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I'm not big on blogging because I fail at typing and grammar and all that stuff so I normally post up Vlogs. But this morning I posted a tweet saying that I won't be able to watch MLG Anaheim live. Since than I've been sitting here thinking about what this MLG means to me and why it is such a big deal that I'm missing it. So why not take the time and blog a bit about my history and what not.
My brief Starcraft II History
In August of 2010 I got my first taste of competitive Starcraft when MLG introduced SC2 to the circuit. The rest of 2010 I spent my time consuming VODs of players, digging deep into the TL forums, and beginning my SC2 Casting. MLG Dallas was a big deal to me watching Nazgul take out Idra with outstanding blink stalker micro! (I remember rolling nerds on the ladder with blink builds for a couple months after that) But Jinro winning and going over to Korea to stay at the oGs house introduced me to even more of the SC2 scene with the GSL.
This was about the time of GSL Open Season 3. Back when Scrap Station and Jungle Basin were in the map pool. Even with these maps I was still able to see a higher level of play. This also got me very interested in the BW scene. I became so awe struck and inspired by the competitive side of Starcraft that I would spend days looking up old vods and going over the Liquipedia pages. At the time I was living in a house with a group of my buddies from Freshman year of college. The same group of friends that I introduced to Starcraft BW. Many all nighters were pulled over epic 6-8 person LAN games on BGH. So with the how exciting I found SC2 I figured I would share that with all my friends.
2011 Started with Patrick "ChoboPeon" O'Neil's book The StarCraft Bible. (If you guys haven't seen this yet at least check out this thread http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=154789) I was spending the beginning of 2011 continuing my "history" lesson while consuming all the epic games that were emerging from all the different tournaments.
With the start of summer I founded a SC2 Clan with my group of friends and family. The League of Extraordinary Gamers or LXG. We began hosting weekly open tournaments for amateur players. Soon after I found out there was a local LAN tourney about an hour away. The DC LANs have been a huge part in getting to know other members of the community and to be able to try my hand as a competitor myself. Now the DC LANs have a couple regular guys that some of you might be familiar with, LgNAvilo, QuanticIllusion, NrGLuckyFool. If you aren't able to attend those big events like MLG look into smaller ones like a local LAN. I've gotten the chance to meet and get to know a lot of really awesome guys who all share a similar interest and passion in StarCraft. I've attended 3 DC LANs so far, 2 of which I was able to compete in,(took some games off some Master players here and there) but the 3rd LAN was the one I was the most excited about. DC LAN 7 I was lucky enough to be able to be the commentator for the event. I was able to have lots of players jump on and co-cast with me through out the event and it IMO much more fun than playing
(http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/DC_Lan_VII)Back to the point of this blog... MLG
In August of 2011 I was able to attend my first MLG, with MLG Raleigh. I was so excited for this event I brought a camera and took 6 hours worth of footage. Sadly all of that footage is currently trapped on the discs and I have been unable to extract all the data T_T (Maybe one day the long last 2011 MLG Raleigh footage will surface)
March 2012 I was able to attend my second MLG, with MLG Columbus. This time I took a different camera and was able to get less footage but luckily able to create a vlog of my trip. (http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=324113) Check out this link if you haven't been able to seen the vlog yet.
Now this brings us up to MLG Anaheim 2012. The most exciting SC2 LAN event so far this year IMO. Not only is it like any other MLG with a large open bracket full of top tier players but there is also many other things that make this event exciting.
WCS USA National Championships will be taking place at MLG. I've always been very interested in the NA scene. Over the last couple years I've been able to get to know or commentate a lot of top players from the NA scene. I'm really interested to see how some of the players who are not as well known end up ranking up vs those invited or more well known players. Plus I've got a couple friends batting it out in the championship. (Not sure who is playing for the USA check out this thread LuckyFool created http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=330949)
Probably one of the biggest announcements and one of the most hyped things is the BW pros playing at MLG. The whole idea of an exhibition tournament is a great idea! Of course this players aren't going to be top tier code S Koreans. But they don't need to be, it is more for entertainment purposes. And why shouldn't it be, these players are still learning the game. You do need to keep in mind though how good they are currently when they are splitting their time between 2 games. Plus for those at the event there is still that chance to be able to meet the legendary players themselves.
HotS available to play at MLG, might not seem as big a deal to everyone but it is still important. Less important is the units that are in the game. Sure it'll be interesting to see how it has changed slightly but just remember WoL beta. How different was that during alpha, beta, and finally the release. I'm not going to worry about the units until the beta is released for people to test out other than stations at Blizzcon and MLG. The important part in my mind though is the fact that there will be stations for HotS. This is just one step closer to the possibly release of the beta itself. If I had to take a guess I'd say end of this year beginning of next year we'll see the beta start popping up.
Since 2010 I've been watching MLG or attending events. This will be the first time that I wont be able to watch anything until the vods are released. My coverage will be limited overall though since Friday night I'll be driving up to NY for my girlfriends family reunion. That means all day Saturday I'm going to have no service and no way of seeing how any of the event has gone. Sunday afternoon I'll be driving back home and will at least get to try and catch up on what a missed in time for the tweets about the finals.
I'm not really sure how to end this thing so i'm just going to leave you guys with 3 things. 1) if you ever get the chance to go to a LAN event(MLG or Local LAN), take it! This events get so much better in person not to mention all the awesome people you get to meet and hang out with. 2) Please tweet a lot about the event Sunday so I can have my girlfriend read them to me on the drive home
3) Good Luck to all my friends playing in the National Championships! And Good Luck to EVERYONE playing in the open bracket at MLG!-NanMan-
