"Newcomer-2011. Winter"

I think even the most clueless Новичок can break the Dragon Utopia on week 3, there's plenty of info on the forum! Plenty of high-quality guides + daily streams; with a little patience and desire, you can learn something even in a month. There used to be less info and it was less accessible; I more and more often notice how beginners win against mid-tier players before they've even had time to register, which is pleasing since they are gaining skill at great speeds:smile20:

IMHO, the criteria regarding who can be called Новичок (experienced players) need to be reviewed, otherwise the very purpose of the tournament is lost. In the first Новичок-2009 tournament, there wasn't a single instance of taking the Dragon Utopia before the 4th week; this move was considered unreachable for beginners.

Let's let Viktor decide. I'm some 100th place in the rating and have the most losses for the season, so in my humble opinion, far from having outgrown being a beginner, I haven't even reached that level yet. Viktor didn't have a shadow of a doubt about whether to take me or not. I waited half a year for the tournament.

Rating is far from an objective indicator of skill; look at what position Scorp, LeBron and other legends are in. A low rating can be explained by more frequent games against stronger opponents, or other factors independent of the player's actual skill. And to be more objective, the decision regarding admission to the tournament must be collective and no other way, because some "beginners" on HW might be far from "beginners" on another Heroes resource (for example, the contacts group and many others). Otherwise, we risk turning one of the most brilliant HW tournaments into a "one-sided slaughter."