Battle At The Toy Trove! - December 15th - St. Catharines, ON, Canada.

[Bing]

The First of many Monthly tournaments to be held at The Toy Trove

Address/Location

The Toy Trove

2 St. Paul Street West

St. Catharines, ON, Canada

L2R 3N7

Phone: 289-362-4401

Schedule!
12am-1pm: Sign Up/Registration
1pm-1:30/2pm: Free Play/Friendlies <-- Use this time to go for lunch if necessary
2pm-4pm: Singles Pools or Doubles Depending on interest.
4pm-6pm: Singles Pools: Unless We Don't have Doubles.
6pm-7pm: Food Break
7pm-9pm: Bracket(Top 16)

Prices:
10$ to enter
8$ if you provide a TV
5$ If you provide a Full Setup that is used.

Prizes:

It will be in the form of Store Credit and a Pen Center Gift Card
Singles
Under 16 Entrants
1st Place: 60%
2nd Place: 30%
3rd Place: 10%

16+ entrants
1st Place: 55%
2nd Place: 30%
3rd Place: 10%
4th Place: 5%

Super Smash Bros Melee Doubles

Under 8 teams
1st Place: 70%
2nd Place: 20%
3rd Place: 10%

8+ teams
1st place: 60%
2nd place: 30%
3rd place: 10%


Food and Drinks:
(I'll update this later with actual addresses if necessary)
The Toy Trove has Pop and Water for sale for 1$
There are multiple food locations near by including the following:
The Bull Pit: Just across the street, both way.
Pizza Pizza: Just Down St.Paul towards the bus station.
Smoke's Poutine: In behind Pizza Pizza
Bella Noella's Pizza: Beside Smoke's Poutine.


Tournament Rules:

Official MBR Ruleset

- 8 Minute Time Limit
- 4 Stocks each
- No Items
- Jungle Japes is banned in Both events
- Sets are Best 2/3. Semi-finals and other placings for money is best 3/5. LQs Is now 3/5.
- Best 3/5 sets will still have 1 stage ban
- Wobbling is banned at all of these
- Master Hand is obviously banned



General Rules:

BYOC (Bring Your Own Controller)
No illegal substances, no alcohol, no marijuana etc.
Don't smell, please shower
Tournament matches have priority over friendlies. MMs have priority over friendlies
Keep trash talking casual.
No refunds after entered.
Have fun
​

 

[Niko_K]

I'm very excited for this!

 

[Bing]

you also get a pen center gift card!

 

[Windrose]

i might come to this. it's not too far away...

 

[Bing]

Do it. Bring some peeps lol

 

[Summonedfist]

wtf is a pen center lol

 

[TPrime1]

The Pen Centre is the local big mall in St. Catharines.

 

[TPrime1]

Hello there,

I'm owner of The Toy Trove, and I just wanted to explain what we're trying to do here.

This is a first event to try and get newer players and build up interest. I can tell you, just from talking to my customers, that we're expecting a lot of casual players. This is good because we can use these kind of events to introduce players to a more professional outlet and bring them into the competitive scene. In the future we can plan more competitive events that will have a higher entry fee and cash prizes. However, because this is December (and people need to save for holiday shopping), and that we want to try to attract a lot of newer players, I felt it would be better to make this more of an introductory event.

What we can probably do for the future is either have rotating casual/competitive events, or potentially have both every month. In any case, we'll see how this first event goes, and take it from there.

 

[Niko_K]

TPrime if you'd like to discuss this further I have intentions of running large Melee tournaments at a venue known as Club LaSalle. If you are able to make a space available for rent for a few hundred bucks for the day this would be a large asset for the community and would certainly increase exposure towards the trove.

I'm the only individual in the region with large amounts of experience in running tournaments, having hosted over 10 of them with three of them being internationally recognized (Only in Niagara). I would love to see St.Catharines have this opportunity to make our events more professional.

Our biggest goal is exactly what you mention TPrime, casual players. Our goal should be to attract individuals who aspire to be like those who place in our tournaments and play out of city / province at a higher level. The scene cannot thrive or survive without a back end for casual players to get introduced to the game and the scene.

I'm gonna talk to Brad about doing what's right for both The Toy Trove and our scene, because without momentum and flawlessly ran tournaments the scene will not grow and expand as needed. People are attracted to professionally run tournaments such as those I ran which garnered heavy attention, and we cannot sacrifice our tournament reputation by letting new individuals take on such a large endeavor.

 

[TPrime1]

We can talk Niko_K. Feel free to stop by the store some time, or give me a call. I'm here Tuesday - Sunday. You can find the contact info on my website. www.thetoytrove.com

 

[oats_]

Hmmm........

 

[Miller]

I'm only coming for friendlies. No way I'm paying into a tournament for store credit.

Yup I'm not going, especially because I voiced my concerns to brad and on the toy trove facebook page, and it got deleted. In store credit and gift certificates are a joke, nothing more than a money grab. Guess who is going to be hosting smash fests again until September?

 

[Bing]

Yup I'm not going, especially because I voiced my concerns to brad and on the toy trove facebook page, and it got deleted. In store credit and gift certificates are a joke, nothing more than a money grab. Guess who is going to be hosting smash fests again until September?

