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The Baby Elephants in the RoomAn unsung story of MLG Anaheim![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fGPye.jpg)
We all know about the elephant in the room. Like clockwork, Korean pros invade North America for weekends at a time, sweep through open brackets and pools, and then – with pockets full of cash – disappear into thin-air. By now, the Korean versus Korean Championship Final is a trademarked feature of MLG. Throw eight elephants from the Brood War era into the equation, and never has it been more obvious that the Korean elephant will outgrow our convention centers before long.
But what North America doesn’t know is that – yes, we have our own baby elephants.
Meet EifeR. Unbranded. Unheard of. Sporting a grey t-shirt in the player pit (polo, because he is a freshman from Yale University). Crowds are gathering around IdrA versus KawaiiRice when a murmur ripples through and a strange excitement fills the air: some guy named I-for is at an advantage against a top Korean pro.
Eifer turns the advantage into a win. Against Evil Geniuses JYP.
Now meet xSixSuppy from UC Berkeley. Nineteen years old, 4.0 GPA, scholarship student. Pre-med.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vE3SA.jpg) And also MLG Breakout Player in Spring Championships 2012.
Suppy's one month of training after the end of the semester makes all the difference: 2-1 iNcontroL, 2-0 TAiLS, 2-1 dde, 1-2 into extended series of 4-3 against SeleCT, 2-0 Sasquatch, 2-1 Killer, and 2-1 Bling.
Fitzyhere from the University of Cincinnati 2-0's Liquid`Zenio. University of Houston's SniXSniPe takes an early lead on Sheth, earning Sheth's fear and admiration. Gerbil takes out EGMachine in a 2-0 series despite a prolonged hiatus from StarCraft II. AreaKitty forces TAiLS to the brink in two knife-edge games. Rutgers' EDEdDNEdDYFaN (pronounced by the MLG announcer as E-D-E-D-long pause-Neddy Fan) proves a challenge to dDoro in a close 1-2 series.
Think about it for a minute. They’re not Korean. They don’t even look like North American pros with chinstraps. Sometimes there’s no branding on their backs. They play in their free time because they love the game, and they’re good at it.
Imagine them full-time. Sponsored. Ready to practice all day because they’re young, they’re fast, and they dream bigger. It's a new generation of gamers – and this isn't even counting the high school students who had a field day in the open bracket (Sanddbox knocking out EGDemuslim AND LzGaMeR 2-0, Pokebunny, and Xenocider).
This past MLG Spring Championship has been a proving grounds for CSL. The stories in the player pit often go unheard, but the sheer dominance of collegiate players in Anaheim last weekend means only one thing: that there is remarkable and untapped talent in collegiate StarCraft II players. If these players can balance five courses and StarCraft II while taking out professional gamers, imagine what they could do with a little more support – scholarships, sponsorships, the chance to join a pro-gaming team as a natural progression from CSL, for example.
Let's stop looking towards the east for the Korean threat. Take a look at our home-grown heroes: the EifeRs and Suppys of North America.
![[image loading]](http://www.cstarleague.com/sites/default/files/MLG Anaheim CSL.jpg)
A herd of baby elephants from the CSL @ MLG Anaheim meetup. Future GSL/MLG/IPL champions in the making, you heard it now.
Welcome to the future of SCII.
CSL @ MLG Anaheim 2012 Hall of Fame
OLR1
LuckyFool (Alumnus: George Mason University)
UCDTbeezy (University of California Davis)
OLR2
EGiNcontroL (Alumnus: Oregon State University)
Mekhami (University of North Texas)
noobeater5 (University of Texas Austin)
SniXSniPe (University of Houston)
OLR3
Gret0rp (Alumnus: The College of New Jersey)
GerbilLighT (University of Waterloo)
goswser (Miami University)
OLR4
Eifer (Yale University)
xSixMystik (CSU Fullerton)
OLR5
qxc (Alumnus: Harvey Mudd College)
binskiLighT (University of North Texas)
CaliberLighT (University of Washington)
HeavensLighT (University of Houston)
YaTaFTW (Rochester Institute of Technology)
xSixVer (University of North Texas)
OLR6
KawaiiRiceLighT (University of Washington)
Tri_Master (University of Houston)
OLR7
Fitzyhere (University of Cincinnati)
ostojiy (University of Western Ontario)
Championship Round 2
xSixSuppy (University of California Berkeley)
hazelynut is an aspiring, CSL-biased ESPORTS journalist and brood mother of collegiate StarCraft players. She dabbles in collegiate ESPORTS journalism and specializes in collegiate ESPORTS administration.
