EPTA particular Saturday morning – early or late, depending on your perspective. Bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, our faces bathed in electronic light, we sit at our computers, instant coffee clutched in our hands. We fire up our browsers, our Twitter. We open r/Starcraft. And together, the Starcraft lovers of SEA, slowly wake up our brain meats to the sounds of Tastosis, DJ Wheat and Day 9. Together, yet alone, we watch MLG.
Like a party we know about next door, that we can watch over a fence but aren’t invited to, we cheer on our favourite players, wriggling in our seats, leaning forward in anticipation and groaning with disappointment. When our fingers aren’t hysterically tweeting in capslock, they’re clutched to our faces, flailing in excitement, sharing the energy of the crowd transmitted through our headsets, our speakers. Our excitement is real.
It is a scene repeated, over and over and again, in bedrooms and lounge rooms across South East Asia.
And when it’s all over – the champions crowned, the memes created, and the highs and lows dissipate – we sit back and wonder when we will ever experience something like that. A room full of like-minded Starcraft nerds, in their hundreds, screaming, cheering, exclaiming, fusion core dancing together as one. Even the inevitable r/Starcraft post reminding patrons to wear deodorant and shower before the event doesn’t seem off-putting.
USA has MLG, Europe has Dreamhack, IEM. Korea has GSL.
But SEA?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/2dMYl.jpg)
PPSL has been the only event of note in our region, and apart of giving us a new verb (Verb: Le’des’maed – to be royally fucked. Ie: “OH BRO YOU GOT LEDESMAED!”) , nothing was gained. Our region became the laughing stock of live events of international capacity. Of course, no-one blamed the region specifically, but we all felt it – that some kind of horrible damage had been done.
Were we destined to never experience an international-level live event in our region?
On the weekend of the 21st-21nd of January this year, the first stop of a national competitive gaming circuit, ACL Pro, was held on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Having focused on console games for years, they had decided to add Starcraft 2 to their repertoire. ACL Pro CEO Nick ‘Vanzr’ Venzetti enlisted the help of the most experienced organizers and casters in the region to ensure the tournament and stream ran smoothly.
With, perhaps, the some trepidation, the Starcraft lovers of SEA awoke again on the Saturday morning of January 21. Later this time, not as sleep deprived – turns out 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time is equivalent to 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time., not “why the hell am I awake at 4am to watch a video game tournament” o’clock.
We were greeted on stream by two of the most well-loved casters from the SEA region - Leigh ‘Maynarde’ Mandolov, the dreadlocked, mellifluous-voiced extraordinaire known for casting major tournaments run through the SC2SEA website, and James ‘TheDoble’ Doble, a well-loved caster from smaller regional live events.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BMTHM.jpg)
We saw backdrops and a casters desk and shots of the spectators and shots of the players., a kind of professionalism in production we had never seen at a local live event.
Those who know a little about SEA think we’re a one-trick Pokemon…
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/u2EqZ.jpg)
..but the tournament brought us more than just handsome zerg dominance.
It brought us the great underdog story of Nicolas ‘Chadmann’ Russo, the Gold league player who miraculously won a championship bracket seed through an online qualifier. Now dubbed ‘The People’s Champion’ among SC2SEA regulars, he is not unlike a god among men.
It brought us amazing play from Rossi, the Italian stallion, TtPiG, the shirtless streamer, yang (lowercase), the great Protoss hope.
The skill gaps are becoming smaller and smaller - several players are devastatingly close to matching the skill Moonglade is known for. Close, exciting series are played out over and over again.
Suddenly we had so much that we had longed for, that we knew existed because we had witnessed it via stream from the other side of the planet.
Was it perfect? No. It was the first event on a major circuit. But Blizzard’s recent announcement that they had decided to partner with ACL Pro for some regional qualifiers and the final of Australia’s World Blizzard Championship, based on one live event and online qualifiers alone, proves that what ACL Pro has achieved in such a short amount of time is something we should all be excited about, that it is a product and event that you, as a Starcraft 2 citizen, should get behind.
It’s not about individuals, it’s about creating an event we can call our own that we can be proud of. We are organisers, casters, players, engineers, graphic designers, writers, spectators, shit-stirrers, professionals, students - we are many things, but we all love this game. We are all part of its success.
If you’re in Sydney next weekend (21-22 April), attend. Make cheerfuls, bring your friends or make some new ones. If you’re anywhere else, take some time to watch what passion and hard work alone can create for what we love. An event like MLG for SEA is not a dream, or far away at all. It’s right at our doorstep.
All it needs is us.
“My bounty is as boundless as the SEA,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
- William Shakespeare
Twitter Links:
* @ACLPro
* @ACLVanzr
* @ACLDox
* @MaynardeSC2
* @thedoble
Twitch:
* twitch.tv/aclpro
* twitch.tv/aclpro2
I hope SEA gets more attention in the eSports scene.
the rise of another top player besides the always dashingly handsome "prince of persia zerg" MoonGlade! 
