[September 7th] BIO 2! (Tuscaloosa, AL)

[Zylo]

Tuscaloosa's tournament scene returns with a monthly series kicking off on September 7th. Since this event will be at an on-campus venue, there will be NO VENUE FEE. The featured events are Melee Singles and PM Singles, and side events include Random Teammate Melee Doubles and Melee Draft Crews. These side events will change each month.

Location:

The Riverside Community Center (in the upper room)

https://www.google.com/maps/preview?ie=UTF-8&fb=1&gl=us&cid=16072829938233641234&q=The+University+of+Alabama&ei=PejiU6WgGZKKyATn6oGIAw&sqi=2&ved=0CIwBEPwSMAs

Schedule:

11:30-1:30 Registration
2:00 Melee Doubles
3:00 Melee Singles
4:30 PM Singles
7:30-8:00 Break
8:15 Draft Crews
11:30 Cleanup
12:00 Leave Venue

Entry Fee for PM Singles and Melee Singles will be $2/Event, and the pot will be split 80/20. Both side events are free, but as such will not feature a prize other than the satisfaction of a job well done.

Random Teammate Doubles: (Free)

Once entered in this event, you will be entered into a list that will randomly pair you with another entrant once we close registration. We will then generate a double elimination bracket and announce the teams, and you will proceed to struggle in agony/sweep the competition. The bracket will be Best of 3, with the exception of Winner's Finals, Loser's Finals, and Grand Finals, which will be Best of 5. In the event we have an odd number of entrants, I will team with a Level 9 Luigi. This event will follow the standard ruleset found here: http://www.apex-series.com/rules/melee/ with the exception that DK 64 will NOT be a legal stage.

Melee Singles: ($2)

Melee Singles will follow a standard double elimination bracket, with 1st place taking home 80% of the pot, and 2nd place taking home 20% of the pot. Melee Singles will follow the standard ruleset found here: http://www.apex-series.com/rules/melee/. The bracket will be Best of 3, with the exception of Winner's Finals, Loser's Finals, and Grand Finals, which will be Best of 5.

PM Singles: ($2)

PM Singles will follow a standard double elimination bracket, with 1st place taking home 80% of the pot, and 2nd place taking home 20% of the pot. PM Singles will follow the standard ruleset found here: http://www.apex-series.com/rules/projectm/. With the exception that only version 3.02 will be allowed. The bracket will be Best of 3, with the exception of Winner's Finals, Loser's Finals, and Grand Finals, which will be Best of 5.

Draft Crews: (Free)

Here is an explanation of what a Crew Battle is: http://www.ssbwiki.com/Crew_battle. If you choose to enter Draft Crews, you will be added to a list with all other entrants. You will choose your character when you enter, and you will not be able to switch at any time once we begin. Once registration is closed, the other captain and I will take turns selecting entrants for each of our teams. If we have a large number of entrants, we will divide the entrants into four crews, and run a Best of 1, Single Elimination Bracket. Each team will blindly select their starter, and the two starters will face off to commence our crew battle. We will follow the standard Apex Ruleset for rules and counterpicking, with the exception that everyone will be character-locked.

Food Options:

Within 5 minutes walking distance of the venue, there is a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, a Dunkin Donuts, and a Dining Hall. Within 10 minutes walking distance of the venue, there is the above, as well as Chic-Fil-A, Wendy's, Panda Express, Starbucks, Topio's, Subway, Auntie Anne's, and a little market. The TO's will be happy to direct you to any of these locations.

Parking on Campus:

As per the UA Parking Policy found here: http://bamaparking.ua.edu/visitor-information/, "Permits are not required to park in a legal space after hours and on weekends." So go nuts (in the legal spaces). There is a parking deck within 5 minutes walking distance of the venue, as well as a large parking lot connected to said deck.

Setups:

Although I can probably scrounge up between 6-8 setups among the people I know, having more would be GREATLY APPRECIATED. This will help us run events much smoother, as well as encourage friendlies when tournaments are reaching their end. If you have a setup you can commit to this tournament, please bring it, and if you're feeling super nice, let me know so that I can plan ahead.

