Naniwa joins Dignitas

On January 21 2011 06:10 Asha` wrote:
:O Sick signing for Dignitas, surprised to see Nani leaving Empire though he's not been under their banner for that long?

On January 21 2011 06:10 Seronei wrote:
I had hoped he would join Team Liquid or EG so he could go to Korea and play there.

But Team Dignitas is now definitely the best Europe based team together with mouz.

On January 21 2011 06:07 busbarn wrote:
Naniwa left Empire and is confirmed to be joining dignitas.
This makes team dignitas look scary good, probably one of the best foreign teams now.

On January 21 2011 06:15 LittLeD wrote:

Both of those are quite unlikely given his previous manner and attitude

On January 21 2011 06:15 hellsan631 wrote:


Minus Liquid (Every member?), or Root (Catz, Mini, Kiwi, QXC, Drew), or EG(Machine, Inka, Incontrol, LZ), or Mouz(Morrow, Strelock, Mana, Hasu, Naama), or Fnatic(Kiwi, TT1, Fenix, Gretorp. Sen, Lucifrion)

On January 21 2011 06:15 hellsan631 wrote:


Minus Liquid (Every member?), or Root (Catz, Mini, Kiwi, QXC, Drew), or EG(Machine, Inka, Incontrol, LZ), or Mouz(Morrow, Strelock, Mana, Hasu, Naama), or Fnatic(Kiwi, TT1, Fenix, Gretorp. Sen, Lucifrion)

On January 21 2011 06:09 SmoKim wrote:
Naniwa changing team for the 6 time

so what else is new ^^ ?

but on a less teasing tone, it is good to see dignitas having more Protoss(only have Bischu atm)

On January 21 2011 06:25 syllogism wrote:
He recently mentioned Empire didn't feel like a team as the team is "kind of spread out". Now he'll have at least a bunch of good Swedes to play with (Merz, Sjow, Bischu)

On January 21 2011 06:15 LittLeD wrote:

Both of those are quite unlikely given his previous manner and attitude

On January 21 2011 06:27 Odoakar wrote:
I don't understand why people put EG on the same level as these other teams when EG has absolutely no players as good as some of the players in these other teams. Idra of course excluded. Yeah, they have good players, but when did any of them win something in SC2? They are at best an average team.

Edit:ok, I forgot that they just picked up Demuslim, who is quite a player, but these are the accomplishments of other EG players:

LZGamer: 2010 MSI Evil Geniuses Masters Cup #1
Machine: 2010 iCCup TV League US Grand Prix #1


And that's it. Idra, and now Demuslim, are actually keeping EG looking like an good team, rather than mediocre.

On January 21 2011 06:29 ptbl wrote:


Hmm interesting. Team Liquid is spread out, they have Tyler and Nazgul in the U.S., TLO in Europe, and Huk, Jinro, Ret, and Haypro in Korea. Even though they are spread out, they still have team spirit, which was demonstrated at MLG Dallas.

On January 21 2011 06:29 ptbl wrote:


Hmm interesting. Team Liquid is spread out, they have Tyler and Nazgul in the U.S., TLO in Europe, and Huk, Jinro, Ret, and Haypro in Korea. Even though they are spread out, they still have team spirit, which was demonstrated at MLG Dallas.

On January 21 2011 06:35 Whiplash wrote:


Liquid doesn't have a language barrier, all of them speak english.

Gratz to Naniwa, I hope he he will have a better practice environment and can take a shot at the next GSL.

On January 21 2011 06:21 AkobeS wrote:



I'd say dignitas in its current shape are atleast as good as all those teams, except liquid.

On January 21 2011 06:27 Odoakar wrote:
I don't understand why people put EG on the same level as these other teams when EG has absolutely no players as good as some of the players in these other teams. Idra of course excluded. Yeah, they have good players, but when did any of them win something in SC2? They are at best an average team.

Edit:ok, I forgot that they just picked up Demuslim, who is quite a player, but these are the accomplishments of other EG players:

LZGamer: 2010 MSI Evil Geniuses Masters Cup #1
Machine: 2010 iCCup TV League US Grand Prix #1


And that's it. Idra, and now Demuslim, are actually keeping EG looking like an good team, rather than mediocre.

