Following the success of the first season, where we got to see Yang win the seed to the WCS Australian finals over MrToast, Perth Barcraft Starleague is back for a 2nd season!
Venue: Online
Bracket Style: Swiss
Bracket Rounds: 8 rounds, each round is best of 3, participants will play 1 round each week for 8 weeks.
Server: SEA
an off-line finals series will be held after the conclusion of the regular season, details TBA
Eligibility: Any Western Australian resident is able to enter PBSL2 (parent/guardian accompaniment will be required for any minors to participate/spectate in the off-line finals)
Cutoff Date: Friday the 7th of December
Registration Cost: Free
Register by submitting the following details to starleague@perthbarcraft.com.au
Name:
In Game Name:
Character Code:
Age:
Current League:
Email:
Season Start: December 7th, 2012
Season End: Feb 7th, 2013
Matchups Announced: Every Friday
Matches Played: Every Thursday, 8pm. (default time, players may reschedule matches if their opponent agrees)
Results Submission: Before Friday 9am.
Holiday Exceptions: Round 3 announced on the Dec 21st, matches default play time 3rd of Jan.
Finals Date: Offline Event. Date TBD (probably mid february).
does anyone else miss playing in SEACL every week as much as me? getting the chance to prepare for a specific opponent on a specific map is just so much more rewarding than ladder. We're not running a SEACL3, but until that happens we are running a smaller weekly online tournament for perth SC2 players who are interested.
The aim was to create a weekly tournament that is as enjoyable to play in as possible for players of all skill levels, which a Swiss system will provide. for those who don't know how a Swiss bracket works, matchups in the first week will be randomly generated, then after that you will only be matched against opponents who are on the same number of wins for the season as yourself. Every player will be ranked at the end of the season, every match counts. no players are eliminated in Swiss system tournaments. Wikipedia has a nice detailed article for anyone still confused.
I'm hoping to have as many Perth players as possible participate. to encourage people to play (even if they don't think they can win) there will be a 'competitors prize' awarded to a player drawn at random from those who meet the following criteria:
a) signed up
b) had 0 forfeits over the 8 week season
c) is at the finals, either as a player or spectator
obviously this will produce a lot of games, and aspiring casters who are would like to help us out (either at the offline finals or casting some of the better matches from the Swiss bracket) let us know!
the first round of matches will be announced on friday the 7th, with default match time being every Thursday night after that (you can reschedule with your oponent)
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i guess i need to learn how to play now...
a reminder that sign ups for this close in a few days (friday morning).
so if you're planning to sign up do so now or i won't love you any more.
everyone who signed up: confirmation emails have been sent out to everyone who registered, if you have not received a confirmation email please contact myself or Tim asap.
we have more signups reporting their league as below diamond than above diamond (lot's of golds). i can not emphasise enough that being a 'lower league' player will not prevent you from having fun in this league.
Register before friday by submitting the following details to starleague@perthbarcraft.com.au
Name:
In Game Name:
Character Code:
Age:
Current League:
Email:
___________________________________
i guess i need to learn how to play now...
the first round of match ups has been generated! please let admins know immediately if you need the contact info of your opponent for reschedule purposes.
Open only to West Australians, PBSL2 will be an 8 week, 8 round swiss tournament followed by the top 6 qualifying for a live finals event. The finals series will use a format which favours players who earn higher seeds from the regular season, so every spot (and every match) is important.
The following is purely my opinion, someone with more knowledge of the Perth players will probably tell me why I'm wrong.
To my knowledge, none of the competitors have ever competed in a league where you get a week to prepare for each opponent. Some will obviously handle it better than others and climb/drop ranks due to this factor. Some will drop ranks because they can't make it every week. i haven't taken these factors into account.
With that said, here are my predictions for the top end of the ladder come season end...
The Favourite:
1) Frustration
Representing x5, whether you love him or (more likely) can't stand him he's the outright favourite to win this league. since he entered the scene out of (seemingly) nowhere 5 months ago he has proven himself more than capable in online and off-line events, finishing 2nd to yang in his first tournament before winning a masters cup and RFlan41. While some people love to question his attitude; the level of passion, manner and ability I've seen from him at the last two RFlans greatly impresses me. Now that Perth SC2 is in the post yang era, frustration will go into every single match a red hot favourite, I see him going 8-0 for the season unless his schedule forces him to forfeit a match at some point.
The contender:
2) MrToast
Officially clan-less since the disbanding of wT (we consider him an honorary member of AsG these days), toast has been one of the top terrans in the Perth scene since I started getting involved as a low plat player. Toast has long history of finishing 2nd or 3rd in off-line events, most recently coming runner up in PBSL1 and RFlan41. If there's anyone left in Perth that can take the title from frustration, it's this guy.
