The MLG Winter Season is about to come to an epic conclusion, and we couldn’t wait to share some of the highly anticipated details about the Spring Season for StarCraft II. There will be FIVE stages of StarCraft II competition in the Spring Season.
In the Spring we will be holding two sets of online qualifiers – one that is open to all, and a second that is invite-only.
Open Online Qualifiers – March 30-April 15 – Online Only, Not Broadcast
The season kicks off March 30-April 15 with the MLG Spring Regional Open Online Qualifiers. 128 players will compete in each region (NA/KR/EU). For the first time, we've worked closely with Blizzard to invite top Battle.net players to participate in one of our competitions. The Top 32 from each of the NA and EU Blizzard Grandmaster ladders will be invited to compete, and anyone else can register for the remaining spots. The Top 8 players from the Open Online Qualifiers will go on to compete in the Invite-Only Online Qualifiers later in the season. Registration will begin later this week, so check the site for details. These qualifiers will not be broadcast.
Spring Arena 1 – April 20-22 – NYC – LIVE Broadcast
The Top 8 players from the Winter Championship will compete live at Arena 1 on April 20 -22 in NYC. The Top 4 will get direct seeding into Arena 2, later in the season, a share of $10,900 in prizes, and guaranteed entry into Pool Play at the Spring Championship. The bottom 4 finishers will drop into the Invite-Only Online Qualifiers. Spring Arena 1 will be broadcast live.
Invite-Only Online Qualifiers – April 27-30 – Online Broadcast
From April 27-30, we will hold the Invite-Only Online Qualifiers, featuring: the 9th – 80th place finishers from the Winter Championship, the Top 8 from each Region of the Open Qualifiers, and the bottom 4 from Arena 1. The Top 8 from each Region of the Invite-Only Qualifiers will get all-expenses paid trips to Arena 2. This will be broadcast online and cast by some of the best in the business.
Please note: anyone who played in the Winter Arena but did not attend the Winter Championship will also be invited straight into the Invite-Only Online Qualifiers.
Spring Arena 2 – May 18-20 – NYC – LIVE Broadcast
Spring Arena 2 will take place on May 18 – 20 in NYC. This Arena will be very similar in structure to the Winter Arena. There will be 32 players: the Top 4 from Arena 1, the Top 8 from each Region of the Invite-Only Qualifiers, and 4 additional players that will be announced. The Top 8 from Spring Arena 2 will share $26,400 in prize money. 12 players from Arena 2, in addition to the Top 4 from Arena 1, will start in Pool Play at the Spring Championship, and the bottom 16 will start in Open Winners R5. This event will be broadcast live.
Spring Championship – June 8-10 – Anaheim, CA – LIVE Broadcast and In-Person Spectators
The Spring Season will end with the Spring Championship, June 8-10 in Anaheim, CA at the Anaheim Convention Center. That's right in Blizzard’s backyard, so perhaps there will be some surprises in store for you. Lots of exciting details will be released in the coming weeks. This event will be broadcast live.
This is a huge season for MLG StarCraft II. You will have a lot more to watch, and a lot more ways to watch, and we will tell you all about our new viewing packages later in the week.
Until then, thanks for your support, and get ready for a great Spring Season
Now I'm not going to be able to sleep at night, with that "That's right in Blizzard’s backyard, so perhaps there will be some surprises in store for you".
So basically the first arena is like a little mini invitational and the second is the same as the previous one?
Sounds great.
And the first qualifiers are for either guys not currently in the MLG system (like MMA, Hero, Zenio, Feast, Kas, Dimaga and many others) to get themselves into the system.
I don't know if this is good or bad but I had to re-read this 3-4 times to understand it, and what each event actually is and what it means, maybe a little complicated? Although one thing is indisputable, lotsa Starcraft.
On March 26 2012 09:25 Rasun wrote: I don't know if this is good or bad but I had to re-read this 3-4 times to understand it, and what each event actually is and what it means, maybe a little complicated? Although one thing is indisputable, lotsa Starcraft.
It's complicated but once you understand it it's all pretty good/reasonable stuff.
I really hope they can fit some spectators in at the NYC events. Maybe make a raffle for gold members in the NYC area or something! It bugs me that there are so many pro gamers gathered close to home but I have to see them on the computer instead.
So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
On March 26 2012 09:32 cablesc wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
yeah it would be kinda ridiculous to ask 20 for an 8 man tournament
On March 26 2012 09:32 cablesc wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
It's still over 3 days with $10k in prizes and flying everyone in. They could justify $10 even.
Spring Arena 2 will take place on May 18 – 20 in NYC. This Arena will be very similar in structure to the Winter Arena. There will be 32 players: the Top 4 from Arena 1, the Top 8 from each Region of the Invite-Only Qualifiers, and 4 additional players that will be announced.
Hmmm. What's that about?
