Nick "Axslav" Ranish is a former Warcraft III player, notable for his random race selection and innovative strategy. He was well known in Warcraft III as a 2v2 player with partner Strifecro. He now plays 2v2 for team Evil Geniuses, still with Strifecro.
Axslav studied Computer Science at the University of California: Santa Cruz. He received his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from UCSC as well. His birthday is November 12, 1985. He is currently 26.
Nick placed 5th in Division 3 of the first season of NASL, placing above notable players such as DDE and HayprO. He is currently 7th in Division 2 of the second season of NASL.
In 2v2 history, Axslav and Strifecro have finished 3rd in the first season of Prodigy Team Star League, eventually succumbing to SeleCT and Optikzero. With the same line-up, they managed to take 3rd place again in season two of Prodigy Team Star League.
Axslav recently began streaming, his channel can be found above. He often does commentary on his play and takes several questions between games from chat. You can find VODs from his stream here. He also participates in many daily Playhem tournaments, notably winning the recent $100 dollar US daily.
Interviews
A recent interview with Axslav about his Warcraft III days and his current Starcraft II days! (text) ----
I've always liked Axslav a lot, and I once took a lesson from him and he was just an awesome awesome guy. He is my dark horse and I hope he shows his true potential sometime soon.
Hey, does anyone know of a current replay pack for him? I have been watching his play and would really like to learn from it, but unfortunatly i cannot find any replays
Ya it does. Guess i'll look into that. Trying to get dat silver contrib!
On the replay pack, someone asked him about it on stream but I don't think he said he would release them. I know he said he doesn't wanna release in house practice games for obvious reasons. I'll ask next time he streams and update you if he responds.
Anyone know how he did today in the rest of EU playhem? I had class after his first few series.
Okay, here's the plan. Axslav wins IEM NY, qualifies for the GOM Blizzard Cup and gets to go to Korea and play versus Nestea in December. Heard it here first.
Axslav is an amazing player, way more than most people think of him. He is winning games because of his deep understanding of the game, really amazing.
On October 06 2011 19:31 xtfftc wrote: Okay, here's the plan. Axslav wins IEM NY, qualifies for the GOM Blizzard Cup and gets to go to Korea and play versus Nestea in December. Heard it here first.
Loving the commentary lately as he plays during the NA/EU Playhem tournaments. Good skill, knowledge and a smooth speaker to the questions posted.
I think talking/commentary as you play ends up affording more viewers, even if its an offrace of the viewer. I check for his stream quite quickly when i log on TL.
This guys really deserves more viewers. Such a nice, mannered and genuine guy. Plus his stream is very informative and helpful. Been a supporter since w3, so sign me up in the list.
I really hope Axslav can progress, unfortunately, if he doesn't get first place in his pool it's likely that he'll run into IdrA in the quarterfinals
Edit: Oops, I read that completely wrong. It's if he wins his group that he runs into IdrA in the Qfinals (if they both pass Ro16). Here's to Axslav not winning his group!
On October 21 2011 22:36 Reivax wrote: I really hope Axslav can progress, unfortunately, if he doesn't get first place in his pool it's likely that he'll run into IdrA in the quarterfinals
Edit: Oops, I read that completely wrong. It's if he wins his group that he runs into IdrA in the Qfinals (if they both pass Ro16). Here's to Axslav not winning his group!
I heard they didnt let him play on 4:3 at eswc, because it would look bad on main screen if they switched to his perspective. Pretty dirty if thats true in my opinion, comfort is number1 priority at a LAN. gl axslav
If Nerchio wins against Strelok, Axslav has a pretty good chance of finishing second in their group because he won his match against Strelok. And Nerchio is 4:0 already but if he loses from Strelok, both of them would finish 4:1, so he wouldn't get first place.
Axslav did but then he lost 1-2 to Stephano apparently... I missed the games but getting a win vs Stephano and $1000 for finishing in the top 16 is a good performance.
Glad his stream has been getting a lot of viewers lately! Finally getting the viewer count he deserves! Keep it up dude. Hope to see you at the next MLG in good form.
Sign me up, his stream and PvP are awesome and I love them <3 Thanks for doing so much commentary on your stream Axslav; explained high level play has so much value! Also the q&a sessions with the chat are very informative.
really like his stream, became one of my favourite protoss streams. answers questions on stream (answered 2 of mine), and is forever explaining what he is doing. learnt a lot so far even as a diamond/master player i am.
i'm just loving his stream, been watching it non-stop past few days. he explains everything so clearly, i feel like i'm actually learning things watching him play. and calls his units guys <3
Hey Axslav fans, don't forget Nick's coming to Mountain View on the 18th to play at the regional Zerg Christmas 2011 - stop by and show him your support! Thanks!
