For better or for worse, that's what NASL Season One ended up being. No other tourney has had to endure the perverse situation where the persecution of the league was of more interest to public than the competition itself.
NASL grew before our eyes, as everything must do to endure a trial by fire. Their growth culminated in the Grand Finals, a powerful closing statement to try and prove that yes, in the end, they had been vindicated.
We don't presume to give one final verdict here, because all of our experiences were unique. The best we can do is share some of them with you, and let you reach your own conclusion.
Hi! I'm Elly the ESPORTS Elephant! This article is so long, I get to show up twice! Yay! Anyway, here are the various experiences people had the NASL finals. Oh, if I'm allowed to plug myself, I now show up on TL's error pages, so check em out!
One day in the cold spring of Seattle, a StarCraft fan named Glen Bowers had an epiphany, "I love StarCraft, and I love alcohol. How can I combine the two?" Thus r/BarCraft was born, or so the legend goes. These are their stories:
Photograph: Glen"o_Oskar" Bowers
I'm Oskar, and I started the BarCraft scene in Seattle. Lived and worked in the Seattle area my entire adult life, I've been a huge fan of StarCraft since SC1 came out. I was not the best StarCraft player, but I truly love the game and hosted countless StarCraft LAN parties with my friends for more than a decade. Like many in TeamLiquid, I've followed of the pro scene for a long time and always thought it would be a dream to be able to hang out in a bar watching professional StarCraft.
About the time that the NASL started up, I had been house-sitting for a friend who lives in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. I started hanging out at a bar called Chao Bistro a few blocks away and became friends with the owner. When he mentioned growing up in Korea, I told him he must play StarCraft. He laughed and told me that he loves StarCraft and had played as long as I had. A few days later, I was hanging out on a particularly slow evening in the bar. The owner was showing the local Mariners game, but the place was dead. I asked if he would ever consider showing professional StarCraft on his TV's instead. He told me if I wanted to set it, up he'd be ok with it.
It took a while to figure out the logistics of interfacing into his a/v system and streaming the NASL. Wednesday nights had a good NASL lineup (I <3 TLO) and was also his slowest night, so I picked that for the first test. I put up a post on reddit to get the word out on a Monday and I figured maybe 20 people would show up (half being my friends). The owner, skeptical, told me I'd get 10 max. The night came and the place was packed! I stop counting at around 120 people. It was standing room only.
I was happy, but the owner was flabbergasted. With so many e-sports ballers overrunning his establishment, it became a difficult evening for him. Since then we added regular Sunday nights as well. Now, we have 30 to 40 regulars showing up every Wednesday and Sunday, just for StarCraft. It's not as busy as the first night, but now everyone can sit down and enjoy themselves in comfort. It's a great thing to hang out with fellow e-sports fans and watch the games together in a bar.
Photograph: Nate
Even before I arrived a year ago, Washington DC has had a bustling Starcraft 2 scene. After several unofficial meets, we finally got organized and the SC2DC group was formed. We are a BarCraft, but without a bar. Starting with only five regulars, we have been roaming around people's apartments and houses to watch and play. A month later, there were 14, and we started shopping around for a bar to host us, asking for a place on any networking site we could. You'd imagine it's an easy sale to bar owners for a dozen patrons on a slow night, but for months we had no luck. Some offers would pop-up, but always fell through. By NASL finals weekend, SC2DCers numbering in the 20s were watching throughout the weekend. It was getting rather packed in our apartments, but everyone had a swell time socializing over StarCraft.
Then comes the surprise: half way through the championship set, iNcontroL gave a huge shout-out to all of r/BarCraft. He even mentioned us, the SC2DC group! That night, one of the first people who offered a bar space posted about it, saying that he finally had the go ahead. Tenley Public is now our new home.
Without Micheal Widby, Nate OldManZerg, and myself JohnBeeMuffins, who persevered in keeping the Washington DC scene alive despite getting constantly shot-down, SC2DC would have never been a large enough group to brute force our way to Tenley Public. Don't wait for a bar to host you, network with fellow StarCraft nerds and get to work. Deric, of Tenley Public, was convinced not just because of iNcontroL, but because of the consistent numbers that showed up for our private events. For the final day of Anaheim, he is graciously opening the doors at 11AM for everyone who wants to enjoy some good new fangled Barcraft. This time, the organizers of SC2-DC can finally sit back, relax, and watch the show without worrying about coasters, foodstuffs or spills.
Our first BarCraft will be the final day of MLG Anaheim, July 31.
Photograph: Lorin "Alystair" Halpert
Just around the corner from the popular Honest Eds - I found myself on the second floor of the bustling Victory Cafe, seeing the Teamliquid homepage projected on a massive screen and knew I was in the right place. There were only about thirty people on the second floor when I came in early to introduce myself to Chromate whom arranged the meet and graciously provided WiFi so I could use my laptop to stay in touch with the rest of the NASL team and help tame the rowdy chat room (8000+ users!) full of people flipping tables - but by the end of the night we had a crowd of 70-80, all cheering and screaming for MC and Sen.
No one at the meetup knew the photos we took earlier on were going to show up on stream live in front of eighty five thousand other viewers. The room exploded into deafening cheers when our photo with the Canadian flag showed up on screen during iNcontroL's BarCraft shoutout.
Cya next time, BarCraft Toronto!
This is a call to arms to the StarCraft community of North America.
While sitting on cold floor at the NASL finals, surrounding by legions of rabid E-sports fans, it dawned on this fan that ESPORTS has arrived on this side of Pacific. Now it is time for every man, woman, and child of our community to do our part to let this message be known! Let us pool our resources and make it our mission to get a BarCraft in every city and town in America, if not the world!
A mere week after the NASL shoutout, r/BarCraft has increased the numbers of E-sports bars nation-wide from 4 to more than 10 cities, and its subscribers increased twenty-three fold! Yet, this is just the beginning. Regardless of whether you're a WP, r/sc, or a TL guy, bringing E-sports to the mainstream has always been our common goal, so remember Day9's immortal words (State of the Union Address, D9D #232 pre-show, January 3rd, 2011),
"Stop asking for permission, just go f***ing do it."
NASL's live finals kicked off what is to be a great year for Southern Californian ESPORTS, with MLG Anaheim in a few short weeks followed by a few months of anxious waiting until the GSL finals at Blizzcon. Having lived in SoCal almost all my life, it feels simply amazing that the local venues will be exploding with raw ESPORTS passion for a good portion of 2011.
It's a tragedy that the stream had issues throughout the weekend, but I really don't think even the perfect stream could have captured the atmosphere of the live event. Despite some major day one hiccups, I still felt the entire event was really amazing and that I would definitely come back for the finale of season two - that's how different it was experiencing NASL live compared to watching it on the stream.
Streams can provide you with just about everything nowadays, but they can’t convey the absolutely electric atmosphere of a live event. After going back to the VODs, I think that it’s a shame that NASL didn’t take more initiative in trying to let their stream viewers get a taste of what it was like on the floor. Inadequate as that sampling would have been, they owed it to the fans to let them feel a fraction of the energy and passion that permeated the crowd (it should be a requirement for any true fan of competitive StarCraft 2 to attend a live event if only to know the difference.)
Wandering the show floor was also a great experience. Being surrounded by fans that were like-minded and equally passionate made all of the vitriol and animosity we see online seem trivial and absurd. People didn't care about progamer X being better than progamer Y, or whether or not personality A was hurting ESPORTS through his actions – all that mattered was the games. It's easy to be a cynic online, but it's impossible to have a negative attitude in an environment such as the NASL finals.
Going back to the game viewing experience, there was an intimacy to the NASL finals that surely can’t be captured online, and I might even say can’t be captured at any other live event. I managed to sit on the floor at the very front of the stage, where sometimes the casters and pro-players would be sitting right behind me in the actual seats. During the games you could sometimes overhear Artosis commenting to himself or those next to him about how the games were going, and have other pro players be just as surprised and excited as you when a huge upset happened.
And of course, the players. A showcase of amazing games, followed by hilarious ceremonies, and probably the nicest professional players you ever met made it impossible to actually pick a favorite player to cheer for. The crowd went wild over White-Ra's "special taktiks" entrance, SelecT's SUP SON ceremony, and would audibly chant GOD OF WAR when July took the stage. Sometimes you are disappointed when you meet your idols in the flesh, but these ESPORTS superstars were larger than life.
The event demonstrated what made ESPORTS a reality in the west. As hard as it might be to believe, the community’s primary interests don’t lie in bickering about who’s the best caster, ridiculing everyone’s smallest mistake, or spending more time reading drama threads than watching actual games. No, what we really want is to create the best possible experience for players and fans alike - players receiving the appreciation and support they deserve for their tireless effort, and fans awarded a viewing experience commensurate to their fervor.
Needless to say, you can see that the NASL won me over to their side. Live events will be a driving force in trailblazing the way for ESPORTS into mainstream culture. Lindsey wasn't the only individual who caught the excitement of everyone at the event, but my friends who just came to check out the event are now ecstatic for MLG Anaheim. Its enthusiasm and passion are contagious, and any organization that aims to help spread that passion to others should be applauded. The live experience was absolutely phenomenal, and the NASL staff deserve a round of applause, if not a standing ovation. Oh yeah, I also did this while I was there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDi8C7qNgsQ
When I typed 'justin.tv/naslseasonone' into my address bar at 11am PDT on July 8th and pressed that fateful enter key, I closed my eyes for a second, and braced myself for the worst. Unfortunately, the stream didn't actually start until two hours after the scheduled start time, and I felt that it would be unfair to judge an empty stream. When the event finally began, I was glad I had prepared myself beforehand, because it was a mind-blowingly bi-polar experience.
The Good:
Underline Entertainment's Performances When it was first announced that Sunday's events would be kicking off with a live performance, I think we all braced for the worst. GSL's live performances are something we all begrudgingly sit through to get to the games.
Truly Yours Your Biggest Fan, This is Dan
To my pleasant surprise, the performance was one of the highlights of the event. The song was relevant to Starcraft, it was amazing to have Nick and Dan up on stage for their reactions, and the performers were, well, great performers. If you're going back through checking out the VOD's, don't skip this performance, it's a highlight.
Video production / Road to The Finals Videos A tournament like NASL needs road to the finals videos like Protoss needs pylons. With the finals occurring fourteen weeks and hundreds of games from the start of the tournament, it was a necessity for all but the most hardcore viewers. The production quality of the highlight videos was also unexpectedly high. You can’t underestimate the amount of work that went into making them; looking through every single match, finding the highlight moments, and cutting them all into one finished product.
Day 9 as host (when you could hear him) On day one of the tournament, after waiting two hours for the tournament to start, we were all a little frustrated. The minute I saw Day 9's angelic figure on stage, it was all forgiven. Day9 is the exact person needed to open the event, his high energy Starcraft fueled passion getting everyone pumped and ready to start their tournament engines.
Video Quality Despite the apocalyptic audio issues, the stream was as smooth as butter, no stutters and looking beautiful. Justin.tv had some regional lag issues later on, but you have to give credit to NASL for the beautiful quality of their 1080p stream.
Crowd Reactions One thing that the GSL misses and that foreign tournaments get right is crowd reactions. NASL, with its mic properly hooked up to capture crowd reactions, made for some great moments. When you're watching from home there is nothing that gets you pumped like Sen barely holding his third base against MC's air harass or MC revealing his hidden Void Rays in game four to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat to eruptions of cheers from the crowd.
The Bad
Road to the Finals Videos: In the above section, I made note that the Road to the Finals Videos were a great idea and essential to such a vast league; however, the videos were far too long. Which is surprising, because they were actually only five minutes long.
The problem is that when tuning into the stream and want to watch some games, five minutes feel like an eternity. I applaud the effort, but in the future those videos need to have only be the player's wins and absolutely crucial in-game clips.
Interviews Dealing with the subject of the interviews conducted is what has required the most amount of thought. The opinions in the community on the subject of the interviews seems to be polarized from "Those girls are really hot" to "What an idiot, she should be fired, NASL should be fired, Starcraft should be fired ahhhhhhh!"
First, I think that is great that NASL has attractive community women doing the interviews. Try not to think what they do for you, try and think what they do for the community. Anna Prosser is Miss USA contestant, and she's into Starcraft, trying to learn it for herself. That kind of publicity is amazing. Think of the different audiences that these women reach. Reaching new audiences is much more important than recycling already known community favorites, and interviews are a great way to go about it.
