That's what he said alright.

Anyways, I know most of you will be disappointed hearing about this but eventually you'll understand. He's now going to be able to compete in tournaments he would have wanted to rather than being restricted to GSL's schedule. And it's not because of making money but overall the experience will possibly more fun and better for him. With Starcraft 2 blooming in the West and unannounced tournaments to still be announced, it's much better for him to be back in the west.

corpsepose

1678 Posts

February 16 2011 06:49 GMT

#4443

idra's move is perfectly logical, i don't get why people are questioning him. heres the way i see it - he has basically no feasible practice partners in korea and a comparatively lower chance of earning a lot of cash, whereas in america he has an entire team to train with, a huge domestic fanbase to draw support from, a much greater tie to the community, etc. etc. i can't picture him sitting alone in an apartment laddering in korea when he could take a role as one of the chief figureheads of western starcraft ii e-sports and participate avidly in nationwide tournaments. massive things are going to happen in the US w/ regards to sc2 this year and i think its a great move for him. i look forward to his accomplishments in the coming year(s)

AyameStarcraft

United Kingdom192 Posts

February 16 2011 06:52 GMT

#4444

I am deeply saddened about his move to the US. Now I only have two people to follow in GSL. NesTea and BoxeR.

Well IdrA I doubt you will get much better as quickly as you would by staying in Korea but you have a lot of easy wins to look forward to. GLHF.

SushilS

2115 Posts

February 16 2011 06:55 GMT

#4445

Man IdrA! What a copout! Laaaaame! And 0/5 to EG for going along with this... This is why Nazgul needs such major props for keeping the pros where they matter!

Demonace34

United States2493 Posts

February 16 2011 06:56 GMT

#4446

On February 16 2011 15:52 AyameStarcraft wrote:
I am deeply saddened about his move to the US. Now I only have two people to follow in GSL. NesTea and BoxeR.

Well IdrA I doubt you will get much better as quickly as you would by staying in Korea but you have a lot of easy wins to look forward to. GLHF.

He isn't looking for easy wins, he was actually having more problems finding practice partners living with tasteless. Now that he will be with Machine and the rest of the team with his korean knowledge and practice I'm sure he'll get better in NA as well. It sucks for him to rely on 1 tournament for his earnings, when he could spread out his chances to win over 5 tournaments a month

GenoZStriker

United States2914 Posts

February 16 2011 06:57 GMT

#4447

On February 16 2011 15:49 corpsepose wrote:
idra's move is perfectly logical, i don't get why people are questioning him. heres the way i see it - he has basically no feasible practice partners in korea and a comparatively lower chance of earning a lot of cash, whereas in america he has an entire team to train with, a huge domestic fanbase to draw support from, a much greater tie to the community, etc. etc. i can't picture him sitting alone in an apartment laddering in korea when he could take a role as one of the chief figureheads of western starcraft ii e-sports and participate avidly in nationwide tournaments. massive things are going to happen in the US w/ regards to sc2 this year and i think its a great move for him. i look forward to his accomplishments in the coming year(s)

He'll be able to compete in more tournaments now without having to worry too much about latency and also GSL schedule. He did not go to DreamHack because of GSL. Every MLG he's been to was because he lost in the GSL. So for EG it's always a "is he going to be able to make it or not" kind of scenario. Now there is no need to worry about that. He also said that he enjoys the MLG tournaments a lot. He has shown interest in competing in Stermy's $7,000 SC2 tournament despite it taking place the same time as MLG. But he's setting his sight on the scene outside of GSL for some time now which he seems to be really interested in.

Phenny

Australia1435 Posts

February 16 2011 06:59 GMT

#4448

On February 16 2011 15:55 SushilS wrote:
Man IdrA! What a copout! Laaaaame! And 0/5 to EG for going along with this... This is why Nazgul needs such major props for keeping the pros where they matter!

Why should he be obliged to stay in Korea? How is returning to America (be it for the possible new SC League or purely because he desires to do so) a copout?

uSnAmplified

United States1029 Posts

February 16 2011 07:10 GMT

#4449

Cant be serious, God forbid people try and advance sc2 outside of korea, hes been in korea with no practice partners competing in one tournament with a top heavy prize pool. Not to mention all the hints and teases pointing towards a NA starleague, this only adds more to the hype.

Glimred

China888 Posts

February 16 2011 07:21 GMT

#4450

I'm really sad about this, who am I going to cheer for in GSL now?

