Your Guide to the Brood War Reunion Tour
The Tournament
When Artanis[Xp] conceived the Brood War Reunion Tournament, it was a modest idea for a fun tournament among old colleagues, competing for nothing but pride. After its announcement on August 6, the idea blew up, attracting attention, community donations, and full-fledged sponsorship by Silky Goose Studios. Not content to simply organize an awesome event, Artanis has doggedly tracked down almost every participant and conducted in-depth interviews that provide a unique window into Starcraft’s past. Now, players who were so important in building Starcraft’s legacy and the modern E-Sports scene as a whole, representing almost every country with a major Starcraft following, reunite to compete for a healthy prize pool and a title that will place one player as the top among the foreigner legends.
As if that wasn’t enough, Artanis and Silky Goose Studios also bring you a bonus King of the Hill tournament, which will test the returning players against today’s best active competitors. If this tournament is bringing you to TL’s Brood War section for the first time in recent years, you may be surprised that the scene is alive and well, with regular cash tournaments, active community members, and a long list of talented, dedicated players advancing the metagame and endlessly pursuing improvement and victory. Some of the game’s finest have signed up to compete against their childhood heroes and departed friends to determine which, if any, returning players can still cut it in real competition.
All games will be broadcast by Sayle, the finest English language broadcaster in the Brood War scene since 2011. Additional community casters will provide coverage in French, Polish, German, and Russian. The event starts at Saturday, Aug 23 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00), and will be concluded on Sunday, Aug 24 5:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00). The King of the Hill event will take place at Sunday, Aug 24 3:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00).
The Players
Pride of War – Terran (4)
- + Show Spoiler [Lamer] +Lamer (Ivan Velikov) - "I am going to play for fun and hope to play my best" (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Bulgaria 3-time Champion
As a successful Terran outside of Korea, Lamer stands a member of an elite few. Lamer is renowned for his TvZ, and with LRM teammates and Bulgarian countrymen among the best foreigner Zergs today, Lamer may have an edge versus the swarm from preparation for this weekend's games.
- + Show Spoiler [Nyoken] +Nyoken (Daniel Eidson) - "Sc2 has definitely corrupted my playing ability" (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Main Event 2007 Qualifier
Nyoken was a regular at the USA WCG qualifiers over a long Brood War career. He is now inactive. - + Show Spoiler [PredY] +PredY (Tomáš Pospíšil) - "What I love about Starcraft is that you can always see a room for improvement in your game no matter how good you are." (Interview)
PredY is described by Liquipedia as no less than "the best Czech player in both SC2 and StarCraft: Brood War for years". PredY retired from competitive Starcraft a year ago, but remains a coach for the Starcraft 2 team eSuba, and is said to be practicing hard for the upcoming tournament.
- + Show Spoiler [SarenS] +SarenS (Pierre Guivarch) - "The pleasure of playing BW is also coming back, and that is the most enjoyable!" (Interview)
SarenS led the French scene after Elky's 2005 retirement, taking games against top European competition. He enjoyed some success in Starcraft 2 before becoming inactive in competitive gaming.
Overcome All -- Zerg (7)
- + Show Spoiler [CastrO] +
- + Show Spoiler [Eriador] +Eriador (Eivind Leknes) - "[Mondragon would] be fine company but I think I'd prefer someone of the opposite sex" (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Nordic Champion
Eriador is a Starcrafter with a long resume, from competitive play spanning 1998 LANs to last year’s TLS tournaments, to his countless community contributions across more than 20,000 TL posts. Though he was never as dominant as some other players in the tournament, Eriador may have the advantage of more recent Brood War experience.
- + Show Spoiler [Fosken] +Fosken (Kamil Sierocki) - "I found a new passion and it's dance." (Interview)
Fosken reached his peak in the fiercely competitive scene that was Europe in 2007, with a second place finish in that year's WCG Poland qualifiers. He has been inactive for quite some time and claims to prefer a macro oriented play style. - + Show Spoiler [Haypro] +HayprO (Hayder Hussein) - "I was so happy that I couldnt stand for a while. I had to keep sitting down." (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: Dreamhack 3-time Champion
Haypro made a name for himself at the prestigous Swedish LAN event Dreamhack, then later as an early member of TeamLiquid's own Starcraft 2 team. Though he is now retired from professional gaming, Haypro has the advantage of training in the Korean oGs-TL progaming house in 2012.
- + Show Spoiler [Mondragon] +Mondragon (Christoph Semke)
Notable Brood War History: Leader of Templars of Twilight, WCG Germany 4-time Champion, TSL 2 Runner-up
Rather than attempt to summarize Mondragon’s superlative record, I’ll simply link his his Liquipedia page, which is possibly longer than that of every other player in the tournament combined. After one of the most impressive careers in foreign Brood War history, Mondragon transitioned to Stracraft 2 during the beta and achieved modest success before retiring in 2012. - + Show Spoiler [Ptak] +Ptak (Matija Vragovićis) - "A+ on iccup was a piece of cake compared to this." (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Croatia 6-time Champion
If you include a 2011 Wings of Liberty victory, Ptak claims seven consecutive national WCG champion titles. He went on to perform well in many of the main event tournaments as well. It is unclear if Ptak remains active in Starcraft 2, with recent performance consisting of several minor LAN titles in 2013.
