The tournament itself is organised by SGamer.com, one of the largest esports websites in China and will be the first time they will have hosted an event.

ROTK will last for four days from the 30th April - 3rd May and will feature eight Warcraft3 teams including SK Gaming.

Information on the tournament has been sparse on European websites so we have gathered together all you need to know in this little guide, if you have queries please do not hesistate to ask and we will find you the relevant information.

The "twist" - Card and match system explained

ROTK match format

ROTK follows the King of the Hill best-of-1 used in the NGL, however the order of your players must be decided before the match commences. The tournament begins with a group stage with the eight teams split over two groups, with the top 2 progressing to the single elimination stage.

Four players from each team compete in one match + a King (organiser or teamcaptain in otherwords) who is responsible for using the "cards".

Cards and "Special Time"

The card system in RoTK allows the use of six "cards", each card has a different ability and each can be used once in every clan war. The cards do not stack, if cards are not used in a clan war they may not be saved for the next match. Before every match there is a one minute of "Special Time" in which cards may be used.

Two card types, "Turn-over" and "Instant-Cast"

The cards fall into two types "Turn-Over" and "Instant-Cast". There are three "Turn-over" cards; Charm, Split and Mirror Image and they are represented by a refresh logo on the top right of the card. Turn-over cards are placed on the table before each match begins, each King or organiser can choose one, they are then turned over by the referee.

Once this is done "Instant-Cast" cards (represented by a thunder sign on the top right hand side of the card) may be used to counter the Turn-Over cards, there are three instant-cast cards; Phase Shift, Ressurection and Anti-Magic Shield.

Note that the "Split" and "Ressurection" cards are only available during the single elimination rounds

The "Charm" & "Split" Cards



The "Charm" Card: Allows the team captain to change the next map to a map of his choice. This is a "Turn-Over" card type.

The "Split" Card: Allows the team captain to change the next game in the match to a best-of-3 instead of a best-of-1. This is a "Turn-Over" card type.

The "Mirror Image" & "Phase Shift" Cards



The "Mirror Image" Card: Allows the team captain to change the next game in the match to a 2v2 instead of a 1v1. This is a "Turn-Over" card type.

The "Phase Shift" Card: Allows the team captain to change the current player with another player. For example if Lyn beats WE.likE but his next match is against WE.Sky, SK Gaming could swop Lyn with any player still "alive" in their roster. This is an "Instant-Cast" card type.

Playoff Cards, "Ressurection" & "Anti-Magic Shield"



The "Ressurection" Card: Allows team captain to "revive" player on his roster that has already been defeated, similar to PGL. This is an "Instant-Cast" card type.

The "Anti-Magic Shell" Card: Allows team captain to render whichever card his opponents used void.

For example if SK Gaming are playing Mousesports, SK Gaming use their "Mirror Image" card to change the matchup to a 2v2, if Mousesports then play their "Anti-Magic Shell" card the next game remains a 1v1 not a 2v2. This is an "Instant-Cast" card type.

"Argh this is too confusing!"

Ok, let us take an imaginary scenario, the score is 1-1 and Reign and Grubby have both been eliminated, the third map is Lost Temple, SK's player is Lyn and MYM's player is Moon.

The one minute of special time begins and seeing the matchup MYM decide LT is not a good map for an Elf player so they put their "Charm" card down on the table to change the map whilst SK Gaming expect MYM to change player so they decide Lyn would be better in a best-of-3 match so they put down their "Split" turn-over Card.

The turn-over cards are revealed, now each King/Organiser can use his Instant-Cast cards. SK use their anti-magic shield card to cancel MYM's Charm card to keep Lost Temple as the map and MYM counter by using their ressurection card to ressurect Grubby followed by a phase-shift card to replace Moon with Grubby. Now the matchup is Grubby versus Lyn on Lost Temple, best-of-3.

Teams and rosters



With this being a Chinese tournament we will see our fair share of Chinese players with 5 of the 8 teams holding one or more Chinese players in their roster.

The tournament sees the familiar faces of SK Gaming, Meet Your Makers, World Elite, Beijing E-Sports Team and Mousesports, the new fnatic Warcraft3 squad as well as two Chinese teams.

The first Chinese team is wNv who we are very familiar with and who currently compete in NGL-Two, the second is Colorful who competed in the WC3L qualifiers but we have yet to see them compete in a clan war format against the big guns. Although recently losing one of their players Guangmo to new Warcraft3 team Team eXpertise, Colorful have some home-grown talent such as Yan Chao "Lyc" Lv who did exceptionally well at ESWC 2007 finishing in the top 8.

In terms of teams and rosters only a few surprises, BeT are without Sweet following his call up for military duties and MYM leave behind EVE, Storm and Ciara.

This will be an optimum opportunity for Chinese clans wNv and Colorful to shine on LAN, as they also have the added advantage of playing at "home". The clan match format will also be in their favour, we will go into that later.

Groups



Schedule

30th April: Opening Ceremony, 1st Round of Group A, 1st Round of Group B,
2nd Round of Group A.

1st May: 2nd Round of Group B, 3rd Round of Group A, 3rd Round of Group B.

2nd May: Single Elimination: A1 vs B2, Single Elimination: A2 vs B1.

3rd May: Consolation Final, Final, Closing Ceremony

Map Pool

1v1: Echo Isles, Secret Valley, Terenas Stand, Lost Temple(ROC), Turtle Rock, Twisted Meadows, Gnoll Wood
2v2: Avalanche, Lost Temple(ROC), Turtle Rock, Twisted Meadows, Gnoll Wood

Map veto process: A coin toss for the first round will decide who vetos maps first. For the following round the winner of the previous round can veto maps first.

Prizes

1st: $10,000 Cash
2nd: $4,000 Cash
3rd: $2,000 Cash
4th: $1,000 Cash
5th-8th: $500 Cash

How do we follow it?

via our ROTK event coverage,, there is also a PPLive Stream.