My goal within the Starcraft community has always been simple: to make e-Sports content from Korea accessible for the rest of the world. After all, there's a lot of news and information packed into each article and interview.
Of course, this goal is next to impossible for me at the current state -- there's just far too much content and I do not have enough time to do everything. It also doesn't help that I stopped doing this for a long time, and a lot has happened.
So, this is a compromise, and kind of an experiment. The idea is to give the community a news rundown from Korea with clarification on certain important details, and of course, tidbits from long featured interviews that are simply not translated. Note that this isn't a summary of all the news that had happened in a given time frame (although it will cover some very interesting news) -- it specifically concentrates on things that I believe need a bit more context. Of course, I'll still be bringing the random tidbits that I think most people like, but there's less of that this week.
Note that these aren't direct translations, but more of paraphrases, and I try to add in a lot of context. So given this, here's what I want you guys to do: Give me feedback. Feedback and suggestions are always appreciated, especially regarding what you would like to see covered.
Thanks, and enjoy.
Brood War Updates
Flash's Surgery: Flash had entered the hospital on September 18th in order to get surgery on his right arm. His surgery was a success, as he was allowed to leave the hospital on the 23rd to be under the care of his parents as he was not allowed to move his arms for 2~3 weeks.
KeSPA has also given him an exception, allowing him to miss the required biyearly progamer seminar as he was not allowed to move long distances during this time. He removed his stitches on the 4th, and he is now scheduled to enter a rehabilitation facility in Pyeongchang on October 6th for one month.
DES ran an interview with the physician representative of the institute that was in charge of Flash's recovery. Flash's injury was considered one of the most serious injuries progamers could have gotten, as Flash's muscles had clumped up and was pressing on his nerves. While CTS patients suffer from pains on the wrist, in the case of Flash the pain was on his entire right arm.
Flash's problem was caused by him overusing his right arm, which led to a spurt in muscle growth. The surgery quickly identified and removed the muscles causing the problem. The representative commented that Flash should be making a full recovery in two to three months.
The 8th Team (Rumors Beware): KeSPA had announced through an interview that they had a special tasksforce for the purpose of finding sponsors for an eight team. The netizen rumors that were confirmed was that the team was being marketed with the "Dream Team" concept of the best player from all three teams. Rumors initially point to LG, who was also the company that had shown interest in sponsoring proteams before. However, rumors have it that they had backed out (they seem to be rumored to be more interested in SC2 teams -- oGs and IM specifically), although the same rumor claiming that a draft will happen in a week or two. As for something more solid, GameChosun, however, had talked with KeSPA on the 7th and stated that there is still nothing for certain and KeSPA is still in discussion with a few corporations.
A more current set of rumors have it that, another corporation, "H", will be creating the Dream Team, with an announcement coming out within this week. (Apparently, this was published, but soon deleted).
Player Updates
Jaedong gave the community an update on his status on September 30th on Daily e-Sports. He is currently residing at his hometown in Ulsan. Whlie he still practices in the morning and in the afternoon, he notes that it's difficult to practice effectively. In the meantime, he has been spending a lot of time reading, and according to his latest twitter posts, he's been travelling around the country.
Both Mind and Stats both had gotten surgery regarding their chins, as the chins have been causing problems with their dental health. Mind got his surgery after WeMade Fox had disbanded, while Stats had gotten his after Proleague had ended. The results? Well...
According to an interview with GOM's observer, Nal_Ra is currently debating whether to come back as a StarCraft II player or a Commentator.
ForGG had talked about a few players who had asked him about StarCraft II, and mentioned that there is at least one player he had met (from one of the disbanded teams) who is currently playing StarCraft II.
ForGG thinks Zerg is the best race, and noted that the would play Zerg if he had the opportunity to choose races again. He had started with Protoss, and moved to Terran. His current goal is to get into Code A, and his ultimate goal is to win.
StarCraft II Updates
StarCraft II is broadcasted on OGN: The WCG preliminaries finally gave OGN the opportunity to broadcast StarCraft II. While OGN had plans to broadcast GSL in the past, soured relationship between GOM and KeSPA caused the plans to fall through. BoxeR also joined the OGN commentating team for the first day as a special guest, as he pointed out key details in matches while also lending the commentators a sense of humor (which, apparently caused one of the SlayerS players to comment that their image of BoxeR had been forever shattered).
