When the IPL2 Grand Finals weekend featuring Idra, White-Ra, and Nerchio ended up being a gigantic flop, I experienced a sense of dread as my fears were confirmed. Yes, there were a number of other factors, such as the lack of hype and the rise of the live event as an ESPORTS standard. But I felt that I knew the true reason: It was the Koreans.
Or, the lack thereof. We can't solely attribute the low stream numbers for IPL2 or the more recent NASL2 to the lack of Koreans. But you must admit, it did kill a lot of the excitement. Tournament legitimacy and success relies a great deal on having players who fans perceive as the best players in the world (often unrelated to which ones are actually the best in the world), and we spent the entire summer of 2011 beating ourselves up over how much we suck in comparison to Koreans.
While the trio of victories attained by HuK, IdrA, and Stephano were certainly wonderful for our perplexing and sometimes poorly defined sense of foreigner pride, there was a hidden benefit that outweighed all others: It won back our right to enjoy.
Imagine this ASUS ROG tournament with the very same players, being played in an alternate universe where MC had won MLG Orlando, Puma had won IEM Guangzhou, and Lucky had taken the gold at IPL3. Despite its star studded line up, I don't think it's very much of a stretch to say many of the fans in that universe would not have cared.
Certainly, this tournament could be a success for other reasons. Players were essentially picked for their popularity alone, and a notable enough cast will always get you some amount of viewership. And it's true that they did try to bring in a Korean in MC, but that was due to his popularity more than his recent prowess.
In the end, it's clear. This tournament is NOT relying on Koreans to succeed. That ghastly specter of "there's no Koreans so it doesn't really matter" has been removed. It's not just championship matches where Stephano beat Lucky 4-0 or HuK beat MC 2-0. It's Ret trampling all over aLive, it's Gatored beating DRG and 3-0'ing TOP, it's DIMAGA crushing Rain and JYP, it's Idra beating Boxer, HongUn, and MOTHERF***ING BOMBER.
Our guys matter again. We can sit back and watch ASUS ROG this weekend, thinking "These guys can go anywhere in the world, play anyone, and win a championship." And that makes all of it so. much, better.
So thanks guys, you've earned it. Our appreciation, our gratitude, and our unconditional support.
HuK: Was HuK actually any worse during his months long slump? Even before his major breakout onto the scene earlier this year, his ex-teammates at the oGs-TL house would have argued that HuK was always good, and just didn't have the tournament luck to follow.
In any case, HuK has returned to form – or at least to prominence, going to MLG Orlando and relegating many a Korean player to a supporting role in his glorious maybe-comeback victory. And of course, with the championship, he regained the unofficial yet prestigious title of "Best Foreign Player."
And for this huge success at MLG, HuK now has much to lose at ASUS ROG. Life is precarious at the summit, and one needs to watch his footing to make sure he keeps his place.
Elfi: Quietly, Elfi has made his presence felt in the ESPORTS world, putting Finland back on the Starcraft II map in the process. Let's take a look at this achievements, starting in August:
Top 8 ASUS ROG Assembly Summer 2nd place MSI Millenium Pro Cup #2 2nd place IEM Global Challenge Guangzhou Top 8 IEM Global Challenge New York Top 32 ESWC 2011 Ranked #13 in TLPD international ELO (minus Koreans) at the time of writing
As it is, it seems like Elfi fits a somewhat overgeneralized, but still relevant archetype of Starcraft II pros: The low profile, unspectacular but consistent, totally ignored by Americans, Protoss player from Europe. These are the Sockes, HasuObs's, and NightEnds of the world, and they will beat your Idras, White-Ras, and DongRaeGu's, so let's get used it already.*
*Sorry European fans, for a rant targeted mostly at our American audience.