Underachievers:
These guys all have reputations in Perth as good players, but don't really have the tournament results to justify those reputations. there's a high possibility I'm being biased because they're clan-mates of mine.
3) AsGNadir
One of those people who practices on the Korean server because he's too good for the rest of us. my pick for best zerg in Perth since i started paying attention to Perth SC2 tournaments, but Nadir has never really had a result that lives up to my high expectations for him. Hopefully being able to plan out every map (ie when to build a spawning pool :P ) will help him finally get that win he deserves.
4) Goosejuice
Recently recruited by pX after finally bothering to get promoted to GM. He's usually too busy to attend lans, but seems pretty keen for this league after being the dominant protoss back in SEACL tier 4. He's always willing to help people learn the game and has been my primary mentor/practice partner/2v2 crutch since I started playing. I'm expecting big things.
5) AsGCHoBo
Some say this infamous terran has gold-diamond level skills, some say low GM, he claims his current ladder rank (high GM) is legit. He managed to knock nadir out of the last RFlan. Chobo is generously donating to the prize pool, one of the BSG players will be receiving a coaching session from him. If his ladder rank is as legit as he claims, he shouldn't have any trouble reaching the off-line finals and performing well enough to silence his critics.
(Please don't derail the thread over any issues with Chobo and his past actions. All replays of this league will be made public, start a new thread if you find any evidence of wrongdoing by any player. PM me or Mooseable if you have any concerns)
Dark Horses:
Previously unknown (to me, at least) Perth GMs that have popped up recently and not really interacted with the rest of the Perth SC2 community much as far as I've noticed. if someone mentions them in Perth chat you can expect a response of "Who's that?" from most people. I haven't watched much gameplay, and nothing at all in the last 3 months, from any of them. It's entirely possible one of them has been practising hard enough to cause some upsets.
***** (see edit at bottom) *****
6) TNnomad
A protoss who I'm pretty sure beat some good players at the last two or three RFlans. I can't remember exactly and can't find the old brackets anywhere
7) Why
GM zerg who came 4th in PBSL1 iirc
8) Scalaz
GM protoss. i think he attended an RFlan or two?
9) FaDeUndoNe
A terran who i remember made a blog on Sc2sea that said he was happy about reaching GM but he would have to give up SC2 when uni resumes next year.
10) FaDeRawfish
I remember this zerg from PD clan league and SEACL tier 4. He was way better than me then, so if he's kept up his practice (i think he has, he lists his rank on the sign up as "KR Masters") he should be capable of taking down some names much higher on this list. He's never been to a LAN tournament as far as I know, so I always forget that he's actually from Perth.
Wildcards:
I would be shocked if they finished top 3, but they have the ability to cause upsets and possibly sneak a place in the finals. once again, I'm obviously highly biased here.
11) AsGSedz
The SC2 captain of AsG almost single handedly built the Perth SC2 scene around the tournaments he and Griefer used to run, and has been rewarded by having me troll him constantly ever since. From what I've seen on his stream, his ladder play isn't super impressive; but when he gets a chance to enter tournaments instead of running them, his consistently strong play style almost always snares him a result that exceed everyone's expectations. A few months on after switching to terran, i believe his skill has finally reached where he was as zerg. I know he's been training hard lately, I want to see some results.
12) AsGZealo (me)
The stereotypical random player / 2v2 player / troll. I haven't been able to play much in the last few months and I've never really taken 1v1s seriously when i do get to play. i do have a super competitive personality though, I'm hoping that playing as random will make me harder to prepare for, and when combined with my uncommon play-style I'm looking forward to causing some upsets.
Underated:
x) Paul
He only started playing this year, his 1v1 rank has improved from gold to high diamond in the 4 months since I started playing with him (I'm going to pretend my coaching played a major part in this). He would have improved a lot faster, but he mostly focuses on team games and almost never ladders 1v1. In practice games I'd rate him mid masters at least, last RFlan he got everyone's attention when he took a map off Nadir. The PBSL season is 2 months long, I'll be very interested to see if he keeps improving at such a rapid rate and where he finishes on the table.
Most of the above players will be at RFlan next week, results there will probably give a pretty good indication of how the PBSL table will actually end up looking.
ROUND 1 match to watch:
Sedz vs Liquid.
Round 1 is completely randomised, so there are a lot of mismatches. These two should produce an entertaining series though.
***** EDIT:
Mvp
Added into the bracket at the last minute, I remember not having heard of him when he was late finding the channel to the qualifier for PBSL1 and managed to take home the 3rd place prize. I'm pretty sure he's attended and RFlan or two without any outstanding results. I'm slotting him in above Nomad based on his relative success playing in front of the barcraft crowd last time
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i guess i need to learn how to play now...
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