MIKster Profile Joined January 2011 Germany 333 Posts Last Edited: 2011-07-11 09:11:56 #1 UPDATE: MST #2 has been announced! See for yourself!





Before we start..

+ Show Spoiler + Before I start off I guess I should explain a few things. I live in Germany in the city of Munich. If you have ever heard of the place it’s probably because of our beer, the Oktoberfest or the BMW cars. Aside from that we are a city of 2 million people so I figured there should be a few Starcraft II players around. With this idea in mind I and a few friends came up with the idea of the MST, the Munich Starcraft Tournament. This is my story in retrospective on the first run of the MST.









June the 18th, 2011



Get up. Fast breakfast. Brief post on facebook and twitter so that none of the slackers can forget about the great event this day will hold. I pack my mouse, keyboard and earphone into my backpack and I’m ready to go. I withdraw some money from the bank on my way to the subway and then head out to the place where the tournament is going to take place. It’s really close to the train station, that’s convenient. On my way I get a call of one of the participants, he tells me he’s not going to make it. That’s inconvenient but no big deal. We’re still going to be enough players.



2 p.m. I enter the ‘Klein & Wundelrich’, the lan cafe which we rented out for the MST. The owner is already there and setting up things, getting drinks and snacks. We arrange the seating, get the big screen TV connected with the observing pc and very important: open up the windows to get some fresh air in before all the nerds will flood it with their sweat from exciting games



We have a short chat, deciding on how observation of the games is supposed to take place. He tells me that unfortunately the USB hubs he had ordered for us haven’t arrived in time so we won’t be able to connect our own mouse and keyboards with the provided computers. Bummer We then load up the Dreamhack Summer 2011 stream on the big screen TV to have something to look at while we wait for the other players to arrive. Socke is playing Dimaga, 40 Voidrays on the field seal the deal, quite a nice game!











3 p.m. Slowly the other players stream in one after the other. Meet and greet with old friends and seeing new faces you only know from playing together online. The players set themselves up in front of their computers. As we’re only 8 players today everybody gets his own personal computer. The café owner even sets up a table for the two laptop users. Nice!



Up until 4 p.m. Warm up time for everybody and getting used to the unfamiliar setting. The players team up with a practice partner and off we go! It’s really interesting to see people who you have played countless times online play in person right in front of you.



4p.m. We enter the player names into the tournament system and it hands us the first matchups of the day. The map pool and all other important rules are being announced. Those who aren’t sure who they are supposed to play can look it up on the big screen TV which displays the bracket, map pool and results. Because it’s a test run and we’re only so few players we decide to the play a Round Robin format. Meaning everybody in the tournament has to play everybody else in a best of 3. The one who ends up with the most wins overall wins the tournament. That way everybody can play the maximum amount of games and isn’t excluded early from the action.











4.30 p.m. May the games begin! My first match is against Pandabeer, a fellow Protoss. PvP - 4 gate seals the deal. I end up with a relatively quick 2-0 and have the chance to wander around and have a look over the shoulders of the other players playing their first matches. The atmosphere in a room in which everybody is playing an intense game of Starcraft is indescribable or at least incomparable to any other experience for me. The players stare spellbound at their screens. Only the soundtrack of previous GSL Seasons is to be heard over the furious clicking and hammering of keyboards and mice. And this soundtrack really gives you the impression that you are in the GOM TV studios, playing for a spot in the Code S finals! Epic! One after another the players rise from their seats, shake hands and come to the desk to hand in their results. The last to be played match is being cast on the big screen TV and the already finished players have a seat on the couch to observe who takes the win in this first round.



The hours pass. Round after round is being played. Slowly it comes to show that we have a clear favorite to win this tournament amongst us. Undefeated Warden advances from round to round, takes wins easily off of every one of his opponents and loses only a single game to the only other Master League player MadMax. Therefore, the matches for rank 3-8 are all the more fierce. Upsets happen all the time and, results that nobody would have expected occur and players have to suffer bitter losses.