We have a dedicated TO Staff running the event, and I'm looking forward to a good tournament. Hopefully everyone can make it out.

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/275558362630519/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

 

[Merk]

Should be sweet, hopefully I won't lose to a Link this time around.

Also if anyone has any questions about the tournament, I'm one of Zylo's recruited TO buddies so I might be able to answer some things, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

I'll be glad to help. I may have a TV and setup available, my tv's remote is missing and if I can find it you've got a setup from me. I'll be glad to join you guys

 

[Metmetm3t]

How did you make a tournament thread without the header that has the map and stuff? This is weird.

 

[Merk]

I'll be glad to help. I may have a TV and setup available, my tv's remote is missing and if I can find it you've got a setup from me. I'll be glad to join you guys

FWIW, cheap Universal remotes are like 10 bucks, I had to get one for my CRT I bought via Craigslist. Some smartphones also have remote functionality; my Galaxy S4 does. In any case, bring your TV and setup anyways because TOs will probably have remotes (me with a phone, someone else with the RCA thing).

 

[Zylo]

How did you make a tournament thread without the header that has the map and stuff? This is weird.

It also didnt have the date and location in the title. I had to add them myself. So idk what I did wrong, but here it is!

 

[Gold_Jacobson]

Hey,

I am thinking of making the trip over for this! It would be my first tournament. I'm living in MS for the year.
Couple questions:

How many people usually attend?
Will it be streamed?

Thank you.

 

[Zylo]

Hey,

I am thinking of making the trip over for this! It would be my first tournament. I'm living in MS for the year.
Couple questions:

How many people usually attend?
Will it be streamed?

Thank you.

Hi! Welcome to the tournament scene. We ran a tournament last semester, and despite being last minute and not advertised, we had over 20 people show up. Now that were expanding our events, are advertising, and are increasing our organization, I am expecting 35-40. As for streaming, we have a local gaming club that streams occasionally, so were trying to set that up with them.

 

[Gold_Jacobson]

Great. Thank you.

See you in a month!

 

[_Keno_]

what's the normal turn-out to a melee tournament?

 

[Zylo]

what's the normal turn-out to a melee tournament?

The first installment that we ran last semester was ONLY melee, and had 20 entrants. I'm hoping that with the inclusion of PM as well as better advertising and planning, we'll be able to draw in enough to make that number go up to 30.

 

[Flame Blade 2]

Wow, almost half a day of smash. Sick! If I can make it I can totally spare a GC setup with a 1.0 melee disc and a hacked Wii with a brawl disc and PM of course. Or any combination of that equipment.

No CRT's but I could bring a flat screen and component cables with my Wii if you need any extra friendlies stations I guess (if that's not a sin or anything... )

 

[Merk]

Wow, almost half a day of smash. Sick! If I can make it I can totally spare a GC setup with a 1.0 melee disc and a hacked Wii with a brawl disc and PM of course. Or any combination of that equipment.

No CRT's but I could bring a flat screen and component cables with my Wii if you need any extra friendlies stations I guess (if that's not a sin or anything... )

It might be a sin, but we'll just ask for forgiveness later. Plus, there's always the small probability that we have extra CRTs from people who bring multiple, so it's obviously worth bringing your stuff.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

It might be a sin, but we'll just ask for forgiveness later. Plus, there's always the small probability that we have extra CRTs from people who bring multiple, so it's obviously worth bringing your stuff.

I'm not God but I don't think it's a sin at all

 

[Merk]

I'm not God but I don't think it's a sin at all

Regardless, even if it's a dedicated friendlies TV, TVs are always nice.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Hey Zylo, during the time that Melee is being played in bracket, will there be PM friendlies setups or will all the TV's be used for melee?

 

[Zylo]

Hey Zylo, during the time that Melee is being played in bracket, will there be PM friendlies setups or will all the TV's be used for melee?