The first week was, however, riddled with complaints and errors. At least one of the matches took place on different (older) versions of maps than the ones they had listed on their map pool, while the hardware used ran into some issues in time for Nestea's match -- as there was a significant amount of lag when played on the lowest graphics settings, but not on medium grpahics settings. Many more progamers had complained about the computers used for the WCG matches, which led OGN to invest in new machines that MVP had complimented on his WCG match.
IeSF: While IeSF had selected StarCraft II as an official event for their event, they had failed to reach an agreement with Blizzard or Gretech, the first meaning that IeSF will not be able to broadcast their matches, and the second being the reason why no Korean representatives were selected. This led to IeSF dropping StarCraft II as an official event, leading them to keep it as an exhibition event. The group draws had taken place October 6th, and Sjow and Grubby had managed to make it to the round of 16 as day 1 drew to a close. Some pictures of the event could be found here.
SC2Con Disbands: Not that surprising of a piece of news, since 1) It's not a player's union, 2) It's not run by sponsors. This means that the organization lacks power to enforce any decision onto another team, leading to disagreements, and SC2Con had no power to punish any team that disobeys their mandate as the StarCraft II scene in Korea is too fragile and so punishing teams by barring them from tournaments would hurt the scene too much. However, it is to note that the final tone of SC2Con's statement was quite ominous, stating that SC2Con finds the need for a more rigid structure with actual power.
Future plans of GSL: Mr. Chae, in an interview with GameChosun talked a bit about some of the future plans of GSL. He noted that there will be less seeds in Code S -- that is, less people who remain in Code S. He also talked about how the schdules will change so that there will be no matches that take place during the day and the night like the first week of Code A, and that they are planning on moving towards the direction to give players more opportunities to play broadcasted games. This same direction applies to GSTL, as he noted that GSTL's concept will be to give players a lot of opportunities. He also noted that they will be working with the feedback they had received during the GSTL seasons.
When talking about foreign events, Mr. Chae noted that the Blizzcon finals was the first step. He noted that there are a lot of logistical issues that need to be settled. Their goal is to go with a similar format in the future.
Finally, when asked if they were planning a special event with MLG, Mr. Chae noted that there will be clearer details after they figure out their 2012 plans.
On October 08 2011 15:28 Bodhi wrote: If this injury slows Flash down will he switch to SC2?
What kind of logic is that, hey I'm injured, so i'm gonna quit the game that i make a shit ton of money playing to go play another game that wont make me anywhere near as much.
Nicely Done Milkis. I really look and layout of the piece.
... I wonder which pro ForGG was talking about ...
And I eagerly await the return of Nal_rA. I don't care if it's as a player or commentator as long as he comes back :D --although I would prefer he at least try and play first --
Thank you for all the updates! There was a few news I had no idea about. Love the look of it as well and the fact that you're keeping SC2 and BW together.
Finally, when asked if they were planning a special event with MLG, Mr. Chae noted that there will be clearer details after they figure out their 2012 plans.
Seems like confirmation to me of something big to come for next year! :0
I was surprised to see the size of the bandages on Flash arm for a CTS surgery, it looks like it was way heavier than a normal surgery, I hope he will be able to come back at full strenght soon... Concerning sc2 I hope the rumors about LG sponsoring IM or OGS are true, especially if they choose to sponsor IM. It would be really really big to have a big sponsor like that coming into the sc2 scene.
Hope Flash fully recovers soon, i got into this community thanks to SC2, but i love watching him play SC:BW, so can't wait to see him owning face again.
Pretty excited for the GSL 2012 news, i'm guessing they're going to dump 2 people into the up and down matches, get a lot more turnaround or at least a lot more chances for things to change.
