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How the Cards Have Fallen

Forum Index > Final Edits
59 CommentsPost a Reply
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How the Cards Have Fallen

Text byColbi
December 25th, 2008 14:11 GMT
[image loading]

A deck of cards [is] built like the purest of hierarchies, with every card a master to those below it, a lackey to those above it.” – Ely Culbertson


How the Cards Have Fallen – The Rise and Fall of Non-Korean Sponsored Starcraft Teams
By Colbi
Teamliquid: Final Edits

Many multi-gaming organizations large and small have taken a crack at the Starcraft market at some point in time. They all had a lot in common, the creative banner, sleek website, and the backing of many so-called sponsors. They drew in the fans and picked up the players they wanted, some spitting the same old jargon they have used forever when searching for new talent. Gear, travel expenses, and salaries were sometimes promised, but not always handed out. The ones that did follow through on their promises, however, seem to still be around today.

The year of 2005 would change the community forever, particularly during the summer months. Before this time, a team that was supported with finances and hardware was a rarity. However, this year would change it all. Organizations like MYM and TmG were forming teams and famous teams of the past like the ToT were trying out a name reminiscent to many of us called pG. As some of you may recall though, that didn’t last long. It now seemed as though we were entering into a new era of Starcraft hierarchies (teams) all with similar goals, but all having different strengths.

The Question
The trend of sponsored teams was simply the norm in other games big-name games like Counter-Strike and Warcraft III, but for competitive Starcraft outside of Korea this was something new. This newfound interest in Starcraft was a boost in the morale of the community. Now, players were motivated to practice with hopes of possibly securing a spot on one of the sponsored teams.

Why were sponsors now so interested in Starcraft? The game had been out for many years already. Why were they so late to catch on? Did they know something that we didn’t? Was Starcraft II under development? Some say yes. Many of these questions are truly tough to answer without digging deeper into the heads of the team owners and administrators.

Dabbling in team management in the past and writing, I was in frequent contact with many owners of these organizations. Not being shy to ask how they managed their teams, I was interested in learning about how exactly they functioned on a day-to-day basis.

On several occasions my own curiosity got the best of me and I just had to ask these individuals their thoughts on Starcraft. Some knew of its success in South Korea, but failed to realize that people still played it around the globe. Others were familiar with its community, but had no intention in sharing any part of their cooperate pie. The remaining percentage decided to find Starcraft a place in their organizations…at least for awhile anyway.

The Beginning
To truly get an idea about why owners of multi-gaming organizations were so interested in Starcraft I chose to first direct my attention to one of the oldest sponsored teams. That team is Revolution Sports Gaming or rS as you might know them better. This North American-based team was successful in helping to produce some of the best American and Canadian talent even to this day. They were formed during a time when the Korean professional scene was beginning to springboard into a cultural phenomenon.

[image loading]

For the owners and administrators back in the states, this was one of the first games they played competitively. It seemed only necessary to dedicate a division in their organization to represent their first love in gaming. Unfortunately, sponsors outside of Asia were not so interested in supporting the game of Starcraft, but instead were more concerned about the events that it was involved in.

”North American based sponsors are not attracted to Starcraft based divisions at all. However, the events that Starcraft and such similar titles take part in, are,” said Adam “Killa” Bracken, owner of rSports. “So when you talk about events such as WCG, ESWC and the perhaps return of CPL sponsors really do listen.”

Even when the game began to catch on in popularity it was by no means just eye candy with a simple plot. The gameplay is what shined in Starcraft, involving three unique and balanced races. Without the stellar gameplay and the spirit of competition, the scene would have failed to take off.

The other important part of the competitive scene that caught on after awhile was the birth of teams or clans. While there are many unsponsored teams, we will only discuss the sponsored ones for the sake of this article.

When a sponsored Starcraft team is formed, it is because of two distinctive reasons:

To Conquer a Country
Multi-gaming organizations based in one particular country sought to not only have a foothold in one or two games, but everything they could. They formed squads for all different gaming genres, and filled them with the best local players they could find, or buy. In turn, these players would travel to every local event in hopes of trouncing their competition, making their organization look good and keeping sponsors happy. If they’re really good, new sponsors might take notice. This is a relatively inexpensive venture and perhaps the least difficult way to gain sponsors.

