But at Anaheim, MLG hopes to prove that you don't need to make baby steps when you're fully capable of taking giant, leaping bounds.
Building on the foundations of MLG Columbus – a tournament that had a great stream, fantastic crowds, and strong international representation – Anaheim is striving to show that Columbus was just a test drive.
Nine Koreans have entered the competition, to ensure that the world's greatest Starcraft power is ably represented. Meanwhile, the foreigners will compete with new resolve after being thoroughly trounced at Columbus. EG committed their players to a boot camp to hone their skills, while FXO returns after training in Korea itself.
The Columbus convention center struggled to hold the massive crowd of Starcraft II fans – this time Starcraft II takes its rightful place at center stage with ample seating for all. And in a momentous step for any international organization, MLG is partnering with GomTV to offer the Korean audience a stream in their own language.
The expectations were high after Columbus, but MLG seems more than glad to meet them.
Pool Competition Preview
By: tree.hugger
Group A We're all doomed.
Apparently, it wasn't enough to put the three of the most skilled foreign BW players of all time in the same MLG Columbus group. Wasn't hard enough. What MLG needed apparently was to ensure a group so incredibly strong that there wouldn't be a need to watch anything else. Consider that the only player in this group who is not a current, past, or guaranteed future GSL player is... the odds on Korean favorite to win the tournament.
Holy check?
None of these players need any introduction, but we'll do it anyway. MvPDongRaeGu is making perhaps the most anticipated foreign scene appearance in Sc2's young history. Not only do a clear plurality of fans believe he will win the tournament, but he is the sentimental favorite, and an MLG win will catapult him directly into the Code S slot he clearly deserves. But the path to the big show runs through Liquid`HuK, the recent Dreamhack and Homestory Cup double champion and an established Code S player in his own right. Then there's Dignitas.NaNiwa who is already headed to Korea by way of MLG, and has recently vowed to "get out of this period of mediocre second and third places at tournaments". These three players are all favorites to win the tournament.
Rounding out this group are Liquid`HayprO and Liquid`TLO, two players who have likely never been such underdogs in a group before. Of the two, HayprO has a serious chance to play spoiler, while TLO's recent injury makes him a sentimental favorite, but not a betting one. Oh yeah, and then there's the mystery candidate, the top finisher from an absurdly stacked Open bracket. There's no reason to doubt that even more GSL talent will make this a group battle for the ages.
Prediction: With MLG's forgiving seeding structure, the only place really worth having is first. Each of the matches between this group's 'Big Three' has the potential to decide the standings. DRG's aggressive and opportunistic ZvP will play well against NaNiwa, but not against HuK. However, NaNiwa could easily undo the damage by beating HuK's vulnerable PvP, leaving a group winner to be decided by differential, or failing that, a FFA wrestling match on the mainstage. Don't count out HayprO playing spoiler here, but he seems an unlikely choice to top the group. Of the open bracket players, Alicia would certainly do the most damage, but to win the group would mean solving a lot of issues, especially in PvZ. I honestly can't say I would favor him against anyone except TLO.
Group B Fan wars.
If you're looking for a build order, stick to watching Group A. If you're looking for an argument, Group B is your ticket to internet acrimony. The players in this group don't just have talent on their side, most of them also have a legion of ravenous fanboys ready to spin the game results faster than a dancing zergling.
Of course, the group is headlined by the crown prince of controversy, EGIdrA, who is returning to MLG like The Beatles to Abbey Road. It is on the MLG stage that IdrA both shines, and lovingly crafts ESPORTS memories with the frequency of hallmark cards. Joining IdrA on the battlefield is his teammate and fellow holder-of-strong-options, EGiNcontroL who will be looking to repeat his Dallas performance, and not his Columbus one. Both EG'ers are coming out of a team bivouac in the arid expanses of Arizona, which should sharpen their play just in time for this weekend. The Korean in the group is not just any Korean, but the Emperor himself, SlayerS_BoxeR. This is his second trip to Southern California in the past month, having just competed in the NASL finals. The attraction at MLG will be his battle with IdrA, which is the first in-person meeting of a storied relationship. The first Boxer SC2 game seen by the foreign community was against IdrA, and there was a phony controversy over their NASL match. But most importantly, it was Boxer's ingame chat phonetic error that bestowed upon the Gracken the most famous of nicknames.
In this group of big names and famous personalities, Liquid`Sheth is the straight man of the group. Universally regarded as a nice guy, Sheth recently returned from a Korean trip that yielded mixed results. Officially picked up by Liquid as of several hours ago, Sheth will be making his debut with less practice and preparation than normal, but with some serious positive vibes. Finally, Dignitas.SjoW is not nearly as well known among the NA community. While a strong player who initially made some waves with unorthodox views on scouting, SjoW's play has drifted into the mainstream and hasn't yielded big results recently.
Prediction: This is probably the most open race for first place in MLG, mainly because Boxer is not the prohibitive favorite that his fellow countrymen are. Indeed, IdrA is the most likely winner of the group, but won't do it cleanly. A group win by Incontrol, Sheth or Sjow would be considered a heavy upset, but each are capable enough players to trip up someone else. Unlike the other groups, the main question for Group B is the identity of the open bracket player. A terran player especially could do it, neither of this group's players is particularly comfortable in that match-up. If GanZi or Rain make their way into this group, they could make a serious impact.
Group C Dark horses.
Group C is by no means a cakewalk, yet it contains a stable of players who haven't quite gotten their due for this MLG. Yet holding the reigning champion and some of the most consistent players in the scene isn't something to ignore, and by the closing rounds of the tournament, it wouldn't be surprising to see a couple representatives from this group still standing.
The first person who can't be counted out is SlayerS_MMA, who won MLG Columbus in memorable fashion, but hasn't gotten as much hype as his countrymen on the return trip. Part of that is likely due to his untimely loss to Puzzle in Code A which highlighted his ongoing struggle with TvP.But it's worth remembering that Puzzle eventually won Code A, and that MMA easily dispatched KiWiKaKi in the last MLG. He returns to MLG under the radar again, but no less of a favorite. The most decorated foreigner in this group is Liquid`Ret who can usually coast to a respectable finish on talent alone. Whether or not he can challenge the front-runners in this tournament is another question entirely. When they played in Code A, Ret was undone by illness, but still managed to give extremely close games. MMA has improved tremendously since. RGNSLush is in the familiar position of MLG underdog. Yet he is one of MLG's most consistent top performers, culminating in a stunning 5th in Columbus. This MLG is his first with Team Reign. His former teammate, coL.Drewbie is another underdog who is capable of springing the occasional surprise, although his Columbus was a disappointment. For both of these players, it'll be interesting to see how their post-ROOT teams have affected their play. By contrast, the final seeded player in the group is a model of consistency. I have a habit of underestimating aTn.Socke, and I repeated my error with Dreamhack Summer. This time, the German protoss has a favorable group, and has been playing well recently.
Prediction: MMA demolished his MLG group in Columbus, and should not have any serious difficulties here. His primary threats are Socke and the open bracket player, but it remains hard to see how that would actually occur, or who would have the ability to do it. As has been mentioned before, Alicia and GanZi are dangerous, but MMA is better than both. Socke seems to have a great group otherwise, and should come out in a great position for the knockout rounds.
Group D Something to Prove.
The David to Group A's Goliath, Group D is like that team in that sports movie that you watched once. You know, the team with all the scrappy kids who got cut from the rich team. Yeah, that one. Everyone in this group has had recent struggles, and naturally, they'll have to work them out together. In that sports movie, the scrappy team wins the championship, and learns the value of perseverance. Can that happen here?
The most successful player in this group over the past month has been RGNKiWiKaKi, but his triumphs have come in Poker, and not Sc2. After five days in the World Series of Poker, KiWi netted a cool 40k, but can that haul make up for five days of lost practice time? Because that's what's really important here. The mercurial IMMVP is the Korean invite to the group. I have this debate with Waxangel about whether or not MVP is overrated (I say yea). There is no debate though that his results in GSL July were underwhelming. He'll be hoping that a vacation stateside and some foreigner bashing is just what he needs to re-energize his Sc2 fortunes. Also returning from Korea is FXOmOoNan who seemed too overcome by nerves in the GSTL spotlight to live up to his potential. However, it's impossible to discount a month of intensive training on the Korean server and on more familiar ground mOoNan has a great chance to make a surprising run.
