E-Sports Across the World

Third total essay (for my 350th post)-- there will be a second part to this essay ranging from the Super Tournament through October (on my 450th post). This was last revised 7/4/2011 (but pictures were added)
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If there were two tidbits about the StarCraft culture that appeared in a new version of trivial pursuit, they would probably be: 1) it’s a computer game; and 2) it has a cult following in South Korea. Now, I want you to forget all of the things you know about StarCraft; forget every ounce of information you have absorbed over the past (*insert-over-9000-joke-here*) years, and think of what it is like to see the StarCraft community for the first time. Let’s say you see a VOD from the GSL—look at what you see. You see a room full of Koreans, banging their heads against the wall, screaming like the kids at the beginning of SpongeBob (AYE-AYE CAPTAIN!!!) for two Koreans playing StarCraft II in a booth.

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Our game-- our heritage-- to the normies

There is no doubt that the StarCraft II scene is biggest in Korea because the Korean mainstream culture has embraced and absorbed it as a legitimate E-Sport. Generally, the first real exposure that new fans-of-the-game have is of the Korean StarCraft culture. Of course the exception to this rule is the foreigners who compete in Korea. Since retail, a few brave souls have climbed into the Korean scene, and done their bit for the rest of the world. As their numbers grew, so grew the interest of the foreign community. Let us now take a look at—as Day[9] would say: let us divine—all of the foreigners who have taken that challenge, and measure the progress of the foreign community in the GSL, culminating in the World Championship during March and early April of 2011.

Global StarCraft II League Open 1:
+ Show Spoiler +

Foreigners:
• EGIdrA—Ro32
o Showed an impressive first round against AcupunctureZenith back when Terran was so imbalanced (does anyone still remember that?) by a quick 2-0.
o Fell short against LotzePrime 2-1, in what more than a few people would say was an upset (or Zerg was super under-powered, I mean, it’s not like there was a Zerg champion two seasons in a row or anything)
• ST_(VT)TorcH—Ro64
o Came in with a lot of excitement and fan-base, but fell short to sanZenith in the first round of the tournament (and that was before he could beat NesTea).
• Artosis—Ro64
o A lovable foreigner—part of everybody’s favorite casting archon—Artosis fell 2-1 to NEXFreeSaGA (back when he was playing Zerg)
• Liquid_TheLittleOne—Ro32
o He walks into the booth, and completely rofl-stomps LosirA (before he became IMLoSirA the sickest Zerg in all the Code A Kingdom) 2-0. Some much love and expectation came from the foreign scene for TLO, the cutest kraut in Korea.
o Unfortunately, the foreign dreams were cut short after powerhouse oGsHyperdub fights past TLO. Our favorite foreigner (no offense, Grack) managed to put up a fight however, taking a game off the oGs monster.

Best result: Ro32
Total money earned: $1370

Analysis: The overarching motif of the first GSL seemed to be quantity instead of quality. Although four foreign players in Korean tournament is a lot by BW standards, it still seems lacking for the growth of foreign E-Sports overall. Unfortunately for all the foreign players (as well as the foreign community), none of the foreigners made it out of the round of 32, and only half of them even got that far. The most logical explanation for this not-so-great-beginning is that the tournament began almost immediately after retail. Most of the top-foreign players were hesitant to give up everything and go to Korea and to, for all intents and purposes, “see what happens.” As far as the lackluster performance of each foreigner, with such a new game, most of the 2-0 results were the results of a player getting outclassed, and most of the 2-1 results were merely coin flips for the winner of game three.

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Curses! Foiled again!

