EPT![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/7g5uM.jpg)
It's not every day that I find myself agreeing with a French clothing brand...
If you missed the February clash of the titans between Jinro and Idra know only that it was the most awkward production you could have asked for. It wasn’t just that it was prerecorded with choppy editing, bogged down by stiff commentators or had a green screen that was almost a good idea. No, there were more issues then are worth mentioning. What was presented was less like a broadcasted Starcraft event and more like a high school drama department putting on a performance of a broadcasted Starcraft event. Instead of being a natural genuinely exciting product the whole show felt completely staged. Indeed it was just a staging ground for announcing the North American Starcraft League, and today, two months later NASL has come a long way while still promising more than it delivers.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/awtpT.jpg)
Speaking of setting things up... If you want to believe that Moon and Grubby were both just randomly picked from the hat for the first two positions of group A and so just randomly happened to play the first match on the first day of NASL you should probably look up the definition of naivety.
Calling a tournament a Star League brings with it certain expectations and comparisons to to other the other leagues and going toe to toe with OSL, MSL, TSL, and GSL is a lot harder than simply wearing blazer. NASL.tv is certainly wearing more than a snazzy jacket, but they simply have not hit the same high mark of excellence that they were promising. The first day of NASL had issues with everything on the production front from the caster’s microphones to the awful transitions to interviews. Only a few hours earlier that day in Sweden Dreamhack was busy putting on a superb show with everything outshining the premier of the new league, and they’re not the only ones, MLG, IEM, Khaldor opening a bottle with Day9, all of them are. As much as one might want to celebrate NASL as an awesome production the truth of the matter is that it is simply not possible. While day two of NASL was much better including a more natural and less rigid commentating job from Gretorp and certainly some issues will just be naturally Ironed out over time. Only a proactive stance from NASL will carry them through many miles of improvements before it can truly be called a top shelf brand.
Certainly NASL isn’t about the flashing lights or how crisp the sound is. The focal point is there, the games are there! Grubby vs Moon was a thrilling match that had enough ups and downs to keep you guessing till the very end and Fenix’s dropship micro and Kiwikaki’s break out during the second match was nothing short of a wow moment. Games like those are the stuff that will bring audience members back every day to watch, and NASL’s formula of having all the players play a best of 3 every week is going to build a fantastic narrative while keeping the audience’s favorite players playing.
Even so good games alone doesn't smooth over the differences between NASL and the rest of the pack. Over the last year our community has really become accustomed to live unscripted unedited broadcastings of these games. Everything follows this formula, from random $10 tournaments to GSL and it has served us well. While NASL avoids certain issues that have plagued this format by filming the day before they forsake some of the magic and tension that LIVE Starcraft brings. Take for example day two; watching Diggity(<3) get so excited about White-Ra vs July while knowing in advance that the game was canned hurt really, really bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_daA6glBYQ
Why can't everything be more like this?
Why can't everything be more like this?
At the end of the day NASL is meant to entertain and everything either adds or detracts from the show. Right now there is simply an overabundance of Starcraft material. During primetimes there may be as many as three to five different smaller tournaments going on in English German or French. You have vods from MLG and GSL to catch up on, pro’s livestreaming that you can stalk, a huge youtube queue to sort through and the weekly/daily news shows to follow. A consumer of the craft does not need half of what’s out there and that was true before adding 3 hours of NASL. A year and a half ago you could go weeks without having anything to watch, but today the community is in an era where viewers have to pick and choose what not to watch. The best shows are going to get viewers the others will simply wither away. If MLG does a repeat of Dallas they will get burned alive at the stake. Broadcasting has become a competitive game to play right now and when push comes to shove spectators might prefer to watch Nick get cut off by the street fighter voice than Geoff get cut off by technical issues.
To overcome their issues NASL has lots of tweeking to do and they should absolutely be making a stronger effort to reach out to the community. As good as GSL was when it premiered that didn't stop Tasteless from asking people to send in suggestions. The community is more than just willing to speak up, just check out this thread: Tips you would give to help improve the NASL. If NASL can listen to the community and pull everything together they will have the best show this side of Seoul, but it needs to happen for them while they still have the viewers in mass.
Until perfected NASL will remain a diamond in the rough, underneath the flaws is solid gold, but until it is refined it is missing out on its full potential. The success of a program broadcasting daily games of the highest level of play at prime time would be huge for the scene and with hundreds of thousands of dollars out for players to take home NASL will need to keep their viewer base high in order to justify that kind of cash. It is hard to imagine a world where all upcoming major events live to see next year. Some are going to fall, but like a snowball rolling into an avalanche the surviving tournaments will pick up the sponsors and lead the way to the future of Esports.
