New Developments: PiQLiQ has contacted me over Team Liquid himself, to clarify who he is. He stated firmly that he does not wish to be mistaken for anyone else, so please disregard the stuff I originally wrote in my blog. I am spoilering that just to leave some context for someone who is confused, but my speculations were mostly FALSE.
PiQLiQ told me to inform you all that he is indeed just a random Swedish player, who plays a ton of other games like War3, WoW, Quakelive, BW, Dota, etc. He does not want to be famous, and is in fact a very humble person, mentioning that he doesn't even consider himself very good but that he plays purely for fun, and that you can take games off of even the best players in the world if you manage to surprise them.
He does not want to gain any fame on Starcraft or be confused with anyone famous, but I hope you can all respect him some more after reading this!
This was the original post. I'm leaving it here PURELY for context. But again, please don't take any of it seriously because PiQLiQ doesn't want anyone to be confused.
Today's topic is pondering the identity of the semi-well-known North American Protoss player by the name of PiQLiQ. You may have seen his inspiring play on the streams of TL users such as CatZ, Spades, or HasHe, often introduced with such comments as "Oh fuck it's PiQLiQ", or in-game chat like "Cannon rush, Voidrays, DTs, or all three?"
Other than his notorious reputation of using cheesy strategies, not much is known about this mysterious man (or woman?). He plays on the NA server, and mains Protoss, although he is known to execute a pretty solid MMM as well. He was at the tippy top of the NA ladder on at least one occasion, striking fear into the hearts of many a hard-working player. He appears to be teamless, and has not been too hot lately, losing 18 of his last 20 games (http://sc2ranks.com/us/2178533/PiQLiQ).
I'm not sure if he uses TL, but he apparently has a YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/PiQLiQ It reveals that he is actually a master of many games, from QuakeLive to Tetrisfriends, and may be from Sweden, which, smarter readers will notice, is in fact NOT in North America.
So with what little I know about this peculiar fellow, I'm going to attempt to guess who he is.
My (many) guesses:
1. Naniwa - Known to have several smurfs on the NA ladder, from Boyardee to MeatyOwlLegs, Naniwa actually makes some sense. He's Sveedish, and was on top of the NA ladder for some time, AND plays protoss. However, PiQLiQ's win ratio is not nearly as high as Naniwa's other smurfs. Maybe he just messes around with cheese on PiQLiQ?
2. Athene - known by all as the best protoss in the world, Athene is a possible candidate. PiQLiQ has to be at least one of the 5 or 6 best Protoss in the world, so the skill level is pretty close. Recently, Athene was been dominating the EU ladder, so he had to have started somewhere right? Well, assuming it's not KiWiKaKi playing for him. I would be pleasantly surprised if PiQLiQ was indeed Athene.
3. Day[9] - god knows what Day[9]'s real account is, but it must be pretty freakin high ranked, since he's like, Day[9] and stuff. I don't know if Day[9] has the time to have all his dailies, and his school work, AND play 4000 ish ladder games, though. However, PiQLiQ WOULD be a cool name for a muppet.
4. David Kim - game balance tester dude from Blizzard. Dominated the NA ladder after the release of SC2, at the same time PiQLiQ wasn't dominating it. Coincidence? I think not! Plus, PiQLiQ's amazing cheese builds could only be created by someone with a real deep understanding of the game, right? And Dayvie plays random... obvious cheeser. And, as a Blizzard employee, he is not ALLOWED to enter tournaments.
5. Artosis - he recently switched from Zerg to Protoss, and as IdrA stated (I think), has been doing pretty well on the KR ladder. That Protoss experience had to have come from somewhere, right?
6. HayprO/Jinro - Deal with it, they're Swedish. Probably wanted to try out some of the epic 4-gates they experience on a daily basis on the Korean ladder. Plus, Jinro has stated he does have some smurfs.
7. oGsMC - PiQLiQ also doesn't seem to speak English very well, like MC. The only other indicator is that their skill levels are extremely close.
8. EGIdrA - How could IdrA comment on whats IMBALANCED! without having protoss experience at the "top level" of players, which he continually mentions his show is based on. Doesn't get much more high level than PiQLiQ. It probably also helps relieve some zerg-stress by successfully cheesing everyone on the NA ladder.
9. ppgBubbles - alright, this is actually a somewhat possible choice. Bubbles also has a lot of cheesy, creative plays, and does dabble in Terran on occasion, from what I've seen from CatZ's stream. I believe he has also used a build PiQLiQ used on Xel'Naga Caverns, making a Planetary Fortress at his natural. Plus, he said to CatZ something along the lines of "PiQLiQ is a player to learn from".
10. DJ Khaled - All he does is win, and that's something PiQLiQ is quite familiar with.
Anyway, that's all I got for now. Feel free to discuss and ponder with me who PiQLiQ's true identity is.
