Pro scene rumor mill - Page 23

On April 16 2015 06:46 Maluk wrote:
According to an Inven interview Korea still dominates chinese teams, EDG included. Knowing how Korean PR works I don't buy any of that though ; Deft and Pawn would instantly become national traitors if they dared to suggest that Korea might have weaknessses.

Reddit link (includes a translation).

I'm just leaving this here because there is so much bullshitting in the interview that I find it funny. You can't win a single game against GE ? Rofl.

On April 16 2015 07:24 Saradin wrote:
Well yea, these guys aren't dumb. In an interview by and for their compatriots, they're not going to say 'hey guys, we might have fallen behind that country which we've had a weird cultural relationship/rivalry for the past couple thousand years'. At least not without public, conclusive evidence like results at Worlds.

It'd be like a worse version of some highly regarded US players telling a MURICA type crowd 'uh, oh snap, fellas, we might've fallen behind those Europeans'. (or those filthy non-MURICANS, depending on how MURICA the crowd is)

Edit: So to lay it out explicitly here; whether China actually has pulled ahead of Korea or not is irrelevant here. In their position, you say that 'Korea's still the best' either because it's still true, or because while it may not necessarily be the case, you still want to cover your rear.
Know your audience, know what you're prioritizing, know to control your message.

On April 16 2015 07:43 Azarkon wrote:


The PR version of "China is ahead but we don't want to say it lest we offend our native audience is":

I think China is a lot stronger than before but I believe Korea still has what it takes to win S5. In our scrims we find that Korean teams are still very strong and they're going to be our hardest opponents for MSI and Worlds.

But instead they said:

Korea is still one level above China. Our scrim results suck vs. them. We haven't won any recent scrims.

Which is pretty concrete in terms of what it says. I figure EDG's PR team is on it, though, and is going to release a new statement soon.

On April 17 2015 06:37 BrownBear wrote:
Scrims are pretty meaningless to determine relative power, whether people consciously do it or not they play scrims differently than games that matter.

MSI will do some to determine relative region power, but really we're going to be waiting until Worlds to see if the Chinese import-everyone-good strategy paid off.