The first rounds of qualifiers are now mere days away and you will find some important updates on them in this thread, regarding the sign-up process and updates on participation policy and starting times.
We are proud to announce that TSL5 will be part of the ESL Pro Tour, and will award 1520 EPT Points in total. You will find the exact breakdown of points below. We want to thank DreamHack and ESL for including us in the circuit, even though it forced them to accelerate their finalizing of the new rule-set for external tournaments. We sincerely appreciate it!
This thread will also introduce our invitees to TSL5, four world class players from the international and Korean circuits!
The Four Invites
The main event of the Shopify Team Liquid Starleague 5 starts on May 16th. Starting on Friday, twenty players will battle for their place in the bracket. The remaining four spots will be filled by a quartet of highly deserving players. We are excited to announce that Serral, Zest, INnoVation and ShoWTimE have accepted our invitation to join TSL 5.
When inviting players, we created a system based on two criteria:
It had to be objective and verifiable. The system, once in place, should have no input from us.
The system needs to strike a balance between Korean players and players from the rest of the world.
With those criteria in mind, we chose to base the invites on the current EPT standings and have a 50/50 split between Korea and the rest of the world. We built one list of the highest ranked Korean players in the Korean EPT Standings and one list with the highest ranked non-Korean players on the Global EPT Standings. We then started at the top of both lists, inviting the players one-by-one. As you can infer from the final invitees, some Korean players declined invitations, but we are very happy with securing Zest and INnoVation as our Korean invitees.
EPT Points
In addition to the $30,000 prize pool, there are more than 1500 EPT points up for grabs. Here is the breakdown:
EPT Points Breakdown
Place
Points
1st
250
2nd
180
3rd
140
4th
110
5th - 6th
85
7th - 8th
65
9th - 12th
50
13th - 16th
35
17th - 24th
25
Total:
1,520
Qualifier Updates
Qualifier Sign-ups The sign-up page for the qualifiers is now live. A hub with links to all the qualifiers can be found here on ESL Play. The Qualifier info thread has been updated with a direct link to the individual server qualifiers.
NA Qualifiers Update After our initial post, several players reached out to us regarding the starting time for the North American qualifier. Both the EU and NA qualifiers are meant for players from both regions. With the current setup, North American players can fairly easily participate in the European qualifiers, but not vice versa. This was due to the starting time for the North American qualifiers.
After discussions with players and DreamHack we have decided to move the starting time of the North American server qualifiers from 23:00 GMT (+00:00) to 21:00 GMT (+00:00). The Qualifier info thread has been updated to reflect this change.
Korean Qualifiers Update As a result of discussions with ESL and DreamHack regarding TSL5’s eligibility for ESL Pro Tour points, we have revised our participation policy for the Korean server qualifiers. Here are the new rules regarding participation in the Korean server qualifier:
New policy: Players with South Korean nationality are only eligible to play in the Korean server qualifiers (no change). Players with citizenship or permanent residency in countries other than South Korea may choose to compete in EITHER the Global Qualifiers (NA/EU servers) or Korean server qualifiers.
Old policy: The Korean server qualifiers are ONLY open to players who are citizens of South Korea or have obtained permanent residency in South Korea.The North America and European server qualifiers are open to anyone, EXCEPT players who are eligible for Korean qualifiers (players who are eligible for both qualifiers must choose between Korea or EU/NA).
This change was primarily made to offer players from regions such as East Asia or Oceania an alternative to the NA/EU servers to ensure they could play under fair connection conditions.
We believe this revised policy preserves TSL’s original goal of allowing broad international participation while also avoiding the ‘double-dipping’ issues of non-Korean players residing in Korea.
Feedback Please leave a message here, or contact Julmust if you have any questions.
Let’s hear from you!
The TSL is looking for community casters for the qualifiers. If you are interested in sharing your voice with the world, check out this thread here
Inviting based on EPT points does feel a bit like the rich getting richer. Admittedly that's probably a bit of a moot point given that all the invitees should qualify to IEM Katowice fairly easily (maybe it helps Showtime a bit).
