The Tournament

We'll be holding an in-house GB tournament in a week and a half from now, starting on Saturday, the 15th of June, and continuing over the course of the month. The full length of the tournament might vary depending on how many teams sign up, and ofcourse, the availability of the players in question. It will ofcourse be "Captain's Mode".

Myself, (Blackmoore on Steam) player extraordinaire, and CheapPoison (Cheap on Steam) leader of the GB DOTA 2 Steam-Group have talked the issue through over the course of these last, few days and have spoken to a number of casters to cast the games live in-game, as well as on twitch (and similair sites), so that even those not playing in the tournament can join in on the games and enjoy themselves.

We were unfortunately made aware of how poorly the last, GB-endorsed tournament went, as such, we've decided to appoint ourselves facilitators in the match set-up process in order to keep this controlled and systematic. Fun definitely is the focus, but we need to ensure that the teams will know against whom they're playing and when that is. Considering we're trying something different this time; this tournament will serve as an experiment. We WILL be holding further tournaments, and change certain things accordingly to ensure a pleasant and competetive scene.

The tournament itself will follow rules of double-elimatination; 2 teams square off against each other in or a series of 3 matches, the winner moves on whilst the losing team is reduced to the loser's bracket where they have a second chance to rise through the listings.

I say "tournament", but in fact, we will be holding two, seperate tournaments, one for high-level players, and one for newcomers to the game. The focus will absolutely be on the newcomers, where-as the high-level play fill serve as an introduction to the tournament as a whole. Details will follow below.

Brackets and sign-ups

The high-level bracket will hold a maximum of 8 Teams who will square off against each other over the course of the week-end. Starting in the subsequent week, we'll be holding the qualifiers for the low-level bracket.

The low-level bracket will hold a maximum of 16 teams. Important to notice is that we're allowing a max win of 120 for the low-bracket teams, and more importantly so; a combined max-wins of 400 for the entire team. So if all 5 players have 80 wins; their overall wins would be 400.

Naturally, if 4 players all have wins; they can easily enlist another player with 120 wins, thus coming to a total of 300. Anything goes, as long as the max-win per team and per person is not exceeded. We'd also like to note that the wins of the teams will be taken into consideration when the team signs-up for the tournament. So if someone were to sign up tomorrow, and have exceeded the win-cap by the time the tournament comes along, that is perferectly acceptable as we do not want anyone to feel restricted from playing the game in the meanwhile. Besides, we'd encourage people to practice with their teams.

Speaking of sign-ups; they will begin, in this thread, tomorrow. On Wednesday, the 5th of June and end on next Wednesday, the 12th of June. Please sign-up as a whole team, and not as a seperate individual, we've created a seperate topic for people who are looking for a team. Please visit that if you're interested, but do not have enough players, or are on your own. We require the "CAPTAIN" for each team to sign up, so that we may communicate with him/her (/it) to set up matches, speak of issues, etcetera. We also recommend that each team gets a 6th member, if not even more, that they may play as a replacement should someone not be able to make it to the appointed time.

We also accept non-GB members so feel free to invite your friends, but ofcourse prefer GB-members to play, keep that in consideration as we make our selections of the teams.

As previously mentioned, there will be a max amount of teams allotted into THIS tournament. This means that after all the sign-ups have ended, we'll pick which ones will be playing in this tournament. If you're not chosen, please, don't be alarmed; if you sign up, we promise you a spot in the next tournament we organize.

When submitting information of your team; please list the amount of wins for each player, where you're from (continent suffices), favourite role and favourite hero (for future polls.)

Any additional commentary is welcome, but not required.

Casters

As of yet, we've spoken with a number of casters who are interested. If YOU would be interested in casting a game, please contact us through this thread or by messaging me or @cheappoison

We'd prefer it if we had at least one set of casters for each game. Remember, the max amount of caster-slots is 4; so we can easily have multiple streams for each game.

Confirmed casters:

- Set One : @ajamafalous(Grant 'The Granary' Scott on Steam) and What'shisface (darkwhitehair on Steam). Here's his Twitch channel.

- Set Two: @whitebrightknight (Superfluous on Steam)Here's his Twitch.

- Set Three: @evilcookie (EvilCookie on Steam) Here's his Twitch channel.

- Set Four: @ohnooz (Ohnooz on Steam) Here's his Twitch.

- Set Five: @hylianseven (HylianSeven on Steam) Here's his twitch.

- Set Six: @kapura (Kapura on Steam) Here's his twitch.

Summary

- Double-elimination style tournament; Best of 3 in both brackets. Possibly Bo5 in the final for the high bracket, not yet determined.

-Tournament sign-ups start on 5th of June, end on 12th of June.

-High-level bracket (no win requirement), starts on 15th of june.

-Low-level bracket starts the following week, 120 is max wins per person, 400 is max combined wins per team.

-Sign up as an entire team. We have aseperate topicfor those wanting to create a team or are looking for one.

-Teams will be selected after all have signed up. We will notify your captain, whom you must specify.

-Schedule will be written on the day after the sign-ups end (12th); and we'll contact your captain either on that day (16th), or the one after.

-Please attempt to find a sixth member to ensure that your team will be able to play if someone is kept from doing so.

