TL had MLG fever this weekend, and when the lights went off at Raleigh, our users posted over 8,500 times in half a dozen different threads. Intrigue and I were there live along with many TL users, and we all watched Huk defeat Kiwikaki in the finals with hundreds of cheering fans. For those that missed the action, here are the essential threads:
If you attended the event or watched it live on stream, leave some feedback about the casters Day, JP, HD, and Husky, or about the event overall. Additionally, JoshSuth did some great independent coverage – check out his not-so-live blog part 1 and his photo gallery. You will be able to watch the VODs in a few days and replays when MLG chooses to release them. Replays will be released, do not worry.
MLG and StarCraft 2
If you ever had any lingering doubts about StarCraft 2’s success as a first time game at MLG, you can dismiss them now. The SC2 portion of MLG Raleigh was a tremendous success. There was a large crowd watching the matches live, much larger than MLG anticipated, judging from the complaints about lack of proper seating. The MLG staff were happy about the stream numbers, which at the time supposedly exceeded Halo’s (though the Halo finals had not happened yet). The event ran on time and there were no large scale tech, lag, or player issues.
The atmosphere was amazing, and I’d recommend to everyone to attend one of these live, because watching on stream does not do it justice. Even in a mirror match PvP finals dominated by identical 4-5 warpgate builds, the spectator experience and crowd reaction was great. "It's like War of the Worlds," exclaimed Husky as Huk and Kiwikaki engaged with eight Colossi each.
Day (nice shirt!) interviews Huk after his win in the grand finals.
The logistics of operating a large-scale tournament while broadcasting are quite complex, especially if you haven't run one before. As much as we (and TL’s “magical lag-free touch”) would like to take credit for the event operating smoothly, Intrigue and I helping referee was obviously only a tiny part of what made this event great. The bulk of the credit goes to MLG’s production and administration staff, including the tech lead Devin, the TD Ryan, the two twin refs Brendan and Matt, the producer and camera guys, and Lee Chen. MLG was always open to feedback and suggestions from the SC2 community, and they even assigned MLG Shrew to watch our IRC and forums all day. Hopefully MLG will have a bigger stage and better spectator seating at the MLG event in DC -- there's certainly enough fan interest.
Opening Rounds
Since you can read all that great coverage I linked above, I am not going to bore you with a detailed summary of the games. You can watch the VODs or replays when they go up, or read the TL threads and Liquipedia for coverage. I will try to highlight each round briefly and describe some behind the scenes stuff that we did not write in the MLG Raleigh TL Blog.
Incontrol warming up before his matches.
The opening rounds were mostly a one sided affair, as the invites rolled the open signup guys. There were two notable upsets: Select losing to Lastshadow (ajtls) who would eventually finish fourth, and Machine losing to a player seeded in the 50’s, his EG teammate Incontrol. This was probably the only administrative error MLG made all weekend, and it cost Machine dearly as Inc was probably the last player he wanted to face since EG practiced hard with each other before the event. As for the other matches, the skill disparities were quite high. For example, Masq played against a Zerg player who had only practiced against the computer, for the commendable reason of being away on US army service. Everyone watched the Nadagast vs damaddar games on stream which were very one-sided.
Lastshadow (ajtls), Nadagast, and Kiwikaki playing their winner's bracket games.
Round two had a few “surprises” like Nadagast beating Incontrol and Lastshadow over TT1, but the big story was agh taking out TLAF-Liquid`Tyler. Fast Colossus and a misplaced probe rally cost Tyler two games, and he was eventually eliminated by Incontrol in a close 2-1 series (photo). A disappointing finish for our sole TL representative in North America, but I am sure he will bounce back strong in DC.
The great thing about a live event is our ability to observe how the players react and play in person. If you watched on stream only, you would not know that Lastshadow is super excitable, fist pumping after his wins and visibly bouncing off his chair during each battle. Silver has the same expression on his face regardless of what’s happening, often behind but calmly working his way back into games. Select has unbelievable screen speed. Painuser uses a huge mousepad and low sensitivity so his arm flails around. Gretorp sighs or nods depending on how the game is going.
Three of Root's Ro8 players: Slush with Kiwikaki behind him. Drewbie practices in the background.
