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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/qH4SM.jpg)
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Update #4: Registration for the Planet Zero Origins: Open Tournament in Houston is live!
Please note that the dates for the tournament have changed!
http://planet-zero.com/origins/overview/
Hope to see you there!
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Update #3: First tournament spread is up!!! Click here to go to it! Please continue to provide community feedback so that we can deliver to you a better tournament experience in Houston.
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!!!Update #2 !!! (11/3/2011): I am close to a full-release for our first tournament on December 3rd, officially titled: "Planet Zero Origins: Open Tournament"--but I have a somewhat crazy idea that I want feed-back on.
We have heard from a ton of people in the two days since the teaser went up--and a lot of people want to compete. Remember, though, when I said we were going to start small? Part of this is a size limitation of our first reserved venue; we want our players and audience to be comfy (and not break laws by exceeding building capacity), so we are keeping our first LAN to 16 competitors.
I expect many more would love a chance to play though--and the winnings are gonna be pretty nice despite the small size for this first tournament. So here's an idea, directly inspired by TeSPA's recent tournament (thanks guys!):
How about a two-phase tournament?
Would you be interested in an online qualifier the weekend prior to the LAN, on November 27th? This would be open to anyone and everyone--you register with us ahead of time and pay the entry free via Paypal. All who participate would compete online that Saturday afternoon via Playhem.com, an excellent tournament-hosting site.
Depending on interest, we could have a 32-, 64-, or even 128-man online qualifier. Top 16 receive a berth into the LAN, thereby guaranteeing spectacular matches for viewers. Rather than pool play, we will run it as a standard round-robin, BO3 all the way. As an incentive for the Top 16 to continue playing for their LAN seeding, we will offer a smaller cash prize for either 1st place or the Top 3 in the online qualifer, depending on participant numbers.
As another incentive, if you pay to compete in the online tournament but don't make the Top 16, you receive a spectator pass free of charge.
Bigger tournament. Better matches. Every man gets a chance. More prizes.
What do you think? And what do you consider a reasonable entry fee for the online qualifier?
Poll: Do you want an online qualifier for this first tournament?YES; Entry Fee @ $15 so people take entering seriously (11) 46% YES; Entry Fee @ $10 so more can play (10) 42% NO; keep it LAN only (may limit entry to grandmaster/master/high-diamond only) (3) 13% MAYBE; I am not sure I can use PayPal and would seek an alternative method for paying the entry fee (0) 0% 24 total votes Your vote: Do you want an online qualifier for this first tournament? (Vote): YES; Entry Fee @ $15 so people take entering seriously
(Vote): YES; Entry Fee @ $10 so more can play
(Vote): MAYBE; I am not sure I can use PayPal and would seek an alternative method for paying the entry fee
(Vote): NO; keep it LAN only (may limit entry to grandmaster/master/high-diamond only)
Note: If you are underage or do not trust PayPal, we could arrange to have you register and pay on location at Planet Zero.
Please let me know soon! I especially need to hear from those who plan on attending/competing but have yet to declare! And get your buddies to chime in as well! I will observe results over the next 48 hours and act accordingly. You determine the tournament format!
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Update #1 (11/2/2011): Thank you all for the positive feedback so far! We only announced 24 hours ago and there is already quite a buzz going on! I want to especially thank the people who have volunteered to help out. This is a team effort and we could use all the help we can get to make these events happen (everyone on staff is also volunteering their time and effort, myself included!).
If you are reading this and have some skill in graphic art, especially in creating forum banners, flyers, and the like, we could really use your help. Everyone on staff has a particular skill we excel at, which makes for great synergy... but we lack a computer artist! If you have graphic arts experience and want to help make these events happen, please step forward! We would be most grateful! :D
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I. The Announcement
Hello Team Liquidians, Texans, and most importantly, Houstonians!!
Consider Houston a late-bloomer within the Starcraft 2 scene; despite hosting the 4th-largest city population in the United States, two dominant CSL teams, and pro-team Quantic Gaming, Houston has yet to establish a unified SC2 community presence--until now!
