The Play Well Cup AU 2012

The second two weeks of the Play Well Cup have concluded. Week 3 saw the final week of the group stages, and week 4 was the first week of the playoff games - with the winner advancing to the quarter finals and the loser regrettably being eliminated.

The results of these two weeks are below!

Week 3

Industry Veterans vs. Real Serious Games

Winner - Industry Veterans, 2-0

NightFly vs. Transmax

Winner - Transmax, 2-1

Wicked Witch vs. Liquid Interactive #1

Winner - Wicked Witch, 2-0

2K Australia #1 vs. Twisted Shield

Winner - 2K Australia #1 2-0

Zeroseven vs. Liquid Interactive #2

Winner - Liquid Interactive #2, 2-0

Effectal vs. Firemint

Winner - Effectal, 2-0

Whitech Software Solutions vs. 2K Australia #2

Winner - Whitech Software Solutions, 2-0

Week 3 replays are available here: [download]

The standings at the conclusion of week 3 are available on the results page. Congratulations to 2K Australia #1 and Liquid Interactive #2 for finishing at the top of the ladder, winning all three of their preliminary matches.

Week 4 - Playoffs

Real Serious Games vs. Whitech Software Solutions

Winner - Whitech Software Solutions, 2-0

Wicked Witch vs. 2K Australia #2

Winner - 2K Australia #2, 2-0

Liquid Interactive #1 vs. Effectal

Winner - Effectal, 2-1

Week 4 replays are available here: [download]

The conclusion of week 4 saw Whitech Software Solutions, 2K Australia #2 and Effectal advance to the Quarter Finals. This also means we say goodbye to Real Serious Games, Wicked Witch and Liquid Interactive #1.

The playoffs continue in week 5 with the current draw displayed below.

The next set of matches will see another three teams advance to the quarter finals and three more be eliminated. GLHF to all those playing this week!

(Image taken from reddit user haibu)

The first two weeks of the Play Well Cup have just concluded, and here are the results!

Week 1

• Firemint vs. Liquid Interactive #1: Winner - Firemint, 2-1
• Industry Veterans vs. 2K Australia #1: Winner - 2K Australia #1, 2-1
• Transmax vs. Whitech Software Solutions: Winner - Transmax, 2-0
• Twisted Shield vs. Real Serious Games: Winner - Real Serious Games, 2-0
• NightFly vs. Liquid Interactive #2: Winner - Liquid Interactive #2, 2-0
• Zeroseven vs. Effectal: Winner - Zeroseven, 2-1
• Wicked Witch Software vs. 2K Australia #2: Winner - Wicked Witch Software, 2-0

Unfortunately the casts for this week went directly into a black hole, due to some recording technical issues. But we still have the replay files!

Week 1 replays: [download]

Week 2

Industry Veterans vs. Twisted Shield

Winner - Industry Vets, 2-0

Nightfly vs. 2K Australia #2

Winner - Nightfly, 2-0

2K Australia #1 vs. Real Serious Games

Winner - 2K Australia #1, 2-1

Transmax vs. Liquid Interactive #2

Winner - Liquid Interactive #2, 2-0

Zeroseven vs. Firemint

Winner - Zeroseven, 2-0

Wicked Witch vs. Whitech Software Solutions

Winner - Whitech Software Solutions, 2-1

Liquid Interactive #1 vs. Effectal

Winner - Effectal, 2-0

Leading the pack after 2 weeks we have 2K Australia #1, Liquid Interactive #2, and Zeroseven, all remaining undefeated.

Week 2 replays are available here: [download]

Finally, make sure you stay up to date on the action by following us on twitter, or checking out the facebook page.

Thanks for watching, and see you on battle.net soon!

(Image taken from reddit user bashthelegend)

Here we are! We finally made it!

This season we’ve had 16 teams register, which is 6 more than the last tournament, and it’s going to make for an absolutely fantastic competition. We’ve got teams returning for more from season 1, and a stack of new faces too.

To accommodate the increased amount of teams, we’ve split them up into 4 groups. Each group will play within their group for 3 matches, and then will be split out into upper and lower brackets.

Here’s what the team groupings look like:

Group A

• SEGA Studios Australia Industry Veterans
• 2K Games #1
• Twisted Shield
• Real Serious Games

Group B

• CBS Interactive
• Transmax
• Nightfly
• Liquid Interactive #2

Group C

• Wicked Witch Software
• 2K Games #2
• Whitech Software Solutions
• Endgame Studios

Group D

• Zeroseven
• Effectal
• Firemint
• Liquid Interactive #1

So think of the initial group stage as a bit like the Soccer World Cup. Each team plays the other teams in their group once. Each match is a best-of-3. Teams get 1 point for winning any game, and a bonus point for winning the match. At the end of the group stage if teams are tied on points, they’ll play an extra match to separate them.

