Table of Contents

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Liquipedia: DreamHack Valencia Invitational

Elite Eight:
Player Profiles and Predictions

Interview with dignitas.NaNiwa

Summer Memories, Winter Dreams

Welcome, everyone, to the craziest one day event ever.

Countless tournaments have passed since DreamHack Summer 2011, and it seemed as if people were forgetting about the Swedish tournament in the fast-paced world of ESPORTS. DreamHack didn't worry about that though and quietly worked on assembling an incredible line-up of players for their tremendous return event at Valencia.

HuK, Idra, HerO, DongRaeGu, Rain, Lucifron, ThorZain, Naniwa. Though many organizers include invitational spots in their tournaments, they often use these valuable slots ineffectively. But while properly rewarding skill, pleasing the fans, and ensuring racial balance eludes others, DreamHack has put together a near-perfect roster.

And if your memories needed jogging, recall that DreamHack set the standard for streaming at Winter 2010, and have been at the top ever since. The tens and thousands of us watching from home need not worry, because we are almost guaranteed a great streaming experience.

So grab a bottle of Garnacha and take your laptop outside to catch some fleeting summer sun. Imagine you're in Spain and enjoy DreamHack Valencia.

DreamHack's Elite Eight

By: TeamLiquid Writers

Markus 'mouz.ThorZaIN' Eklöf

ThorZain politely declined an interview with TeamLiquid leading up to DreamHack, leading us to wonder: what is he hiding? After WeMade Fox disbanded, ThorZain went for a mysterious stay at the SlayerS house, after which he has been seen tweeting merrily away at fellow housemates and gosu Terrans, Ganzi and MMA. Perhaps he has learned the secret to the Koreans' greatness, but is covetously keeping it to himself.

Well, then we'll have to go by what we already know. No one in the world defines the word 'methodical' quite like ThorZain, who never seems in a hurry to win his games. Koreans who had not seen this style before dubbed him “spoon-killer,” since getting murdered with a spoon might take less time than it takes ThorZain to beat his opponent. Yet, this is rarely to ThorZain's detriment. While a lack of patience often loses other progamers otherwise winnable game, the reverse never seems to happen for ThorZain.

Like any good player, he knows the value of the mix-up game. ThorZain employs 1/1/1s, two rax builds, and other types of early game trickery just enough to mask his occasional economic gambles.

Maybe the most persistent legacy of his TSL3 performance is a reputation for being a player with incredible preparation. From a clever double expand on Terminus, fast marauder expansion with +1, to his infamous Thor build (how many people can claim they single-handledy got a unit nerfed?), ThorZain has shown he can squeeze incredible advantages out of a few days of advance notice. On the other hand, this has often been turned as criticism against him, that he cannot do very well without sufficient time between games. It's an image he's tried to get away from, but until he successfully runs a rapid fire gauntlet to a gold medal, it will continue to stick. To that end, the one day, eight man DH Invitational seems like a great opportunity.
Chris 'EG.HuK' Loranger

HuK. A master of arms. He may not open Stargate against Terran often, or even use such gimmicks at all. But what I like to think of HuK is that he's a master of his weapons. Such is his expertise that dares to use his builds in certain situations where others wouldn't ever dare. We've seen many lives of Aiur fall to the 2-rax w/ reactor first in TvP when they've 1 gate sentry expanded, but it's those situations where HuK shows he is on a different level. If you think he's doing something supposedly risky, it's still the safest it can possibly ever be due to his stellar unit control.

One of the ever so contradicting aspects of his play is that he tends to use of standard build orders, but shows creative and out-of-the-box thinking from his vanilla starts. This was especially showcased against his teammate, IdrA, in a spectacular series at MLG. I think we all remember the hallucinated Void Ray fight on Metalopolis?

Ever since HuK became the champion of DreamHack great responsibility and pressure has been put upon his shoulders. We always expect great games and great results from him, but is that really fair? He tried to capitalize on his good run and strong confidence after winning back to back tournaments, but it didn't go very well. If you ask me, there's more to it than time lost in physically exhausting flights. Huk puts an incredible amount of pressure on himself because he wants to live up to expectations and make his fans happy with extraordinary play, writing EG in the middle of the map. The pressure may have driven him into a little slump, from which the way out is might be just believing in himself and doing what he does best. Regardless, he's been on a little break after returning to Korea and losing to IMMvp in GSL Code S. I'm absolutely sure that he's been using this time to the fullest to get back into the physical shape (or state of mind?) that he needs to be in to take home another trophy.