-Please include information regarding your team when you sign up. Location (continent), wins, favourite role and favourite hero.

-Tournament will ofcourse be Captain's Mode.

- We mean to be flexible with the schedules of games; so if that's an issue, please don't be worried and sign up anycase.

Q&A

Questions that particulary stand out will be answered here.

1. Will any teams be cut? How do you plan on justifying that?

Unfortunately, this is our first tournament and as such, we need to keep it small in order to be manageable, as such; we've determined a maximum of 8 teams for the high-level bracket, and 16 for the low-level bracket. At the end of the sign-ups, we MIGHT be forced to pick inbetween different teams to ensure balance and that games do, in fact, even take place. At the same time, we don't want to "cut" anyone from inclusion in the games. As such, we ensure that any team/player that doesn't get to participate in this tournament has a saved spot in the next, larger tournament that we organize. It was either this or simply restricting people from signing up once it had filled up, a first-come-first-served principle; and while this might look nicer, we felt it'd be detrimental, overall, on the quality of the games. First priority is to get this thing off the ground and do so well. So we're playing it safe.

2. When will the games take place? When will I know when I'll be playing?

We are, as of yet, keeping the schedule flexible to ensure that both teams will be able to keep the appointment. The reason for doing so is that we have members from all over the world, many with obligations to consider. At no point do we think it'd be fun or fair for one team to forfeit a game simply because someone had to work, take care of their child, or study for an exam. That said, we do have a pretty decent plan inplace: we mean to kick things off on saturday the 15th, and have a number of games each week; as many as possible, with each team playing at least one set of games a week. We promise to let each team know, after speaking to the captains of both team, the casters and everyone else involved, when they'll be playing one week in advance.

3. How large of a group play together? Can I sign up on my own or with with a party of 3?

Right now, we're looking for full 5 man teams to compete. We also have set up a sister-thread for people who are interested in finding teams, and or, more members; that way, nobody should have any issue filling their 5 slots. We recommend a sixth player for each time, to serve as a replacement incase someone can't make the game.

4. Will all the games have predetermined times and will there be at least one neutral observer present at all games in case of any issues?

There will be pre-determined times once we have spoken to the captains of both teams, the casters and everyone else involved. Each team will know when they'll be playing a full week ahead of the game actually taking place. And yes, there will ALWAYS be, if not a set of casters, someone we have arranged, spectating each game, acting as a judge by ensuring that nobody unpauses when someone is lagging badly, etc. Keeping the game fair.

5. How will substitutes be handled and can they be chosen from those outside the tournament?

As previously mentioned, a sixth player is recommended for each team. Should even the sixth player not be able to make it, we will allow the team to fill their missing slot from a bench of approved players (further details on said players are forthcoming). Ofcourse, this will have to be done in advance of the game proper and with the blessing of the majority of all others involved.

6. Is there an individual min/max skill cap for the high bracket?

No. If you want to play in the high bracket, you enter at your own risk.

7. In terms of teams with players on different continents or a team playing against a team from a different continent, how will the server location be selected?

Server locations will be selected after speaking to each captain who will report to us each player's ability or disability to play in any area, ensuring that we can find the optimal situation to balance it out for all players involved. Once the date has been determined, we'll ask both teams to test our server choice, so that on the date of the game itself, there'll be no problems.

8. Is there anything being done to prevent smurfs from entering the Low-level bracket? I know it can be hard to tell whether someone with 5 wins is new or smurfing but I feel like it's too easy to create a new Steam account with DOTA2 and jump into the Low-level bracket and stomp people.

To a high degree, I'm afraid that as this isn't an official tournament, we cannot contact valve and ask for any information on the different players, and as such, we're going to have to put a decent amount of trust into the community not to behave in an underhanded way. That said; we will have ourselves a look at every player for every team (or appoint someone we find trustworthy to perform this duty) in order to detect any blatant discrepancies. Should anyone actually attempt to smuggle a smurf into their team, said team will consequently be disqualified. This is meant to be a community event and anyone who attempts to take advantage of that fact has no place here.

9. What happens if there'll end up being a lot more teams signing up for the high bracket than the lower one; will the maximum amount of allowed teams remain the same or is this number flexible?

We had originally envisioned the high bracket to serve as an introduction for the main attraction, the lower bracket, but depending on how many teams sign up for each bracket, we may find ourselves in a position where, for instance, we have 14 teams interested in the high bracket and 9 in the lower. Should such a situation arise, it is likely that we will expand upon the higher bracket and reduce the lower. That said; we aim to keep the bounderies intact, having one smaller bracket, and one larger for this tournament. Again, this is only a contingency plan.

Teams

This will list the teams that have, as of yet, signed up for the tournament and passed a preliminary background check. It is NOT the final draft. More information on each team is forthcoming.

*Full name: Matilha - lupus non mordet lupum. For those curious, it means "Pack - a wolf does not bite a wolf". It happens to be a great, although inaccurate phrase which perfectly show-cases the ridicolously complex dative of the Latin grammar. Although pack is in Portugese for whatever reason. They seem nice.