And I agree that spring arena seems redundant, I'm not against it or anything, but there's a balance to maintain between frequency of events and players attending them regularly. Do that many korean-based players (7 out of 8 are) want to fly out for yet another weekend while they're in a code S season?
On March 26 2012 09:33 Childplay wrote: so no big competictions like last year? just medium arenas every month or so?
There is a big competition clearly stated to be an cali?
Spring Championship – June 8-10 – Anaheim, CA – LIVE Broadcast and In-Person Spectators
The Spring Season will end with the Spring Championship, June 8-10 in Anaheim, CA at the Anaheim Convention Center. That's right in Blizzard’s backyard, so perhaps there will be some surprises in store for you. Lots of exciting details will be released in the coming weeks. This event will be broadcast live.
Spring Arena 2 will take place on May 18 – 20 in NYC. This Arena will be very similar in structure to the Winter Arena. There will be 32 players: the Top 4 from Arena 1, the Top 8 from each Region of the Invite-Only Qualifiers, and 4 additional players that will be announced.
Hmmm. What's that about?
And I agree that spring arena seems redundant, I'm not against it or anything, but there's a balance to maintain between frequency of events and players attending them regularly. Do that many korean-based players (7 out of 8 are) want to fly out for yet another weekend while they're in a code S season?
Would you take an average of $1300 in cash to fly out for a weekend and play a video game, with a 50% chance of preferential seeding in a $70k tournament?
Granted, some won't, but the if any of them are knocked out of GSL they're likely to go for it.
On March 26 2012 09:32 cablesc wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
It's still over 3 days with $10k in prizes and flying everyone in. They could justify $10 even.
I dont know, it also at same weekend as Dreamhack. I dont really see the big goal behind this Spring Arena 1, we will probably see almost exact the same players at Arena 2 a month later in the same setting and both will be PPV... to much events if you ask me.
On March 26 2012 09:37 Fionn wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is basically DRG, MKP, Heart, Huk, Naniwa, Violet, Ganzi and Parting. An eight man tournament stretched out for three days?
Seems redundant, but will more than likely be interesting/fun to watch.
Treat it as a personal sponsorship for MKP. Gotta keep that money coming in.
The first arena seems silly. Why would they bother, just send the 8 through to the arena. (unless they're going to try PPV for an 8 person tourney, which would be hilarious)
Looking forward to all of these, I wonder what you guys are doing as far as the cost of PPV, because I really don't mind paying for these Arena events, as long as it is within reason and the player pool +production are great. But either way looking forward to tuning into SPring Arena #1 after my 3rd calc exam to relax haha
Speculation on format of Spring Arena #1. So they need to stretch out an 8 man tournament over 3 days. And provide enough content for people to buy the PPV. Here's how I would organize it to maximize games/content:
Group A/B #1 -> Seeded to Semi-Finals/Ro4 #2 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #3 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #4 -> Eliminated
Quarter-finals: 2a vs 3b Best of 5 3a vs 2b Best of 5
Semi-finals Best of 5 Finals Best of 7
If they keep the PPV price low, I bet they could turn a nice profit, especially since they lucked out with the player pool (two foreigners and a couple popular Koreans in MKP/DRG and to a lessor extent Violet).
On March 26 2012 09:37 Fionn wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is basically DRG, MKP, Heart, Huk, Naniwa, Violet, Ganzi and Parting. An eight man tournament stretched out for three days?
Seems redundant, but will more than likely be interesting/fun to watch.
I think MLG is shooting in the foot here. Flying (again) top8 winter championship, for a 8 man invitational tournament LIVE. They even lose replay value, because we will always see the same players in the same matchups... and if it is PPV, i don't see how it can have success. I don't see how it can be profitable. They could do it online (and free).
I really dont like the fact that there will be no live audience in NYC. Do you guys think there is some sort of after party that I can go to meet up with most of the players if I am in NYC in May ?
On March 26 2012 10:12 cablesc wrote: Speculation on format of Spring Arena #1. So they need to stretch out an 8 man tournament over 3 days. And provide enough content for people to buy the PPV. Here's how I would organize it to maximize games/content:
Group A/B #1 -> Seeded to Semi-Finals/Ro4 #2 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #3 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #4 -> Eliminated
Quarter-finals: 2a vs 3b Best of 5 3a vs 2b Best of 5
Semi-finals Best of 5 Finals Best of 7
If they keep the PPV price low, I bet they could turn a nice profit, especially since they lucked out with the player pool (two foreigners and a couple popular Koreans in MKP/DRG and to a lessor extent Violet).
With 4 streams they could have a full league where all 8 are in the same group and play everyone. Thats only 7 sets of 4 matches that could be day 1.
Sounds like there will be plenty of time left over for fun games I hope they have a bunch of those! (FFA, team games, monobattles, sc2bw, htscustom, whatever fun crazy stuff they can find on battlenet, completely other games)
It's cool that MLG is trying to make the Blizzard ladder actually relevant by inviting the top 32 in the GM ladder. Good incentive to have unknowns try to showcase their talent now, instead of just flaunting ladder points.