A few examples of teams formed with local players are aAa, BVG, NaW, and x6tence. While these teams, to some extent did well internationally, their main goal was to dominate in their own respective country.

”The main aim of aAa will be to be efficient in its own country,” said Julien “ResT” Sanchez during his teams announcement. “With such a line-up, we will have to win everything in France.”

With a squad full of talented players, aAa was looking to become the next major threat to the European Starcraft scene. With big promises and an even bigger reputation the players initially appeared motivated. However, as Pierre “SarenS” Guivarch noted the excitement didn’t last too long and the team eventually fell into inactivity thus causing him to do the same. Without an active roster, the team was destined to fail.

”I felt that the team would die soon. And time confirmed this,” Pierre “SarenS” Guivarch told GosuGamers.

The Spanish multi-gaming powerhouse x6tence backed by the likes of AMD and ATI at the time, had a very similar model. The only real difference was they wanted to become the first professional team from Spain and with their backing, it was certainly possible.

”x6tence e-Sports Club is a corporation and we could say that it's the first Professional Team in Spain,” said Alberto “Ozmita” Martinez, leader of x6tence to GosuGamers. “In a future if all is done as we hope, we will be like a Korean Professional Team.”

Unfortunately for them, the team never quite reached their goal. They actually only stayed together as a team for around one year. Surprisingly, they lasted much longer than many of those in their category that came before them.

Past failures have shown that sponsored teams made up of players from one or two countries generally do not last very long. RoX comes to mind as a possible exception.

It is interesting to note, while a majority of these sponsored teams gained their funding through the successes in their other games, there are a few exceptions. To keep the team active and functioning properly, NaW and ToT extended their recruiting limits outside the country where their sponsors are based. This was a move that paid off in the long run. Both teams are part of the rare few who were able to secure such sponsors as Qpad and Razer with their Starcraft division alone, for the most part.

Out of all of the organization based outside of Asia, the Germans possess a strong passion for Starcraft. While not all of their teams lasted long, they did have a lot of them. Teams like pG, ToT, mTw, DkH, SSV Lehnitz, and faculty are among those who tested the Starcraft waters. Some have even gone down in the books as the most successful ever in the community.

To Conquer the World
Some other teams had a much broader, long term plan. The more common route teams seem to take partially due to it being easier to re-equip your roster with new talent whenever needed. They will recruit anyone with the skill and attitude to fit into their squad without discriminating by nationality. MYM and ToT are two that fit this example. To a lesser extent, former teams Excello and TeamPlay.it also match this criterion.

[image loading]

All of their main goals were the same; they wanted to be the best non-Korean team. Even to this day though, both teams are still jockeying back and forth for the title of who is the best. As a matter of fact, both of these teams have currently met eighteen times with ToT winning eleven of those encounters.

For years, ToT has remained the highest pinnacle in the non-Korean scene. Their frequent success in leagues, tournaments, and against Korean professional gamers has made playing for them an honor. Being invited to such a team met that your skills were on-par with the best of the foreigner community. However, recently the team has been under fire for lowering their standards when recruiting.

”MYM will now continue and lead Starcraft and e-sports into new dimensions,” said MYM management during their official announcement.

You have to give the Danish-based organization credit for keeping their word. Throughout all of the comings and goings of players, they have stuck to the community instead of jumping ship like many teams have when things were looking down. In return, their players have brought them a massive amount of achievements.

The Future
Throughout my research, I remembering looking back at post made back in the olden days and seeing people talking about when Starcraft would die off. Little did they their era in which they were competing was just the beginning of a game that arguably has yet to reach its pinnacle of success.

[image loading]

We of course all know that Starcraft II is on the horizon, but are left with wondering when it is actually going to be released. Are sponsors and tournaments going to catch on? I believe so. Sponsors are already interested and I know for a fact that several major multi-gaming organizations will be jumping on the Starcraft II bandwagon that haven’t had anything to do with Starcraft in the past.

” Jumping on the bandwagon early does more good then anything as it will have a cause and effect reaction to other teams that compete,” Killa said. “The other advantages are that of players, first teams to commit will get their pick of the litter.”

