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I believe the “ONLY THE BEST GAMES” guys are a vocal minority
Doesn't surprise me too much. Purely anecdotally I know a lot of people who got utterly turned off Korean vs Korean all day every day. Always felt like an elitism remark; "I only watch the top tier of Starcraft as I love the game so much", but I'll always admit I was excited as hell when I saw TLO hit the Ro8 of WCS EU. The scene as a whole is more fun with diversity, and the home-team always gets love (Demuslim being the big one flying the flag for us).
As for the internet worries; don't suppose its possible to work out a deal with MLG/another large company and use their offices as a broadcasting station over the duration of the tournament? Imagine they have a more stable line than a home network. They'd charge or want some involvement however, so I'd get it if it was unpalatable.
Keep up the good work, TB; hopefully you had some way of making those costs back, however. Would hate it if this wasn't long term viable.
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This was great. I can't believe the (lack of) luck you guys had with technical issues.
I really appreciate the effort and the idea and I hope that NA-only or truly region-specific tournaments can find a niche market and be profitable/successful for everyone involved in the future.
Keep it up.
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On May 24 2013 00:59 Shirin wrote:
Will there be an audio version like before?
What? You mean don't automatically hear his voice in your head when you read this? XD
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I didn't watch this, how did Suppy get knocked out in the ro16?
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Poland3775 Posts
On May 24 2013 05:16 daemir wrote:
Region lock is the way, now that no NA are left in WCS NA, I have 0 interest watching it. Why would I? If I want to see koreans, I'll watch GSL. I want to see the NA players get more spotlight, I'm actually interested in seeing who is the best NA player, who is the best EU player, not just which korean happened to bother to this tournament.
Really sucks about the ISP problems. ISP #1 killing esports huehue.
Actually most of best europeans are still in WCS EU (except for Snute who is in NA). Surprisingly the biggest upsets - ThorZaIN and NaNiwa - happened in groups without any koreans. Also it's honest to treat ForGG as european considering how long he is staying in EU (though he could start learning some non-korean language). So I think EU is doing just fine. Just enough koreans to make things more interesting.
The NA problem is truly an issue. I guess one can argue that best NA players play mostly in Challenger league but that's something quite disappointing to NA fan (though theognis 2-0 Jaedong looks funny).
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On May 24 2013 13:03 Kisra wrote:Doesn't surprise me too much. Purely anecdotally I know a lot of people who got utterly turned off Korean vs Korean all day every day. Always felt like an elitism remark; "I only watch the top tier of Starcraft as I love the game so much", but I'll always admit I was excited as hell when I saw TLO hit the Ro8 of WCS EU. The scene as a whole is more fun with diversity, and the home-team always gets love (Demuslim being the big one flying the flag for us). As for the internet worries; don't suppose its possible to work out a deal with MLG/another large company and use their offices as a broadcasting station over the duration of the tournament? Imagine they have a more stable line than a home network. They'd charge or want some involvement however, so I'd get it if it was unpalatable. Keep up the good work, TB; hopefully you had some way of making those costs back, however. Would hate it if this wasn't long term viable.
While I agree that diversity among the players adds much more to the competition, I really want to see the possibly best games (especially when it comes to terran play) and most of the times only the koreans seem to deliver... Watched the finals on instarcraft's stream and must say it was the most boring match I've seen in a while, and that's no criticism to the format or production or anything, please don't get me wrong. I had the stream going for support, but it really wasn't entertaining :/
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totalbuscuit and genna did a great job for shoutcraft, all these haters hating on SCA and me should just stop hating and enjoy the game in general. hating is bad.
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Calgary26004 Posts
Very interesting to read about.
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Really well written blog, I there will be more Shoutcraft NA tournaments, I really supported this idea even though I'm not from NA
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The downtime between the matches was often unbearable for me as a European who could not watch all night. But I watched some of the NA GM action anyway because when TotalBiscuit is behind it, I know that I will get quality of production. So I was disappointed by the downtimes, but tuned in on other days regardless because it still was a tournament run and cast by TB.
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On May 24 2013 13:03 Kisra wrote:Doesn't surprise me too much. Purely anecdotally I know a lot of people who got utterly turned off Korean vs Korean all day every day. Always felt like an elitism remark; "I only watch the top tier of Starcraft as I love the game so much", but I'll always admit I was excited as hell when I saw TLO hit the Ro8 of WCS EU. The scene as a whole is more fun with diversity, and the home-team always gets love (Demuslim being the big one flying the flag for us). As for the internet worries; don't suppose its possible to work out a deal with MLG/another large company and use their offices as a broadcasting station over the duration of the tournament? Imagine they have a more stable line than a home network. They'd charge or want some involvement however, so I'd get it if it was unpalatable. Keep up the good work, TB; hopefully you had some way of making those costs back, however. Would hate it if this wasn't long term viable.
I agree partially about wanting to see foreigners, but I do want to see the best games. I guess my view though is that I want to see foreigners involved in those "best games" as well, and I'm willing to support a tournament system that gives them the opportunity to get to that level.
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Everything that Genna and you does is a blessing for E-sports.
Always supported you and always will ! no matter what !
