Pro Circuit!?
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First place will recieve 10 dollars lolololol.
Anyway, sounds AWESOME! :D
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On January 19 2012 23:42 lykkekage wrote:
First place will recieve 10 dollars lolololol.
Anyway, sounds AWESOME! :D
That is the greatest typo they have made to date! TOoo funny! I guess Naniwa can actually throw his games to get more money now 
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Good changes overall I guess. I understand that there's a need for pool play from MLG's point of view. This seems like a decent way to do it.
(And yay, MVP gets a seed straight away ;p)
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Just remember this ~26k dollar event is a pre-championship event.
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On January 19 2012 23:47 Greentellon wrote:
Just remember this ~26k dollar event is a pre-championship event.
That is why I was forced to put the warning at the end of the announcement xD
I saw the one at Reddit and people were bashing MLG because they think that this is how the rest of the year is going to be when it comes to pool prize, which is just like last year.
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So this season is invitational only ?
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Netherlands4535 Posts
great job lining up qualifiers with an IEM event, and lining up your pre championship event with another big event (assembly winter)
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OMG starcraft II comes back in 2012? I did not expect that :p.
More seriously this mlg arena looks good, I like the fact that they base it on a regional qualifier instead of an invite only tournament. They also found a way to prevent Koreans from taking all the spots with the way they pay travel stipends ^^.
Prizepool is good for a 3 day 32 man tournament, and they also offer spots and travel expense for the championship.
I really like the fact that all of this is merit based: if you're the best in your region you get your plane ticket payed, hopefully it will give opportunities to lesser known players.
I hope that the prizepool will be bigger for the winter championship, I'm hoping for something around 100 000$.
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So now the PP is 26k but with only 4 events per year + a championship. Basically it's even less prizepool/year than last year or I calc it wrong ?
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So we'll have season arenas and season championships, where the top half of the arena bracket are the pools for the next championship, and the top 8 of the championship are automatically invited to the next arena? I assume the championship contains standard open bracket play?
Definitely approve.
edit;
On January 19 2012 23:53 MrCon wrote:
So now the PP is 26k but with only 4 events per year + a championship. Basically it's even less prizepool/year than last year or I calc it wrong ?
4 arenas and 4 championships, note that colombus is labelled as a winter championship
The arena (NY) has a prize pool of 26k. The championship (Colombus) prizepool has not been announced yet.
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On January 19 2012 23:50 carloselcoco wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2012 23:47 Greentellon wrote:
Just remember this ~26k dollar event is a pre-championship event. That is why I was forced to put the warning at the end of the announcement xD I saw the one at Reddit and people were bashing MLG because they think that this is how the rest of the year is going to be when it comes to pool prize, which is just like last year.
You should probably stick that warning at the top, I think people will immediately jump to conclusions as soon as they hit the paragraph on the prize pool.
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I don't know if MLG has done their research but putting MLG Winter Arena on the same date with ASSEMBLY Winter (ASUS ROG tournament) is not good for anyone...
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On January 19 2012 23:54 Azhrak wrote:
I don't know if MLG has done their research but putting MLG Winter Arena on the same date with ASSEMBLY Winter (ASUS ROG tournament) is not good for anyone...
I think last year there was an IPL and IEM in NY that happened on the same days too :/
On January 19 2012 23:53 quantumslip wrote:Show nested quote +On January 19 2012 23:50 carloselcoco wrote:On January 19 2012 23:47 Greentellon wrote:
Just remember this ~26k dollar event is a pre-championship event. That is why I was forced to put the warning at the end of the announcement xD I saw the one at Reddit and people were bashing MLG because they think that this is how the rest of the year is going to be when it comes to pool prize, which is just like last year. You should probably stick that warning at the top, I think people will immediately jump to conclusions as soon as they hit the paragraph on the prize pool.
Just did sir.
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On January 19 2012 23:53 Liquid`Ret wrote:
great job lining up qualifiers with an IEM event, and lining up your pre championship event with another big event (assembly winter)
yep, seems their Pre-Season is off to a terrible planning start :/
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I don't understand. They pay the travel of 32 players to a live event where no spectator is allowed ?
I think I just don't get it, or this is dumb.
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So 26k is arena? Because 26k champion pool would make me sad. We're going downhill if that's the case =(
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On January 19 2012 23:53 MrCon wrote:
So now the PP is 26k but with only 4 events per year + a championship. Basically it's even less prizepool/year than last year or I calc it wrong ?
hmm well considering that the qualifers prize money is now more than the actual tournament last year I think it will easily be more than last year. For some reason they didn't release each season championship prize money.
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On January 19 2012 23:58 Louis8k8 wrote:
So 26k is arena? Because 26k champion pool would make me sad. We're going downhill if that's the case =(
26k is arena only.
THE REAL MLG EVENT WILL BE MUCH BIGGER.
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EPT
