The fourth ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament launches at 2.-4. August. The three day tournament will have 32 high class players competing for a $30 000 prize pool. The roster will be filled with invites and qualified players through two online qualifier tournaments.
This summer the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament will consist of
32 top notch players
Six familiar casters and hosts
Two free HD streams
Three days of action
$30 000 of prize money
Venue ASUS ROG has one again choosen the biggest Finnish LAN party, ASSEMBLY Summer, as the battlegrounds for the 4th installement of the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament.
Last year this digital festival was the start of the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament series which have since taken the place as one of the major StarCraft II tournaments in Europe.
Players The tournament has 32 player slots. A number of the slots will be given as invites to notable and successful players who request an invite by email at info@peliliiga.fi. We are accepting invite requests from now on until the 20th of July.
The remaining slots will be given through two qualifier tournaments which will be played at the EU battle.net server. More information about the qualifiers will be given later.
Tournament format The tournament format has been totally changed since the last ASUS ROG Tournament. We have talked to the players and asked feedback and suggestions on how to improve our system. One of the things that came up was the problem with round robin group stages (all vs all), where sometimes the success of a player depended too much on the other players in the group. Another thing we noticed was that players actually would prefer best-of-five matches in a group stage rather than the now popular best-of-three matches. One more issue was raised especially by the Koreans, which was that a two day tournament is too fast to properly prepare for each match.
We appreciate the feedback and have modified our tournament format accordingly. The next ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament will be played in three days, there will be two group stages with GSL style double elimination groups with best-of-five matches and finally single elimination playoffs with best-of-five matches and a best-of-seven finals.
Rough schedule
Thursday, 2 August First group stage (32 players, 8 groups, bo5, GSL style)
Friday, 3 August Second group stage (16 players, 4 groups, bo5, GSL style)
Saturday, 4 August Playoffs (8 players, bo5)
Prize pool The total prize money in the tournament is $30 000 USD which will be distributed among the top eight players as follows: 1. $13 000 2. $6 500 3. $4 000 4. $2 500 5.-8. $1 000
Stay tuned for more info about the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament at ASSEMBLY Summer 2012. We will be announcing info about the qualification tournaments, invited players, casters, map pool and tournament details later.
The second group stage has finished here at ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament. Eight players managed to go through the bo5 groups again and have secured a $1000 USD prize for themselves. The playoffs are played in single elimination format with bo5 matches and a bo7 finals.
The first group stage is over at the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament going on at Helsinki, Finland this weekend. On Friday tomorrow we will see another group stage where the remaining 16 players are put in new groups and again, only half will advance to the next stage, the 8 player single elimination playoffs played on Saturday.
Second group stage
In the first round of a group, the player 1 plays against player 2, and the player 3 plays against player 4.
One week to go and the fourth ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament is getting ready to start the battle for the $30 000 USD. 32 players have been announced and now it’s time to put them in their starting positions in the first group stage.
Remember the groups are being played out GSL style: four players and double elimination until the best two players have been determined and they advance to the next stage. Also, all the games in the group stages are best-of-5.
Change in the roster: Bly has cancelled his participation to the tournament. He has been replaced by BRAT_OK.
First group stage
In the first round of a group, the player 1 plays against player 2, and the player 3 plays against player 4.
* Group 1 has been switched with Group 5, and Group 3 has been switched with Group 6 (same players, only name and order changes) for scheduling reasons. Apologies for the mix up.
Maps
GSL_Atlantis Spaceship - TeamClash (Building blockers at ramps)
GSL_Daybreak - TeamClash (Building blockers at ramps)
TSL4 Antiga Shipyard - TSLAdmin (Cross spawns only, gold bases removed, building blockers at ramps)
TSL4 Entombed Valley - TSLAdmin (Horizontal spawns disabled)
TSL4 ESV Cloud Kingdom - TSLAdmin (Building blockers at ramps)
TSL4 ESV Ohana - TSLAdmin (Building blockers at ramps)
TSL4 Metropolis - TSLAdmin (Creep tumors on islands, building blockers at ramps)
The maps and their order will be selected by player vetoes.
July 16: Qualifier Results and Final Eight Invites + Show Spoiler +
ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament is only roughly two weeks away. The 32 players coming to ASUS ROG Summer 2012 on August 2 to attend the $30 000 tournament are now known as the two online qualifiers finished this weekend.
