First and foremost, this is not in affiliation with TaKeTV. I'm just drawing inspiration from their HomeStory Cup format.
HSC is a staple for SC2. It's a unique event and it gives a lot of personality to the scene. I don't want to make a carbon copy of TaKe's event. I'd like to take the base idea - a casual, 3 day event with intimate player and personality interactions - and put some sort of twist to make it unique in its own right, aside from likely having heavily North American attendance. What will that twist be? Still working that angle.
I have spoken with some folks who would be interested in supporting a North American event that was similar to HSC, and before I draft and submit the partnership deck, I wanted to take time to gather the community's thoughts and feedback.
Korean and European Invites:
Who are the "must have" players and casters that you would like to see come to the United States?
NA Talent
What NA players/personalities do you want to see at this event?
Location and Venue
I'm thinking the Baltimore, MD's Inner-Harbor, Washington D.C., or Ocean City, MD (only if it's run in the summer). The venue would be a rented out penthouse or condo.
Dates
I do not want this conflicting with any major events or qualifiers, which likely means this won't happen until next year for the sake of proper planning. I will also do what I can to avoid running the event anywhere close to TaKe's HSC, as I don't want to give the vibe of competition. I'd like your thoughts on Spring, Summer and Winter for this event.
Funding
I have zero desire to Kickstart this event. The main people I'm pitching this to would be able to manage the majority of the logistics and staffing and other sponsors should be more than capable if covering the additional costs (travel, lodging, etc.).
Final Thoughts
I'm open to input on the above topics and anything I haven't listed. This is for all members of the community, so please let me know what you'd like to see to make this a special event rather than a rehash of what TaKe already does so well.
The problem I have with something like this is what advantage it has over HSC. Is it focusing on American Players? If so, why are Koreans and Europeans getting invited then?
I'd like to see anything that involved a grudge match or rivalry. Something a bit more fun to look forward to rather than leave it to the randomness of the brackets. (Obviously the tournament format may not allow for these matchups)
(Naniwa vs Polt, Gungfubanda [anyone really lol]) Miniraser vs MarineLord, DesRow Jaedong vs Flash Scarlett vs Bomber Petraeus vs TheMightyKiwi CombatEx vs Destiny / CatZ / iNcontroL
(I'm sure I'm missing a ton)
Anything with some juicy drama attached would be fun to watch squashed for the time being. Put those tweets to rest and let's see some games! :D
I would absolutely love to do what I can to make this happen as well.
I think one big thing about running this kind of event is travel costs for people. I like the idea of doing this out in the north part of the midwest rather than east or west coast. This means West Coast and East Coast don't have insane travel times/costs, it's close to Canada for the whole Toronto scene, the midwest will probably have cheaper costs to make all of this kind of stuff happen. This is mostly speculation on my part so I don't have numbers to back these thoughts up though.
Other thing is, a lot of the NA scene is semi-pro. Would you plan to do open bracket for the whole event, or have qualifiers for a paid flight + hotel? I know you don't have funding for anything yet so it's hard to talk numbers but what's your ideal player count? I think a lot of these things will really affect the kind of event this will end up being.
On July 29 2015 02:38 SC2CTL wrote: The problem I have with something like this is what advantage it has over HSC. Is it focusing on American Players? If so, why are Koreans and Europeans getting invited then?
I think the best model for this event might be Red Bull Atlanta from last year. The event didn't have the best players (not even the best NA players showed up), but they had entertaining games, highlighted the personalities, and overall put on a great, distinctly "NA" show (DirtyGG, anyone?). Certainly Lycan won't have the funds for something at that level, but it might be a good source to draw inspiration.
On July 29 2015 02:23 Lycangrope wrote: I'm thinking the Baltimore, MD's Inner-Harbor, Washington D.C., or Ocean City, MD (only if it's run in the summer). The venue would be a rented out penthouse or condo.
YES please please please somewhere on the east coast, it's been so long since we've had a major Starcraft event!
Also I will be glad to help out in any way if you're looking for volunteers! (SC2Towelie on twitter)
I think that for me, Destiny and Incontrol are really important. I find that when watching HSC, shy, quiet pro-gamers open up a lot more when Incontrol's there with them.
Venue and area important, put your fangs into that so you can figure out ways of travel and costs, and ways you can play around with the space you have, equipment you'll need, etcetera.
You'll never get the perfect date, just pick one that's available now and hope for the best.
I'll just put the feedback here so other people can yay or nay -
Not using crowdfunding is obviously the more 'professional' way to go, shall we say. You won't get any trolls saying 'well if they can't afford it don't do it' etc etc, but crowdfunding is really exciting. The ability to feel like you were 'a part of it all' and to get some really cool rewards is a really fun addition, imo. And I'm trying not to say this as someone who had a kickstarted event, but rather as a fan who supported something like Lone Star Clash.
Obviously if everything can be paid for by sponsors, great, but finding some way to include the audience as more than just a viewer is neat-o too.