MLG without boxer, mma, coca, or puzzle = not a tournament id enjoy watching. Sorry... the same top 8 players again is UGH. If anything invite top 4 then invite 4 new players.
Ya this is honestly confusing, why the 8 man tournament? If its PPV no one is going to buy it, even for 5$ because Dreamhack is apparently the same weekend... Not to mention GSL
Edit: MLG in ANAHEIM!!!!! I live in Nor Cal, Im gonna have to figure out a way to get there on a college kids budget
I think they're packing in the tournaments a bit too tightly... TWO arenas between each Championship? One would be perfect. Although I guess since it's only 8 players the 1st one barely counts.
Speaking only as a viewer here, not thinking about MLG's bottom line. But one of the things I like about following Starcraft is seeing all different kinds of tournaments all over the world and the growth of bottom up tourneys like LoneStar.
On March 26 2012 10:12 cablesc wrote: Speculation on format of Spring Arena #1. So they need to stretch out an 8 man tournament over 3 days. And provide enough content for people to buy the PPV. Here's how I would organize it to maximize games/content:
Group A/B #1 -> Seeded to Semi-Finals/Ro4 #2 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #3 -> To Quarter-Finals/ro6 #4 -> Eliminated
Quarter-finals: 2a vs 3b Best of 5 3a vs 2b Best of 5
Semi-finals Best of 5 Finals Best of 7
If they keep the PPV price low, I bet they could turn a nice profit, especially since they lucked out with the player pool (two foreigners and a couple popular Koreans in MKP/DRG and to a lessor extent Violet).
With 4 streams they could have a full league where all 8 are in the same group and play everyone. Thats only 7 sets of 4 matches that could be day 1.
Sounds like there will be plenty of time left over for fun games I hope they have a bunch of those! (FFA, team games, monobattles, sc2bw, htscustom, whatever fun crazy stuff they can find on battlenet, completely other games)
That would actually be fucking awesome. Best of 3's full league format going purely on overall map wins with imo the top four going into a semi final/final bracket.
It will be double elim with extended series though sadly.
I feel like they need a better naming scheme... Its confusing as hell having two winter arenas and two spring arenas or a winter arena and winter championship... What was wrong with Winter Arena then MLG Columbus, Spring Arena then MLG Anaheim?
Spring Arena 2 will take place on May 18 – 20 in NYC. This Arena will be very similar in structure to the Winter Arena. There will be 32 players: the Top 4 from Arena 1, the Top 8 from each Region of the Invite-Only Qualifiers, and 4 additional players that will be announced.
Hmmm. What's that about?
And I agree that spring arena seems redundant, I'm not against it or anything, but there's a balance to maintain between frequency of events and players attending them regularly. Do that many korean-based players (7 out of 8 are) want to fly out for yet another weekend while they're in a code S season?
This intrigues me too... Basically, the way I read it is that the entire Spring Arena 1 seems based around reducing the number of invites from the Top 8 of this MLG championship down to 4 for Spring Arena 2... JUST to open up these 4 additional spots filled with "to be announced" players...
On March 26 2012 10:32 VavPK wrote: MLG without boxer, mma, coca, or puzzle = not a tournament id enjoy watching. Sorry... the same top 8 players again is UGH. If anything invite top 4 then invite 4 new players.
So you want them to invite 4 random players who didn't earn anything in the most recent MLG? That makes no sense.
If I have one complaint, it's in regards to the regional qualifiers. I feel that the online qualifiers would be made much more effective and appropriate in ensuring that top level competition resonates throughout these competition weekends. It seems like quite a service for foreigners to make their way into the competition, despite failing to make big strides since time immemorial. As much as I am one for the spirit of the foreigner, I am much more inclined to favor the spirit of competition in these weekends where I marvel at the accuracy, precision, and fortitude with which these young specialists brutalize each other.
While I understand the importance of marketability to an audience that most identifies with foreign players and teams, I think it's more important to capture the indomitable progamer's spirit and skills, which is, based on pretty convincing empirical evidence over the past always, centered on Koreans.
This, of course, is all assuming that a global online qualifier would result in seeds that are won by exclusively Koreans. Which, let's be totally honest, is more likely than not. Plus, we've already the open bracket for those, in this hypothetical scenario, that didn't make it through qualifiers.
Hm well this looks very cool but more and more I get the impression that the Starcraft market is so overfilled right now.
I am a very dedicated fan but even for me that gets a little bit too much, well I guess i just wont watch all of that. The only concern I have is that it becomes very hard to really celebrate victories and players if a new champion is crowned every weekend.
A bit worried about the top 32 in ladder, as this could easily lead to ladder abuse. Besides a guy like Deezer might get in. Otherwise, I hope to see some new faces
err what i don't like is how it's hard to get into the MLG "system" for a player once the first event has kicked in. Right now there is only the Open Online Qualifiers that allows and 4 invitations spots.
