King of the Prairies Canadian Tournament!

Yes computers are provided and you will LIKELY get your own PC the entire day. There are 84 awesome computers at The Matrix that will comfortably run StarCraft 2 with high quality monitors ranging from 21'' to 23'' in size. If we happen to get over 84 registrants then for the first round of the tournament some people might have to share. Once enough people are knocked out everyone remaining will get their own station. We don't foresee having 84 participants in our first year so this will likely not be a problem ( we are expecting anywhere from 40-60 ). The only other time a person will have to switch computers is if they happen to have to play the person sitting next to them and neither feel comfortable with that arrangement.

Yes! It is strongly encouraged that you bring your own peripherals. Your own audio equipment (headphones, earbuds, etc.) will be mandatory as that is the only piece of equipment that is not provided by The Matrix. Mouse and keyboards are also provided but you are encouraged to bring/use your own in case what is provided by The Matrix does not fit your specific preferences. Again, some form of headset will be mandatory to bring unless you want to play with no sound. THIS IS NOT A BYOC, DO NOT BRING YOUR OWN COMPUTER YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE IT.

The Matrix is an amazing Gaming Centre located in Regina, Saskatchewan and has for the past 10 years supported the PC Gaming community in Saskatchewan more than any other group or entity. Being an amazing host to all of the SaskGamers events as well as providing an awesome place to LAN almost 24/7. Not only is the venue wonderful, but the technology and seating provided is top notch. With a wide variety of food and drinks (non-Alcoholic) available at the concession as well as a comfortable lounge area where the games will be streamed on projection screens there will be almost no reason to leave the centre on the day of the event.

As tournament organizers we are NOT TAKING A RED CENT OUT OF THE TOURNAMENT, in fact we will probably lose money on the venture but it's all in the name of a good time and eSports so we don't care! ALL of your $35.00 will go to 1 of 2 things, the first being venue fees/costs (towards The Matrix Gaming Centre, a business that none of the organizers have any financial ties to) and the 2nd will be to supplement the tournament prize-pool of sponsored money and prizes, SO WE CAN HAVE A SICK PRIZE POOL FOR YOU! The venue costs roughly per person are $5, leaving $30 of each entry to be put back into the prize pool. On the day of the event once registration is closed we will openly say how much is in the total prize pool as well as how many registrants there are, the math will hold us accountable.

In the tournament pool 2 participants will play Rock Paper Scissors (physically, face to face Bo1) winner decides first map, after game 1 the loser of the previous map will pick the next map until the end of the series (must pick a map that has not yet been played). The only 2 exceptions to this rule are in the case that 2 players meet in the lower bracket after they have already played in the upper bracket, in this case the previous winner picks the first map and the series continues as loser picks. The 2nd exception is the Grand Finals, where a random map order will be picked by admin and that will be the map order for the final Best of 7, if it goes the full 7 games 2 maps will be repeated, this is the only series where maps will be repeated.

There is a variety of answers, but I'll try best to summarize. We believe in keeping a small map pool as the majority of the tournament will be Bo3, aside from the Semi-Finals and finals which are going to be a Best of 5.We believe that not only does a small map pool help the tournament run in a quick and efficient manner, it also produces interesting games when players have less maps to prepare for. A small map pool also allows for more preparation and ultimately better quality games throughout the tournament. Other major tournaments such as TSL, OSL, etc. have taken a similar stance and it has proved successful. We reserve the right to change the pool leading up to the tournament if one of these maps falls out of common rotation or a huge imbalance arises, but for the time being this is the map pool we want to work with. (Please note: No GSL maps have gold bases or allow for close spawns).