As a community we should rally behind HuK without any expectations beyond him giving his best. It's either that, or expecting more and more of him with the risk of one of our most precious stars crumbling under the pressure.

Prediction

Even though HuK should be recovering after finally getting his first period of extended stability in over a month, his recent slump was just too severe. ThorZain was pretty average during his month in Korea, but a Korean average is excellent on all other scales. Add to that the fact that ThorZain's best matchup in TvP, his victories over HuK on ladder, and his win against HuK in the recent EGMC... It's rude to say it to the defending champion, but HuK is going out in the first round.

ThorZain - 2 : 1 - HuK

Hyeon Deok 'Liquid`HerO' Song

If there was a game called “find the GSL Champion in this pile of unlabeled progamer streams,” a ton of us would pick the one that ends up being HerO's. There's not much to say about his pure skill: by that metric alone HerO is one of the best among all progamers.

However, we are all aware by now of the huge disconnect between how well you do behind closed doors and how you do live in front of live audience. Even the vaunted oGs.MC suffered from terrible nervousness issues for years. During his stint as a Brood War gamer, his strong internal performances earned him ten appearances in the Shinhan Proleague, even in the face of continued televised losses. Eventually, his team had to pull the plug at ten games and a total record of 1-9. HerO himself has admitted to having such worries about his career, having gone a combined three years in Brood War and SC II without ever having a breakthrough moment in front of an audience.

It's hard to say if MLG Raleigh was a watershed moment. Making it out of the open bracket and into the championship pool was impressive for sure, but it's expected of Koreans as long as they don't face another one of their countrymen. Sixth place on HerO's first try was a nice result, but on the other hand it meant that he was eclipsed by five other Korean players. HerO has spoken of a renewed feeling of confidence and purpose after encountering the supportive foreign fans at MLG, so perhaps there is reason to be positive ahead of the Valencia Invitational.

The other question is about what kind of stage environment HerO will face in Valencia. Though DreamHack has dealt with combined crowds equivalent to the population of Stockholm during its storied history, they've been surprisingly slow to embrace the live spectator nature of ESPORTS unlike their continental competitor, IEM. If the closed-doorness of DH summer returns, HerO will have an excellent chance to emerge with the gold.
Greg 'EG.IdrA' Fields

I can't believe I'm saying this. Idra might be the worst player in this tournament. Think about that. When was the last time you could ever think of that being possible? Though he's been a icon of rage, bad manners, and premature GG's, Idra has more importantly been the symbol of American excellence for far longer. To see him in this position is like seeing ESPORTS reality get torn apart and reassembled in some senseless, new configuration. It also tells you how f***ing terrifying the field at DreamHack Valencia is.

Idra hasn't even been doing poorly lately, he's just been pretty average (besides a pretty nice victory over Rain at the IEM Guangzhuo qualifiers). The problem is that everyone else is either on a hot streak, a recent recipient of Korean training, or both. The typical response to “Lucifron” is “Who?” but the guy has strung together some incredible results since August. He's taken series off Nerchio, Stephano and Mana, who are THE hottest rising stocks in Europe. That leaves the other six Korean-sphere players. If we learned anything during the summer of '11, it's that you NEVER bet against Korean training.

But besides an underwhelming performance at Raleigh, Idra seems to be his dependable, old self. He's even made some improvements to his game play since a few of us last paid attention; he's even embraced the school of make-many-infestors! Overall, he's a good underdog pick to win the tournament.

Still can't believe I said that.

Prediction

This may be extraordinarily cliché, but it comes down to Idra's mentality. The 'great potential – bad mentality' isn't a myth, as Idra's shown enough great performances to prove that much. He can definitely overpower anyone in ZvP if he can get into a rhythm. The thing is, the mentality part is just outweighing the potential by more every day. Taking into account HerO's excellent FF micro and prism harass capabilities, it's too easy to see Idra losing his calm against those tilt inducing tactics.

HerO - 2 : 0 - Idra

Seo Yong 'Fnatic.Rain' Park

"And there comes the seeker missiles, destroying tons and suddenly the supply goes from 200 back to 140. It looks like Rain has a huge advantage here," are some the words Day9 and djWHEAT shouted in one of the most epic TvT's that has ever taken place. It was a massive air battle between BoxeR and Rain in the upperbracket at MLG Anaheim. Unfortunately for Rain, he ended up losing the series with a 1-2 deficit.