Since PM is going to be running after melee anyway, once we reach the point in bracket where we have fewer matches that can be played than setups, we'll start converting them to PM. We MIGHT start with all melee setups, but I think this is pretty unrealistic given the resources available. Don't worry, I'll let you get plenty of PM

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Thanks man :D I just didn't wanna sit around from 12 to 4 having nothing to do but melee, nothing wrong with melee at all, I'm just more of a PM player and that's the only bracket I'm gonna enter. Could I have my own friendlies station if I brought my flatscreen?

 

[Zylo]

Thanks man :D I just didn't wanna sit around from 12 to 4 having nothing to do but melee, nothing wrong with melee at all, I'm just more of a PM player and that's the only bracket I'm gonna enter. Could I have my own friendlies station if I brought my flatscreen?

Sure, I'll mark you down for a PM friendlies station on a flatscreen. Did you get any update on the CRT?

 

[Jake The Preacher]

I'll have it next week, I'm going back to my Uncle's to scavenge for the remote and hope it's there. And is the venue over by the Ferg? That's where the marker is showing up on Google maps, just wanna make sure I've got it right

 

[Zylo]

I'll have it next week, I'm going back to my Uncle's to scavenge for the remote and hope it's there. And is the venue over by the Ferg? That's where the marker is showing up on Google maps, just wanna make sure I've got it right

It's sort of close, but zooming in on the map will show you the exact location.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Alright thanks man. I'll make sure to let you know if I've got any more questions
Edit: Found another question, will this be recorded or streamed?

 

[Mime]

I'm trying to get my mobile crew to come so if they do, that's a plus 4-9 people

 

[Zoma]

Crew battle? Did someone say Mobile-Tuscaloosa crew battle?

Maybe it was just me.

 

[GKudzu]

Got no set up or skill, but I'll be there! Anybody in College town wants someone to play with, I'm down to meet some new people!

 

[Zylo]

Got no set up or skill, but I'll be there! Anybody in College town wants someone to play with, I'm down to meet some new people!

We have a facebook group for tuscaloosa that I can add you to. It should be coming back to life now that everyone is coming back.

 

[Wolf McBlue]

This might be a good...hope to pick up on my PM skills, and goof around one Saturday. I can bring a set up.

 

[Zylo]

This might be a good...hope to pick up on my PM skills, and goof around one Saturday. I can bring a set up.

Awesome, can't wait to see you there!

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Sorry Zylo, the remote hunt for my TV didn't turn out so all I've got is a PM setup for friendlies

 

[Zylo]

Sorry Zylo, the remote hunt for my TV didn't turn out so all I've got is a PM setup for friendlies

We have a Universal Remote on hand, so don't let that be a deterrent.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Alright, is the venue up stairs or is it on a first floor?

 

[Zoma]

It's on the second floor, but there is an elevator for ease of CRT transport.

 

[Jake The Preacher]

Thank goodness, alright I'll being my CRT in hopes of the remote working out for it

 

[Mime]

Crew battle? Did someone say Mobile-Tuscaloosa crew battle?

Maybe it was just me.

Maybe haha. I don't know if I even count since I live at UA now

 

[Sickolas]

So a lot of people from Mobile can't come to this. Three of them because it's a Sunday, and another because he's already requested off work for a bunch of other tournaments in advance, so take of that what you will.

Also just saying, but a 2-dollar buy in is not worth the drive from Mobile. It would cost me 60 dollars in gas round trip and first place would get 48 if there's 30 entrants for an 80/20 split. Most tournaments have a 5 dollar buy in, with the pot split 60/30/10.

You don't have to change up your formula just for us or anything, but these are some reasons why I might not come either, and I felt it would be better to share them.

 

[Zylo]

So a lot of people from Mobile can't come to this. Three of them because it's a Sunday, and another because he's already requested off work for a bunch of other tournaments in advance, so take of that what you will.

Also just saying, but a 2-dollar buy in is not worth the drive from Mobile. It would cost me 60 dollars in gas round trip and first place would get 48 if there's 30 entrants for an 80/20 split. Most tournaments have a 5 dollar buy in, with the pot split 60/30/10.