On April 23 2020 02:31 ZigguratOfUr wrote: Inviting based on EPT points does feel a bit like the rich getting richer. Admittedly that's probably a bit of moot point given that all the invitees should qualify to IEM Katowice fairly easily (maybe it helps Showtime a bit).
We felt it was the only fair invite system. Not too dissimilar to GSL inviting top finishers of each previous season, only that we had no previous TSL to reasonably base this on. So we felt EPT ranking was at least based on some recent merit.
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
wow what if we had just invited the top four of TSL4
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
wow what if we had just invited the top four of TSL4
Life got banned, sting retired, keen in military, only one to invite is creator who definitely won't get out of the korean qualifier. Maybe he will? Thats gonna be great.
I like to think that rogue and maru declined in the hopes that their buddy creator would get an invite hope he beasts it in the qualifier and gets his shot anyway
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
wow what if we had just invited the top four of TSL4
Life got banned, sting retired, keen in military, only one to invite is creator who definitely won't get out of the korean qualifier. Maybe he will? Thats gonna be great.
And you have to go all the way down to 9-16th for players that are still relevant today which are Taeja and SpeCial.
On April 23 2020 04:31 catplanetcatplanet wrote: I like to think that rogue and maru declined in the hopes that their buddy creator would get an invite hope he beasts it in the qualifier and gets his shot anyway
If only the next 20 korean player had done the same
On April 23 2020 06:30 stilt wrote: With 4 invitations, I don't get why there is ept points after the hsc debacle.
The situation is quite different to be fair. StayAtHomestory Cup had more invites than qualified players which isn't the case here. Who gets invited for TSL does follow an objective criteria. And all of this is clear ahead of time whereas for StayAtHSC it was all very last minute.
On April 23 2020 06:30 stilt wrote: With 4 invitations, I don't get why there is ept points after the hsc debacle.
The situation is quite different to be fair. StayAtHomestory Cup had more invites than qualified players which isn't the case here. Who gets invited for TSL does follow an objective criteria. And all of this is clear ahead of time whereas for StayAtHSC it was all very last minute.
Still they should institute the "invites need to advance at least one round to receive EPT points" rule they had for previous points-giving tournaments with invites. Those small points could be make or break for some people and rather than having a controversy later it would be good to address this now.
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
Creator will be glad he won't carry the responsibility of being invited in his current state.
Korean qualifiers being harder than the actual tournament?
"Players with citizenship or permanent residency in countries other than South Korea may choose to compete in EITHER the Global Qualifiers (NA/EU servers) or Korean server qualifiers."
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
Creator will be glad he won't carry the responsibility of being invited in his current state.
Korean qualifiers being harder than the actual tournament?
Yeah, players hate getting a chance to play in a tournament because of the responsibility that comes with it. Especially when not getting invited means a much more deserving player like serral gets to play.
On April 23 2020 10:21 argonautdice wrote: "Players with citizenship or permanent residency in countries other than South Korea may choose to compete in EITHER the Global Qualifiers (NA/EU servers) or Korean server qualifiers."
I'm assuming the "or" here is the exclusive or.
Well, "... either ... or" already specifies that it is exclusive, right?
I realy like the format and the fact they can give out EPT points, realy well done While I think it would have been quite a fun site note, if Creator would have gotten an invite as well, I dont get how people are actually making deal out of it. (or is that just trolling, not sure tbh)
On April 23 2020 17:17 dbRic1203 wrote: I realy like the format and the fact they can give out EPT points, realy well done While I think it would have been quite a fun site note, if Creator would have gotten an invite as well, I dont get how people are actually making deal out of it. (or is that just trolling, not sure tbh)
I mean, I get it. Inviting the winner back is tradition in TSL, and hell, it even worked for TSL3 with the release of a whole new game compared to the previous edition.
But I also understand why it couldn't really be done this time. Former champion is banned, one guy's status is completely unknown, one guy is in the military, and only Creator is still around. So if you invite him based on a result from years back, and give the other three invites out on the basis of points you lose the consistency in your invite criteria and most likely can't give out EPT points anymore.