The two Root players Kiwikaki and Slush are cool as ice, smoothly handling anything their opponents throw at them regardless of game score. They give measured, comically brief answers – Kiwikaki: “He will try fast Colossus. It will not work.” Despite some difficult sets versus Nadagast and the Swedish player Sjow, #1 seeded Kiwikaki passed through the upper portion of the bracket with almost casual indifference. A Root teammate swore he saw Kiwi fist-pump after a win, an accusation Kiwikaki vehemently denied.
On the other side of the draw, Team Root and a kid named Huk rolled through the brackets. Intrigue on Huk: “his in-battle micro is sick, he’s constantly making traps and baiting throughout.” Huk’s improvement from his first nervous LAN event at IEM Cologne is clear in his play and his demeanor. It’s hard to play live, with dozens watching over your shoulder and the crowd reacting to your every move. Look for many players to perform better at their second or third live events.
Final Rounds
Five Root players made the winner’s Top 8. The highlight of the streamed matches was clearly Drewbie’s win over the Socke, which included plenty of Psi storm, Carriers, and one amazing Mothership. But Root found no answer to Huk, who went through four of their players to win MLG Raleigh. The lone Zerg representative Slush held on admirably, showing amazing game sense against Masq’s reapers but falling to Lastshadow’s infantry rushes. Over drinks I’d ask Slush, a former XDs old school Brood war player, if he’d ever consider switching from Zerg. Slush: “Never.”
Nadagast was a fan favorite, always accompanied by an entourage of WoW players. His skill was obvious in his wins over Incontrol and his close loss to Kiwikaki 1-2. He was also inexperienced, but willing to learn, often consulting with Painuser between games and asking Socke for tips after losing 0-2 to the German Protoss. Most players agreed that the EU server had more high level players than US. “But,” said Huk, “North America has better Protoss.” Kiwikaki nods his agreement.
Socke traveled from Germany and finished third at MLG Raleigh.
One semifinal Kiwikaki vs Lastshadow was highlighted by Lastshadow’s reputation of “always cheesing.” The first game saw Kiwi’s early probe scout make a beeline to Lastshadow’s proxy barracks, and suddenly all of Team Root (standing behind Kiwi) started high fiving, clapping, and cheering when the game was barely two minutes old. “What are you cheering about?” Root: “Kiwikat found the proxy.” The other semi saw Cauthonluck against Huk, which had several close moments. In Game 2, down 0-1, Huk’s storm research finished just seconds before Cauthonluck’s marine attack.
Nobody expected only one non-invited Terran to make the Top 4, and nobody expected a PvP final, except perhaps the two finalists, who were not short on confidence. “What place finish would have satisfied you?” I asked Huk. “Finals. I’m here to win. Why else would I show up?” Kiwikaki, on whether he’d win the tournament: “Of course.” At the bar after the finals, I asked him about his loss to Huk. Kiwi admitted he hated PvP and was not well practiced in it. “Next time,” Kiwikaki said, making a #1 gesture with his right hand and pointing at Huk. He’ll get his chance at DC, and ealier as well. IEM groups were drawn this weekend, Group B: Huk, Kiwikaki, Lastshadow, Machine.
Huk, wearing lucky hoodie and sitting on HukPillow™ (not pictured) .
Huk was also interviewed by djWHEAT and Slasher on Live On Three, where he reiterated the importance of nerves and experience. MLG Raleigh was Huk’s second big LAN event, and the experience showed. This time, Huk had his hoodie, his pillow, and his mouse and game settings. Huk, Machine, Inka all swear by their chair pillows. DjWHEAT: “Forget about sponsored mouse pads, we need an official Huk pillow.”
Huk, on his goals after the tournament: “I want to go to Korea.” Not a surprising goal for someone whose idol is Boxer. Huk received some flak on TL for saying he wanted to be the next Lim Yo Hwan for SC2. "I was just trying to say I'm his fan," Huk explained. But for now, the GOM’s SC2 League in Seoul can wait. MLG DC is scheduled for October 15-17, and Huk has a title to defend.
Such a great writeup. Thanks for posting this. I'm looking forward to the replays. Do you guys have more on Nadagast? I'd like to see atleast what he looks like lol.