Another player coming to MLG after some special training is EGMachine. This may be his last chance to hold onto a seed he almost entirely earned at MLG Dallas 2010. Since that unlikely fourth place finish, Machine has had real difficulty achieving results, despite being invited to a large portfolio of events. EG is betting that their pre-MLG boot camp was enough to turn things around. The final invited player to the group is the one with the best results in the past few months. But just because Dignitas.SeleCT has been performing up to his usual high standards doesn't mean that he comes into MLG baggage free. SeleCT's otherwise stellar career has lacked the kind of marquee win that defines so many other top players. His MLG Columbus showing was a surprisingly poor performance, going 0-5 in his group. As the difficulty goes up each MLG, so too do the potential rewards. A deep run here would bring SeleCT back into the forefront of the foreign scene's best players.
Prediction: MVP is the favorite in this group, and doesn't seem to have a challenger at first glance. But things might not be all kittens and butterflies for the former GSL champion. SeleCT, who has frequently been cited by Koreans as one of the foreign scene's better players is not to be underestimated. And my super sleeper pick for a deep run in the tournament, mOoNan, is coming to MLG after a month of Korean competition as well. Remember that QXC beat the stuffing out of MVP in the IM terran's last major appearance. MVP should take this group, but there are more pitfalls than first appear.
Actual map and set results are inherently difficult to predict and highly variable (part of StarCraft's nature as a sport). Experiments have shown that, by collating group stage result, such variance can be significantly reduced and reliable projections may be possible. The ESPORTS Prospectus algorithm is designed to hit 70% accuracy in group records, map results, and standings without any subjective inputs.
The following run of the MLG Anaheim player pool utilizes the TLPD players' detailed Elo (standard and racial, pulled 6:00PM PDT July 28th, 2011) as the only input variables and projects the following final results:
The following is a preliminary attempt to introduce subjective variables to capture information not available the TLPD that may influence player performance. It is uncertain whether or not this information will influence projection accuracy, so take the following information with a grain of salt.
An open bracket in a tournament represents the ideal that anyone has an opportunity win. In Starcraft terms: it's the idea that an otherwise unknown ladder gosu can fight his way through the brackets – and with a combination of skill and luck – take down his more well-known colleagues.
With that in mind, let's go through a little mental exercise...
...pretend that you are at the top of your masters division, stealing points from nerds on the ladder all day, every day. Maybe you even take the odd game against a grandmaster every once in a while. You feel confident and think to yourself 'what the hell, why not?' and shell out the seventy bucks to compete in the Anaheim open bracket.
Walking onto the floor Friday evening, you begin setting up your computer gear and look across the table.
And then, reality hits.
You're not looking into the eyes of another Starcraft II player; you're starting into the fiery abyss of inevitable defeat. Across from you is the one and only Liquid`Tyler. Surely enough, you burn. But unlike his phoenixes, you remain a pile of ashes.
'No problem' you tell yourself, shuffling on to your losers bracket match. "I just got unlucky, the loser's bracket game should be easier." You hear your opponent before you see him; an incredible flurry of clicking and clacking as your opponent warms up against the computer. It's SlayerS_Alicia, who casually missed his first match to enjoy an In-N-Out burger.
After losing both of your matches, you realize that not only are out 70 dollars, but that reality has kicked you in the ass.
There are a lot of reasons to focus on the open bracket this time around, but the main reason is that it's STACKED. While I pity the casual participant going into Anaheim, MLG's probably thanking them for their money. Between GSL players such as Choya and GanZi, and dark horses like Tyler and Stalife, the open bracket is almost as difficult as group competition.
There's plenty of redemption story lines to follow, notably led by Tyler, Jinro and qxc. And while the old guard seeks to regain their past glory, there's plenty of up and comers trying to prove their worth as well. The Koreans are obviously in that group, but the much improved Destiny, dde and KawaiiRice are definitely worth keeping an eye out for.
It's a shame that Mouz couldn't send MorroW and ThorZaIN out again, but there's an amazing Euro contingent that makes up for it. Everyone's favorite White-Ra will rightfully steal the spotlight, but players like meRz, ToD, and DeMusliM are definitely going to surprise American fans who haven't kept up with the Euro scene. And of course, we can't leave Fenix out, despite our inability to easily categorize him. The man is preparing for a trip to South Korea soon, so it will be interesting to see what his training has yielded.
The only reason NOT to watch is if you're a huge fan of Zerg. The open bracket has a bad case of the "poor Zergies." The award of best Zerg in the open bracket will likely be a three way toss up between Destiny, ViBE, and CatZ – whom despite their creative and entertaining styles, are not exactly tournament favorites. If anything, I'd look for an upset from Destiny, who seems to have improved a lot in the last month. At the same time I wouldn't bet my shirt on him.
All in all, the unpredictable, eat or be eaten nature of the open bracket should give it a sense of urgency and excitement that the group stage won't have. Seriously, can you imagine a foreigner knocking a Korean player out of the tournament for good? I wouldn't want to miss that moment. I can't blame you for wanting to catch DongRaeGu vs Huk, or any of Boxer's games - but for the first day, the open tournament's where the action's at.
Let's begin with the least known member of the group. GanZi hasn't had the best of luck in individual competition so far, with only a few Code-A eliminations to his name. And yet, the SlayerS clan must have a whole lot of faith in his skill. He's been a mainstay on their GSTL team, and appears to be their #2 Terran card – just behind MMA and ahead of Ryung.
Razer is funding SlayerS' two open bracket players this tournament, and the fact that they decided to take Ganzi ahead of Ryung, Min, Yugioh, or other players with more notable tournament results speaks to how highly he must be rated internally. Right now, he seems like a classic case of nerves over skill, and that's not exactly beneficial for the MLG environment. However, SlayerS clearly believe in him, so perhaps we should, too.
That brings us to Alicia, the other open tournament player. He's clearly a top two player in the team, and some even venture to say he has the best PvT in the world (blemished only by his 0-3 loss against absurdly good TvP player OptimusPrime). His PvP is pretty good as well, but that match-up suffers from a tremendous amount of volatility as of late.
He has one big chink in his armor though: his famously weak PvZ. This makes him a really intriguing player in the tournament, as there really aren't any T or P players who you can realistically say are favored over him. However, when you consider his AWFUL showing against ZeNEXCoca in the GSL, it seems likely that the many assembled foreigner Zergs are going to give him trouble. Maybe not in the open bracket, but Idra, Sheth, and Ret all seem capable of winning a series against him. Add to that the fact that almost every map in the tournament favors the "backstab-backstab-more backstab" style of ZvP that is popular as of late, then it seems like Alicia will need a bit of bracket luck to place high in this tournament.
How about our previous champion, MMA? Interestingly enough, we haven't learned that much about him since his coronation at Columbus, except that he can play TvT extraordinarily well. His GSL Super Tournament run consisted of entirely Terran opponents, whom he all dispatched with a flourish minus eventual champion (and overall monster) OptimusPrime. And we know all too well from Columbus, that his TvZ is insane.
Similar to Alicia, he might be another case of a racially imbalanced player. We just haven't seen him play enough TvP overall, and he seems to always lose the ones that come along. His last TvP showing was against eventual Code-A champion and another beast in his own right – ZeNEXPuzzle. He played him fairly well despite the result, but a loss is a loss.
Honestly, MMA was a tad bit lucky to avoid facing more than one top-class Protoss opponent at Columbus (his last eleven games were against Zerg, with Kiwikaki being his only Protoss opponent). Huk, Naniwa, or Socke could all prove to be extremely dangerous opponents for the reigning champion.
I don't mean any offense, but none of these guys were exactly at the peak of their careers when they made their moves to foreign teams. Oz and Choya had just been knocked out of Code-A when they joined, while a little bit of youthful misjudgment cost Rain his Code-S spot and his right to participate in GSL competitions for a few months.
Still, they're really goddamn good.