Global StarCraft II League Open 2:
+ Show Spoiler +

Foreigners:
• EGIdrA—Ro16
o After complaining about how imbalanced Terran was for so long, IdrA’s TvZ (most likely after a lot of hard work) became impeccable. He rolled through his first two opponents (some guy named ChickenCombo and oGsGon) both 2-0.
o IdrA unfortunately practices TvZ too much and falls to his Ro16 Zerg opponent, oGsZenio, inspiring some snappy comebacks from a small number of… stung players. He lost as he won: 2-0
• LiquidTLO—Ro64
o For all the love and respect this guy deserves, he was matched up against an insanely good Protoss who had played BW professionally—BabyByeBye (SangHo from BW, later changed his name back to SangHo, and now is TSL_Killer). He lost, but managed to take a game off the monster.
• LonerPrime—Ro16
o In his first GSL, the Chinese player, Loner, put up one hell of a run. Beating Bleach 2-1 in the Ro64 (Bleach would later become ZeNEXByun).
o In the next round, Loner killed a Zerg, Terious, who had beaten PoltPrime, 2-1.
o Loner’s run would end after losing 2-0 to BoxeR… yes, THE SlayerSBoxeR, not MarineKing… and, I mean, hey, there’s no shame losing to the Emperor.

Best result: Ro16
Total money earned: $3,827

Analysis: Though fewer foreigners showed up to sit in the booth, the success of those who did play shows improvement from the pilot tournament. IdrA taking two ZvT’s 2-0 is actually something no one else but FruitDealer (who ended up getting killed 2-0 by BoxeR (now MarineKing) or NesTea could do back then. The sob story here is TLO, the Terran who stole our hearts. Getting knocked out by Killer isn’t something of which to be ashamed, but that, coupled with an injured wrist, sent TLO back to Germany, where he would have to settle with owning European nerd faces. In many ways, Loner in the second GSL is the surprise everyone should have seen coming. Loner was super good in BW, so it was really only a matter of time before he started winning in StarCraft II. In sum, two Ro16 finishes is incredibly impressive, albeit not quite the fullest potential of the foreign community.

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Global StarCraft II League Open 3:
+ Show Spoiler +

Foreigners:
• FnaticMSI_Sen—Ro32
o Sen, a Taiwanese Zerg from Fnatic, begins his GSL career with a strong 2-1 performance over oGsVines, a Protoss.
o Following IdrA’s lead from the year before, Sen’s ZvZ slips 2-0 to NesTea, who, to be fair, has the best ZvZ in the world.
• TLAF’LiquidHayprO—Ro64
o The first victim of BitByBitPrime.WE’s exclusively all-in play, HayprO gets caught off-guard by the Terran-y cheese twice, losing 2-0.
• TLAF’LiquidJinro—Ro4
o The newcomer to Korea’s first GSL’s matchup put the Swedish Terran up against NEXDrug, who had looked like a tough opponent for Jinro. He ends up squeaking by, 2-1, against the Zerg.
o After the nail-biter against Drug, Jinro rolls through FOXMoon, 2-0, after Moon loses his focus and plays… less then perfectly.
o Jinro showcased his very strong TvZ in the previous two rounds, but he used the Ro16 to show the world his impeccable TvT. The 2-0 roflstomp he gave PoltPrime.WE really reflects his understanding of the matchup.
o Jinro’s run wasn’t finished there. Four extremely close games against ChoyafOu brought the series to a final game. For a few moments before the final engagement, it seemed like Jinro didn’t have enough to pull through, but Choya forgot the critical Extended Thermal Lances upgrade for his Colloxen, and Jinro blew through him to be the first foreigner to make it to the Ro4 in a GSL.
o Jinro showed some decent TvP against Choya, but he was just outclassed by oGsMC, who was, and still probably is, the best Protoss in the world.
• EGIdrA—Ro32
o In his first round, IdrA blows by NEXChoa, 2-0. Not much to say here… it was kind of a walkover.
o In a very close series, IdrA drops a second game in the best of three to IMMvp, who, we learn later, is actually just the best Terran in the world.
• TLAF’LiquidRet—Ro32
o Ret’s first game was against some unknown, no-team Protoss named Cyrano. Ret rolls over the kid, 2-0.
o Even though he comfortably took his first set, Ret drops his series against TheBestfOu 2-1.

