The 2012 First-Half (there are 2 drafts every year) Starcraft Draft was held on 12th April at Seoul Yongsan-gu iParkmall stadium. 9 players were drafted by pro-teams and thus qualified to become progamers. This is the smallest number since the draft was first started. At the 2011 Second-Half draft, 10 players were drafted. 22 of the players who qualified for this draft, by finishing within the top 40 placings in Rookie League, registered to take part in the draft. However 3 did not turn up, leaving 19 actual participants.
The first player to be chosen was terran By.Yourosia (류다운), a former SKT trainee and the number one ranked rookie based on the Kespa Rookie League rankings. (Edit: the draft proceeded in the order of the lowest to highest ranked team in the previous Proleague season. None of the teams before SKT picked anyone in round 1. There are 5 rounds in a draft.) He was chosen by SKTelecom T1 but instead personally requested for this appointment to be canceled and was subsequently drafted by STX in the next round. (Edit: according to Fomos, Coach Park said that the reason is because Yourosia could not adapt well to SKT or harmonize well with the players.)
The team that drafted the most players was Samsung Khan. They drafted zerg BBatta_Lt (강민수), protoss Beach_Lt (박진석) and By.BigTiger (유태호). STX drafted By.Yourosia and protoss By.comet (신혜성), Woongjin drafted terran Shout[ScM] (서현후), KT drafted zerg PenguiN (남윤석) and protoss MyuNgSiK[WHITE] (김명식), while SKT drafted protoss By.ReQuiem (강기훈).
In total, 4 protosses, 3 terrans and 2 zergs were drafted. ACE and Team 8 did not take part.
After finalizing their contracts, these 9 players will attend the Progamer Education Seminar on 17th April.
On April 12 2012 20:03 GTR wrote: interesting how the guy requested not to be on skt.
Yeah this made me a little curious too. Any backstory?
No idea why. He was an SKT trainee. Anyway, this has happened before at drafts.
Edit: Okay, according to Fomos, Coach Park said that Yourosia could not adapt well to the team or harmonize well with the players so that's why he requested to give up his nomination by SKT.
On April 12 2012 20:02 BLinD-RawR wrote: Sigh only 9 this time....
Look on the bright side, 9 new BW players = long-term investment. That's actually really good news, that the BW teams expect to have these BW rookies long enough for them to pay off.
I don't quite understand these drafts. For example, does T8 & ACE not picking anyone mean they simply don't have the money to pay for another progamer or what? In theory, usually the weakest teams should get the biggest advantage in drafts, right? And here they offer the #1 player to the #1 team, which seems so weird.
On April 12 2012 21:58 figq wrote: I don't quite understand these drafts. For example, does T8 & ACE not picking anyone mean they simply don't have the money to pay for another progamer or what? In theory, usually the weakest teams should get the biggest advantage in drafts, right? And here they offer the #1 player to the #1 team, which seems so weird.
ACE has their own draft, comprised solely of progamers who enter the military. They are never in competition with any other team for members. If you're in the military ACE is the only option. Team 8 I assume don't take part because they have no sponsor to pay for any extra player salaries.
On April 12 2012 21:58 figq wrote: I don't quite understand these drafts. For example, does T8 & ACE not picking anyone mean they simply don't have the money to pay for another progamer or what? In theory, usually the weakest teams should get the biggest advantage in drafts, right? And here they offer the #1 player to the #1 team, which seems so weird.
On April 12 2012 22:01 Soap wrote: Why the PL champion is the first to pick?
Not sure how much it helps his career prospects though since he'll be behind Last and Bogus rather than just Fantasy.
Yourosia was the first player picked because none of the others teams before SKT's turn picked up anyone in round 1 (each draft has 5 rounds). After he rejected SKT, in round 2, STX picked Yourosia.
It's not that Kespa "offered" the #1 player to the #1 team. It's that there's an understanding that you don't pick the other teams' trainees unless the player rejects the team's offer or the team passes on him. Yourosia was an SKT trainee.
On April 12 2012 22:02 KenNage wrote: why didn't cj pick up anyone? oo
On April 12 2012 20:02 BLinD-RawR wrote: Sigh only 9 this time....