Rain and Oz have had the misfortune to have their records marred by a great many games against some of the best Korean players. But in the open bracket, they really shouldn't have any trouble at all until they meet fellow Koreans or the very top foreign players. Sorry Destiny fans! I think Rain is better.
Finally, I won't even sully Choya's name with some unworthy player analysis. The guy f***ing talked his destitute team to a contract with a foreign team sponsored by a finance company. He's the goddamn bonjwa of Korean coaches and managers and he deserves all of our respect.
GomTV's Ridiculously Transparent Plot
IMMvp - coL.DongRaeGu
The plot is: GET DONGRAEGU IN CODE-S.
As we all know, the winner of MLG Anaheim is also awarded a Code-S seed. The two strongest Koreans in this tournament, by some margin, are DRG and MVP. While DRG has been unluckily languishing in Code-B for the last year, MVP has a confirmed spot in the next season of Code-S. So should the best two players meet in the final (as it so happened at Columbus; yeah I said it, MC fans), DRG will be assured a Code-S spot, win or lose.
Of course, MMA throws a wrench in the plans with his incredible TvT and TvZ, but it's not like GomTV could really justify not sending the previous champion.
GomTV's ideal scenario here is obviously MVP vs DongRaeGu. But they must still be very pleased with DongRaeGu's chances of winning the championship against any of the non-MMA Koreans at Anaheim, since Huk seems to be only legitimate foreign threat.
Oh, right. I sort of skipped the part where I explain WHY these guys are the best two players in the entire tournament, assuming everyone knew. Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined. As for DongRaeGu, you can look here.
Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/ and this incredibly awesome hype article only makes it worse for me... thanks!
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/
I know your pain. I have AM work, plus guests visiting, and GSL & EVO 2011.
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/
I know your pain. I have AM work, plus guests visiting, and GSL & EVO 2011.
I feel so sorry for you guys...and if I'm correct VODs aren't free anymore? you need a membership? Luckily it's summer break and this is my first summer where I'm doing absolutely nothing, so 10+ hours of watching streams for me lol.
I think the open bracket and pool play at MLG should end. There are way too many great players that end up getting knocked out in the open bracket because another great player is in it as well. The competition at every stage of the tournament is just way too fierce for the current system to actually make any sense.
I think your really underestimating Alicia here. His PvZ may not be up to par under Korean standards, but then again, Coca and Losira are substantially better than Idra and Sheth. If Alicia lands in group A he's basically guaranteed to get 2nd due to his excellent PvP and PvT. I doubt Naniwa and Huk can beat him.
Can not wait to see these amazing players battle it out on the streams all the matches should be amazing. But I'm gonna say DongRaeGu first and Huk will get second and thrid to MMA.
This MLG, in my honest opinion, is probably going to be better than most, if not, all the GSLs that have happened thus far. I cannot comment if any of the series will be better than the MC vs Puma Bo7 in NASL, but I can say that this tournament is full of excitement, as well as heart break. I personally do not want to see team kill in Pool A, but it will happen. I will be voting for HuK on this one, as he is my favorite player, but my sympathies go out to TLO. Pool B I will be rooting for the new Team Liquid member Sheth, but I am feeling bad for Boxer. The one thing that is the redeeming factor that makes Boxer losing not as big of a deal for me is his showmatch against YellOw. Pool C, is not that big of a deal for me, but I hope that Ret does not win only because there will be more teamkilling if he advances. Pool D, I hope SeleCT takes it, manly due to the fact that he is a non korean, and he is a very talented player. Now the Open Bracket, Tyler is my favorite, and he is the only one that I want to make it out. Jinro, I am sorry, but I cannot have two first place winners of the open bracket. Now for the winner of the whole MLG, HuK will take this with flying colors, but deep down I will be rooting for Tyler to win. He needs to show that he still has it in him.
I think this article understates just how badly the koreans+huk are going to stomp this tournament.
Idra and Naniwa will probably be somewhere around 8 and 9th, after all the good koreans/huk.
My favorites to win it 1.DRG 2. MVP 3. Huk
I have no doubt that Huk vs DRG will produce the best games of the tournament. DRG is the king of muta/ling counter attacks. Huk is the king of defending against muta/ling counter attacks.
Huk vs DRG on Taldarim Altar will produce the greatest game of Starcraft 2 ever witnessed.
DRG vs MMA will also be epic. 4 marine drops occuring simultaneously vs insane zergling/muta counter attacks...
i aggree with everything except TLO losing to haypro (lol wut? never goint to happen) and incontrol losing to boxer (quite sure that incontrol is going to win this one at least)
great to read and soooo much infromation included thx
The extreme advantage the seeded players get must go. It makes the tournament uninteresting as the best players are not seeded, which even defeats the entire purpose of having seeds. Instead, the seeds are passed out for long term service in the MLG. Drewbie and Incontrol over Thorzain and Alica, for example.
I really hope they scrapped the entirely awful "extended series" thingy. It randomly gives you a double disadvantage if you lose a game once in the group stage and randomly get to play the same player again. Despite you already having lost points to him once, you even get to start with a penalty the next time as well.
Everyone is ragging on Boxer like he is a complete push over. OK, he went 8-1 in NASL in laggy conditions at 2am. He lost to Zenio, a Korean in a close 2-1 series. He beat Sen (most consider the best foreigner and best zerg), IdrA (top 3 foreigner easy), and Cloud, Tyler, Mana, Painuser, Drewbie and Socke.
Unless you think Sheth is better than Sen, Incontrol is better than Mana and Socke, Sjow is better than Cloud, and IdrA is better than IdrA of then, then don't write Boxer off completely. It is true that he prepared more than most for the NASL (he got 2nd to Ret btw), and that his TvZ always had a proxy 2 barracks in it, but he is not some scrub who is falling on his legend status. Give the guy some credit. I was annoyed by Sotg when they didn't even mention Boxer as a contender for taking his group. If Boxer beats Idra in the first match, then i can definitely see him taking the group, even though he is not a strong favourite.
On July 29 2011 18:10 Comogury wrote: I think the open bracket and pool play at MLG should end. There are way too many great players that end up getting knocked out in the open bracket because another great player is in it as well. The competition at every stage of the tournament is just way too fierce for the current system to actually make any sense.
Or open up a 7th slot so 2 qualify to each group from the open bracket. The top players should of course be given privileges
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/ and this incredibly awesome hype article only makes it worse for me... thanks!
I have work friday and i'll miss almost every single match (i may catch the last one)
I have to agree with waxangel. MvP is not over rated. I don't think anyone is too impressed with him right now, but he also has the potential to be top dog terran, his lategame (if he gets there) is still just one of the best out there, if not the best.
Also, this MLG is so stacked with so many players with huge potential improvements, that the only things i feel comfortable predicting is
1)there will be upsets (this is the obvious predcition, but i also think it'll be more than usual) 2)FXO and EG will make better overall appearances than previous MLGs 3)Tyler will do well in open bracket. i just got this feeling that he's got some good builds and better than his normal practice 4)DRG will not make 1st in pool play. He's got a complete death group and his interview showed that he didn't pay attention to his opponents (when zvp is IMO his worst MU) and he doesn't think anyone but a korean could take a game off of him. So hate me if you want, but i'll be right. 5)Sheth will show up to MLG as LiquidSheth (sorry just happy )
On July 29 2011 18:40 Micket wrote: IdrA (top 3 foreigner easy),
Not sure how anyone who has been watching the scene can say that Idra is amongst the top 3 nowadays.
He has not won or even placed in the top 3 in any major international tournament for the entire year. I'd say that there are several foreign players ahead of him. Including Huk, Naniwa and Thorzain. Idra is possibly top 3 in the American scene, however. I'd actually even hold SaSe as a stronger player than Idra right now, as I believe him to be the most underestimated western player currently, but that is more a matter of opinion and nothing I expect people to agree with.
GomTV's Ridiculously Transparent Plot The plot is: GET DONGRAEGU IN CODE-S.
As we all know, the winner of MLG Anaheim is also awarded a Code-S seed. The two strongest Koreans in this tournament, by some margin, are DRG and MVP. While DRG has been unluckily languishing in Code-B for the last year, MVP has a confirmed spot in the next season of Code-S. So should the best two players meet in the final (as it so happened at Columbus; yeah I said it, MC fans), DRG will be assured a Code-S spot, win or lose.