Corey, I already addressed the issue with you, you went ahead and ran your mouth anyways. Just give it a rest, Please.

 

[TPrime1]

One thing everyone here should know is that this event was first and foremost planned because my customers requested it. The only reason why this was advertised on this forum and why your group was invited was because Brad found out I was doing this and asked to get involved. If in the future, people want me to host more competitive events with cash prizes, I would be open to the idea. However, this event will have store credit for the prizes for the mere purpose of keeping the cost for the players down. Hence why it will be a casual event. I so far have approximately 20 players pre-registered, who all said that they would not enter if the entry was $20.00 ($10.00 venue fee and $10.00 tournament fee like in Toronto). So, starting with a casual event and getting more players interested in higher level competition, is the first step.

 

[Niko_K]

Completely agreed. I just want us all to be working together on the same page to ensure that we get solid growth here in the region. I remember going to a 65 person brawl tournament at Stamford in the Falls which directly reflects just how many inactive and potential players are around us.

 

[ZaXXoR]

I'm completely down, If I win anything I'm getting some Magic cards, it's just 10 bucks,

BTW Todd, it's Zack xD

 

[Bing]

One sec, stacking the bracket so I get zack first round.

 

[Niko_K]

With Round Robin pools that won't be a possibility my friend.

 

[Bing]

Niko, I'll be one of the people running the tournament, assuming Zack makes bracket, I can do that XD


I'm just messing though, I wouldnt mess with the brackets or anything XD

 

[Niko_K]

Brad don't even joke about stuff like that. TO's need to be accountable and trustworthy and considering you've never run a tournament here locally we don't know what to expect from you. I hope you can adapt the professionalism required to run tournaments and please for the love of god seed the bracket using pools. The whole "I can but I won't" thing feels like you boasting your authority, and none of us want tournaments run by people who carry that personality.

Brad I just hope you have the full intention of strengthening the scene as opposed to weakening it, and in order for growth to occur we have to please everybody. Just think about what you say around these parts of the woods, and let's get everyone out to play.

Seriously though a bunch of Niagara folk are gonna make sure you're doing your job properly as TO, as they did with me when I held mine. It's a part of being a community, and that's what we all want.

 

[Bing]

Niko, I helped run Impulse and SiD tournaments on a monthly basis. I know how to seed and run a tournament, otherwise I wouldn't have stepped up to the plate and offered my assistance to Todd. I want.

I have been striving to strengthen this scene for the last year I've been playing back in Niagara, and finding players never really came easy, I had a few people here and there, but no big groups. I don't care if I'm the best or even close to the top for that matter, I want to develop a scene so that I can improve as both a player and a scene.

 

[TPrime1]

I have no doubt that Brad will run the event with integrity. As with all my tournaments that I run in my store, I enforce a strong code of conduct from both the players and the organizers. Niko, you keep mentioning the region's reputation for Smash Bro's Tournaments, but I have a strong reputation as well, both for my store and my events. So, rest assured that I take these kind of things very seriously. If you still have any concerns about this, I recommend you come and talk to me directly. That would be the best way to settle any of your doubts.

 

[Niko_K]

I'm not doubting anything at all, just what is posted here feeds the perception of casual up and comers that's all I'm getting at .

I have no doubt about The Toy Trove and I'm actually extremely happy that we are finally starting to see this type of partnership between business and players. It doesn't happen in this region all that often.

I mention our reputation for tournaments because we have seen some of the worlds best travel through here and Ally rose to fame here in Niagara as well.

I have no concerns at all, just follow the same ruleset as other Ontario Melee tournaments for the sake of consistency and everything else will fall into place. I think a overview of the rules prior to the tournament start is also a good idea.

It's not doubt as much as it is anxiousness for this opportunity to be exercised to the fullest of its potential and start something great for the scene.

 

[pastaboy]

cool 10 char

 

[Niko_K]

Jared how can I reach you? Wanna get together and play some Brawl / Melee sometime?

 

[Lawlb0t]

Whoever it was who got in contact with those two or three people from Brock should tell them to come out if they do not lurk smash boards.

Edit:

To post anything about the alleged controversy would be extremely redundant, so I am not going to. I already spoke to Brad to know where or where not certain applicability within certain conditions lays in relation to growing a SSBM community in conjunction with the other communities (eg: GTA, Ottawa, Montreal) and running standard (competitive) tournaments if that was the intent.

 

[Bing]

I've got a few people that go to brock, I've already told them.

Rice2Go, Linksta, Falcowned and he has a few friends, plus I've got a few people who PM me on here from Niagara.

 

[Lawlb0t]

I don't remember everyone from the Brawl community around here, but I remember at least two of our Melee players (Alex and Alex lol) were Brock, but from another region. They decided to post on smashboards and found players.

Brock = good potential for player base

Edit:

Niko,

Nothing really needs to be said, we already know what needs to be done if things do or do not transpire.