I think Solar and at least one Axiom player would be important Koreans to snag, partly because of their excellent english. Jaedong would be good, as would Flash or Stork, due to their ingrained popularity from their BW past selves. Parting is a straight-up must. San is a good choice, as his Hero. The other herO is a decent choice as well.
On the European side, the Liquid boys are pretty reliably popular. Avoid players who are only popular due to reddit, such as Naniwa or Morrow. You don't want that kind of dependence on controversy. It would be neat if you could get some up-and-comers, such as Showtime or Uthermal.
From NA, you'll want the personalities InControl and Scarlett (the latter partly for her analysis skills), the analyst QXC, the players Xenocider, Puck, Kane, and Neeb. You should ideally bring in some SA players such as Kelazhur, and some Mexicans, such as JimRising.
Think about the different ways the tournament can be done. For example you could do groups of 6 or 8 where they play round-robin BO1 and you can then go to a playoff bracket with seeds based on those results.
You can also have the ones not in the playoffs for randomized teams in a 2v2 and/or archon tournament to get added view on the trip. Or you can even let everyone in that and do broadcasts from replay to fill downtime with the players doing commentary on their own matches.
I'd also suggest for a first event keeping expenses as low as possible including seeing what could be done without covering full travel and the room costs. It's real easy to get high expenses quick and there are bound to be problems the first time. Remember what the first HSC was. Don't try to be what HSC is now.
For travel considerations, it should probably be in a central city somewhere, like Vegas or Denver. I would vote Vegas as there are lots of cheap flights in and out of there, plus plenty of venues.
On July 29 2015 03:55 ElMeanYo wrote: For travel considerations, it should probably be in a central city somewhere, like Vegas or Denver. I would vote Vegas as there are lots of cheap flights in and out of there, plus plenty of venues.
Those are both pretty West centered cities. I think it should be centered near where the people who are organizing the tournament are.
I just have one advice for you, do not try to get KeSPA players for the first edition of your tournament. If the tournament is a huge fail KeSPA won't be happy and if it's a success then you can try to talk with KeSPA for next tournament.
For something like this, I think it's important to ask what makes NA ... NA? Why do some NA tournaments (like Red Bull BG, or even WCS Qualifiers Season 1) do really well, despite not having the very best players? Branding is going to be very important.
As far as personalities, Nate is a must. I don't think anyone represents NA starcraft more than him. Rotti has a large NA following as well. Beyond that, Destiny is obvious. Get them to play and compete as well, in addition to casting.
On July 29 2015 05:15 Lycangrope wrote: What are your favorite NA/EU rivalries? They don't have to be between a player of each region. They can be EU v. EU, NA v. NA, or EU v. NA.
Tossing around some ideas while I process the feedback.
You are already in frequent contact with 2 of the best personalities from the original Homestory cup, Destiny and InControl. These guys are cohosts on your show, so I'm assuming if anyone is in good with both of them, it's you. Get those guys to be the face of this thing. Destiny was able to semi-spontaneously crowdfund one of the bigger online tournaments this year, and InControl is a big time community favorite as a caster who in my opinion, we haven't gotten to see nearly enough of this year. With those 2 guys as the main crowdfunding guys of this tournament, and the fact that it's modeled after HSC, I would expect it to easily surpass BTTV's crowdfunding of their upcoming LAN. Making Destiny and InControl the faces of the 'campaign' if you will, would also give it a sense of being more big time/legit, as opposed to just another LAN organized by a guy who the community vaguely recognizes.
Once you've got the money, this is when you start thinking about talent, players, etc. Obviously you won't know what level of tournament you'll be able to put on until you know how much money you'll be working with. As mentioned, InControl and Destiny could most likely carry the majority of the tournament if they had to, but for guest rotations, I'd make Scarlett and Rotti the top priority, as they are both awesome parts of SC2, AND will be in the states, making their travel expenses minimal compared to many others.
Tasteless and day[9] would be among the best people you could possibly get, but are (IMO) a pipe dream, as Tasteless seems to only make it to the western hemisphere about once a year, plus as I understand it their fee is pretty incredible for a weekend of casting. Day9 also seems to not want to travel for SC2, although he did make it to the east coast last year for RBBG. These 2 are essentially the original SC2 personalities, and seeing them in a HSC-esque environment would be incredible, but, as mentioned, seems pretty improbable.
As far as players, again lots of people are mentioning Flash, who would be awesome but I would imagine that just about every weekend tournament tries to get Flash, and he seems to never go. I imagine your best efforts would be to concentrate on getting the Koreans with the most personality. This works to your advantage as many of them are in NA. Jaedong, Stardust and Polt are the ones that stand out most in this category. Even if you can only afford for one person to fly in from Korea, it should definitely be Parting (assuming you can't get Flash. If you can get Flash, you'll have to figure out a way to afford travel costs for both him and Parting, even if I have to personally pay for one of the tickets.) English language skills are obviously also a priority in this area.