Of course, MMA throws a wrench in the plans with his incredible TvT and TvZ, but it's not like GomTV could really justify not sending the previous champion.
MMA's wrench is engraved with the legend "I am in Code B too, remember?" He's fighting for a Code S spot too and I'm sure GOM would be every bit as pleased to see him in Code S as DongRaeGu. He's not a wrench, he's a back-up plan!
Ganzi is a legitimate possibility to make it all the way through from Code B to S via the open bracket. That would be one heck of a story!
Wait... although Koreans who are invited to MLG through the league exchange program can't take any of the code A spots as part of the price they pay for going to MLG, are the Korean players who are being funded to go to MLG externally such as Choya still eligible for the code A spots?
Holy nerd chill, batman! I can't wait. One of these days I'm-a ship myself to America from England and go to an MLG. It's just a shame none of my RL friends are into video games and I'll have to brave it alone
GOM TV's plan isn't just about getting DRG into Code S. They also have high hopes for Boxer getting into Code S because he always guarantees high viewing numbers. If either of them gets the last GSL S spot it will be a success for GOM TV
About the group A Preview...TLO is not one of the best foreign players. It should be 2 of the best foreign Players instead of 3. Since Nani and Huk are definitly 2 of the Top foreign players.
On July 29 2011 20:04 HaRxTears wrote: About the group A Preview...TLO is not one of the best foreign players. It should be 2 of the best foreign Players instead of 3. Since Nani and Huk are definitly 2 of the Top foreign players.
Group A has 3 liquid players. We're on Team Liquid. 0.o ya get it?
omg, so many good players in open brackets and players like tlo, incontrol, haypro, machine already in group stage???? ridiculous, this system must be changed
Generally in the western scene, there is a big number of decent players. Players who do alright in tournaments and can on a good day take a map or two of the very best but rarely win anything.
Players like Socke, Kas, Tarson, White-Ra, Machine, Kiwikaki, Lalush, Merz and so on. Even players like Idra and SjoW belong to that group right now, they did win something in the past and may beat a top player but rarely win anything nowadays. They are on the top part of the spectrum when it comes to the decent players.
Then you have the real top of the western community. Players like Naniwa, Huk, Thorzain and possibly SaSe. Players who are able to win tournaments and even beat top Korean pros on a good day. Will be interesting to see if any other player has what it takes to belong to that group, or if Idra can return to it.
I know we're all saying to watch the best and the best only, but there's just a certain hometown hero atmosphere to a tournament with a handful of great Koreans and guest appearances by some Europeans sprinkled among basically all of the notable NA players.
Watching a tournament of only NA players, only EU players or only KR players simply cannot compare.
That was a good read. I'm really looking forward to this MLG, especially with it being on the center stage and all, and if the Koreans are going to get to watch in their own language that's even better.
On July 29 2011 18:50 Eyx wrote: I think OP has underestimated DRG, most people's pick to win the whole thing and is predicted not to make it out of the group stages
You do realise that you CANT not make it out of the group stages right?
5:10 PM PDT - MLG Anaheim Pregame Show 5:30 PM PDT - Pool Play (CVW): DongRaeGu vs. TLO 6:30 PM PDT - Pool Play (CVW): MMA vs. Drewbie 7:30 PM PDT - Pool Play (CVW): Moonan vs. MVP 8:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - MMA vs. Slush (bs) 9:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Select- vs. MVP (bs) 10:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - MMA vs. Socke 11:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Kiwikaki vs. Select 12:30 AM PDT - Day Wrap with Husky and Mr Bitter
5:10 PM PDT - MLG Anaheim Pregame Show 5:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Naniwa vs. Huk 6:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Idra vs. Boxer 7:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Naniwa vs. DongRaeGu 8:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - MMA vs. Slush (bs) 9:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Select vs. MVP (bs) 10:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Idra vs. InControl 11:30 PM PDT - Pool Play - Huk vs. DongRaeGu 12:30 AM PDT - Day Wrap with Day[9] and DJ Wheat
I think I can stay up for two windows of DRG/TLO Naniwa/Huk and wake up in time for the Day Wrap. I think. I believe!
I believe that MVP is still the most likely to win. He's been underperforming, but that he was sent out to clean up FXO means he's still one of the strongest players on IM based on internal results. The build order loss to QXC doesn't mean anything really.
Second place could go to any of MMA, Huk, Alicia (if he gets out of the opens, which isn't a certainty for anyone), DRG, or even Naniwa. It'll be really interesting to see MMA play again after his long string of losses (to good players: Sage, Polt, Puzzle, and DRG), and to see DRG's ZvZ and PvZ in more detail. Also, Ryung said in an interview that Boxer's been playing well. Can't wait.
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/ and this incredibly awesome hype article only makes it worse for me... thanks!
Hoping for a Euro or American to win this!! Gl everyone!
t wasn't enough to put the three greatest foreign SC II players of all time in the same MLG Columbus group.
Errrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..rrrrrrrrrrrr...rrrrrr
Group A preview seems to have been written when some one was drunk.
What, you don't consider Naniwa, Huk and TLO 3 of the greatest foreign players of SC2?
That's a typo, it should read "It wasn't enough to put the three greatest foreign BW players of all time in the same MLG Columbus group." (IdrA, Ret, and NonY) It'll get fixed.
One thing about this MLG that has struck me is how confident everyone seems. Literally everyone I've spoken to or heard from seems to have a real expectation that Columbus will be their breakout performance. For a lot of the NA teams that have been struggling to make a name for themselves lately, this is crunch time and they've been preparing extremely hard.
Confused mentioned Destiny twice, but not my sleeper pick for Open Bracket qualification; the dangerous xSixMystik.
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/ and this incredibly awesome hype article only makes it worse for me... thanks!
Are you telling me you read through the article in just 1 minute?
I personally cannot control my excitement for MLG Anaheim. This will be the first MLG that I will be following entirely I hope, as I always did not have the time to check out the others. But this time round things will be different. Although I am in South Africa and fall under the CEST time zone, there is absolutely no reason for me not to watch the streams from 2:00 AM onwards :D. I will go through all the drowsiness and sleeplessness just to watch these possibly spectacular upcoming games!
Neat math for the group predictions but you forgot how to add.
In every group there is a total of 15 matches which means it should add up to 15 wins and 15 losses. However, in the predictions all the groups add up to either 14 wins and 16 losses or the other way around.
The maps don't add up either.
Hopefully the real world adds up as it should and Naniwa wins! :D
Honestly any non korean in top 5 would be an achievement, go Nani ! go MVP go HuK and time for that Code S spot DRG, oh boy so many players to cheer for, i wish all good luck and have sick matches.
On July 29 2011 18:27 Siune wrote: This is gonna be epic nightmare for European ppl... Let's see!
First day to watch... is 03.00 a.m. - 11.00 a.m. *sigh... brb.. getting energy drinks... loads of them*
It is indeed. That's why I don't watch MLG. They are all exhausted there anyway with the pace of the tournament. I'm worried about DRG though, such potential is a subject to so many risks. I wish he would have just pursued a standard path of Code A - Code S and leave MLG to lesser players. Obviously it takes preparation to get through code A into code S, but that experience is a must have to eventually become a champion or a finalist of code S. Can't advance through code S without knowing preparations procedures.
On July 29 2011 18:27 Siune wrote: This is gonna be epic nightmare for European ppl... Let's see!
First day to watch... is 03.00 a.m. - 11.00 a.m. *sigh... brb.. getting energy drinks... loads of them*
So true. I have to turn my sleep schedule on its head, live on intravenous caffein, hope our internet is stable enough AND somehow enjoi the summerweather that has finally come to Norway...
On July 29 2011 22:15 colate wrote: Will the second day and championship sunday of MLG start at the same time as the opening(02:10 CEST for europeans)?
Nah, they start a lot earlier. Only Opening day is so short.
On July 29 2011 21:54 JonBlom wrote: Neat math for the group predictions but you forgot how to add.
In every group there is a total of 15 matches which means it should add up to 15 wins and 15 losses. However, in the predictions all the groups add up to either 14 wins and 16 losses or the other way around.