In the evening we order pizza for all the players. After playing over 5 hours of Starcraft everybody is hungry. The players tear through their pizza like they did before through their opponents. During this break we watch some more Dreamhack games. I can’t remember who played but I guess they were good games Afterwards the matches continue. The players who finish early watch the rounds’ remaining games on the TV. Slowly it shows that stamina and focus is draining from the player and so nobody is really disappointed when the final round concludes at about 12 p.m.

The final result is quite clear. 1st place goes to Warden who didn’t lose a single series and only dropped one game to MadMax who takes second place. After that it becomes much closer but in the end schloenz was able to seize third place. I myself was able to secure the fourth place, not that magnificent and definitely something to improve upon! FIGHTING!











Slowly the players say their farewells and depart. The ones who stay watch the final game of the evening from Dreamhack Summer 2011, Moon against some Terran, I forgot. Moon played horribly but still somehow was able to pull the win, strange game. After that the first Munich Starcraft Tournament officially ends and everybody heads back home.



As the main organizer and promoter of the MST #1 I draw my conclusions on the way home: Altogether it was a great success! I can’t think of many ways in which it could have gone better for us. Surely 8 players isn’t a whole lot. But we wanted to start out small and only invited a few friends and people we knew to test things on a small scale before we opened the gates to the public. Because of the small player pool the two only Master League players could cruise to positions one and two with relative ease. Also the Round Robin tournament format doesn’t provide an atmosphere as exciting as a Single or Double Elimination Tournament. In which you know that if you lose the next game you’re out of the tournament for good. But all these problems will automatically be solved by having a much bigger number of players. We hope to have more than 20 players for the MST #2 and if that occurs I see a bright future for the Munich Starcraft Tournament and its participants.









So while we’re at it. We haven’t agreed on the exact date for MST #2 but it will most likely be in about two months, speaking mid-August. If you’re interested in participating or just want to support us and our cause please like us on Facebook, add our Twitter or bookmark our homepage. That way you will get a notification when we have agreed on a date or just information on the MST in general.



Homepage:

Facebook:

Twitter:





Thanks for taking the time to read this till the end and I hope to see many of you at MST #2 and help build the German Starcraft II scene and promote ESPORTS in general.









Greets,

Mike // MIKster



PS: The pictures in this thread are a courtesy of



PPS: If you want to read the original German version of this post you can look it up on the Munich Teamhouse forum



PPS: Please excuse my English. As you might have noticed it isn’t my native tongue but I tried my best to make this a good translation of the original post and let the international community hear about a small local tournament in Germany.