Head to Head: HuK – 0 : 0 – Elfi
On one hand, HuK just won MLG Orlando on the back of an impressive 9-3 PvP performance. On the other hand, Elfi is 27-9 in PvP since July, with a 72% win rate in the match-up for his career. So it may seem pretty even at first... However, those stats don't show that HuK has a history of being absolutely in clutch important PvP games, whether it's in the finals of MLGs, HomeStoryCup, or facing elimination in GSL. I'm not sure about how highly this tournament ranks for HuK in his hectic schedule, but if he treats it like an important match then he should be a strong favorite to win.
I would love it if there was a Hometown advantage factor that complicated things, but alas I haven't been able to detect much of that in ESPORTS so far. Elfi's at home, but he's got only himself to rely on.
DIMAGA: Ukraine’s top Zerg player finally won his first championship at another ASUS ROG event held in Finland, back at Assembly Summer 2011 in August. For DIMAGA it's never been a question of whether he had the skill. Even for a top-tier progamer, one has to keep top condition for four days, and have a not-inconsequential amount of luck go ones way (match-ups, opponents, builds, maps) on top of having a prodigious amount of skill to achieve a major tournament win. Perhaps DIMAGA underperformed somewhat relative to his skill until then, but it's tough to blame him given those conditions.
DIMAGA has been going strong as usual after Assembly Summer. He placed high in multiple smaller tournaments, though success at major tournaments like IEM Guangzhou and Blizzcon evaded him. So it's on to the next one, and the next one, until all of the conditions for a championship come together again.
SeleCT: In regard to their tournament careers, SeleCT is the North American scene's own DIMAGA. They had both been two of the most popular, highly-regarded foreign players in the Starcraft II scene, despite their lack of a major championship. Similar to DIMAGA, SeleCT finally resolved this situation in August of 2011, defeating Sheth to become the champion of the North American Battle.net Invitational.
Where they go from here, however, might be greatly different. SeleCT has gone to Korea to train with the FXO team for the time being, and past experience shows us that Korean training can produce some prodigious results. This tournament will tell us if these results have had time to manifest.
Head to Head: DIMAGA – 5 : 5 – SeleCT
On the whole, the two represent each other's respective 'weak' race match-up, at least compared to their ability to wreck face against the other races.
Conveniently, we got to see how the two players matched up against each other at the recent Blizzcon Invitational, in one of the marquee games Blizzard actually chose to show (You catch check the VOD here, under Starcraft II Match 2). While the results say SeleCT 2, DIMAGA 0, the actual games were very close macro-games where DIMAGA played well until the very end. Considering that the games were played on the Terran favored Xel'Naga Caverns and Shakuras Plateau, and SeleCT using his map advantages to the fullest (gold base and center control on Xel'Naga, half-map defensive style on Shakuras), DIMAGA definitely showed that the games could have easily gone the other way with different maps or a slew of other changed circumstances.
On the whole, DIMAGA seems like a slightly safer bet. As early as last July, SeleCT's TvZ was considered the hole in his game, and DIMAGA has been slightly better against top level Terrans than SeleCT has against Zerg. Add in a favorable jet-lag situation for DIMAGA, and it's enough to give him the edge here.
IdrA: It was easy – if boring – to write about IdrA in the past, by simply repeating the broken-record sentiment of the Starcraft II community at large: He's got all the tools, but he's just got to get his head together. Now that he's won IEM Guangzhou and won six months of immunity from such evaluations, it's going to be hard to find a contrived narrative that's as convenient and compelling to fill the gap in between (assuming he doesn't win henceforth).
What can we say now? Idra himself said on the talk show Live on Three that he didn't feel that it was some increase in skill that allowed him to win IEM Guangzhou. Instead, it was some unspecific mental revelation, gained through some mysterious talks with EG owner Alex Garfield.
So far it looks like it's a long lasting buff for Idra, as he's continued to show more resiliency while putting up strong performances in tournaments ever since.
SjoW: This tournament must feel quite odd for SjoW. Just after winning the easiest $13,000 in Starcraft II history at IeSF (his path: sYz, Pandatank, Escapist, Moutas, DeathAngel and Grubby), he's going onto ASUS ROG where the prize money is halved and the level of competition is several times higher.