** Full name: "Divine Rapier, Motherfuckers." Sigh.

Schedule (High Bracket)

• Set One: "Stupid Fat Hobbits" vs "Me He" - Saturday, 15th of June, 11 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), 5 PM EDT, Best of 3 - Done

• Set Two: "Mongolian Death Worm" vs "That's Million Pucks" - Sunday, 16th of June, 9 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), 3 PM EDT, Best of 3 - Done

• Set Three: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "Titanium Eagles" - Saturday, 22nd of June, 2 PM EDT, 8 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Four: "The Brad Shoemakers" vs "/d2g/ Ocelots" - Saturday, 22nd of June, 9 pm EDT, 3 AM GMT +2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Five: "Mongolian Death Worm" vs "Me He" - Sunday, 23rd of June, 12 PM EDT (Noon), 6 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Six: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "/d2g/ Ocelots" - Friday, 28th of June, 8 PM EDT, 2 AM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Seven: "The Brad Shoemakers" vs "Titanium Eagles" - Sunday, 30th of June, 3 PM EDT, 9 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Eight: "That's Million Pucks" vs "Stupid Fat Hobbits" - Monday, 1st of July, 4 PM EDT, 10 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Nine: "Just Gotta' Believe" vs "Mongolian Deaths Worms" - Sunday, 7th of July, 2 PM EDT, 8 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Ten: "The Brad Shoemakers" vs "/d2g/ Ocelots" - Saturday, 20th of July, 8 PM EDT, 2 AM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3

• Set Eleven: "Me He" vs "That's Million Pucks" - Sunday, 21st of July, 3 PM EDT, 9 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Twelve: "Me He" vs "The Brad Shoemakers" - Friday, 26th of July, 6 PM EDT, Midnight GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Thirteen: "Mongolian Death Worms" vs "Me He" - Sunday, 28th of July, 3 PM EDT, 9 PM GMT +2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Fourteen: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "Me He" - The grand finals. Sunday, the 18th of August, 3 PM EDT, 9 PM GMT +2 (Paris Time), Best of 5 - Done

Results (High Bracket)

Here's the Bracket

• Set One: "Stupid Fat Hobbits" vs "Me He" - ended in victory for "Me He" with 2-0. Here's the link to the match for those wanting to catch up.

• Set Two: "Mongolian Death Worm" vs "That's Million Pucks" - ended in victory for "Mongolian Death Worm" with 2-0. Here's the link.

• Set Three: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "Titanium Eagles" - ended in victory for "Just Gotta Believe" with 2-0. Here's the link, it might be the funniest DOTA game I've ever seen.

• Set Four: "The Brad Shoemakers" vs "/d2g/ Ocelots" - ended in victory for "/d2g/ Ocelots" with 2-1. Here's the link.

• Set Five: "Mongolian Death Worm" vs Me He" - ended in victory for "Mongolian Death Worm" with 2-1. Here's the link. Definitely the best set of games in the tournament yet.

• Set Six: " Just Gotta' Believe" vs "/d2g/ Ocelots" - ended in victory for "Just Gotta Believe" with 2-0. Here's the link. Another case of GAF ruining their enemy team.

• Set Seven: "The Brad Shoemakers" vs "Titanium Eagles" - ended in victory for "The Brad Shoemakers" with 2-0. Here's the link. With this, TE have been eliminated from the tournament. Kudos to 'em for participating.

• Set Eight: "That's Million Pucks" vs "Stupid Fat Hobbits" - ended in victory for "That's Million Pucks" with 2-1. Here's the link. A very unfortunate end to a very intense set of games.

• Set Nine: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "Mongolian Death Worms" - ended in victory for "Just Gotta Believe" with 2-0. Here's the link.

• Set Ten: "/d2g/ Ocelots" vs "The Brad Shoemakers" -was unfortunately cancelled by Ocelots. Their team has subsequently bowed out of the tournament.

• Set Eleven: "Me He" vs "That's Million Pucks" - ended in victory for "Me He" with 2-1. Here's the link.

• Set Twelve "Me He" vs "The Brad Shoemakers" - ended in victory for "Me He" with 2-1. Here's the link. Beware, DOTA network failures dragged it on for a good while.

• Set Thirteen: "Mongolian Death Worms" vs "Me he" - ended in victory for "Me He" with 2-0. Here's game one, and here's game two. With this game, "Me He" have advanced to the finals.

• Set Fourteen: "Just Gotta Believe" vs "Me He" - The grand finals. Ended in victory for "Just Gotta' Believe" with 3-0. Unfortuantely, due to techincal issues, it's been split into 3 parts. Here's the introduction and the draft for game one. The rest of the series is here. And finally, an interview with the winners can be found here.

Winners (High Bracket)

• Gold: "Just Gotta' Believe"

Captain: "Ellen Pudge"

• Silver: "Me He"

Captain: "Erqsed"

• Bronze: "Mongolian Death Worms" aka "MMM"

Captain: "Cardinal Sins"

Schedule (Lower Bracket)

• Set One: "Divine Rapier MILFs" vs "Matilha" - Saturday, 29th of June, 8 PM EDT, 2 AM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Two: "The Starcrafters" vs "Arcanist" - Sunday, 7th of June, 7 PM EDT, 1 AM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Three: "Arcanist" vs "Divine Rapier MILFs" - Saturday, 20th of July, 4 PM EDT, 10 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Four: "Matilha" vs "The Starcrafters" - Sunday, 21st of July, 6 PM EDT, Midnight GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3

• Set Five : "Divine Rapier MILFs" vs "The Starcrafters" - Sunday, 28th of July, 5:30 PM EDT, 11:30 PM GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 3 - Done

• Set Six: "Arcanist" vs "The Starcrafters" - Finals of the lower bracket, Sunday, the 4rth of August, 6 PM EDT, Midnight GMT + 2 (Paris Time), Best of 5 - Done

Results (Lower Bracket)

Here's the Bracket

• Set One: "Divine Rapier MILFs" vs "Matilha" - ended in victory for "Divine Rapier MILFs" with 2-0. Here's the link.