The team at Planet Zero is most pleased to announce a ground-breaking effort to galvanize the Houston SC2 community through a series of Houston-based tournaments.
II. John and Houston's Other e-Sports Community
John, the owner of Planet Zero, is well-known in other gaming circles, particularly the Street Fighter series; his anime center and arcade revitalized the Houston-Japanese gaming scene. He has organized high-profile tournaments for years, including super-regional/global invitationals for Street Fighter IV at Anime Matsuri. You know how the Koreans recently began flying to the states for Sundance's MLG curcuit? The Japanese have been doing so for years to come to John's tournaments.
Now it is Starcraft 2's turn to take center-stage in Houston. In order to make Houston a SC2 power-house, we need you, the community, to deliver.
III. The Plan
Our plan is to implement a seasonal tournament schedule containing progressively larger tournaments, culminating each year with the Anime Matsuri Global Tournament, hosted at luxurious Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. Last year saw tens of thousands in attendance at Anime Matsuri; we expect the audience for Starcraft 2 to rival or even dwarf well-established tournaments like MLG.
But we want to play our hand intelligently. Prior to the big event, we will be hosting two smaller, Houston-community tournaments at Planet Zero. Our purpose with these smaller tournaments is three-fold:
a.) Establish the Starcraft 2 community in Houston
b.) Work the kinks out of our new equipment and set-up so our larger tournaments run without a hitch (you know which ones I'm referring to)
c.) Demonstrate to potential tournament sponsors that Houston has a SC2 community that will come out time and again
And item (c.) is really where you, the community, will determine how important Houston becomes to the global Starcraft 2 community. John already has contacts with major electronics, computer, and gaming companies--they will gladly sponsor Houston when the community comes forward. So, dear reader... it is in your hands.
IV. Take a poll, if you please, to test the waters:
Poll: Will you support the formation of a Houston-based SC2 community?Yes; AND please give even more opportunities for the community to come together (30) 50% Yes; I will come watch/play in tournaments (18) 30% Yes; though I cannot be there in person I would enjoy high-quality casting streamed from Houston (10) 17% No; I am anti-social and wish to keep to myself ; ; (2) 3% 60 total votes Your vote: Will you support the formation of a Houston-based SC2 community? (Vote): Yes; I will come watch/play in tournaments
(Vote): Yes; AND please give even more opportunities for the community to come together
(Vote): Yes; though I cannot be there in person I would enjoy high-quality casting streamed from Houston
(Vote): No; I am anti-social and wish to keep to myself ; ;
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V. Assuming you chose some variant of "Yes," read on:
First off, thank for your interest. It is my personal passion to see this venture succeed. Having your support is a tremendous boost of encouragement.
I will be posting full details for our first two tournaments (Dec. 3 and Jan. 7) this coming weekend. One will be a tiny amateur open-tournament, the other an invitational. Both will be live-casted by a well-known shout-caster and streamed on TL. Due to the smaller nature of these first two events, space will be limited; we will begin offering spectator tickets for the live-cast on-site at http://planet-zero.com/ as soon as we nail down the details. And of course, if you're willing to travel, you're welcome to come no matter where you live!
Finally--and this is one of my highest priorities--I want to hear from you guys and gals what you want, both in regards to community-formation as well as the tournaments themselves. This can range from the general to the minutely specific. We organizers will listen to you and communicate with you. I want you to take ownership of this endeavor.
VI. For starters:
Poll: Map pool at the tournaments?MLG/GSL hybrid pool (32) 78% MLG pool (4) 10% Blizzard Season 4 maps (excluding non-tournament designated) (3) 7% GSL pool (1) 2% Other; please explain via comment (1) 2% 41 total votes Your vote: Map pool at the tournaments? (Vote): Blizzard Season 4 maps (excluding non-tournament designated)
(Vote): MLG pool
(Vote): GSL pool
(Vote): MLG/GSL hybrid pool
(Vote): Other; please explain via comment
Expect a follow-up to your input and a formal announcement this weekend.