On January 21 2011 06:41 ptbl wrote:


I thought he was referring to the geography when he said they were "spread out."

TeamLiquid: Your teammate Empire.Kas won the last TSL3 Qualifier. How is your team? Do you guys practice together often?

Empire.Naniwa: Our team is kind of spread out. I'm Swedish and he's Ukrainian, so we don't really talk a lot or practice, so it doesnt really feel like we´re teammate in that aspect. But management wise the team is great and have done everything they promised me so far.

On January 21 2011 06:27 Odoakar wrote:
I don't understand why people put EG on the same level as these other teams when EG has absolutely no players as good as some of the players in these other teams. Idra of course excluded. Yeah, they have good players, but when did any of them win something in SC2? They are at best an average team.

On January 21 2011 06:41 ptbl wrote:


I thought he was referring to the geography when he said they were "spread out."

On January 21 2011 06:47 Backpack wrote:

Haypro and Nazgul are also both in europe.

On January 21 2011 06:43 hellsan631 wrote:



Really? Dignitas only have Sjow, and Select. And now Nanawi (who is known to trade teams some times.) I named at least 5 notable people for each team, while Diginatas only had 3.

Sure you can count apollo, but can you really? He is more of a commentator then anything.

Also, FXOpen has moonglade, sheth, OpTiKzErO, and "AllAboutYou".

I would say adding Nanawi improves their roster, but not any where near "atleast as good as all of those teams"



Do you count liquid'tyler as a top player? Because all he has done has been to take 4th at MLG Dallas, but yet he is one of the strongest protoss out there.

On January 21 2011 06:47 Backpack wrote:


Haypro and Nazgul are also both in europe. With the exception of Tyler they have two chunks of players who are local. Although Nazgul doesn't really play much, i'm sure he practices with Haypro and TLO.

On January 21 2011 06:09 dizzy101 wrote:
Very nice pickup, arguably EU's #1 or #2 Protoss

On January 21 2011 06:36 Odoakar wrote:


Then it seems TLPD sucks?

Here's a challenge for everyone...find one EG player in this list, except Idra (and in mind that Demuslim earned his medals while outside of EG)

+ Show Spoiler +

On January 21 2011 06:53 Dionyseus wrote:


Who's the other top 2 protoss in EU?

On January 21 2011 06:52 ptbl wrote:


Haypro is going back to Korea after his tournament appearances in the Homestory, Pokeridol, and XMG tournaments. I thought Nazgul is located at Team Liquid's headquarters, which in NYC?

On January 21 2011 06:53 Dionyseus wrote:


Who's the other top 2 protoss in EU?

On January 21 2011 06:15 hellsan631 wrote:


Minus Liquid (Every member?), or Root (Catz, Mini, Kiwi, QXC, Drew), or EG(Machine, Inka, Incontrol, LZ), or Mouz(Morrow, Strelock, Mana, Hasu, Naama), or Fnatic(Kiwi, TT1, Fenix, Gretorp. Sen, Lucifrion)

On January 21 2011 06:59 arnold(soTa) wrote:
wouldnt put a ladderhero over ppl who have performed offline, but hey..I guess this is what we do here now .....

On January 21 2011 06:59 arnold(soTa) wrote:
wouldnt put a ladderhero over ppl who have performed offline, but hey..I guess this is what we do here now .....

On January 21 2011 07:12 WhoaDrugs wrote:
Holy Crap! Isn't he MeatyOwlLegs?
Or am I confused here. Either way Go Dignitas!

On January 21 2011 07:08 HolydaKing wrote:
And i wouldn't be surprised if he went to another team next month, either.

On January 21 2011 07:16 Seronei wrote:

Why would he leave a team as stable as Dignitas? They seem to have the funding to send all their players to the biggest lans in the world. He has most likely written a contract as well so he can't just leave it, unless he screws up majorly I don't see how he can leave Dignitas in at least 6 months.