On March 26 2012 11:21 Marou wrote: err what i don't like is how it's hard to get into the MLG "system" for a player once the first event has kicked in. Right now there is only the Open Online Qualifiers that allows and 4 invitations spots.
Or you can buy a competitor pass to play at a championship event?
On March 26 2012 11:11 Kubricks wrote: If I have one complaint, it's in regards to the regional qualifiers. I feel that the online qualifiers would be made much more effective and appropriate in ensuring that top level competition resonates throughout these competition weekends. It seems like quite a service for foreigners to make their way into the competition, despite failing to make big strides since time immemorial. As much as I am one for the spirit of the foreigner, I am much more inclined to favor the spirit of competition in these weekends where I marvel at the accuracy, precision, and fortitude with which these young specialists brutalize each other.
Players are free to enter whichever regional qualifier they want. WhiteRa did Korea last time because he was traveling for example.
On March 26 2012 11:21 Marou wrote: err what i don't like is how it's hard to get into the MLG "system" for a player once the first event has kicked in. Right now there is only the Open Online Qualifiers that allows and 4 invitations spots.
It's not hard though. You just need to finish top 8 in a qualifier (for your region) where the majority of players wont be playing as they're already in the system. Once you do that you're in the regular qualifier like everyone else.
Or you can just go to an MLG Open Bracket and finish in the top 80 (surely not that hard).
Given that Assembly and Dreamhack are basically invite only and NASL/IPL require you win a qualifier vs Code S Koreans it's a hell of a lot easier than any tournament except IEM and unlike IEM, MLG is paying 100% of your costs if you qualifier so that anyone regardless of team, location or anything else can attend provided they are good enough to win their way there.
It looks like MLG is just using Arena 1 as a test. As Sundance has said before they need to create more content, as a business they cant have just 4 major events per year they need to at least pay their variable costs with smaller events along the way.
I foresee the first Arena tourney being $5-10 dollars, they seem to have done fine when assembly was the same weekend and for a smaller event with pretty much only top tier games that seems super reasonable to me. And as someone else said this will open up 4 slots for invites of MLGs choosing.
We will see if the schedule ends up being to crammed, but I feel that this is a good time for them to test it and find out.
On March 26 2012 10:52 NKexquisite wrote: I feel like they need a better naming scheme... Its confusing as hell having two winter arenas and two spring arenas or a winter arena and winter championship... What was wrong with Winter Arena then MLG Columbus, Spring Arena then MLG Anaheim?
And the fact that "Winter" events were hosted in Spring... VERY CONFUSING!!!
top 32 GM for each region? thats like 10 people for KR. also arena 1 with 8 people...better not be $20. its cool that MLG is flying people out for the arenas, but this is like once a month now and the money could certainly be put towards better uses
This season is very well constructed with continuous competition from late March through to early June. Brilliant set up by the MLG league designer guys... whoever those guys are... they pwn .. hard
On March 26 2012 12:04 magnaflow wrote: I don't like the whole 32 grandmasters thing. Why not just hold a huge online anyone can enter regional tourney. Masters league and above only.
Ehh its open to everyone else who signs up as well. I think the top 32 gm players is meant to ensure those people are included as they have the best chance of winning. If they had it fill up before the #1 ranked person signed up it would suck for them and the layer. I think it is to 32 and another 100ish open spots
naming schemes so confusing, smaller 8man arena sounds a bit silly given the freqency, and i'm really starting to feel an oversaturation of competitions that its individual value have plummeted for me.
On March 26 2012 09:08 Cassel_Castle wrote: Spring Arena 1 seems redundant, why not just seed top 4 from Columbus into Spring Arena 2 and 5th-8th into the invite only qualifiers?
The purpose of Arena 2 is to allow new players to qualify for Anaheim and prevent the same 16 players from making it iinto the pools at every single MLG championship event. Looke like its pretty fair other than the 4 mystery invites to Arena 2. Those four invites should have to qualify the same way the other 28 players have to. I'm sure MLG will release details leading up to each arena so you know exactly what you will be buying. It should be impossible for someone to participate in both arenas. One per person is plenty, that way more players have a chance! How many more seasons until we see regional offline LAN events similar to IPL? I would like to see one offline arena for each region rather than two in NYC. Thats up to 144 plane tickets to buy and 144 hotel rooms over the next 3 events AT LEAST!
On March 26 2012 13:11 jtp118 wrote: arena 1 makes no sense
Its another reason to get top 8 at a championship event. And another opportunity for MLG to charge PPV. And another chance for MLG to pay players to fly to NYC. Maybe with only 8 players they could have room for a live audience?
like the Idea of a smaller 8 man tournament. Hopefully If they do it right you will be able to watch every match and not have so much overlap with the other games going on at the same time.
