ARENA Open: Spring

What is this?
ARENA is a new brand/mark/kind/whatever you call it of KAG tournaments.
ARENA Open, in particular, is a series of four seasonal qualifiers, all of which are going to be held throughout the year, and one big event featuring actual prizes for contestants.

It is going to be a 1v1 knight tournament with:
-vanilla combat
-1 bomb for every knight
-new, premade maps

ARENA Open: Spring is the first of those 4 qualifiers.
The winner of this tournament will get a direct seed to the final event, as well as winners of 3 other qualifiers. Aside of that, other players gain points, the ones with most points after all qualifiers are finished, will be seeded to the final event too.

Short story long, scoring looks like this:
1st place: direct seed to the finals
2nd place: 7 points
Semifinalist: 4 points
Round of 8: 2 points
Getting to the round of 16 is, unfortunately, not rewarded.

How do I sign up?
Oh, that's very simple. Go here: http://challonge.com/tournaments/signup/28htLLeCth and simply sign up to the event. However, there are some requirements:
-your name must be the same as the KAG username you are going to play under
-your ping must not exceed beyond 66 (occasional ping spikes are allowed but you should keep it low almost all the time)
-you must be premium
Not obeying those rules will get you disqualified.
There is also limited amount of slots and time:
-you can't sign up once all 32 slots are taken
-you can't sign up past 5pm GMT (12am EST), 30th March

When is this going to happen?
On this Saturday, 30th of March.
We're starting with the check-in at 7pm GMT (2pm EST). Together with the check-in, the entire tournament is expected to last ~3 hours.
The check-in will last 30 minutes:
-if you don't manage to get on our IRC channel (Quakenet, #arena.kag) in time, you will be disqualified from this, and the next qualifier.
You might be disuqalified in the middle of the tourney as well:
-if you don't respond for 10 consecutive minutes, your opponent might take a walk-over
-particular cases might be dealt different way but don't hope for too much

Where is this going to happen?
Our primary server is located in Texas, United States, it will be split into 1-3 1v1 servers with at least one spectator slot each.
We also have an emergency server located in New York.
Those facts, together with ping limit being 66, mean that it is generally aimed at players living in NA. The reasons behind will not be explained here because tl;dr.

Ok, but what are the rules?
Oh, that's very simple too.
As mentioned before, it's a 1v1 knight tournament. The format is a 32 players single elimination bracket.

More on the format:
-32 players competing in a SE bracket
-Round of 32 and round of 16 being best of 1
-Round of 8 and semifinals being best of 3
-Finals being best of 5
-No 3rd place match

Players are obligated to play on given maps:
-Ro32: 2
-Ro16: 1
-Ro8: Starting map is 5, then it's loser's pick
-Semifinals: Starting map is 6, then it's loser's pick
-Finals: Starting map is 4, then it's loser's pick

The game rules:
-knight only
-1 bomb
-default settings
-no respawns, the first player to die loses the round
-extralong, 4 minutes time limit
-15 seconds build time, to have both players respawn before they can enter the map
-if the time runs out and both players are alive, the one with more hearts wins
-if both players have the same amount of hearts, it's a draw and they are obligated to play the round again, on the same map
-deploying bombs during the build time/warm up (the time when the big red barrier is on) leads to a ban. no ecceptions

Maps which will be used in the tournament:

Every .png, instead of a name, has a number assigned, it's for easier memorization of the maps.

All the players will be given admin commands to swap and restart maps easily. However, their games will be overlooked by other players and judges, to not let any abuse happen.

Other important details:
The check-in and the gathering of players will hapen on #arena.kag channel, Quakenet IRC network.
Easy way to join the channel: http://webchat.quakenet.org/
As your nickname put the the KAG username you are going to play under, as the channel put #arena.kag, then hit "Join chat".
During the tournament, everybody on the channel will be muted by default, I will voice people when check-ing their presence and before their matches.
<I'll put more as questions are asked>


Our media partner is wonderful as always, http://gather.kag2d.nl/ !

 

what... is it?

 

Can I host the server these get played on? Then I can auto win cause no one else lives in Alaska.

 

Premade map castles or what?

 

It looks like Line infantry formation planning with to artillery nests on the side.

 

If it's for non-premium then I sign in xD
But for now need to wait until more informations will appear.

 

Count me in ;) hopefully it's hosted in the US !

 

So much mystery

 

Count me in on this thing!

 

Indeed, I'll try to make as well.

 

If I don't get lag in Australia.... I'm keen as a bean! Except....what am I keen for exactly
Quick Death Matches? Small sided CTF? No builders CTF? RTDM?

 

Sounds fun, I'm in.

 

I'll try, if my connection don't lag with Texas-France ;)

 

1v1 me pusy fagets

 

Host it in Europe ;)

 

What are the prizes? If so, are there placements like 1st, 2nd, 3rd?

 

Do you really need to know 12 months onward?

Also, all you people from Europe, who signed up:
don't be surprised to see yourself removed before the tournament starts. I don't know why people with 166 ping take up slots.