Teams like fnatic and mTw.AMD, both multi-gaming powerhouses, have caught the Starcraft bug early and if all works out will continue the transition into SC2. From the looks of it, MYM will continue down the path in preparing for an SC2 team. With their money along with talented player pool made up of Starcraft and Warcraft III players there is no doubt they will be off to a strong start. It is only a matter a matter of time before we might witness an SK, Dignitas, or Pandemic tag on iCCup.

”The top teams around the world have an ability to "make or break" a title by their support,” he adds.

It will be up to these teams and their sponsor to make the decision of whether or not it will be a hit. Sure, selling the game to millions of fans is important, but if teams are not formed the sponsors have no way to market their products. It is more than likely we will see more sponsored teams come and go with Starcraft II. However, this time around hopefully fewer cards will fall.
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Editor-in-Chief for Team EG - http://www.twitter.com/LColbi
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
December 25 2008 20:30 GMT
#2
excellent article about a topic that we don't talk about often on TL
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
December 25 2008 20:39 GMT
#3
Very nice article. SC2 will - as we all know - really turn everything upside down
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
JWD
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States12607 Posts
December 25 2008 20:43 GMT
#4
Loved the timeline. Very informative, nicely done Colbi!
✌
GogoKodo
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
Canada1785 Posts
December 25 2008 21:00 GMT
#5
Very nice, I especially appreciate the timeline. I've never really followed non-korean starcraft except at the very beginning when I would read battle reports all the time.
twitter: @terrancem
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
December 25 2008 21:05 GMT
#6
Very interesting, cool stuff
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
GearitUP
Profile Joined November 2008
United States337 Posts
December 25 2008 21:09 GMT
#7
Wow awesome post, makes me reminice of the time when Rekrul ,Elky, and Froz were owning it up pretty much everywhere on west. :'( the good ol days
Own<Owned<Ownt<Pwn<Pwned<PwnT< YOU NEWB!
LemOn
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
United Kingdom8629 Posts
December 25 2008 21:17 GMT
#8
What about CDS), the Czech-Only clan that was sponsored first by some companies outside of the industry, and later by Progamers, the czech form that controls progaming in the country.

Founded in 2001, they started to have sponsors and pay players LAN expenses in 2004, only to die off in late 2007 because the Czech bw scene died off.
Much is the father figure that I miss in my life. Go Daddy! DoC.LemOn, LemOn[5thF]
InfeSteD
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States4658 Posts
December 25 2008 21:20 GMT
#9
I love the article lots of new cool topics in december ^_^

Merry X-mas!
w/e
cRaZypYRo
Profile Joined August 2007
Germany191 Posts
December 25 2008 21:24 GMT
#10
nice write up!
Not_Computer
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Canada2277 Posts
December 25 2008 21:26 GMT
#11
Great article! Great read and very informative graphs. There's a lot I still don't know so posts/topics like these help fill me in on all that I've been missing out on. It's a shame that SC hasn't been very successful outside of korea, but as those before me said, SC2 will change things.
"Jaedong hyung better be ready. I'm going to order the most expensive dinner in Korea."
The.Crow
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
619 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-25 21:33:45
December 25 2008 21:32 GMT
#12
Nice write up and great that TL.net posted it! (p.s.: u don't work for gotfrag anymore?)

I think we should also think about what sponsored team means. Teams like NaW don't receive any money but only hardware, that is different with for example mTw or MYM, since some players are paid here.

Also a team like BOSS was not sponsored by a real sponsor but by cash that was paid by a private person and I still don't know were is the sense in that, I also doubt in were sponsors see the sense in sponsoring teams.

I can speak at least for MYM that it is fact that our sales people don't go out and sell the StarCraft team. Means, they can't attract any sponsor with them.

When I asked Maik Brodowski, the former Sales and Media Manager of ESNation, the company that owns a couple of eSports pages and also the team MYM, why teams outside Korea still have a StarCraft team, he couldn't give me a straight answer. For him one major aspect if he wants to attract a new sponsor is to show the offline performance of the players he wants to 'sell'. At offline events pictures and videos are taken, at offline events the big prize money is given out, but where are the offline events for StarCraft outside Korea? Next to WCG National Qualifiers and the finals there is maybe no other event that really is interesting to the sponsors and that really attracts the big players and visitors from all over the world. Having a StarCraft team to present it at only one or two events?