On January 21 2011 06:15 hellsan631 wrote:


Minus Liquid (Every member?), or Root (Catz, Mini, Kiwi, QXC, Drew), or EG(Machine, Inka, Incontrol, LZ), or Mouz(Morrow, Strelock, Mana, Hasu, Naama), or Fnatic(Kiwi, TT1, Fenix, Gretorp. Sen, Lucifrion)

On January 21 2011 07:28 Nimic wrote:
People saying Dignitas aren't (at least now) among the best foreigner teams clearly can't be paying too much attention to the European scene. Particularly when they then go on to name players from some of the other teams who, while obviously good players who I may very much like, are not necessarily more notable than the "less notable" players in Dignitas. That is, the players who aren't Sjow, Select and now Naniwa. There are some pretty good players in that group.

I think I might have butchered that paragraph.

On January 21 2011 07:31 aoe2fan wrote:


Not to be rude in anyway because i absolutely like their playstyles and i think they have great chanses to win tournaments in the future but what was the last tournaments haypro and tyler won?

On January 21 2011 06:09 dizzy101 wrote:
Very nice pickup, arguably EU's #1 or #2 Protoss

On January 21 2011 06:13 Cyberus wrote:
Naniwa is changing teams like underwear... how can he expect to be taken seriously

On January 21 2011 07:31 aoe2fan wrote:


Not to be rude in anyway because i absolutely like their playstyles and i think they have great chanses to win tournaments in the future but what was the last tournaments haypro and tyler won?

On January 21 2011 06:36 Odoakar wrote:


Then it seems TLPD sucks?

Here's a challenge for everyone...find one EG player in this list, except Idra (and in mind that Demuslim earned his medals while outside of EG)

+ Show Spoiler +

On January 21 2011 07:38 bLuR wrote:
A top4 of SjoW SeleCT Naniwa and KiLLeR is extremely strong, i couldnt think of another team that could beat those 4 a majority of times, i think it was a great move for dignitas and very lucky for Naniwa, keep up the good work nAni

On January 21 2011 07:41 fishinguy wrote:


What was the last tournament these (bolded) players won?

On January 21 2011 07:46 DarkRise wrote:
white isn't on any team right?
anyways naniwa would join eg or TL next?

On January 21 2011 07:47 JustinMartin wrote:
well now the team empire seems kinda weak
diestar left,nani left
only kas remains^^

On January 21 2011 06:27 neppi wrote:
Yes this is awesome, naniwa is a lot more mature now. Good luck man.

On January 21 2011 07:46 DarkRise wrote:
white isn't on any team right?
anyways naniwa would join eg or TL next?

On January 21 2011 07:49 drooL wrote:


highly doubt it.



they just picked up beastyqt as a more than adequate replacement for DieStar. beasty is one of the best euro terrans right now.

On January 21 2011 07:53 ptbl wrote:


I saw beasty play haypro in the XMG tournament. He was pretty impressive though he lost.

On January 21 2011 07:51 BritishBeef wrote:


hahaha no hes not lets be realistic here.. he just will be not saying what hes thinking like any normal angry person should automatically have graspd how to do... just some people have the urge too bad .. see "greg fields"

Still there beasts so np!

On January 21 2011 06:15 LittLeD wrote:

Both of those are quite unlikely given his previous manner and attitude

On January 21 2011 06:09 SmoKim wrote:
Naniwa changing team for the 6 time

On January 21 2011 07:40 Dagobert wrote:

So 5 shorts in half a year? Sounds about right.

On January 21 2011 09:00 dToH1o wrote:

Coz he didnt pick the right team until now

On January 21 2011 07:15 NexUmbra wrote:
Yes it is Meaty.

I wouldn't even say he is 'questionably' number 2 toss, I would say he just is.

On January 21 2011 07:15 NexUmbra wrote:
Yes it is Meaty.

I wouldn't even say he is 'questionably' number 2 toss, I would say he just is.

On January 21 2011 10:14 hellsan631 wrote:


Socke
Huk
Tyler
Kiwi
White-Ra

These are all that play way better then him. I've watched a lot of his games, and a ton of the other toss's i named games, and they impress me way more then Nanawi has ever done.

