EPT
I did however keep reading the LR thread in hopes that someone would say something about what was going on. Usually this is a fairly simple deal. All the way up to Round of 8, there are few issues in the LR threads, little bitching and little throwing of shit. Of course people are sometimes sad that their favorites don't win, and they'll try to find something to blame.
As you reach Ro8 in any tournament, people are going to become even more passionate about their favorites. They're really really close to a good spot by then, It is, after all, the quarter finals. This obviously means that people will be really really angry at minor things happening.
During today's series between Mvp and NaNiwa, Mvp opted to go for some quite cheesy and all-innish strategies. In game 1 mvp went for a really strong 2-base agressive play with marines, marauders, siege tanks and vikings. The Colossi of NaNi fell rather quick, as did the third base. The following push on the natural of NaNi took it out rather easily as NaNi was forced to fight on the ramp, thus clumping up his units for the siege tanks to shell away. Behind all this Mvp kept making units and made no attempt at expanding. In game 2, Mvp hid a double barracks opening in his natural. NaNi went for a forge expand with up to two cannons at his ramp. As Mvp pulled SCVs, it wasn't enough to stop the Terran forces from stomping all over NaNi. The third game went in NaNi's favor as he managed to take Mvp off guard. This was after NaNi failed an attempt at doing some blink stalker trickery into the main of Mvp. Had the tanks gotten to siege up in time, the game would've ended entirely different. In the last game, Mvp finished it all off with a double 11rax on the third of NaNi. With a really late Gateway on 15, NaNi wasn't able to hold off the attack or stop the bunker from building, even with scouting the two barracks, and the series ended 3-1 to Mvp.
Now, like I mentioned, people will react agressively when their favorites lose. Naturally people react differently to what goes on or what happens to their favorites. Feeling sad and angry is absolutely natural, especially when your favorite loses to agressive and to some extent cheesy/all-innish strategies. In a case like this, it's wholly understandable. In the LR thread the vocal minority kept ripping on Mvp for executing the builds he did.
NaNi has never been exceptionally good at holding off these cheesy strategies. He is a macro player, quite frankly. I can imagine that Mvp in his current condition (CTS) does not want to go for long macro games against a very strong Protoss opponent. He also knows that he will have to face protoss later on, and one can assume that he doesn't want to reveal his strategies this early on. Especially when he knows he can win by being very agressive early-game.
All sports are competitive. If you go to the lower leagues of, say, soccer, you'll find people workign their asses of to win, at any cost. It's all about getting the ball in the net by any means. You don't have to do an amazing curved shot from outside the penalty box to get a goal, a simple header from a corner will suffice. It's not the most entertaining thing to watch, but it's what's needed to win.
SC2 is no different. As a spectator I too want to enjoy good games. I do prefer games that cross the 20-minute mark and has action back and forth with drops and minor as well as large engagements. I always loved BW because it was never completely clear who would win for large parts of the games. it was always back and forth with amazing play from both sides, sprinkled with some cheesy games here and there.
However I do understand that this is not just a game. When you're a professional SC2/BW player you're playing this to make money. You're doing it to win, to get that check and that trophy. I'd love to have nothing but entertaining and interesting play throughout the entire of GSL, but I understand that this is not at all possible. A player will do anything to win, no matter what that means. If it means long games to tire out your opponent, go for it. If it means short games because your opponent is bad at holding off cheese, then go for it.
You can't watch a tournament and expect the players to do it for entertainment value instead of playing to win. If you're really interested in entertaining games, you should instead check out showmatches, or even player streams, where there's not that much on the line. Chances are you'll see more fun builds and longer games this way.
I even saw someone talking about how this was not good for e-sports. To you I say, "WHAT!?"
How anyone can say that a couple of cheesy and quick games are figuratively killing e-sports is beyond me. Oh god yes, we wouldn't want people to play to win, they must make it entertaining and promote e-sports. E-sports first, the life of a pro-gamer second.
It's just my 2 cents.