Could you really blame SjoW if he just phoned this one in? $13k's a nice haul for a month, and what's really left of $6k after Scandinavian taxes, anyway? That money would probably go further in Korea or Ukraine. At least the tourney would be a nice trip to next door Finland (which is looking beautiful this time of year I hear), and there's a $1,000, 1v1 showmatch in it too boot.
Or dunno, maybe he'll just continue to add to his stack of money.
Head to Head: Idra – 2 : 3 – Sjow
It's funny that 'make IdrA tilt' was a semi-viable strategy at one point in time, but it's not something he would have worried about too much against SjoW, a methodical and safe Terran player. Taking into account that he was in Korea for about month, there's a very good chance that he'll go for the King of boring Korean macro builds in every game: Reactor Hellions into triple Orbitals.
This isn't good for SjoW, since methodical and safe is IdrA's game as well, and Idra's been really damn good at that as of late. Additionally, while SjoW hasn't had to play many Zergs as of late, he just hasn't had much momentum going for him in general. So while SjoW might be ahead in stats against not-reaching-his-potential Idra, this pick is pretty clear.
Ret: I'm not sure if any other player inspires the sentiment of "Yeah, I think he can win, but I'm not going to say he is" than Ret. There are already two Zerg players in this tournament who are capable of incredible highs and abyssal lows in IdrA and DIMAGA, but Ret truly outdoes them both. Arguably, you could say for his much greater volatility, he is capable of the best play of the three.
The probability of him stringing together enough good back-to-back good performances to win a tournament seems low, but here he stands as champion of Assembly Winter and the Battle.net EU Invitational. There's not much to expect here; we can only wait and see.
White-Ra: On more than one occasion have I heard a Korean pro ask "So how does White-Ra win tournaments? He doesn't seem so good." The answer is always, WE DON'T KNOW EITHER.
The phrase "Special Tectics" sums up White-Ra's play style quite nicely: It vaguely makes sense, but not really. No one else could use it without looking like an idiot. It's definitely not American, West European, or Korean.
I could waste some time talking about how his PvT is iffy, or how his Warp Prism tactics are weaker now as they've become more common and Zergs are getting used to them. But in the end, White-Ra is White-Ra, and he'll find ways to win when he wants, doing whatever he wants.
Head to Head: Ret – 0 : 2 – White-Ra
Ret has been shaky in the past about getting sufficient defenses up in time after his trademark drone production, and he even lost a recent series to White-Ra in the MLG Invitational to two well timed attacks. However, in more recent games he looked much better about his drone-unit balance. In particular, his 4-2 win in the Battle for Berlin preliminaries over another skilled, warp-prism happy Protoss in mouz.MaNa suggested that he is prepared to take down White-Ra this time around.
However, trying to make predictions about White-Ra is like trying to make predictions about Brood War Boxer in 2005. You know he's not top, absolute top level anymore, but you're afraid to predict against him in a big game because God knows what kind of magic he's going to pull out of nowhere for the win.
I believe in white-ra. He stated a couple weeks ago that zvp was easy and I don't think that the meta game has changed that much. The protoss upgrades is slightly cheaper now and so I think that a 3-1 victory over ret seems plausible. Other than that the predictions seems about right.
However, trying to make predictions about White-Ra is like trying to make predictions about Brood War Boxer in 2005. You know he's not top, absolute top level anymore, but you're afraid to predict against him in a big game because God knows what kind of magic he's going to pull out of nowhere for the win.
Hahahaha, this is so spot on. Great preview as always Wax.
On November 03 2011 19:32 pdd wrote: "SeleCT finally resolved this situation in August of 2011, defeating SeleCT to become the champion of the North American Battle.net Invitational."
nice write up. hope this turns out good, but strangely i still have that 'no koreans, not legit' feeling, but at least with the lineup here, i can actually root for any number of them, instead of a bunch of european unknowns.