On January 21 2011 11:08 Huragius wrote:


It should be :
Huk
Kiwi
White-Ra
Socke
Tyler. (In case of strength)
HuK is leading them all by far and Kiwi with White-Ra are very close to each other, it is very arguable. Althou, I go with the Kiwi.

On January 21 2011 11:17 Traveler wrote:


I would actually go with White-Ra in a match between the two, but I think Kiwi's vZ is better, though white-ra perhaps has better vT macro.

On January 21 2011 10:43 dtz wrote:
Well, according to Diestar, Empire is "not enough professional"

I'm not sure if this means the management is bad or it means that they does not have enough money to send the players to lans and give them "professional salary"

KInda sad though , they had a very strong roster but are getting picked apart by teams with bigger budget it seems. Empire also picked up Naniwa immediately after he was dropped from MYM so they deserve a little credit.

Nani's performace has been beastly though. Probably will see him trying for GSL or MLG sooner or later.

On January 21 2011 06:14 unsaintly wrote:
hes hopping clans like a madman.

On January 21 2011 12:07 StutteR wrote:
I dunno if I would put Huk as number 1. He's doing awesome in ladder but he has yet to put up any real results this year.

On January 21 2011 14:28 Redmark wrote:

He hasn't really played in much, has he?

On January 21 2011 06:15 hellsan631 wrote:


Minus Liquid (Every member?), or Root (Catz, Mini, Kiwi, QXC, Drew), or EG(Machine, Inka, Incontrol, LZ), or Mouz(Morrow, Strelock, Mana, Hasu, Naama), or Fnatic(Kiwi, TT1, Fenix, Gretorp. Sen, Lucifrion)

On January 21 2011 14:53 7pool wrote:


Yeah, Those teams are way better than Dignitas. SeleCT is probably the best in that team. Nani needs to learn to play on more than one base. People saying they should send nani to Korea makes me laugh. Nani would just be a worse version of ChoyafOu.

On January 21 2011 16:17 CoR wrote:


did u rly miss Idra and Tastless in EG ?

nani is strong, but not as good to go to korea when i see him 1-4 vs white-ra that hard

On January 21 2011 06:09 SmoKim wrote:
Naniwa changing team for the 6 time

so what else is new ^^ ?

On January 21 2011 14:53 7pool wrote:


Yeah, Those teams are way better than Dignitas. SeleCT is probably the best in that team. Nani needs to learn to play on more than one base. People saying they should send nani to Korea makes me laugh. Nani would just be a worse version of ChoyafOu.

On January 21 2011 18:30 Shockk wrote:
I just read the interview on the Dignitas page.

While I apreciate Naniwa trying to be less BM and working on his attitude, he shouldn't act as if his despicable behaviour is a thing of his distant War3 past four or five years ago. He's been an arrogant prick to tournament players and he's flamed and trash-talked in games as recently as last year.

If the issue with dropping out of the ESL and losing his appartment in Germany finally got him to think things over, alright. It's just sad that he manages to screw things up over and over again and always gets another chance, while other players with similar skill but more mature personality may not.

On January 21 2011 06:11 Slakkoo wrote:
Gief MorroW in there aswell and we'll have the unstoppable force of swedes...

On January 21 2011 19:54 Piski wrote:
Would be nice know why he is doing this. I'm just interested to know reason why people switch teams.
I lot of that happening lately.

On January 21 2011 18:06 netherDrake wrote:


I think the dignitas lineup isn't too far from mouz/Fnatic/ROOT and slightly stronger than EG.

On January 21 2011 09:24 drooL wrote:


why aren't you actually shown on the dignitas team page?

On January 21 2011 17:57 Jimmy Raynor wrote:
Good for him, at the moment he may be the second best protoss in EU after White-Ra (also I wonder why isn't white-ra still signed by one of the top teams after he is no longer in mouz?)

