Blizzard Sandlot Summary and Results
-Some background info to the Sandlot-
Surprisingly, the Sandlot did not come from the brilliant thinking of Blizzard. But it came from two Blizzard employees drunk at a bar brainstorming ideas on stuff to do for SC. Through beers and belching a "sandlot" idea came up. Thus, the Blizzard Sandlot came to be.
The idea came from nvnplatypus who was a former Blizzard employee. He recently quit and works for Razer now, but God bless him for gettting drunk and bringing up this idea to Blizzard. You can read some cool inside stuff he had to say about his former company in his thread, Broodwar & Me.
The point of the Sandlot was to honor the StarCraft community's passion to such an awesome game. Blizzard felt that it would be awesome to organize a big tournament and invite gamers across the globe to battle for some cash and get in touch with the communities.
--Rules and Format--
The format is a little strange at first but it makes for a lot of fun. In fact, it reminded me a lot like fantasy sports.
Eight of the most active StarCraft communities would be chosen, each with their respective non-player Captain. The Captain would represent the community and also head the team that the community would have. The teams are given a salary cap with which to draft players with.
Who gets to pick first? Well Blizzard decided to make the logo contest decide the draft order. Whoever makes the best logo gets to get the first crack at a good player.
64 players would be invited from around the globe. Players from North America, Europe, Asia, and even South America would be invited. The community would then give a mineral value to the players.
The eight team captains would then come together and draft players. They would have to use their salary cap intelligently and decide whether high priced players are actually worth it. Knowing the players would also help captains find which players are worth more bang than its buck. (Cough cough FrozenArbiter =D Cough Cough)
After everything settles their would be 8 teams with 8 players and ready to do some gaming! The teams would submit their lineups of 5 players for every week to Blizzard. (Every player on the team must play at least one match.)
Every game 1 would be played on Rush Hour III, with the loser having the choice of the next map. If the set goes to a game 3, the loser of game 2 gets to pick a map that has NOT been played in the set yet.
Rush Hour III (for Game 1)
Gaia
Ride of Valkyries
Arcadia
Neo Forte
--The Players--
64 players from US, Europe, and Asia were invited.
* Fisheye dropped out due to "lack of motivation." Nazgul, the father of Teamliquid.net took his place.
---Terran Players (20)---
Advokate (Russia)
DaZe (Sweden)
Ex (Russia)
Fenix (Peru)
IdrA (USA)
In_Dove (South Korea)
iloveyoukh (China)
Nal_paris (South Korea)
Odin (Brazil)
Only[S.G] (South Korea)
Pheonix66 (China)
Polaris[ArnC] (South Korea)
SarenS (France)
Sea.FinePix (South Korea)
Sea.Jang (South Korea)
Siz)Fantasy (South Korea)
Strelok (Ukraine)
Suker (Spain)
Super (China)
theognis (USA)
---Zerg Players (23)---
Active (South Korea)
Day[9] (USA)
Hullahatzu (Poland)
iNcontrol (USA)
lastgosu (USA)
Kaaz (Sweden)
Kosiro[Shield] (South Korea)
Midain (United Kingdom)
Mondragon (Germany)
Nal_CrayOn (South Korea)
Nal_keke (South Korea)
NotForu (Russia)
Ovvi (Finland)
Quirion (Portugal)
Paranoid (Poland)
Reason (Brazil)
ret (Netherlands)
s2[fou] (South Korea)
Schnibl0r (Germany)
Sen (Taiwan)
Siz)Cozy (South Korea)
SquaLL (Spain)
Zergstory_Namoo (South Korea)
---Protoss Players--- (20)
Draco (Poland)
Darki (Peru)
Fayth (Canada)
* Fisheye (Germany)
FrozenArbiter aka PltO (Sweden)
Gorky (Hungary)
HitEmUp (South Korea)
KimTaeRaNG (South Korea)
Legionnaire (Australia, Oi oi oi!)
Lx (China)
Nazgul (Netherlands)
Oldy (Canada)
Pomi (Russia)
Raven (Poland)
Sea.Pie (South Korea)
Selector (Germany)
Siz)o.ov (South Korea)
Tempest)Is( (South Korea)
White_ra (Ukraine)
ZelotiTo (Spain)
---Random Players (2)---
Pj (China) (Pj chose Protoss for all his games)
Testie (Canada)
Note: Siz) clan had some disagreements and some of the members here became part of the by. clan. For clarity purposes I'm just going to have them all as Siz) clan.