Yours sincerely,
LuxVenture and the Team at Planet Zero
P.S. If you are a proactive individual who has polished skills (i.e. tournament/LAN expertise, webmastery, etc.) that you wish to contribute in order to better this effort for the good of the community, please contact me via PM. You will be highly appreciated. Cheers!
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Great to see something getting started here in Houston. I look forward to this!
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Cool! I'll be there if I can!
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How much you charging to enter the tourney?
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There are plenty of good maps made by the community. If some new tournament is popping up I would prefer they use a mix of Blizzard Ladder maps, and maps from sources outside the GSL. It's not that GSL maps aren't cool or anything, but I'd rather see something pop up that is not directly dependent on Korea.
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Oh snap.
I'll be sure to let the people from University of Houston know =).
I'd like to see:
Double elimination (no head-to-head bonus rule :o)
Map pool consisting mostly of MLG Maps (you should ask the opinions of players on this IMO)
Awesome environment with great in-house casting
Seeding for players (perhaps by ladder ranking, or in the future from how well players did at tournaments you guys host)
Easy parking =D
Make sure to spread the word... People from elsewhere in Texas would probably be interested in coming (just take a look at TeSPA and how well their tournaments have been).
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Would/will definitely be there?
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lol, easy parking. UH represent! Will there be plans for 2v2s as well?
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Oh wow, this is awesome. I will definitely attend.
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Of course I'll attend, just between ours and rice's CSL teams that's a good number of people :D
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Awesome  I'm sure the sc2 community from Texas A&M will be very interested! I know I am. TeSPA was a lot of fun, and it'd be awesome to have more tournaments around Texas similar to it, or even better.
I'll definitely try to make any and all tournaments/get-togethers that y'all plan on hosting. Very excited ^_^
As for what I want to see... just copy and paste what Snix said 
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Will try to make it to the Jan. tourny and maybe april (December is nogo cuz of finals :<). Chris if I don't have a car yet you can take me right :D
And yes everything Snix said is what I'd like as well.
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about time we get some tournaments around here =_=
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Finally, I've been waiting for some locals for a long ass time. THANK YOU
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This is extraordinary. I would love to help in any way that I can. Please contact me if you require any services.
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haha this is cool, I grew up in Houston and there wasn't much of an rts scene there. I might be in houston from thanksgiving until new years so I might be in town for some of this stuff
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sound cool. i'd be interested in playing (i.e. donating my money) at the events if I'm not working. or at the least show up and watch
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Yeah. cool idea but Dec 3. is right around finals so you'll miss a bunch of people there.
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I'm happy to see so much enthusiasm from the community right off the bat! :D
How much you charging to enter the tourney?
Specific questions like these regarding the first two smaller tournaments will be answering in a comprehensive write-up, coming soon. I'm aiming to release it this weekend.
I'd like to see:
Double elimination (no head-to-head bonus rule :o)
Map pool consisting mostly of MLG Maps (you should ask the opinions of players on this IMO)
Awesome environment with great in-house casting
Seeding for players (perhaps by ladder ranking, or in the future from how well players did at tournaments you guys host)
Easy parking =D
Many people have asked for this; trust me in saying that we will deliver. :D
Thank you to everyone who has contacted me by PM offering to help so far! I will be responding soon. If you do contact me, it would be organizationally beneficial if you would list any skills you possess that you feel would help contribute to this endeavor. Right now we could especially use the help of a graphic artist/webmaster for generation of advertisements to spread the word to the community. I personally made the graphic at the top of this teaser--my first little foray into graphic design--and while its not too shabby, I believe that someone with experience could do a heck of a lot better job than me.
Finally, some have mentioned potential scheduling conflicts with the Dec. 3rd and Jan. 7th tournaments (i.e. finals for students). I'm sorry about that, but please keep in mind that these first tournaments, taking place on Saturdays, are meant to be smaller and therefore shorter in duration than later tournaments to come (not a multi-day affair like Anime Matsuri). John doesn't want our first tournaments to get too big, too fast. We want to keep them under control at first, gain experience, and set a precedent of high-quality tournaments "with all the works" in Houston. Everything in Season 1 is a build-up to the huge convention/global tournament in April. Once we complete Season 1 and begin Season 2, you can count on large, regularly scheduled tournaments occurring every other month (or even every month, depending on demand).