Cross posted from www.cstarleague.com
 
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Hazelynut you are amazing! :D Thanks for taking the time to write up and help show case some of the top tier players that aren't as well known! There defiantly needs to be more spotlight on these players.
Hopefully the podcast that I'm setting up will help a little bit with this. But in reality only time will tell how much support we show these players!
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Was unaware Gretorp went to my school, this makes tons of sense now.
5/5 for the hopeful future of the NA scene, and also teaching me something new :D
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Last time i played ostojiy (first and only time i played a GM player) he BM'd me and my team (was 4v4)
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Badass writeup is badass.
Nice work. Suppy's run was absolutely crazy this weekend.
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On June 16 2012 04:21 kanada wrote:
Last time i played ostojiy (first and only time i played a GM player) he BM'd me and my team (was 4v4)
sorry to hear that  i'll have a word with him for sure
thanks for the support <3! will try to get more of these writeups and do some coverage of uncovered stories :D
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On June 16 2012 04:40 hazelynut wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 04:21 kanada wrote:
Last time i played ostojiy (first and only time i played a GM player) he BM'd me and my team (was 4v4) sorry to hear that i'll have a word with him for sure thanks for the support <3! will try to get more of these writeups and do some coverage of uncovered stories :D
on MajOr (juan)'s stream a bit ago after CSL ostojiy was smurfing and sniped Major bmed the fuck out of major and major calmly beat him a bunch of games in a row and said stop being bm, you suck and you cant back up your shit talk.
Ostojiy is a douche online, basically idra except idra doesnt stream snipe.
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I like the article a lot, but I draw a different conclusion than you. I think funnytoss has a very valid point in his blog on a lower skill ceiling in sc2 vs BW which is why we see randoms competing at the level they do, where they wouldn't have had a chance in BW. Maybe this is a good thing, or maybe the game just hasn't had the time to reach that point.
To sum: SC2 sees a lot of randoms with breakout performances, and will continue to have said breakouts appear, bc of its low mechanical ceiling, not bc of talent suddenly appearing in the form of X college student.
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On June 16 2012 05:04 Risen wrote:
I like the article a lot, but I draw a different conclusion than you. I think funnytoss has a very valid point in his blog on a lower skill ceiling in sc2 vs BW which is why we see randoms competing at the level they do, where they wouldn't have had a chance in BW. Maybe this is a good thing, or maybe the game just hasn't had the time to reach that point.
To sum: SC2 sees a lot of randoms with breakout performances, and will continue to have said breakouts appear, bc of its low mechanical ceiling, not bc of talent suddenly appearing in the form of X college student.
looking at it objectively, this guy draws a conclusion just as valid as the ops
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Wow I thought the CSL would do wonders for out national competitiveness in sc2 but I had no idea it'd be that good.
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On June 16 2012 05:09 Rulker wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 05:04 Risen wrote:
I like the article a lot, but I draw a different conclusion than you. I think funnytoss has a very valid point in his blog on a lower skill ceiling in sc2 vs BW which is why we see randoms competing at the level they do, where they wouldn't have had a chance in BW. Maybe this is a good thing, or maybe the game just hasn't had the time to reach that point.
To sum: SC2 sees a lot of randoms with breakout performances, and will continue to have said breakouts appear, bc of its low mechanical ceiling, not bc of talent suddenly appearing in the form of X college student. looking at it objectively, this guy draws a conclusion just as valid as the ops
And this is why I always thought that the elephant was was a lie. Somebody random figures out how to analyze this "chess-game" better and then come out of nowhere to compete at a high level because the amount of practice required to execute what you've analyzed is WAY TOO LOW.
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On June 16 2012 05:16 jpak wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 05:09 Rulker wrote:On June 16 2012 05:04 Risen wrote:
I like the article a lot, but I draw a different conclusion than you. I think funnytoss has a very valid point in his blog on a lower skill ceiling in sc2 vs BW which is why we see randoms competing at the level they do, where they wouldn't have had a chance in BW. Maybe this is a good thing, or maybe the game just hasn't had the time to reach that point.