So not all is bad about the interviewers, but what is bad, is not giving them the kind of training they should have. Ms. Prosser is getting to know Starcraft, and that is excellent, but her knowledge is still at the point where she has to use the same recycled questions for every interview (How do you feel about winning? How did you prepare? How difficult did you think it was? How will you do? Koreans vs. Non-Koreans? In that order over and over again). The interviews were just of poor quality because the women knew to little about the game, but if this experience it what it takes for them to learn more, than it was well worth it.
The Ugly:
10 matches, 12 hours This was a little bit extremely ridiculous. On the event floor, I realize that things were exciting and hectic, with interviews and player signings, but for the stream, this 12 hour event was quite the drag if you had nothing to do in the meantime. In the future, NASL either needs a ton of extra content (showmatches, commentary), or needs to cut the event time in half and do everything post game.
The Audio The most glaring problem of all. What was most frustrating about the audio problems was that it seemed like a problem that would be so easy to fix, but they managed to have terrible audio balance for all three days. I’m no expert here, but it’s just mind-boggling that they’d have so many audio problems when it’s never an issue for any other tournament.
The Chat By far, the ugliest part of the event was Justin.tv chat. Everything was being talked about... other than the games. From nasty personal attacks against anyone who happened to be on screen, to general fits of rage at the NASL (Fire everyone! Give me my money back!), there was just no semblance of decency to be found. I know people are going to tell me that I’m a fool for expecting civility on the internet, but it’s a truly sad state of affairs if I can’t expect to have a well-mannered discussion about the games in a tournament’s official chat room.
The Beautiful
E-SPORTS is Real, and it is happening Sometimes it's not always clear what makes a great event. We know some things are part of the formula; on-point casting, stellar production, heated personal rivalries, and extensive pre-match hype. Yet if there's anything the NASL taught us, it's that we can throw all of these details out the window. An armada of technical glitches, a contentious history, and weird tournament format could've easily brought the NASL down. That they did not is a testament to the only remaining variable. The players.
Put the world's best players in a pot, and ESPORTS will bloom. Water, nutrient rich soil, and sunlight be damned, the NASL spread roots and budded with a vengeance. MC and Sen played a tremendous series. PuMa and MC played another one. And just like that, everything was forgiven, and ESPORTS was everywhere, in brilliant technicolor, pollinating a field of fans, and gently perfuming the smoggy Southern California air.
Well folks, its finally over. The finals produced some epic games and I had to choose only one of them. I felt it was only fitting to use the final game of the final match of NASL season 1. It was an epic series and while the dramatic grand final between Puma and MC can only be attributed to their own prodigious skill, we must give some credit to the NASL format as well.
People complained about the open bracket winner meeting the highest ranked seed in the Ro16 but in the end it made for one hell of a storyline. Puma ripped through seven rounds of open bracket play taking down some very notable players, both Koreans and white dudes alike, then jumped on a plane to the always sunny California to take on the best the NASL had to offer. Taking down Ret, Squirtle and July on his way to the grand finals, everyone who claims that Puma didn't earn his money should be rounded up and slapped around in the face with a large, wet trout before being tar and feathered.
Feature Game: The Gentleman Puma Vs ObamaToss - Grand Finals Game 7 on Crevasse
The game started off as normal as possible, I even went to grab a drink when I saw Puma was going for a 14 CC. When I returned to my PC it was to see that MC was going for one of the most insane rush strats I've ever seen in such a high money game. Here is a guy playing for $25,000 and he's throwing up proxy pylons inside Puma's main there is a Zealot wreaking havoc at the back door natural and another one picking away at a constructing bunker.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Now I don't know about you but at this point I was almost passed out on the floor from constant nerd chills. Puma's multitasking and nerves were being pushed to their absolute limit, MC's championship instincts are second to none and he had smelt blood in the water, as iNcontrol would say “no one plans to put a proxy pylon inside their opponent’s main, but when the chance presents itself...”. Two proxy pylons, a Zealot and a Stalker were inside Puma's main and all Puma had to defend with were a couple of marines and some SCVs. If this were SC1 then there would be nothing to worry about, as SCVs are some of the best early combat units in the game, but these were squishy SC2 SCVs alongside crappy no-upgrade marines.
However, Puma showed that his reputation as a practice bonjwa was well deserved. His unit control in that clutch situation was just incredible. How he took down the Zealot and Stalker losing only two Marines is beyond me but down they went.
You shall not pass!
The danger was still not over, MC still had two in-base proxy pylons completed with warp-gate research nearly finished. Puma had managed to get a bunker finished at his choke but it wouldn't help at all against Stalkers warping in inside his base. Puma pulled SCVs to join his Marines in taking down the two pylons, and it became an extremely close race to kill them off before the critical upgrade completed.
Puma managed to kill the pylons with about three seconds to spare and upon seeing his SCV's back mining and one expansion up, the crowd, commentators and a dare say most of us watching at home were able to breath a sigh of relief (or cry of anguish). We had come to the conclusion that if Puma could just continue to stay alive for the next couple of minutes that the championship was his.
MC of course had other ideas. His warpgate research was done and he knew he was behind. It was do or die time, he needed to do more damage or face a deficit that was too great to overcome. Another two proxy pylons, this time outside of Puma's base, were placed cunningly well. One to allow safe reinforcements to the attack, and one for offensive warp-ins just above Puma's ramp. The first round of Stalkers walked by the bunker and seemed to be heading for the back door expo where they would be quickly reinforced by the low-ground pylon, but again - God damn! Pumas unit control was so good! His starsense and reactions just made my jaw drop time and again, instantly making the correct decision by blocking the stalkers with SCVs and then herding them away from the natural while the marines fired away.
Come by, come by, whoa.
The second round of Stalkers got a little closer to the nat, well they made it up the ramp anyways. It really was like Puma was using SC1 SCVs, it almost seemed unfair how few were dying and how much damage they were doing.
Welcome to the Jungle
The next warp-in used that awesome pylon I spoke about earlier to warp right in to the high ground, but lets be honest, it didn't work out as well as MC would have hoped. Being completely pinned in to that narrow choke with twenty rabid Puma SCVs waiting to pounce isn't a place you want to be if you are a Protoss unit.
Puma did something next that made me feel the way getting in to a bath that is just the perfect temperate does, that's right he placed down two supply depots to create another choke and block off any units using the offensive pylon to warp-in. What a decision, seriously, in that situation who has the presence of mind to do something that smart? I would be barely be able to hit the right hotkeys at this point in the game if I were playing for that kind of money but it was like Puma was going “yeah I'll just pop these down, I've got fifteen SCVs here doing nothing, might as well put them to good use”. To top it all off Puma put a marine on the second level of high ground at his natural, getting free shots on any units warped in through the offensive pylon.
Aiur, we have a problem
MC must have been devastated as he moved his units forward to see a Bunker and 2 rax to his right, supply depots blocking his way forward and SCVs just waiting to surround him; where the hell do you go from there? You can't go back, you can't go forward, if you go by the bunker your units will die. This is the point where we would all say that MC should have just stopped the rush and expanded, but of course we're not all two time GSL champs here, so what the hell do we know? MC warped in one more round of Zealots on the high ground and then expanded which bought him some more time and got him some scouting information.
If you were in TL's IRC during this game it looked a little something like this:
<Jonnybronze> Terran OP <@Chill[Puma]> This is over <Randomnub>CHILL GET OUT <@Chill[Puma]> still on that? <Highleveldiamondguy> MC just needs to get templars and expand again and get collosus and archons and close the supply gap he can still win <Aelloon> This is so over <rockshock> yup <oooo> everybody hates me blah blah blah <alissy>be quiet oooo <randomTler1> Puma's got this <randomTler2> Puma's got this <randomTler3> Puma's got this <randomTler4> Puma's got this <randomTler5> Puma's got this <randomTler6> Puma's got this
Basically, the game was over. There was no way MC could come back unless Puma made some silly mistake like losing his entire f***ing army... which he very nearly did!
The first big engagement definitely went MC's way but the early expansion was already paying off for Puma by this point and he was able to reinforce much better and keep his supply lead at roughly twenty despite being on the losing side of the battle. Puma did however have to retreat back up his ramp to the bunkers and MC was safe from his Twilight council being sniped while Zealot charge was being researched (did anyone else have flashbacks to MMA vs Losira and the spawning pool?).
MC was looking for his famous and deadly 6gate attack, he was now in a position where he could pull the miracle comeback both in the series and the game at hand but it was still going to be an uphill battle. He decided to commit to the attack and charged up the ramp to meet the bunkers. Marines, Marauders and Ghosts weren't enough to turn him back but as soon as Puma's SCVs came in to view MC's Zealots lost their nerve and ran away.
SCVs sir! Thousands of 'em
MC was obviously doing a lot of on the spot decisions in this game, when you are playing from behind build orders tend to go out the window. In any case, his decision to go for DTs was a good one.
If there is any sure fire way to buy time against a Terran its DTs; people refuse to build Ravens because they are just so damn good against Protoss that they feel it's unfair to use them. That and the fact you have to swap your Starport on to a techlab and then swap it back to the reactor, which is simply six clicks too many compared to just hitting "4-C-leftclick." DTs also catch Terrans off guard nearly every time unless its a DT rush (ironic, really), if you have given a T no reason to make turrets then DTs will nearly always do decent damage and this game was no exception. The crowd were counting out the SCV kills like they were watching WWE and one spandex clad poser has his crotch in the face of and is pounding on the head of another spandex clad poser who is against the turn-buckles. I half expected to hear chants of “Lets go Puma” from the Puma fans followed by “Puma Sucks” from the MC fans... unfortunately that didn't happen.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10! *cheer*
Unfortunately for MC the supply gap was continuing to grow. Both players were working to secure their second naturals but Puma still had the superior economy. The game got a bit boring for the next couple of minutes as MC warped in another DT and bought himself another 3 seconds of life but it didn't help the fact that his army was starting to look a bit pathetic. The only way that Puma was going to lose the game was if MC utilized the sole advantage of a live event and started to physically beat the crap out of his opponent. And while that would have been no doubt entertaining, it's just not what classy Starcraft nerds do (unless you're Russian).
Puma finally decided it was time to go win a championship already, that his days of being only a practice bonjwa were over. He broke down the rocks and headed to MC's third with the ghosts at the front carrying the banners. MC actually made a big misstep in my eyes when he moved his army out of the way of Puma, that let Puma get his back to the wall and place his bio ball in an unbeatable position. A couple of great EMPs decimated MC's army and GG came before the battle was even concluded.
Call the President-Elect. I want to congratulate him
I said last week that only ZvP had been producing the goods when it came to epic games in the NASL but boy did Puma and MC step up. This game arguably wasn't even the best game of the series it was just the most exciting and fun to write about. If you are one of the people who didn't watch the NASL finals, then shame on you, you missed out on some of the best Starcraft to date.
It’s been a fun ride over the last three months and I am a little sad that it's over. But then I remind myself that season 2 starts in a few weeks and that this time it’s only going to get better. Better players, a more seasoned production team (lets face it they've had to deal with every problem under the sun this season and that will train up anyone fast) and a new, as-of-yet unknown caster in to fill the rather large void left by a departing iNcontrol.
There’s every reason to be excited, and I hope to see you next season!
Somehow I don't think this guy is going anywhere...
After three days of non-stop live coverage, Primadog spent yet another weekend around the NASL house collecting even more delicious media content.
TeamLiquid Interviews Everyone
White-Ra: "My favorite Harry Potter character is IdrA."
Though the other interviews here are transcribed for those who don't have the time to watch videos, we realized that words cannot capture the experience that is White-Ra. You must discover it for yourself.
NASL Sponsor - iBUYPOWER Gaming PCs: "We'll expand our presence in the E-sports space."
Announced at the Grand Finals, iBUYPOWER Custom Gaming PCs became the official hardware provider of the NASL. Their line of high-end gaming PCs powered the live finals and their lion head emblem was clearly visible throughout the venue. Ricky Lee, the marketing manager of iBUYPOWER, talked to TeamLiquid about what ESPORTS is like from a sponsor's perspective.