• Set Two: "The Starcrafters" vs "Arcanist" - ended in victory for "Arcanist" with 2-0. Here's the link.

• Set Three: "Arcanist" vs "Divine Rapier MILFs" - ended in victory for "Arcanist" with 2-0. Unfortunately the caster's power went mid-game, as such there are two individual links for the match. Here's the first link. And the second.

• Set Four: "Matilha" vs "The Starcrafters" - ended in victory for "The Starcrafters" with 2-0. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with a replay of the games as of yet. I will contact the captains for the teams to see if they might be able to provide us with one.

• Set Five: "Divine Rapier MILFs" vs "The Starcrafters" - ended in victory for "The Starcrafters" with 2-0. Unfortunately, game one was only partially streamed due to technical issues, we got the full game two for you, however.

• Set Six: "Arcanist" vs "The Starcrafters" - Finals of the lower bracket, ended in victory for "Arcanist" with 3-0. A rather anticlimatic end to our lower bracket tournament, unfortunately, but incredibly cohesive play by Arcanist. Here's the link as casted by your favourite, Grant.

Winners (Lower Bracket)

• Gold: "Arcanist" aka "Arc"

Captain: "sixghost"

• Silver: "The Starcrafters" aka "SC2"

Captain: "Wunder"

• Bronze: "Divine Rapier MILFs" aka "DRM"

Captain: "Winternet"

Rewards

- The winners of each bracket will get to face off against Brad and his pals in a special episode of Daily DOTA, live-streamed on the site to thousands of viewers.

- A generous offer has been made from a member of the site to provide memberships/extensions to the winners of each bracket! Further details are forthcoming.

- All rewards have been distributed.Here is the link to the show-match between the Daily DOTA gang and the winners of the high bracket tournament, team "Just Gotta' Believe" aka "GAF"!

Further disclaimers

This is a work in progress, an experiment; more things might be added, so if you've signed up, please check back once in a while to check for updates. I'll make those obvious for you.

I, myself, will be signing up as captain of one of the teams; specifically "That's Million Pucks". In order to keep things fair, I will be organizing the time of matches, but not determining the actual match-ups, as that might benefit my team above others. Cheap is not involved in my team, nor any other, and as such, he is free to direct and delegate.

Finally, we hope you sign up, and welcome even those not involved in DOTA 2 to watch and enjoy.

Have a good one, duders.

Updates

UPDATE 1: Changed a lot of "LEVELS" to "WINS", thanks for the notice.

UPDATE 2: Added a Q&A section and answered some questions. Feel like I'm selling used cars.

UPDATE 3: Answered A LOT more questions and added an additional reward for the winners!

UPDATE 4: Added 3 full teams for the high bracket and answered another question.

UPDATE 5: Added another 2 teams.

UPDATE 6: Another team joins the low-bracket fray. Updated team-tags.

UPDATE 7: Added another team and another caster.

UPDATE 8: Yet another team has entered the frey.

UPDATE 9: Schedule for first two sets of matches are up!

Update 10: Quick changes to the summary and to the tournament section; explaining that both brackets will be double-elimination, and all games Bo3 except for possibly the final in the higher bracket which might be Bo5 if both teams consent. Also a further note under "disclaimers" regarding my own participation. Also added the twitch channel for one caster.

UPDATE 11: Added another team.

UPDATE 12: Added yet another team to the low bracket. Last day for sign-ups, beware!

UPDATE 13: Yet another low bracket team has entered the frey. Proper name and team tag pending.

UPDATE 14: Another two teams have entered the tournament. And with that; sign-ups have come to an end! We are sitting on a whopping 13 teams. 5 in the low bracket, and 8 in the high bracket. Thanks to everyone for participating. Check above for the schedule.

UPDATE 15: Added two more set of casters for the tournament. Check out their twitch channels above.

UPDATE 16: Added the results as well as the archive for the very first successful match-up of this tournament. We've also added a google-doc bracket for you fellas to look at. Check it under the results tab. Next set of games is today.

UPDATE 17: Added the CORRECT link for the games. If anyone watched the wrong one, I apologize.

UPDATE 18: Added the result and the link for the second set of matches.

UPDATE 19: Added 3 more games to the schedule, among them our very first low-bracket game, check 'em out!

UPDATE 20: Changed the time for the first set of games this sunday to ensure that the two sets do not overlap.

UPDATE 21: Disqualified a team, GFQ Gaming from the lower bracket. Rescheduling the match.

UPDATE 22: Rescheduled one of the games due to the unavailability of one team. Set 4 is now on saturday the 22nd instead of sunday the 23rd.

UPDATE 23: Added another match for tomorrow to the schedule.