On December 12 2011 04:46 0ceangam3r wrote: Hey Axslav fans, don't forget Nick's coming to Mountain View on the 18th to play at the regional Zerg Christmas 2011 - stop by and show him your support! Thanks!
Axslav placed 7th/8th at this tournament. A little disappointing, but it won't stop me from being a huge fan. His stream is great, he never stops explaining his actions. Sign me up!
I'm really impressed by this stream so far. He's walking us through everything . and answers all sorts of questions. I'm definitely going keep an eye on that one.
Hadn't had the opportunity to watch Axslav's stream prior to today, but it's top-notch stuff. Constant commentary while playing, and he's funny and humble. Great guy and player.
On January 19 2012 12:15 Thrax wrote: Looking at inControL's tweet - it sounds like Axslav found a new team? Looking forward to hear more.
Interesting. Maybe reIGN since they and spades parted ways? They have their team house after all.
I heard it might be CheckSix? Seems they have shown interest and potentially messaged him while he was streaming? If that's the case, I think it's pretty awesome - an up and coming team IMO.
Hey dude, glad you got a new team, always thought you were one of the most underrated playerz! And your pretty awesome to watch.......even tho i play zerg! .
Sign me up. I need to get in before this gets to double digit pages. Then I can tell my children I was there when the master of the universe was just beginning to show glimpses of his awesome godly power.
Too bad about reign. Must be rough having to find a new team so fast again. But i think you proved yourself with the mlg qualifier, and any team that doesnt pick you up at their first chance is missing out!
Hey just want to cheer you on man... get a new team and go on kicking ass! After reading big parts of the Reign thread you seem to have become quite popular... go on and wield that star power!
Ax really did well in the MLG qualifier. A lot of good players that didn't make it. As well EG was shut out. With even a decent result at the Arena he could really get some buz in 2012.
Good luck against viOLet in your upcoming match. iNcontroL told us on SotG that you don't have the best history vs him, here's to hoping you get revenge!
Btw really love your ladder commentary, I love to listen to it even though i play Zerg, you are a really good teacher while you stream.
Anyone want to discuss which team will pick him up? I really want Empire to get him, they're lacking on the protoss side and a strong P like axslav will bolster their roster even more. That would be so sick.
liquid axslav would be really cool they only have hero and nony, nony hasn really been playing well so really only nony, however if they have the budget for him having two koreans i doubt, i can see him going to a team like vile. lol him and grubby should make there own team!
Didn't turn out the way we all wanted but you still gave us great games and put up a damn good fight. Still got another set of matches and still cheering for you.
Were great games, I think in both losses Axslav lost some gates and didn't replace them fast enough. In both game 2 and 3 there was a major engagement with at the end Axslav floating 1500+ resources while Violet's bank was empty
Nick is one step to enter MLG Winter Championship bracket! He just needs to beat Minigun on the final round of losers bracket! Gogogo Nick!!! Im cheering for you!
So we know that he played in the MLG qualifiers yesterday and, according to sc2ranks.com, he played 10 games on MLG maps and only lost one so... grats Axslav?
Could someone with access to the US server get some more details about this?
So we know that he played in the MLG qualifiers yesterday and, according to sc2ranks.com, he played 10 games on MLG maps and only lost one so... grats Axslav?
Could someone with access to the US server get some more details about this?
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/387860/1/iSAxslav/matches shows the win/loss but the cloaked maps you can't see the results of in game, or atleast I don't know how you'd see their results in game just comes up with an error.
I'll be updating his Liquipedia page as soon as the tournament ends (assuming I don't fall asleep by then). Anyone can feel free to take a look at the changes and correct anything if needed since I'm not an expert at this ;P
He's streaming again! Here's the vod from yesterday: http://www.twitch.tv/axslav/b/322242784 There's an involuntary BO7 on ladder with idra starting at 48min. Should be streaming again today.
Most under watched player in the whole sc2 scene. i have learned a lot from you mr dude axslav. keep it up and i hope more viewers will come because they are surely missing out!!!!!!! luv u no homo
Is there any way to get axslavs mlg replays yet? They only have two games casted on the mlg website and they no longer release replays. They said they will release replay packs to "selected casters" though. Maybe we can go bug some potentially selected casters to get them to release those games.