Most of us at TeamLiquid are not familiar with iBUYPOWER, could you introduce the company?
iBUYPOWER is one of the largest independent gaming computer makers in the United States. We’ve been in business since 1999 (almost 12 years now!). Our company philosophy is based around three pillars: Freedom of choice, quality of build, and value of products. We have more component choices than most system builders in the market, build a quality system (backed by our 3 year limited warranty), and are able to do it at a price point much lower than many of the “boutique” builders out there today.
When did iBUYPOWER decide to delve into E-sports? Is this iBUYPOWER's first foray into the scene? It must been a difficult sell to your superiors!
We've had our eye on the community for a long time, but the NASL is iBUYPOWER’s first major venture into e-sports. Ultimately, the NASL made the sponsorship decision easy for us.
So how did the NASL partnership come about? Which party approached the other? Why NASL over any other tournament?
The NASL approached us before there even was a NASL and we’ve been building the relationship for a long time. The management of NASL are extremely passionate about expanding e-sports in North America, and they’ve taken huge risks to get to the type of success that they have today.
From a fan's perspective, this sponsorship seemed to come out of nowhere. Was it intentional? Why so late into the season?
We’ve been talking with the NASL since before the season started, and for various reasons, we couldn’t jump in at the start of the season. Obviously, we followed their progress closely throughout the season. They came back to us about 2 weeks before the event and wanted to see a system builder in their finals, and we jumped at the opportunity.
What does iBUYPOWER hope to gain from this venture?
From a business side, we’re hoping to expand our outreach into the ESPORTS. From a people side, we’d like to see the e-sports scene grow. A lot of us are gamers ourselves and follow the scene closely, in our free time.
We’re hoping that one day, we’ll see gaming superstars in the states with the kind of prominence of our sports superstars. What we see in the ESPORTS community is that it’s a very tightly knit community that are extremely passionate about the games they play. Sometimes, this community is overlooked by the mainstream media, partly because they've pigeonholed all of us into a “nerd” stereotype, and partly because the community is weaker here in the United States, compared to other mainstream events and compared to the community overseas. We don’t think there’s any reason why gamers eventually can’t reach the type of recognition of a Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan in the states, but first that community needs to grow into mainstream acceptance.
What can we expect from iBUYPOWER going forth? For example, can we expect iBUYPOWER to come out with product lines catering specifically towards to our needs?
If there’s interest in an ESPORTS-oriented gaming desktop, we’d love to hear about it. Feel free to spam our inboxes or our facebook group with suggestions on what you think the “perfect” e-sports gaming desktop should be able to do. If there’s enough interest and it’s different enough from a “standard” gaming desktop, we’ll make one. Throw it in the comments if you want, we’ll read them… I’m assuming people will be able to leave comments on this interview.
Let's talk ROI, has the sponsorship with NASL make the returns you expected? Do you see further involvement with ESPORTS in the future?
The NASL has been a good partner for us. We are exploring options to expand our presence in the E-sports space.
Thank you for your time. Any last shout outs?
Thanks to the Starcraft community for making events like this possible! Thanks to the NASL for an awesome three days of Starcraft playoffs and a nail biting 7-game final series! Congrats to PuMa for winning. The NASL has taken huge risks to expand the North American E-sports community, and they deserve a lot of credit for getting to where they are today. Make sure you check them out for Season 2!
Gretorp: "you know how a bear goes into the stream and there's all these salmons in the water. The bear is just picking up the salmons and eating them. That's me and qxc."
On the way to the NASL gives back special event, Gretorp talked to TL about his growth with the NASL and his theory on casting, KiWiKaKi's run in the US Open, replacing iNcontroL, and his feud with FXOqxc.
Let's start off with something interesting: Sunday night, you were crying in my arms after the show in the player area. What happened? What were you feeling?
I was just overcome with emotion, man. It was the first time I ever broken down in tears, from what happened. I think it was just, NASL was always near-and-dear to my heart. It was actually a very risky investment, coming from an actuary background, it was a very risky investment.
To have all my passion investmented in this, and to really come out on top. It made me, so overcome, so overcome with that emotion, I couldn't contain it anymore. It was a great feeling. It was great.
This was the first time I ever let a grown man cry on me, but I felt the same way, something special happened that night.
I think there's a lot of implications for E-sports as a whole. There's a lot to come out of this. I think NASL was very daring. We made a bold move. You know, when it comes down to it, it was a step in the right direction. With all the adversity to overcome, it was definitely a step in the right direction.
At the same time, you're fully aware there were a lot of disappointment from the community in the beginning of the season. With a full season under your belt, how do you evaluate yourself and NASL in general, as its anchor?
Oh those are very, very deep questions.
I'll first go with NASL. I'll first go with the NASL. Of course, we didn't start as well as we wanted to, unfortunately. NASL did, as I said, overcome allot of it. There are still some issues, but they're more cosmetic though, than anything else. The best part about it is that we have very loyal fans and a community that are willing to point it out.
I know that, people are going to be, "Well, of course we're going to point it out," but if you look into it. I read every single NASL thread possible, people are very meticulous at what we need to do, and how to do things. Now what that ends up doing is what the community brings to us, we can put all these together, and we can focus on these specific things.
You know, it's one thing to complain about something, and it's another to complain and give constructive criticism. That's what the community has been so good about. If you have seen the first day of production and the last day of production, it is night and day. Now we're just starting to curtail ourselves a little bit there, and a bit there. Fixing the cosmetic things to make it look like the star production quality we really want, the best casting possible, the best games possible, and have a good process flow and everything, as we give information flow of everything related I think NASL has done an excellent job of taking in information and change very dynamically based on that information.
Is there room for improvement? Absolutely. I don't want to take away from the fact that NASL has made big, big accomplishments in improvement, and just in overall production. I am very, very happy with... when I said production, I don't meant just our actual production, but also everything as it is. Producing the content, producing the actual material, everything.
As for me, oh God!
How do i think I developed? I think have developed more than anyone caster have developed in that amount of time. I can say, without a doubt, that I have casted more games than anyone else in the world in that amount of time. In the course of three weeks three months, I casted over four/five hundred games.
I believe, if my count is correct, 499 games in the regular season alone.
That is an astounding number. Not only that, I need to mention that I did the SGL tournament, I did the GosuCoaching Premier League, things like that. Other things that we don't count for NASL, I still did it. Recently, we have a White-Ra vs Sen Showmatch, we did that. I definitely put in the most time.
In terms of analyzing myself, I probably analyzed more of myself than anyone ever had. It is good improvement, I know where I need to work on. I know what I lacked, but one thing that is kind of tough, I'm going to go on a tangent here - one thing that is tough about the scene - is that I don't think people understand the role of the caster yet. In particular, the types of casters.
We always say there's two types of casters, there's the play-by-play, and there's the color commentator. I'll say I am more of a color commentator than anything else. However, there's different kind of color commentators and how we analyze. I have a very specific brand of how I do color commentator that no one else has.
It is kind of interesting that everyone's input in my casting. I obviously have changed. The Law of Large Numbers, if I continue this on, is this going to be the best casting method? I put in a lot, a lot of time into it.
This is the first time second time, since I have been here, that I am actually going outside of Rancho Cucamonga. Which is insane. The first time it was for two hours, to a sushi place at Venice Beach, and we came back because we have NASL the next day. This is the first time I ever get to relax, chill out, get outside of NASL.
I hope that shows my commitment to not only casting, but to the industry in general. I want it to succeed, and I want E-sports to succeed.
[T/N note: Gretorp attempts to kiss sleeping princess Sen while he's asleep and vulnerable]
NASL will lose iNcontroL, the face of NASL for the first season. Do you think he is replaceable?
No.
iNcontrol is a specific brand that no other person on the face of the planet can replace. He is a valueable asset, and losing him, it stinks. It really does.
I am very biased because he's my close friend in the E-sports community. We've done a lot together, we went shopping together, we went to the casino together. We went on man-dates. Anna was getting jealous, so what can i say? It really sucks, losing a friend that I have grown so close to, over the entire half year, it is unfortunate.
That being said, I felt like our casting styles, not similar, but overlap to an extend. Looking at it, purely objectively, it was the reason why it was a bit slow to gain that chemistry. I talked slow, like a week, it was slow was the fact that we have no pre-determined roles, so we just went with it.
When we overlapped each other, the things that we prepared for, the things you prepared to say has already been said. Then, you need a level of improv to go over that, then you need to fill space. What casting should be is not to fill space. You're looking for room to talk. The big things about casting, for example, these units are going from Point A to Point B. There are many different ways to say that, you want to say is,
"The Marauders are attacking the Nexus."
You don't want to say,
"The Marauders are traversing the entire map, yadda yadda yadda."
Because what you want to do is create more time to talk, the ability to say more things, and potentially give more time to the color commentator to talk. Analyzing the map during downtime is what takes up more time than the play-by-play commentary.
That being said, because we both filled the color commentary, not only the overlap. A lot of the time, it became Gretorp for an extend amount of time, then iNcontroL for an extended amount of time, and sometimes we'll bounce questions at each other. That dynamic doesn't flow as well for the first week. I will even say the first couple of weeks. What iNcontroL and I started doing was realizing we have strengths in individual fields, so we start to pass off to each other quite frequently. We will go into play-by-play game situationally, because we both have very different styles of play.
I am more of a theoretical player, this is what you should always do in this position, that type of deal. iNcontroL is more based on the type of player, you can cut corners, this way.
Certain amount of intuition and experience?
Yes, he [iNcontroL] has a more intuitive, experienced style. We'll both pass it off, based on the players. I felt that added a very deep level of understanding, with the StarCraft community. I think that's a big reason why, you can say there's much insight into this, because you can get into the mind of a player. What the pro is doing, something that not many other casters can do.
Day9, Artosis, and Tasteless, they can do it. Other than that, you don't have allot of people that can do that. I felt that's a very interesting dynamic that we brought to the table, and we have very different styles, even more so than Artosis, Tasteless, and Day9.
Back to the question, it's going to be tough to replace someone like iNcontroL. Do I think there's room for a better combination? Of course. Is it going to be hard to find one? It'll be hard to find someone to fill the spot left behind by iNcontroL. Whether we can fill that analysis role and do the pass-off, or analysis and play-by-play. Time will tell.
What is my preference? I think I do like the play-by-play [plus color combination]. Total_Biscuit and I, we had a wonderful time. Diggity and I, we had a good time as well. We'll see. Time will tell, all I can say is I am looking forward to the time to come.
You have gained many anti-fans, haters if you will, but you also gained many fans. Many more people know about Gretorp than before. Do you have something you want to say to your haters as well as your fans?
I don't think it's haters so much. I don't want to label them as haters, because I don't think they actually hate me. I don't think they actually hate me, since it takes so much to hate someone. I do think they're more disappointed with their expectations. Whether their expectations were [too] high or low, I am not sure yet. I think they are disappointed with some of my results.
I think something really, really magical has happened over the course of NASL. I think have I have turned a lot of the disappointed people around. Maybe not completely around, instead of 180, maybe 70, 90 degrees. It's the fact that the people who were disappointed are still very open-minded, and they still want E-SPORTS to succeed. They see how hard I am trying, and how much I am working, and they're getting behind me, even though I am not fulfilling all their expectations.
That's very... that's a good feeling. It's a great feeling.
I have built a fanbase, overtime the time. To them, I am extremely happy that you guys have been supporting me the whole time. What will E-SPORTS be without the spectators and fans, you know? They're the backbone.
I am humbled by it. I don't consider myself fan-worthy yet. I have much work left to go, and I have to put more time into this. Obviously I sacrificed, the fact that people already seeing that I had done all that, that I have worked so hard, they're willing to come behind me and support me, and be my fans.
It's more than I can ask for. I am very, very grateful and thankful for everyone out there.
KiWiKaKi, for all the ones that don't know already, is in the main event for the World Series of Poker [at the time of the interview]. He was a poker player before, he was a professional poker player, that's how he makes his living. And he's still a professional StarCraft player, it's very inspiring to see him succeed in both these areas of expertise.
Of course, he ran good, he had to run good. He beat out Ace-Ten against Pocket-Kings. You have to be very lucky, but I am sure there were many other times when he was at risk. He does fantastic, a mind-game player, mind-game reader. I expected nothing less of KiWiKaKi.
KiWiKaKi FIGHTING!!!
As a player, with so much casting, you had much less time to practice, and because of that, you have dropped out as a seeded player from MLG. Did it hurt, personally?
No. I don't think so.
