EPT___________________________
This is one time I am jealous of you Americans, your finals are mostly over and my are still coming up. Ugh. Well, even though I should be kind of learning right now, I will bring you the most important news of the last week, as promised.
Last week's edition couldn't quite cover the DreamHack Open Summer, because it finished after I published it. So I'll start with giving you a quick rundown of the events.
Take that, Korea!
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The strategy worked: Just don't invite so many top Koreans and suddenly ye good olde foreign players look very very good. Just three Koreans in the Top 16? None of them in the Top 4? Yep, makes me feel better about the western scene. We shouldn't deceive ourselves, though, there were not nearly as many Korean players as there are at MLG for example. But we should also not forget that Taeja, Hero, JYP, Keen and Puma are well known Pros who can give some serious beatings. So, yeah, over all it's a good result for the foreign scene. We can definitely be proud of that.
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MaNa claiming the first prize
The Eastern European countries took the show and challenged Sweden for the title of the best western Sc2 country. Mana took the first spot for Poland and finally managed to eke out a victory after earning only some meager results in the course of this year, Gamer's Assembly 2nd place aside. Definitely keep an eye on this boy, he proved that he is still a power in Europe.
Second and third place were reserved for the Ukraine, more to the point for Dimaga and Fraer. The latter came as a surprise, even though no one should have been surprised at all really. This event marked his first high placement in an „offline“ tournament which he earned by playing incredibly well. Another name to look out for.
Fourth place winner was supposed to take the whole thing home as he was considered the favourite by many: Stephano. Well... he definitely put up a good show, you cannot argue with that.
![[image loading]](http://taketv.net/uploads/6007-stephano.jpg)
No comment...
NaNiwa and SaSe, the local crowd favourites, barely missed the cut and came in 5-8th together with HerO who took the crown for being the best Korean player that night in Sweden.
Under the northern sun
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Talking about Sweden, we can look forward to another event this summer which will take place just in the vicinity: ASUS ROG announced their Summer 2012 SC2 tournament which will take place once again at the Assembly LAN in Finland, August 2-4th.The prize pool is $30k big, hopefully big enough to attract many good players. Right now, people interested can contact the organizers if they want to apply for one of the 32 invite-only spots. For everyone else, two qualification tournaments will be held, so look out for more information about that soon!
The matches in the group stage will be best of 5. That means more action with the same amount of players, awesome!
Get that man another drink!
![[image loading]](http://taketv.net/uploads/c1p4xgeu6tjp.jpg)
No Sc2 newsflash without mentioning the MLG at least once! This time, we present you some very good news. In a series of twitter posts (summarized HERE), CEO Sundance DiGiovanni informs us about some not yet officially proclaimed developments regarding the attraction of new sponsors to the MLG (alongside information about the frequency in which he pours himself drinks).
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Sundance DiGiovanni
These development ought to be good as Sundance himself promised us free streams for future MLG Arena events! No more forced pay per view! Of course, it's just a bunch of twitter messages but let's hope the MLG stands by their promise.
The free stream will be available for both SC2 and LoL. Gold members will still have benefits, according to the tweets. More detailed information has not yet emerged. It's also still unclear whether this „freemium“ system will be installed for all eternity or if it's just going to be in effect for the coming summer season. An official announcement is due.
Memento Mori
![[image loading]](http://www.complexitygaming.com/uploads/depository/nada.jpg)
NaDa
Sadly, things cannot always stay the way they are. At every moment time is eating away at us and slowly but surely we wilt away. And then, eventually, the time comes for us to leave.
*Cough* Okay that sounded a bit melodramatic, but nonetheless we have a reason to mourn, because one of our most famed idols has ended his career, a player who united our scene as a symbol for both Brood War and Starcraft 2 and who is responsible for making countless girls scream in joy: NaDa.
In the official message from his team, compLexity gaming, NaDa thanked his team and his fans for all the support. One of the main reasons for his resignation is that he is required to serve in the military, a reason that caused many players to end their careers.
He will always be remembered as one of the best Terrans in the world, winning a golden mouse for 3 OSL victories and becoming a legend in the e-sports world. His body will continue to be awesome.
Farewell, NaDa. May your life be as great as the level of gameplay you showed us.
Blah blah [Insert witty line here] HOMESTORY CUP!!!!
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Aaaaaalriiiiight. I hope you know which time of the year it is. Yes, you are completely right, it is HomeStory Cup V powered by XMG time!! It is just a few weeks until Juy 5th arrives. Let your bodies shiver in anticipation, because that would be appropriate. In six qualifiers, we looked for the best players in all regions and we found them. They are: Kas, Golden, Sleep, Yonghwa, Nerchio and Slivko. But that means there are 27 spots left. What are we gonna do about them?
Easy: We simply invite the best players to provide you the best level of entertainment conceivable! Can you guess who it will be? We will give you some hints. Write in the comments what your guesses are.
Last week's riddle sure was hard but the community once again proved that nothing is too hard for them. In the end, everyone was found out. Congratulations. This week will be a bit harder. In fact, even I have not found out all of the players, so please enlighten me!
Official news HERE.
![[image loading]](http://taketv.net/uploads/player_ann2.png)
See you next week! Or on friday for the new e-sports manifesto! You can find all our entries on http://www.taketv.net!
The TaKeTV crew