What in the world is that bullshit America-bashing mini rant doing in there? Is there some situation I missed where all the American audience somehow ignored the lesser European players? The mods of this site try awfully hard to keep baseless regional and political nonsense out of the forums, it would probably be better if the mods kept it out of tournament reviews as well...
That being said, this is a great tournament lineup, I'm pulling hard for Sjow and Select!
On November 03 2011 19:05 Waxangel wrote: Add in a favorable jet-lag situation for DIMAGA, and it's enough to give him the edge here.
Kill me since im not a native speaker.... But this sounds so very wrong.
On November 03 2011 19:52 CaptainCrush wrote: What in the world is that bullshit America-bashing mini rant doing in there? Is there some situation I missed where all the American audience somehow ignored the lesser European players? The mods of this site try awfully hard to keep baseless regional and political nonsense out of the forums, it would probably be better if the mods kept it out of tournament reviews as well...
Well it was a fact that after MaNa took out Idra in IPL2 the rest of semis and finals had way lover viewer-ship. Also TSL3....
Great writeup. I agree with most of the stuff except that Dimaga seems a safer bet than Select. Dimaga has shown that he can fall apart. Especially in late game situation vs T/P. Select on the other hand has shown consistent well-executed aggressive micro-intensive TvZ play (if somewhat non-creative). I see Select as a favorite and would predict a 3-1 for him.
On November 03 2011 19:38 Kazeyonoma wrote: nice write up. hope this turns out good, but strangely i still have that 'no koreans, not legit' feeling, but at least with the lineup here, i can actually root for any number of them, instead of a bunch of european unknowns.
I think such sentiments are hard to escape. Even if there are Koreans there are not enough Koreans, they are jetlagged, they are not the right Koreans, they are not used to the tournament format, they are just not used to foreigner playstyles, they weren't really trying, etc.
I think Huk has proven that in terms of his play he can count as a Korean. Idra has proven that when he's on form he can compete at the level of top Koreans (maybe not Nestea/MVP, but slightly below). Also IMO Select should be counted as a Korean (at least you are forced to count either Huk or Select as Korean, as one is Korean by nationality and the other is by practice environment).
I look forward to this tournament. Really good interesting lineup. Personally I hope for some dimaga/idra ownage.
To the guy wishing for goody/thorzain: I too wish thorzain participated as he's without a doubt amazing. However I'm not really sorry about Goody. He has proven time and time again that he can compete with the best consistently despite being considerably worse than them in most traditional measures of skill. To a much larger extent than White-Ra does he have that "how did you win? You have 12 tanks queued at 13min and your opponent is in code S." feel, but for some reason it just feels wrong that he can win so much. Anyway I feel Select and Sjow are worthy replacements for both of them. Select reminds me somewhat of Thorzain, and Sjow reminds me of Goody with better macro, but somehow still not really much better results.
Nice write up, I have a feeling that elfi will manage to pull out a win against HuK Also the new page width makes these writes look a lot better in my opinion.
On November 03 2011 19:38 Kazeyonoma wrote: nice write up. hope this turns out good, but strangely i still have that 'no koreans, not legit' feeling, but at least with the lineup here, i can actually root for any number of them, instead of a bunch of european unknowns.
I can understand the feeling, but then again all of these players have beaten koreans in lan events although not all of the koreans were of the absolute top tier. The point I'm making here is that while there is only one korean, and he isnt even considered a korean anymore (Select), no one should be heard to say that this tournament is not legitimate with no koreans being participating. The skill level in this foregneir event is absolutely huge.
im kinda pumped for this, these 'foreigner' gamers are some of the most enigmatic gamers, and some who have shown truly remarkable highs, and truly remarkable lows.