You know, the big reason I got into the Top-16 is because of I attended all the MLGs, so a big reason why I was seeded is because I got all those points. To an extent, i deserved it, and to an extend I didn't. I finished top 17th place every single time, so I am very consistent with how far I go in every MLG, so i deserved to be in that spot at that time. However, more players are coming into it, and it is exactly what I expected.
These MLG runs, they have been pretty tough for me and my psyche. I know where I have my problems. It is definitely my style. I just don't have the mechanics to deal with my style, so I do have to change it up.
Maybe I have to go into Special Tactics. White-Ra is teaching me allot of special tactics. He's an invaluable asset in the NASL house. I was asking him, "White-Ra, how do i beat Protoss."
He answers, "Just Push!" [T/N note: actually White-Ra]
Since then, I have been going 30-0 in my TvP.
So you recommend White-Ra as a teacher, a coach?
Oh yes, I endorse White-Ra as a coach and a teacher.
I expected for me to bust out of MLG Top-16. It was a great time, great experience. Will I competing in more MLGs? Absolutely!
I am forever going to be a competitor. Artosis, he's always going to be a competitor. It kills us not to be playing. At the same time, we are still casting. We are seeing all these high level games, so we understand the system so well. We can still grow as players, and keep up to an extent, if we keep up with our casting.
Now I think personally, tangent again, that playing is essentially if you want to be a caster. You cannot be a good analytical caster, if you are not playing at a good level. I have a lot of chance talking to good players about this. The WeMadeFOX manager, Mr. Daniel, he gave me a lot of insight on how the [GSL] commentators train, how to play.
He said, "You have to play. You cannot give up playing. StarCraft casting is just like the schedule you do for StarCraft playing. You have to play as much as possible."
Every single time you cast, you play. That is because you get a good feel of everything: you get a good feel of the maps; you understand what's strong and what's weak; you understand the timings. You know I kept up with it.
One thing I have to start doing is getting into random play, as soon as possible. It is going to be quite challenging. Learning the mechnanics, my muscles have to learn the mechanics, but it'll be pretty awesome. I can't wait.
So for you, it's not about giving up one for the other, you see a synergy between the two roles.
It has to be a synergy. My line of casting... [T/N: equipment failure at this point]
You mentioned the NASL house, you been living there? Since when? How was it?
I have been, since February 4th. It was good. Really, really good. It's the place where the editors and I go and live, and those two - Sen and White-Ra.
It is good to work with people you been living with. I know it sounds crazy, but it gets you so focused. Everybody gets up in the morning, and with only thing on their mind, its the NASL. It's "Let's do this. Let's go!" The continual support from everyone in the house.
People have to realize, that this is a small business, and this is a passion project. We started with 4 people in the NASL , we are now double that. You think other organizations, they have a lot more than 4 or 8 people in it.
(and the volunteers!)
There are great volunteers, such as you Primadog [T/N: \o/]. I highly, highly thank you for everything. You wake up in the morning, you realize this is what you want to do, because you love it. This is the feeling that not many people can say. Not many people can go to work everyday and do whatever, and they're not doing what they love.
I can say for sure that I am doing the number one thing that I love.
It must been tough, moving away from your family like that.
Ya, it is very tough My family are very, very near and dear to my heart I take everything family related very seriously.
My brothers, they actually are able to come out and visit me for the NASL finals. My two brothers, older brother [Sean] and younger brother [Brandon], and they just came to support me.
All the way from Maryland New Jersey?
Jersy shore, fist pump, boom.
TeamLiquid user, ECHOZS, asks, "There has been a feud between you and FXOqxc. Supposely, there are rumours that you'll settle this at Anaheim, in a week. Who will win? Is there underground betting going on between all the pros?
I wouldn't call it a feud. I am not sure it's the exact word. I don't know what's it called, but you know how a bear goes into the stream and there's all these salmons in the water. The bear is just picking up the salmons and eating them. That's me and qxc.
Who's the bear?
Obviously me.
[Glasses] qxc, I am coming for you. [T/N: YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH]
I do have say, I have ligament damage on my right knees, so we may have to postpone it at Anaheim.
Shout-outs?
First and forthmost, huge shout-out to everybody to NASL. We're a family right now, we've grown together, we go out together, it's great. Everything with them is amazing.
Another huge shout-out is to the volunteers. Primadog is one of them [T/N: yours truly is a chat-mod on the NASL channel].
Bee and Alex and...
They're just trying to further ESPORTS as much as possible. It's the same motive that gets me up in the morning. A lot of times people say things, and it really gets me down, and I want this to work. Not NASL in particular, but ESPORTS to work. If NASL is the medium for ESPORTS to succeed, then of course I'll use that. I am very passionate about that and I want it to grow, and of course the volunteers help out.
All you people that are still 50-50 about it or whatever that might be, or whoever that have an open-mind about the NASL, I want to give a huge shout-out to them. At the end of the day, it's us pouring our heart into it and people appreciate it. It's like my baby, you know. Do you appreciate my baby or not? If you do, I love you. If you don't, look at how cute my baby is, you know.
On top of that, I want to give a huge shout-out to the communities.
Of course, TeamLiquid, first and forthmost. I been with you guys since god-knows-when. I have no clue when I started TeamLiquid. I been there forever. I am a TeamLiquidian, and I am proud to be there.
Of course, we have reddit. Just new to it, this year actually. They're very supportative, very awesome people in the community. Again, we been able to turn some heads in reddit as well.
Last, but not least, is WellPlayed. WellPlayed is NASL's community organization. They been doing a fantastic job as well! They've done our Top-10 videos, and they have been awesome, awesome as well. It's really amazing that all these communities converge and support the NASL.
I watched the Grand Finals on the stream. The stream quality for me was excellent, better than most streams I’ve watched. I had recently gotten a new big-screen television and on it I was able to watch a crystal clear, lag-free 1080p stream of people milling around a convention center ballroom, interrupted occasionally by Starcraft matches and silent shots of interviewers trying to turn on microphones.
As an audience interested in the growth of eSports, there is often a lot of commentary on “professionalism,” and whether a particular aspect of an event or stream is “professional.” When a caster says something potentially obscene, or cracks wise at the expense of one of the participants, we hear that it’s “not professional.” When an interview is flubbed, it’s “not professional.” I think this misses the mark wildly. In fact, not only do I think that the substance of the event is far more important than the surface presentation, the perceived “unprofessionalism” of that presentation is actually good for Starcraft II as a spectator sport, and that the NASL Grand Finals illustrate this point well.
There’s always discussion in the forums about what is or isn’t “professional” about an event. The criticisms usually focus on whether a caster says something untoward, either by injecting his personality into the broadcast or by cracking a borderline-obscene joke, or when an interview goes wrong, say, if the interviewer tries to flirt with the player. Basically, people cry professionalism whenever some Starcraft media personality deviates from the superficial norms of traditional sports journalism.
But that doesn’t matter. Just because every sportscaster sounds like Mike Tirico doesn’t mean that sounding like Mike Tirico is the right way to do it. The culture of sports is very bound to tradition -- for example, look at how they’ve received Bill James-style statistical analysis. For those people, “because it’s always been done that way” is a perfectly good justification for every sportscaster sounding exactly alike. Does that person care how professional videogames are presented? In my opinion, there’s no point in appealing to tradition for something distinctly non-traditional. “I’d get into professional Starcraft but for the fact it’s not presented like the old time baseball announcers I love” isn’t something you’re going to hear.
Think about it from the perspective of a person watching Starcraft for the first time. If everything looks exactly like it would on ESPN, the person’s going to think, “Huh, there’s a video game that’s presented just like traditional sports! Isn’t that something?” But if it’s something different, with casters’ personalities coming through during the show, eschewing the “ESPN voice” in favor of whatever they can add to the broadcast through jokes or commentary, the viewer might think, “Oh look, those people are having fun!” There’s a reason to watch even if they don’t know the game inside and out. This isn’t about dumbing the presentation down, either, another boogie man of critics. And we know that. The most revered casters in the game right now are Artosis and Tasteless and their presentation is full of humor and personality and dozens of in-jokes that a casual fan would never get. They're also incredibly knowledgeable, and that knowledge is conveyed to the viewers just as well as their humor.
What makes professional sports professional isn’t video montages, or carefully choreographed post-match interviews, or enthusiastic but painfully-generic commentators. What makes professional sports “professional” is what you don’t see. It’s the organization. The scheduling and production of the broadcasts. What was missing from the NASL Finals -- or at least what appeared to be missing from the stream viewer’s perspective -- was the background work.
There seemed to be a lack of care put into the NASL production. By “lack of care,” I don’t mean that the people working at it don’t feel strongly about what they’re doing and want it to succeed. They wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t love it. The “care” to which I’m referring is more like “prudence” or “attention.” The website was difficult to navigate, and early in the season the VODs were poorly organized and if you managed to find them, they were often spoilered. It was quite a task to find the format of the league, and the standings were often incorrect. Sure, we could go to the Liquipedia, but shouldn’t it be on the site? It seemed like no one had considered the question of how a fan or viewer interacts with the league. I’ve already discussed the format, but as the Open Qualifier progressed, the information was impossible to find and often changed by the hour. It didn’t seem thought through, and they certainly didn’t have answers ready for fans who wanted to know what was going on.
I can imagine the brainstorm session when the Grand Finals were being planned: “We’ll have a musical number!” “Let’s do interviews with the competitors!” “Cool recap videos for each of the players!” “Look at this awesome soundboard!” “It’ll be like the Super Bowl!” And then they did all those things. But did anybody asked the boring questions of whether it was all going to work. Did anybody know how to use the soundboard to switch between microphones reasonably quickly? What was the procedure for getting a competitor’s equipment out of the booth and getting the next competitor’s equipment in? Have we checked for drivers? What happens if a match is over very quickly and you have to burn 40 minutes before the next one? The final production had a lot of flash, but it looked like something that was trying really hard to look like a professional sport, rather than trying really hard to make everything run smoothly.
One final note: you can’t re-schedule a live event early! It just doesn’t work. I assume the NASL team realized that the hours of fluff before the Championship match were going to drag on interminably. But the solution is to address that in the next tournament. The hardest core of fans -- those who check TL.net, reddit, or other media sources that posted the time change -- were informed and could act accordingly, but they were going to watch the whole thing anyway. How many people arranged their day to catch the Championship match only to tune in two hours late? Please tell me that at least someone in the NASL team realized this was a terrible, terrible idea? Or maybe that it was a plot to get people to pay for the VODs? I don’t know; would that be better?
Despite this, I’m excited about Season Two. All this can be fixed. If the NASL wants to take into consideration the fan experience, there’s a lot of feedback out there. (Was there a thread on Day 1 in the SC2 Tournaments forum?) They fixed a lot of issues in the course of the first season, and by all accounts, they’re determined to keep improving. And the stuff that went wrong can be fixed -- now they know what works and what doesn’t; it’s just a matter of implementation. Conveniently, they’re in Southern California; I don’t think there’s any place in the world with a higher concentration of people with experience producing and broadcasting events. And here’s the best news: we have at least two more seasons of NASL! They have a lot of the hard stuff done: fantastic players, an incredible schedule of games, and tremendous on-air talent. They just have to iron out the bureaucratic stuff and to hire some people to make sure that, after next season’s Grand Finals, we don’t even know they’re there.
Wow amazing write up and conclusion to a great tournament. I have to say that NASL has got to be my favorite going into the future. The mistakes made were terrible, but this was their first go at a live event, and it was still incredible. I'm wicked excited to see what they will have in store for us in season 2. Gonna be great!
I don't understand how you can ignore their faults just because they got LUCKY and had an amazing finals. The production was crap. The epicness of a finals is not a result of the tournament organizers.
My biggest problem was that I payed 25$ to watch the NASL on VODs, but the streaming service doesn't really work for me. It has to buffer for 10-20 minutes which is quite unreasonable. I am not going to buy a ticket if there is a second NASL.
(I have a 25mbit connection (both upload and download) and have no problems watching youtube 1080p vods, or the HQ VODs from the GSL.)
man white-ra is such a baller "do you have any shoutouts?" "yeah, i'd like to shout out to the whole community. not just sc1, wc3, or other rts players, or even other esports players, but growing the community even beyond that" when's the last time you heard a pro say something like that in an interview?