I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
If anything else wondered where you could find that esea tournament he played yesterday, here's the vod: twitch.tv/samsc2/b/324813634 Starts at 17:30 Axslav only plays in the first two games there, and then the vod repeats itself about half way through.
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
Yes Eg did Axslav said it himself on his stream and regin got him on his team like a week or 2 later so if he did get a better offer he would have joined reign like the next day
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
Yes Eg did Axslav said it himself on his stream and regin got him on his team like a week or 2 later so if he did get a better offer he would have joined reign like the next day
I can confirm this, Axslav has stated several times that he was removed from EG.
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
Yes Eg did Axslav said it himself on his stream and regin got him on his team like a week or 2 later so if he did get a better offer he would have joined reign like the next day
I can confirm this, Axslav has stated several times that he was removed from EG.
By removed you mean not resigned. there is a significant difference.
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
Yes Eg did Axslav said it himself on his stream and regin got him on his team like a week or 2 later so if he did get a better offer he would have joined reign like the next day
I can confirm this, Axslav has stated several times that he was removed from EG.
By removed you mean not resigned. there is a significant difference.
Please elaborate the difference...he didn't renew his contact, essentially EG didn't want him any more, it doesn't matter how you spin it, it's the same result. So I suppose the point is that it wasn't Axslav's decision to leave team EG, but anyway.
On July 14 2012 09:16 MisterFred wrote: I was hearing Axslav in the background on Machine's stream the other day. Is he renting a room in the EG house or something? If so, sounds like a pretty good deal for both Axslav & EG (good practice environment).
Axslav was part of EG for a long time I'm sure they always have room open for him.
Dont ferget EG kicked him off the team so there must have been a good reason so I dont think they will want him back
EG didn't "kick" him. He got a better offer and chose to take it.
Yes Eg did Axslav said it himself on his stream and regin got him on his team like a week or 2 later so if he did get a better offer he would have joined reign like the next day
I can confirm this, Axslav has stated several times that he was removed from EG.
By removed you mean not resigned. there is a significant difference.
Please elaborate the difference...he didn't renew his contact, essentially EG didn't want him any more, it doesn't matter how you spin it, it's the same result. So I suppose the point is that it wasn't Axslav's decision to leave team EG, but anyway.
Not deciding to re sign a contract means that after a contract expires you decide not to enter a new one.
Firing or removing someone means that you decide to end the relationship eventhough the contract is still running. You only do this in severe cases where the damage from not removing the person will be higher then the damage that you incur because you are terminating the contract prior to it's expiration.
Especially in e-sports (because the average contract time is very short, longest contracts I have seen are those for one year) people having their running contract terminated is something that happens very rarerly, the only event I can recall is Orb with EG. You could say that Destiny also fell in that category although his situation (at least to the outside) looked a lot more like a decision that was made in agreement between two parties; not one pulling rank and termination the other one.
I agree! I came here just to say how good he looks in this MLG analysis segment! Very suave dude. Also great commentary and personality but that is to be expected because I watch your stream. Good job!
Wow Axslav your looking neat man, also loving this Analysis after the game with him and the insight he provides. Brilliant decision by MLG to grab him and i hope to see more of him at future MLG events
Really impressive stuff from Axslav. I think he should do these segments solo, his analysis has so much more depth than anybody else there that others just look silly trying to contribute. Even Artosis was somewhat speechless beside him. A great segment
On July 22 2012 05:57 Fluffboll wrote: Love watching you stream, and your analysis during this MLG Arena is just spot on. How do you manage to be this awesome?
Just wanna say I got a chance to play with Nick at some random play-a-pro thingy this weekend at MLG, and chat with him a bit while playing, he is just about the nicest guy there is. Total class act, with a great attitude about the game
Congratz Axslav on qualifying for the ESWC NA champs, that was a hard as hell bracket to get through. didnt want that to go unnoticed. and GL at pax Prime
They said he's going to be co-casting on IPL for something, but I couldn't find any details. Anyone know when he's going to be on? And has anyone seen any vods of him doing analyses for MLG yet?
On September 11 2012 18:37 StaraCroft wrote: They said he's going to be co-casting on IPL for something, but I couldn't find any details. Anyone know when he's going to be on? And has anyone seen any vods of him doing analyses for MLG yet?
Casting with Kevin Knocke for IPTL Liquid vs. EG right now! sounds really good so far. His analysis is spot on.