On August 31 2010 09:32 SubtleArt wrote: All the protoss...wow
Protoss must be imbalanced, RIGHT?! But seriously, sad to see no zerg :/ I'm surprised the players who got money made it as far as they did, was expecting different results
Man, taking pictures without flash in the dark as hell hall was pretty much impossible T_T...these were shot at 1600 ISO settings, which explains all the artifacts <_<
On August 31 2010 09:31 Kage wrote: Such a great writeup. Thanks for posting this. I'm looking forward to the replays. Do you guys have more on Nadagast? I'd like to see atleast what he looks like lol.
Hes in the picture between lastshadow and kiwikaki. Also great write up for a great event good job!
Was glad to see HuK win. Was cheering him since he was the main (to me) notable Canadian in the tourney. Though to see another Canadian (KiWiKaKi) get all the way to the finals was awesome!
Dayum, iNcontroL's hand looks like he could grasp both his keyboard and his mouse with just one of those hands. And Day9 is such a colossus, so OP. Never allow him to upgrade ext. thermal lance!
The MLG staff were happy about the stream numbers, which at the time supposedly exceeded Halo’s (though the Halo finals had not happened yet).
Has MLG released the stream numbers anywhere, and if not, is that something they generally do for their events? I'm just kind of curious as to what sort of numbers they were pulling.
I think we should clear up at some point whether or not HuK identifies himself as a Canadian or an American. I've heard that both that he was of Canadian descent, and also that he was born in America but moved to Canada at some point?
On August 31 2010 10:02 Alphaes wrote: I think we should clear up at some point whether or not HuK identifies himself as a Canadian or an American. I've heard that both that he was of Canadian descent, and also that he was born in America but moved to Canada at some point?
On August 31 2010 10:02 Alphaes wrote: I think we should clear up at some point whether or not HuK identifies himself as a Canadian or an American. I've heard that both that he was of Canadian descent, and also that he was born in America but moved to Canada at some point?
Huk is an American citizen living in Canada.
I see, but the question again is, where does his loyalties lie .
Thanks for the nod in the OP, and thanks to MLG and all the players for making my first LAN experience a memorable one! I've got a special interview with TLAF-Liquid`Tyler, Hot_Bid, and Intrigue coming up tomorrow on my YouTube, I'll be sure to get that posted when I can.
I'll be honest, I became a HuK fanboy AFTER MLG, and I wish I had followed him more before it! HuK, you played brilliantly versus Cauthonluck. That series was awesome, by far my most favorite besides the finals against Kiwikaki.
Great write up, but I really think elparamedico's stolen game from silver and close game 2 deserves mention. Sure he lost the series, but the guy took a game from a player who beat Idra! I also think Catz super innovative burrow infestor play needs a mention too, while again he may have lost the series there are no zerg players doing that kind of play right now. Very exciting to see players break out new strategies, especially at a live tourney.
Man, there's no zerg in the top 8. Oh well, I guess it happens sometimes, hopefully zergs do better after that patch. And at least a protoss won instead of a terran
On August 31 2010 10:42 Tazza wrote: Man, there's no zerg in the top 8. Oh well, I guess it happens sometimes, hopefully zergs do better after that patch. And at least a protoss won instead of a terran
This isnt really surprising due to the seeding issue with Machine/Incontrol and the lack of zergs in the tournament.
I can't wait to see the replays or VODs - been dying to see some protoss action, there was almost NONE at IEM, White-ra and Huk got knocked out too early!
only three of the invited(so the better players in the tournament), were zergs.. considering that.. the results are pretty expected for toss/terran to dominate..
Was an amazing event. Had a great time, Glad i got to meet all of the players as well. They are all really nice guys, TTOne, HuK, Last Shadow and qxc were especially nice and talked to fans and myself all throughout the tournament.
Also wanted to say that SelecT's hand speed is the fastest I have ever seen.
Man, did anyone else used to play NS, the FPS/RTS HL mod? It's been so weird for me picking up SC2 and seeing some of the names from the highest levels of competitive NS play showing up in SC2 tourneys. I was only ever a mid-level competitive NS player, and man it was rough playing against the clan Nadagast/PainUser were in.
I really liked the descriptions of how the players acted when they play. Thats something thats really interesting and its not something you can see on vods or streams.