Since a large portion of the CASH prize pool at this point will be comprised of entry fee's on the day, it is hard to actually lay out a concrete cash payout system. Not only will it affect how much money is in the pot, but also how flat the payout structure should be (ie. how many people should get paid, if only 10 people enter then it seems fair that only the top 3 should leave with cash, but with 50 entrants a few more people should be rewarded for their hard work) With 30 entrants the cash prize pool is $1150 and would be broken down as shown below in the 1st set of #'s and percentages, the 2nd set of #'s and percentages would be how the payout structure scales with another 30 people in attendance, every 30 participants and an additional person will be paid out (with 30-60 participants only 3 people get cash prizes, after 60 registrants every 30 people will result in another paid place. Example: 90 regs = 5 places paid, 120 regs = 6 places paid). The structure gets a little more flat with more participants as it obviously gets harder to place higher, essentially though our goal is to keep 1st, 2nd, 3rd place as close to 50%, 30%, 15% as possible to avoid confusion on the day of! The reasoning for keeping percentages is so that everyone knows roughly what to expect for payout on the day of given how many people show up, and so that everyone knows we aren't just making it up as we go along! Keep in mind, there is also prizes outside of cash and we will be adding cash sponsors to this as we get closer to the tournament date! We believe it's possible/likely that in combination of our awesome non-cash prizes we will come close or break the $2k mark. However we like to play things safe/conservative so I will base the following calculations/examples on the minimum amount of registrants:

Based on 30 participants :
1st - $550 (~50%)
2nd - $300 (~30%)
3rd - $200 (~15%)

Based on 60 Participants:
1st - $1000 (~48.7%)
2nd - $500 (~29.2%)
3rd - $300 (~14.6%)
4th - $100 (~4.8%)

(These calculations are based off of the amount of people registered x $30 as well as including the $150 we have received as a cash prize from our first cash sponsor Saskatoon Barcrafts)

Please bear in mind that in addition to the cash prizes there will also be a variety of other prizes to be won on the day of the event, supplied by all of our wonderful sponsors. These prizes will be disbursed in a variety of ways to ensure fairness and that everyone has a chance to walk away with something!

The top 5 placing players will also be given a 2nd night's hotel as well as entry into an 8 man televised tournament the next day in Regina. All meals will be provided at the 8 man tournament and there will be some sick prizes! Who doesn't want to be on TV?

1) If there is any evidence of any foul-play the offending player(s) will be removed from the tournament and banned from any future events organized by the KotP admin. This rule includes but is not limited to: stream cheating (or any other means outside of the game of SC2 to find out what your opponent is doing, asking a friend to look, getting an in game message or through a 3rd party service such as Skype), Purposefully distracting another player during their games, hacks or illegal 3rd party applications, etc. Again, people who break anyone of these rules or anything else that could be perceived as cheating will be removed, and banned.

2) Zero tolerance on abuse, this includes but is not limited to : any verbal or physical harassment based on race, religion, physical appearance, sexual orientation, etc. I think this rule is pretty self explanatory but it needs to be said none the less.

3) No excessive BM. Everyone loves a little friendly banter, but if your opponent asks you to stop please respect his wishes.

4) In the case of a disconnect or dropped game there will almost always be a re-game. The only exception to this is if one player feels he has a legitimate case for having the game in the bag he can appeal to an admin, a group of admins will re-watch the replay and make a decision. THE ONLY WAY A REGAME WILL NOT OCCUR IS IF THE ADMINS DECIDE THAT ONE PLAYER HAD THE GAME 100% WON WITH NO CHANCE OF A COMEBACK. If you feel you were ahead in the game that isn't enough, please don't waste the time of the admins/slow down the entire tournament because you feel you were ahead, unless you honestly think the game was 100% won (think 10 supply vs. 200) just re-game.

5) Players must pick 1 race and play it for the duration of the tournament, Random is allowed but you will have to play Random all tournament if you choose to do so.

6) Admin reserve the right to add/change rules leading up the day of the event.

7) -Added Rule- No outside programs or modding of in game controls. ie. macro keys or more specifically scroll wheel to launch infested terrans!

This has been a major issue for us, unfortunately as it is our first year running an event like this we did not want to run the risk involved with booking the venue for 2 days, especially considering the effect it could have on our prize pool. We want this event to turn into a potentially annual thing, and if the reception/turn out is good in our inaugural year then a 2 day event will become likely moving forward. At this time it's just not in the cards for us and we BEG you to be patient with us for it! We understand it might take a toll on you as players to play such a long day, but please understand it will be just as chaotic for us organizers! We hope to use what we have learned running LAN's in the past to have the event finished in good time for everyone to go out and get drinks afterwards! As a reference our last tournament had roughly 43 people and took us 6-7 hrs including an hour break for food. We are going to get a good head start by getting going earlier in the day than usual, and also have a lot of event staff to make sure things are running smoothly! Again we ask you to bear with us through this as it will be a learning experience for all parties involved!