He is such a great commentator and strategist, he doesnt even cast very often and he does it so much better than nearly all of them... its amazing and i fckin luv to listen to his casts :-) He is such a great addition to any team out there, it's just sad his hands aren't as fast as his mind thinks :-7
Nevermind, if he cant become a great pro gamer he will definitely become a very rich caster or coach some day. Sorry Artosis, i know u do your homework but Axslav is actually a greater analytical mind than u are ^^ both of u are great but i see axslav ahead of you :D
I remeber this MLG thing where he always had that Tactical-Board part, he stole the show on that replay analytics, even the Casting-Archon was speechless :D :D :D
Should become a full time caster. Hes very good at it; and would only get better with practice. His experience at high level play would give him an edge over a lot of casters, and im pretty sure in the long run it would be better financially for him. Its also alot less volatile.. and more of a secure income.
Right now is the perfect time to make the switch to casting; a lot of opportunities and not enough quality casters for the amount of openings there is in the area.
Make the best decision of your life and become artosis number 2. With kespa and alot of bw players switching over; HOTS is gonna be even harder for a foreigner to earn good money playing.
Looking forward to your casting at MLG! Hope you still find time to stream occasionally though, and that your level of play doesn't fall too much from focusing on casting!
I just baught the HD-Pass-MVP thing because of YOU sir. Always a pleasure to see you casting and analyze games so i thought 9,99 $ for supporting you isn't too much and i'm getting 5 weeks of content in exchange so i think we both profit from it :-)
Keep what up the good work because you fckin rock! =)
Doing a great job tonight again. Can't help myself but it really seems like you have some TV experience.. you always have that classy look of a routined tv sports-commentator/analyst. Kinda strange to describe but the role really fits you well Ax =) was definitely worth to purchase that pass.. best commentary out there (And yes, even better than tastosis :-P )
Sign me up! I should have done this a while ago when I would occasionally watch his stream. Even back then the reason I watched was because of the analytical commentating. Oh and you made me actually laugh out loud. I just saw the VOD of the MvP day 2, Idra vs Flash; Axeltoss says "last night we ended with flash and today we begin with him" and you uttered "the end and the beginning" haha
Anyway keep up the good work, you are RAPIDLY getting to the Artosis/Apollo level
Fanclub should be updated in the next few hours, just created new content for the frontpage to make it look cooler :-) hope "Engor" is fast editing the post, just send him a PM with the links to the stuff. Axslav deserves something better i think ;-)
Sorry for the couple weeks downtime on the stream. Have my comp setup at the office now and I'll start streaming before work every weekday (12:30-2:30 est roughly). Today's streaming going to be a bit late configuring xsplit atm. Thanks for your support and feel free to leave advice/criticisms here as well. -Nick
On October 02 2012 01:40 iS.Axslav wrote: Sorry for the couple weeks downtime on the stream. Have my comp setup at the office now and I'll start streaming before work every weekday (12:30-2:30 est roughly). Today's streaming going to be a bit late configuring xsplit atm. Thanks for your support and feel free to leave advice/criticisms here as well. -Nick
I feel like you pretty much do everything perfectly to be honest. As said before you are such a classy caster and analyst, it's really great to watch you casts. You make a way more professional impression on set than most of the other casters in the scene. You have that ESPN thing i can't describe xD it's just great... :-) keep up the good work.
Oh well, one minor thing maybe: You do a great job allways looking into the camera but i feel like when you discuss something with Axeltoss or let's say when you explain something to him, you continue to watch into the camera, i think that's the moment where you would be allowed to directly watch at him.. but as said before, it's such a minor thing it doesn't even bother me. You really do a great job. I deffinitely see you at the very top tier of casters
Don't know if you read what i wrote but you really did a perfect job about what i said after the first set of games :-) might be a coincident ^^ so with that little thing removed you pretty much do a PERFECT casting job!
On October 10 2012 04:12 ElephantBaby wrote: Axslav is the 2nd best English caster ever, after Artosis, this comes from a guy playing and watching starcraft over 10 years.
Really impressed by your casting in MvP tournament.
I would go that far and say he is an even better caster with even more potential ;-)
On October 10 2012 04:12 ElephantBaby wrote: Axslav is the 2nd best English caster ever, after Artosis, this comes from a guy playing and watching starcraft over 10 years.
Really impressed by your casting in MvP tournament.
Yeah it's been great to hear Axslav's casting. Definitely one of the top casters for me, looking forward to more!
EPT![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/2/26/Axslav.jpg)
Axslav
Axslav![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/1/10/Gold.png)
compLexity's "The V" Showmatch #4![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/0/0b/Silver.png)
compLexity's "The V" Showmatch #6![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/1/12/Copper.png)
IGN ProLeague Season 1
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i want this man for President or at least the new Governor of California.