On August 31 2010 11:50 PaprikaSpice wrote: Man, did anyone else used to play NS, the FPS/RTS HL mod? It's been so weird for me picking up SC2 and seeing some of the names from the highest levels of competitive NS play showing up in SC2 tourneys. I was only ever a mid-level competitive NS player, and man it was rough playing against the clan Nadagast/PainUser were in.
Yeah, when HD was interviewing PainUser on his channel, I was like "I've heard that name from somewhere... just WHERE!?"
Then PainUser mentions he played NS and it all came back. "Oh yeah..."
I became a Huk fan watching him live at MLG. What impressed me the most was his colossus positioning. Game 2 of the Winners Bracket Finals where he just maimed Kiwi by keeping his units spread so brilliants was fantastic, but he had a similar match on day 1 against Suggy that wasn't up on the big screen. Again, great positioning, great patience baiting his opponent into a battle where Huk's colossi were spread out in a great concave while Suggy's were clumped up together.
Only PvP's I saw him lose in the tourney were to rush-type plays. Once it got mid/late, it was as good as over. Thanks for a great show, man!
Wait a minute... Three protoss in the top three? :O. Perhaps TeamLiquid will begin seeing threads about Protoss imbalance? Perhaps I dream. [Note: I don't feel there is imbalance towards any race in SC2 before anyone rages at me.]
Excellently played by all players, was especially impressed by HuK. Shame at the number of Zerg players though, big lack.
Awesome write up and coverage for this event. I didn't get to watch all the matches, but I did get to watch the "good" matches such as socke vs drewbie, gretorp vs silver, and of course the grand finals.
Glad to see Huk win! Also nice to see Socke doing well in sc2, he was pretty decent in bw. The sad parts of this event were the lack of zergs and Nony's rather bad performance
Socke played a great tournament. As he said himself his PvP is weak and so he lost to KiwiKaki. But awesome Match vs Drewbie .... even if he lost that one.
On August 31 2010 19:43 jackalope wrote: I have no legitimate reason for this, but the pictures of HuK with his hoodie and headphones make me not like him.
I've seen several different pictures on different occasions with his hood up now. Kind of bizarre.
I remember from god knows where something about people with social phobias wearing hoodies/visors/sunglasses/coats etc. as a comfort thing. Or maybe HuK just really likes hoodies. Who knows.
Love the recap, i wasn't able to follow this tournament that closely so this excellent recap really caught me up to speed. Thanks! I'm going to watch that Drewbie vs. Socke match now!
On August 31 2010 19:43 jackalope wrote: I have no legitimate reason for this, but the pictures of HuK with his hoodie and headphones make me not like him.
its just a way of playing, a habit u may call it. i advise u not to dislike / like ppl for their appearance because it makes you an idiot
good job to huk coming 1st on a lan after just 2 lans is fucking impressive, i hoped LS would go farther tho
As someone who attended MLG at the first event of Gears (that did not go smoothly) I am very happy to see that the SC2 event went well. I hope this means a larger market for progaming in the US!
On August 31 2010 19:43 jackalope wrote: I have no legitimate reason for this, but the pictures of HuK with his hoodie and headphones make me not like him.
its just a way of playing, a habit u may call it. i advise u not to dislike / like ppl for their appearance because it makes you an idiot
good job to huk coming 1st on a lan after just 2 lans is fucking impressive, i hoped LS would go farther tho
<3 ty baby, yea it helps block your peripheral vision and helps me focus on just the screen (more altho u still get distracted) and also could be a comfort thing. Also im pretty sure every single player there was cold at the player area. But outside of the event (days i was actually playing) i never wear a hoodie to dinners/lunch/bars/club w/e
It's true, Silver even said in his interview that it was easy to become distracted by people walking around and talking behind you and stuff, so HuK just put his hood up so that the screen was getting all of his attention. Also, like he said above, he didn't just walk around Raleigh with his hood up and headset on, jeez.
Edit: And yes, it was freezing in the PC area. I expect players to bring cut-off gloves and heat packs to DC.