On July 20 2011 05:34 bigbeau wrote: I don't understand how you can ignore their faults just because they got LUCKY and had an amazing finals. The production was crap. The epicness of a finals is not a result of the tournament organizers.
I agree with this, the tournament was saved by such an epic finals had those games been a 4-0 cheesefest NASL would probably be remembered as the worst tournament in history :s i am however cautiously optimistic about season 2, if they do follow up on their word and improve ill be happy to support them but if its another catastrophy i will lose all faith in them and their ability to learn from mistakes.
On the topic of the write up its great and detailed me likey, also nothing tops the awesomeness that is white-ra <3333
I'm so proud of you guys for putting this together :3 - amazing coverage. Also note at 01:45 in shindigs interview with Lindsey Sporrer - Tasteless walks by causing shindigs to lose all interest in the Beauty Queen hahaha. Power of ESPORTS.
On July 20 2011 05:47 Kennigit wrote: I'm so proud of you guys for putting this together :3 - amazing coverage. Also note at 01:45 in shindigs interview with Lindsey Sporrer - Tasteless walks by causing shindigs to lose all interest in the Beauty Queen hahaha. Power of ESPORTS.
On July 20 2011 05:34 bigbeau wrote: I don't understand how you can ignore their faults just because they got LUCKY and had an amazing finals. The production was crap. The epicness of a finals is not a result of the tournament organizers.
I agree with this, the tournament was saved by such an epic finals had those games been a 4-0 cheesefest NASL would probably be remembered as the worst tournament in history :s i am however cautiously optimistic about season 2, if they do follow up on their word and improve ill be happy to support them but if its another catastrophy i will lose all faith in them and their ability to learn from mistakes.
On the topic of the write up its great and detailed me likey, also nothing tops the awesomeness that is white-ra <3333
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
On July 20 2011 05:47 Kennigit wrote: I'm so proud of you guys for putting this together :3 - amazing coverage. Also note at 01:45 in shindigs interview with Lindsey Sporrer - Tasteless walks by causing shindigs to lose all interest in the Beauty Queen hahaha. Power of ESPORTS.
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
What you have to realize is the GSL has an amazing budget, years of experience and is run by a TV station. NASL is literally a start up, zero past experience and learn pretty fast on the fly. Three make up artists to cover two people seems slightly extravagant.
I don't wanna seem like a negative Nancy, but how much proofreading do the editors do for the user-submitted articles? To me, it just seems sloppy to have so many grammatical errors in an article meant for the front page of TeamLiquid. In particular, Emytherel's piece on the seventh game of the finals is riddled with such errors.
I don't mean to put anyone down in any way; the content submitted is wonderful. I just would like an honest response. How much proofreading do you guys do, and how thorough are you? Do Waxangel and the gang all edit articles, or is it the onus of the writer himself to fix his work?
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
What you have to realize is the GSL has an amazing budget, years of experience and is run by a TV station. NASL is literally a start up, zero past experience and learn pretty fast on the fly. Three make up artists to cover two people seems slightly extravagant.
Also remember that the first few seasons of GSL didn't go particularly smoothly either. The stream was laggy as hell, the production wasn't great and the games were flat out awful. All that from a TV channel with dare i say 1000 times more experience and money behind them.
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
What you have to realize is the GSL has an amazing budget, years of experience and is run by a TV station. NASL is literally a start up, zero past experience and learn pretty fast on the fly. Three make up artists to cover two people seems slightly extravagant.
Then don't hype it up and lie and say it's going to be amazing and don't charge people to watch VODs and HQ streams.
I can agree with the criticism about the 'professionalism' of the NASL in a few areas but disagree with others. The scheduling and planning of all of the NASL was extremely ambitious and I would have to wager it staffed by a decent number of people who were "off to their first rodeo". This is fine, anyone who's ever been in a professional environment can understand this. Those who have ever worked in advertising/broadcast industry can understand this even better.
But because the packaging of your product is so important in planning and execution, I think NASL should have maybe pared off a little off the prize purse in order to spend a little more in the experience department.
This product could be delivered to the audience at a cost to both the audience and the provider (e.g. NASL/GSL, any other pay-per-view entertainment) or the product could be delivered just simply at the cost of a provider but in the hopes of generating profits (e.g. superbowl commercials, broadcast advertising in general).
In either case, you want the "package" to be robust enough that not only it will give people they are getting what their moneys worth, but you also need to keep sponsors happy. It's a pretty simple concept that the more polished and refined your product is, the better it will sell and the more attractive it will look to both consumers and sponsors. Seeing as how without sponsors professional gaming would be dead in its tracks. The more notoriety you get for your product the better the outcome for everyone.
On air personalities, presentation, video segments and montages DO make a difference. They weave storylines (elective affinity) which allow people to become more engaged in what they are about to watch, have you ever seen a movie without even seeing a trailer of any kind?
As far as on-air personalities are concerned, I don't agree that it's ok to have some freewheeling announcer who is making wisecracks constantly or being off-base with comments (Jason Bateman in Dodgeball). I think anyone who says that this is ok is both naive and immature. Unfortunately it's hard to look at pro video games because the content is already received as juvenile and the community is made up of tweens, teens, and manchildren, but I think over time this will change as audiences get older. At the end of the day, your on-air personalities are part of your package and you don't want them to polarize your audience because that's both traffic and revenue you may be alienating. I can remember a lot of discussions on SOTG with Incontrol defending NASL's problems with a naivete of someone who just simply didn't yet have the experience of what this industry was. I'll recall the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry and George discuss George's future jobs:
GEORGE: I like sports. I could do something in sports.
JERRY: Uh-huh. Uh-huh. In what capacity?
GEORGE: You know, like the general manager of a baseball team or something.
JERRY: Yeah. Well, that - that could be tough to get.
GEORGE: Well, it doesn't even have to be the general manager. Maybe I could be like, an announcer. Like a caller man. You know how I always make those interesting comments during the game.
JERRY: Yeah. Yeah. You make good comments.
GEORGE: What about that?
JERRY: Well, they tend to give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people that are, you know, in broadcasting.
GEORGE: Well, that's really not fair.
As time went on I saw his arguments becoming a little more mature as he finally understood what is required of someone in that position.
Those things are important and to circle back to my main point, keeping both your audience and sponsors happy are what your business essentially is.
The bit about the website is a perfect example that goes beyond just the website. It's an organization and presentation of information, how you present information on screen both visually and audibly is what you are delivering to an audience.
I think this recap is good, I think the fact that he NASL was so ambitious was part of its problem. After a while I just simply stopped following until the season was winding down. This was essentially the MLB of starcraft. Exciting opening day and May, then summer hits and no one cares until the playoff races.
Best of luck to the NASL in the coming season, I think a lot of kinks are going to be ironed out.
As an addendum of where I am coming from, I'm 3300pt Grandmaster in the advertising industry with experience in broadcast, I've worked on television shows (both live and pretaped) and have been in the industry for years now. If my younger-fresh-out-of-college self walked into my editing suite now, green with ideas and romanticized views of the industry I would have a very long sit down with him as I do any interns I ever have to work with. And that's what I think the NASL is, the new kid on the block, or the guy in his first year at a new job, after interning in a similar field for 3 months and ready to gnaw off a piece of the acton.
It's actually quite disrespectful for WhiteRa to be blatantly texting/using his phone during an interview...I know the community loves him and I do to, but the picture seems wrong to me.
THIS IS SO GOOD kudos to all the writers and everyone involved and the white-ra vid at the end was just the perfect icing for the article! ^___^ esports hwaiting
On July 20 2011 06:28 StyLeD wrote: It's actually quite disrespectful for WhiteRa to be blatantly texting/using his phone during an interview...I know the community loves him and I do to, but the picture seems wrong to me.
On July 20 2011 06:28 StyLeD wrote: It's actually quite disrespectful for WhiteRa to be blatantly texting/using his phone during an interview...I know the community loves him and I do to, but the picture seems wrong to me.
To me, it dosn't seem like he's not noticing that he's being filmed - The videocamera seems to be just lying on the table?
I am getting major chills at the barcraft stories! Esports is my biggest hobby, and it is a dream to have it on television, and commonly accepted as a sport.
With our continued devotion it will happen.
Also. I don't know why Time has not nominated Day(9) as the 100 most important persons, because he is very important for me, and I KNOW he is important for a lot of other people as well!!
<3 to the community, GREAT writeup.
Seeing HuK win dreamhack, MC vs Puma, Ive never had that feeling since Manchester United - Bayern München in 1999.
Is this NASL verdict serious? The only main "ugly" things mentioned were poor audio (agreed), long time (agreed), and the JTV complaining chat?
The "complaining" JTV chat made so many valid points. A lot of paying customers said they weren't going to spend money on a season 2 pass because of overall poor organization, wtf video production, and the the long (well over 1 hour) delay for the tournament to start. No official statement, aside from JTV chat mods, was made on the website or easily visible location. Announcing the delay reasons (projector) in the JTV was a horrible idea because of how active it is and people will just miss it.
On July 20 2011 06:39 PcH wrote: Is this NASL verdict serious? The only main "ugly" things mentioned were poor audio (agreed), long time (agreed), and the JTV complaining chat?
The "complaining" JTV chat made so many valid points. A lot of paying customers said they weren't going to spend money on a season 2 pass because of overall poor organization, wtf video production, and the the long (well over 1 hour) delay for the tournament to start. No official statement, aside from JTV chat mods, was made on the website or easily visible location. Announcing the delay reasons (projector) in the JTV was a horrible idea because of how active it is and people will just miss it.
I await my warning for this post.
You know, your post would have been completely fine if you hadn't put in that last sentence. >_>
On July 20 2011 06:39 PcH wrote: Is this NASL verdict serious? The only main "ugly" things mentioned were poor audio (agreed), long time (agreed), and the JTV complaining chat?
The "complaining" JTV chat made so many valid points. A lot of paying customers said they weren't going to spend money on a season 2 pass because of overall poor organization, wtf video production, and the the long (well over 1 hour) delay for the tournament to start. No official statement, aside from JTV chat mods, was made on the website or easily visible location. Announcing the delay reasons (projector) in the JTV was a horrible idea because of how active it is and people will just miss it.
I await my warning for this post.
I don't think you're all that unreasonable. I mean, there were a lot of areas of improvement. Some of the glaring mistakes were rather large and I was pretty annoyed at the no-sound-at-all-interviews. But I think if we just take a step back, I think we can all just give NASL another chance. I mean, they deserve it. They did put quite some work into this and just completely dismissing them the very first time seems a bit premature. But you don't have to worry, if this happens in Season 2, it won't just be JTV's chat that will turn ugly.
On July 20 2011 06:39 PcH wrote: Is this NASL verdict serious? The only main "ugly" things mentioned were poor audio (agreed), long time (agreed), and the JTV complaining chat?
The "complaining" JTV chat made so many valid points. A lot of paying customers said they weren't going to spend money on a season 2 pass because of overall poor organization, wtf video production, and the the long (well over 1 hour) delay for the tournament to start. No official statement, aside from JTV chat mods, was made on the website or easily visible location. Announcing the delay reasons (projector) in the JTV was a horrible idea because of how active it is and people will just miss it.
I await my warning for this post.
You know, your post would have been completely fine if you hadn't put in that last sentence. >_>
Yeah, it's so face-palm worthy when people do that. I don't get it.
Nice write up, however at this stage I am convinced the only redeeming feature of NASL Season 1 was the final games, and that has nothing to do with production and everything to do with the players themselves.
Wish them better luck for Season 2, but I'll be watching from a distance.
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
What you have to realize is the GSL has an amazing budget, years of experience and is run by a TV station. NASL is literally a start up, zero past experience and learn pretty fast on the fly. Three make up artists to cover two people seems slightly extravagant.
Also remember that the first few seasons of GSL didn't go particularly smoothly either. The stream was laggy as hell, the production wasn't great and the games were flat out awful. All that from a TV channel with dare i say 1000 times more experience and money behind them.
You mean the stream that was fixed within one week, production from open season 1 that will be better then NASL will probably ever be and the fact that SC2 was 1 month old when open season 1 started which would most likely attribute for those bad games? >_>
On July 20 2011 06:28 StyLeD wrote: It's actually quite disrespectful for WhiteRa to be blatantly texting/using his phone during an interview...I know the community loves him and I do to, but the picture seems wrong to me.
absolutely stunning coverage. Ty so much to all that contributed... gretorp is dead-the-fuck-on btw.. he is a really smart dude. Hope he shines in season 2 even more cause he deserves it. One of the absolutely hardest working people in eSports.