Sure I can just pick Nestea or whatever but, as anyone who follows other sports knows, a league/tourney doesn't even come close to the same level of excitement once "your" team/player is gone.

chickensmasher

Canada57 Posts

February 16 2011 08:21 GMT

#4451

Awesome. IdrA did well in Korea just by practicing by himself on ladder. With teammates he's going to be a beast.

Robstickle

Great Britain406 Posts

February 16 2011 08:23 GMT

#4452

I wonder how much this has to do with the new map pool. Obviously the new maps are good and all for the players with team mates to practice with and us as spectators but there's only so far he can go with just Ret to practice against.

ratMortar

Canada282 Posts

February 16 2011 08:26 GMT

#4453

I want IdrA to come back and dominate the western scene. Not because I like him, but just so he can shut all the haters up. I'm predicting he'll top the US ladder without much trouble.

Does anyone know if he'll be going to the IEM world championships?

cordlc

United States360 Posts

February 16 2011 08:49 GMT

#4454

So disappointed, for the short term at least. It's great we'll see plenty more of Idra in tournaments, but it really sucks it had to be now, with the GSL a week away. I was so looking forward to seeing Idra play in the new GSL maps, fighting it out with the best of the best in these huge macro battles... Now the GSL has lost my favorite player, oh well.

The move is understandable, of course, it's just a shame the region with the best players by far isn't supporting Starcraft 2 nearly enough. I honestly can't see the Team Liquid guys staying for all that much longer, with all that's happening in the west. If anything, we'll see more Koreans moving out to the big foreign tournaments.

I'm sure this'll probably be offset by the inControl announcement and the Idra/Jinro showmatch though, should be awesome.

edit: Also looking forward to seeing how badly he dominates the west, of course. Show them the level the top Koreans play at ~ !

Sindsygafnatur

Denmark265 Posts

February 16 2011 08:52 GMT

#4455

I can totally understand his decision.

It must be so downer to practice 12 hours a day in your small apartment all by yourself. Especially when everybody else our competing with are practicing with their team mates, getting to discuss strategies etc. and generally just hanging out with each other . IdrA said himself that he really missed talking strategies with his team mates, and that it was a very important aspect in getting better.

The second thing is, no matter how much he said it didn't bother him, all the shit he got on the korean ladder must be really hard to cope with for anyone in the long run. I don't care whether or not it's his own fault, all that cheesing, people making fun of him, trying to get him to bm so they can all laugh, and even stating publicly on TV (clide) that they are out to get him, must be hard and tiring for anyone. If you feel that hated and everyone is like "Dance monkey, dance! LOL!" every time you try to do your work, no wonder you wan't to try something else.

Of course, I don't know if this was the key factor behind his decision, I could just image it would be hard on even the most thick skinned people.

Tranqje

Belgium89 Posts

February 16 2011 09:01 GMT

#4456

It seems to me we'll get to see more Idra overall if he moves back, wich only is a good thing in my book

Lynskey

United Kingdom26 Posts

February 16 2011 09:08 GMT

#4457

Damn you the internet - this was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard the announcement

[image loading]

Tyree

1508 Posts

February 16 2011 09:19 GMT

#4458

I think his motivation and desire to win something big in Korea will eventually bring him back, but for the time being, going home and winning some moneyz and dancing akwardly to some Ke$ha songs at the club is probably the smartest option for Idra.

schimmetje

Netherlands1104 Posts

February 16 2011 09:37 GMT

#4459

I was disappoint about his departure from GSL, but the idea is kind of growing on me, hope it will work out.

MrBitter's stream was made even more awesome by IdrA's presence today btw, looking forward to the other two! "Yeah that's kind of nifty. And then you're going to die."

Copenap

723 Posts

February 16 2011 09:43 GMT

#4460

+ Show Spoiler +

On February 16 2011 18:08 Lynskey wrote:
Damn you the internet - this was the first thing that popped into my head when I heard the announcement

[image loading]

Then you obviously don't understand the meme -_-

Kind of disappointed eventhough it's absolutlt udnerstandable but it would have been nice to see him one last season.

The announcement to come really gotta be huge, can't wait for it.

But what's with this gsl group thing? Did they totally change them or what? Or is the "funny" part that Clide and Zenio will probably end up in a group with mvp and mc in the ro16 group?

Edit: Yep, I assumed correctly. Zenio and Clide get a free win and will probably meet mvp and mc in ro16.