Moscow qualifier.

I didn't want to get involved in the age-old debate between TE and SoD for the umpteenth time, but it seems I have to. Eric, with all due respect, you shouldn't be talking nonsense. The original and current versions of Bay are different not because TE is bad and SoD is great, but because I, Stepan, and Old Man stopped promoting and developing it for various reasons.

That's the point. If you don't constantly talk about how wonderful TE is and push it to the point of fanaticism, it will die immediately. Let's remember when Bay was created; almost all the active players went there to play TE.
And a new generation of players emerged on the Portal, such as Neoendi, Keba, Lesgor, Chudozavr, and many others. They didn't receive much help, and there were almost no top players. But the community grew into a powerful force.
When I came to World, it wasn't a blank slate. A group of players had already formed and was actively developing.
They found resources themselves, developed their own rules, and grew into a strong community without me or other more experienced players. There were people to organize and play in tournaments.

And if there hadn't been the Portal and World? Players would still have appeared, let's say those who came in the 3rd or 4th wave to World: they would have somehow united, found their organizers, and grown their own leaders. The only difference is that it would have taken more time.
SoD is an imperfect game, but it's very resilient, precisely because it finds its player, whether they are 12 or 42 years old.
But TE won't survive without strong promotion; if 2-3 people leave, that's it. If you, Old Man, and Balamut had continued to promote it for another 3 or 4 years, it would still have gone back to being a wasteland as soon as you left.

By the way, sorry if I'm cluttering up the thread and distracting from the discussion about the upcoming Tournament.