The money they get and the hardware is cut from deals that are there due to CS or WC3 players. If you look at the new teams that came up this year, it might be the same: mTw (have a world class wc3 team), fnatic (top cs team), Excello (had some cs team that was 'ok'). RoX? I doubt they have a real sponsor.

If we move outside Asia (let us leave China out of this discussion) and take a look at Europe we have right now two major problems: The first thing is that the RTS community lacks, compared to the FPS community, a strong and large fan base. Games like Counter-Strike always had much more fans. More and more people were interested to buy the gear and mousepads their idols used. Would have companies like SteelSeries or Razer been able to become what they are and invest those huge amounts of money in eSports without FPS games? I am not sure! I won't say that RTS is not an interesting genre for the sponsors, but if you can attract a possible audience of 65 000 people on Steam that play Counter-Strike 1.6 at the same time and 'only' 20 000 people that play StarCraft at the same time on Battle.net, the teams of which game would you choose to sponsor?

And we also miss the "superstars" in Europe.

Where are all those heroes like Elky, Grrr and co. that made people like me and you to buy StarCraft. Without them you won't attract sponsors, without them you won't make new people start playing StarCraft, without them you cannot get people to your community page, without them you can't make people read StarCraft news, without them it doesn't make sense to create merchandise. What would football be if you put all the Ronaldos, Beckhams and Ballacks away? It would be like in StarCraft, the hardcore fans watch it, but the huge audience cannot be attrackted.

So all in all, where is the sense for teams like Excello, RoX or MYM to have a StarCraft team? Those teams are in fact companies that have to make money with what they do.

The only answer for me is the SC2 factor. But that is a huge risk... and teams like SK, MYM, fnatic, mTw and Co don't need to build players up, if they want the best, they just buy them... those teams did the same within the last years, only a very few new talents grew up within MYM or within SK.

Having a StarCraft team in 2008 to be ready for StarCraft 2 (mTw, fnatic), or to have it because you are in love with the game (RoX, Excello, ToT), no matter if you can make profit out of it buisness wise?

I hate to be so negative, but I don't see many reasons to spend money for a SC team in 2008. Yes, individual players are worth, but not a whole team. The WarCraft 3 scene is going the same trend right now. Teams like SK, mTw and MYM may disband their teams in January and keep only 1-2 'stars.
Comeh
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States18918 Posts
December 25 2008 21:34 GMT
#13
God, what I would give for starcraft to be like in euro/america like cs 1.6 or halo is...
Amazing article, a great christmas present :D!
ヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノDELETE ICEFROGヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(⌐■_■)ノヽ(
ZerGuy
Profile Joined June 2008
Poland204 Posts
December 25 2008 21:50 GMT
#14
Where are MgZ?
Someday ill be pro
zoLo
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States5896 Posts
December 25 2008 21:55 GMT
#15
On December 26 2008 06:34 Comeh wrote:
God, what I would give for starcraft to be like in euro/america like cs 1.6 or halo is...
Amazing article, a great christmas present :D!


Yup... but it'll be hard to tell because of the financial crisis we are going through. Just recently, NVIDIA stopped being ESWC's sponsor because of it.
s.a.y
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
Croatia3840 Posts
December 25 2008 22:45 GMT
#16
a good article, but not great. it misses conclusions like The.Crow added.

i've been following the CS,Q3,UT ( ut2k4 & ut3 ) series and the start is that the game must be very popular between the noobs and have good multiplayer. Q3 failed because the community splited, UT3 was just trash out of the box, CS was perfect.

i hope sc2 will be also good for a large community, then sponsors will invest money into competitive play.