Best result: Ro4
Total money earned: $10,502

Analysis: The GSL Open 3 was clearly the most successful of the 3 open tournaments. Although there is something to be said for the two Ro16 finishes in the second season, a Ro4 finish surpasses all of that, especially when you consider that there were two more foreigners competing than in the second open. That being said, Jinro really carried the foreign community by himself in this tournament. Apart from him, no other foreigner put up much of a fight against the Koreans. Three Ro32 and one Ro64 finish looks a lot like season one if you take away Jinro’s gosu play. Jinro didn’t have an easy road to the final four either: he had to kill Moon, Polt and Choya before facing MC, the best player in the world at the time. Still, the foreign community had someone behind whom they could rally.

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u mad, Choya? I ain't even used nukes yet

Global StarCraft II League January:
+ Show Spoiler +

Foreigners:
• Code S
o EGIdrA—Ro8
 Being in a group with Jinro was really a bummer—the chances of a foreigner kill were enormous. Jinro ends up beating IdrA, but IdrA comes from behind in the group to beat oGsEnsnare and CheckPrime.WE to take second place in the group.
 In the next group stage of Code S, IdrA roflstomps everybody, taking first place and going 3-0 in a group with NaDa, Genius, and Clide.
 Unfortunately for Greg, he meets Jinro again, and can’t manage to beat the Gorilla Terran in the best of 5.
o TLAF’LiquidJinro—Ro4
 After winning the first group stage, Jinro meets 3 former GSL finalists: MarineKing, MC, and RainBOw. With amazing mech play, he beats MC twice, and roflstomps all over RainBOw, but takes second in the group after losing to MKP.
 After beating IdrA (again), Jinro meets MarineKingPrime.WE (again), and loses (again) 3-1.
• Code A
o TLAF’LiquidRet—Ro32
 Ret comes back to the GSL with a vengeance, but can’t get past oGsCezanne, and leaves Code A early.
o LonerPrime.WE—Ro16
 Loner’s impressive showing in the second season seemed to hold again as he blows by a Protoss named Pippi 2-0.
 That blasted Cezanne keeps killing foreigners, though, beating Loner in the Ro16 2-0.

Best Result: Ro4
Total money earned: $7,660 (prize pool was about $50,000 less)

Analysis: Directly comparing the foreign results in this tournament with the final open, they are similar in a lot of ways. Jinro hits the Ro4 again, and again, can’t quite make it to those pesky finals. Ret leaves the tournament in the Ro32 again, though this time that’s equivalent to losing in the Ro64. The difference is IdrA. EGIdrA played StarCraft II like he has never played before in GSL January. When he went 3-0 in his second group, I was expecting him to win the tournament outright. I was also expecting Jinro to win the tournament too, but both times I left my house to go to school as a bitter panda that there was, again, a Korean finals. I think, however, with IdrA doing so well, the first GSL of the year was a little bit better for foreigners than the last open tournament: one Ro4 and one Ro8 seems better to me than one Ro4 and 3 Ro32s. The percentage of the prize pools foreigners took down is about the same (roughly 6% for both), but I would give the edge to IdrA’s stellar performance in this one.

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This simultaneously made me the happiest and saddest person in the world-- sort of like drinking a NOS and a Relax Drank at the same time.