UPDATE 24: Added results and link for Set 3.

UPDATE 25: Added results and link for Set 4.

UPDATE 26: Added results and link for Set 5.

UPDATE 27: Added another game to the schedule for the high bracket, as well as a placeholder for a low-bracket game that WILL take place this saturday. More information coming tomorrow.

UPDATE 28: Changed EST to EDT across the board. Forgive this filthy european.

UPDATE 29: Added the low-bracket game.

UPDATE 30: Added two more games for the high-bracket schedule. Plenty of games this week-end, fellas.

UPDATE 31: Confirmed sunday's high bracket game. Unfortunately we have to reschedule saturday's low bracket team. AGAIN!

UPDATE 32: Added schedule and link for Set Six.

UPDATE 33: Added a low bracket game to the schedule.

UPDATE 34: Added the results and link of the first low-bracket game.

UPDATE 35: Added the results and link for Set Seven. With this, TE have been eliminated from the tournament.

UPDATE 36: Added the results and link for Set Eight. With this, SFH have been eliminated from the tournament.

UPDATE 37: Added another game to the schedule; hope to get at least one more set of games in this week-end. Oh, and I'm back. No, no, stop hugging me, that's just awkward.

UPDATE 38: Added another game to the schedule of the low bracket. Check it out! Two sets of games tomorrow.

UPDATE 39: Added the results and link for Set Nine of the high bracket.

UPDATE 40: Added the results and link for Set Two of the lower bracket.

UPDATE 41: Added two more games to the high-bracket schedule. We're back, baby!

UPDATE 42: Finalized this weekend's high-bracket schedule.

UPDATE 43: Added two lower-bracket games for this week-end to the schedule.

UPDATE 44: Added the results and links for Saturday's games.

UPDATE 45: Added the results and link for Sunday's games.

UPDATE 46: Updated the schedule.

UPDATE 47: Added the link to our last set of games and updated the schedule with two additional set of games taking place today, check 'em out above. I also finally added the visual bracket for the lower bracket.

UPDATE 48: Adjusted the time for Set 13 of the higher bracket.

UPDATE 49: Added results and link for Set 13 of the higher bracket.

UPDATE 50: Added the results of last night's game, as well as the link. Additionally, I've added two new sections titled "Winners", where the most successful 3 teams of each bracket and their accomplishments, including total wins and losses etc, will be listed. Still a work in progress.

UPDATE 51: The time for the higher bracket finals has been determined, lower to come soon.

UPDATE 52: SON OF A BITCH!

UPDATE 53: Lower bracket finals finally set up, check the schedule.

UPDATE 54: Added the link and results for the finals of the low bracket, and updated the "Winners" section accordingly. Congratulations to the winners!

UPDATE 55: Finally added the schedule for the grand finals of our upper bracket tournament. This sunday, don't miss it!

UPDATE 57: Added the results for the high bracket finals. Links to come tomorrow.

UPDATE 58: Added the link for the high bracket finals and the interview.

UPDATE 59: VOD of Grant and I casting the show-match between the Daily DOTA gang and team "Just Gotta' Believe" aka "GAF" can now be accessed under rewards. I'll make a new thread in the coming days where people can post tips and ask questions about the next tournament.

Well fuck, guess I'm in by default. Black can't mid for shit so, yet again, the responsibility falls to me.

I guess I won't be orgazing one myself then, giddy up

At what dates/times will these matches be held?

Also you might want to change 'level' in 'wins' because there is an actual level system in the game and I was confused for a moment because level 120 has to be like a 1000 wins.

That said this looks to be pretty awesome.

I would be interested in casting again, it was fun the first time around. I don't have my own stream but I'd definitely look in to setting one up if needed. Otherwise I'd be down with just co-casting. Steam ID is Superfluous BTW.

Yeah, this really confused me as well.

@woutr: Little mistake. Will be corrected shortly.

Could I join the high bracket with a team consisting of sub120 wins? I'd want to setup a team but only 2-3 of us are over 120.

@woutr: @tobbrobb: Ofcourse you can join it. I can't promise you'll make the cut as we aim to make the high-level as intense as possibly. But sure, you can join. If we don't have enough other high-level teams or others that can't play at the right times, then your team is more than welcoem to play. If you don't get into this one, we promise we'll include you in the following tournament which'll most likely be a month or so after. Please join up.

I changed a lot of the "levels" to win; that was an honest mistake. That said; dates and times have yet to be decided, we want to start the whole thing with a bang, hence the small, high-level tournament which starts on the 15th. The lowbie tournament, we'll ask each time what times fit 'em and adjust it. A proper schedule will be written up once we have all the sign-ups.

Wait, don't tell me you're potentially cutting teams that have some lower level dudes on it in the higher brackets simply because it wouldn't be exciting enough? That'd be a giant turn-off and kind of ruin the whole part of it being a tournament.

@cloudenvy: I'd suggest you read through the original post as I adress this. Yes, we are potentially cutting teams as we have a max amount of teams allowed in this here first tournament. 16 teams for the lower level, 8 for the high level. We assume we won't need to cut anyone from the lower tier, but it is possible we'd have to for the higher level. Again; anyone who doesn't get picked for this series of games is assured a place in the next tournament.