The maps don't add up either.
Hopefully the real world adds up as it should and Naniwa wins! :D
This is an exceptionally good point. Well spotted!
On July 29 2011 22:19 supeROLL wrote: Will any VODs go up before the end of the tournament? I'm not going to stay awake tonight but would like to catch Idra vs Boxer tomorrow morning (EDT)
Last time you could watch the entire thing the morning after. It wasn't divided into games but the entire eight hour cast was viewable. Hopefully the same is true this time around.
I missed out on Tritonal playing live from Beta Nightclub because of uni. I will NOT miss MLG Anaheim in the same week!
Awesome article as always, though I would really like to see someone eat a shirt. Destiny is getting good because a) playing 6-10 hours a day will do that and b) Koreans aren't used to a mass-infestor style, I'd say he's the strongest of the open bracket zergs, though I do like me some ViBE.
On July 29 2011 22:15 colate wrote: Will the second day and championship sunday of MLG start at the same time as the opening(02:10 CEST for europeans)?
Nah, they start a lot earlier. Only Opening day is so short.
On July 29 2011 18:57 Kentakky wrote: "Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined."
this is false since MC has competed in MLG with the same achievments and then some..
On July 29 2011 18:57 Kentakky wrote: "Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined."
this is false since MC has competed in MLG with the same achievments and then some..
he has never defeated Flash.
but he did beat effort who beat flash, and as we all know by the transitive property that means he beat flash
Awesome write up. I cannot wait for this event to start. It is nice to see this tournament growing by leaps and bounds while it has the one of the lowest prize pools for season tour events out of all of the major tournaments(I know the GSL spots are worth a lot though).
Just because a player is weak to KOREAN protoss or zerg or terran does not mean they'll have a hard time with FOREIGN protoss or zerg or teran. I don't really like this article. Donraegu coming 3rd place? Not with the legends hes beaten already. I'll admit some foreigners like huk sheth idra will be able to compete with the koreans but mostly cuz they've already been/are in korea at one point. I would count kiwikaki in but hes been doing poker lately and that made him struggle in the IPL
I was getting really excited for this but then my grandfather died so now I'm sad that he's dead and sad that I'm missing the entire tournament cause I have to drive all the way to Florida.
God it better be epic. I want like a Boxer win or something. Something amazing to come back to.
On July 29 2011 18:01 JustPassingBy wrote: Sigh... anaheim and conference falling onto the same weekend... let's hope I can watch the finals at least... :-/ and this incredibly awesome hype article only makes it worse for me... thanks!
Great write up. Those open seed players will make a huge impact to the pool stages. I'm on slashers side and would bet my esports dollars on a korean top8.
I wish I had the time for these sorts of events, but I just can't play as much I really want to. Though I'm excited for all U.S.-based tournaments since they finally are taking the attention from the Korean scene.
EU Terran and Zerg in this tournament is so ******** Bad what TLO, Sjow, Haypro and Ret and this happen because most EU player didnt get invited for the 1st MLG ( all the participant is basically liquid and NA players ) so in order to play in MLG they have to go through the open bracket which only have 4 spot so people not going to take a chance to pay all the fee to go to MLG and get knock out in open bracket and that lead to bad player like Machine, Drewbie, Moonan,.. constantly get placed in the Group Stage despite of their lack of skill to compete. MLG is even less international than NASL ( NORTH AMERICAN star league )
This is the best MLG ever, unless raleigh got better players witch is unlikely. there are so many players to root for. This MLG ReplayPack will be Sick.
On July 29 2011 18:15 BackSideAttack wrote: I think your really underestimating Alicia here. His PvZ may not be up to par under Korean standards, but then again, Coca and Losira are substantially better than Idra and Sheth. If Alicia lands in group A he's basically guaranteed to get 2nd due to his excellent PvP and PvT. I doubt Naniwa and Huk can beat him.
Sorry, but I believe you are seriously underestimating IdrA here, as everybody does for some reason. This guy is really good. REALLY GOOD. He swept MC last tournament and then lost 4-2 on the return. He could beat Alicia, and I predict that should Alicia get into that bracket, he will.
On July 30 2011 00:36 ForlornHope wrote: EU Terran and Zerg in this tournament is so ******** Bad what TLO, Sjow, Haypro and Ret and this happen because most EU player didnt get invited for the 1st MLG ( all the participant is basically liquid and NA players ) so in order to play in MLG they have to go through the open bracket which only have 4 spot so people not going to take a chance to pay all the fee to go to MLG and get knock out in open bracket and that lead to bad player like Machine, Drewbie, Moonan,.. constantly get placed in the Group Stage despite of their lack of skill to compete. MLG is even less international than NASL ( NORTH AMERICAN star league )
Well, this is to be expected when the MLG overprotects their seeded NA players and on top of that give away at least 4 seeds to Koreans each time (apparently since the Koreans in turn give them a Code S/A spot and it wouldn't be fair if they came from such a long way and had to qualify).
As a result, EU is pretty much out of the picture. They have to pay their own way there and doesn't get any free seeding. Since they also have to go through the pretty long and tough open bracket, most choose to stay at home instead. Players such as Thorzain amongst many more. Perhaps Dreamhack shouldn't give top NA players any free seedings either, forcing every NA player to go through the open bracket. But, that would be equally silly to what MLG does at the moment and just make the tournament less interesting. It's a shame, since everyone loses with this kind of system and we get a lesser diversity of players.
Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined.
WRONG dude- that's blatantly WRONG- MC has a wayyyy better resume than him -2 time GSL champion-2nd place at NASL??? and he has won Dream hack and so many other tournaments?? MC is hands down the best player to ever compete at MLG- he could've easily defeated MMA- but they never played each other.
Thank you all for working so hard on reports, threads , tourneys and this site in general. Have a blast all who are able to be there I wish I were there!!!
On July 29 2011 18:10 Comogury wrote: I think the open bracket and pool play at MLG should end. There are way too many great players that end up getting knocked out in the open bracket because another great player is in it as well. The competition at every stage of the tournament is just way too fierce for the current system to actually make any sense.
If it is going to be done in one amazing weekend of amazingness -- I think the current system is the only way to ensure it a)gets done on time and b)has a great final few rounds
Amazing write-up, however due to the broadcasting time, the majority of EU won't be able to catch this live ( first match begins 2.10 PM here in Sweden -_ -)
I hate how Naniwa never gets enough credit. You're saying that HuK is the only real foreign threat but Naniwa has been really annoyed with his recent performances of 2nd and 3rd. He loves winning and when he doesn't he gets real mad and wants to improve. Out of all the foreigners I would say that Naniwa is the most consistent and at par with HuK in terms of skill level. Especially with him going to Korea next month. He will be sooooo good after that it will be insane.
I really liked this write-up. It probably has the least fluffy Pool analysis I've seen. Either way I'm hyped and ready to see Mvp prove he is still the Terran king.
Yeah, its a shame that most of the best EU players dont have a fair chance to compete in this tournament. Especially considering the amount of "poor" players in the groups.
On July 30 2011 00:36 ForlornHope wrote: EU Terran and Zerg in this tournament is so ******** Bad what TLO, Sjow, Haypro and Ret and this happen because most EU player didnt get invited for the 1st MLG ( all the participant is basically liquid and NA players ) so in order to play in MLG they have to go through the open bracket which only have 4 spot so people not going to take a chance to pay all the fee to go to MLG and get knock out in open bracket and that lead to bad player like Machine, Drewbie, Moonan,.. constantly get placed in the Group Stage despite of their lack of skill to compete. MLG is even less international than NASL ( NORTH AMERICAN star league )
Well, this is to be expected when the MLG overprotects their seeded NA players and on top of that give away at least 4 seeds to Koreans each time (apparently since the Koreans in turn give them a Code S/A spot and it wouldn't be fair if they came from such a long way and had to qualify).
As a result, EU is pretty much out of the picture. They have to pay their own way there and doesn't get any free seeding. Since they also have to go through the pretty long and tough open bracket, most choose to stay at home instead. Players such as Thorzain amongst many more. Perhaps Dreamhack shouldn't give top NA players any free seedings either, forcing every NA player to go through the open bracket. But, that would be equally silly to what MLG does at the moment and just make the tournament less interesting. It's a shame, since everyone loses with this kind of system and we get a lesser diversity of players.