Amazing article however there is something I don't agree with, it's in the "What you see is what you don't get" part.
Think about it from the perspective of a person watching Starcraft for the first time. If everything looks exactly like it would on ESPN, the person’s going to think, “Huh, there’s a video game that’s presented just like traditional sports! Isn’t that something?” But if it’s something different, with casters’ personalities coming through during the show, eschewing the “ESPN voice” in favor of whatever they can add to the broadcast through jokes or commentary, the viewer might think, “Oh look, those people are having fun!”
I'd like to know how you came up with this. It might be convenient for your article's consistency but it does not make sense to me, in fact I think this is quite an assumptive statement.
Other than that, very interesting read.
In my opinion NASL could have been a total failure. Fortunately they had good casters (tastosis9) as well as good players who showed good games.
also I may have spotted a couple typos here and there but nothing serious (a couple of missing letters and such)
The live performance as part of 'the good'? Was I really the only one hiding under my couch when that was happening?
Great writeup, but I'm pretty sure that if the finals had been a one-sided walkover, NASL wouldn't be judged half as kindly. And that's fine, the best moment in any competition should be the actual games, not the bullshit around it.
1st news post I've read in agesssssss. Nice wrapup I definitely agree with pretty much everything. But for me the worst was the 10 games in 12 hours crap. The audio problems sucked but I think it was more of the fact that it continued to suck. The other problems just sucked from the get go.
i find it funny however that confusedcrib mentions the justintv chat as a negative, pretty much every single chat channel of any stream ever has a huge number of idiots on it, it's not just because nasl had issues. for example huk's chat is unwatchable
Easy to say that the league/NASL staff did not do a single thing right. Stream lag all season, culminating in an unwatchable day 2/3 of the finals and a 2 hour delay (with no explanation) on day 1. Audio problems all season, culminating in single-eared listening for the finals. Game pauses/re-starts/forfeits all season, culminating in constant pausing and re-starting throughout the finals, even in the championship bo7.
There is an obvious problem with Gretorp casting, being that he says the wrong word frequently, and is terribly awkward and corny. The quality of casting during the finals was greatly improved by adding day9 and tasteosis.
The high prize pool has attracted basically all non-korean SCII players that I am interested in watching. This gives the NASL with tremendous potential, which was not remotely realized in season 1.
All in all, trying to follow season 1 of the NASL was highly frustrating and deeply disappointing. The the lag, audio, and casting issues are resolved, I would be very excited to watch season 2. Based on the failure that was the NASL finals, I am pessimistic.
This write-up might have been the one with most content to sort through.
The one thing about NASL that was the biggest fault for me was the 10 matches in 12 hours. That's simply ridiculous and I think pretty much everyone who was tuning into the stream was irritated by that. But here's hoping for a successful Season 2!
When it was first announced that Sunday's events would be kicking off with a live performance, I think we all braced for the worst. GSL's live performances are something we all begrudgingly sit through to get to the games.
So not true! I love the GSL live performances! Not only cause I can tolerate the music, but also because it makes the whole event seem like that much of a bigger deal.
I watched the Grand Finals on the stream. The stream quality for me was excellent, better than most streams I’ve watched. I had recently gotten a new big-screen television and on it I was able to watch a crystal clear, lag-free 1080p stream of people milling around a convention center ballroom, interrupted occasionally by Starcraft matches and silent shots of interviewers trying to turn on microphones.
i don't know.... somebody else who has experienced something else?
On July 20 2011 06:57 iNcontroL wrote: absolutely stunning coverage. Ty so much to all that contributed... gretorp is dead-the-fuck-on btw.. he is a really smart dude. Hope he shines in season 2 even more cause he deserves it. One of the absolutely hardest working people in eSports.
<3
There is a huge contingent of SCII/NASL watchers hoping Gretop or someone who runs/staffs the NASL awakes to the fact that he is a distinctly bad caster, and finds someone less cringe-inducing for season 2.
I know its that it's NASLs first time and all, but did they even look at what AWESOME tournaments (like Dreamhack Invitational) looked like before they started sketching on this? Compared to aforementioned tournament, NASL was a disaster and extremely poorly executed on every level. I felt embarrassed watching it.
On July 20 2011 07:39 The Void wrote: Without Day9, without Tasteless, without Artosis... this all were NOTHING. Just sayin... forgive me day9
without the fans, the players, or TL, this is all NOTHING as well, so I fail to see your point. The "success" of NASL finals is more about E-SPORTS' unrelenting momentum than any particular person or organization's strengths or failings. That's the whole reason why this article's centerpiece is BarCraft rather than NASL - we are no longer basement dwelling nerds, we are suave sociable creatures whom also enjoys a little beer and game (of a different nature).
I felt like tha NASL had some of the most dissappointing production value but the quality of the games in the final tourney days were insane. Very mixed feelings about the league
For me, the greatest problem with NASL was the stream lagging in some regions through the season and specially in the finals (definitely wasn't an isolated problem, as several people reported the same kind of lag at the same times) and poor costumer support when dealing with those issues.
I could live with a bad stream for a good tournament if they promised to eventually fix things, but watching how they handled the many issues in this league just made me lose faith. The impression I had is that they have no clue on what they are doing as a professional business, even though they are good people with good intentions.
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential.
On July 20 2011 07:47 DontGiveUp wrote: For me, the greatest problem with NASL was the stream lagging in some regions through the season and specially in the finals (definitely wasn't an isolated problem, as several people reported the same kind of lag at the same times) and poor costumer support when dealing with those issues.
I could live with a bad stream for a good tournament if they promised to eventually fix things, but watching how they handled the many issues in this league just made me lose faith. The impression I had is that they have no clue on what they are doing as a professional business, even though they are good people with good intentions.
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential.
I can't be sure, but I think that the stream lag was a regional justin.tv prob?
despite the disaster that was Season 1 of NASL, i am optimistic for the future. NASL literally made all the mistakes possible short of burning down the studio, and i think all the criticism will act as huge motivation to improve things for the better the second time round. Have faith guys!
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential. [/QUOTE]
I can't be sure, but I think that the stream lag was a regional justin.tv prob?[/QUOTE]
The stream lag was a constant problem all season and all championship tourney
On July 20 2011 07:47 DontGiveUp wrote: For me, the greatest problem with NASL was the stream lagging in some regions through the season and specially in the finals (definitely wasn't an isolated problem, as several people reported the same kind of lag at the same times) and poor costumer support when dealing with those issues.
I could live with a bad stream for a good tournament if they promised to eventually fix things, but watching how they handled the many issues in this league just made me lose faith. The impression I had is that they have no clue on what they are doing as a professional business, even though they are good people with good intentions.
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential.
I can't be sure, but I think that the stream lag was a regional justin.tv prob?
Speaking from my experience as one of the chat mods, regional lag still occur on Justin.tv. It has improved quite a bit since the first few weeks, especially in the European region, but still suffers in Finland region and severely in Asia.
On the bright side, since TheGunRun became JTV staff, they have become much more responsive with load balancing to help resolve these issues. That's not just for NASL, but for every other stream as well.
What saved the NASL from being a complete disaster and being remembered as "that which shall not be spoken of" were the amazingly brilliant games played during the grand finals. So more or less the players saved the whole organisatorical stupidity. However this is not something one can rely on in the long run, so the NASL better get their stuff running.
On July 20 2011 07:42 Scrandom wrote: I felt like tha NASL had some of the most dissappointing production value but the quality of the games in the final tourney days were insane. Very mixed feelings about the league
The game quality really helped out NASL. I mean, without those epic Bo5s and Bo7s, I don't know if ppl will be so forgiving.
NASL season 1 was great. Although I might still buy an hd pass just get access to the vast amount of vods, if they had killed the production in the finals I would DEFINITELY be buying one instead of debating about buying one. Here's to hoping they figure it out in season 2
I don't particularly care what strides they make in improving production value, stream quality, caster performance or anything of the like, if next season's finale is set to take 16 great players and play 16 matches over 3 days, I'm out now.
On July 20 2011 07:47 DontGiveUp wrote: For me, the greatest problem with NASL was the stream lagging in some regions through the season and specially in the finals (definitely wasn't an isolated problem, as several people reported the same kind of lag at the same times) and poor costumer support when dealing with those issues.
I could live with a bad stream for a good tournament if they promised to eventually fix things, but watching how they handled the many issues in this league just made me lose faith. The impression I had is that they have no clue on what they are doing as a professional business, even though they are good people with good intentions.
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential.
I can't be sure, but I think that the stream lag was a regional justin.tv prob?
I also can't know for sure, but during the finals there were people complaining about the same kind of lag (heavy spikes during games, but not during interviews) and they were from different regions.
Than again, having a lagged stream during a weekend is a big issue, but not the end of the world. It's just that, for me, that was the tipping point after an accumulation of other problems.
On July 20 2011 07:47 DontGiveUp wrote: For me, the greatest problem with NASL was the stream lagging in some regions through the season and specially in the finals (definitely wasn't an isolated problem, as several people reported the same kind of lag at the same times) and poor costumer support when dealing with those issues.
I could live with a bad stream for a good tournament if they promised to eventually fix things, but watching how they handled the many issues in this league just made me lose faith. The impression I had is that they have no clue on what they are doing as a professional business, even though they are good people with good intentions.
My verdict: skeptical and disappointed. It would take a MLG-esque comeback to make me buy another ticket, but I don't see it happening with their organization. Best of luck for them, though, the idea of an american based starleague has so much potential.
I can't be sure, but I think that the stream lag was a regional justin.tv prob?
I also can't know for sure, but during the finals there were people complaining about the same kind of lag (heavy spikes during games, but not during interviews) and they were from different regions.
Than again, having a lagged stream during a weekend is a big issue, but not the end of the world. It's just that, for me, that was the tipping point after an accumulation of other problems.
Very true. Occasional stream lagging is somewhat acceptable, but the other major errors that seriously took away from the enjoyment of the event should be addressed. No doubt in my mind NASL won't trip over hte same rock twice.
I think, though the reactions in this thread are pretty diverse, the response is clear. The NASL got a mixed verdict. It got off on the weightier charges, but will still be doing some significant community service.
I thought this recap did a good job of covering the multiple angles of this event. This being the North American Starleague, and the heftiest portion of TL staff being from the US, this was definitely the most extensive coverage we've gotten. And whatever weaknesses in "TV-sports-ness" the NASL might've had, it really showed the strength of this growing community. Well done to all the writers involved.
Thanks for the positive responses everyone! I just got the off the phone, and guess which community got another video interview with White-Ra on the 24th? XD
No, I am not going to hand out White-Ra's cellphone number.
I'm one of those that feel the NASL overhyped and under-delivered. I understand that they're inexperienced and have pure intentions, but that doesn't exempt them. The grand finals may have produced an excellent final series, but the rest was, imo, a really big mess. I'm optimistic that they've learned from this though, as their streams were very rough to start as well, but became quite good after a bit, and I hope their next live event improves in the same way.
On July 20 2011 08:36 OPL3SA2 wrote: "He told me if I wanted to set it, up he'd be ok with it."
How does a typo like that occur? (without being dyslexic)
Shit happens, everyone has typos that make it to print once in a while.
Well, as long as Season II can roll around with significantly improved quality, I'm sold. I won't hold Season I against them if they use it as a test run for what could go wrong.
Were some great games, but concerns about invitations proves correct; some of the matches were just boosters to my lackluster liquibetting percentage.
I couldn't agree with you more about professionalism in starcraft 2. Who cares if its not like a major sporting event. This is a new age and it calls for new rules and traditions.
Amazing writeup, read it all :o The part about professionalism is perfect. Gretorp seems to be....a special person. Like the Jean Claude Van Dame of ESPORTS.
On July 20 2011 08:33 Primadog wrote: Thanks for the positive responses everyone! I just got the off the phone, and guess which community got another video interview with White-Ra on the 24th? XD
No, I am not going to hand out White-Ra's cellphone number.
That's a korean restaurant right? Man I wish they had more of those over here.