Other questions left unanswered: Why does he play on the NA server, if he's from Sweden? How does he balance his time on so many different games? Who helps him train/come up with such sophisticated builds? Why has no one signed him to a team yet? Why does he not seem to participate in tournaments? Will take his talents to Korea any time soon? How did he come up with such an awesome name? Does he high-five as well as IdrA?
(Vote): Naniwa (Vote): Athene (Vote): Day[9] (Vote): David Kim (Vote): Artosis (Vote): Jinro/HayprO/other TL member (Vote): oGsMC (Vote): EGIdrA (Vote): ppgBubbles (Vote): Other/DJ Khaled
I don't know if I'll be continuing the blog past this entry, but the goal is to discuss random topics related to the SC2 community whenever I think of them.
Is this a joke? Piqliq is just some guy that ladders too much and plays as abusive as possible. He is not european, but acts like someone who speaks english as a second language (at least i hope he's not european because he has played so many games, especially late at night in EST or early in the morning CET).
The guy has played almost 4000 ladder games, so its not really balancing time so much as having a lot of it to play this game.
On a side note he acts really weird, and stalked me for a bit inviting me to customs and msging me randomly...
I've seen him play several players on TL streams as well. He does seem to have many cheesy all-in builds and his lack of fame does lend credence to your notion that he may indeed be a smurf. I mean, he's either a smurf or some kind of hermit genius lol! I'll bet what you are saying is true, he's some test smurf account for someone who is trying out cheese.
Thing is, whenever I've seen him on stream, it doesn't seem like he talks very much, so it's kind of mysterious. He also doesn't seem to enter in ANY tournaments, and does not seem to interact with other pro players, or on TL. Considering he has like 4000 games under his belt, that is a little strange to me.
Piqliq and is a classic example of a ladder ONLY player, as seen with his all in/luck based strategies, massgaming and lack of game understanding beyond abusive strategies. He is just a guy that massgames, and likely would do badly if he entered in tournaments for reasons stated above (he is much better in a bo1 than he would be in a bo5). I've played him A LOT, and can say with certainty that he is not a smurf...
LOL. Your logic is stupid, why would anyone play that much on a smurf account, let alone play on the us server if they have access to the easily superior servers(my opinion) (eu in nani's case, and korea in mc's/artosis/idras case). Also, Artosis claimed he had recently started playing protoss, ie, not being playing for months and months all while topping the entire us server. On top of all that, IdrA if you haven't already found out yet, doesn't really care for protoss, and is extremely unlikely that he play's as much as this piqliq character.. The fact of the matter is, who is he? My best guess is he is probably some rand who is very intelligent and good at games and plays a lot of them.
Aside from all that, good topic, I've been waiting for something like this to come up for a while
And yes, a fan club is needed, I like the guy/gal.
On March 01 2011 10:03 ThE_OsToJiY wrote: Piqliq and is a classic example of a ladder ONLY player, as seen with his all in/luck based strategies, massgaming and lack of game understanding beyond abusive strategies. He is just a guy that massgames, and likely would do badly if he entered in tournaments for reasons stated above (he is much better in a bo1 than he would be in a bo5). I've played him A LOT, and can say with certainty that he is not a smurf...
Oh come on, give him some credit. He may use a lot of abusive strategies but he is definitely a solid and creative player. Even if he cheeses every game his follow ups are excellent as well - his late game management is actually quite good if you somehow manage to survive his cheeses.
Also you yourself should know that when you're at the top of the ladder, ladder is rarely a bo1. Everyone has played piqliq a million times, and enters into a game with him expecting cheese. Yet, people still lose to him even when they know what's coming. Look through his match list on any day and you'll see him winning BoX's vs many top players on the ladder.
I personally think he would do very well if he entered tournaments.
BTW @ OP I don't know if you can say he mains P, his ladder icon has switched between T and P many times over the past few months.
Piqliq also plays terran btw. Ostojiy is just mad jelly. I think piqliq is pretty good, I mean sure he cheeses a lot, but at least he understands (I think) how to abuse the positions he gets into, although I haven't played very often. In any case, he knows how to win so good for him. I would love to see him in tournaments :D
Also, no he is definitely not bubbles, I haven't actually read all the answers so perhaps someone already mentioned this. However afaik he's friends with bubbles.
I can't find the link at the moment, but there was an interview done with PiQliQ which revealed he is just some random gamer who actually had minimal RTS experience and no BW experience at all. Definitely not a smurf, and as people have stated before me, just a guy who just games a ton with interesting strategies that catch people off guard.
Does anyone have the link to the interview I'm referring to?
I don't know who PiQliQ is but I love the blog post ...and if he is a smurf I think it would make it even more cool when/if we ever find out who he is.
At Blizzard there exists an office. Inside this office there exists a man. This man is PiQLiQ.
I believe, with absolute conviction, that PiQLiQ is a Blizzard employee. Blizzard's balance team needs someone to test the most abusive strategies possible. Someone needs to cheese. Someone needs to understand cheese. Someone needs to understand the power of the Photon Cannon and the power of the Bunker. That man is PiQLiQ. That man exists in an office. That office exists at Blizzard.