On March 26 2012 13:11 jtp118 wrote: arena 1 makes no sense
No it doesn't. It will provide you with an entertaining weekend where 8 of the worlds best players play each other. What's not to like? More content is good.
So wait, the open qualifiers is simply a qualifier tournament to get into the invite only qualifiers... wtf... seems rather redundant butI am sure the games will be fun to watch as always- that is all I care about.
On March 26 2012 13:37 mrRoflpwn wrote: So wait, the open qualifiers is simply a qualifier tournament to get into the invite only qualifiers... wtf... seems rather redundant butI am sure the games will be fun to watch as always- that is all I care about.
It's so that players not currently in the MLG system like MMA (and all of Team Slayers), Creator, Curious, Genius, Byun and many other Koreans plus Europeans like Kas, Dimaga, Mana, Nerchio, Strelok, Feast, Goody and lots more EU players can get into the MLG system and therefore try and qualify for the Arena to then qualify for Pool Play.
On March 26 2012 11:21 Marou wrote: err what i don't like is how it's hard to get into the MLG "system" for a player once the first event has kicked in. Right now there is only the Open Online Qualifiers that allows and 4 invitations spots.
Well, keep in mind that a lot of people aren't going to be in the Open Online Qualifiers, as there's no reason for the top 80 (Loser's Round 6 and later) from the just-finished MLG, or the Winter Arena attendees that weren't at Winter Championships (Nestea, Leenock, San, Mvp, LosirA, Pomi, merz and SjoW) to apply, as they wouldn't get anything from it.
Also, the Championships are always open, and if they keep 80/256 in the system, that's what - 3 wins in the upper bracket?
The Top 32 from each of the NA and EU Blizzard Grandmaster ladders will be invited to compete, and anyone else can register for the remaining spots.
So MLG just gave immense value to a spot at the top of Grandmaster on EU and NA, I wonder how this will effect ladder games from players near the top. A lot more silly strategies that only work on ladder like 3-Pylon block etc. ?
The one thing I am most afraid of is all the drop-hackers having their fun with this and wasting everybody's time with drops and disconnects, and we end up with a ladder with fake accounts with 60-1 records.
MLG why do you always schedule your west coast events at the worst possible time, June 8-10 is the weekend before half of the college students (and most high school students) get out of school. :/
On March 26 2012 14:56 IoDefault wrote: MLG why do you always schedule your west coast events at the worst possible time, June 8-10 is the weekend before half of the college students (and most high school students) get out of school. :/
Not really. Most colleges don't use quarters systems (although it is true that west coast has a lot more quarters system type schools, e.g. the one I go to now. it's so weird.)
I would say scheduling the first spring arena to overlap with dreamhack is a bigger error.
Yeah, like most people I'm confused by the 8 player tournament. I'm not sure if I'd watch that even it's free, especially considering that there will be a better 32 player version of it 1 month later with pretty much all the same players. Although I guess maybe 1 or 2 from Arena#1 might not make it through the "Invite Regional Qualifiers".
If they had to stick with those dates and the crappy open/championship bracket system, then I kinda wish they did this instead:
1. Open Regional Qualifiers: Online, broadcasted. The top 8 from each region gets seeded into Arena#2. 2. Arena#1: NYC. Top 16 from previous Championship. The Top 8 from this event get seeded into the next Championship pools, but cannot participate in Arena#2. The Bottom 8 from this event drop down to Arena #2. 4. Arena#2: NYC. Top 8 from each Invite Regional Qualifier, plus bottom 8 from Arena#1. The Top 8 from this event gets seeded into next Championship pools. The bottom 24 receive preferential seeding in Spring Championship Open Bracket. 5. Spring Championship: Top 8 from Arena#1, Top 8 from Arena#2, Top 8 from Open Bracket.
That way there's actually some incentive to watch both Arena #1 and Arena #2.
What I'd REALLY wish MLG would do: (separate from GSL Code S/A btw)
Month#1: Code B: 3 Online events, single elimination. Massive open tournaments open to everyone not in Code A or S. 1. Top 8 from NA/EU/KR advance to Code A. 2. Viewers vote on 2 additional Code B players per region to advance to Code A. 3. MLG chooses 2 additional Code B players (from any region) to advance to Code A.
Month#2: Code A: 2 Studio events, group play. 16 from previous Code S, 16 from previous Code A, 32 from Code B. 1. RO64: 16 groups of 4, BO3. Top 2 advance and gain Code A. Bottom 2 drop to Code B. 2. RO32: 8 groups of 4, BO3. Top 2 advance and gain Code S. Bottom 2 remain Code A.
Month#3: Code S: 1 Venue event, mix of single elimination and group play. 16 from previous Code S, 16 from Code A. 1. RO32: 8 groups of 4, BO3. Top 2 advance and gain Code S. Bottom 2 drop to Code A. 2. RO16: 4 groups of 4, BO3. Top 2 advance to single elimination. Bottom 2 remain Code S. 3. RO8: Single elimination BO3. 4. RO4: Single elimination BO5. 5. RO2: Single elimination BO7.