Rain is one of the few Koreans that has left his country and team to go play StarCraft 2 in the foreign scene for a foreign team. While it had actually been unclear to me whether or not Rain been staying in the United States or Korea, I recently learned that he was in fact staying in the United States which is kind of interesting. We are always speaking of the Koreans versus the foreigners. However, no one can really set a finger on what specifically it is that makes the Koreans better. Is it the environment (i.e. houses)? Is it the Korean culture (hard-working, don't give up easily, endurance to play back to back games for 12+ hours)? Or is it just something psychological? I do believe that it's a combination of everything.

Even so, foreigners have yet to prove that they can maintain the skill level of Koreans in StarCraft II despite living in Korea. On the flip side, Rain has most certainly proven that he can maintain a very high level of play living in the United States. He tears up MLG after MLG with top performances and amazing games. He takes down his enemies without as much as blinking in the team competition for Fnatic. He's a killer.
Johan 'dignitas.NaNiwa' Lucchesi

NaNiwa has probably been the most feared Protoss user next to HuK for quite a while now. He had an amazing run at the MLG opener this year where he managed to go 26-0 through the open bracket into the finals. He took down the finals in an extended series 4-2, ending him on a total score of 28-2.

He's been attending MLG ever since with a #1 seed going in the pool play every time, but he hasn't been able to make it to the top since then. Yet he is still the absolute premiere of foreign Protoss users.

For the past month or two, he has been staying in Korea to practice. Going a bit back and forth between houses has made his trip a bit inconsistent, but playing in Korea has definitely improved his awareness and general skill level. Earlier in his StarCraft 2 career, he was known as 1-basewa and other such derogatory names. This is not the style we see from NaNiwa anymore. He has changed his play style completely over the past 6-8 months and is now more varied and solid than he's ever been.

I'm looking forward to seeing what such a great player as NaNiwa can bring to an 8-man invitational such as this. He definitely has the skill and this setting may allow him to shine a bit more than having to play a thousand back to back games at a regular DreamHack or MLG.

Prediction

Rain has dropped an unusual amount of games to foreigners lately, and didn't exactly win convincingly against Naniwa during their series at MLG Raleigh. Though there hasn't been a clear outwards decline from living in the States, it must be occurring even if it is imperceptible. The alternative being that the absurd 'Koreans are genetically better at Starcraft II' theory is somehow valid. We're going to have to pick Naniwa here, in the ultimate irony series where a foreigner proves that Korean training is better by defeating a Korean who has become a foreigner.

Rain - 1 : 2 - Naniwa

Pedro 'LucifroN' Moreno Durán

LucifroN was a WarCraft 3 pro-gamer who had his prime in the year of 2008 being the runner-up at BlizzCon. Defeating Lyn in the upperbracket finals wasn't enough as he went on to lose against the very same player in the grand finals to reach a second place finish, but a great run it was indeed. He was especially known for his extremely aggressive and well-thought play. And then he started to play Starcraft 2...

For those of you who do not know what happened at the first DreamHack in StarCraft 2 history, let me tell you the story:

The groupstage at DreamHack Winter 2010 was BO1 and a Zerg player named ActionJesus took advantage of that and – amazingly enough – 6-pooled his way to victory in back to back matches against NTT and LucifroN. These matches were played on stage in the DreamArena and the players sat in front of a crowd of more than a thousand people ...and you could just see it in LucifroN's eyes from afar. He was broken...

Ever since that tournament, we haven't really seen or heard anything from him. No one really knew where he had gone except the people closest to him. But he is now back on the international stage, stronger than ever. As the hard-working and talented player he is, he is starting to strike back as a threat to anyone who dares to cross him. Most recently he played a few games against Stephano in both Intel Extreme Masters – New York qualifiers, and what amazing games they were. One of our writers described the games as the best TvZ games he has seen in the history of StarCraft 2. It's a travesty of man and nature that the replays aren't up yet, with only the ESL pay-VODs available. One thing to note are his blue-flame hellion drops that unload and load back up so fast, that it looks like the medivac is shooting blue-flames; a trademark that would make IdrA GG instantly.

¡Buena suerte, Pedro!
Soo Ho 'coL.DongRaeGu' Park

As early as May of this year, DongRaeGu was virtually unknown to the general populace, despite receiving broad underground recognition as one of the best Zerg players in the world. Since then, he has gone through a meteoric rise in stature, earning a spot in the de facto GSL All-Star tournament “Arena of Legends” in a mere four months after his TV debut. Even more remarkable is that he achieved this without ever setting foot in Code-S, instead putting in GSTL performances that were so damn impressive that he essentially earned his entire team a partnership with foreign giant Complexity by himself (at least that's how it seemed).