At the end of the group stage, the top two teams in each group move to an upper bracket, and the bottom two teams move to a lower bracket. That’s when knockout play begins.

(You can check out the nitty-gritty of the tournament details here - PWC Season 2 Tournament Format)

We’ve also made the decision to stick with the team 1v1 format for this tournament. Here’s why:

Our main objective at the end of the day for the tournament -apart from getting more people excited about playing Starcraft 2- is to raise money for Child’s Play 2012 in September/October, just like we did last year. We want to make that tournament (where we’ll ask people to donate) the best we possibly can.

That means we’d rather try out new things in the tournament early in the year, when there’s less at stake; rather than risk trying out something experimental when we’re asking people to dig deep & donate to the cause.

We hope people will enjoy the new format once we start. The increased flexibility is also a good thing; only 1 player has to play per week. This means if you have to miss a week, it can be scheduled around pretty easily.

Speaking of schedule, the calendar schedule for matches is also available here:

Play Well Cup Season 2 - Google Calendar

(Just a quick note: those are all Brisbane times - no daylight savings. You wacky southern states are an hour ahead of us at the moment.)

If you’re on a team, have looked at the schedule & neither of your players can make a match, just let us know. We can rejig times so that it works for everyone.

Players, I’ll be emailing out a Google Doc for you to pop your battle.net profile & character code into. This will let everyone find everyone else on battle.net!

So gl hf, and we’ll see you all in 2 weeks time! :D

-James

(Image via reddit)

Actually, we were planning to start matches next week on the 14th of Feb, but there’s something on that day. Some cataclysmic event that triggers a magical forcefield; rendering Starcraft 2 completely unplayable for the entire 24 hour period. Weird, right?

So stay tuned. We’re still planning to play all matches on Tuesdays & Wednesdays each week, we’ve been cooking up a big blog post explaining the tournament format, and we’ll have a full schedule out at the same time. That’ll be out very soon — I just wanted to let everyone know when the official kickoff date is.

So mark that calendar! Tuesday 21st Feb for half the teams, and Wednesday 22nd Feb for the other half. Which half are you? You’ll know in just a couple of days.

We’re back for 2012!

Firstly, again I want to say how thankful I am to everyone who donated to the last tournament. I read a post today on Penny Arcade about how Child’s Play raised $3,512,345 in 2011, completely blowing their initial target of $2 million out of the water. That’s utterly mind-boggling, and I’d like to think we shared a tiny, tiny part of that. You’re all rad.

So. What’s up for this year then?

Well first up, let me just say straight-up that Season 2 is not a charity tournament. We’ll definitely run one next time Child’s Play swings around in 2012, but until then this is just for funsies. When I say funsies, I mean HONOR, GLORY & the inalienable right to dance around an opponent singing, beat-ya, beat-ya, wouldn’t wanna meet ya. It’s a deep, powerful, lasting burn — let me assure you.

Jason & I learned a lot about running a Starcraft 2 tournament from Season 1.

Here’s a couple of the big ticket items:

1. 2v2 is fun, but really messy.

We really enjoyed running a 2v2 tournament. Seriously, it was hilariously fun to have everyone rock up to play each week. Add to that the spectators, who made the matches even better to be a part of. Here’s the kicker of the 2v2 format though; it ends up being taxing for both organiser & player for a couple of reasons.

• It’s tricky to organise times 4 players can make each week
• Players can’t have a week off
• Matches can be horrifically lopsided, and can end in unsatisfying ways
• We would miss game action in the shoutcasts because of sheer volume of crazy stuff happing at the same time
• The whole strategic angle of Starcraft 2 is just a little …wonky… in 2v2

We really, really like the idea of teams representing their workplace though, and we think you guys do too. So we think the best way to have the best of both worlds is to have a team 1v1 tournament. More on this in a second.

2. We want to make scheduling easier

We’ve decided this year to play all matches on 2 set days of the week (we’re thinking Tuesdays & Wednesday nights at the moment). This means the timetable will be more reliable, and less flim-flammy.

I know last time organising matches with us was a bit like talking to a bored housemate (You: When’s the match? Me: I dunno man, like, when do you wanna play? You: >_<)

We want to get rid of that uncertainty, and make rock-solid match times you can count on. It also means you can plan around the matches if you’re going to be out of action for a week or two.