Besides thess online qualifiers, eight invites were missing to complete the 32 player roster. Here are the final invites for the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament.
With less than a month to go until the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament starts at ASSEMBLY Summer 2012 on August 2, it’s time to play the two online qualifiers that we promised. As previously announced, the qualifiers will include players selected among those who have requested an invite to the ASUS ROG Tournament, and the top four of each qualifier will earn a spot to the main tournament.
Online qualifiers
Saturday, July 14, 15:00 CEST: ASUS ROG Summer 2012 Online Qualifier #1 Single elimination, best-of-3 Max 32 players selected among the applicants Top 4 qualifies
Sunday, July 15, 15:00 CEST: ASUS ROG Summer 2012 Online Qualifier #2 Single elimination, best-of-3 Max 32 players selected among the applicants Top 4 qualifies
The first two rounds of the qualifiers will be streamed and casted by community streams, with the last four matches and the round-of-8 which decides the top four players, will be streamed by The GD Studio. The broadcast will start at 18:00 CEST on Saturday and Sunday.
Qualifier map pool
Dreamhack ESV Cloud Kingdom - hugge (building blockers at ramps)
GSL_Metropolis - TeamClash (creep tumors on islands)
TSL4 Entombed Valley - TSLAdmin (vertical spawns only)
ASUS ROG Summer 2012 Casters
This time at the ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament we are doing something different with the free HD streams. Instead of a stage or stadium feel we have previously aimed for, we are giving the lead to The GD Studio which will produce the ASUS ROGs stream, meaning a more entertaining and somewhat unpredictable stream is expected.
The caster pairs for the event are Shaun 'Apollo' Clark & Dario 'TLO' Wünsch Thomas 'Khaldor' Kilian & Wolf 'Wolf' Schröder
The hosts at the event will be James '2GD' Harding & Geoff 'iNcontrol' Robinson Auguste'Semmler' Massonnat & Salome 'Soe' Gschwind
Executive Ingame camera director & Editor and Chief of screen locations Michael 'Adebisi' Van Driel
The GD Studio Founder James '2GD' Harding statement about the production
We're extremely happy and not prepared to do a live show for ASUS ROG, Which is why we've invited as many good looking casters as possible in hopes to overwhelm viewers senses, which will distract them from any mistakes we make. Casters and hosts will also interchange rolls, so you will most likely see Incontrol commentate or TLO Host along side myself sometime during the event. Despite a very entertaining lineup of casters and hosts, We will of course be focusing our efforts to help tell the story throughout the tournament about the players themselves, so most of the production efforts this event will focus on this, as it should always be.
Half of the slots in the 32 player tournament have now been filled as eight new players have been invited to the next ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament from the teams Evil Geniuses (EG), Fnatic (FnaticRC), MouseSports (mouz) and Radical Online X-tremists (RoX.KiS).
Last week we announced the next ASUS ROG StarCraft II Tournament is going to be held at ASSEMBLY Summer 2012 at August 2.-4. with 32 players and $ 30 000 prize pool. We also started accepting invite request from players, and have since received a number of contacts from players and organizations. Here are the first eight players that have been granted a slot at the tournament.
AL.Naama is an exception in the group, since he didn’t request an invite but earned his slot by winning Vectorama 2012 LAN tournament at Oulu, Finland earlier this June.
Like ASUS ROG on Facebook Head on over to the ASUS ROG Nordic facebook page and like it to not miss any behind the scenes info. Or if you just want to show the sponsors of the tournament some love.
ASUS ROG Finally, to remind you all of the company who makes this tournament possible, ROG -- Republic of Gamers, a gaming sub brand of ASUS that is comprised of cutting edge hardware tailored for serious gamers. The product branches include; Motherboards, Graphics Cards, LCD Monitors, Gaming Peripherals, Desktops and Notebooks. The ASUS ROG Tournament will be solely powered by ASUS and ROG hardware.
About ASUS ASUS, the world’s top 3 consumer notebook vendor and the maker of the world’s best-selling and most award winning motherboards, is a leading enterprise in the new digital era. ASUS designs and manufactures products that perfectly meet the needs of today's digital home, office and person, with a broad portfolio that includes motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, desktops, Eee Box and all-in-one PCs, notebooks, netbooks, tablet devices, servers, multimedia and wireless solutions, networking devices, and mobile phones. With a global staff of more than 10,000 and a world-class R&D team of 3,000 engineers, the company's revenue for 2011 was US$13 billion.