To sum: SC2 sees a lot of randoms with breakout performances, and will continue to have said breakouts appear, bc of its low mechanical ceiling, not bc of talent suddenly appearing in the form of X college student. looking at it objectively, this guy draws a conclusion just as valid as the ops And this is why I always thought that the elephant was was a lie. Somebody random figures out how to analyze this "chess-game" better and then come out of nowhere to compete at a high level because the amount of practice required to execute what you've analyzed is WAY TOO LOW.
chess isn't chess boxing 
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Suppy definitely won my admiration this MLG.
To be able to knock out such high Calibre players while only playing part time and maintaining a perfect GPA should by all means, be heavily applauded.
Imagine what this kid could do without school in the equation?
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Go Eifer! Go even more if you're in Calhoun!
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add me to that list too mona ;; iPSethN/EDEdDNEdDYFaN.
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On June 16 2012 05:33 Ingenol wrote:
Go Eifer! Go even more if you're in Calhoun!
Morse. But are you in Calhoun???
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Dawwwwwww 5/5 for warming my heart! NORTH AMERICANS HWAITING!!~
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hehehehe baby elephants. dumbo of ESPORTS is coming~~
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On June 16 2012 05:49 TylerThaCreator wrote:
add me to that list too mona ;; iPSethN/EDEdDNEdDYFaN.
your ID is seriously a monstrosity lol ...
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On June 16 2012 06:12 Pokebunny wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 05:49 TylerThaCreator wrote:
add me to that list too mona ;; iPSethN/EDEdDNEdDYFaN. your ID is seriously a monstrosity lol ...
He's not joking around ;D
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Wow, its crazy that they can be that good whilst still attaining great grades. It does inspire a good amount of hope in the future of the north american ESPORTS scene. Great blog!
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LOL wow
i might just... put those in the OP now
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The CSL meetup last year was like ~10-15 people...crazy growth in just one year!
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met suppy at the ucdavis lan. nice dude.
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On June 16 2012 04:45 Rulker wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 04:40 hazelynut wrote:On June 16 2012 04:21 kanada wrote:
Last time i played ostojiy (first and only time i played a GM player) he BM'd me and my team (was 4v4) sorry to hear that i'll have a word with him for sure thanks for the support <3! will try to get more of these writeups and do some coverage of uncovered stories :D on MajOr (juan)'s stream a bit ago after CSL ostojiy was smurfing and sniped Major bmed the fuck out of major and major calmly beat him a bunch of games in a row and said stop being bm, you suck and you cant back up your shit talk. Ostojiy is a douche online, basically idra except idra doesnt stream snipe.
Actually, Idra has been well behaved recently. BM but usually only when it makes sense, like saying "Really?" when Terran lifts instead of GG'ing. Ostojiy on the other hand is pretty well known as one of the most BM guys on the ladder. Got to see him telling iNcontroL to get out of a game which iNcontroL was winning by a fairly large margin.
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On June 16 2012 05:53 Eifersuchtig wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 05:33 Ingenol wrote:
Go Eifer! Go even more if you're in Calhoun! Morse. But are you in Calhoun???
I was. Graduated in 2004!
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United States12231 Posts
I met Conan aka Superiorwolf at a Mountain View LAN where he got 3rd. He owns, really cool guy. Shoutouts to him and to yourself hazely, good writeup. It's really easy to have players like this fly under the radar because there are already so many big names out there.
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On June 16 2012 08:33 Excalibur_Z wrote:
I met Conan aka Superiorwolf at a Mountain View LAN where he got 3rd. He owns, really cool guy. Shoutouts to him and to yourself hazely, good writeup. It's really easy to have players like this fly under the radar because there are already so many big names out there.
We've been seeing a lot of people care about the little guy recently. iNcontroL trying to get unfeatured people noticed, Hazely's write up here, The E-Sports Manifesto by TakeTV looks like it may be leading that way too, etc.. I'm glad to see the foreigner community actuating to support itself. Everyone should keep it up. I really think it'll start making large differences soon enough.
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Korea (South)17174 Posts
Superiorwolf is so happy looking it makes me angry
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I've been talking to Eifer since the intended inception of the national star league that they tried to get going. Very manner, very cool guy, very helpful. It's a shame he's got such an awesome education in the works, I'm sure he'd kick some major ass in the pro scene given a little more time to play.
Course, the education is certainly better for these guys I'm sure 
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On June 16 2012 08:49 Rekrul wrote:
Superiorwolf is so happy looking it makes me angry
I want to punt zerglings sometimes too.