I can see why that 8player Arena is out there. The top 8 this championship more or less played each other, and now they get to play each other AGAIN. And since it's a small tourney, I wouldn't be surprised if there were some BO5.
The result: The rivalries will get hyped up even higher. Another part of the DRG vs MKP story, Huk vs. Heart again, Naniwa vs. Koreans (even though... we'll see what he can do in GSL this time).
All in all... a fair marketing decision, IMHO. The question is... PPV or not?
Have an 8 man arena with great players for a very low price, and see if you get a high volume of ticket sales. Then have a bigger arena with a higher price, and so on. It isn't a bad way to test the water and find the price that works best.
The Top 32 from each of the NA and EU Blizzard Grandmaster ladders will be invited to compete, and anyone else can register for the remaining spots.
The ladder invite seems weird/interesting to me. It's kinda nice to give People who are not well known a chance to compete, but on the other hand there are a lot of players who don't really play ladder to practice. i.e. Morrow, don't you agree that Morrow would be able to make top 32 GM? But he practices mostly in customs so he won't appear in the top 32. (Unless he has a smurf I don't know about).
On March 26 2012 14:56 IoDefault wrote: MLG why do you always schedule your west coast events at the worst possible time, June 8-10 is the weekend before half of the college students (and most high school students) get out of school. :/
Not really. Most colleges don't use quarters systems (although it is true that west coast has a lot more quarters system type schools, e.g. the one I go to now. it's so weird.)
I would say scheduling the first spring arena to overlap with dreamhack is a bigger error.
dunno about the us but in canada we get off at april so....
On March 26 2012 09:33 Childplay wrote: so no big competictions like last year? just medium arenas every month or so?
wut? the competitions are way bigger than last year because of the regional qualifiers so europeans and koreans don't have to play open bracket to get to pool play which raises the level of play in the pools by a huge amount also i think there will still be a season final just like 2011
like the seasons but i really really dislike the idea of an 8 man tournament over a full weekend tournaments with such few players always seem so uninteresting to me... but it may be only me so oh and also it seems to overlap with dreamhack which makes this a horrible event
I don't think a lot of people will watch arena #1 if it's PPV. Only 8 players as well as DH the same weekend (speaking as someone who bought Winter Arena).
Will definitely be watching Spring arena 2 + Championship tho.
On March 26 2012 14:56 IoDefault wrote: MLG why do you always schedule your west coast events at the worst possible time, June 8-10 is the weekend before half of the college students (and most high school students) get out of school. :/
Not really. Most colleges don't use quarters systems (although it is true that west coast has a lot more quarters system type schools, e.g. the one I go to now. it's so weird.)
I would say scheduling the first spring arena to overlap with dreamhack is a bigger error.
dunno about the us but in canada we get off at april so....
Every single UC is on the quarter system and gets off the week after (besides UC-Berkeley, which is on the semester system)
Would MLG want to hit Dreamhack's numbers after they boasted so much about being free to watch? Why can't we all play nice, ESPORTS is not at a point where we can trade bitch slaps.
Summer season will naturally see three arenas, featuring randomly chosen segments of the top 24 players from MLG Spring Championships, the top 6.5 players from MLG Spring Arena 2, the top 3 players from MLG Spring Arena 1, and several aggressive cats. There will be a prize pool of $11,568, and the players will also battle for the top five spots, who will get automatic placements in MLG Summer Championships, along with Dr. Pepper products they don't want for a year, and ownership of one of the cats.
On March 26 2012 23:02 tree.hugger wrote: Summer season will naturally see three arenas, featuring randomly chosen segments of the top 24 players from MLG Spring Championships, the top 6.5 players from MLG Spring Arena 2, the top 3 players from MLG Spring Arena 1, and several aggressive cats. There will be a prize pool of $11,568, and the players will also battle for the top five spots, who will get automatic placements in MLG Summer Championships, along with Dr. Pepper products they don't want for a year, and ownership of one of the cats.
On March 26 2012 23:08 CursOr wrote: MKP and company might as well live in the states ^_^
They will be flying out like 4-5 times a season if they go to the big events.
Yeah, tbh, I'm not a fan of two arenas, not just because it makes things hilariously complicated, but also because it's putting a real strain on the players. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a bunch of the Korean players drop out because they're not willing to sacrifice so much practice and so much GSL time for the sake of flying to the US every couple of weeks. It seems to me that this much travel is a major negative for Korean participation. We'll see if this pans out, I guess.
On March 26 2012 16:50 resilve wrote: So they are testing the water with arenas?
Have an 8 man arena with great players for a very low price, and see if you get a high volume of ticket sales. Then have a bigger arena with a higher price, and so on. It isn't a bad way to test the water and find the price that works best.