On April 23 2020 17:17 dbRic1203 wrote: I realy like the format and the fact they can give out EPT points, realy well done While I think it would have been quite a fun site note, if Creator would have gotten an invite as well, I dont get how people are actually making deal out of it. (or is that just trolling, not sure tbh)
Former champion is banned, one guy's status is completely unknown, one guy is in the military, and only Creator is still around.
Hey don't you try and retcon one of the only wins in Creator's career.
On April 23 2020 17:17 dbRic1203 wrote: I realy like the format and the fact they can give out EPT points, realy well done While I think it would have been quite a fun site note, if Creator would have gotten an invite as well, I dont get how people are actually making deal out of it. (or is that just trolling, not sure tbh)
Former champion is banned, one guy's status is completely unknown, one guy is in the military, and only Creator is still around.
Hey don't you try and retcon one of the only wins in Creator's career.
Ah yeah, got my champions mixed up (still called it Creator's title defence though, so I dunno). :D But I'll be honest: while TSL 4 had a super cool intro and theme song and all that, for me personally it fell relatively flat compared to TSL 3 (now that was some awesome shit!). A top 4 of Creator, Life, KeeN, and Sting was kind of uninspiring. Fucking Jonnypatchzerg was the best foreigner in it.
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
Creator will be glad he won't carry the responsibility of being invited in his current state.
Korean qualifiers being harder than the actual tournament?
Yeah, players hate getting a chance to play in a tournament because of the responsibility that comes with it. Especially when not getting invited means a much more deserving player like serral gets to play.
This doesn't make sense, Serral is invited as #1 non korean.
On April 23 2020 02:27 Ej_ wrote: Creator robbed of title defense. There is no way he qualifies now that it's 2013 again and the Korean qualifier is harder than the actual tournament.
wow what if we had just invited the top four of TSL4
Life got banned, sting retired, keen in military, only one to invite is creator who definitely won't get out of the korean qualifier. Maybe he will? Thats gonna be great.
And you have to go all the way down to 9-16th for players that are still relevant today which are Taeja and SpeCial.
We also have curious and kas who aren't so relevant but still there.
On April 23 2020 06:30 stilt wrote: With 4 invitations, I don't get why there is ept points after the hsc debacle.
GSL invites 4 people. GSL should stop giving points. It's not a fair system...
On top of the smaller percantage of invites vs qualifier spots the main problem with HSC was that the points were announced after the qualifiers were done, while here it s announced way before, so its a comletly different story anyways.
On April 23 2020 06:30 stilt wrote: With 4 invitations, I don't get why there is ept points after the hsc debacle.
GSL invites 4 people. GSL should stop giving points. It's not a fair system...
You are really comparing tsl and gsl ? X) Wow so impressed by the depth of your amazing argument.
TL has pressured esl/hsc in order to prevent them to gain ept pts because of invites and now there 4 of them in their tournament ? There is indeed a total lack of consistency and fairness, thanks for pointing this out even if as you don't understand it, it is only by sarcasm.
Btw, your point is a obvious fallacy : I agree gsl might get ride of his invite but at least, it is an etablished tournament which is part regular saison since ages. In other hand counts tsl only 3 editions (the last one was from 2012 and was pretty meh), it's nice but for example hsc is way more valuable for the community so I don't get why it is favorised.
On April 23 2020 06:30 stilt wrote: With 4 invitations, I don't get why there is ept points after the hsc debacle.
GSL invites 4 people. GSL should stop giving points. It's not a fair system...
You are really comparing tsl and gsl ? X) Wow so impressed by the depth of your amazing argument.
TL has pressured esl/hsc in order to prevent them to gain ept pts because of invites and now there 4 of them in their tournament ? There is indeed a total lack of consistency and fairness, thanks for pointing this out even if as you don't understand it, it is only by sarcasm.
Btw, your point is a obvious fallacy : I agree gsl might get ride of his invite but at least, it is an etablished tournament which is part regular saison since ages. In other hand counts tsl only 3 editions (the last one was from 2012 and was pretty meh), it's nice but for example hsc is way more valuable for the community so I don't get why it is favorised.
Holy moly you took my post serious? Sorry, I'm not gonna argue this, even if your post is basically an invitation to do so
EPT
hope he beasts it in the qualifier and gets his shot anyway