Bringing MC as a player/caster would also be a really great thing. The foreign scene has been missing MC's personality all year since we haven't had a chance to hear him play/analyze stuff like he used to do at WCS Europe. This would be an absolute coup for your tournament.
As for foreigners, once again personality trumps skill, even more than for Koreans since even the best foreigners can't bring code S level games. Stephano and TLO are mainstays of HSC, and they should be at this as well. As far as NA talent, I would say Huk, qxc, Kane, and Scarlett are your go to NA players. Beyond that, as mentioned earlier I'd bring in Polt, Stardust, and Jaedong if you really want a bunch of "NA" players.
I know many in the scene don't like him, but bringing Naniwa along with Morrow would be awesome as they are really funny guys and have done some awesome, hilarious casting as well from time to time, which is perfect for a HSC style tournament. Although this may be impossible because of the tension between him and many people in the SC2 scene, particularly your cohost.
The casual nature of these tournaments also seems to make them a magnet for retired/semi-retired players like Stephano, InControl (as a player), etc. This could be a great opportunity to bring back some NA fan favorites who have retired but aren't up to anything, and may want to chill for old time's sake.
I know it's not much compared to the overall cost of running a tournament, but if your tournament had the majority of the things listed here it would probably get a 4 figure donation from me for crowdfunding.
On July 29 2015 03:55 ElMeanYo wrote: For travel considerations, it should probably be in a central city somewhere, like Vegas or Denver. I would vote Vegas as there are lots of cheap flights in and out of there, plus plenty of venues.
probably less legal bs too!
What made HSC cool was the H in HSC. Probably the reason why it ever happened in the first place. The fact that a lot of the infrastructure was already up and running probably helped Take manage his costs efficiently ( fly in badass players ) too.
I love the idea of having a NA "Homestory Cup" and the East coast is the best place to start it out~!
As for players I'd like to see I'm still partial to my up and coming players like Bails, JonSnow, Neeb, EJK, Bioice but I would still love to see our well known players like qxc, Masa, Huk, Puck, Scarlett
Are you looking for setting up a barcarft style for spectators or would there be anything in place spectator wise for the event??
Every day let the fans vote for 1 person to advance and 1 person to get booted out like a reality show so that players are all forced to be MAXIMUM COOL
On July 29 2015 07:15 lichter wrote: Every day let the fans vote for 1 person to advance and 1 person to get booted out like a reality show so that players are all forced to be MAXIMUM COOL
On July 29 2015 07:15 lichter wrote: Every day let the fans vote for 1 person to advance and 1 person to get booted out like a reality show so that players are all forced to be MAXIMUM COOL
On July 29 2015 07:15 lichter wrote: Every day let the fans vote for 1 person to advance and 1 person to get booted out like a reality show so that players are all forced to be MAXIMUM COOL
On July 29 2015 02:43 feardragon wrote: Other thing is, a lot of the NA scene is semi-pro. Would you plan to do open bracket for the whole event, or have qualifiers for a paid flight + hotel? I know you don't have funding for anything yet so it's hard to talk numbers but what's your ideal player count? I think a lot of these things will really affect the kind of event this will end up being.
Open Bracket would be the way to go imo. It is such a huge thing for the semi-pro scene and a part of what make live events feel so special. It is the only time that a great deal of players get to all come together and interact one another. It is by far the biggest gap left behind by MLG, RedBull, etc.
also how about some 2v2? protech+X vs lillekanin+X f.e. i don't care how controvercial protech would be, just remember IdrA casting: less hype more bloody honesty.
i was actually toying with this same idea for a while... glad you are on it now... so I'm sure it will gain momentum with your experience running tournaments. Good luck and you know how to reach me if you need help.
Lycan you should try to pair it near a local Maryland/DC Brewery, bar, or beer garden. Have a place for an audience to chill with players, etc. I know Denizens in Silver Springs, MD is a pretty cool outdoor space. Sure there are plenty of others.
This sounds awesome. It will prob be tough to find sponsors right off the get-go to fund everything, I think a kickstarter would be the way to go, wouldn't be in bad taste or anything. I'd be happy to support that a bit if all the details looked good and everything is sorted..
If you did it anywhere in the DMV, i'd be willing to volunteer if needed and would definitely make my best effort to be there. I would totally love an East Coast sc2 LAN
love this and i would say late spring early summer time and if u need cheap labor as in free i would volunteer.and east coast west coast gets everything already let east coast get some love.
If you put it in dc I really dont care who goes but if i must say qxc, incontrol, basetrade , lol avilo would be funny but if not no surprise if not, lycan, feardragon Nathanias, livibee, neruo Basically any NA personality.
should see some archon mode with everyone caster and all. FFAs,
NA- xeno, masa, kane, catz anyone NA pro that can make it
Any KR that can come hyun, polt ,jd, supernova, forgg. esc