Great write-up I think it summed up the whole tourney pretty well. I was one of the people who paid for NASL season 1 and when everything clicked they really looked like they wanted to be the premier SC2 tourney in NA. When it didn't work it usually blew up spectacularly. Overall I was happy with the money I spent and will gladly pay for season 2. I also have to say, kudos to NASL for going with their "homegrown" team in the finals. Geoff and Andre put in a lot of time this season and arguably sacrificed a lot to consistently cast the ton of games that NASL put out. They earned their time on the big stage. I think the two of them really developed some nice chemistry this season and how much they've grown as casters was on display at the finals.
There's no denying that day 1 was awful. From the 2 hour delay, to having no audio for a good part of the broadcast, it was shoddy. But to be perfectly honest with you, by the time we reached the grand final I didn't even care about all of that. The crowd, the commentators and the quality/intensity of the final games generated so much energy, you couldn't help but be excited.
And for all the crap InControl and Gretorp have received (I'll admit, I'm not their biggest fans with regards to commentary), they did an INCREDIBLE job in the grand finals. I dare someone to find a single complaint. People kicked and screamed for Tastosis, but these two were actually fantastic.
Personally, I can't wait for Season 2.
EDIT: Oooh, forgot to say - like everyone else, I'm quite disappointed that it was only single elimination. But hey, it was a building/learning experience. The next one will be better, it's inevitable.
I have to agree strongly with the article on professionalism. A professional sound engineer or producer or any of the other background staff is one that nobody thinks about whatsoever. I'm fairly sad that NASL either didn't employ the right people or couldn't afford to or what, because there were some clear issues when it came to professionalism. In fact, the defence for poor professionalism often seemed to be "Well this is really difficult and we're doing our best", which seems to essentially be admitting that you're not really professionals.
Still, people can be crazily harsh. Personal attacks are really unwarranted. I find it hard to question the dedication and desire to create a good product even if there were big issues, and that at least should be commended. The failure came in biting off more than those involved could chew, and if over ambition is the worst quality of an organisation then it's something I can forgive so long as they learn from it.
Overall, I'm glad I didn't pay for anything, especially considering I missed some of the finals because of genuinely the most ridiculous scheduling ever (the second worst thing you can do with scheduling is have hours of dead air, the very worst is trying to rectify that by showing things TWO HOURS EARLY when you haven't done that at all before) but I appreciate the effort that went into it and enjoyed a lot of the games. I won't be paying for NASL2 either because I simply don't trust that they'll do a good enough job yet, but I'll certainly be watching and hoping they succeed.
You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
On July 20 2011 10:39 hmunkey wrote: You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
On July 20 2011 10:39 hmunkey wrote: You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
Yeah..
On the day of the finals I had set aside the issues from the entire season and the first two days. I hadn't forgotten but I wasn't going to let them spoil a potentially exciting finale. Then, as I was watching the losers final I got a call from my sister asking for help. Without a moments consideration for the epic finals and production quality I got up and left, coming back to see the final game. I later watched the VODs.
As you can guess, I was not the least bit invested to see the finals after being let down so many times. If I was free I'd have watched every single game live but you can only push so far before I just don't care. There's a lot of tournaments out there and I don't have to watch if my most notable memory is 10game/12hour
You could have guessed it but the only article that captured how I felt accurately was by jimlloyd. I apologize for bringing negativity to this thread, I have high hopes for season 2. But this is how I feel.
Not that game 7 of MC vs. Puma wasn't epic, it's just that the whole series was so incredible that you can't say that game seven was the highlight of the whole series.
On July 20 2011 10:27 Dox wrote: There's no denying that day 1 was awful. From the 2 hour delay, to having no audio for a good part of the broadcast, it was shoddy. But to be perfectly honest with you, by the time we reached the grand final I didn't even care about all of that. The crowd, the commentators and the quality/intensity of the final games generated so much energy, you couldn't help but be excited.
And for all the crap InControl and Gretorp have received (I'll admit, I'm not their biggest fans with regards to commentary), they did an INCREDIBLE job in the grand finals. I dare someone to find a single complaint. People kicked and screamed for Tastosis, but these two were actually fantastic.
Personally, I can't wait for Season 2.
EDIT: Oooh, forgot to say - like everyone else, I'm quite disappointed that it was only single elimination. But hey, it was a building/learning experience. The next one will be better, it's inevitable.
Agreed with absolutely everything you said lol. The atmosphere was electric and as good as any event so far, and Gretorp and Incontrol REALLY stepped up for the grand finals. Superb commentary, really loved it. The finals, the semi finals were all unbelievable series...I was just in love with this event. They need to work on their production, but I'm optimistic that they'll do that And yeah, double elimintation should be considered for season 2!!
On July 20 2011 11:30 Retgery wrote: Not that game 7 of MC vs. Puma wasn't epic, it's just that the whole series was so incredible that you can't say that game seven was the highlight of the whole series.
I selected it because it was a fitting feature game to go with the theme "the ends justify the means", I did even note in my parting words that it arguably wasn't the best game ;p
It's inevitable that season 1 had hiccups. So what? You can whine about it all day, but it's indisputable that they had some of the best players in the world, playing some awesome matches, as long as we have that, everything else will fall in line. Season 2's production values will be much better, these are smart people, they will learn from their mistakes. I can't wait. Great job NASL, my $25 well spent and looking forward to more.
Ohhh man what i would do for a Barcraft group in Western Australia... Hell what i would do for some friends in WA who were into the SC scene... Awesome write up and reviews love the work going into the scene these days... I'll continueing watching every event from home cheering on all the nerd ballers! much <3
On July 20 2011 05:47 Kennigit wrote: I'm so proud of you guys for putting this together :3 - amazing coverage. Also note at 01:45 in shindigs interview with Lindsey Sporrer - Tasteless walks by causing shindigs to lose all interest in the Beauty Queen hahaha. Power of ESPORTS.
I deny nothing and stand by my actions.
Good man, we understand and wish we were in your position too.
On July 20 2011 05:34 bigbeau wrote: I don't understand how you can ignore their faults just because they got LUCKY and had an amazing finals. The production was crap. The epicness of a finals is not a result of the tournament organizers.
I agree with this, the tournament was saved by such an epic finals had those games been a 4-0 cheesefest NASL would probably be remembered as the worst tournament in history :s i am however cautiously optimistic about season 2, if they do follow up on their word and improve ill be happy to support them but if its another catastrophy i will lose all faith in them and their ability to learn from mistakes.
On the topic of the write up its great and detailed me likey, also nothing tops the awesomeness that is white-ra <3333
Yeah, great games awful tournament... I hope they halve the prize pool and put that money into proffesional help. Tastosis recently said GSL has 3 make up artists on staff... 3 make up artists, while i get the impression NASL did a shoutout on IRC and grabbed the first 10 people volounteering. The difference in production is just astonishing, for me to be interested in the future they need to rethink their budget big-time.
I am soundy pessimistic about season 2, but they did power thru the first season despite all troube so... I am cautiosly optimistic about season 3.
If the 3 make-up artists artists are the main point with which you compare GSL and NASL, sir, then I'll direct you to this thread. Just scroll down to the feature.
Barcraft is something I'd like to start here, if possible. Maybe open my own cafe and put in the TVs and stuff. ESPORTS fan forever.
On July 20 2011 12:29 BlackMTsidE wrote: It's inevitable that season 1 had hiccups. So what? You can whine about it all day, but it's indisputable that they had some of the best players in the world, playing some awesome matches, as long as we have that, everything else will fall in line. Season 2's production values will be much better, these are smart people, they will learn from their mistakes. I can't wait. Great job NASL, my $25 well spent and looking forward to more.
They didn't even have the best players in the world though. They invited so many average foreigners and even some of the koreans that were invited (ace, squirtle, Boxer) just aren't that good. The only code s players were zenio, Nada, July and MC iirc. If they actually had mkp, mvp, nestea, sc, losira, etc then you could say they had the best players. They had a subpar player lineup and a terrible production plan for a tournament this hyped with this much prize money.
I don't think he said "all of the best players in the world'. And Losira and sc aren't that good. The person to watch is Byun. Also, don't diss their production plan, they've done way more for the community than most of us have.
On July 20 2011 12:29 BlackMTsidE wrote: It's inevitable that season 1 had hiccups. So what? You can whine about it all day, but it's indisputable that they had some of the best players in the world, playing some awesome matches, as long as we have that, everything else will fall in line. Season 2's production values will be much better, these are smart people, they will learn from their mistakes. I can't wait. Great job NASL, my $25 well spent and looking forward to more.
They didn't even have the best players in the world though. They invited so many average foreigners and even some of the koreans that were invited (ace, squirtle, Boxer) just aren't that good. The only code s players were zenio, Nada, July and MC iirc. If they actually had mkp, mvp, nestea, sc, losira, etc then you could say they had the best players. They had a subpar player lineup and a terrible production plan for a tournament this hyped with this much prize money.
Really nice writeup! You can whine all you want about NASL but they are still the reason there even was a Puma vs. MC Bo7 which everyone can agree was amazing.
On July 20 2011 12:29 BlackMTsidE wrote: It's inevitable that season 1 had hiccups. So what? You can whine about it all day, but it's indisputable that they had some of the best players in the world, playing some awesome matches, as long as we have that, everything else will fall in line. Season 2's production values will be much better, these are smart people, they will learn from their mistakes. I can't wait. Great job NASL, my $25 well spent and looking forward to more.
They didn't even have the best players in the world though. They invited so many average foreigners and even some of the koreans that were invited (ace, squirtle, Boxer) just aren't that good. The only code s players were zenio, Nada, July and MC iirc. If they actually had mkp, mvp, nestea, sc, losira, etc then you could say they had the best players. They had a subpar player lineup and a terrible production plan for a tournament this hyped with this much prize money.
Yeah, I know they were missing some of the best Koreans, I didn't say they had ALL the best players. Yes, we all know they could have planned and executed it better, my point was that this was pretty damn good for a first time out putting on an event of this scale, and the quality of the play was there. I'm thinking we'll see a jump in quality similar to MLG dallas to colombus. Everyone bitched about Dallas, but then Columbus was fantastic.
Awesome write up, hopefully theyll start a "barcraft" type thing in pittsburgh some time, that'd be awesome. Also great interviews, probably the first 30 minute interview i've actually watched the whole way through.
On July 20 2011 13:42 PHILtheTANK wrote: Awesome write up, hopefully theyll start a "barcraft" type thing in pittsburgh some time, that'd be awesome. Also great interviews, probably the first 30 minute interview i've actually watched the whole way through.
I don't think you fully grasp the Word of our prophet Day9, but yes, I have heard inklings of a Barcraft Pittsburgh, so keep an eye out for it at r/BarCraft.
Gretorp has become one of my favorite casters throughout the NASL. His improvement has been so fast and efficient it blows my mind. He can do the analytical aspect of casting, but also will throw in a fanboy moment/player moment we have all experienced that just makes me lololol. see Goody v Ace, response to fleet beacon.
Incredible write-up, I usually skip over the write ups because of how long they are, but it was incredibly well put together and I will be reading more write ups for sure. Keep up the good work TL staff/writers and to the NASL: Keep improving and you will see incredible success.
On July 20 2011 07:25 skiptomylou1231 wrote: The one thing about NASL that was the biggest fault for me was the 10 matches in 12 hours.
This was my only problem with the finals, and it was only a problem because I had to work. I would tune in for 3-4 hours, see two Bo3's, and then go to work :/
Content like this makes me really proud to be a member of this community. Wonderful, wonderful work. You did a brilliant job of balancing discussion of the obvious problems the NASL had in its premier season with its equally remarkable achievements.
I especially liked the discussions with Gretorp. He's come a really long way as a caster, and I'm starting to feel like he's got what it takes to become one of the great SC2 commentators.
Thanks for the great post. This stuff is what makes TL great.
The people in the chat had me raging so hard. They were so ungrateful for the fantastic finals and what is a finals without issues and NASL did a damn good job for having their first LIVE FINALS event. I can't wait for season 2. NASL FIGHTING! R.I.P. Torpcontrol <3
<@hawaiianpig> you shoulda seen what the NASL writeup thats up on tl looked like before we removed linsey from everything <@hawaiianpig> shit looked like a huge lingerie ad <@hawaiianpig> check out the original front page image http://i.imgur.com/GwIT5.jpg
people wanna see the lingerine report HP, you know it.