We need to match the teams up in order to ensure balance; and IF we get a bunch of high-level teams where everyone has 800 wins, putting these people up against a team consisting of people with 100 wins would be pretty unfair, as well as a bore of a game to watch. First priority is making this fun for the whole community, after all.

@cloudenvy: Well it has two side to it. Last community league kinda died cause there were some teams who were way above other so.. I think some people just didn't think it mattered anymore. Which we already party fixed from going to more of a league system to a tournament where we have elimination.

Second, This is the first time that we do something like this and we would like to keep it manageable. If this is a success and we get a feel and we work some of the kinks out that will undoubtably arise we will do another one, bigger and better then the first! Cause being able to line everyone up to play their matches might be a problem and end up being chaotic with schedule of 10 people that need to line up.

So we won't necessarily turn people away to make it more exciting but to make it more manageable and to make sure we actually see an end to it and have a winner at the end of the slugfest.

@do_the_manta_ray: I'm out along with my team then. Have fun organizing the rest of this.

@cheappoison: It wasn't entirely team balance that was the major issue, "though it was one". Last league failed because the open and uncontrolled nature of it allowed it to die, since every team had to setup games by themselves, no one kind of ended up actually doing it. "Some of that is totally on me as one of the captains, but there were really only 2 or 3 captains who tried."

I think having you guys as the third party controlling the time/date and matchups will have a higher chance of going all the way. I mean, the starcraft tournaments have been doing well. :D

Also on the other issue. While I see your point about not matching up completely unbalanced games, I don't think there are enough people in the community to fill these brackets properly. The high bracket is almost guaranteed to be a mixed bag, I seriously doubt we have enough players over 500 wins to make more than one or two teams and the rest would be at a severe disadvantage no matter what. Having a truly fair and skillful tournament like you would see in pro-play "but on a lower level" is just a dream in a small community like this.

So if I can't play on the weekends (friday afternoon-sunday afternoon, I can play sunday evening), should I still sign up for this or will I miss too many matches?

@cloudenvy: I honestly don't understand why you'd do that. It is only a potential solution to something that may or may not become a problem. We hope we'll have no need to do so as it is a last resort. If you have a better solution for the same problem, please present it, we'd sure take it under consideration.

Secondly, considering how the last tournament went; it's a much better idea if you join up and help make this a success for the GB DOTA 2 community as a whole rather than just saying we're doing things wrong.

@woutr: I'd still suggest you sign up. We're going to schedule the matches after speaking to the captains of BOTH teams to ensure that everyone can play. I assume others will be in a similair situation as you and we do want everyone to be able to participate.

@tobbrobb: Well, you are right that might have been the biggest issue for the league. I guess i also let the inhouses i set up a while ago guide me in that people were really not too happy with playing with too unbalanced teams, cause it quickly becomes a chore for one team. Then again this has elimination and the first game of the tournament will most likely by determined by 1 game. (This is up for discussion, but then it is high stakes and it reduces the time commitment heavily for everyone involved. I can imagine it being hard to get people to commit to 3 potential games in captains mode right after another.)

We know there are problems, to not even mention the fact that wins/level/hours played are not even an accurate representation of where you are in terms of skill, let alone if that makes you work as a team.
But we are taking note this is just something we put together quick to have something for the dota community, especially now that interest is up with all the recent coverage.
Everything is subject to change, and if we do another one will undoubtable be better by the experience/feedback we get from this one.

@woutr: Like Do_The_Manta_Ray/blackmoore said, we will try to accommodate everyone as good as we can, so there should be very little reason for you not to participate. And in most extreme cases we can have someone fill in for someone that really can't make it.
Which we have to foresee anyways cause there might even be someone who signs up but cause of more important obligations will have to step out, we will try and mix and match to make everything go as smoothly as it can.

I was one of the captains in the last tournament and I can definitively say that the biggest reason things fell apart was that it was incredibly difficult and frustrating to set up game more than 2 weeks into the tourney. A more structured system would make things much smoother, as long as we know in advance what exactly is going to happen before we sign up.

@do_the_manta_ray: It's not even about the "turning people away" thing anymore. I won't join because I think you guys are grossly overestimating how many people you're going to get for this actually, I think you're ruining the potential chaos and fun by splitting it up in brackets to attempt some sort of "balance" that's not going to happen in a community as small as ours and the little high bracket you're going to get is going to be, as @tobbrobb said, such a mixed bag that you'll just end up making the team pool so small that it's practically pointless. The problem with the last tournament was exactly that there was no one overseeing it, and that was a far bigger issue than any sort of balance problem.

That's why I won't join this tournament. I don't feel like making this a success because I think you guys are on the wrong path with this entire thing but I wish you all the best in organizing it anyways.

@twigger89: Do you want to play in the higher bracket, or the lower one? Again; we feel disinclined to simply post a time for when the games start, as we want to discuss with teh captains of both teams when it'll fit them to ensure everyone can play. We promise to have answers well ahead of when the games actually start.

@do_the_manta_ray: Following your idea of not giving specific times for the matches, I suggest giving the teams a deadline to come up with a match result. Let's say one week for a tournament stage (ie one match per team), since it has elimination you'll be done in a little more than a month.