I am an NA player and personally love seeing my NA guys get these types of chances. What kind of system would you propose that would get the EU players into the MLG? I do agree that not having the best of the best from EU is only hurting the MLG tournaments.
The only type of system I could see working quickly is to provide some kind of Dreamhack - MLG link much like the GSL - MLG link, where the top 4? from Dreamhack would be seeded in the MLG tournament. This would help those EU players who are good enough to help remove the "oh well i have to play in the open bracket" barrier from them traveling to play in MLG.
That being said, the lower players traveling to still play in the open bracket is an issue that can only be resolved by more $...
On July 30 2011 01:10 SgtPepper wrote: This looks incredible, just wish the prize pool was bigger. Seems like it ought to be for such a stacked tournament.
youd think so but they do like 6 of these in the year and the final one is like 10x the prize pool
On July 29 2011 18:10 Comogury wrote: I think the open bracket and pool play at MLG should end. There are way too many great players that end up getting knocked out in the open bracket because another great player is in it as well. The competition at every stage of the tournament is just way too fierce for the current system to actually make any sense.
If it is going to be done in one amazing weekend of amazingness -- I think the current system is the only way to ensure it a)gets done on time and b)has a great final few rounds
Dreamhack had twice as many seeded players and two open tournaments in the same timeframe. So it can definitely be done without having some weirdo system.
Oh, right. I sort of skipped the part where I explain WHY these guys are the best two players in the entire tournament, assuming everyone knew. Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined. As for DongRaeGu, you can look here.
Um oGsMC anyone... Still waiting on IMNestea to come to MLG though, no matter where it is, I'm going.
-.- Well you know that when Tyler is "dark horse", then there is some serious competition. I really hope Ganzi and Alicia do well, because most of Slayers is eclipsed by MMA and Boxer. -.- And sigh DRG is so scary that I really hope he gets knocked out early enough to not do damage to my hopefuls.
In my opinion MVP is SO overrated...I mean he's a great terran but a lot of his success was early on. If you look at his recent results he has not been impressive whatsoever, being beaten by Bomber (no shame there but still MVP is supposedly part of the Nestea, Mc trio, how can he be part of that if he can't defeat a rising star). Also being knocked out of his group in GSL July! His first Code S appearance in a longgggg time. And the icing on the cake, being dominated by QXC in the team league very recently. This MLG will be amazing but I'm not betting chips on MVP.
Well, MVP has two GSL championships, which is a better resume than everyone who has ever competed in MLG combined. As for DongRaeGu, you can look here.
Clearly your completely forgetting that MC was at the last MLG and has also won 2 GSL championships.
On July 30 2011 02:38 Frequencyy wrote: In my opinion MVP is SO overrated...I mean he's a great terran but a lot of his success was early on. If you look at his recent results he has not been impressive whatsoever, being beaten by Bomber (no shame there but still MVP is supposedly part of the Nestea, Mc trio, how can he be part of that if he can't defeat a rising star). Also being knocked out of his group in GSL July! His first Code S appearance in a longgggg time. And the icing on the cake, being dominated by QXC in the team league very recently. This MLG will be amazing but I'm not betting chips on MVP.
While I don't think he's overrated I do agree that he doesn't really seem to be on par with Nestea and MC. He is a VERY solid terran player and did win 2 GSL championships. However I think he has hit a wall and other players have caught up to him.There are so many great terrans in Korea that MVP is no longer the frontrunner that he used to be.
Looking forward to seeing Jinro, I really think he is going to come out of the open bracket. Also, im excited to see DongRaeGu I hope he lives up to the hype.
This is such a stacked MLG. I do agree that most of the eyes will be on Group A, and most of the hearts on Group B, but I really can't make predictions for this MLG.
On July 30 2011 01:23 Yew wrote: Why wasn't sixjaxMajOr talked about in the open bracket lol?
he doesn't deserve any acknowledgement. Even if he does get through OB (unlikely)
Are you kidding me? He got 16th last MLG over Select, inControl and other great players. He played like a total boss last MLG and was talked about by the casters so much. He should have been mentioned either way.
Have a feeling that this MLG will be the best ever yet. The level of competition and the willingness for MLG to step their production value up to the next level are just some telltale signs. Absolutely can't wait to see the games and soak up the atmosphere.
Wow these groups are absolutely perfect. Perfect group of death (a), perfect group of champion + solid players(c), perfect group of characters with rowdy fans(b), and a perfect group of Has-been/in-a-slump players(d)
i am not sure if DRG will lose a game this weekend. Dood knows how important winning this tournament is for his career, can't stay in code B forever man
All this reading has got me soo pumped! but i'll have to miss the first day cuz its work !!! >.< wait is the first day only the open bracket? or does pool A start too? cuz i dont wanna miss pool A at all. well, atleast i got Sat and sunday off so i can watch
On July 29 2011 18:15 BackSideAttack wrote: I think your really underestimating Alicia here. His PvZ may not be up to par under Korean standards, but then again, Coca and Losira are substantially better than Idra and Sheth. If Alicia lands in group A he's basically guaranteed to get 2nd due to his excellent PvP and PvT. I doubt Naniwa and Huk can beat him.
Sorry, but I believe you are seriously underestimating IdrA here, as everybody does for some reason. This guy is really good. REALLY GOOD. He swept MC last tournament and then lost 4-2 on the return. He could beat Alicia, and I predict that should Alicia get into that bracket, he will.
It goes both ways. IdrA is extremely overrated as well for various reasons. The only time he streaked was back in '08. Everyone knows his flaws and plenty can take advantage of it. He's good, but he's not really that good.
On July 30 2011 01:23 Yew wrote: Why wasn't sixjaxMajOr talked about in the open bracket lol?
he doesn't deserve any acknowledgement. Even if he does get through OB (unlikely)
Are you kidding me? He got 16th last MLG over Select, inControl and other great players. He played like a total boss last MLG and was talked about by the casters so much. He should have been mentioned either way.
People are still salty about the SEA thing. Don't know why people hold grudges so hard over something like that...
I'm rooting for DRG and the Emperor, I believe in Boxer and foresee a top 4 for him. I have had a man crush on DRG since that interview appeared on TL and I'm hoping for him to take the win so he can be put in code S where he belongs.
Thanks for the sweet write up! It was just what I needed to get hyped for an awesome weekend of great competition. The topics you highlight really lend themselves to an outsider's perspective. I love following along on MLG's but haven't had time to track this one. Now I'm up to date and informed on an event I'd otherwise be disoriented from going into blind. Thankyouthankyou waxangel!
On July 29 2011 18:40 Micket wrote: IdrA (top 3 foreigner easy),
Not sure how anyone who has been watching the scene can say that Idra is amongst the top 3 nowadays.
He has not won or even placed in the top 3 in any major international tournament for the entire year. I'd say that there are several foreign players ahead of him. Including Huk, Naniwa and Thorzain. Idra is possibly top 3 in the American scene, however. I'd actually even hold SaSe as a stronger player than Idra right now, as I believe him to be the most underestimated western player currently, but that is more a matter of opinion and nothing I expect people to agree with.
Nah, IdrA's got this. If he can make it past Boxer he will be fine, at least for the group play.
I'm pulling for all zergs, lol. DongRaeGu, IdrA, CatZ, and Destiny. That's who I'd like to see come out on this mlg. Should be an awesome tournament regardless, even though I may miss Day 2 due to having to work a 24 hour shift.
Not sure how anyone who has been watching the scene can say that Idra is amongst the top 3 nowadays.
He has not won or even placed in the top 3 in any major international tournament for the entire year. I'd say that there are several foreign players ahead of him. Including Huk, Naniwa and Thorzain. Idra is possibly top 3 in the American scene, however. I'd actually even hold SaSe as a stronger player than Idra right now, as I believe him to be the most underestimated western player currently, but that is more a matter of opinion and nothing I expect people to agree with.
