Well then I hope any clans my team are associated with don't ask my players to be active. And no, SEA ladder does not need to be active, if it is to encourage players without Korea access... wouldn't they play on SEA anyway? If it is to encourage activity, HOTS will solve that issue. If you offer a cash prize, someone like Mafia will jump in and hold that rank 1 slot for a few months, and you're essentially paying players to train in non ideal circumstances.
It's not exactly hard to play 5 games a week on a server to maintain your rank on the SEA ladder.. that, or co-ordinate with other players to play practice games, just on the SEA ladder. It's much less of an issue than you're making it out to be.
For example, when I used to ladder on SEA to keep my GM spot, I would ask anyone on my friends list to come play a bo5 on ladder. Are you saying that playing against mafia is bad practice? Or Iaguz? Or Glade? Or Ninja?
All it takes is a slight amount of co-ordination to participate in, what is going to be, a nice community-driven event.
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