On October 08 2011 15:31 blade55555 wrote: :o surprised forgg thinks zerg is the best race with how much terran is dominating over there lol.
nada apparently thinks so as well he mentioned in the backstage talkshow that if SCBW A Team zergs switch, they'll be crazy seems like some progamers think that at the extremely high level (i.e. higher than nestea!?) zerg is very good
if ra came back as commentator, it would probably be for sc2 right? I mean he is playing that now i guess and with MBC closing there are going to be a lot of out-of-work BW commentators and not many spots open at OGN.
On October 08 2011 15:31 blade55555 wrote: :o surprised forgg thinks zerg is the best race with how much terran is dominating over there lol.
nada apparently thinks so as well he mentioned in the backstage talkshow that if SCBW A Team zergs switch, they'll be crazy seems like some progamers think that at the extremely high level (i.e. higher than nestea!?) zerg is very good
Future plans of GSL: Mr. Chae, in an interview with GameChosun talked a bit about some of the future plans of GSL. He also talked about how the schdules will change so that there will be no matches that take place during the day and the night like the first week of Code A, and that they are planning on moving towards the direction to give players more opportunities to play broadcasted games. This same direction applies to GSTL, as he noted that GSTL's concept will be to give players a lot of opportunities.
Milkis, could you explain this a bit more? I think maybe something was lost in translation. What does it mean that no matches will be played "during the day and night"? Does this mean a shift in the start times for games, or does it mean the games will be played at a compressed schedule so that they do not bleed over into the night?
Also, what does it mean that players willbe given "more opportunities to play broadcasted games"? Doesn't this contradict the earlier statement that there will be fewer opportunities to stay in code S? What does "broadcasted games" mean?
Sorry if I'm being difficult, I really am trying to understand what Mr. Chae meant. Thank you sooooo much for all you do - you are pretty much our only link to what is going on in the Korean scene (aside from the casting by Tastosis). Thank you!!!
On October 08 2011 15:28 Bodhi wrote: If this injury slows Flash down will he switch to SC2?
Why switch when you're earning 300k USD/year no problem?
Didn't it get bumped to 400k?
either way its more than ten times what every korean sc2 player earns as salary combined.
I think his point was if he cant play at a level to earn him 300k, and so he has to negotiate much lower, would that be enough to jump. Otherwise, yes it would be dumb for him to leave a gravy train mid gravy.
Sure getting the X to SC2 talk started quickly, surprised it's about Flash and not Jaedong this time...
I wonder if the "more broadcasted matches" by GOM means they'll be moving away from the WL style GSTL? Or perhaps working more closely with FXO/ESV's tournaments...
Really looking forward to seeing what GOM has planned for next year, I hope GSTL looks even more like Proleague.
On October 08 2011 15:28 Bodhi wrote: If this injury slows Flash down will he switch to SC2?
Why switch when you're earning 300k USD/year no problem?
Didn't it get bumped to 400k?
either way its more than ten times what every korean sc2 player earns as salary combined.
I think his point was if he cant play at a level to earn him 300k, and so he has to negotiate much lower, would that be enough to jump. Otherwise, yes it would be dumb for him to leave a gravy train mid gravy.
He was doing just fine before the surgery, there's no reason to think he's suddenly going to become an MVP-level player.
If you get anything more on the new proleague team being formed, that'd be my priority for news, since that doesn't appear in most interviews usually.
@Everyone commenting on Flash After his rehabilitation and a month or two to perfect his mechanics again, you'll probably see him dominating as usual. He makes more money than winning all the GSLs combined if I understand correctly. Also, even if as a player he weren't able to perform up to his previous standard, you'd have to be insane to lose him as coaching material, NaDa was held on wemade fox for a huge retainer for a while despite not performing well. Flash isn't going anywhere.
If Nal Ra does switch.....I predict that in a year's time or so, there will be a Nal Ra vs Puma match....The Revenge of the Dreamer! Kang Min fighting!!
Thank god they're changing the 04:00 GMT (+00:00) and 09:00 GMT (+00:00) schedules for the first week of GSL. That is 12am and 5am for me. I call that hell week.
Flash is getting paid for his skills (3-400k) Boxer is getting paid for his image (180k)
So you are saying Flash doesn't have an image which greatly would help him and his salary if he switched to SC2? (which is what the discussion was about). Regardless, it doesn't matter. It shows that there is money in the SC2 scene as well.