Idra is no where near top 3 of foreigner not even top 3 foreigner zerg ( Morrow, Sen, Nerchio )
well i got 4 wisdom teeth cut out of my face I GUESS i'll just have to watch MLG all weekend and the GSL finals if i have to stay inside all weekend anyways
Not sure how anyone who has been watching the scene can say that Idra is amongst the top 3 nowadays.
He has not won or even placed in the top 3 in any major international tournament for the entire year. I'd say that there are several foreign players ahead of him. Including Huk, Naniwa and Thorzain. Idra is possibly top 3 in the American scene, however. I'd actually even hold SaSe as a stronger player than Idra right now, as I believe him to be the most underestimated western player currently, but that is more a matter of opinion and nothing I expect people to agree with.
Idra is no where near top 3 of foreigner not even top 3 foreigner zerg ( Morrow, Sen, Nerchio )
I'm not putting Morrow in any top zerg list as long as he plays T vs Z. And what has Nerchio done to be better than Idra? Sen is the only one that is definitely better.
As far as foreigners overall, its debatable if he is top three. This MLG could answer that.
And no, I'm not an Idra fan. I much rather Sen Wish he was competing at Anaheim.
AHHHHH MLG STARTS IN 45 MINUTES GET PUMPED! I can't believe Evo/MLG/Xgames/(Iforgot) all happen on the same day! It's too much for my tiny brain >.< thank god I have big monitors =D
Not sure how anyone who has been watching the scene can say that Idra is amongst the top 3 nowadays.
He has not won or even placed in the top 3 in any major international tournament for the entire year. I'd say that there are several foreign players ahead of him. Including Huk, Naniwa and Thorzain. Idra is possibly top 3 in the American scene, however. I'd actually even hold SaSe as a stronger player than Idra right now, as I believe him to be the most underestimated western player currently, but that is more a matter of opinion and nothing I expect people to agree with.
Idra is no where near top 3 of foreigner not even top 3 foreigner zerg ( Morrow, Sen, Nerchio )
How can you even say that Nerchio is a better Z than IdrA? Nerchio hasn't even really done any big LANs.
IdrA consistently takes top 16 in big LANs with the best players from all scenes (Homestory, Dreamhack). More often than not, his losses are to players like MC.
I don't know about calling him top 3 non-Koreans, but he's definitely among the upper tier of non-koreans.
Boxer is so smart he plays strategic starcraft not just brainless macro that comes from thousands of hours of practice. idra got so strategically and tactically outplayed, he made poor decisions and judgements.
Is the stream working for you guys. I was watching Husky and Mr Bitter 10 minutes ago and then it went black and hasn't been back on since. Is it down for anyone else?
On July 30 2011 14:42 emsy wrote: MLG Anaheim is so far so good. Awesome casters enhance the already amazing matches.
DongRaeGu's Metalopolis game against NaNiwa where he took the very early gold expo proves how hard it is for protoss in the very early game. =\
Sorry but NaNiwa is no where near the league that DongRaeGu is, you`re going to have to wait for DongRaeGu to own MC before you can make that deduction.
On July 30 2011 01:23 Yew wrote: Why wasn't sixjaxMajOr talked about in the open bracket lol?
he doesn't deserve any acknowledgement. Even if he does get through OB (unlikely)
Are you kidding me? He got 16th last MLG over Select, inControl and other great players. He played like a total boss last MLG and was talked about by the casters so much. He should have been mentioned either way.
It is very doubtful he'll be anywhere close to even making it out of the open bracket. Especially considering he lost early to the relatively unknown player ONEwbc1 (aka WannaBeCool).
I dont know that i was so sleepy or what ..but how Naniwa can be 4:1 , he lost do Huk and DRG and he was 0:2 when i go to sleep , and now he is 4:1 ? hmm :d
On July 30 2011 22:01 pallad wrote: I dont know that i was so sleepy or what ..but how Naniwa can be 4:1 , he lost do Huk and DRG and he was 0:2 when i go to sleep , and now he is 4:1 ? hmm :d
On July 29 2011 18:31 Kybuar wrote: This MLG, in my honest opinion, is probably going to be better than most, if not, all the GSLs that have happened thus far.
dammit man I am trying to watch the red stream right now, 10:30 EST and all I am getting is black screen for both red and blue streams. Is Idra vs Cruncher on right now and I am missing it? Haven't been able to get anything for awhile now from MLG page. Was working just fine up until now
I'm not a SC2 regular but decided to give MLG a chance today. I can say that its definitely an improvement over the last time SC2 I watched about 4 months ago but the standard of play is still pretty low in the majority of games. The Koreans do seem to be bringing it up a level though and Ret is right there with them, Ret Fighting.
I did like the big crowd and seeing their reaction to things going on in the game and cheering enthusiastically. That’s really encouraging to see that kind of atmosphere in the West. I thought the first game between MVP and GanZi was pretty impressive approaching Broodwar levels of player ability and entertainment value. Actually really quite enjoyed that game. I also think TvsT is my favourite SC2 match up.
WhiteRa became like a fairy tale with all the crowd willing him to win by the end. That’s was a pretty fun story.
Its also refreshing to hear English commentators talking about the game and marinating some kind of interest when there’s nothing going on in the game. They where incredibly biased against Korean players in favour of foreigners in the games I saw which doesn't seem very professional but kind of understandable because the foreign community I guess surports the foreign players. I didn't see Boxer play at all and I'm sure Day9 and the crew wouldn't have discriminatted against him everyone loves Boxer.
All in all I'm pretty impressed with what I saw today everything looked pretty preofesional and well run. Maybe with a few more Years the ability will start to catch up and the entertainment value increase and hopefully there can be a happy future for both esports. Broodwar sure as hell isn't gonna catch on in the West so good luck to SC2 in Northern America.
Anyway, I like the way MLG brackets and everything work, very cool format with the possibility of someone winning the tournament without ever getting into the pool play. I obviously don't like the extended series thing though.
Its such crap that no zergs made it out of the open bracket!!! You have to be leaps and bounds above your opponent to be successful. Average to good Toss or Terran will beat vs the weaker swarm. They say infestors are OP but clearly 1 good unit isn't enough! -_-
On August 01 2011 01:44 WCBrownDFU wrote: Its such crap that no zergs made it out of the open bracket!!! You have to be leaps and bounds above your opponent to be successful. Average to good Toss or Terran will beat vs the weaker swarm. They say infestors are OP but clearly 1 good unit isn't enough! -_-
Not a fan if you don't have a pass... I only use 3g internet so why pay for a pass if I can't watch it in high def anyways... and then to have to watch SEVEN ads over the course of like 5 minutes everytime I switch a stream? retarded...
Ret Huk Idra Ganzi - ZERO coverage. 2 streams shwing 1 game. Im a boxer fan but I came to see more than 2 koreans duking it out. I might as well have watched GSL then. Very frustrated that MLG cannot manage to show more games....Very sparse coverage.
Just turned the black ops stream on during a SC2 medium stream blackout and the announcers were struggling to talk loud enough to drown out the SC2 fans chanting in the background =D LOVE IT.
MLG was a bit disappointing this time around, soo many boring TvT`s, Blizzard really needs to do something about this, Terran should NOT dominate every tournament they enter (GSL doesn`t count cuz Nestea is a boss).
On August 01 2011 12:52 TerdToss wrote: MLG was a bit disappointing this time around, soo many boring TvT`s, Blizzard really needs to do something about this, Terran should NOT dominate every tournament they enter (GSL doesn`t count cuz Nestea is a boss).
You are stupid. Nestea is a great player and that is why he won. MVP is a great player that is why he won the MLG. And the reason Terrans dominate at MLG is because THEY ARE ALL KOREAN, not because they are Terran.
There has been a distrubution of race winning races at the GSL
On August 01 2011 12:52 TerdToss wrote: MLG was a bit disappointing this time around, soo many boring TvT`s, Blizzard really needs to do something about this, Terran should NOT dominate every tournament they enter (GSL doesn`t count cuz Nestea is a boss).
lol wut the only reason terran dominated cause it was all korean
And obviously you didn't watch the right TvTs cause there were plenty that were action packed and exciting.
On August 01 2011 05:53 MarieJohanna wrote: great job.. showing one game at both streams while idra is playing against nani or huk against sjow..
