You don't have to do randomized pools either. What you can do is use TIOs regional seeding method to determine the pools by separating local clusters into their own region on TIO. Example being the crowd from Millers Smashfest would be a region, Brock U would be a region, Casuals, Falls, Sauga. This will ensure even distribution of both players and skill across the pools, and eliminate the possibility of playing against those you came with in first round pools. Furthermore it promotes playing with individuals you've never met before by forcing opposing regions to play with each other. Therefore utilizing opportunities to gain experience against different players, their styles, their characters, and ultimately fulfilling the goal and purpose of a tournament as a whole.
Brad we should look into sponsorship from Mixed Styles in the form of custom T-Shirts once a few monthlies pass. We can use the funds to help put towards equipment for recording and other important things.
I hope we can turn this into something that can gain municipal recognition and attract a large demographic of youth within the region. We should seriously consider hosting fundraiser events in the halls of The Fairview Mall with The Toy Trove and others as a sponsor, alongside other events to both advertise and help.
Reason I said the last part about events is because that's actually the exact nature in which a lot of the original smash community had met each other. There was a Wii Bowling promotional fund raiser at The Fairview Mall where there were raffle tickets to be bought for a draw and a competition of Wii Bowling to win a Gift Certificate. This attracted a lot of us nerds and we learnt the math of that game inside out to achieve near perfect scores, if not perfect. Amongst those nerds was Percon (Max Manco) who was a board reader here before most of us, Pyrnight, Trevor, KC18, and a few others who now are a part of our scene. Percon used this event to advertise the first Smash tournament this city has seen at the Quality Inn.
The relevance?
Percon didn't know a single person besides Pyrnight at that event, and was a player of advanced skill and awareness as a result of exposure to SmashBoards. Through his efforts and social demeanor he was able to attract 65 people to attend a Melee tournament at the Quality Inn which followed the MBR ruleset, and was a fun time for all who attended.
This is the magnitude of involvement I want to see our scene strive towards. Perhaps we can collaborate with individuals from certain high schools such as Stamform Collegiate, Sir Winston, Laura Secord, Collegiate, and others to run tournaments in their schools for the students themselves. We run the tournament MBR ruleset and make that ruleset accessible very easily throughout the gym they play in. They'll have a great time amongst themselves and we can simply link everyone there to the boards, the local Niagara thread, and the next upcoming event as well. Those who want to keep that experience going will try to meet up with people to play again, and that's what our goal should be here.