3. We want to make the shoutcasts even better

We love making the shoutcasts. We want to beef up the production quality even more. Better sound. Higher definitions. We also want these to be released more in a more (shall we say) timely fashion. We don’t want to be pushing out shoutcasted matches 1 & 1/2 weeks after they actually happened. We’re not perfect, and it’s a nights-and-weekends thing for us both, but old matches? That’s not cool homie. We all want the fresh cheeseburger.

We also want to do more livestreaming, because we think that’d be sweet.

4. We want to keep the vibe

The last tournament’s atmosphere was really great — I think (hope?) everyone involved felt the same. It was competitive, yet friendly. Lots of people getting involved, talking up their chances in upcoming matches, sharing the love with friends & co-workers. We loved the spectators coming in to watch games. We loved hearing about a cast you especially liked. We loved the twitter trash talk between companies.

Quite honestly, this should really be point number 1, because it’s the most important thing.

Without it, we wouldn’t be running the Play Well Cup again. The wonderful attitudes of everyone involved was what made it what it is. I really mean that.

So we’ll be working hard to keep that vibe going. We hope you do too.

Team 1v1 Tournament: Tactics Evolved

So, here’s how a team 1v1 tournament works.

1. Each team has 2 players. These are workplace-based teams. The tournament ladder is still team-based too.
2. Teams will volunteer a player to compete for each weekly match. Matches are now 1v1, (instead of 2v2), and will be a best-of-3-game series, just like last year.
3. Each player in the team has to play half the tournament’s matches in total (for example, if there’s a total of 8 matches, Player A must play 4, & Player B must also play 4).

So this really solves a few problems:

• Scheduling is easier
• Players can have weeks off
• More awesomer 1v1 gameplay & tactics
• Teams can be tricksy about who plays when

Now I don’t know about you, but Ol’ Mr. Bullet Point Number 4 there is especially intriguing to me. Do you field your best player during the tough matches? Do you save them until the end, when it comes down to the crunch? That will definitely add another layer of team strategy that we didn’t have in the last season.

We need your help

If you know of other workplaces that would like to compete, please please please email, tweet, oink, plurk, apply a cheesy filter (I recommend ‘Sutro’) & Instagram our logo to someone & point us out to them! It’s free to play. C’mon man, who doesn’t like free fun? I’ll tell you who; people filled with sad. Are your friends filled with sad, or are they filled with fairy floss, cowboy hats & dynamite?

Plus we’ll be building another trophy. The last one was made out of a bowling trophy, a power supply, some discarded marble slabs & a trackball mouse. You want to win the sequel to this trophy, because it rocked.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up your team here!

If you want to have two teams from your workplace, by all means, sign up twice.

Registrations for Season 2 close Saturday the 28th of January, so get in now. Matches will start the first week of February.

Until then, I leave you with 1 sage piece of advice for playing each race:

1. Protoss: Probes & pylons, baby. Probes & pylons.
2. Zerg: Drone harder. No, harder than that. WAY HARDER
3. Terran: Make Marine. Take win.

See you soon!

- James C

Mater Children’s Hospital, Brisbane

Donation to the Mater Children’s Hospital, Brisbane was won by our tournament winners, SEGA Studios Australia.

Sydney Children’s Hospital

Donation to the Sydney Children’s Hospital was won by our tournament runners-up, CBS Interactive.

See you next year. :)

Wednesday night saw the Grand Final of the tournament play out, with Tim Purss ‘Timmy’ & Victor Chin ‘Yusyn’ from CBS Interactive taking on Matt Dalby ‘Matt’ & Sanatana Mishra ‘Paz’ from SEGA Studios Australia. Both teams had extremely impressive runs up to the final, with CBS Interactive dropping only a single game, and SEGA going into the Grand Final unbeaten throughout the tournament.

We broadcast the tournament live from The Edge in Southbank, Brisbane as part of their Independent Games Festival Showcase. We were lucky enough to have a crowd of people turn up to check out the independent games on display, as well as watch the Grand Final! The tension was high; the two teams playing had never faced off against each other, and obviously did not know what to expect.

CBSi opened strongly in Game 1, winning the first match with a surprise attack via the destructible rocks on the High Orbit map, catching SEGA completely off-guard. Though SEGA rallied strongly in defence, their forces were just overwhelmed by CBSi, as reinforcements streamed into their base. CBS Interactive leads 1-0.

Game 2 saw a huge engagement in the middle of the map before the 10 minute mark, with all 4 players throwing their forces into the fray. The difference proved to be Paz’s Immortal production, which saw the engagement swing in SEGA’s favour, crushing the Stalker & Roach army of CBSi. Matt’s combo of Marauders & Marines also ensuring that CBSi could not get back in the game, and CBSi were forced to concede Game 2. Match is tied at 1-1.