I Think best of 3 is better than best of 5 in group stages. Bo5 creates too many games. Getting through one group takes insane amount of time, like 5-6 hours.
I prefer round-robin personally - luck-of-the-draw is simply more important in the GSl-format and I consider that a weakness in group-play - but hats off for giving it a try. If the schedule is done correctly, I don't see any problem in doing a bo5 group, though I will agree that it can end up being some very time-consuming groups. In any case, looking forward to the tournament!
Pretty unique style for group stages, Hope they will go as planned! Asus ROG has always been one of my favorite tourneys and this year i might be at assembly so im so exited of this!!
<3 Assembly, such a great tournament. Looking forward to it!
Also, love the format. It's great. Glad you changed it based on player feedback, tournaments actually listening to the players and fans is always good!
Love the new format. Time shouldn't be an issue, even if a group takes 5-6 hours, the players will only be playing 1 group stage a day. Looking forward to seeing the players!
On June 21 2012 06:35 m0ck wrote: I prefer round-robin personally - luck-of-the-draw is simply more important in the GSl-format and I consider that a weakness in group-play - but hats off for giving it a try.
Yes luck of the draw is slightly more important in the GSL-format. With round robin you always get groups with 3-way ties and having the result in games you did not play affect if you make it to the next stage is worse than the order in which you play your opponents.
The format surely is something new. Even just the GSL format in an European tournament would have been seen as experimental, but add the bo5s and it's almost too experimental.
Good thing there's a whole day scheduled for each of the group stages. In comparison, the recent DreamHack Summer also had three days of games, but four times the player count, three group stages and playoffs twice as big. ASUS ROG should have no problem even with the bo5s, unless they have too few computers and a single group starts lagging the whole schedule. Bo5s can be a bit tricky as they can last anywhere from 20 min to 2 hours.
One thing to note is that all players who manage to go through the group stages are having a slice of the prize money, which is a nice thing.
I really like the group stages. Now the players who advance into the price pool will have to face 7 other opponents instead of just 2, i.e. the chance of any lucky drawings will be close to zero.
This is great, can't wait to see the list of players.
To all the people worried about Bo5 in group stages - It is only 32 players, I am sure they can have computers for all the players and then there is the whole day to play each group stage, more than enough time. And this way we won't see the same complaints from DreamHack with the unforgiving format, so this is good overall IMO.
On June 21 2012 19:27 teddyoojo wrote: thats 3/4/5x5x8=120/160/200 games for each groupstage
That's true for the first group stage. The second one has half the games. Still, DH Summer had 2/3 x 6 x 16 = 192/288 games in the first group stage.
Also, what I think really matters is the match count, not the potential map count. At ASUS ROG a single player has 2-3 matches per group stage and 1-3 matches in the playoffs -- a total of 2-9 matches in the entire tournament. That does not seem overwhelming to me considering it's divided evenly across three days.
On June 21 2012 19:33 Leijona wrote: And, we gotta keep in mind that it's gonna be gsl style group stages, so only 4 bo5:s per group, instead of the normal 6 in a 4 man group.
Actually, it's five matches in a four player double elimination group. See the last season GSL results for example.
of course it all depends on how they handle the schedules etc. if it was mlg id be afraid but since northern tournaments are always awesome i expect nothing but the best :>
Great great announcement and I am really happy that Asus Rog takes player feedback seriously and tries something new! It's weird but the format raises my excitement about this tournament quite a bit, really looking forward to it
On June 21 2012 19:33 Leijona wrote: And, we gotta keep in mind that it's gonna be gsl style group stages, so only 4 bo5:s per group, instead of the normal 6 in a 4 man group.
Actually, it's five matches in a four player double elimination group. See the last season GSL results for example.
You're exactly right. 5 it is of course. Anyways, I really think it's nice to have bo5s. Probably gonna have a lot more different strategies used. You know, you can take much more coinflips in a bo5. Interesting to see how it will end up being.