Sounds to me like they are trying Day9's suggestion of having a long tournament with a low player count, so you can get more stories and build up from it.
On March 26 2012 23:08 CursOr wrote: MKP and company might as well live in the states ^_^
They will be flying out like 4-5 times a season if they go to the big events.
Yeah, tbh, I'm not a fan of two arenas, not just because it makes things hilariously complicated, but also because it's putting a real strain on the players. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a bunch of the Korean players drop out because they're not willing to sacrifice so much practice and so much GSL time for the sake of flying to the US every couple of weeks. It seems to me that this much travel is a major negative for Korean participation. We'll see if this pans out, I guess.
I don't really have a strong opinion on the two arenas setup yet, but I will say that I don't think tournaments in the US/EU should be based around what works best for the Korean players.
We need to be making sure that the scene is active and strong here, Korea already has the most consistent, big tournament and prize pools (GSL, obviously).
If it's too taxing for the Korean players to make it out to every US event, then so be it, there might be events where they just can't make it. Not every single top Korean needs to be at every event in the US/EU.
In fact, I think it can be bit stifling when all the top players attend a foreign event. It's obvious the Koreans are much better, and it pretty much dashes any hope of a foreigner winning when you've got the entire Code S roster competing.
They should just stick to major events IMO. Too many small tournaments might scare the big korean pro players away. They already have GSL, GSTL, Dreamhack, IEM, and the upcoming pro league to worry about.
I don't know, it just seems like they're trying to get the players tied up with MLG.
I dont know why you dont broadcast the open qualifiers. I personally like to see newcomers play. You could at least give some casters the rights to cast them, like imba.tv (i like that guy with those goggles ^_°)
I'm skeptical about the Spring Arena 1. We'll have to see exactly what MLG has in store, but if it isn't rock, rock solid and reasonably priced there isn't really that much there. Flying 8 people out again has to put strain on MLG's wallet, the player's time, and viewers who are expected to pay.
Between the PPV costs, strain on the players, and likely conflicts with other tournaments, I don't see this particular arena panning out. MLG has to try though I suppose. If there's enough content maybe it'll turn out to be a sleeper hit, but I remain skeptical right now.
This whole seeding system looks way too favoring for the top finishers though... Pretty much like the old GSL. Some can argue we can't blame them since most of the tops are koreans and it's not "convenient" but meh. I'm getting really tired of seeing some players that doesn't deserve their spots sometimes...
On March 27 2012 00:11 zJayy962 wrote: So are all of these live broadcasts free? PPV or available to gold membership?
The arena events are PPV and the main events are free to watch, though if you want to watch HQ for the main events you need to buy a weekend pass or have an already existing gold account.
On March 26 2012 11:07 Mortalfury wrote: MLG will shock us all, and those unannounced players will be none other then BW pros, Flash and Bisu hwaiting
This. I cant imagine they would have these special invite slots for anyone else. When most big names will qualify online anyways. And it would look bad if they invited some1 who fails to qualify in the tournament.
On March 26 2012 23:02 tree.hugger wrote: Summer season will naturally see three arenas, featuring randomly chosen segments of the top 24 players from MLG Spring Championships, the top 6.5 players from MLG Spring Arena 2, the top 3 players from MLG Spring Arena 1, and several aggressive cats. There will be a prize pool of $11,568, and the players will also battle for the top five spots, who will get automatic placements in MLG Summer Championships, along with Dr. Pepper products they don't want for a year, and ownership of one of the cats.
Seriously, I can't stop laughing.
But yea, MLG make the event way too complicated for what's it worth. I'd rather that it be
Arena - top 4 most recent event - 4 invite - 24 from Qualifier (8 x 3 regions)
and keep the championship seeding as the current winter championship
On March 27 2012 00:01 RaiZ wrote: This whole seeding system looks way too favoring for the top finishers though... Pretty much like the old GSL. Some can argue we can't blame them since most of the tops are koreans and it's not "convenient" but meh. I'm getting really tired of seeing some players that doesn't deserve their spots sometimes...
only top 4 carries over from winter to spring which is really hard to get i dont see how they could be undeserving players
So this will cost 3x20$=60$ to see all of the live events?
I doubt it will actually be that much in all honesty, but how did they think it was a good idea to release this info without prices when that is the most contentious thing about MLG atm?
The Spring Season will end with the Spring Championship, June 8-10 in Anaheim, CA at the Anaheim Convention Center. That's right in Blizzard’s backyard, so perhaps there will be some surprises in store for you.
Maybe the beginning of the HOTS beta? I sure hope so! :D
On March 26 2012 17:26 zul wrote: MLG Columbus had so many problems with streams, I don`t see many people buying PPV. Especially when this amazing Dreamhack event: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=322787 is happening on one of the Arena weekends.
this...stream i believe was ok in US but for Euopeans it was ropey
On March 26 2012 09:32 cablesc wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
It's still over 3 days with $10k in prizes and flying everyone in. They could justify $10 even.