go fnatic !
I am not good with quotes
emucxg
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
Finland4559 Posts
December 25 2008 23:11 GMT
#17
nice artical, thanks

and also, thanks to The.Crow =)
Roxen000
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
1226 Posts
December 25 2008 23:21 GMT
#18
Awesome stuff.
._.
Makhno
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Sweden585 Posts
December 25 2008 23:31 GMT
#19
Great article, and a very interesting post by the Crow. I really hope SCII picks the whole E-sports scene up and just shakes the dust of it, makes it new.
"If I think, everything is lost"
EGMachine
Profile Blog Joined February 2006
United States1643 Posts
December 26 2008 00:03 GMT
#20
colbi is amazing jesus, alot of hard work was put into this!
I'm like, the coolest
Senx
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Sweden5901 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-26 00:34:45
December 26 2008 00:10 GMT
#21
There are so many pieces that needs to fall in place for SC2 to be successfull in Europe/NA.
Here are a few pointers that NEEDS to work out well in order for SC2 to succeed in my opinion;

1. A great e-sport game(good spectator game, skillbased and action-packed). (pre-check)

2. ex Warcraft 3 / Starcraft playerbase merging upon SC2. (pre-check)

3. Major multigaming organizations picking up SC2 (MyM is a safe bet, fnatic probably too. SK, i'm not so sure yet. They do play a huge role in the foreign scene, if SK signs a SC2 team we can expect a HUGE impact on the foreign scene in terms of a larger fanbase, additional sponsors, more professionalism, MAJOR incentive for foreigners to practice and get a spot in the worlds most famous e-sport organization, aswell as added competition to the existing teams.)

4. Lots of offline tournaments. (Hard to predict, but if major organization pick up teams, the tournamens should follow )

5. Coverage (No way to predict this either, will a "professional" foreign SC-site step up to the plate on SC2 if point 3-4 are true? Lets hope so. My hope is that GG.net improves alot or that TL.net takes on the foreign scene )

I have my fingers crossed for the foreign scene next year.. assuming SC2 is released then of course. I really like the korean scene, but its just so distant in many ways that its hard to relate to and really get up "close" with the teams and players and understand what is going.
A professional foreign scene is much needed imo.

"trash micro but win - its marine" MC commentary during HSC 4
Physician *
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
United States4146 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-26 01:29:58
December 26 2008 01:12 GMT
#22
Colbi is one of the constant positive forces in the StarCraft community (for years) and he is a great guy.

And yes, it's a pity that non-Korean StarCraft never quite made it beyond the amateur scene. In sports one really does need the best to run the show. It's a pity Korean StarCraft e-Sports economic incentives came too late for the rest for the rest of the world when we had a fan based that meant something. I guess we should count our blessing that it happened.

There were attempts outside but it never quite just got there, not with enough money to be self-sustaining. I really think the main message of this article is in the last sentence - this time around hopefully fewer cards will fall. Those of us left have a baggage of past experiences, failures included, in our favor. But I really believe there is one even more important point that does not depend on us, the business or e-Sports ventures at all but rather only Blizzard.

The best thing that can happen to the StarCraft e-Sport community, and thus Starcraft II itself, is that the skills Brood War pro-gamers have acquired all these years, can be carried over to StarCraft II. I once wrote when StarCraft II was first revealed:

"So what now? Time will tell. Only the strong succeed and the weak wilt away. It is hard to get good at Brood War, many of us have put countless of hours trying to improve however this new StarCraft II promises no continuity. We can not carry our skill over that easily now. That has been our greatest fear, the break in continuity."

If they are to succeed in a way that truly uplifts Blizzard game related e-Sports to a higher level than we see today, that break in continuity, needs to be minimized as much as possible.
I have no doubt that games will be sold, clans will be born and sponsors will come. I have no doubt that this round many of us do things more efficiently but if Blizzard can achieve continuity we will see so much more.

"I have beheld the births of negative-suns and borne witness to the entropy of entire realities...."
HoRRoR.T-ScT-
Profile Joined March 2007
Germany51 Posts
December 26 2008 01:21 GMT
#23
Great article!
Colbi
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States535 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-26 01:29:22
December 26 2008 01:28 GMT
#24
I appreciate all of the positive feedback!

The.Crow makes many great points in his post and I appreciate him shedding a little more light in regards to what does or doesn't interest sponsors.

