I must say that a really good comment. Sometimes it's enough to just simply give a little spark to enlight someone. If people interested in Gwent they will try it. Even if Trump doesn't promote much, if people hear he went to a Gwent tournament, they will know about Gwent and even try it out.
I think the tournament turned out amazing considering it's CDPR's first foray into the realm of esports. I don't think they could have asked for more succes, it turned out amazing.
My only - and very minor - gripe would be the game knowledge of the casters (Mogwai most notably): I lost track of all the fundamental mistakes Mogwai perpetuated, to the point where it seemed like McBeard, the better caster in my opinion, just had to give up correcting him and just roll with it. I do believe they did a good job in generating enthusiasm for the games and I commend them for their positive casting, which goes a long way, and as such I don't mean to jab at them. To outsiders, it probably seemed perfectly fine, which is possibly the most important thing for a launch tournament like this. For anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of the game, however, it was a bit off-putting to hear Mogwai roll from one basic mistake to another. It came out as lack of preparation to many fans of the game, and it resulted in a lot of missed opportunities to highlight the mindgames between the players (i.e. not talking about decoy targets and strategies because Mogwai had stared himself blind on Decoying Operator (which is impossible due to Relentless) and thus only talked about that / not understanding Oikumena not playing Temerian Foot Soldiers in round 1, even though it is risky drawing a second, because he wanted to be able to catch up to a Ciri in 1 card in the mirror in round 2 - nonwithstanding that Oikumena's decklists were frankly hopeless). In a few cases, the casting focused on "red herrings" due to lack of game knowledge, which is a shame as it missed opportunities to highlight stratagems, mistakes, the thoughtprocesses etc. of the players.
The qualifier, on the other hand, was a shitshow of epic proportions due to ESL. CDPR is without blame for this. ESL is notorious for mishandling tournaments, and ESL handled this one even worse than how they usually handle their tournaments.
I hope CDPR will remain an active partner and player in promoting Gwent as an esport, because its potential is, in my opinion, vastly higher than Hearthstones. If they took an active role and did, say, a large event at the end of each season, with an end-of-the-year event akin to Blizzcon Global Championships in Starcraft II, I cannot see why it wouldn't reach HS levels of popularity, or even topple it.
My only - and very minor - gripe would be the game knowledge of the casters (Mogwai most notably): I lost track of all the fundamental mistakes Mogwai perpetuated, to the point where it seemed like McBeard, the better caster in my opinion, just had to give up correcting him and just roll with it. I do believe they did a good job in generating enthusiasm for the games and I commend them for their positive casting, which goes a long way, and as such I don't mean to jab at them. To outsiders, it probably seemed perfectly fine, which is possibly the most important thing for a launch tournament like this. For anyone with even rudimentary knowledge of the game, however, it was a bit off-putting to hear Mogwai roll from one basic mistake to another. It came out as lack of preparation to many fans of the game, and it resulted in a lot of missed opportunities to highlight the mindgames between the players (i.e. not talking about decoy targets and strategies because Mogwai had stared himself blind on Decoying Operator (which is impossible due to Relentless) and thus only talked about that / not understanding Oikumena not playing Temerian Foot Soldiers in round 1, even though it is risky drawing a second, because he wanted to be able to catch up to a Ciri in 1 card in the mirror in round 2 - nonwithstanding that Oikumena's decklists were frankly hopeless). In a few cases, the casting focused on "red herrings" due to lack of game knowledge, which is a shame as it missed opportunities to highlight stratagems, mistakes, the thoughtprocesses etc. of the players.
The qualifier, on the other hand, was a shitshow of epic proportions due to ESL. CDPR is without blame for this. ESL is notorious for mishandling tournaments, and ESL handled this one even worse than how they usually handle their tournaments.
I hope CDPR will remain an active partner and player in promoting Gwent as an esport, because its potential is, in my opinion, vastly higher than Hearthstones. If they took an active role and did, say, a large event at the end of each season, with an end-of-the-year event akin to Blizzcon Global Championships in Starcraft II, I cannot see why it wouldn't reach HS levels of popularity, or even topple it.
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Threads merged. Discussion of the Challenger may continue in the official News thread.
I only saw the final and it was very cool to watch. Seems like a lot of bluffing and mind games. Also I learned the importance of putting my fingers on my forehead for focus (j/k). Definitely less RNG than Hearthstone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4PLxDQ27k8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4PLxDQ27k8
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