Okay teamliquid, here's the scoop. The other day, a friend of mine from high school were chatting on AIM. It turns out that he'd been introduced to the GSI, and was watching their VOD's. From there, I got him to watch a few more VOD's, introduced him to teamliquid, and now he's a starcraft fan (I think). Now, he and I are conspiring to get a mutual friend into starcraft.
My question to teamliquid is this: What are the best VOD's or FPVOD's to introduce someone to the world of professional starcraft? He isn't totally ignorant of starcraft, but he's never really seen it played at the pro level. It seems to me that it would be good to give him links to at least one of every MU, preferably commentated in English.
What are the best VOD's for something like that? We were thinking that some of the best would be:
GSI group A, round 1 (I'm only linking part 1 to TL, because I know you've seen the rest)
Also http://gsi.gomtv.com/vod/27 but the problem with that is the long intro. Is it worth it to make somebody who doesn't know what's going on suffer through the introduction, will that turn him off of starcraft?
It's an action packed game that features a great comeback, and some cool moves. As much as I hate to admit it, a random pubbie isn't likely to know savior, so he probably won't get upset by him losing like this (but I do get upset )
MSL semifinals, round 2 (again, only linking part 1 here, you've all seen this game)
That one is another action packed game, full of clashes everywhere on the map. Also, JD wins, so that's good too.
But that's only one MU. What would be a great PvZ to link? Jaedong vs. Bisu? It was certainly epic, but maybe there was one more epic. How about PFVOD's? I remember Plexa had a few excellent FPVOD's of Kingdom in his blog (but he has excellent VOD and FPVOD's of everybody). A lot of what I need is action-packed games, preferably by an english commentator, and I think it would help to have a FPVOD or two so he can see just how hard it is to play like that. Any suggestions?
Ummm.. the english commentated part is quite limiting, so I'll first suggest some VODs that I know are good then I'll think of some english commentated ones.
TvZ- sAviOr vs Iris Game 5 Arkanoid GGplay vs Iris Game 5 Python oOv vs July I don't remember the game number but it was on RoV TvP- Boxer vs Anytime Game 4 on Forte oOv vs Reach don't remember game numbers for this either but I'll check l8r TvT- Any games with mass bcs are cool. The one I remember is NaDa vs Dongrae on Arkanoid Canata vs Sea Sin Peaks ZvP- I personally loved sAviOr vs Stork on Desperado Nal_rA vs SaviOr Game 1 Sin Peaks ZvZ- I can't think of any PvP- Bisu vs Stork game 5 Loki
English Commentated: Hmm The ones that came to mind are the Blizzcon games. There were a few good wcg games also like Midas vs Draco on Gaia.
Show him that subtitled vod of iris vs jaedong from FCUK
PvT --> reach vs sea on hitchhiker ZvT --> savior vs iris on arkanoid PvZ --> show him all of saviors games before GOMTV MSL S1, then when he starts to admire savior whip out the GOMTV MSL S1 finals LOL
Find out what race he is interested in, and pick a vod where that race wins with something that looks cool - such as Boxer m&m micro or iloveoov's giant armies, Nal_rA doing proxy cannons or recall, sAviOr's (or other zerg's) attacks with lurkers burrowing, countless zerglings running by, dark swarms being cast, vessels getting scourged, and marines dying to rampaging ultralisks.
Even better, pick a highlight video which is sure to be interesting and more entertaining to someone who has little knowledge about the pro-scene.
Personally I was brought back into Starcraft after watching a bunch of highlight vids by Spitfire and the Pimpest Play vid by dyo awhile back. I'll link to a few here on youtube but if you see your friend irl you might want to consider downloading the higher quality versions. I would highly suggest the WCG 2006 vid and the Pimpest Plays 2003 vids. They may be older but I think from start to end they are entertaining to watch and each scene is very easy to understand why it's badass. The WCG vid I think does a good job highlighting what is going on as well so if you can't sit down and watch the vid with your friend he should be able to understand the WCG one without much explanation. I have the Boxer and Nada highlights here as well but I'm partial to them since I'm a Terran player. Boxer stuff pretty much wows anyone though. You could try browsing for other Pimpest Plays vids and stuff but here are just some of my favorites:
WCG 2006: part 1
part 2
Boxer highlights:
Pimpest Plays 2003:
Nada highlights:
Just remember for a newbie the presentation is almost as important as the skill being performed in highlight vids. Once they play a bit and understand the game more intricately they will have more appreciation for stuff like GSI vods and stuff.
EPT
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