Love the fact they have listened to community and player feedback and come up with such an awesome formula to ensure the best players get through Can't wait!
holy batman Bo5. o__O GSL-style groups already last a long time with bo3's. hahahaha they're going to need super-casters for this event ^___^ super excited!!
On June 21 2012 22:11 DOUDOU wrote: i'm thinking going for a live event in europe this summer and i guess that's the best i could have
any plans guys? where is it exactly in finland, and how much does it cost to sleep there for 3/4 days? is there a fee to attend the events?
Assembly is held in Helsinki, which is the capital of Finland and on top of that the venue is located fairly close to the city center so it is easy to reach by public transportation. Can't really guess how much it would cost to book a hotel for the weekend, but it should not be too much if you pick the right hotel. For example, I think that www.omenahotels.com is a good place to start looking for rooms.
The event pass costs ~40 euros, which covers the whole weekend. You should note though that since this tournament is held within Assembly Summer, there should be enough bang for your buck aside from just the tournament. In fact, I personally always look forward to all the demo scene competitions and other various activities that take place during the weekend. The event also has separate sleeping areas if you wish to sleep at the venue. However, you would need to bring your own sleeping bags (and any other desired sleeping gear) and preferably earplugs for the noise.
If you have any questions about the event or otherwise, feel free to PM me.
On June 21 2012 22:11 DOUDOU wrote: i'm thinking going for a live event in europe this summer and i guess that's the best i could have
any plans guys? where is it exactly in finland, and how much does it cost to sleep there for 3/4 days? is there a fee to attend the events?
It's held at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki. It's the biggest ice hockey rink in Finland. You have to keep in mind, it's a LAN-party mainly (see pic at the end). Without a computer 3-day ticket is ~40€
This is what the arena looks like, usually the games are played at a different smaller location and only the finals at the main stage there.
Wow, GSL-style groups with Bo5 series... Considering a single GSL group with Bo3 series takes about 4 hours these days, that's quite a heavy schedule. Of course with plenty of computers available, you can run a lot in parallel, but that comes with the risk of having to play top games off-stream.
On June 21 2012 15:58 mouzKaelaris wrote: Last Assembly was so damn good, looking forward to this one ! Hoping to be able to visit jolly ol' Finland for it : ) been away for too long already.
On June 22 2012 00:08 Rannasha wrote: Wow, GSL-style groups with Bo5 series... Considering a single GSL group with Bo3 series takes about 4 hours these days, that's quite a heavy schedule. Of course with plenty of computers available, you can run a lot in parallel, but that comes with the risk of having to play top games off-stream.
Well obviously they dont have to cast every game unlike GSL.
First event I am going to see live. Dunno what to expect... But all you others who hasnt yet decided to go, well now u should, since might get autograph from best finnish poster at tl.net .
Familiar casters, huh? My guess is TB and dApollo, Husky, tasteless and Day[9] (last i dont know) these are the best casters I know at least. I favor TB and Apollo actually, apollo is great at analitical commentary and TB at enthusiasm and witty shenanigans ^^ Though they have casted a lot together so they have both absorbed a lot from each other, still compliment their partner really well and that is what really does it for me
Love that they're paying down to eigth place. It feels a bit cruel to only pay to the top four (especially some of the bigger tournaments, like the last Dreamhack).
On June 22 2012 18:21 Blowyo wrote: Familiar casters, huh? My guess is TB and dApollo, Husky, tasteless and Day[9] (last i dont know) these are the best casters I know at least. I favor TB and Apollo actually, apollo is great at analitical commentary and TB at enthusiasm and witty shenanigans ^^ Though they have casted a lot together so they have both absorbed a lot from each other, still compliment their partner really well and that is what really does it for me
I will not be attending since I am not casting any European events this year. I am focusing on US events and the permanent residency in the US.
On June 22 2012 18:21 Blowyo wrote: Familiar casters, huh? My guess is TB and dApollo, Husky, tasteless and Day[9] (last i dont know) these are the best casters I know at least. I favor TB and Apollo actually, apollo is great at analitical commentary and TB at enthusiasm and witty shenanigans ^^ Though they have casted a lot together so they have both absorbed a lot from each other, still compliment their partner really well and that is what really does it for me
I will not be attending since I am not casting any European events this year. I am focusing on US events and the permanent residency in the US.
All year huh? Didn't know that.
Hope you get the most out of the US tournament scene!! I'm sure Assembly will be quite different without you.