As always Physician, another well-written post. I am not worried at all that SC2 will sell millions of copies and sponsors will catch on. I believe one of the only true questions is will SC2 be able to enjoy the same type of longevity that SC has?
Editor-in-Chief for Team EG - http://www.twitter.com/LColbi
Physician *
Profile Blog Joined January 2004
United States4146 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-26 01:33:48
December 26 2008 01:31 GMT
#25
I hear ya, I too shudder at the thought of a StarCraft 2 ending up like WarCraft 2..
"I have beheld the births of negative-suns and borne witness to the entropy of entire realities...."
sk`
Profile Joined November 2008
Japan442 Posts
December 26 2008 02:08 GMT
#26
As a team owner I can give some insight here.

When my group looks at divisions to pick up our first though is going to me on mindshare and how that will translate. My next though is on the maturity of the community and the maturity of the players themselves. The second point is such that winning alone won't always generate the desired effect. More than winning, if the players poorly represent themselves and your team, you're still in a hole. The other big issue with maturity is one that relates to CS more the SC, but still applies - few players really have the maturity to know exactly what's realistic. Only a tiny few teams can consider any monthly pay and even then that number will continue to shrink - sponsor dollars are becoming rarer and rarer. The fall of the CGS is going to make esports investment seem as an even riskier use of funds in the vastly drier economy of the peak.

The point of all that is players that act 12 or have unrealistic expectations are going to simply waste your time. In my view, any NA player should be thrilled with a team that's willing to cover *some* of their travel costs and back them up on entry fees and the like. A salary for a NA or even EU player in SC... just not realistic given the market. And of course the notion of hardware to play a game that's as aged as SC is equally silly.

I think every esports owner that looks at SC is looking at it with SC2 in mind. Right now SC1 isn't a global event so if you're not a team in Korea you're not a team in the market and more importantly, that market is closed to Korea only. So success with a Korean team would only translate to Korean mindshare... not a wise investment for a non-Korean organization. More importantly, the investment commitment would be beyond the wallets of every large EU or NA team (well beyond the NA scene).

But, there will be a period when SC2 is young that it will be a global game. This may continue long after as well - we see this with the much hated War3.

The other big issue with RTS investment is that players quickly become known by name more than team. This is why you see the Korean teams continue to prefer the team events over the solo. If your players are known more by name that your team it is effectively generating zero mindshare. And worst still, almost all players are extremely happy with being known by their name first and their team second. Unfortunately, much like esports itself, the players that compose it tend to have a very limited view and often lack maturity in their decision making.
www.pureesports.com
Colbi
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States535 Posts
December 26 2008 02:24 GMT
#27
Some very interesting insight. May I ask what team you own?
Editor-in-Chief for Team EG - http://www.twitter.com/LColbi
sk`
Profile Joined November 2008
Japan442 Posts
December 26 2008 02:30 GMT
#28
PM would be fine. More here to look around and I'm a fan of SC.
www.pureesports.com
Spenguin
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
Australia3316 Posts
December 26 2008 02:43 GMT
#29
Wow great stuff and well written on something rarely discussed on these boards. Very nice!!~~
< TeamLiquid CJ Entusman #46 > I came for the Brood War, I stayed for the people.
Raithed
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
China7078 Posts
December 26 2008 03:02 GMT
#30
wow ToT has been there forever.
boesthius
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States11637 Posts
December 26 2008 03:32 GMT
#31
--- Nuked ---
Nightmarjoo
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
United States3360 Posts
December 26 2008 06:07 GMT
#32
I loved the timeline, and great post all-over. I always see the big fancy newspost about new sponsored teams and then eagerly await to hear about how well they do, and the post just never seems to appear lol.
aka Lyra; My favourites: July, Stork, Draco, MistrZZZ, TheStc, LastShadow - www.broodwarmaps.net - for all your mapping needs; check my stream: high masters mech terran: twitch.tv/lyrathegreat
thedeadhaji *
Profile Blog Joined January 2006
39489 Posts
December 26 2008 08:54 GMT
#33
wow, just that one timeline graph makes my jaw drop
DoX.)
Profile Joined December 2008
Singapore6164 Posts
December 26 2008 09:31 GMT
#34
Great article! As many have said nice timeline
Sinedd
Profile Joined July 2008
Poland7052 Posts
December 26 2008 11:09 GMT
#35
MYM is the best multigaming team imho : they got a POWERFUL teams in SC , WC3 and CS ... i hope that other teams like ToT , SK and so on will make their own SC2 team too . That would be one step closer to a professional foreign SC2 scene great article ;]
T H C makes ppl happy
nataziel
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Australia1455 Posts
December 26 2008 11:56 GMT
#36
Yey for foreign starcraft, I just hope the scene for SCII will be even bigger
u gotta sk8
ilistis
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
United States828 Posts
December 26 2008 13:44 GMT
#37
Great read, I've been waiting for a Final Edit for quite some time. Glad to see its still going. :D
"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."-William Faulkner *_*_*_Kolll FAN_*_*_*
MuR)Ernu
Profile Joined September 2008
Finland768 Posts
December 26 2008 14:26 GMT
#38
On December 26 2008 07:45 s.a.y wrote:
a good article, but not great. it misses conclusions like The.Crow added.