--The Teams--
The teams submitted their logos and the judges at Blizzard decided that SCLegacy would get the first draft pick. After the dust cleared up the teams were this:
1. SCLegacy (USA) Captain: LordofAscension
Z - Sen
P - Sea.Pie
T - Super
P - ZelotiTo
Z - day[9]
Z - lastgosu
Z - iNcontrol
P - Gorky
2. Reps.ru (Russia) Captain: PILAT
T - Sea.FinePix
Z - Siz)Cozy
T - Nal_paris
T - Pheonix66
Z - Reason
P - Legionnaire
T - Advokate
P - Selector
3. GosuGamers (Sweden) Captain: Mazor
P - White_ra
R - Testie
Z - Mondragon
T - Ex
P - Raven
P - Pomi
T - Suker
P - Darki
4. Broodwar.de (Germany) Captains: Carnac, GeneralMengsk, NumbSchiller, and Quint
T - Sea.Jang
Z - Zergstory_Namoo
P - HitEmUp
T - Iloveyoukh
Z - SquaLL
Z - NotForu
T - Strelok
Z - Schnibl0r
5. PGR21 (South Korea) Captain: Hangzri
Z - Nal_keke
T - Polaris[Arnc]
P - siz)o.ov
Z - MidiaN
Z - Kaaz
T - Idra
P - Oldy
P - Fayth
6. Teamliquid (Netherlands) Captain: Nazgul, but changed to Manifesto7
Z - Kosiro[Shield]
T - Siz)Fantasy
P - Lx
P - PltO
Z - ret
T - theognis
P - Nazgul
T - DaZe
7. YGClan (South Korea) Captain: kkong[yg]
T - In_dove
Z - s2[fou]
R - Pj
Z - Hullahatzu
T - Fenix
T - SarenS
Z - Paranoid
T - Odin
8. Fighterforum (South Korea) Captain: Pocari
P - Tempest)Is(
T - Only[S.G]
P - KimTaeRaNG
Z - Active
P - Draco
Z - Nal_CrayOn
Z - Quirion
Z - Ovvi
-The Results-
The format of the tournament would be two divisions of four that would play a round robin (everybody plays everybody in the group once). Division A was comprised of Reps.ru, TL, YGClan, and FiFo. Division B contained SCLegacy, GosuGamers, BW.de, and PGR21.
--Division A Week 1 (TL vs FiFo, YGClan vs Reps.ru)--
---Teamliquid vs FighterForum---
Siz)Fantasy 1-2 KimTaeRaNG
Plto 2-1 Active
Kosiro[Shield] ** Draco
Lx 1-2 Tempest)Is(
theognis 0-2 Only[S.G]
**There was a lot of controversy behind this match because allegedly, Kosiro got drunk after Pantech's Proleague win and there was ambiguity whether Kosiro got a teammate to play for him or not. Nevertheless, Blizzard DQed Kosiro and he was unfortnately kicked off of TL. As a result Draco, who was very mannered in all of this, was awarded a 2-0 victory. Instead of replacing him with another Korean, TL decided to move on with 7 players.
TL 1:4 FiFo
Replays
---YGClan vs Reps.ru---
In_Dove 2-0 Phoenix
s2[fOu] 2-1 Nal_Paris
Pj 0-2 Siz)cOzy
SarenS 2-0 Advokate
Hullahatzu 1-2 Sea.FinePix
YGClan 3-2 Reps.ru
Replays
--Division A Week 2 (TL vs Reps.ru, YGClan vs FiFo)--
---Teamliquid vs Reps.ru---
Siz.Fantasy 2-1 Sea.Finepix
Nazgul 1-2 Siz)c0zy
PltO 2-0 Reason
DaZe ** Nal_Paris
Ret 2-0 Selector
** Another controversial match where another Korean caused some ambiguity, Nal_Paris was subsequently was DQed along with Kosiro. DaZe was awarded a 2-0 victory for TL.