@kolh: I appreciate the suggestion, mate. We mean already start discussing match-ups and scheduling it at the beginning of next week, and speak to the folks in those days to set up the first, few games. We expect to be able to set up at least one set of games on saturday to kick things off, and others coming the week after. Your idea is similair to what we've been planning.

@cloudenvy: I understand where you're coming from. That said; Cheap and I decided on split brackets after having played and casted a great number of inhouses lately. 80 % of those inhouses end in a stomp, because one experienced player on a high-impact role gets farmed and dominates the enemy team. People stop watching, people even leave the match, nobody thinks that's fun. If we allowed anyone to play anywhere, that'd certainly happen, most likely over and over again, and after a set of games, it'd discourage the newer people from participating. We want folk to have fun and enjoy themselves. As for the community, we have almost a thousand members of the steam user group, and people are free to invite their friends. I reckon we'll see plenty of action.

@do_the_manta_ray: I'd probably play in the higher bracket, but tbh I'm a little wary after the last tourney so I'd like to know more of the details of how exactly this thing will set up before I try to get a team together for it.

@twigger89:

Well, feel free to ask your questions, I'll make sure to answer them. As already said in the original post, we'll be holding at least one set of games on saturday the 15th; most likely more. We'll attempt to have it in the evening for the europeans and in the afternoon for the americans so that nobody will miss out; but the specific timing will be given after speaking to both teams and ensuring that both can make said appointment. I understand why you'd want to know exactly, but a regular schedule right now would most likely only serve to dissuade folk from playing as people have jobs, study, childen to consider. Naturally, one could just average a certain time, but that'd almost certainly favour people from one continent over the other.

If you sign up, I can promise that you'll know when YOU will be playing a week ahead. And it'll be a time that us who manage it, the casters and you and your opponents will have agreed upon.

@do_the_manta_ray:

1). On what basis will the teams be organized?

2). How large of a group play together? (aka can a full 5 man team compete as is)

3). Will all the games have predetermined times and will there be at least one neutral observer present at all games in case of any issues?

4). How will substitutes be handled and can they be chosen from those outside the tournament?

5). Is there an individual min/max skill cap for the high bracket?

6). In terms of teams with players on different continents or a team playing against a team from a different continent, how will the server location be selected?

@twigger89: Very good questions; I'll be sure to include some of them in the Q&A section later on. I'm still talking a few of these through with Cheap, but let me give you some answers anycase.

1. Do you mean in regards of how they'll be set up against each other? We will, with few exceptions, randomize it, to ensure fairness. We might make some intervention, but I'd have to discuss that at length with Cheap.

2. Right now, we're looking for full 5 man teams to compete. We also have set up a sister-thread for people who are interested in finding teams, and or, more members; that way, nobody should have any issue filling their 5 slots. We recommend a sixth player for each time, to serve as a replacement incase someone can't make the game.

3. There will be pre-determined times once we have spoken to both teams, the casters and everyone involved. Each team will know when they'll be playing a week ahead of the game actually taking place. And yes, there will ALWAYS be, if not a set of casters, someone we have arranged, spectating each game, ensuring that nobody unpauses when someone is lagging badly, etc. Keeping the game fair.

4. As previously mentioned, a sixth player is recommended for each team. Cheap and I need to discuss this in further detail, but my first response is as follows; should even the sixth player not be able to make it, we will allow players to try and find someone else to fill the slot. Ofcourse, this will have to be done in advance and with the blessing of the enemy team, as opposed to making folks sit and wait.

5. No. If you want to play in the high bracket, you enter at your own risk.

6. Server locations will be selected after speaking to each captain who will report to us each player's ability or disability to play in any area, ensuring that we can find the optimal situation to balance it out for all players involved. Once the date has been determined, we'll ask both teams to test our server choice, so that on the date of hte game itself, tehre'll be no problems.

I hope this answers your questions, mate.

Is there some sort of margin for the combined win total?

It seems that the game win restriction is incredibly stifling to players that would like to play matchmaking right now and/or practice with their potential team.

If a team were to play a practice game and win, suddenly there's another 5 wins tacked onto their combined total that's counting against them in the lower bracket.

@munocard: No, this was adressed in the post. The total for a team's max wins will count on when it was that they signed up. So if they sign up today with 390 wins total; and in a week's time have 430 (or more), they'll still be allowed to play as that counts as them practicing for the tournament.

If anyone should have the max amount of wins right now, but having issue raising a team, plaese, feel free to message me and tell me as such; if you do end up with a couple over the limit, that's okay.

@do_the_manta_ray: Is there anything being done to prevent smurfs from entering the Low-level bracket? I know it can be hard to tell whether someone with 5 wins is new or smurfing but I feel like it's too easy to create a new Steam account with DOTA2 and jump into the Low-level bracket and stomp people.

@wunder_ said:

That was my big question as well.






Also, it looks like I'll be casting at least some portion of this tournament.

Also also, I guess I'll have to finally get around to figuring out how to get stream delay to work properly in OBS.

Will there be any substitute bench working for the tournament? Say that one guy isn't available to play for his team on one match. Is that match delayed, is it a win for the other team or can they call a substitute to replace the position of the missing player?

@winternet: Read the first post people. :P

Teams should get a sixth guy to substitute just in case, and there will be a bench of a few for extreme cases.