- + Show Spoiler [Sen] +Sen (Yang Chia Cheng) - "I think everyone prefers winning over losing. Don't you?" (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Taiwan 3-time Champion, TSL2 Third Place
Sen has been claiming Starcraft I and II titles and prize money for over ten years, consistently dominating the Taiwanese scene in tournaments such as WCG and TeSL. Sen remains active and successful among the world's best SC2 players.
Victory After Victory -- Protoss (8)
- + Show Spoiler [Arcneon] +ArCNeON (Matti Punkari) - "Every matchup is good for DT's” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Finland First Place
A truly oldschool player, Arcneon hit his peak in 2004 with a first place finish at a WCG qualifier. He claims to be completely inactive, yet posted some impressive results in 2013, including a Defiler tournament title and qualification for TLS 2.
- + Show Spoiler [Arew] +Arew (Vytautas Graičiūnas) - "It was something like waking up at 7am in the morning, knowing that you gotta go to work and suddenly realizing it's Saturday.” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Baltics First Place
Arew spent the final years before the Wings of Liberty beta racking up wins in minor tournaments and making history Lithuania’s first WCG main event qualifier. He competed in Starcraft 2 for several years and now appears to be inactive.
- + Show Spoiler [ClouD] +ClouD (Carlo Giannocco) - "" (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Italy 5-time Brood War champion
ClouD's record includes no less than five consecutive national WCG titles and major wins against some of the best foreigners of pre-beta Brood War. ClouD retired from competitive Starcraft 2 last year and will be competing for pride as well as prize money against many former friends and rivals.
- + Show Spoiler [G5] +G5 (Eric Rothmuller) - "I never go into a game with a game plan.” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG USA Champion
G5 was at the top of the USA scene in the late Brood War era, as the frequent name-dropping in his interview will no doubt convince you. More recently, G5 gave strong performances in last year’s TLS 1 and TLS 2, making him a clear favorite in this week’s tournament.
- + Show Spoiler [GoOdy] +GoOdy (Sascha Lupp) - "I hope a lot more years will pass until I say my last words.” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG 2007 Main Event Qualifier
GoOdy has been a top European Starcrafter for over a decade, placing in tournaments from 2005’s Giga Grandslam V to 2012’s ESET Winter Masters. GoOdy remains an SC2 professional, but also referenced recent Brood War experience in his pre-tournament interview.
- + Show Spoiler [MaNa] +MaNa (Grzegorz Komincz) - "A lot of people are calling themselves ‘progamers’ where in the past it really had a meaning” (Interview)
MaNa earned his reputation at European LAN tournaments in 2009, and hardly a tournament was played that year without his name near the top. He is currently an active SC2 professional playing for TeamLiquid.
- + Show Spoiler [Socke] +Socke (Giacomo Thüs) - "My goal is to win a map. If that works, maybe another one." (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Germany Second Place
To put it bluntly, Socke was competing in Korea while most others in this tournament were still afraid to join a map that wasn’t UMS. Socke remains an active Starcraft 2 professional competitor and will no doubt consult Liquipedia on the several changes in the Brood War metagame that have occurred since he last competed over ten years ago.
- + Show Spoiler [TT1] +TT1 (Payam Toghyan) - "I wanted to prove everyone wrong.” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: Black Sheep Wall
TT1 came to the Brood War scene later than many others in the tournament but made a name for himself as a dominant competitor in the foreign scene around the time of the Wings of Liberty exodus. As a Starcraft 2 professional, he has trained in team houses with the world’s best and could make a big impact this weekend with proper preparation.
Cancelled
- + Show Spoiler [Darki] +Darki (Alfredo Zegarra) - "I will practice for this!” (Interview)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Main Event 3-time Qualifier
Although the history of Latin American Starcraft is unfortunately lacking in Liquipedia, Darki’s berths into the WCG main event and his wins there reflect his prowess among its top competitors. Though he now spends his time playing poker, the Protoss player has indicated that he aims to be in top form for the tournament.
Darki will not be participating in the main tournament.
- + Show Spoiler [Fenix] +Fenix (Giancarlos Joan Morayra Alejo)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Pan-American Championship 2-time Champion
Fenix dominated the Latin American Starcraft scene in the final years before the WoL beta. He went on to a successful career as a Starcraft 2 professional, including two years with the Korean team Incredible Miracle, and has been inactive for the past year. - + Show Spoiler [Octzerg] +OctZerg (Bojan Vlakevski)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Macedonia Champion
Octzerg's brief Liquipedia page does little justice to his performance over a ten-year career. He has performed consistently among the better foreigners right up to the recent TLS 3.
Octzerg will not be participating in the main tournament.
- + Show Spoiler [ParanOid] +ParanOid (Rafal Kontowicz)
Notable Brood War History: WCG Poland 3-time Champion
ParanOid boasts a respectable Brood War career spanning the latter half of last decade, particularly in the fiercely competitive European WCG tournaments. His time with game’s sequel, however, has been less kind. ParanOid remains listed as active in Liquipedia but has not competed in a recorded Starcraft game in almost one and a half years.
ParanOid will not be participating in the main tournament.
How can I get involved?
The first step is to clear your calendar for the weekend of August 23-24, and to invite at least 10,000 of your closest friends to watch as well, in order to surpass League of Legends in viewer count. Next, sign up for TeamLiquid and TwitchTV accounts so you can chat with others in the stream chat and live report thread. If you’re really dedicated, donate some money to the prize pool, to give the players a little extra incentive. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, install Brood War and find some games. The greatest competitive medium of human history is only a few clicks away.