And as it is with any player who rises too quickly, he became overrated. His GSTL reputation was built on the back of his near-transcendent ZvT abilities (Nestea ZvZ would be an example of plain transcendent), and it was too easy to assume that his other match-ups were just as good. Yet, we soon learned that while his ZvP and ZvZ were respectable for a rising star, they were liability-level for a player who was expected to win championships.

Now, going into DreamHack, we have a fairly good picture of who DRG is as a player. He is a very good Korean player with extraordinary ZvT, proficient enough in the other match-ups to wipe the floor with foreigners, but still a step or two away from moving into the highest tier of Koreans. Given the field at DreamHack, this should serve him well enough. He is for most, the favorite to win it all. HerO is his greatest threat, and DRG is break-even against him at least. Everyone else, he should beat easily.

DRG should win DreamHack. His real test should be two weeks ahead, when he enters Code-S October with a DH trophy in hand, trying to prove that he can be a championship contender in Korea as well. And if he should lose in Valencia? Then maybe we should start considering that it wasn't just bad luck that kept him in Code-B for half a year.

Prediction

We can rave all we want about the quality of Lucifron's recent TvZ play. But if we had to list a major recent achievement going into this series, it's that he beat Stephano and Nerchio in some series. As for DongRaeGu, he's beat Polt, MKP, Nada, MMA, Ganzi and sC in recent months. We'd all love Lucifron to do well, and maybe even steal a game. But let's be serious here, DRG is going to crush him.

Lucifron - 1 : 2 - DongRaeGu

Interview: dignitas.NaNiwa

by: TeamLiquid

One month ago, Naniwa left for Korea to seek out the Korean dream. As he headed to DreamHack Valencia, we caught up with Dignitas' Protoss ace and talked to him about his Korean experience so far.

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You've been in Korea for about a month now. How has your experience been so far?

So far I really really like Korea, but in game I hate the game at the moment.. But overall my experience has been great.

What's your living situation at the moment? You had been staying at the Startale house for a while...

I've been staying in GomTV house for about a week now, but I'm going to the MVP team house when I come back from Valencia. Gom basically told me the wrong information so when I arrived in Startale it was not a permanent stay there as I first thought and was told, but rather 2 weeks of practice only.

How about your Dignitas teammates Select and Sjow? Will you all be together at the MVP house, or has GomTV arranged different practice houses?

They arranged with FXO to stay there as far as I know and I will go to MVP with drewbie. I think this is better because if you are together with too many people you know for a long time you easily end up having too much fun, as is the case with the GomTV house right now. But yeah im not really sure about anything to 100% so I guess I will see what GomTV arranged with MVP when I arrive there.

What were your expectations of a Korean team house before you went to Korea? How was the Startale house similar or different from your expectations?

I expected a lot more strict practice, but Startale is from what I've heard is kind of a relaxed team in that regard, they play when they want. So that was something I didn't realise until I got there, but I hope MVP will be alot more strict and play more SC2.

How do you think you've changed as a player from your one month in Korea?

I think I've gotten a lot better, but I lost a lot of confidence lately considering the state of protoss in Korea right now. I know it shouldn't really affect me personally but I will do my best to try to not think about balance or such things.. Its just a very frustrating period right now for Toss in general.

What about being in Korea you think helped you get better? Simply being around better players and playing on a better server? Or does being in Korea change your mindset, too?

Everything about it helps, Basically every top 200 GM Korean is better or as good as the best of Europe or NA. But the Korean gaming mentality seems to be better as well, they are not as lazy as Europeans or Americans in general it seems from what I've seen so far.

What specific aspect of your play do you think has changed the most so far?

I am much better at reading moves ahead of time, as that is the main difference from foreigners and Korean players. For example here you have to realise when they can drop you and be prepared for it, if you are out of position for a second or two it can cost you the game in a lot of cases.

Have you been talking to the Korean players a lot in order to learn things? How is the language barrier?

The language barrier is really tough, but I have tried my best while I was in Startale to question Ace and Squirtle for advice, they helped me everytime I asked but they are struggling as well as can be seen in code A qualifiers. But yeah they have been very helpful.

So Ace and Squirtle have been your closest Korean friends so far? Which other Koreans have you been getting along with?

