Hmm, not very much help arrived :P
Maybe the forum is not the proper place for this or I did too much TLDR, I do not know, but not important, I start it now alone, and later I still can change anything if anybody will write any proposals.
Ok, so first the sure things:
- The first Grand Slam in July will be on the 01 - Old 1v1 Ladder (Strat ME 0% WR) template
- The second Grand Slam in October will be on the 02 - New 1v1 Ladder (Strat MME 0% SR) template
- The following five templates are the most populars so 5 major events will run on them for sure:
- 03 - Season V - Battle Islands V 0% SR
- 04 - Season XIV - Guiroma 16% SR
- 05 - Real-time Ladder - Strategic Greece
- 06 - Real-time Ladder - Treasure Map
- 07 - Season XXII - French Brawl
Only question, what I am thinking about that "only" Masters 1000 events or the remaining two (or one of them) Grand Slam events (and if yes then which template(s))
Ok, these were the sure things (not very much :D ).
So we have 7 of 12 major templates. We need 5 more.
The above 7 are the most populars, but not enough varied imo.
So the missing 5 should be about the variety.
Thus I am thinking about the following 5 templates as the remaining 5 major templates:
- 20 - Season XV - Poland
- 14 - Snow Mountains MA
- one LD template
- 19 - Season XII - Turkey LD
or
- 21 - Real-time Ladder - France LD
23 - Season XXIII - Commanders on MME
25 - 3 v 3 Ladder WITH ALTS!
Only question about these the popularity... Will it be enough players to fill a 64 (or maybe 128 :O ) players field tourney running on these templates? I have no idea, but I can test it :) So first step, one of the 250 Series event in August will be a 3v3 Ladder event with alts. I am really wonder it will be popular or not at all. The commander template the other big questionmark, but I am not sure about the LD templates neither. Well, we will see (the MA and the Poland template maybe popular enough for 64 players).
And still the question what should be the reamining two Grand Slam templates?
Popularity vs Variety :O