Spread the word to your friends; keep this topic in the Top 5 of the TL Community forum sidebar so other TL'ers can easily notice it!
Have a great day! :D
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Since this tournament seems independent, i think it would be cool to also show some community map winners... I know there are occasional melee map tournaments here on TL and I'm sure there is at least one interesting map that could be worth putting in the pool...
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Maybe me and poondazzle can get a barcraft going for after the event :O, of course up to poondazzle, and I will be at every tourny )))))
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Great to see more local type stuff happening - Texas actually seems to be a leader in this regard.
We're working on getting a circuit going in SoCal as well - GMTA
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Fantastic! I'm super excited to see a community in Houston!
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Can I ask why PZ/AM is taking the time to try and form a community for SC2? I know there have been plenty of other games that you guys have rejected local tournament scenes for because they "weren't Japanese enough for you"
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I am very excited about this and hope to attend!
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I will definitely attend these if I get the chance. These are the things I like to see!
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On November 03 2011 04:06 synergy_sin wrote:
Can I ask why PZ/AM is taking the time to try and form a community for SC2? I know there have been plenty of other games that you guys have rejected local tournament scenes for because they "weren't Japanese enough for you"
Local drama? Juicy, do share.
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Can you update it with age limits etc? I'd love to compete, especially because I live only forty minutes away, but I'm seventeen. (Not exactly young, but hey, you couldn't get into IPL3 as a competitor.) Not that I'd win, but I'm a masters player so I figure it would be some fun.
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On November 03 2011 10:36 TexDrum wrote:
Can you update it with age limits etc? I'd love to compete, especially because I live only forty minutes away, but I'm seventeen. (Not exactly young, but hey, you couldn't get into IPL3 as a competitor.) Not that I'd win, but I'm a masters player so I figure it would be some fun.
No worries! Open to all ages. =] And don't discredit yourself! You never know when a new star is going to appear... ;D
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On November 03 2011 11:27 LuxVenture wrote:Show nested quote +On November 03 2011 10:36 TexDrum wrote:
Can you update it with age limits etc? I'd love to compete, especially because I live only forty minutes away, but I'm seventeen. (Not exactly young, but hey, you couldn't get into IPL3 as a competitor.) Not that I'd win, but I'm a masters player so I figure it would be some fun. No worries! Open to all ages. =] And don't discredit yourself! You never know when a new star is going to appear... ;D
Haha, one can dream. I have horrible problems with nerves if I look at my experience in music and running races, but maybe SC2 is just my calling... XD
Edit: How much does it cost to compete?
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Sounds great and i cant wait to come lose in the open tournament
i will being training now
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being a sc2 player in houston who knows no other sc2 players here....i cant wait. getting pwned in the tournament is something i can wait on though hah
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Sounds good. I'll go as long as the entry fee for the tournament isn't outrageous. I've been to PZ before to watch the SBO qualifiers and I like the venue quite a bit. The fighting game people there were pretty cool too.
You said you are getting a "well-known" caster. If you're looking for another person to solo-cast or a partner for your "well-known" caster, please let me know.
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Hey guys! HUGE Update #2 updated to the OP! Please read thoroughly and respond via the poll; you will directly determine the format for this first tournament.
You said you are getting a "well-known" caster. If you're looking for another person to solo-cast or a partner for your "well-known" caster, please let me know.
Most likely not for this first tournament, but a very good chance for future tournaments. You will need to provide some "rep" of your casting ability for us to view; we're going for high-quality casting and would have to screen you and talk with you. Same goes for anyone else interested in casting in the future. We're all for helping strong casters "break-out" onto the scene--heaven knows, Houston needs you--but you have to make sure you are up to snuff. We will return to this when discussing the later tournaments.