i've been following the CS,Q3,UT ( ut2k4 & ut3 ) series and the start is that the game must be very popular between the noobs and have good multiplayer. Q3 failed because the community splited, UT3 was just trash out of the box, CS was perfect.

i hope sc2 will be also good for a large community, then sponsors will invest money into competitive play.

go fnatic !

I hope BW will be good, and i hope that sc2 will be crap.
Celial
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
2602 Posts
December 26 2008 15:36 GMT
#39
a nice article, but we go by the name mTw.AMD, not ATI
Do not regret. Always forward, never back.
EGLzGaMeR
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States1867 Posts
December 26 2008 18:24 GMT
#40
colbi sooooo gooood.. UhmAzing even! ^_^
[DUF]MethodMan
Profile Blog Joined September 2006
Germany1716 Posts
December 26 2008 18:40 GMT
#41
pG was just the coolest clan ever
Xenixx
Profile Joined June 2008
United States499 Posts
December 26 2008 21:34 GMT
#42
So nostalgic for me, reminds me when I used to play for pG., TAF, x.6, as someone said before seriously the good ole days of SC...
Oxygen
Profile Blog Joined November 2003
Canada3581 Posts
December 26 2008 22:38 GMT
#43
Very nicely done, sir. Great handling of depth: understandable for those who don't know the history, and interesting for those that do.
Dont drink and derive. TSL: Made with Balls.
iNfeRnaL *
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
Germany1908 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-27 02:45:01
December 27 2008 02:43 GMT
#44
Awesome post Lucas, even tho I would NOT consider ToT a sponsored team.
I was in it and there's literally no sponsorship at all imo.
Yea, they get some shirts and hardware once in a while, but you cannot really call that sponsored.
ToT is the ONLY one of the big dogs that never needed any money at all to be the Best of the Best, and imo that's also what separates them from others.
Shows that money isn't all. Team spirit f t w. And ofc shows how much of a great leader Mr Semke is.
iNfeRnaL *
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
Germany1908 Posts
December 27 2008 02:48 GMT
#45
Small correction: We have ATI as a sponsor but our tag is mTw.AMD cause AMD is the head sponsor.
Colbi
Profile Blog Joined August 2004
United States535 Posts
December 27 2008 03:57 GMT
#46
On December 27 2008 11:48 iNfeRnaL wrote:
Small correction: We have ATI as a sponsor but our tag is mTw.AMD cause AMD is the head sponsor.

Correction fixed I apologize for that. Thanks Pat!
Editor-in-Chief for Team EG - http://www.twitter.com/LColbi
kAra
Profile Joined September 2004
Germany1369 Posts
December 27 2008 14:00 GMT
#47
nice read
mada mada dane
Dromar
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States2145 Posts
December 27 2008 14:36 GMT
#48
On December 26 2008 05:30 Plexa wrote:
excellent article about a topic that we don't talk about often on TL


indeed.
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States42638 Posts
December 27 2008 22:17 GMT
#49
dignitas.apollo got C on icc a while ago. <3 Shaun.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
TYL
Profile Joined February 2008
Philippines116 Posts
December 28 2008 04:41 GMT
#50
nice article
a girl's smile is her best make up.
emperorchampion
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada9496 Posts
December 28 2008 05:49 GMT
#51
5/5, nice read.
TRUEESPORTS || your days as a respected member of team liquid are over
lwstupidus
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
United States74 Posts
Last Edited: 2008-12-28 06:07:59
December 28 2008 06:07 GMT
#52
Nice article.