Before we start..Get up. Fast breakfast. Brief post on facebook and twitter so that none of the slackers can forget about the great event this day will hold. I pack my mouse, keyboard and earphone into my backpack and I’m ready to go. I withdraw some money from the bank on my way to the subway and then head out to the place where the tournament is going to take place. It’s really close to the train station, that’s convenient. On my way I get a call of one of the participants, he tells me he’s not going to make it. That’s inconvenient but no big deal. We’re still going to be enough players.I enter the ‘Klein & Wundelrich’, the lan cafe which we rented out for the MST. The owner is already there and setting up things, getting drinks and snacks. We arrange the seating, get the big screen TV connected with the observing pc and very important: open up the windows to get some fresh air in before all the nerds will flood it with their sweat from exciting gamesWe have a short chat, deciding on how observation of the games is supposed to take place. He tells me that unfortunately the USB hubs he had ordered for us haven’t arrived in time so we won’t be able to connect our own mouse and keyboards with the provided computers. BummerWe then load up the Dreamhack Summer 2011 stream on the big screen TV to have something to look at while we wait for the other players to arrive. Socke is playing Dimaga, 40 Voidrays on the field seal the deal, quite a nice game!Slowly the other players stream in one after the other. Meet and greet with old friends and seeing new faces you only know from playing together online. The players set themselves up in front of their computers. As we’re only 8 players today everybody gets his own personal computer. The café owner even sets up a table for the two laptop users. Nice!Warm up time for everybody and getting used to the unfamiliar setting. The players team up with a practice partner and off we go! It’s really interesting to see people who you have played countless times online play in person right in front of you.We enter the player names into the tournament system and it hands us the first matchups of the day. The map pool and all other important rules are being announced. Those who aren’t sure who they are supposed to play can look it up on the big screen TV which displays the bracket, map pool and results. Because it’s a test run and we’re only so few players we decide to the play a Round Robin format. Meaning everybody in the tournament has to play everybody else in a best of 3. The one who ends up with the most wins overall wins the tournament. That way everybody can play the maximum amount of games and isn’t excluded early from the action.May the games begin! My first match is against Pandabeer, a fellow Protoss. PvP - 4 gate seals the deal. I end up with a relatively quick 2-0 and have the chance to wander around and have a look over the shoulders of the other players playing their first matches. The atmosphere in a room in which everybody is playing an intense game of Starcraft is indescribable or at least incomparable to any other experience for me. The players stare spellbound at their screens. Only the soundtrack of previous GSL Seasons is to be heard over the furious clicking and hammering of keyboards and mice. And this soundtrack really gives you the impression that you are in the GOM TV studios, playing for a spot in the Code S finals! Epic! One after another the players rise from their seats, shake hands and come to the desk to hand in their results. The last to be played match is being cast on the big screen TV and the already finished players have a seat on the couch to observe who takes the win in this first round.Round after round is being played. Slowly it comes to show that we have a clear favorite to win this tournament amongst us. UndefeatedWarden advances from round to round, takes wins easily off of every one of his opponents and loses only a single game to the only other Master League playerMadMax. Therefore, the matches for rank 3-8 are all the more fierce. Upsets happen all the time and, results that nobody would have expected occur and players have to suffer bitter losses.we order pizza for all the players. After playing over 5 hours of Starcraft everybody is hungry. The players tear through their pizza like they did before through their opponents. During this break we watch some more Dreamhack games. I can’t remember who played but I guess they were good gamesAfterwards the matches continue. The players who finish early watch the rounds’ remaining games on the TV. Slowly it shows that stamina and focus is draining from the player and so nobody is really disappointed when the final round concludes at about 12 p.m.The final result is quite clear. 1st place goes toWarden who didn’t lose a single series and only dropped one game toMadMax who takes second place. After that it becomes much closer but in the endschloenz was able to seize third place. I myself was able to secure the fourth place, not that magnificent and definitely something to improve upon! FIGHTING!Slowly the players say their farewells and depart. The ones who stay watch the final game of the evening from Dreamhack Summer 2011, Moon against some Terran, I forgot. Moon played horribly but still somehow was able to pull the win, strange game. After that the first Munich Starcraft Tournament officially ends and everybody heads back home.As the main organizer and promoter of the MST #1 I draw my conclusions on the way home: Altogether it was a great success! I can’t think of many ways in which it could have gone better for us. Surely 8 players isn’t a whole lot. But we wanted to start out small and only invited a few friends and people we knew to test things on a small scale before we opened the gates to the public. Because of the small player pool the two only Master League players could cruise to positions one and two with relative ease. Also the Round Robin tournament format doesn’t provide an atmosphere as exciting as a Single or Double Elimination Tournament. In which you know that if you lose the next game you’re out of the tournament for good. But all these problems will automatically be solved by having a much bigger number of players. We hope to have more than 20 players for the MST #2 and if that occurs I see a bright future for the Munich Starcraft Tournament and its participants.So while we’re at it. We haven’t agreed on the exact date forbut it will most likely be in about two months, speaking mid-August. If you’re interested in participating or just want to support us and our cause please like us on, add ouror bookmark our. That way you will get a notification when we have agreed on a date or just information on the MST in general.Homepage: http://www.munich-starcraft.de/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/munich.starcraft Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/mst_mikster Thanks for taking the time to read this till the end and I hope to see many of you atand help build the German Starcraft II scene and promotein general.Greets,Mike // MIKsterPS: The pictures in this thread are a courtesy of http://veitograf.de/blog/ . You can see all the pictures of the first MST event on our Facebook page @ here PPS: If you want to read the original German version of this post you can look it up on the Munich Teamhouse forum @ here PPS: Please excuse my English. As you might have noticed it isn’t my native tongue but I tried my best to make this a good translation of the original post and let the international community hear about a small local tournament in Germany. Munich StarCraft & BarCraft | www.munich-starcraft.de