On January 21 2011 20:47 dToH1o wrote:



Coz that page is only for players in dignitas not managers and management,there will be new section about this

On January 21 2011 20:33 Cel.erity wrote:
I'm pretty sure IdrA could allkill Dignitas in a CW, but even so, if you compare IdrA/Demuslim/Machine/InControl/Inka to Naniwa/Sjow/Select/Bischu/Killer, EG is better in 3-4 of those matchups,

On January 21 2011 22:20 s.a.y wrote:
It just cross my mind that if WCG goes SC2 this year, Sweden will have such awesome qualifiers with Jinro, Sjow, Naniwa, Morrow, Bischu, Merz, ThorZain, HayprO ...

On January 21 2011 22:35 mdma-_- wrote:

+ Sase, Madfrog, Jimpo, Naugrim, Lalush, Fury and Zpux :D (+ Seiplo, Magulina, Forsen, Cytoplasm)

On January 21 2011 20:33 Cel.erity wrote:


Including IdrA/Demuslim in this equation? I'm pretty sure IdrA could allkill Dignitas in a CW, but even so, if you compare IdrA/Demuslim/Machine/InControl/Inka to Naniwa/Sjow/Select/Bischu/Killer, EG is better in 3-4 of those matchups, and then Axslav/Lz/StrifeCro are much stronger than the remainder of Dignitas.

I think Naniwa is world-class, but that doesn't make Dignitas world-class.

On January 21 2011 15:40 frequency wrote:


The stupidity in that comment really annoys me. If you don't watch his games, don't bother commenting on his play.

On January 22 2011 00:25 7pool wrote:


I have seen him play, couple of times. And I have yet to see him do something else than a standard 4gate, 4gate with 2 voidrays, 5gate or 3gate expand into 6gate.

On January 21 2011 23:36 Yiska wrote:


EG keeps losing to NrG. I think you vastly overestimate them. When IdrA isn't around they've been showing underwhelming results

On January 21 2011 10:14 hellsan631 wrote:


Socke
Huk
Tyler
Kiwi
White-Ra

These are all that play way better then him. I've watched a lot of his games, and a ton of the other toss's i named games, and they impress me way more then Nanawi has ever done.

On January 22 2011 01:22 shaunnn wrote:


No they dont, atm nani is preforming better than everyone on that list except for white-ra. Huk and tyler have done nothing concrete of late in any tournament, i think tyler went out fairly early in that fx open, and huk has done nothing in korea as of yet to be able to be placed anywhere, kiwi lost to morrow in the reddit tournament who nani has destroyed in their last meeting and socke lost out to him in the homestory cup. Going by tournmanet results nani is unquestionably number 2 atm

On January 22 2011 01:40 Mogget wrote:


Dude... no ones says that he's bad, just not as good as those guys, and tbh, as far as Ra, Huk, Tyler and Kiwi are concerned, they are -all- better than him, and dont bother saying "they havnt done well in tourney x, or havnt played a tourney for a while, because huk and Tyler -STREAM- you can watch them play against other pro's on ladder often, and these guys are straight up beasts, not to mention that kiwi (although not as good as Tyler and Huk mechanically imo) is one of the most creative players in the game -period- it is no shame to be called worse than those guys

On January 22 2011 01:40 Mogget wrote:


Dude... no ones says that he's bad, just not as good as those guys, and tbh, as far as Ra, Huk, Tyler and Kiwi are concerned, they are -all- better than him, and dont bother saying "they havnt done well in tourney x, or havnt played a tourney for a while, because huk and Tyler -STREAM- you can watch them play against other pro's on ladder often, and these guys are straight up beasts, not to mention that kiwi (although not as good as Tyler and Huk mechanically imo) is one of the most creative players in the game -period- it is no shame to be called worse than those guys

On January 22 2011 01:47 shaunnn wrote:


So basically your saying dont use rational arguements like tournament results because they dont agree with your opinion of the players, nice logic you have there

On January 22 2011 01:51 Mogget wrote:


No, actually i was saying don't -only- look at tournament results, just becuase it agree's with -your- opinion. Way to instantly take a discussion into insults and slander (y)

On January 22 2011 02:06 shaunnn wrote:


Ok your trying to argue based from streamed ladder performance, but naniwa is nr1 in europe with an 80% win ratio and was the first to hit 3k(did it on american servers as boyardee) and the first to hit 4k, you dont have an arguement for why these players are better than him at all yet you tell me im wrong because in your opinion they are, i hardly took the discussion into insults and slander, i just pointed out your bad reasoning.