Game 3 saw SEGA boldly attack very early around the 7 minute mark, bringing not only Stalkers, Zealots & Marines to the fight, but capping it off with some meat-shield SCVs too! Yusyn from CBSi saw the army coming & tried to lay down some Spine Crawlers, but it was just a fraction too late. Despite their best efforts, they were again overwhelmed by a SEGA team playing unlike anything we’ve seen in the tournament thus far. SEGA leads 2-1.

Game 4 on Tyrador Keep saw CBSi trying to exploit the destructible rocks, using Zerglings & Stalkers to attack SEGA’s wide-open ramp, but Matt responded brilliantly, putting up Bunkers & combining with Paz’s Force Fields to repel CBSi. Rather than trying to expand, SEGA then pushed out with a huge combined army, stomped over the remnants of CBSi’s army, and took out the tournament! Match win! SEGA take victory 3-1.

A huge thank you to everyone who came along to see us live cast the match. This was our first time doing anything like this at all, so I’m sure the next one will be even bigger & better. Speaking of next time…

We now have a sign-up form for the Play Well Cup, Season 2! So if you had a great time watching, or playing in the tournament, why not register your interest now for the next one? We’ll be kicking off Season 2 in late January 2012. Season 2 will also include both Rookie & Pro league divisions, so if you’re new to the game or don’t feel like you can compete against the established teams, don’t worry! There will be matches to suit everybody’s skill & experience levels — next year’s tournament will be bigger & better than ever.

Also a huge thank you to everyone who donated to the cause; players, spectators, and companies. We’re up to $1,680 now! 75% of the final prize pool will go to the Mater Children’s Hospital in Brisbane & 25% to the Sydney Children’s Hospital. If you have last-minute donations to put in, we’ll be closing donations in 2 weeks time, on Sunday the 6th of November.

Again, a huge congratulations to SEGA Studios Australia for taking out the tournament, and winning the coveted Play Well Cup trophy!

We’re coming to the end of the tournament, and we’ve got the Grand Finals tonight! We played our semi-finals over the last 2 days, and the results are as follows:

Semi Final 1: CBS Interactive vs. Wicked Witch Software

Winner: CBS Interactive, 3-0

Semi Final 2: SEGA Studios Australia vs. Zeroseven

Winner: SEGA Studios Australia, 3-0

This means our Grand Final lineup will be CBS Interactive vs. SEGA Studios Australia; two of the most dominant & imposing teams in the competition! This will also be the first time they have faced off against each other, so the match should be an absolute cracker!

They both have very different playstyles too; SEGA Studios Australia are definitely more of a macro-style team — they love to build up their army, bases & economy to an overwhelming advantage. CBS Interactive are the masters of the timed attack, striking early & catching teams napping! So the games should be a fantastic collision of play-styles & tactics.

If you’d like to watch along with us, we’ll be livestreaming the entire Grand Final at twitch.tv/playwellcup. The stream will be live at 7:30pm AEST (6:30pm QLD time).

Thanks again to our tournament sponsors, Liquid Interactive. You guys rock!

And finally, if you’ve been enjoying the competition, please consider donating to the cause. The money entirely goes to entertain kids who’ve been laid up in hospital for long periods of time. It’d be really tough to be in a hospital as a kid, so anything that we can do to help, however small, will really make a difference.

See you tonight!

CBS Interactive

Timmy (Protoss) & Yusyn (Protoss)

Desura

Henley (Terran) & Xant (Protoss)

Game 1 - The Boneyard

CBS (fielding a rare double-Protoss team) put on some early pressure with Stalkers, Sentries & Zealots as Desura struggle to shore up their defences at the 7 minute mark. Xant from Desura responds with Dark Templar, and CBS’s detectorless army is dismantled. Henley from Desura boslters his Maurader count, and Xant tries to transition into Archons to fend off the impending second wave of assaults by CBS, but is eventually overwhelmed by sheer numbers.

Game 2 - Tyrador Keep

CBS masses up cannons early, securing their natural expansions, & quickly moving into secondary bases. Henley masses up a Marine army, and Xant uses his 4-gate opening to batter the CBS wall with Stalkers & Zealots. There are far too many cannons though, and the armies of CBS are quite large too. Timmy takes the opportunity to transition into Phoenixes, and goes on a rampage, harassing mineral lines everywhere with Graviton Beam micro. Desura mount one last assault, but Yusyn has Colossi waiting at the wall, bringing forth the death of Desura’s army, and the end of their Play Well Cup campaign.

Winner: CBS Interactive, 2-0