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Great writeup! I appreciate all your hard work Mona
I think you should add to the high school list, QuanticIllusion, and potentially QuanticHawk who just graduated afaik
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I also want to add another reason why we have baby elephants: pro vods right from the get go. Why does this matter you ask? For me personally sc2 made soo much more sense once I started to watch pro games because they are in english. I mean sure you could analyze those BW vods but its really REALLY helps to get the insight of skilled players. The koreans had pro games to watch and listen to in their own language right from the get go as well, while we only got that for the first time with Tasteless at the GOM Invitational (afaik). Sure there were people on youtube, but they werent as good as commentators because they high ranking players like the Plott bros or Gretorp. Also I know people have been casting the US qualifiers in the stadiums live, but not as many people get to see it at once, and afaik those casters werent good (until tasteless came along) (and im talking about way back in 2001 or something). Honestly I believe having these tournies in english has really helped the NA scene.
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On June 16 2012 06:15 Eifersuchtig wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 06:12 Pokebunny wrote:On June 16 2012 05:49 TylerThaCreator wrote:
add me to that list too mona ;; iPSethN/EDEdDNEdDYFaN. your ID is seriously a monstrosity lol ... He's not joking around ;D
Should have heard the poor MLG announcer for open bracket:
"Can I have E-D-E-D(long pause)neddy-fan to station 23 please."
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How did you miss Siphonn beating Haypro 2-1 in the 2nd round of winners bracket! 
Edit: Why did I think Siphonn was in college? ignore me. lol
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On June 16 2012 09:22 ShinyGerbil wrote:Great writeup! I appreciate all your hard work Mona I think you should add to the high school list, QuanticIllusion, and potentially QuanticHawk who just graduated afaik
Illusion dropped out of school oo~
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Duran spilling the beans....shhh
although it has been pretty evident with the amount of traveling he's been doing over the past 4 months lol
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On June 16 2012 10:45 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 09:22 ShinyGerbil wrote:Great writeup! I appreciate all your hard work Mona I think you should add to the high school list, QuanticIllusion, and potentially QuanticHawk who just graduated afaik Illusion dropped out of school oo~
reddit shitstorm in 5.. 4..
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On June 16 2012 03:58 hazelynut wrote:
Think about it for a minute. They’re not Korean. They don’t even look like North American pros with chinstraps. Sometimes there’s no branding on their backs. They play in their free time because they love the game, and they’re good at it.
This had me wondering, what if the lines boxer said in his autobiography about the 2001 wcg is going to happen, when players with gaming as their profession lose to players who just played during their free time/for fun. This would show the world that the profession called progamer in the end is just a frog in a pond..
+ Show Spoiler +shit, I would be depressed.
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great write up. i think more needs to be done to help nurture collage starcraft
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1617 Posts
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Suppy #1 player
Mona #1 other stuff
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KawaiiRice went to UW? O__O
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On June 16 2012 16:18 LeapofFaith wrote:
KawaiiRice went to UW? O__O
still goes
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No Love for Kazeyonoma CPP alum losing in OLR1? ;( lol
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On June 16 2012 13:15 SatelliteNoodles wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 03:58 hazelynut wrote:
Think about it for a minute. They’re not Korean. They don’t even look like North American pros with chinstraps. Sometimes there’s no branding on their backs. They play in their free time because they love the game, and they’re good at it. This had me wondering, what if the lines boxer said in his autobiography about the 2001 wcg is going to happen, when players with gaming as their profession lose to players who just played during their free time/for fun. This would show the world that the profession called progamer in the end is just a frog in a pond.. + Show Spoiler +shit, I would be depressed.
I would too :x
It's scary to consider what the natural-born talent vs. practice equation looks like for StarCraft II.
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i was wondering where it was. i'm stupid.
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On June 16 2012 10:45 Xeris wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 09:22 ShinyGerbil wrote:Great writeup! I appreciate all your hard work Mona I think you should add to the high school list, QuanticIllusion, and potentially QuanticHawk who just graduated afaik Illusion dropped out of school oo~
What drama llama
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On June 16 2012 04:21 kanada wrote:
Last time i played ostojiy (first and only time i played a GM player) he BM'd me and my team (was 4v4)
i never bm in 4v4, just troll a lot!
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pardon the inappropriate-ness of this comment--but this is so much hype sauce its awesome!