Global StarCraft II League March:
+ Show Spoiler +

Foreigners:
• Code S
o EGIdrA —jk lol
o TLAF’LiquidJinro—Ro16
 The group stage of this season was really, for Jinro, being able to show just how dominating his TvT is. Of course his opponents were PoltPrime and ST_RainBOw, both of whom played like bad Code A players—Jinro dominated his matchups.
 In the Ro16, Jinro fell apart completely against HongUnPrime, and couldn’t beat the moderately good Protoss, losing 2-1.
• Code A
o TLAF’LiquidHuK—Ro8
 HuK’s decision to move to Korea reflects his personality: a little insane. He proved, however, that he deserves to be here %100, beating ST_Curious 2-0 in the first round.
 His run continued in the Ro16 when he beat TSL_Revival 2-1 after a nail-biting third set.
 Unfortunately, HuK couldn’t claim dominance in ZvP Code A after he dropped two straight games to IMLoSirA, who, granted, is one of the best Zergs in the world.
 In the Up/Down matches, HuK was paired against two Protoss, oGsInCa, and choyafOu. After dropping 2 straight to InCa, HuK pulled a 2-1 victory over choya out of thin air, securing him a spot in Code S the next season.
o TLAF’LiquidRet—Ro32
 Ret disappointed this season, dropping two straight games to SlayerS_MMA, who showed some really strong TvZ.
o TLAF’LiquidHayprO—Ro32
 Another Liquid Zerg who couldn’t cut it, losing 2-0 to another Terran, SlayerS_GanZI.
o FXOmOOnGLaDe—Ro32
 mOOnGLaDe could actually be a Liquid Zerg if he wanted to. He lost 2-0 in the first round of Code A to the Terran, ZeNEXJJUN.
o LonerPrime.WE—Ro32
 Loner also lost to a Korean Terran, ST_August, 2-0.

Best result: Ro16 + HuK joins Code S
Total money earned: $1958

Analysis: GSL March was not an impressive showing from the foreign community. For the number of foreign players playing in the tournament, the results were abysmal. Jinro barely kept his Code S status, and only one player made it past the Ro32 out of five players in Code A. That being said, HuK was the one ray of light in this early march rain-filled tournament. To successfully beat not only two top-level Zergs, but a top-level Protoss in order to get to Code S is very impressive.

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Come on, guys, he may be like Dr. Robotnik now, but he's still as wuvable as ever!

Global StarCraft II League World Championships vs Team Liquid StarCraft II League 3:

Firstly, the team league for the World Championships (that is, Korea vs. The World) was the first hint that the foreign community—those in Europe and the Americas—was keeping up, pace for pace, with the Koreans. An 8-7 finish in a contest between the best of both worlds would be unheard of in BW. But when TT1 was killing san and NaDa, he just kind of shrugged and kept rolling. Dimaga beat both July and Mvp, and only did he lose to NesTea, who has never lost a televised ZvZ (until…). In the actual World Championships, the Koreans owned foreign face. Only two foreigners made it out of the first round, one of whom killed was TT1, who killed a foreigner to get there. The other, however, was mTwDimaga, who beat IMNesTea 2-1. NesTea is widely considered to have the best ZvZ in the world, and Dimaga, after dropping a game, beat him twice in a row on television. Although this victory was short-lived (Dimaga lost 3-1 to san in the next round), it is sort of a case-study that in such a new game, the best in the world are very beatable.
In the TSL 3, the seven Koreans who were invited to play were predicted by almost everyonealmost everyone to dominate the foreign competition. In the Ro32, however, only three Koreans won their series. FruitDealer, Mvp, and NesTea all lost in the first round. PraeThorZaIN, in particular, seems to be the Korean Killer of this tournament, knocking out not only TSL_FruitDealer, but also oGsMC. Whereas the final four of the World Championships were all Koreans, the final four of the TSL 3 consists of two Swedes, a German, and a Ukrainian, none of whom have ever played in a GSL.

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Imagine him lifting that godly hammer to the skies and striking down the Kratoss!

Conclusion:

In the foreign community, the TSL has come to symbolize the foreign hope in StarCraft II. That so many good Korean players could be beaten by so many different foreigners shows how a young game minimizes the skill gap across oceans. The European final four of the TSL means that Koreans can be beaten—that they are not these infallible monsters, who never drop a game, whose apm never dips below 9001, who are just naturally more talented than foreigners. The GSL data above suggest that this generation of foreign gamers reached a plateau at Open Season 3 or January, but the game is far too young to make such outlandish and bold statements. Jinro and HuK are both still in Code S (results of Up/Down Matches pending), and HayprO is still in Korea training at the oGs/Liquid house. Time, not guesses, will tell how far the foreigners can go. The Super Tournament in late May might be a good achievement for the foreign community, or it might be a new benchmark against which they can set their goals for future tournaments in Korea. The game and the community therein, will tell, not now, but years later, when all is said and done.

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E-Sports Across the World

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