Flash is getting paid for his skills (3-400k) Boxer is getting paid for his image (180k)
So you are saying Flash doesn't have an image which greatly would help him and his salary if he switched to SC2? (which is what the discussion was about). Regardless, it doesn't matter. It shows that there is money in the SC2 scene as well.
Way to miss the point. Boxers salary is almost wholly based on him being the grandaddy of Starcraft, and an eSports icon. If flash were to play SC2 he wouldn't have anything near his current base salary of 3/400k.
Don't think Kang Min can keep up with SC2 anymore(just look at yellow) but with his experience as a commentator I can see him coming back in that role.
Thank you Milkis, you have done so much for the community! I hope Nal_ra plays sc2 instead of commentating, it would be great to see old school BW players playing SC2. They can have a tournament full of old school BW players Nal_ra, Boxer, YellOw, Nada!
Dayum. Sorta neat to read the bit about Flash. As a layman you kinda don't look upon esports injuries with any real context or understanding. Obviously there's concern, i know that CTS is bad but for me its not like real sports where if someone gets injured i know what this injury is, what it means for the player, all the details (because i've been watching real sports for 2 decades and its all second nature to me). What Flash had is not something i'm super familiar with it so i don't understand the degrees of seriousness associated with the kinds of things a pro gamer could suffer.
FLASH HEALING!!!!
I think the idea that his switch to SC2 (if ever) would come quicker as a result of this is pretty laughable. He'll be more determined than ever to get back to his best at BW if anything imo.
Good work Milkis. This kind of thing is awesome. News flies fast enough as it is, and for Korean news it can easily get swept under the rug or just not seen at all, so a compilation like this is a brilliant idea. Also i really appreciate that i get to read all of the Flash stuff at once instead of having to keep up with multiple little stories over time. It makes life easier.
Wow that's crazy to hear about Flash's injury.. Also sorry to hear about Jaedong, sounds like he has kind of put the breaks on his BW practicing if he's going to be traveling. Was hoping to see a come back from him. Maybe he'll switch to SC2 :D??
On October 08 2011 15:28 Bodhi wrote: If this injury slows Flash down will he switch to SC2?
Why switch when you're earning 300k USD/year no problem?
Didn't it get bumped to 400k?
either way its more than ten times what every korean sc2 player earns as salary combined.
I think his point was if he cant play at a level to earn him 300k, and so he has to negotiate much lower, would that be enough to jump. Otherwise, yes it would be dumb for him to leave a gravy train mid gravy.
He was doing just fine before the surgery, there's no reason to think he's suddenly going to become an MVP-level player.
But that was point, the surgery was an extensive and invasive procedure effecting a good part of his arm, no just wrist. I am fairly certain they had to cut or remove portions of muscle that were causing pressure on his nerves. His capabilities could have been effected since the only reason those muscles were there was because they got built up over the course of playing so much. Pending his rehab, he may need a longer ramp up time to get back into the saddle then a lot of people think.
So if he can't perform at Flash levels for the next 6 months - year while he heals and rebuilds lost strength, adapts to shifts in the meta game, etc, he isn't going to be pulling those huge numbers. And you have to figure how the SC2 community develops in the next year or so, which no one knows.
He will likely just stick to BW and probably slowly ramp up to as close as old Flash as possible, but there is a chance he will either move on to something else entirely or try his hand at SC2, if he doesn't live up to past hype or worse, his own standards for himself.
On October 08 2011 15:33 Milkis wrote: A more current set of rumors have it that, another corporation, "H", will be creating the Dream Team, with an announcement coming out within this week. (Apparently, this was published, but soon deleted).
Corporation H? Like Hexatron? Like... Hexatron Dream Team?
On October 08 2011 15:33 Milkis wrote: A more current set of rumors have it that, another corporation, "H", will be creating the Dream Team, with an announcement coming out within this week. (Apparently, this was published, but soon deleted).
Corporation H? Like Hexatron? Like... Hexatron Dream Team?
This is an excellent idea Milkis these are really good updates. I do hope you continue as some of the threads that address the issues that you clarify get drowned in discussion and it can be a long read to get all the facts/information.