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On June 16 2012 13:15 SatelliteNoodles wrote:Show nested quote +On June 16 2012 03:58 hazelynut wrote:
Think about it for a minute. They’re not Korean. They don’t even look like North American pros with chinstraps. Sometimes there’s no branding on their backs. They play in their free time because they love the game, and they’re good at it. This had me wondering, what if the lines boxer said in his autobiography about the 2001 wcg is going to happen, when players with gaming as their profession lose to players who just played during their free time/for fun. This would show the world that the profession called progamer in the end is just a frog in a pond.. + Show Spoiler +shit, I would be depressed.
I wouldn't worry about that, for all the hype I don't see any of these guys or their foreign equivalents competing in GSL ever.
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this is how blogs should be done.
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Thank you for bringing light to these potential talents. Teams need to start looking at a new generation of players instead of the existing known veterans, who have had their shots and probably have capped their potential already.
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potential in sc2 is overrated. so much overhyping players every single tournament who end up doing nothing
suppy's gpa is impressive tho! O_O niiicee
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The foreign scene has always had the talent, but it's simply untapped. It's also interesting how these students who play in their free time are able to beat the "top" NA pros who are on major teams.
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On June 16 2012 15:47 LuckyFool wrote:
spikes #1 mafia mod.
Luckyfool #1 non-suspicious mafia
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"I know its not luckyfool" was the dumbest thing I've ever said in my life
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On June 17 2012 10:02 Bagration wrote:
The foreign scene has always had the talent, but it's simply untapped. It's also interesting how these students who play in their free time are able to beat the "top" NA pros who are on major teams.
Because the NA pros are practicing in the most retarded way possible. They are simply wasting time if anything.
Look at how all these NA pros just ladder non stop, have a "whatever" play schedule, and stream like mongoloids. EG is the worst offender in this case...
Maybe this guy is just a naturally good learner, or maybe he just practices better than most people.
Practice makes perfect to an extent, but it's better if you practice, then actually think about what you did instead of playing again.
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On June 17 2012 16:21 cydial wrote:Show nested quote +On June 17 2012 10:02 Bagration wrote:
The foreign scene has always had the talent, but it's simply untapped. It's also interesting how these students who play in their free time are able to beat the "top" NA pros who are on major teams. Because the NA pros are practicing in the most retarded way possible. They are simply wasting time if anything. Look at how all these NA pros just ladder non stop, have a "whatever" play schedule, and stream like mongoloids. EG is the worst offender in this case... Maybe this guy is just a naturally good learner, or maybe he just practices better than most people. Practice makes perfect to an extent, but it's better if you practice, then actually think about what you did instead of playing again.
i'm pretty sure they do their actual legit practicing when they're not streaming. can't blame them for not wanting their practice games broadcasted to the world. but they don't mind showing themselves crushing some people on ladder and making money doing it
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On June 17 2012 17:53 blabber wrote:Show nested quote +On June 17 2012 16:21 cydial wrote:On June 17 2012 10:02 Bagration wrote:
The foreign scene has always had the talent, but it's simply untapped. It's also interesting how these students who play in their free time are able to beat the "top" NA pros who are on major teams. Because the NA pros are practicing in the most retarded way possible. They are simply wasting time if anything. Look at how all these NA pros just ladder non stop, have a "whatever" play schedule, and stream like mongoloids. EG is the worst offender in this case... Maybe this guy is just a naturally good learner, or maybe he just practices better than most people. Practice makes perfect to an extent, but it's better if you practice, then actually think about what you did instead of playing again. i'm pretty sure they do their actual legit practicing when they're not streaming. can't blame them for not wanting their practice games broadcasted to the world. but they don't mind showing themselves crushing some people on ladder and making money doing it
Their actual, "Practice" is a joke though. How do I know this? Look at their tournament results.
As far as I know there is no foreign team that actually has a, "Coach."
Nope it's all about the individual player and not the team in the western starcraft scene. "Nah I know what I'm doing, I don't need someone to tell me what to do unless I ask my practice partner what I'm doing wrong."
In korea it's, "Oh ya my coach told me to do this matchup today on this map, I better listen to him."
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LuckyFool (Alumnus: George Mason University)
hes my hero!
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On June 17 2012 15:39 shindigs wrote:
"I know its not luckyfool" was the dumbest thing I've ever said in my life
Everyone is mafia!
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Mafia even pervades my StarCraft relevant posts. ;_; ...
I forgot to mention Rutgers University's SethN (GM in some seasons?) and his performance at MLG:
Rutgers' EDEdDNEdDYFaN (pronounced by the MLG announcer as E-D-E-D-long pause-Neddy Fan) proves a challenge to dDoro in a close 1-2 series.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZfMF5.jpg)