Best article i`ve read in a while. At first i was like wuuuuut but then i was like niceee. Even though it was so enormous, it didnt bugged me at all. When you read it doesnt make you se wall of text, great work.
Other than that BarCraft is a great idea and its a good way to make the game even more popular as an esport. And i completely agree with the statement of jimlloyd. GL HF !
<@hawaiianpig> you shoulda seen what the NASL writeup thats up on tl looked like before we removed linsey from everything <@hawaiianpig> shit looked like a huge lingerie ad <@hawaiianpig> check out the original front page image http://i.imgur.com/GwIT5.jpg
people wanna see the lingerine report HP, you know it.
We're gonna use her in something else soon enough.
<@hawaiianpig> you shoulda seen what the NASL writeup thats up on tl looked like before we removed linsey from everything <@hawaiianpig> shit looked like a huge lingerie ad <@hawaiianpig> check out the original front page image http://i.imgur.com/GwIT5.jpg
people wanna see the lingerine report HP, you know it.
We're gonna use her in something else soon enough.
well that's not the best wording you know Hopefully what you do lives up to your standards of awesomeness though. I will await.
Excellent compilation right there. Those two pictures of incontrol and gretorp at the top are cute Gretorp is now registered in my books as an amazing guy Keep it up NASL!
On July 20 2011 10:39 hmunkey wrote: You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
Why is it that someone always accuses us of having this other agenda behind our newsposts? It's nothing like this at all, if a writer was more positive than you would've liked, it's because they enjoyed it more than you did. If we mark a Liquid' player higher than you thought, it's because we had a different view on how he played.
Hot_Bid isn't editing these articles to further some nefarious ESPORTS plot. It's amazing how often newsposts get accused of this though.
Great Write up! I was most disappointed with the format.... it was what?, a 9-10week season?, 2 week playoff? half a day to a day travel for most players? AND ITS A BEST OF THREE SINGLE ELIMINATION? that has to be changed, not fair to the players. Either make it double elimination best of 3 or best of 7 throughout , the finals could be best of 9.
I've seriously read the whole thing more than once now... its just so beautiful. Gretorp buddy.... you tried so hard man and it shows. I get nerd chills on the level of convulsions when i read the "beautiful" part of the stream recap. This should be a final edit its... powerful.
The problem with anything over a bo5 is really, really tiring for the players, a bo7 is really already pushing it, a bo9 would just result in the last two games being kinda underwhelming; maybe if they put in long breaks in between the games (like an hour between the first 5 games and the last couple of games) it would be doable.
I do agree though, NASL got really lucky on the finals being possibly the most epic games SC2 has ever seen, but I don't think it's such a big deal, it'll give them a second chance, and if they step up their game and fix all their errors it'll be a great tournament that unites players from around the world, and if they don't they'll just fall off the map completely.
Well, NASL was "okey". The casting was awesome, but let day9 or anyone else of the 6 casters do the interview so we can get som decent questions out there.. Anna was okey, Lindsey can suck my ase.. She will never play a game, SC2 is from gamers for gamers she dosen't belong. And the streamsound was crap the soundbooth guy must have been drunk or something because it was good and i thought phew they fixed it. But after a while it went to terrible to again, comeone?! And NASL feelt poor, the booths looked homemade.. Anyhow lets stop bashing the games where amazing but the sound and interview questions where lame and they dragged down the overall impression of NASL.
The first time i watched Nasl i was like "oh wow this is brutal". But as the season went on, it got better and better. The finals ended up being awesome, really great work, and hope next season is just as good!
On July 20 2011 10:39 hmunkey wrote: You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
Why is it that someone always accuses us of having this other agenda behind our newsposts? It's nothing like this at all, if a writer was more positive than you would've liked, it's because they enjoyed it more than you did. If we mark a Liquid' player higher than you thought, it's because we had a different view on how he played.
Hot_Bid isn't editing these articles to further some nefarious ESPORTS plot. It's amazing how often newsposts get accused of this though.
then what is this "Hot_Bid's Master Plan to Take Over the World for Evil" memo for?
You know as someone that puts on events, the first event is always and I mean always the toughest. Though in every case you always learn from the previous event, and I find more than anything pre-work is the key to success.
There were a lot of little things that could have been avoided even for a first event. Sound being one of them. That's something they should have figured out the night before not a day after it started. Schedules are important and sticking to schedules are even more important, and I'm not talking about a general outline here. I'm talking a minute by minute schedule for every single thing that is happening. And in this case there probably should have had multiple schedules, ne for stage and the general people that are attending the event and another for the stream. Some of it overlapping obviously.
In some respect it almost felt like it was thrown together and thought about at the last minute. Not that I'm bashing NASL at all. Overall, I truly felt for a first event it was a huge success and the last two days were great, but just as constructive criticism there were a lot of things that could been avoided IMO that would have made it more of a success. Though in general I'm definitely excited for season 2 and hopefully this will be NASL's defining moment by taking all the constructive criticism and capitalizing on it.
To me,NASL is synonimus with ,,the worst casters out there''...i dig the passion and dedication,but facts are facts;and for some reason,this tournament has no ,,atmosphere'' to it,i don't know,it feels boring as hell.
On July 20 2011 10:39 hmunkey wrote: You gave NASL far too much credit for the level of production they put on. I understand you're walking a fine line as TL is a major SC2 fansite, but still, why is it so hard for us to be honest?
Why is it that someone always accuses us of having this other agenda behind our newsposts? It's nothing like this at all, if a writer was more positive than you would've liked, it's because they enjoyed it more than you did. If we mark a Liquid' player higher than you thought, it's because we had a different view on how he played.
Hot_Bid isn't editing these articles to further some nefarious ESPORTS plot. It's amazing how often newsposts get accused of this though.
then what is this "Hot_Bid's Master Plan to Take Over the World for Evil" memo for?
Prima, you weren't supposed to talk about that memo in public.....
We write our articles ourselves, they get edited slightly when we write a horrible sentence or if our illustrious editor feels they need a touch up but the content stays exactly the same. No one makes us write an article (well maybe the Feature game one but I pick the game and what i want to say lol) and I've yet to be told I couldn't publish a negative article assuming its well written and generally correct.
At the beginning of NASL I heard someone say, that the number of tournaments increased a lot and the competition would determine which tournaments would prevail and which would just disappear.
Overall, altho the effort has to be respected, the NASL as it was presented in Season 1 is a tournament, which should disappear and make room for better productions and events. From the technical difficulties all the way to Gretorp's "performance" (and altho it is my personal opinion, but still shared with a lot of the viewers). One great final-series doesn't make up for all that mistakes and failures over the course of Season 1.
However, as was more than one season planned from the beginning, it's not like a 2nd season won't happen, but if the organization doesn't turn 180° around, there should not be a 3rd season, no matter how forgiving we should be as a community. Everybody makes mistakes, but the competition (other tournaments) are just FAR superior at the moment.
1 Major issue omitted: - Lack of spoiler-free access to VOD's
Maybe I am in a miniscule minority of people who don't have the time to watch the live stream and watch the VOD's, but this pissed me off the most (a LOT), much more than any of the sound issues (the 2nd biggest issue that shouldn't have existed).
Figured out now that SC2ratings.com is spoiler-free with links to VOD's. NASL should have promoted this or something (anything).
While i agree with some of the criticisms my point is this.
If you expect perfection after one season you are expecting far too much. And JTV chat should just be disabled because as much as everyone is entitled to be critical no one has THE RIGHT to be a douchebag... you just don't
The NASL was an awesome tournament despite the few glitches ( the jtv trolls were wayyyyyyyyy worse than any audio problem) and i look forward to next season
I liked the finals. just only tuned in for the final finals. because i saw how long it took between games after the first game. i think they should have fun 2v2 or ffa in the waiting times
On July 21 2011 03:19 Wabbit wrote: Good article & coverage.
1 Major issue omitted: - Lack of spoiler-free access to VOD's
Maybe I am in a miniscule minority of people who don't have the time to watch the live stream and watch the VOD's, but this pissed me off the most (a LOT), much more than any of the sound issues (the 2nd biggest issue that shouldn't have existed).
Figured out now that SC2ratings.com is spoiler-free with links to VOD's. NASL should have promoted this or something (anything).
sc2ratings is awesome. I have a chance to talk to the guy behind it (Koibu0) at the finals and he's working hard to help tournaments like the NASL with make a half decent VOD rating system.
Grats on season 1, heres to hoping season 2 goes smoother and is more...umm for lack of a better word...user friendly! Thanks for the extra content and this write up was cool to read. Bye bye White-ra!
Am I the only person who didn't really have any issues with the NASL? That is, other than that it took all of my time by broadcasting so many games!
There were hiccups, but I really would call them that. As jimlloyd pointed out: these are things that can be fixed. I expect that we will see a much better NASL S2, with better players and smoother operation. I, for one, can't wait. Though it will be difficult to find the time to watch with as much dedication as I did in S1.
dang I hate myself for missing this but the first article was amazing description of the game, I was happy to read it, I almost felt like I was watching the game!
I liked the NASL and the finals were amazing, but I totally agree with jimlloyd's writeup here: NASL needs people who want to work to make all the tiny stuff invisible.
My personal most glaring example about this is the music: right after the gg, some 20 seconds of music was played, during which nothing happens at all. To me this always felt like a cheap rip-off of the GSL background music, thrown in because 'we should have epic music after a game'.
In my opinion, the music is a necessary component of a good production -- but it should be there in the background, NOT drawing your attention to itself. It is a supporting component; if it is not there, people will miss it, but it's value is in making you excited / pumped / cheering without even realizing that the music helps you.
One of the reasons that GSL's music lists are so wanted is that the music director there consciously selects tracks that help set the mood without drawing attention to them. And furthermore, the GSL audio producer simply starts the tracks while the commentators are busy hyping the upcoming or previous match -- invisibly!
Anyway I'm interested to see how NASL season two will turn out!
Great wrap-up of the first season. I hope NASL learns from that first season and grows even bigger. I think the final bo7 pretty much showed how much potential NASL has!
To name a few specific bads: 1. commentators/casters. Sometimes and most of the times, those guys sounded like they wanna go home and NASL games are standing in their way. Finals were different, but that's because of Day9 and Tastossis that really made them worthwhile. 2. VOD setup was atrocious. waste of time searching the games you want to see. Never able to fast access anything, had to browse through 4 hrs of vids to see the games I want to see first. When finally independent matchups VOD came out, after the first game, if by any chance you look at the progress bar, you know who won. Bullcrap 3. Retarded long group phase. At one point, no one in the lower half of the group cared about games, they knew they have no chance to qualify. It's sad to see a shit ton of games that doesn't really matter, or games where someone wants to win cause he's fighting for playoffs and the other one just wants to get over with and not be penalized for no-show. 4. Open tournament format. MMA came from open tournament right? What's the point of going through 9 weeks of over analyzed games when someone as good as MMA can come from Open and roflstomp everyone? I love MMA, but this kind of "you grind we grin" style is fked up.
I could go on and on for a while, but these are the big 4 issues that will not make me buy another NASL pass unless they get fixed. ALL OF THEM.I gave them 25$ with the hope they will start sloppy and get better by the middle of the tournament and excellent by the end of it. Nah, complete failure and ignorance towards users. The sound issue in the finals almost made me throw my laptop out the window. Ridiculous.
EPT![[image loading]](/staff/HawaiianPig/NASL/lindseystarleague/recapbanner.jpg)
North American Star League Season 1![[image loading]](/staff/HawaiianPig/ellyicon.png)
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iNcontroL gave a huge shout-out to all of r/BarCraft. He even mentioned us, the SC2DC group! That night, one of the first people who offered a bar space posted about it, saying that he finally had the go ahead. Tenley Public is now our new home. ![[image loading]](/staff/HawaiianPig/NASL/lindseystarleague/tor.png)
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Sen.
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PuMa for winning. The NASL has taken huge risks to expand the North American E-sports community, and they deserve a lot of credit for getting to where they are today. Make sure you check them out for Season 2!![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/NASL/N1PGb.jpg)
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Tasteless, they can do it. Other than that, you don't have allot of people that can do that. I felt that's a very interesting dynamic that we brought to the table, and we have very different styles, even more so than Artosis, Tasteless, and Day9.![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/NASL/zJwTJ.jpg)
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but the first article was amazing description of the game, I was happy to read it, I almost felt like I was watching the game!
