The Other Tournament.

While most of the big Canadian teams are heading to Manitoba this week for CUC 09, 3 of Canada’s elite teams are heading to Burlington Washington for the Emerald City Classic (http://www.emeraldcityclassic.com/). ECC is quite possibly the best ultimate tournament available. It pits the quarter finalists from last years UPA’s plus some Invite teams (a team from Columbia and England this year in the Open division, Columbia and Japan in the Womens division). GOAT, Furious George and Traffic will represent Canada this year. A lot of people wonder why these teams refuse to take part in their National championships and instead go to play in a tournament in the states.

CUC is outrageously expensive. Each player pays anywhere between $123 and $147 to play at Canadian Nationals. That works out to almost $3000 per team. ECC on the other hand will discount fees for teams traveling further. From my understanding, Sockeye will pay $1000 team entry fee, while a team like GOAT will pay somewhere around $400.

Also, for some teams, the level of competition is the main draw in going to a tournament. Most people will agree that Furious and GOAT are the top 2 open teams in the country, if they went to Canadian Nationals, the way the seeding/pools are set up. They may get 3 or 4 good games all weekend (against teams like Mephisto, Pheonix and Invictus). While if they go to ECC, every game will be competitive. Lotus on the other hand will go into CUC, and if everything goes according to plan will play a maximum of 8 games. Of which maybe 3 or 4 will be competitive. 8 games over 4 days, they got more games at No Borders in 2 days for 1/10th of the cost.

That being said, nothing feels greater than winning a National title. But I’m sure teams like Lotus, Invictus, Zephyr, or Mephisto will reassess going to CUC after climbing to the top of the mountain. Good Luck to everyone heading to Winnipeg or Washington.

comments powered by Disqus