 

[Niko_K]

We need to keep our eyes off of the prize and focus on what is best for our community as a whole. The owner of The Toy Trove is showing extreme initiative by even considering this as an option and we should be thankful for it. There is a ton of cool merchandise at the store which I would be interested in and I could care less about the money. We all know what our competitive scene was and who is involved, and if those people want to see standardized tournaments with healthy numbers that The Toy Trove can benefit from then PLEASE show up to this tournament.

This is a great opportunity to reconnect with players, gain momentum and the desire to get better. Please don't spoil this opportunity because of materialism and just come out for the spirit of NiagaraSmash.

EDIT: I agree about the potential for a lot of players at Brock. Mark Savic is another one of those individuals and I know he will show up with a friend or two.

 

[TPrime1]

Thanks Niko, that's a much better way to look at it. Also, like I said, this is a casual tournament that I started for my customers, hence the store credit. If from this, we get more people interested in a more competitive setting, then we can try that next. We'd just have to try figure out a format that would be good for this region. Niagara has the second highest unemployment rate in Ontario. So, some things that would fly in Toronto would be harder to run here.

 

[Niko_K]

Never meant to come off the way I did, without a tone of voice people are misconstrued very quickly on the boards.

I feel any tournament holds an innately competitive setting but I think you mean in alignment with the rest of the competitive community right?

If you look at the threads for the large scale tournaments I used to run here in Niagara you would notice that the format was simply to use the Melee BackRoom ruleset (the collectively agreed upon ruleset from the intellectuals and casuals of the scene), and to charge a venue fee relative to the cost of the location.

I paid $200 for 12 hours at ClubLaSalle so 20 people at $10 took care of it. The extra money was added as a pot bonus, or paid for employees to work at the bar/cafe.

What I'm saying is to have faith in the potential of this opportunity and not proceed too cautiously. The creation of a local scene creates the ability for us to host larger scale tournaments where out of towners come (Michigan, Quebec, Toronto, Ottawa) and thus creating a larger pool of venue fee to be split between The Toy Trove and the tournament.

I'm sure we can make this a beneficial venture for The Toy Trove while satisfying the needs of the community.

 

[HammerTime]

If I had a reliable way of getting out to this I'd come

 

[Niko_K]

Hammertime do you have online banking? I could interac e-Transfer you the amount for coachcanada fare from Sauga to here/back.

 

[Bing]

Pretty sure thats 30$. Thats what it costs to/from Toronto.

 

[HammerTime]

Hammertime do you have online banking? I could interac e-Transfer you the amount for coachcanada fare from Sauga to here/back.

Thanks for the offer, but its not only the money that I'm concerned about. It's just that I'm not sure if I want to spend several hours traveling each way by bus for an "experimental" tourney that may or may not have a good turnout.

If people from my area decide to drive out and somebody can offer me a ride I'd come.

 

[Niko_K]

There isn't anything experimental about the tournament except for The Toy Trove. We're going to be using a standard tournament ruleset from the MBR. It's for store credit which is the only experimental thing. We're simply trying to revitalize the scene and want this tournament to have a friendly feel to it where people can learn and practice while still having those competitive implications motivate players.

Hope to see you come out and enjoy the day, that's all this is about, and that's all our scene will ever be about.

Having fun.

 

[TPrime1]

I can understand that. I'm pretty sure we'll have great numbers, but since this is the first one, it's hard to take my word for it, and I can understand that. I fully expect this one to be mostly (if not all) local players.

As for what I meant by competitive, I guess the feedback I've gotten from the players so far is that they don't want to pay a lot into a tournament if there are going to be a lot of players who often compete in high stakes tournaments. They just feel that they won't have a chance of placing. Which once again establishes why this is a pretty good step. If people come to this and do well against a lot of unfamiliar players (including a few competitors), it's going to boost their overall confidence about how competitive they can be.

Once we get this first one out of the way, Niko, Brad and I can sit down and figure out a format that would work best for everyone.

 

[Niko_K]

I completely agree with you Todd. Tournaments are actually an amazing place for inspiration when it comes to up and coming players. I remember going to Toronto and losing every match even without taking a life from a player and having the time of my life. I was so amazed by the level of skill and watching the grand finals made me want to become just like them.

It needs to be known that almost all of our high level players would gladly sit down with new players and teach them everything they can possibly learn. Med$ is a relatively new player and what we would generally consider an "amateur" in comparison to the rest of the community, but he is improving alarmingly fast due to playing against players who are competent in the game and understand the technical aspects as well.

 

[TPrime1]

Hope to see you come out and enjoy the day, that's all this is about, and that's all our scene will ever be about.

Having fun.

That's what I like to see Niko. Like I said, I'm open to having cash pool tournaments, but when I saw that people were saying no simply because of that, I was getting worried. One thing I pride myself on with all my events (MTG, Yugioh, etc.) is that the crowds I get out are friendly and play for the fun of it. Great cash prizes are awesome, but when people start to get very serious about the prizes, that's when the casual player ducks out. That's the difference between my setting and that of some of my competitors. If we can come up with a format for a regular event that has good prizes, an affordable entry fee, and keeps things fun, then I have no doubt in my mind that we can make this very big.

 

[HammerTime]

i might come to this. it's not too far away...

Just saw this now

If you end up driving out let me know. I can come with you and pay for gas.