On June 22 2012 18:21 Blowyo wrote: Familiar casters, huh? My guess is TB and dApollo, Husky, tasteless and Day[9] (last i dont know) these are the best casters I know at least. I favor TB and Apollo actually, apollo is great at analitical commentary and TB at enthusiasm and witty shenanigans ^^ Though they have casted a lot together so they have both absorbed a lot from each other, still compliment their partner really well and that is what really does it for me
I hope there's Bitterdam!.. Haven't seen them together lately (Maybe it is because I don't watch NASL)
On June 22 2012 18:21 Blowyo wrote: Familiar casters, huh? My guess is TB and dApollo, Husky, tasteless and Day[9] (last i dont know) these are the best casters I know at least. I favor TB and Apollo actually, apollo is great at analitical commentary and TB at enthusiasm and witty shenanigans ^^ Though they have casted a lot together so they have both absorbed a lot from each other, still compliment their partner really well and that is what really does it for me
I will not be attending since I am not casting any European events this year. I am focusing on US events and the permanent residency in the US.
Will miss you on the EU side!
Will be interesting to hear who will be there casting...
On June 21 2012 22:11 DOUDOU wrote: i'm thinking going for a live event in europe this summer and i guess that's the best i could have
any plans guys? where is it exactly in finland, and how much does it cost to sleep there for 3/4 days? is there a fee to attend the events?
Assembly is held in Helsinki, which is the capital of Finland and on top of that the venue is located fairly close to the city center so it is easy to reach by public transportation. Can't really guess how much it would cost to book a hotel for the weekend, but it should not be too much if you pick the right hotel. For example, I think that www.omenahotels.com is a good place to start looking for rooms.
The event pass costs ~40 euros, which covers the whole weekend. You should note though that since this tournament is held within Assembly Summer, there should be enough bang for your buck aside from just the tournament. In fact, I personally always look forward to all the demo scene competitions and other various activities that take place during the weekend. The event also has separate sleeping areas if you wish to sleep at the venue. However, you would need to bring your own sleeping bags (and any other desired sleeping gear) and preferably earplugs for the noise.
If you have any questions about the event or otherwise, feel free to PM me.
There are also a few very afordable hostels, like Stadion Hostel and Cheapsleep Helsinki, 16-20e per night, both within 10mins travel by tram to Helsinki Fair Centre. Should probably book in advance though, just to make sure you have accomodations available
I dont think the best of 5 will be a problem for the casters or time as long as they just pick up the most interesting matchups and cast them and let the rest play out as they wish.
-Maybe some community streaming once again with a decent setup to show who is casting what for once? I hate when there are 5 streams with varying production value and all are casting the same match. Setup a fast screen for every streamer to just type in what theyre casting at the time would be awesome.
My anticipation for this event has increased so much due to 2GD being involved with the production, him and the rest of the crew at the studio are doing great things.
On June 24 2012 07:54 Imascotsman wrote: My anticipation for this event has increased so much due to 2GD being involved with the production, him and the rest of the crew at the studio are doing great things.
Well they have a month to prepare and 2GD said on The Meeting that he's looking to do some fun stuff and he wont release any details. Instead he's going to have people tune in and watch to see what he has planned. Hopefully they "hit it out of the park" or semmlar gets to be the scape goat (everyone threw him under the bus including the chat). So hoping to see something really awesome!!!
This looks to be a really good tournament. A solid number of top players (MC, Puma, Sase, Violet, Hero, Taeja, Mana), some fan favourites (Huk, Demuslim, Idra, Socke, Ret, Kas), and a lot of exciting up and comers (fraer, titan, cytoplasm, babyknight, naama, sortof, bly, jonnyrecco). Otherwise not a single name that I don't recognize.
Does anyone have an idea when the games on satutrday will be played? Os there any place where more detailled information is released about the rough times of championship saturday? It would help me a lot, because i'm in a team that organizes a barcraft for Asus Rog in Munich, Germany.
"The main event will feature two pairs of shoutcasters, Apollo and TLO on one hand, and Khaldor and Wolf on the other hand. The hosts will be 2GD, iNcontroL, Semmler and Soe, while Adebisi will be the ingame camera director."
sounds like a pretty perfect setting!
(except i would rather like to see TLO competing -_-)