A huge weekend for the FGC is upon us. NEC is expected to host approximately 2000 players from all over the world. This is the flagship tournament for Big E Gaming and will mark my (Shock) 11th year in the FGC. My first tournament was NEC2 in 2001 and since then I have only missed NEC5 due to that scoundrel the Prophet coming down with a fierce stomach virus that weekend. MK needs to represent and show everyone why it’s force to be reckoned with in the industry. Good look to all players in all MK games involved. This weekend we will see extremely hype tournaments for:
MK9 ~100+ estimated players ($10 entry fee)
UMK3 ~32+ estimated players ($5 entry fee)
MKII ~24+ estimated players ($5 entry fee)
and also side tournaments for MK, MKT, MK4/G, KI, MKA, and just recently confirmed, MKDA.
We are still awaiting confirmation on potential bonuses.
On Saturday, there will be two simultaneous streams hosted by KombatNetwork. MK9 will be running a live stream starting approximately 11AM or earlier for exhibition matches, which will lead into the tournament where the first pools are expected to begin at 3PM. This will be streaming on http://www.twitch.tv/kombatnetwork . From there pools will run two at a time over approximately 2 hour intervals. This is still to be decided depending on the number of players and stations we accumulate. For example, 128 players will be run across 6 normal stations, and a live stream station. A bonus recording station provided by Pherleece for matches that would be streamed normally but would be skipped due to time constraints and these videos will be uploaded or streamed at a future date. This results in 8 stations for 8 pools, at 16 players per pool. It is likely the top 4 from each pool will make it to stream before the top 16 is run, in which we will attempt to stream the entire top 16, if not, the entire winners and the later portion of losers, with the earlier losers top 16 on the aux recording station. We are looking at a lot of commentary from SwiftTomHanks and Claude VonStroke for the most part, but we would also like to have Tom Brady get in there for his dynamic play by play and J360 as well. Guest commentators will fill in from time to time during the pools for STH and CVS because they will not be commentating at all during those pools. Of course 9.95 will be on commentary and doing production most of the way through. Your MK9 bracket runners will likely be DarkRob and DanCock.
There was a lot of controversy over the 2/3 vs 3/5 ruling. Players, we have been planning this tournament as 2/3 the entire time and I have squeezed out enough setups to accommodate the number of players we expect to have. Two weeks of preparation before a tournament we’ve been working on for months was not going to result in any significant change to the tournament schedule and format, but I do have some solutions that I think are extremely fair, and very possible if everything runs smoothly. Hopefully it will be determined early on whether top 8 or top 4 is streamed on Sunday. When the top 16 winds down to the top 8, we will stop for Spooky Stream Sunday. If in the event time constraints force us to only run top 4 on Spooky stream Sunday, I will personally request to Vic that he make the 4th place match set 3/5, even if we are notified Sunday before we go on. This means only one extra match set on Spooky’s stream will be 3/5 compared to normal, and it will enable us to run the entire top 8 as 3/5. If we find out before top 16 begins that we’re only doing top 4 Sunday, I will also make the same request, and we will then decide if a full run of top 16 at 3/5 is possible. This is a lofty goal at this point but we will TRY and it might require running nearly half those matches on the aux recording station off air, and uploaded later.
ALL MK9 pools are strictly 2/3 and as of right now the only 3/5 matches in the MK9 tournament will be the top 3 on Team Spooky Stream Sunday early afternoon. Again, card subject to change players.
On to 2D. This will be streaming on http://www.twitch.tv/kombatnetwork2 and also to beging starting 11AM. We are looking to do a KN/OBS commentary team that will likely consist of Summoning and JamessMK, along with myself. I will attempt to do as much production myself on this stream and some play by play, but I do not know how much time I will have, as I usually spend majors running around, or well, walking briskly. All 2D players will be in for a treat Saturday night, as we will see Killer Instinct, MK, MKII, and UMK3 streamed all day. MKII and UMK3 tournaments may require some matches to be played off stream in the early onset through an extra station, but for the most part the 2D tournaments will be streamed in their entirety. It is undetermined if we can run any of these events in 3/5 sets due to relatively large turnouts for MKII and UMK3. 2D tournaments are scheduled to begin no earlier than the end of the first two MK9 pools. We have to make sure MK9 is running properly before we start the secondary tournaments. Running brackets for 2D will likely be Arez and AC1984.
On Sunday we will stream MK9 2 on 2 teams after top 8. I would like to run the Survivor Series tournament as well but only if there is time and interest. We will also see MKG under MK4 rules, MKT on PSX (no bosses), MKA and MKDA (no holds barred). These are all expected to be smaller, free, side tournaments and will likely be streamed in their entirety on the regular KombatNetwork stream. hopefully there will be more surprises, as we’re trying to give players a reason to enjoy Sunday as much as Saturday.
Both streams will be run on dedicated 4G connections, independent of the building or other streams. There should be NO hitches with internet or streams players, so please keep your eyes on these streams. Alerts and tweets will go out as usual. If there are problems, we will do our best to keep you all informed. Look for Tim Static and Storms to report issues when we get them out. Again, hopefully there won’t be any. We have gone to great lengths to make sure this event is as seamless as possible, but we are after all, grassroots and can only do so much on an out of pocket budget. We are always open to taking donations, which you can do directly on this site through the donation link, and you can also donate by purchasing anything from UltraSpec.us and putting “KombatNetwork” in the comments for your order. 100% of your purchase will towards the MK FGC. Special thanks to Sweet Johnny Gallagher for providing us with 4 extra Asus monitors from the ECT stock. Thank you to any members of our staff supplying screens, consoles, games, and other equipment for this event.
This is the most intensive MK event we’ve ever run in the northeast so players, if you need help with anything while you’re there, or need to report heinous acts of disrespect, look for people in yellow shirts and bring it to their attention.
Your KN/TYM NEC13 staff:
Shock
9.95
Summoning
STORMS
DarkRob
AC1984
Arez GOW
Pherleece
Swift Tom Hanks
Claude VonStroke
DanCock
That’s all for now players. We will update as we go, and make sure to check in depth updates, pool results, interviews and other fantastic coverage from STORMS over at testyourmight.com The HYPE starts now. MORTAL KOMBAT.
Good Luck, Have Fun, Be Safe. Shock Out.