I don't know you could count them as friends, but yeah that's the closest I've gotten having any Korean friends. But I've gotten along with every korean person, they are all extremly nice and helpful whenever they can.

Right now, how would you rate yourself among Korean pros? Mid level?

Hmm, I am capable of taking games against any top Korean but I am struggling hard right now with PvT in general, as are most protoss players in Korea at the moment. I don't know how to rate myself among everyone but among the Protoss players in korea I can definitely compete with the rest. But Protoss is just having an extremly hard time at the moment in general.

On that note: you made some depressing twitter comments after MC went out of Code-S. While Protoss seems to be doing okay in Europe and NA, how's the situation as you see it in Korea?

The situation in Korea is that, they [players of other races] actually know how to abuse protoss to the max and therefore protoss basically loses ALOT. Korean players in general have much better micro, macro and more refined builds. Players in Europe and America are quite far behind in general right now. Korea is the only place to take seriously when questioning balance or anything about Starcraft at all really.

So what are the major reasons that Protoss is underpowered in Korea right now?

I would have to write a essay about that and I don't feel like it. But mainly the lack of scouting available early game makes protoss have to guess way too much for them to be able to consistently win without taking insane risks.

Taking into account your opinion on balance and the player list, how do you feel about your chances in Code-A October?

Hm, as my mindset is right now I don't feel good about my chances in anything, but if I can fix it, I think I have a reasonable chance against anyone as long as I practice hard and don't get demotivated by seeing every protoss lose every game in every tournament around me. But as far as players goes it should be very winnable.

You'll also be playing at DreamHack Valencia shortly. Do you think Lucifron or Idra have a chance against the other six players who have had recent Korean training? And how do you think you will do?

I never predict how I'm going to do but, if I'm on my best form then I should have a decent shot against anyone. But I don't think Lucifron nor Idra will have a chance against the Koreans.

Okay, a few lighter questions now. First, how's the food there? In particular, how's the sushi?
lol, I havent tried sushi in Korea yet. I've been eating rice every day combined with some kind of meat, thats what I have been eating every day. but it's alright I like it.

Thorzain mentioned that he owns the rest of you at eating spicy food.

Probably, I am eating kimchi every day trying to get used to it but it's really hard. It's still very spicy for me.

Besides the good gaming environment and the food, what do you like about Korea? It has some pretty bad summer weather.

The weather so far has been really good. No complaints whatsoever.

How about the women? Korean girls or Swedish girls? [Hot_Bid requested this question]

The women in Korea are very beautiful but the language barrier makes it very hard to communicate with Koreans in general. But I am planning to stay here a long time so I will start learning Korean asap when I've gotten a bit more settled to everything and have the time for it. And I prefer Korean girls by far, I like the Asian look in general.

You've said before you'd like to stay in Korea for a long time, and you'd stay forever as long as you had Code-S. How many more months do you still think you'll stay at minimum, and is your plan still the same regarding Code-S?

Right now I feel like there is no point to go back, I can see myself staying here for several years, Code S is my eventual goal to reach, and then from there Champion. But I will take it one step at a time. But I plan to stay here as long as i have to to reach my dream.

Any last words, shoutouts, message to fans, etc?

Shoutouts to my team Dignitas, I want to thank all fans who are supporting me even though I have been doing poorly lately, but it's just a natural step for me right now. I will be showing better results in the future for sure since I am developing as a player right now and just need more time.

Thanks for the interview, and good luck in Code-A and DreamHack!

Thank you.

Summer Memories, Winter Dreams

by: Techno

It's no secret that the eSports live event has evolved at an incredible pace. From the early Starleagues' original shoulder-padded finals to IEM’s European Championships at Gamescom, drawing back all the way to WCGs from as long ago as I can remember, and looking forward to the ever-improving Major League Gaming, we can see a consistent trend in the improvement of both broadcast quality and design of live events. But what’s really startling are the leaps that the modern live events have taken, even as recently as the last six months.

Each successful eSports event is at the heart a designed conference revolving around the fans. IEM Gamescom, fronted by the energetic Dennis “TaKe” Gehlen, features players facing outwards toward the audience, thus becoming immersed in the feelings of the crowd, with booths and activities bustling in the surroundings. The GSL finals feature stadium seating facing a sparkling silver-purple-green lighting cascade with flames and theatrics, and are hosted live by the GSL’s energetic casters. The 2009 World Cyber Games in China packed a huge crowd into a not-so-large stadium and was alive with video game celebration. And of course, the new season of Major League Gaming is looking remarkably sharp, with the sound and lights rivalling any concert hall, to present J.P. McDaniel on certainly the most comfortable leather sofa I’ve ever seen. And now, DreamHack forays into a series of high-production live events with the introduction of DreamHack Valencia. With DreamHack’s venerable history as the largest and one of the oldest LAN parties in the world, there is no doubt as to the quality of the live event that we can expect.