Yeah, that bugged the hell out of me too.
Having two streams and only streaming one matchup on both streams is such a travesty. Idra v. Nani is such a grudgematch too...
They need to fix this for the next MLG, after all its not worth having two streams if they dont have two matchups playing. Also Red skipped quite a lot for me, but at least Blue was good.
On August 01 2011 12:52 TerdToss wrote: MLG was a bit disappointing this time around, soo many boring TvT`s, Blizzard really needs to do something about this, Terran should NOT dominate every tournament they enter (GSL doesn`t count cuz Nestea is a boss).
lol wut the only reason terran dominated cause it was all korean
And obviously you didn't watch the right TvTs cause there were plenty that were action packed and exciting.
I'll back you on this I thought the first set of MVP and GanZi was pretty good entertainment.
I don't know who the hell is Tree.Hugger But Iet me tell you a simple obvious truth. He is overrated.
(it's quite funny he still thinks "he didn't look so good to start" when IMMvp took out Kiwikaki,Ganzi,Select,Moonan,machine as 10-2 with 5-0 win in pool play although he was really sick and suffers from wrist injury at the start of the MLG)
Day9: "IMMvp is the most solid terran I've have ever seen Tasteless : "The perfect and solid macro management, amazing reaction speed, fantastic multi-tasking ability and spliting controls.... MVP perfectly play, simply amazing. best sc2 player by far." Artosis : "IMMvp is such a solid player. He plays very solid, dramatic mid game to late game scenarios.
-The result-
IMMVP dominated the whole series from the start to the end. It was phenomenon that he crushed DRG without a single early push and pwned him only with a dramatic middle to late macro management only. He won MLG as 16-4
and dear tree-hugger How dare you judge someone as "overrated" like that easily? Do you think 2 time GSL champion and SAGAcity winner is easy to be laughed at? You cannot judge a progamer with just one word like overrated if you know how hard they practice and endure in everyday life.
Please tell me you were kidding about this. The seating was terrible and the MLG staff not only refused to buy more chairs for sat-sun, they did not allow people to sit on the floor or bring their own chairs. It was ridiculous.
do you guys really think that boxer vs MMA was boring? T_T or mvp vs mma ? really i see so much hate towards TvT but the matches are often really good and action packed
On August 02 2011 00:19 WeddingEpisode wrote: That was such an awesome tournament to watch; the most amazing thing to me is the disparity in skill between even the pros.
I loved watching BoxeR play. It's a shame he didn't win but hey that's SC for you. Wish Huk had done a bit better as well. He's really the only foreigner that really is a major threat to Koreans. He's won more tournaments against Koreans than any other foreigner COMBINED! But I hope the rest of the foreign crowd gets better and soon. It's slightly sad when the top 6 players are all Korean... then again 4 Slayers came over to slay everyone. =) gg
On August 02 2011 04:52 Teddimijia wrote: I loved watching BoxeR play. It's a shame he didn't win but hey that's SC for you. Wish Huk had done a bit better as well. He's really the only foreigner that really is a major threat to Koreans. He's won more tournaments against Koreans than any other foreigner COMBINED! But I hope the rest of the foreign crowd gets better and soon. It's slightly sad when the top 6 players are all Korean... then again 4 Slayers came over to slay everyone. =) gg
Why can't people just look at players for their playstyle and personalities rather than their nationality or ethnic background...It's slightly sad when we have quite an awesome series of games from this MLG and we wind up with posts complaining about the fact that the better players won :/
On August 01 2011 19:35 darlhet wrote: do you guys really think that boxer vs MMA was boring? T_T or mvp vs mma ? really i see so much hate towards TvT but the matches are often really good and action packed
Indeed, if MMA vs Boxer was boring to some people, then I think they will find few things in life exciting. I guess those people are somewhat bitter over the fact that koreans continue dominating the foreigners. :S On that note, foreigners as everyone is saying need to step up their game and hopefully adopt a korean training regime. Hopefully EG can start this trend with their new training house.
On August 01 2011 16:30 EiBmoZ wrote: they need to change the name of this game to terrancraft 2 and this mlg proves it
considered all the koreans are terrans, all this mlg proves is that they are op.
US and europe needs to step up their games so we can have some competition and not one sided slaughter
Exactly what I was about to say! It doesn't even have to be justified with justified with their nationality though - with EiBmoZ argumentation, one could also use last GSL results (2xzerg) and last MLG (Toss if im correct or what did naniwa win again?). Better players won in all of those Tourney, thats all there is to it...
On August 01 2011 12:52 TerdToss wrote: MLG was a bit disappointing this time around, soo many boring TvT`s, Blizzard really needs to do something about this, Terran should NOT dominate every tournament they enter (GSL doesn`t count cuz Nestea is a boss).
the top 6 players happens to be korean, and 5 happens to be terran. Terrans haven't been dominating other tournaments, to "discount GSL" altogether is just your pitiful bias. What about code A where 2 protoss made it into the finals in a field of many high level korean terrans. It's the 'Korean' that's OP, not the race. Outside the top 6, terrans don't dominate either... i wonder why... hmmm? no koreans perhaps?
On August 01 2011 05:53 MarieJohanna wrote: great job.. showing one game at both streams while idra is playing against nani or huk against sjow..
I was at the event, and this double streaming may have been due to casters signing autographs, or simply because some of the games in question weren't being casted. There were some great matches between Liquid members that weren't casted because there were simply not enough casters to cast the often 3+ matches going on at a time.
On August 01 2011 18:11 OSM.OneManArmy wrote: "ample seating for all."
Please tell me you were kidding about this. The seating was terrible and the MLG staff not only refused to buy more chairs for sat-sun, they did not allow people to sit on the floor or bring their own chairs. It was ridiculous.
Yeah, that was awful! MLG definitely isn't going out of their way for the spectators at the event.
They could learn a thing or two from the NASL about how to run a good event. 1 screen with horrible glare from stage lights was the MLG "main stage"? To watch in any other area, you had to either pile up with a bunch of other people and try to watch from over the player's shoulder or sit on the floor.
They should charge $5 more dollars per person an put it towards more screens and bleachers for the spectators.
On August 01 2011 18:11 OSM.OneManArmy wrote: "ample seating for all."
Please tell me you were kidding about this. The seating was terrible and the MLG staff not only refused to buy more chairs for sat-sun, they did not allow people to sit on the floor or bring their own chairs. It was ridiculous.
Yeah, that was awful! MLG definitely isn't going out of their way for the spectators at the event.
They could learn a thing or two from the NASL about how to run a good event. 1 screen with horrible glare from stage lights was the MLG "main stage"? To watch in any other area, you had to either pile up with a bunch of other people and try to watch from over the player's shoulder or sit on the floor.
They should charge $5 more dollars per person an put it towards more screens and bleachers for the spectators.
At least the projectors worked.
But yes, the seating thing was pretty pathetic though. There were some times where I was less concerned with the match or actually had to stop watching because I had been standing for so long. It was a lot better on the first day when the MLG employees allowed people to sit on the floor near the main stage. During the second, they started getting security people to force people without seats to stand. I feel like they should either get more chairs, or let people sit.
I do realize that they may have been trying to enforce fire codes or something by forcing people to stand, but my statement still stands.
On August 01 2011 18:11 OSM.OneManArmy wrote: "ample seating for all."
Please tell me you were kidding about this. The seating was terrible and the MLG staff not only refused to buy more chairs for sat-sun, they did not allow people to sit on the floor or bring their own chairs. It was ridiculous.
Yeah, they may have improved over columbus, but there was WAY too little seating. I can understand not having enough seats, but not letting people sit on the floors, and letting people use the dozens of chairs that were not being used other areas was really dumb. Maybe that was just the convention center, maybe not, but MLG needs to sort that out for Raleigh.
I wonder what made them go with that amount of chairs to begin with. Pre-order sales too low? Venue restrictions? I ended up being there at 8am and bringing food/water to setup camp at my seat. The seat situation created a lot of tension between people and frustration.
Overall, it was an amazing time and I'm really glad I decided to go.
EPT![[image loading]](/staff/HawaiianPig/ellyicon.png)
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