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Poland3775 Posts
On May 24 2013 19:40 GaNgStaRR.ElV wrote:Show nested quote +On May 24 2013 13:03 Kisra wrote:I believe the “ONLY THE BEST GAMES” guys are a vocal minority Doesn't surprise me too much. Purely anecdotally I know a lot of people who got utterly turned off Korean vs Korean all day every day. Always felt like an elitism remark; "I only watch the top tier of Starcraft as I love the game so much", but I'll always admit I was excited as hell when I saw TLO hit the Ro8 of WCS EU. The scene as a whole is more fun with diversity, and the home-team always gets love (Demuslim being the big one flying the flag for us). As for the internet worries; don't suppose its possible to work out a deal with MLG/another large company and use their offices as a broadcasting station over the duration of the tournament? Imagine they have a more stable line than a home network. They'd charge or want some involvement however, so I'd get it if it was unpalatable. Keep up the good work, TB; hopefully you had some way of making those costs back, however. Would hate it if this wasn't long term viable. I agree partially about wanting to see foreigners, but I do want to see the best games. I guess my view though is that I want to see foreigners involved in those "best games" as well, and I'm willing to support a tournament system that gives them the opportunity to get to that level.
If I want to watch best games, I watch WCS Korea and Porleague. If I watch WCS NA or WCS EU, I want to see best europeans and best americans. In this regard WCS partially succeeded (EU) and partially delivered complete disaster (NA).
As much as I am entertained by high quality play of Innovation and Soulkey, it's thrilling to see DIMAGA, Lucifron and Stephano to win and it's a bummer to see HerO and Revival elminating both Suppy and Scarlett.
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as I said in the previous thread:
a follow-up tournament (should there be one) would
- have better (known) players now that SCA1 got their attention
- have less downtime, better scheduling, fewer/no technical issues (this is because TB doesn't strike me as a guy who repeats mistakes even if they were not his in the first place (shoutout to Timewarner Cable)
- make the ladder streams of the players much more interesting
Conclusion:
Waiting for the announcement of SCA 2.0
p.s.:
You should name the trophy "The Bain Cup" or "Lady Bain's Cup", and it should be a challenge cup (if someone wins it 3 times he/she can keep it)
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SCA is a great idea and I loved pretty much everything about it except the technical issues.
The quality of the games and casting/observing was quite varied but very entertaining, and pretty much what I expected from this type of tournament.
Loved the pre game banter, sometimes just to get a face to the names but also fun to see some bm/politeness/mindgames (He always does X to me on ladder!)
LOVED the qualification frenzy.
I was actually surprised by just how hungry I was to get a peek into the top american ladder and I really really hope there will be future tournaments like this.
Hrm, need to win some lottery big so I can pelt the Bains with coins. =)
SHOUTcraft fighting!
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Maybe Blizzard should consider lifting the non-compete rule a bit. Making it on from Ro16 or Ro8. Having a job and other responsibilities I can't even watch all of GSL Ro32, let alone the rest of the cool stuff going on.
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Extensive. Hope you'll find ways to make another season possible.
So, what is the actual story with Kane's trophy?
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Very interesting and informative piece, I love to read about behind the scenes.
The tournament was exactly like you called it: "A catalyst for growth".
Hope that it will continue, but that's just a personal opinion.
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Being from Sweden it continually boggles my mind how bad internet is in certain countries, especially the US. For the past 10 years or so I'm pretty sure I have had the 3MB upload it took to host this stream, and always with good stability. I understand we're very lucky to have this good internet in Sweden, but it really does put it into another perspective when someone who's entire business is reliant on having a good, stable internet connection really can't get it. To put it frank that is pretty fucking terrible.
I hope the technical issues get worked out if you decide to do another one, and I hope you do!
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I just wanted to thank TB for posting this. I saw on reddit that someone posted about how MLG gets hated on for a small screwup but TB has all sorts of screwups and the community continues to love him. For me - this sort of post, ownership of content and production, and explanation to the community is why I will continue to support TB and Genna as well as Axiom!
As far as SCA goes - I tuned in day 1 & 2, and have to admit I felt like my day was wasted. I was super excited to watch and stayed tuned in the entire day, really hoping things would turn around. My husband and I talked a lot about how this would such to have happen to you at your job and 40k people are watching you!!! Since that first day, we watched VOD only, so we could skip the hours of non-happening, regames, and random issues while still maximizing our entertainment hours.
We both work full (to more than full) time jobs, raid in World of Warcraft 5-6 hours a week (which requires lots more hours of prep), and the weekends are spent taking care of the house, errands, and life in general while trying to fit in as much WoW, Diablo, Neverwinter, Path of Exile, and SC2, as we can, along with some of the other games we play. We watch SC2 in small spurts, so tourneys like this work out best. I have to give up a lot to spend 9 hours Saturday and 8 hours Sunday in front of the TV. I have stuff to get done - so the format was awesome!! Unfortunately, the finals were WAY outside our ability to watch, and if it's not live it takes us a few weeks to get around to watching events.
I don't want to watch "the best possible games". I want stories. I don't ladder in SC2, but I LOVE playing matchmaking, custom games and sometimes 2V2. I want the NA scene to grow. I want more events I can attend. I want TB and Genna to not be disheartened!
It's a little about the casters for me. I *really* enjoy TB's casting! I really like Idra's casting, but together they were overly analytical, which wasn't all that fun for me. I actually found myself saying "THIS is why Tasteless does well with Artosis!" Tasteless normally drives me nuts (in the screaming at the TV "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR FAVORITE COLOR IS!!" kinda way), but I see now how having that sort of personality can really help make the cast more interesting. I haven't watched the games with Day9 yet, but I'm going to watch the VODs this weekend.
I don't normally post anywhere, but I lurk a lot. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who tuned in despite the issues, to help show support for something we all love. For me, this was all about showing Blizzard what I wanted. I don't want GSL level everything all the time. I just want to watch interesting games, be entertained, and have fun. SCA did that, but had a lot of bumps along the way.
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EPT
