EPT![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/post-70342-1321352358.jpg)
This post is going to be full of spoilers fair warning given TY :D
So to start out i feel that praise needs to be given to the staff at MLG. The production values of Providence were fantastic, maybe the best for MLG to date, downtime was minimal which lets be honest is always a big plus, they provided much more filler content which makes me so glad i dont have to look at the crowd for 20 minutes at a time anymore, no offence guys
, and lag/technical issues didn't seem to exist. So a big hearty congrats to all of you for the fine job that you did making this national championship a thing to be proud of. Roll on 2012 and some even more amazing tournaments. Cheers Sundance, heres to you not ruining E-sports.So to analise the tournament is no mean feat when u consider the amount of games played this weekend. So to sum it up quickly heres.......
MLG Providence by numbers
Prize pool 120,000
Total players 272
Protos 78
Terran 75
Zerg 98
Random 2
Number of notable Koreans 29
Of which first time participants 6 (including Leenock)
Games played by winner Leenock 41
Leenocks winnings 50,000
And his winnings per games played (just for a laugh) 1219.51
Number of places paid 8 (sucks to finish 9th, poor MMA)
I hope this can give a little bit of a overview of the tournament. I had hoped to include things like attendace and viewer numbers bit i cant find them, if anyone can find/provide that info pls post it below or PM me and i will include it in the OP.
Now down to the fun bit my thoughts on the event.
So i pondered for a bit on how to start this, and i felt the logical decision was at the finish. A great finals it was atleast in my opinion. I have been trying to decide if it was the best grand final to date, but since i didnt see the earlier MLG's i wont go into that. Leenocks win i feel wasnt expected by many, at the very least i didnt expect it at all, and the poll in Day 3's live report thread says it all.
Poll: MLG Providence National Champion
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NaNiwa (174) 29%
HuK (79) 13%
MVP (69) 11%
Other (60) 10%
MC (59) 10%
DRG (42) 7%
IdrA (36) 6%
HerO (26) 4%
MMA (19) 3%
NesTea (19) 3%
MarineKing (18) 3%
PuMa (3)0%
604 total votes
HuK (79) 13%
MVP (69) 11%
Other (60) 10%
MC (59) 10%
DRG (42) 7%
IdrA (36) 6%
HerO (26) 4%
MMA (19) 3%
NesTea (19) 3%
MarineKing (18) 3%
PuMa (3)0%
604 total votes
Even if Leenock got all of the 60 votes for "other" thats still only 10 % of people believing he would win. So i ask you is it fair to say this has been a cinderella story for leenock??
Maybe. Sure he has been in and around the GSL since Janruary but his time in Code S has never been overly succesful, with his strongest finish being a spot in the Ro8. Probably his best results in the GSL came in Code A where he advanced to the semi's on two occasions before falling to Losira and MarineKing. A 16 year old picking up a check for 50,000 dollers, at his first maror foreign tournament no less .With this in mind where do you stand on this being Leenocks cinderella story? I have no problems saying it. I AM JEALOUS. But we cant take away from his success, cinderella story or not this has been a great win for the young man and long may his success continue if it is meant to be.
So to step back and analise the tournament as a whole where does E-sports stand. Well the final 8 contained only 1 terran along with 4 zergs and 3 protos. Does that mean the long standing terrans are op still stands? Or have the other races figured out how to beat terran? Were terrans just unfortunate this event? Were Leenock and Naiwa just too good for the rest? I dont think one tournament can truely answer any of these questions but i do hope that balance, which i hope is number 1 on Blizzards list is starting to be settled. But like i say 1 tournament cant answer that. When we look through the results at the end of December for this past year will we have a equal split of tournament wins for each race? Will the Korean Vs Foreigner "gap" be closed? Who can truely claim to be the best player in the world right now? Nothing is certain in this exciting world we live in. This game is ever changing and peoples opinions are changing just as fast. Throughout my entire time (short time i admit) observing E-sports i have heard many statments made "X race is op", "Koreans are too good", "Foreigner training sucks", "Foreigners are lazy" ect ect. We need to think about the big picture here, SC2 is only just over a year old, this game has sooo much growing up to do yet. Not only that but the playing community and fane have growing up to do with this game. As this game gets figured out we can do it together as a community. It has 2 expansions of changes to come, along with countless balance patches so i plead with the community be patient. This game is just an infant, and anyone with a infant knows, they dont really behave how u would like. Give SC2 time, it will grow up.
Dam i went off topic there
Ok back to Providence.
The games were sooooooooo good. I mean really good. Ok the live chat elephant in the room should be spoke of i guess, and that is that day 1's games werent of the highest quality, as sooo many people made a point of pointing out. But my opinion of that is simple, it was day 1, the event has seeding and really no major games were going to happen for the 1st few rounds and when we did get 2 major players to spectate, LiquidHerO and SlayerSPuzzle did not disappoint. It was a fantastic PvP and a series i highly reccomend you go back and watch if you have the time. Game 3 was especially wonderful even if it was a short game i was so impressed with how effective Heros warp prism 4 gate was.
Day 2 and Day 3 were lets be honest here FUCKING STACKED! The games were amazing. So many great games were played, and all i can wish for, that would have improved it was more games. I honestly dont think i watched a single game that i found boring. It was so impressive to me how all the players really did bring their A game. But for a shot at 50K would they bring anything else.
Surprises
The player whos results impressed me the most was Haypro. I like many others if i am honest questioned his ability. I wont deny it, why would i. He proved me wrong and i couldnt be happier to say he made me eat my words. Sure he lost his opening game to some 16 year old kid Leenock (i know i heard that name somewhere) but to then come through the lower bracket beating illusion, SeleCT, KiWiKaKi, NesTea who many believe has the best ZvZ in the world and he pushed Mvp all the way in game 3. I actually feel that he should have won that game, only he didnt realise just how far ahead he really was. But hey he pushed the best terran in the world all the way in a Bo3. Thats something anyone can be proud of. (Is haypro the cinderella story......?)
This has already gone way off topic and longer then i planned so just to wrap it up. My 2 cents on how MLG can improve their product is honestly just more interviews. I am sure you are working your asses off to get us the games as quickly as you can and for that I thank you. So really what i would love as filler content is interviews with players and casters. Anything that gets their views on games played/casted and anything that can just give good content for us nerds watching at home is always appreciated. Hell it doesn't have to be a mad E-sports personality like day9, doing the interviews, even something like your beta streams with community people doing the interviews would be amazing. :D hell id do it.....well living in Ireland, ain't going to happen. (Sundance. MLG to Ireland???)
Thank you to anyone that decides to read this. And feedback would be most appreciated as I don't tend to post very often. Feedback especially form mods on how to improve this would be amazing. post or pm me guys :D
ty all
turk
edit: also gotta say ty to liquipedia without which most of the stats i couldnt have got, keep up the good work over there guys
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btw i cant spell for shit pls excuse me
If it was a random zerg I would call them skill-less newbies but Leenock is damn good