You don't have to change up your formula just for us or anything, but these are some reasons why I might not come either, and I felt it would be better to share them.

I'll address this in a nice long post, because it is something that we've been talking about among ourselves in depth. So there are two components of this, the $ entry fee and the pot split. The entry fee we went back and forth on between $5, $2, $1, and no entry fee. Each has its benefits and negatives. No entry fee we decided was just not indicative of a tournament setting. So although we thought that no entry fee MAY attract more local entrants, it offered no incentive to non-local entrants other than the fact that tournaments are fun. There was also the argument that no entry fee also wouldn't even attract local entrants, because a no entry fee tournament isn't particularly exciting. So we threw that out, and started talking about what entry fee we should try out. $5, we felt, was too much for a tournament whose main goal is to attract students from our university to join the scene. At the end of the day, what we're trying to accomplish is to grow our local scene before anything else. At as large of a school as we have, our scene is quite underdeveloped. We have a ton of people who love to play smash, but we're not rallied or centralized, and many are not even aware that we have a group that plays regularly. We felt that $5 entry fee for main events was intimidating for the people that we're trying to appeal to most. We started talking about $1 entry fee, and we decided that $1 just did not offer enough money to the winners of the tournaments. $3-4 are weird amounts, so we decided on $2. Although I understand that a $2 tournament instead of a $5 tournament offers a lower incentive to people who have to drive from farther away, I believe that lowering the average cost for the entrants who aren't as likely to win money is much more important for the goals we're trying to accomplish.

Ok, so the janky pot split. The reason it's 80/20 is because it's a $2 entry, and I'm anticipating no more than 32 entrants in any event. If there are more than 32 entrants, I'm switching it to a 60/30/10 split. It's really just something I'm trying out, and I'll probably play around with it in our next tournaments to see what system people like best. I might even make it 70/30 split by the time the tournament kicks off, but on a small scale local, I just find it weird to pay out to top 3. I might change my mind on this, though, who knows.

We do plan on hosting a larger regional tournament at the end of each semester where the entry fee WOULD be $5 or $10, but for our locals, what we've decided on is just the $2. We're just starting up tournaments again for the first time in a while, so the primary focus is on the students and smashers in our area. I understand if this dissuades you from making the drive. Also, something I'm using as anecdotal evidence as justification for the entry fee is how LSU does their monthlies. They started off the year doing paid entries, and had something like 20 people show up. They switched it to no entry fee, and the numbers grew to the 40s. Although this doesn't show a clear cause and effect (their scene could just have been growing on its own, and the entry fee irrelevant), I thought that it merited consideration in the planning of our tournament.

 

[Sickolas]

Thanks for the detailed post. It all makes sense and I figured it would be something like that.

If you could, try and have the bigger tournament on a Saturday though, otherwise several of us still won't be able to come.

 

[Zylo]

Thanks for the detailed post. It all makes sense and I figured it would be something like that.

If you could, try and have the bigger tournament on a Saturday though, otherwise several of us still won't be able to come.

Saturday tournaments are ideal for us in the spring semester, but I'm sure you know about football at Alabama. I think we'll try to make our room reservations for Saturdays in the spring, but for now, Sunday is probably the most accessible day for us in the Fall.

 

[Sickolas]

Saturday tournaments are ideal for us in the spring semester, but I'm sure you know about football at Alabama. I think we'll try to make our room reservations for Saturdays in the spring, but for now, Sunday is probably the most accessible day for us in the Fall.

Literally forgot about football since I don't follow it at all (and neither do most of my friends). Unfortunate, but some of us can still come even if it's on a Sunday.

If they really want to come they can whine to their parents enough and I'm sure it would work. lolhighschool

 

[Metmetm3t]

Keep it up Zylo, you're good. You guys are still kind of building your scene back up. I would say that once you have a few tournaments built up you can look into planning something with a bigger pot and more out of town players. Saturdays during football season are hard, but in Auburn we managed to make it work. It's mostly about planning ahead of time and running it during an away/BYE weekend.