It would greatly reduce the amount of stress due to repetitive motion. clicking on 20 different barracks every time you need to make some marines will eventually damage most people's arms.
I absolutely hated playing sc1 solely due to the pain it caused me.
On October 09 2011 16:51 kabar wrote: beautiful. your work is appreciated.
What else to say =)
(Just one suggestion: The text looks much better/is way more readable, at least at my setting, when you dont use the News Cycle font - its unreadable in the "Editor's Note" part)
Thanks so much for the updates. I really hope Flash feels better. Jaedong being back home and just practicing on his own; Flash unable to move his arm. Insane to think of these two players not dominating the BW scene, and it would be awfule for tbls to fall from the peak for reasons like this.
Nal_ra in sc2 is so ambiguous for me. I didn't really watch BW in his prime competitive days, but the dreamer will always be a protoss hero. He could be really fun to watch making a comeback.
On October 08 2011 15:33 Milkis wrote: A more current set of rumors have it that, another corporation, "H", will be creating the Dream Team, with an announcement coming out within this week. (Apparently, this was published, but soon deleted).
Corporation H? Like Hexatron? Like... Hexatron Dream Team?
Post 1111, now I need a whole byte.
maybe H is for Hanjin (the company who owns Korean Air and Jin Air)
Milkis just posted the korean netizen reactions to IPL3 on his website: I won't create a thread because he deserves the praise, so i'll just leave this here:Odds and Ends blog
“Stephano’s skill right now…. it’s over the level of Nestea. Perfect defense and completely understanding the situation and decision making… I don’t know about the other games, but if we just judge it from this match, he’s the best. (Stephano vs stC)”
I remember joking about Stats and Mind's chin all the time over irc with other TL guys, didn't know that it was an actual defect that needs to be corrected.
On October 10 2011 19:00 SenorChang wrote: Should do project A season 2 with Nal_Ra!
Yea Kang Min!
ever heard of oldboy?
Old boy was much more fun
Ya agree. Project A was good, but old boy was so much better. Probably because of Nal_Ra. He is just damn funny and passionate. It also shows how insanely competitive BW is.
Really really hope that 8th team works out, dream team or not. Any kind of growth, really, would be very encouraging, as opposed to just hoping it doesn't shrink further.
Thanks as always Milkis, very appreciative of the translations.
On October 08 2011 15:28 Bodhi wrote: If this injury slows Flash down will he switch to SC2?
Why switch when you're earning 300k USD/year no problem?
Didn't it get bumped to 400k?
either way its more than ten times what every korean sc2 player earns as salary combined.
I think his point was if he cant play at a level to earn him 300k, and so he has to negotiate much lower, would that be enough to jump. Otherwise, yes it would be dumb for him to leave a gravy train mid gravy.
He was doing just fine before the surgery, there's no reason to think he's suddenly going to become an MVP-level player.
But that was point, the surgery was an extensive and invasive procedure effecting a good part of his arm, no just wrist. I am fairly certain they had to cut or remove portions of muscle that were causing pressure on his nerves. His capabilities could have been effected since the only reason those muscles were there was because they got built up over the course of playing so much. Pending his rehab, he may need a longer ramp up time to get back into the saddle then a lot of people think.
So if he can't perform at Flash levels for the next 6 months - year while he heals and rebuilds lost strength, adapts to shifts in the meta game, etc, he isn't going to be pulling those huge numbers. And you have to figure how the SC2 community develops in the next year or so, which no one knows.
He will likely just stick to BW and probably slowly ramp up to as close as old Flash as possible, but there is a chance he will either move on to something else entirely or try his hand at SC2, if he doesn't live up to past hype or worse, his own standards for himself.
If he wasn't affected by the injury which caused him to require the surgery then I don't see how the surgery itself should be that big of a problem. There is zero reason to suggest he will leave BW, let alone go to sc2.
The OP says he will make a full recovery in 2-3 months, not 6 months to a year.
fOrGG mentioned atleast one player from the disbanded teams switched to SC2 too, perhaps more. I'm so curious to know who this player is. Perhaps is too big of a name so they're extra careful with leaking information.
EPT
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