I see the ladder qualifications as a way to seed the 32 players, not just to select them. I'm sure the majority of the players will be known entities. Any new players will be scrutinized to make sure there was no foul play. Everybody will be looking at the ladders very closely in the weeks preceding the event and watching games in observer mode. I don't see how anyone can cheat the ladders under this scrutiny.
Also qualifications through ladders guarantee us continuous high level automatch play for months. This goes a long way into reviving the competitive scene and the game in general, as much as the event itself in my opinion. One week since the announcement, the list of automatch revenants includes DevM, Aimstrong, Barton, Talisman etc.
Just a noob's opinion.