In the past for even our smaller Saskatchewan only LAN events we have had up to as many as 40+ participants, for an event of this magnitude and with this much notice/advertising we expect almost all Saskatchewan based players to come out as well as top talent from out of province! Our goal is to get 50 people and we believe that that is a very realistic and attainable goal, especially based off of the response we've been getting from players located in Manitoba an Alberta! Central/Western Canada has been hungry for an event like this for some time and it is finally here!

Absolutely, we need as many people to come as possible! We beg you to come! We will also have door prizes that everyone who registers will have a chance to win! So even if you're in Bronze League you could walk away with something from the day! Also, prizes aside, it is going to be an amazing event to watch and be a part of! Who knows? Maybe you'll do better than you expect!

The event will be casted and streamed by Saskatchewan's own Colin 'SchickySC' Shick on his Twitch.TV stream! We have been assembling an excellent team of casters to assist Schicky in this marathon one day event and are extremely happy about the crew we have assembled. We are still open to adding another caster so if you feel you have what it takes please contact me, be prepared to show samples of your work! So far our casters outside of Schicky are:

Michael 'QuanticIselian' Gremillion, hailing all the way from Texas and now located in Edmonton, Alberta, Quantic Gaming's own caster, Iselian! Iselian is an exciting and experienced caster who we are extremely excited to have on board!

Braiden 'Psylence' Watling, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Braiden is a well known face in the StarCraft community. Having casted for ESLTV, Playhem, WCG Canada, and most notably known for his casting at MLG Columbus Winter Championship, it's safe to say Braiden brings about a level of experience that we are more than happy to have.

We are extremely excited to see all of these casters alongside side each other throughout the day of the event! And we hope that you can watch live or tune in on stream!

No. Unfortunately for the earlier stages of the day we will have to pick and choose the most convenient/attractive games to cast at the time, but once the tournament moves to the later stages (semi finals, finals, etc) we will cast every game. If there are some games found after the tournament that didn't get casted and are seen to be ''cast-worthy'' by Schicky and co. we will try to get them casted from replays and put onto SchickySC's youtube channel!

Yes! The Matrix Gaming Centre has a great central location and is not only close to all different types of food venues, but hotels as well! The 2 closest hotels are :
Knights Inn Regina
1009 Albert Street
Regina, SK S4R 2P9
(306) 525-3737

Best Western Seven Oaks Inn Regina
777 Albert Street
Regina, SK S4R 2P6
(306) 757-0121

If those 2 don't fit your needs there is a plethora more located within a 5-10 minute drive (closer to and including downtown), and can be easily found using Google maps!

Because we live here and we're sick of watching everyone else have all the fun! The Saskatchewan SC2 community has done some amazing things in the past couple of years including a televised tournament, numerous LAN's, and some Barcrafts with amazing turnouts! Regina also has the luxury of being smack dab in the middle of Manitoba and Alberta, making it an ideal location to decide who really is..The King of the Prairies

Myself (Josh 'JtotheLew' Lewis) and the other main organizer of this event (Taylor 'Chaos' Nelson) are both passionate about StarCraft 2 and our local StarCraft 2 community. That's literally the entire reason, Taylor founded and currently runs our local University's CSL team and we have worked together to organize tournaments and Barcrafts in the past. This is just the natural evolution to everything that we've already been doing. We stand to gain NOTHING for doing this event so please don't think we are looking to profit monetarily or in any other way from what we are doing! We are literally doing this just for fun!

There is some awesome Brew-Pubs nearby The Matrix where everyone could wet their nerd-whistles with some alcoholic beverages after the event itself, if enough people are interested I will look into booking/reserving something or trying to get some sort of deal. Please post this here if this is something you might want to do! I feel confident in saying that you might have a hard time keeping up with us Saskatchewan-ites.