Look on the bright side, 9 new BW players = long-term investment. That's actually really good news, that the BW teams expect to have these BW rookies long enough for them to pay off.
also - if this is only the first half, then there's still the 2nd one right ?
that means more rookies to pick ! so its going to be more than 9
I'm just guessing, but maybe CJ didn't pick anyone up because their current lineup is choc-a-block full of A-team material atm, and a rookie might not have a realistic chance of getting a proleague game, and maybe they feel they already have enough B teamers?
I mean their current lineup sports: Hydra, Effort, Leta, Snow, Movie, Horang2. It's hard to see anyone else getting a game in edgewise. They might want a truly scary ace rather than more solid contributors.
Ahh I forgot about that, although I don't think anyone has picked him up yet? What happens if noone picks him up, does he stay on cj?
But yeah even without movie, that is still a pretty hefty lineup, plus they have Skyhigh in reserve, which admittedly might not be A-team material right now :p
On April 12 2012 20:03 GTR wrote: interesting how the guy requested not to be on skt.
Yeah this made me a little curious too. Any backstory?
No idea why. He was an SKT trainee. Anyway, this has happened before at drafts.
Edit: Okay, according to Fomos, Coach Park said that Yourosia could not adapt well to the team or harmonize well with the players so that's why he requested to give up his nomination by SKT.
Still a crazy decision (from a fanboy perspective) not to go to SKT!
On April 12 2012 20:03 GTR wrote: interesting how the guy requested not to be on skt.
Yeah this made me a little curious too. Any backstory?
No idea why. He was an SKT trainee. Anyway, this has happened before at drafts.
Edit: Okay, according to Fomos, Coach Park said that Yourosia could not adapt well to the team or harmonize well with the players so that's why he requested to give up his nomination by SKT.
Still a crazy decision (from a fanboy perspective) not to go to SKT!
I wonder how he'll do with another team.
Makes fine sense for a rookie to go to a lesser team since that means more breakthroughs
And STX has fielded alot of rookies and has probally has the most diverse lineup, I can't blame him for rather wanting to go there.
On April 13 2012 02:07 Golondrin wrote: Why they pick up new players but let HiyA unemployed
I think it's a matter of salary. Hiya said in his last interview that he tried to get onto a team, but the team declined since they disagreed on how high his salary should be, so he ended up retiring.
On April 12 2012 20:03 GTR wrote: interesting how the guy requested not to be on skt.
Yeah this made me a little curious too. Any backstory?
No idea why. He was an SKT trainee. Anyway, this has happened before at drafts.
Edit: Okay, according to Fomos, Coach Park said that Yourosia could not adapt well to the team or harmonize well with the players so that's why he requested to give up his nomination by SKT.
I bet it also has to do witb being able to actually play on proleague :p
On April 13 2012 04:05 Emon_ wrote: More Khan rookies!!! The team with the most interesting roster just got three, (3), tres new talents! Stacked like a mofo!! New season here we come!
I just like this cos it might indicate Samsung is taking a larger role in the whole esports sponsorship thing. Samsung is a MASSIVE company, but their capital contribution to khan seems to have been pretty small compared to the 'richer' teams so far, hopefully this means more power to khan :D
well... i guess now SKT could play 5 tosses at once. i don't know what the real situation is, but it really seems that a new terran would be better, than a new toss.
On April 13 2012 02:07 Golondrin wrote: Why they pick up new players but let HiyA unemployed
HiyA wants a lot more salary than a random rookie costs.
I'm not surprised he turned down SKT, there's almost no chance he'd get any play time with their line-up. Surprised they picked up Requiem though, since Bisu and Best (as much as I dislike him) make SKT's Protoss line stronger than any other barring Khan.
On April 13 2012 05:38 FFGenerations wrote: what happens to all the old draftees? like if there are 20-40 per year, there must be 1000s of them by now? do they all get the shaft each half-year?
Their licenses are valid for a few years. Not sure how many. If you're not successful at your first draft, you can try again. But you have to take part in the subsequent Rookie League tournament(s). There are a couple other criteria to fulfill but I'm not too clear on this.
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/3gqCg.jpg)
By.BigTiger (유태호). STX drafted By.Yourosia and protoss By.comet (신혜성), Woongjin drafted terran Shout[ScM] (서현후), KT drafted zerg PenguiN (남윤석) and protoss MyuNgSiK[WHITE] (김명식), while SKT drafted protoss By.ReQuiem (강기훈).![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kzL1r.jpg)
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