I know we've been seeing some more grassroots efforts to create more content (Basetrade, Ascended StarCraft II League, Top 5 Community Plays, etc etc) and I think my contribution to this will help continue that trend! I am teaming up with a couple of other players from my clan Rival Gaming to be able to execute the production of this initiative.
I wish to introduce the Rival StarCraft II League. The league is set up to be very similar to a GSL-like format tournament, and if upon successful execution of Season 1, will extend even further and grow beyond that. I've always thought it'd be cool to run a StarCraft II tournament and here is the chance to finally be able to contribute to a community that has fueled my gaming passion beyond just laddering occassionally.
The intent is to provide non-professional players an opportunity to participate in a GSL like experience. With that being said, professional players will not be allowed to play in this tournament. The details on how this will work is still being worked on, but essentially, players like Huk, Kane, Minigun, and other players who are in the professional StarCraft 2 scene who already have many opportunities to compete will not be able to participate. The line blurs a bit when you start seeing players like desRow, Ruff, and others who may belong to organizations and compete occasionally. Those details are still be worked on. If you're in doubt, sign up anyways and we'll discuss it.
Since my Reddit Post, I've made some modifications to the the tournament framework and changed the broadcasting schedule to allow for players to play their games the week before and the broadcasts will be via replay. This should provide flexibility for both the tournament organizers and the players.
The first season will have $200 prize pool going to the top four ($100 for 1st, $50 for 2nd, $25 for both 3rd/4th) and League sign ups and qualifier sign ups open today and go until Monday, February 2nd! Then, on the 7th and 8th, we'll jump right into the qualifiers (16 players from each session will be advancing to the actual tournament) and we'll jump right into the season on February 7th! You can see more dates on the Calendar link below.
Links include:
Calendar of Season 1 Broadcasts/Events
Rules and Regulations Document
League Sign ups (Google Forms, must sign up prior to participating in the qualifiers)
Admin/Volunteer Sign ups (If you would like to help out with this production in any capacity, let me know!)
Official Twitch Stream (No official branding yet, working on it!)
Twitter Account (Very basic branding, haven't got there yet!)
Liquipedia Page
+ Show Spoiler +
The deadline for player sign ups is Midnight Monday (02/02/2015 12:00:00am PDT) and qualifiers start the next weekend (7th and 8th of February).
I have extended the signup period to Friday, February 6th at midnight PDT (so through Thursday, February 5th).
Please ask questions in this thread and sign up if you're interested!
Cheers!
Hawkeye