TL 4:1 Reps.ru
Replays
---YGClan vs FighterForum---
s2[fou] 1-2 Draco
Odin 2-0 KimTaeRaNG
Pj 2-1 Only[S.G]
In_Dove 2-0 Nal_CrayoN
Sarens 0-2 Tempest)Is(
YGClan 3:2 FighterForum
Replays
--Division A Week 3 (FiFo vs Reps.ru, YGClan vs TL)--
---FighterForum vs Reps.ru---
Ovvi 2-1 Advokate
Quirion 0-2 Sea.FinePix
Only[S.G] 2-1 Siz)cOzy
Nal_CrayOn 2-0 Phoenix
Tempest)Is( 2-1 Legionnaire
FiFo 4:1 Reps.ru
Replays
---YGClan vs Teamliquid---
In_Dove 2-1 Nazgul
s2[fOu] 2-1 Plto
Pj 0-2 Siz)Fantasy
Fenix 2-1 ret
ParanOid 2-1 DaZe
YGClan 4:1 TL
Replays
--Division A Tiebreaker (YGClan vs FighterForum--
---YGClan vs FighterForum---
s2[fou] 2-1 Only[S.G]
SarenS 0-2 Draco
In_Dove 2-0 Ovvi
Pj 2-1 Tempest)Is(
Odin 2-0 Nal_CrayOn
YGClan 4:1 FiFo
Replays as soon as I can find a link to it.
--Divison B Week 1 (GG vs BW.de, SCL vs PGR21)--
---GosuGamers vs Broodwar.de---
Pomi 0-2 Zergstory_Namoo
Testie (P) 2-1 Sea.Jang
Mondragon 2-0 Strelok
White-Ra 1-2 Hitemup
Ex 2-0 Notforu
GG 3:2 BW.de
Replays
---PGR21 vs SCLegacy---
Kaaz (T) ** Day[9]
Midian 2-1 Sea.Pie
Nal_Keke 2-0 Lastgosu (T)
Polaris 1-2 iNcontrol
IdrA 2-0 Sen
**I believe Day was a no show and Kaaz was awarded a 2-0 victory for PGR21.
PGR21 4:1 SCLegacy
Replays
--Division B Week 2 (GG vs SCL, BW.de vs PGR21)--
---Broodwar.de vs PGR21---
Schnibl0r 0-2 Fayth
Sea.Jang 2-1 Siz)o.ov
Strelok 2-1 IdrA (Z)
Hitemup 2-0 MidiaN/Kaaz
Zergstory_NamoO 1-2 Nal_keke
BW.de 3:2 PGR21
Replays
---SCLegacy vs GosuGamers---
iNcontrol 0-2 Raven
ZelotITO 1-2 Mondragon
Day[9] 0-1 Darki
Gorky 1-2 Testie (Z)
lastgosu ** Ex
**lastgosu was a no show and Ex was awarded a 2-0 victory for GG.net.
SCL 0:5 GG
Replays
--Division B Week 3 (GG vs PGR21, BW.de vs SCL)--
---Broodwar.de vs SCLegacy---
iloveyoukh 0-2 Super
Sea.Jang 2-0 Pie
Squall 2-0 lastgosu
HitEmUp 2-1 ZelotiTO
Zergstory_NamoO 2-1 iNcontro
BW.de 4:1 SCL
Replays
---PGR21 vs GosuGamers---
Nal_keke 2-0 Testie (P)
Siz)o.ov 0-2 Mondragon
Polaris[Arnc] 0-2 White-ra
MidiaN 2-0 Suker
Oldy 0-2 Raven
PGR21 2:3 GG
Replays
-Standings-
--Division A Standings--
YGClan 10-5 -> advances to Finals
FighterForum 10-5 (YGClan won tiebreaker)
Teamliquid 6-9 (T_T)
Reps.ru 4-11
--Division B Standings--
GosuGamers 12-3 -> advances to Finals
Broodwar.de 9-6
PGR21 8-7
SCLegacy 2-13
-Finals-
--YGClan vs GosuGamers--
Odin 1-2 Pomi
Pj 2-0 Mondragon
In_Dove 1-2 Testie (P)
s2[fou] 2-0 White-Ra
SarenS 2-1 Ex
YGClan 3:2 GosuGamers
Replays (I'll post link soon as Blizzard does)
YGClan is the winner of the Blizzard Sandlot!
Congratulations to the site and players.