On December 26 2008 11:24 Colbi wrote:
Some very interesting insight. May I ask what team you own?



But, there will be a period when SC2 is young that it will be a global game. This may continue long after as well - we see this with the much hated War3


Well, even though his name is SK, clearly not a team that supports War3. Probably a very mediocre US Counterstrike team.
a penne saved is a penne earned
Proposal
Profile Joined December 2007
United States1310 Posts
December 29 2008 04:22 GMT
#53
very informative.

i remember the good old pG days
iG.Zeep
Profile Joined May 2008
Mexico253 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-01-03 18:35:32
January 03 2009 14:37 GMT
#54
ToT didnt really get sponsors till 2006 =P (maybe late late '05?)

...and no mention of chobo fanatiC. T_T lol


Oh, and AMD no longer is the main/head sponsor for mTw........
T_T
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
-slo.m1ke-
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
Slovenia352 Posts
January 05 2009 01:00 GMT
#55
interesting read... reminds me of Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory in some way...
sk`
Profile Joined November 2008
Japan442 Posts
January 07 2009 01:36 GMT
#56
On December 28 2008 15:07 lwstupidus wrote:
Nice article.

Show nested quote +
On December 26 2008 11:24 Colbi wrote:
Some very interesting insight. May I ask what team you own?


Show nested quote +

But, there will be a period when SC2 is young that it will be a global game. This may continue long after as well - we see this with the much hated War3


Well, even though his name is SK, clearly not a team that supports War3. Probably a very mediocre US Counterstrike team.

We used to have a War3 division but I've released everyone due to maturity issues.

We currently have no CS division (again, released due to maturity issues). I'd say our biggest wins in 2008 were the Wimbley Stadium UT3 event (£30,000) and taking second at nVision 2008 in CoD4 (as well as several other major LAN wins there). Been around for over 3 years attending major LANs in the games we focus on (though again, almost no CS).

I don't really want to get into our team right now because I enjoy lurking more than anything else. There will certainly be a time when we'll be looking for new RTS players, but past maturity issues have made that a difficult point. Just an SC fan and also a team owner so I thought I'd share my view on the situation.

If players want their scene to grow they need to look more at what they can do for the team supporting them and less at what they should do for themselves. Especially in this era... sponsorship funding has really run dry in the states and is beginning to slow in EU and Asia.
www.pureesports.com
ambit!ous1
Profile Joined September 2007
United States3662 Posts
January 12 2009 03:27 GMT
#57
awesome write up! thanks.
Bisu[Shield] / ♔ SoYeon
tangerinewhite32
Profile Joined November 2007
China1 Post
February 20 2009 06:06 GMT
#58
Colbi,

I know it's early in the season, but could you write an opinions article on the new College Starleague? Do you foresee it taking off or fading out like these foreign teams?
Centric
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States1989 Posts
February 26 2009 22:36 GMT
#59
On February 20 2009 15:06 tangerinewhite32 wrote:
Colbi,

I know it's early in the season, but could you write an opinions article on the new College Starleague? Do you foresee it taking off or fading out like these foreign teams?

I'd like to hear Colbi's thoughts too, but I myself see the CSL as not being a long-term success. It's on a huge ass scale, with teams across the nation, with a lot of dependence on people willing to work and keep things organized without any real incentive (i.e. monies).
Super serious.
Boblion
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
France8043 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-03-15 14:02:52
March 15 2009 13:59 GMT
#60
Good article but you missed the:

BOSS --> xlo ---> then Bartar ( that was the name of their admin right ? ) retired. Excello found a new team ---> Mgz) ( which was around for a long time, even if it "died" somewhat during a period ) ----> Mgz) became Excello. but actually it was the Mgz) squad + Castro ( from xlo.). Strelok and Ra had already left xlo for Mym-

fuck all those elitists brb watching streams of elite players.
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