Think about it. What happens when you flip "P" upside-down? It becomes a "b". The "L" and the "Q"s are capitalized in PiQLiQ. The "L" is obvious. It is an "L". "Q" is an obscure and little used letter. So is "Z". The "Q"s are for "Z"s.
What does that give us? b-L-Z-Z. Blizzard. PiQLiQ works for Blizzard.
On March 01 2011 11:13 Smurphy wrote: At Blizzard there exists an office. Inside this office there exists a man. This man is PiQLiQ.
I believe, with absolute conviction, that PiQLiQ is a Blizzard employee. Blizzard's balance team needs someone to test the most abusive strategies possible. Someone needs to cheese. Someone needs to understand cheese. Someone needs to understand the power of the Photon Cannon and the power of the Bunker. That man is PiQLiQ. That man exists in an office. That office exists at Blizzard.
Think about it. What happens when you flip "P" upside-down? It becomes a "b". The "L" and the "Q"s are capitalized in PiQLiQ. The "L" is obvious. It is an "L". "Q" is an obscure and little used letter. So is "Z". The "Q"s are for "Z"s.
What does that give us? b-L-Z-Z. Blizzard. PiQLiQ works for Blizzard.
This explains why there's no good zerg cheese. Nobody's out there trying to balance it.
I saw Slush play against this guy more than like 7 times in a row on the ladder on his stream once. Slush would lose to him like 4 times in a row and it got really disappointing. At that point, I left for an hour and I when I come back, Slush was still playing against PiQliQ.
PiQliQ's play is surprising to say the least. Slush would baneling bust this guy, and somehow PiQliQ still makes it out alive. =/
Some very deep analysis and detective work by my fellow TL'ers here, if only I thought of them myself.
Offhand, yes, AtheneWins plays Starcraft 2 now. But it's rumored that Kiwikaki actually plays on his account.
Osto, I agree with Mihai, this guy HAS to be pretty decent to be that high on ladder, and his cheeses work despite the fact that people expect them. Plus, I have seen him win some long macro games before.
PiQLiQ is a great player sure, I don't nessesarily like him and I beat him the last few times we played, but he's certainly very smart and has tons of potential. Would we have considered PiQLiQ? maybe if we needed a Protoss, but at this point in time we needed a Zerg, and if there's another pickup it'll be a Terran, and you probably shouldn't even try to guess, because if we do end up recruiting one, it'll probably be based on potential, talent and dedication, like we've always done.
Piqliq raped me on one of his smurfs playing Protoss while I was trying to learn Terran t_t. I raged cuz he pulled some kind of proxy voidray cheese and he tells me he's piqliq and coaches for $15 an hour >.>
Someone who calls himself piqliq appeared a few times on sayle's stream. I don't know if that piqliq was real or not. Sayle meant that he was real but i still don't know.
Well all, my search for PiQLiQ's true identity has come to an end. He has contacted me via Team LiQuid and told me who he actually is. Thanks for speculating with me this week; I hope that you read and find out who he really is, because he doesn't want to be mistaken for anyone else.
Wow, PiQLiQ is trying to throw us off by saying he is just a normal swede... This only makes me MORE curious as to know his REAL identity... + Show Spoiler +
Trust me im nothing or even close skilled liked the top players at all. Why do people bug me? I do not even want to be bugged or whispered? Just leave me a lone..... Im not here to take the ladder points from people just to be one of the top players, im doing it for the fun and how much i love this game. Maybe later i willl join a team and play more than i do... but not now....
check my qukelive.com account so we can play! im training there atm piqliq@hotmail.com
On March 06 2011 10:28 holy_war wrote: Well, that's that. Good luck PiQLiQ!
Thanks!
Like to everyone im nothing special! when it comes to any game! well this might be a good way too contact me over gosugamers.net adnt their site "piqliq" to play vs me on QUAKELIVE?
regards piqtheliq
Btw, im sorry if people got mad at me. Everything is the truth.
prove that you are the real piqliq!!! screen shoot urself or add somebody as real id
Saw PiQliQ take two games off of TSLPolt yesterday on his stream tvt. The second game was an epic 50min+ game with PiQLiQ using ravens to just barely take the win. He has a very unique terran style, mass expand, mass PF, lots of tech. Always fun to watch. Love the humbleness!
He disappeared from the NA ladder, but according to his twitter he has 2 accounts in KR GM. I really wish he would play professionally he's sick good for just grinding ladder.
On May 23 2012 07:16 CAPSLOCKLOL wrote: He disappeared from the NA ladder, but according to his twitter he has 2 accounts in KR GM. I really wish he would play professionally he's sick good for just grinding ladder.
On May 23 2012 07:16 CAPSLOCKLOL wrote: He disappeared from the NA ladder, but according to his twitter he has 2 accounts in KR GM. I really wish he would play professionally he's sick good for just grinding ladder.
EPT![[image loading]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/3374168410_3212e7681c.jpg)
