SMM prize pool and tournament format announced

With just a few weeks to go until SMM DotA starts, the organizers have released the full prize pool for this grand event along with the tournament format. Besides offering a huge monetary payoff, Seagate and SteelSeries will be sponsoring their products to the winners of this event. The organizers have also used a very unique tournament system due to the amount of teams participating.

Placing	Prizes
Champions	-RM 42,000 (Approx 8300 Euro) Cash + Trophy -5x Seagate freeAgent Go 320 Gigabytes Portable Hard Drive -5x SteelSeries Siberia V2 Headset (White)
1st Runner Up	-RM 20,000 (Approx 3900 Euro) Cash + Trophy -5x Seagate freeAgent Go 320 Gigabytes Portable Hard Drive -5x SteelSeries Xai Laser Mouse
2nd Runner Up	-RM 13,000 (Approx 3800 Euro) Cash + Trophy -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries 5Hv2 Headset (White)
3rd Runner Up	-RM 8,000 (Approx 2300 Euro) Cash -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries Siberia Full-size Headset (Red)
5th Place	-RM 2,000 (Approx 580 Euro) Cash -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries 4H Headset
6th Place	-RM 1,500 (Approx 440 Euro) Cash -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries Kinzu Mouse (Retail)
7th Place	-RM 1,300 (Approx 380 Euro) Cash -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries Merc Keyboard (US)
8th Place	-RM 1,100 (Approx 320 Euro) Cash -5x Seagate Barracuda 12, 500 Gigabytes SATA Hdd -5x SteelSeries 4HD Mouse Pad

Seagate decided to sponsor their range of high quality hard drive for the lucky winners. While SteelSeries, the famous gaming peripheral manufacturer, have sponsored a whole line of products, from their Siberia Headsets to their keyboards and mouse.

To ensure that high quality matches are played throughout SGNDT, the organizers have decided to adopt a very unique tournament format. Below is an explanation from the organizers:

-The tournament format for SGNDT 09 will be separated into three phases, the first being the qualifying stage, followed by the group stage and the finally the playoffs.

-Firstly, all teams who previously place second, third and fourth in their respective State qualifiers will be separated into groups of eight. Each group containing four teams. All teams in each group will battle out in a Round Robin format against each other to gain the highest score in their group. The team with the highest score will the proceed to the Group Stage.

-Next, the best of each group from the Qualifying Stage will proceed to the Group stage where the champions of each State along with all International teams will be waiting for their challengers. All State champions, International teams and the best from the group stages will be seeded into groups of five. Again, a Round Robin will be played and the two teams with the highest score will be in for the playoffs.

-Finally, the playoffs will be played in a Double Elimination brackets. Known to some as the Winner/Losers Bracket. This is where all teams will start off in the Winners Bracket and when a team loses, they will move down to the Losers Bracket. If they suffer another loss in the Losers Bracket, they will be eliminated from the tournament. In the end, the winners from the Winners Bracket will face off with the winners from the Losers Bracket in a best of three game with the winners from the Winner Bracket having a one game advantage.

With so much up for grabs, along with such a demanding tournament system, it will come as no surprise as we see all participating teams training long and hard for SMM DotA. Stay tuned as GosuGamers provide up to date coverage of SMM DotA.