OSC Season 5 (2017) Championship Brackets + Groups Announced/Explained!
The top 50 players ranked via the OSC World Rankings have been invited to play in our revered OSC Finals, where we determine our yearly champion! Every player who plays in the finals gets be paid! We have designed a finals format which rewards the players who finish highly in the World Rankings, as they have shown a combination of results and regular participation throughout the year, and deserve rewards for their efforts. Thus seeding and competition for position within the rankings is highly important!
The OSC Season 5 Championship will be played over 9 days across the first 2 weeks of January 2018. (After which, season 2018 will immediately begin!)
This Championship will be the culmination of our 556 Tournament + 49 Show Match season!
Streams:
Casting Talent: Wardi, Maynarde, Azylis, VOJ +? +?
+Other Language Coverage.
Every series this tournament will be streamed!!
1st $2000 + Trophy
2nd $1000
3rd $800
4th $500
5/6th $350 each
7/8th $300 each
9/10th $225 each
11/14th $175 each
15/18th $150 each
19/26th $125 each
27/32nd $100 each
33/38th $75 each
39/50th $50 each
Also make sure to checkout the cool rewards on offer which can help boost the prizepool of this event!
Group + Playoff Brackets:
Players (27-50th), play in Four 6 player SSL/Masters Cup style (Bo2’s) groups. The top 12 players post groups are matched up in the playoff stage to determine the 6 best players to join the Championship Bracket.
Group A Thursday January 4th at 7pm KST (11am CET / 2am PST)
Group B Friday January 5th at 7pm KST (11am CET / 2am PST)
Group C Sunday January 7th at 7pm KST (11am CET / 2am PST)
Group D Tuesday January 9th at 4am KST (Monday 8th 8pm CET / 11am PST)
Playoff Round Tuesday January 9th at 8pm KST (12pm CET / 3am PST)
Championship Bracket:
The top 26 highest players from the 2017 season, get seeded into championship bracket. 1-20 Upper Bracket, 21-26th Lower Bracket.
Players 21-25 will be able to choose their opponent from the the playoff round! (21st first choice, 22nd second, etc) These matchups will be announced live on a special episode of OSC News & Highlights on Thursday January 11th at 6.30am KST (Wednesday 10th 10.30pm CET / 1.30pm PST)
The Grand Finals will either be 2xBo5’s with the upper bracket player only needing to win one series, and the lower player two, or a Bo7, with the upper bracket player starting 1-0 up. The upper bracket player may choose which format they prefer.
Championship Bracket Day 1/4 Thursday January 11th at 8pm KST (12pm CET / 3am PST)
Championship Bracket Day 2/4 Friday January 12th at 8pm KST (12pm CET / 3am PST)
Championship Bracket Day 3/4 Saturday January 13th at 8pm KST (12pm CET / 3am PST)
Championship Bracket Day 4/4 Sunday January 14th at 8pm KST (12pm CET / 3am PST)
Champion!
Above: Trophy won by yearly Champion!
ByuN was 2016’s Champion, taking out the $10,000 finals series.
Solar was 2015’s Champion, taking out the $5000 finals series.
GuMiho was 2014’s Champion, taking out the $3500 finals series.
PiG was 2013’s Champion, taking out the $2100 finals series.
PenguiN disqualified from 2017 Championship + suspended until May 2018.
What happened:
Recently, Online Sports Championship (OSC) organised Masters Cup #108 (a regular twice monthly $1000 cup) and held 4 qualifiers for the event. It appeared that OSC regular pukub (Thai Zerg player, with 36 tournaments for the year) signed up for Qualifiers #2 and #3 as pukub1. However to many players disbelief, pukub qualified for Masters Cup #108 Groups via Qualifier #3 after defeating several notable players far above his MMR level and results, then forfeited the first place prize. These unexpected results and actions, lead to several players to suspect/accuse pukub of cheating, or having someone else play on his account.
The accusation:
Some players chose to take the initiative/matters into their own hands, and conducted their own replay and hotkey analysis. The analysis indicated PenguiN (South Korean Zerg) as the player playing under the handle of pukub1. A claim that PenguiN soon admitted to when questioned privately by a respected opponent. Pukub (Thai player) publicly denied any involvement via a tweet.
The investigation:
When required throughout the season, OSC has processes in place to conduct reviews of incidents that occur within the League. A review panel, usually consisting of 5-6 staff/community representatives is assembled to review all evidence, data, statements, etc, and work together to determine a recommendation/outcome, or penalty if required. This review panel consisted of 2 League Managers, 1 Project Manager, and 3 Community Representatives, including a Korean Rep.
It is OSC policy that even if someone/a party is found to break the rules/cheat, OSC does not reveal private information, conversations, statements or data from reviews. Indeed, quite often outcomes are dealt with privately, and not deemed necessary to be brought to the casual public’s attention, however, in this case, we felt it was appropriate to share the process, and outcome. Review Panel rulings are final, and have the full support of OSC Management.
This investigation reviewed all evidence provided from the players directly involved, and has confidently established that it was indeed PenguiN playing under the handle of pukub1. We reached out to PenguiN directly and he confessed to the act (In both Korean and English). pukub (Thai player) has also given a statement that he is an innocent party in this, and there is no reason for OSC to doubt him at this time.
The punishment:
At OSC, sportsmanship and fair play is of utmost importance! We invest a lot into growing and supporting regional events, which in turn we expect to help grow the game as a whole, and benefit all. PenguiN’s actions went against these values and event rules. He is very much an OSC veteran, with 111 events played in 2017 (Earning himself a spot in the Leagues Hall of Fame), and is familiar with the Masters Cups format of 1 edition Open, 1 WCS Circuit Only, so unfamiliarity was not a factor. It would seem some premeditated thought went into impersonating another player (of the same race), with the intent of bypassing the events regional lock ruling.
It is quite disappointing and baffling to see such an experienced player do this, and jeopardize all he has achieved throughout the year, the $1000’s he stands to make over the next month alone, and whatever was to come in 2018!
While this incident might not be as serious as something like match fixing or hacking, a harsh but reasonable punishment with regards to our League is needed. Taking PenguiN’s quick admission, and good record into account, the penalty for this incident will be:
- A 500 point penalty for 2017 OSC Championship points
- Disqualified from the 2017 end of season OSC Championship
- Unable to receive any remaining 2017 bonuses (participation prizes)
- Receive a 500 point penalty towards 2018 OSC Championship points
- Be ineligible to earn points, $, and any bonus competition/reward from any OSC partnered tournament until May 2018
If PenguiN is found playing under another ID during this period in an attempt to bypass the penalty, he will receive a lifetime ban from any OSC League, across all current and future sports and competitions.
We do not condone what PenguiN did, and hope there won’t be a repeat of this type of incident from other players again. We would love to see PenguiN return and rebuild his reputation from May next season, as believe he has a lot of talent to go far in the sport, as displayed throughout the majority of season 2017.
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OSC Management.