Or... is there?

So we arrive at DreamHack Summer 2011, and find ourselves face to face with Day[9] and dApollo in our dedicated spectator tent, packed shoulder to shoulder with eager viewers sitting on long benches. The players are playing in a separate arena from the fans, and at first the games are difficult to make out from the back rows until a projection screen is erected above the viewing area. Also, not everyone who is interested in watching the event from start to finish is able to due to limited space, and should you stand up for a moment your hard-earned middle-row seat is most certainly gone forever. Only the grand finals were hosted in the main auditorium. It was kind of like going to Medieval Times and watching the tournament from the lobby TVs. Or just going to your local barcraft... without the bar.

There is no doubt that DreamHack is a grassroots LAN event - is THE grassroots LAN event. Starting as what basically amounts to an all-nighter in some guy's basement in Sweden, DreamHack now hosts their duet of seasonal LANs: DreamHack Summer and Winter. Always true to their roots, the DH staff puts together an incredible venue for their LAN participants, with a huge area for gaming, multiple booths and tents, a reputedly amazing breakfast and of course the world’s best progamers competing in about a dozen favorite games for fans to spectate and peruse. When the sun goes down, sleep is most definitely optional, as electronic music takes over the entire event and a party commences; something DreamHack is famous for that no other LAN can mimic. So, I’m most certainly not knocking the DreamHack committee for organizing a sub-par event; everyone that goes comes back well satisfied, having had an awesome time and gamed a significant chunk of their life away.

But DHS 2011 left some Liquidian attendees with an awkward vibe. As one TL user expresses,

“I was a little bit disappointed about the lack of excitement towards Starcraft compared to MLG. DreamHack is more about all the fans/gamers that bring their own rigs and game hardcore for 3 days.”

Others echoed his sentiments, though most concluded that the event was in fact epic beyond proportions. Even Huk noticed, commenting on it in an interview after the championship. Everyone walking in must've been excited to see that Day[9] and dApollo had their own tent set aside for a meet-n-greet and for all to watch the games. But then it was revealed that the players would play in a separate area, and would not be making any significant appearances into this set-aside viewing area. This was a significant departure from the cozy standard that MLG, WCG, IEM, GOM, NASL and others have set - we’re used to feeling the tension, seeing the sweat and watching the champions stumble out of the booth exhausted and bloodied.

So in short, the Starcraft fans had paid top dollar for a DreamHack ticket just to watch the exact same show that the home viewers were getting on the live stream. This time around, DreamHack is doing a slimmer invitational event. They’ve rented out an epic and architecturally significant waterfront venue which looks awesome, and hired local marketing consultants Carnales. Though Valencia is on a smaller scale, I think we’re all wondering how the DreamHack team has stepped up their approach for the live viewers, and how DreamHack will adapt its blossoming tournament franchise with the coming Winter main event.

Starcraft II is the world’s premier eSport. While other companies pour their own dollars as investments into tournaments for publicity and recognition, Blizzard has given us space to let life naturally emerge. Our events and streams generate sustainable revenue for teams and progamers, and our tournaments are rarely sponsored by Blizzard. But have we, the Starcraft fans, been spoiled by our seat at the featured table? After all, Starcraft at Dreamhack shared the stage with literally every genre of game, from Fighters to Racing and Sports to Minecraft. With only one main auditorium, are we as fans asking too much of DreamHack to not only organize the world’s biggest nerd party, but also have our section be in Blu-Ray HD with 120 channels of surround sound while everyone else gets the projectors and benches?

I don’t think that’s what any real fan would want, and I’m not asking for my own personal couch (but while we’re at it...), but I do think that DreamHack does need to recognize that the live event is evolving. It's growing. You can’t just put the personalities in a room with the fans and let them run the show anymore. And while I'm at it, if you’re going to merge the worlds largest LAN with a championship caliber eSports event, the two need to become one; they cannot be separate. The live show must exceed what we can make real online, and every attendee needs to be able to say, “Man, you should’ve been there.”