On January 22 2011 02:11 Mogget wrote:


And huk is 3rd -and- 4th on Korea ladder, but that isnt what i meant, what i meant was, if you actually watch their streams, playing against the best players in the world, on a regular basis, and winning a lot, (notice, this is the point i was actually making by stressing the fact that they stream) so simply saying "they got knock out of tourney x early" (could happen to any player) or, "they havnt played a tourney in a while" does not mean you cant still clearly see that they are training and are still top players.

and fyi, sarcastily saying "nice logic you have there" is insulting, and was intended as such

EDIT: also, just to re-iterate, i dont htink he is bad, i think he's very good, i watch his games often, and he's good, i just havnt been as impressed by him as i ever have by tyler huk or kiwi

On January 22 2011 02:55 shaunnn wrote:


Ok but i never argued that huk and tyler arnt top players, My point was that using factual data ie recent tournament results, naniwa is currently preforming as the 2nd best protoss outside of korea,

Then you said i was wrong "Dude... no ones says that he's bad, just not as good as those guys, and tbh, as far as Ra, Huk, Tyler and Kiwi are concerned, they are -all- better than him"

and these players are better than him because they have streams of them laddering beating top players which impresses you more than naniwa does, even though naniwa's ladder preformance is just as good if not better than theirs,

You must see your arguing from a personal opinion rather than actual facts and telling me im wrong even though you havent provided anything to back that claim

On January 22 2011 03:45 vdale wrote:
So your evidence is "tyler could also have taken the tournaments which naniwa won"? That's not an evidence. Your opinion (like every other on this topic) is subjective.

I also doubt that Tyler often beats players like ogsMC, fruitdealer, idra and jinro on ladder. I don't think that he plays against these players.

On January 22 2011 03:45 vdale wrote:
So your evidence is "tyler could also have taken the tournaments which naniwa won"? That's not an evidence. Your opinion (like every other on this topic) is subjective.

On January 22 2011 08:11 Talin wrote:


I would say Naniwa is better than Socke from that list mentioned above, and as much as it pains me to admit, possibly Tyler as well at this point. But you can't even compare him with Huk right now, Huk can destroy foreigners so hard right now if he brings his A game. White-Ra and Kiwi are in my opinion also better players overall.

And if we're talking about facts, rather than opinions, Naniwa hasn't done anything of note in any major tournaments. In fact Tyler has technically done better than him overall, not even to talk about the others on that list. He isn't even at the IEM Europe championship going on right now. His achievements of late are pretty much limited to TL Opens, and with all due respect it's essentially an online BO1/BO3 tournament with $200 prize pool.

On January 22 2011 08:11 Talin wrote:


I would say Naniwa is better than Socke from that list mentioned above, and as much as it pains me to admit, possibly Tyler as well at this point. But you can't even compare him with Huk right now, Huk can destroy foreigners so hard right now if he brings his A game. White-Ra and Kiwi are in my opinion also better players overall.

And if we're talking about facts, rather than opinions, Naniwa hasn't done anything of note in any major tournaments. In fact Tyler has technically done better than him overall, not even to talk about the others on that list. He isn't even at the IEM Europe championship going on right now. His achievements of late are pretty much limited to TL Opens, and with all due respect it's essentially an online BO1/BO3 tournament with $200 prize pool.

On January 21 2011 06:12 Seronei wrote:

Don't think Empire has the economy to send their players to tournaments, which is why it makes sense for the players to join bigger teams if they get the opportunity.

On January 22 2011 00:25 7pool wrote:


I have seen him play, couple of times. And I have yet to see him do something else than a standard 4gate, 4gate with 2 voidrays, 5gate or 3gate expand into 6gate.

On January 22 2011 01:13 Cel.erity wrote:


I know, they have underwhelming results because they're always using their 5 weakest players for CWs.

It's like saying Dignitas would have underwhelming results without Naniwa, Sjow, and Select. Hmmmmm....