On August 31 2010 19:43 jackalope wrote: I have no legitimate reason for this, but the pictures of HuK with his hoodie and headphones make me not like him.
its just a way of playing, a habit u may call it. i advise u not to dislike / like ppl for their appearance because it makes you an idiot
good job to huk coming 1st on a lan after just 2 lans is fucking impressive, i hoped LS would go farther tho
<3 ty baby, yea it helps block your peripheral vision and helps me focus on just the screen (more altho u still get distracted) and also could be a comfort thing. Also im pretty sure every single player there was cold at the player area. But outside of the event (days i was actually playing) i never wear a hoodie to dinners/lunch/bars/club w/e
+1 on the cold hands. Had to stop practicing after 5 games on day 1 cause my hands were starting to freeze.
Awesome event. I have a lot of new sc2 friends now because of mlg raleigh. it was an awesome time. Someone coming from a decade of fps community involvement, SC2 folks impressed the hell out of me good people good time. Wish the TL meetup was organized better =(
MLG was quite great and Huk really seemed unstoppable from the early rounds. After his series with qxc I remember thinking to myself that he will probably go all the way to the finals.
Day9's casting was awesome as usual and all the other casters did a good job. Especially HDH gained much live experience and showed big improvement from day 1 on to day 2.
P.S. The 10 dollars for HD streaming worthed every penny. ESL should take a lesson or two about production values from MLG.
Amazing how a lot of people complain that Terran is OP when the top 3 of this tourney is Protoss. Maybe we can get some tips from them about the struggles and difficulties most Protoss encounter against Terran.
Sorry for the OP. Gratz to all the winners. Cheers!! no Zerg =(
It seems like Huk did a great job in this tourney. Could anyone/huk himself point me to the replays? Would be pretty awesome to see for a toss pro in spe like me ;-)
Edit: Sry, just read that replays/vods have yet to be released. How about day9's cast, can that be found anywhere? :D
On September 01 2010 03:13 Neophyte_ wrote: IS MLG so poor they couldn't even afford chairs for all the people watching the big stream. I guess they don't care about the health of their visitors
They knew there'd be 4-8 hour intervals between each game so they decided to just go with a big comfy mat so everyone could lay down and nap through the boredom.
On September 01 2010 03:13 Neophyte_ wrote: IS MLG so poor they couldn't even afford chairs for all the people watching the big stream. I guess they don't care about the health of their visitors
So has Teamliquid stopped hating Lastshadow? Has it been enough time and therefore is he forgiven? or is it just that you have to mention him since he came 4th?
On September 01 2010 03:13 Neophyte_ wrote: IS MLG so poor they couldn't even afford chairs for all the people watching the big stream. I guess they don't care about the health of their visitors
health? sitting in a chair isn't healthy.
It's a lot healthier than sitting on the ground. Especially for your back. They should've at least given the people to choose between a chair and sitting on the ground.
My Roomate: "Hi" Me: "hey how was work?" RM: "Good. Hmm... 4 pack of Sparks, bunch of stir fry, munchies... what are you up to?" Me: "Bout to watch 12 hours straight of Starcraft." RM: "???..."
Very cool write-up! I'm glad that this tournament was before I had to head back to school, since now that I'm here I do not have a lot of time to read about or watch them. It was a very fun ride, and I'm glad that the tournament had a few surprises, including the top three finishers playing Protoss (all being foreign and winning at a North American tournament - pretty cool!), the awesome Socke vs. Drewbie game, ElPerimedico vs. Silver, and CatZ' inventive play. The overwhelming success of StarCraft 2 at MLG (that last one was not really a surprise, more of a happy ending) was great too! Once again, this was a very nice article, and I like that you wrote from the perspective of someone that was behind the scenes. You did not bog us down with details that we witnessed on the stream, and instead you filled us in on all of the goings-on that we missed - very cool!
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/pachi/banner/10mlg_banner.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/MLG.jpg)
Huk defeat Kiwikaki in the finals with hundreds of cheering fans. For those that missed the action, here are the essential threads: ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/DayinterviewsHuk.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/Incontrol.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/Lastshadow.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/Slush.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/Socke.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/Huk.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/MLGRaleighPhotos/MLGRaleighFinalResults.png)
...it was fun meeting everyone :D
I just found out I live in the same city as HuK actually... weird.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.png)
What'd I miss?
![[image loading]](http://i38.tinypic.com/18db1y.jpg)