Read the first post again :/

Read the original post, what?! You people are crazy!

How many teams have signed up for the low bracket tournament by now?

@wunder that's an issue. Also some people are new to Dota 2 but are DotA, LoL or HoN veterans. I think number of wins is not a perfect criteria but it's the one we have now.

Man, now I wish I was any good at DOTA 2.
Or that I knew enough about DOTA 2 even cast it.

I am however good at watching tournament streams, so there's that!
Good luck with the event though, kinda cool seeing stuff like this pop up now and again.

To a high degree, I'm afraid that as this isn't an official tournament, we cannot contact valve and ask for any information on the different players, and as such, we're going to have to put a decent amount of trust into the community not to behave in an underhanded way. That said; we will have ourselves a look at every player for every team (Or possibly get someone else to do this for us, heh) in order to detect any blatant discrepancies. Should anyone actually attempt to smuggle a smurf into their team, said team will consequently be disqualified. This is meant to be a community event and anyone who attempts to take advantage of that fact has no place here. If you have any good tips to give us on how we might detect smurfs, please inform us. ( I know they're blue, but that's about it.)

@haroldonvu: No full teams have signed up as of yet, but to be fair, sign-ups start today so we hope to see some teams begin to form in these first, few days.That said, there IS plenty of interest as there are 3 teams worth of people in our seperate thread (16 at this moment) who are looking to construct a team with which they can participate.

Man, I'd love to play but my current rig is dead :(

@ajamafalous: There's the Broadcast Settings-thingy in OBS where there's literally an option for you to punch in a delay(seconds) that seems to work fine when I use it for stuff.
OBS is pretty lovely

Large update has been made to the Q&A section, and we also now have an additional reward, extensions/memberships for the winners!

@do_the_manta_ray: Thanks for holding this tournament, it's really awesome. A few of my friends and I have played in some GB inhouses and this looks like fun, so we'd like to participate in the high bracket tournament. I understand I don't actually have any posts, so it's totally cool if my group of friends and I get punted for a more active GB member. Sign ups are done here, correct?

TEAM: JUST GOTTA BELIEVE

Captain: ellen pudge, 815 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 3 Offlane
Favorite hero: Treant Protector

halyhaly, 380 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 4/5 Support
Favorite hero: Slark

Procarbine, 879 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 2 Mid
Favorite hero: Shadow Demon

G-Unit, 499 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 4/5 Support
Favorite hero: Lina

Anbokr, 418 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 1 Carry
Favorite hero: Shadow Fiend

Dreams Visions, 1344 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 4/5 Support
Favorite hero: Drow Ranger

Lord Sanjay, 375 Wins, Western Europe
Favorite role: None
Favorite hero: Position 1 Carry


ITS YA BOY, 148 Wins, North America
Favorite role: Position 4/5 Support
Favorite hero: Leshrac

You can add me on steam at

http://steamcommunity.com/id/ellenpudge/

if you need to contact me. It's the easiest way.

Yeah, I'm aware; the last time I tried to use it, though, it didn't work and my stream crashed.

@ellenpudge: That's right, sign-ups are done in this here thread. You've submitted just about everything I need. I'll go over your application and contact you on steam to let you know when I've added you to the listings. That's mainly a formality, mind; welcome to the tournament! If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask them to me either through here or on steam.

Team Name: /d2g/ Ocelots
Tag: d2g|Oc

Name: Ratfoot (Captain)
Position: 2
Wins: 912
Region: US West
Favorite Hero: Kunkka

Name: akd
Position: 3
Wins: 478
Region: US East
Favorite Hero(es): Rubick and Weaver

Name: SolidBaker
Position: 1
Wins: 506
Region: Australia
Favorite Hero: Lycan

Name: Globulous
Position: 4
Wins: 76
Region: US East
Favorite Hero: Ogre Magi

Name: ZeeRow
Position: 5
Wins: 267
Region: Australia
Favorite Hero: Keeper of the Light

Name: bucket
Position: Flexible
Wins: 137
Region: US West
Favorite Hero: Jakiro

Our contact will be Ratfoot.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/ratfoot

If you want to contact him on GB, he is @ratfoot

@ajamafalous: Ah yeah, people have had that problem before. I thought they fixed that in a patch or something, I could be wrong though

I love dota.

As of yet, I see a lot of interest coming out from the higher-tier players. That said; we really wanted to make the low bracket the focus of this tournament, which is why we put such specific limitations on it. It was a measure to ensure that even truly new players could jump in and simply enjoy themselves without having to worry about much better players stomping them.

The arguement I keep hearing is "I'm new and thus bad", yet it's for these people we created said bracket. I really want to reach out to the newer players and get them involved in this tournament. Can anyone think of any helpful suggestions to make it more appealing to these players?

@do_the_manta_ray: From what I've read from the OP tourney rules, there's no real way of making sure Smurfs don't participate in the lower bracket tourneys . I would think that and a lack of confidence in skills would be the biggest detractor from beginner participation. The one thing that low levels players all generally want is coaching and guidance. My suggestion would be to get coaches for the lower brackets (1 coach per team). Have a format in which teams get to practice for like x amount of time with a coach before the tourney. That way win or lose, they get something out of it. The biggest hurdle to this would be time commitment from both coaches and players.