dawn ginkgo
I see some debate going on for the prizes and leaderboard. A median solution could be hosting an "opt-in" self-funded leaderboard. If you play ranked, and want your score to count towards any potential prize pool perhaps we could do $5 for a weekly entry. You can structure prizes that pay out to the top 10-20%.
For anyone who plays Gods Unchained, they have a similar thing with their sealed mode where entrants pay 15 gods but have a chance to win more in prizes if they play well. The team can then subsidize the prize pools with matching funds when they want to crank up the # of players. Eventually down the line, we switch to a more permanent unfunded pool that anyone coming and going can qualify for.