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I put up my vote ^^
Will there be a prize for winning your qualifier? I imagine you'll have more than one right? You might also include a "what format do you want" (Bo3's etc) for the quali, if you'd like.
I'm personally all for Bo3s and a Bo5 final How many people per qualifier out of how many entrants would qualify for the tourney?
Edit: I just read the rest of the post, haha. Nvm! I think if you're taking 16 then you should do a 64 man tourny. Or 32. :D (I like the idea of being able to say I was in a up and coming LAN) I am very interested in the prize pool though... cause I can always use money. (Even remotely any cash at all. XD) Do you have an idea for the prize pool and its spread, or is it a secret?
Double Edit: Half of my edit was pointless after rereading. I hear reading comprehension is good for you.
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I'll be there if this tournament goes through
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On November 03 2011 01:36 Dooperz wrote:Maybe me and poondazzle can get a barcraft going for after the event :O, of course up to poondazzle, and I will be at every tourny )))))
If you do organize a BarCraft(s), you will be heroes to many, many people.
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Well that's a shame. I just realized that I have a required school function that night. How lame. I'm out for December, will non participants of December have a method of qualifying?
Another thought I had: I don't know if money will be a constraint to this, but if the tournament grows in popularity, here's an idea. Each tournament can have a Pro and Amateur entry. Kind of similar to Coda A/Code S in terms of prize pool. (At least the old format.) It would be a way for newer players to have fun, (masters/diamond maybe? No idea). You would be able to move to a pro tournament and come onto the scene while still allowing the players who got you started to continue competing. You could even give the winner of the amateur tourney a seed in the next pro tournament.
Also another idea: For the online qualifiers, will there be double elimination? That would allow high masters/grandmasters players to get in the winners bracket, and a mid masters player who accidentally got against GM would be able to beat the low diamond player who also fell, maybe in the Ro32, so that you dont end up with knocked out mid masters and placed diamond players. (For example)
There's my final .02$ Really excited to see this grow in houston! I could potentially feed you a lot of the players from my school, I know a few masters players here.
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On November 04 2011 10:43 LuxVenture wrote:Show nested quote +On November 03 2011 01:36 Dooperz wrote:Maybe me and poondazzle can get a barcraft going for after the event :O, of course up to poondazzle, and I will be at every tourny ))))) If you do organize a BarCraft(s), you will be heroes to many, many people.
We already have 1 set up for Nov 20th MLG finals so everyone go look it up just search up houston and you will find it.
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this would be cool if i didn't live on the other side of town... and i still played starcraft
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email me if you guys need any sort of network help. 16 computers on a home router might be laggy.
bozhang@gridmetrics.org
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On November 04 2011 11:47 SChasu wrote:
this would be cool if i didn't live on the other side of town... and i still played starcraft
i miss you 
we should do this
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Name is Dante, Team Planet-Zero, we will update information about the tourney no later then this weekend
my users if you guys are old school =P
]..JeT-Li-X..[
ianc.jet-li-x
[tru]jet-li-x
liquid`jet-li-x
sc 2 handle
GFRJeTLiX
=P
if you have any questions, feel free to email me at bryanqbui@aol.com
Thx for your guys updates and information for the tourney, The Team at PZ is looking forward to seeing you gamers come out and putting U.S. on the map of the globe for gaming and lets start it big in TEXAS!
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Full-release for first tournament coming out tomorrow night.
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Full-release is out. Please use link on front page.
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Damn, living in Houston, I was looking forward to a straight up LAN tournament, not just a LAN finals. 128 players show up, 1 leaves. That'd be awesome.
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I'm definitely in!!!
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Damn... I sure wish i could attend im kinda busy that day but if u guys need any help let me know,,, anything for esports in houston! :D "HELL ITS ABOUT TIME!"
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Hey everyone! 3 more days of early registration for the Houston Open! If you plan on going and want to save yourself some money, sign up now!~~~
http://planet-zero.com/origins/?ee=1
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EPT