Why doesn't MLG just do this online? They could save so much money...
I guess I just don't understand the whole idea of paying to fly everyone in, then not selling seats for spectators. Just do it all the Arena stuff online, I know latency is an issue, but I don't think it is worth the money for MLG.
Now I see hwo MLG is doing it... rather than a series of venue events throughout the summer and fall, they now call it a "season" and their season finals are the new venue events, with a number of PPV shows in between to create revenue.
Hmm. I still would like to see a fucking schedule for the whole damn year to know where MLG plans to be in say... September? Any Canadian visits? Anything other than the same venue's as previous years?
Hmmm. More arenas and less free lan tournys. Gunna be an expensive season of SC in my opinion. Not wanting to pay $20 for every freaking MLG tournament.
On March 26 2012 09:32 cablesc wrote: So Spring Arena #1 is a small scale invitational like Shoutcraft or DH Valencia. It'll probably be PPV but I'm hoping they keep it to $5, because the SC2 community will probably have a shit-fit if it's more than that.
It's still over 3 days with $10k in prizes and flying everyone in. They could justify $10 even.
Why doesn't MLG just do this online? They could save so much money...
I guess I just don't understand the whole idea of paying to fly everyone in, then not selling seats for spectators. Just do it all the Arena stuff online, I know latency is an issue, but I don't think it is worth the money for MLG.
They don't do it online because cross server results don't hold much weight and meaning for most people. Although having said that, I just realized all 8 live in korea anyways, lol!
The Top 32 from each of the NA and EU Blizzard Grandmaster ladders will be invited to compete
The KR ladder not included in this for some reason, or just a typo? What's the cutoff date / signifying the end of the current ladder season? If KR is included, then that really only leaves 32 open spots for anyone to register. There's gotta be a validation process to prevent hackers and droppers getting into these qualifiers.
Arena 1 could be fun to watch, if it is free. 2 pools with 4 players each, top 4 into a single elimination BO5/BO7 format. These players then are #1 in each of the pools for the Championship.
Including the Top 4 from Arena 1 in Arena 2 seems kind of pointless, because what if they finish top 4 again? Yeah, it'll just bump the "12 players" down to 5-16th, while still keeping the quality of the player pool towards the top. But why make the lower players have to face them; just send the top 4 straight to the Championship. This will also be less travelling for those players, less interference with GS(T)L, etc...
"4 additional players" for Arena 2; maybe top 4 from GSL in points that aren't already qualified? Although isn't the MLG/GSL transfer not in play this year? BW pros would make some sense with all the talk of them switching over "soon." What better time / place than MLG. Throw them to the wolves and show us what they've got.
Overall it looks like it'll be a pretty good season. Lots of StarCraft coming from MLG.
On March 26 2012 08:22 MLGAnnouncements wrote: The season kicks off March 30-April 15 with the MLG Spring Regional Open Online Qualifiers. 128 players will compete in each region (NA/KR/EU). For the first time, we've worked closely with Blizzard to invite top Battle.net players to participate in one of our competitions. The Top 32 from each of the NA and EU Blizzard Grandmaster ladders will be invited to compete, and anyone else can register for the remaining spots. The Top 8 players from the Open Online Qualifiers will go on to compete in the Invite-Only Online Qualifiers later in the season. Registration will begin later this week, so check the site for details. These qualifiers will not be broadcast.
So will all those other players such as Koreans/Europeans who are in the top 32 GM on NA be included in the invites for the NA qualifier?
On March 27 2012 07:08 .Focus wrote: Is SEA considered a region? for these or no
Last time it was just NA/EU/KR for the qualifiers. SEA is too small I guess.
Sundance said in the interview with Kennigit that it was important to him that there were opportunities for "European and South East Asian players". So it doesn't look like there's much for SEA, but he does actually acknowledge we exist, so hopefully we see more SEA players in the invite-only Korean qualifiers, and maybe eventually a spot just for SEA.
MKP for the MLG all-kill this year #1 :D For Arena 1, I actually really want to see a round-robin format. Three days, 8 players. Then playoffs: #4 vs #3 winner vs #2 winner vs #1
I'm actually really excited to see what they do with the first Arena. I think it has a lot of potential for amazing content to come out of it. I just see a ton of potential in a small event, at MLG's hq, with 8 of the best players in the world.
More MLG content is fine by me, I'm always enjoying what Sundance and crew put together.
I wonder when do they take that stillshot of gm top32 for the online qualification? Not that I'd have a chance to qualify for actual LAN, but could be fun to attend since being exact #32 NA now. Oh well, probably it has already been taken if that tournament starts in 2 days.
I really enjoyed all previous MLG events a lot. But this time they are too often and with too few players to get me excited. Everybody is doubling (or even more) the content they want to put out on the prize of the size of the events.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://wordpress.tools.majorleaguegaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sc2spring545.jpg)