Im pumped to see Elfi play again. I kinda wish it was a different matchup to PvP, as if HuK 4-0 MC, then i dunno how well elfi can do, but the kid has some nice nice plays and fun fun builds
and i think with this lineup, i think it's more legit than some random code B (or even A) korean player because i think each one of these players has S-class play in them (maybe white-ra teetering out... the boxer comparison seems pretty apt, just without the cheese i think...id like to say nada at the end of his bw career; still ridiculously strong, just not winning as much as he used to)
I so hope White-Ra will take this. In my humble oppinion he is THE archetype for a great progamer. Always entertaining to watch, polite and without a doubt the first thing you think about when talking about manner in starcraft. Up to this point I never managed to bet against him and probably never will for even when he does not win the tournament, he sure as anything wins hearts. GOGO WHITE-RA!
Similar to DIMAGA, SeleCT finally resolved this situation in August of 2011, defeating SeleCT to become the champion of the North American Battle.net Invitational.
People shouldn't forget that Dimaga is the only foreigner to beat both MVP and Nestea, and under spectacular circumstances (rematch against MVP and Nestea losing a ZvZ on tv for the first time)! That remains the biggest foreigner vs. korean accomplishment to date.
Nicely written. Is it just me, or does an all foreigner tournament feel a bit like there's the final boss missing? Still, I'm thrilled to see these guys play.
*Sorry European fans, for a rant targeted mostly at our American audience.
Maybe just drop this kind of talk. eSports/SC2 is global and teamliquid.net is a center of it. It would be better if you either make regionCentric comments from random regions point of view (so not only we Americans, our players etc) or drop them altogether. Would be nice.
On November 03 2011 19:16 archonOOid wrote: I believe in white-ra. He stated a couple weeks ago that zvp was easy and I don't think that the meta game has changed that much. The protoss upgrades is slightly cheaper now and so I think that a 3-1 victory over ret seems plausible. Other than that the predictions seems about right.
patch 1.4.2 is not out yet. its only on PTR. protoss upgrades are still going to cost the same, and EMP is still going to have a radius of 2.
On November 03 2011 19:32 pdd wrote: "SeleCT finally resolved this situation in August of 2011, defeating SeleCT to become the champion of the North American Battle.net Invitational."
Ret 3-1 White-Ra? Lmao...every zerg droning heavy againts Ra gets crashed like a fool...and if u add that everytime he met Ret he won and that Ret IS like the most heavy droner you can get...
*Sorry European fans, for a rant targeted mostly at our American audience.
Maybe just drop this kind of talk. eSports/SC2 is global and teamliquid.net is a center of it. It would be better if you either make regionCentric comments from random regions point of view (so not only we Americans, our players etc) or drop them altogether. Would be nice.
I thought wax had a pretty good point how many high level eu players (especially protoss) are not well known in north america.
This looks like its going to be one great tournament, I want ret to do well but i think its going to be closer to 3-2 then 3-1. White-Ra is good but i do agree that ret can and should win
*Sorry European fans, for a rant targeted mostly at our American audience.
Maybe just drop this kind of talk. eSports/SC2 is global and teamliquid.net is a center of it. It would be better if you either make regionCentric comments from random regions point of view (so not only we Americans, our players etc) or drop them altogether. Would be nice.
I thought wax had a pretty good point how many high level eu players (especially protoss) are not well known in north america.
I'm not saying that I'm offended. NO. On the contrary. I'm aware that general tone here is that - as far as SC2 is concerned - Korea > Europe > NA.
It would be just nice if for a change there was a [other-than-america]-centric comment somewhere there, don't you think?
Pulling for IdrA but this is easily the best field we've seen in a while, in terms of skill and personality. Honestly, calling a winner in this tournament field isn't easy at all.
Great writeup as usual! (Lol @ SeleCT beating SeleCT to win the NA Battle.net Invitational).
Great write-up! I especially love the Ret vs. White-Ra preview. It's so perfect. Nobody really knows why White-Ra wins, but he just does. Exactly the same vein as with Boxer.
On November 04 2011 00:12 morevox wrote: Sjow Vs. Idra.
Gonna be insane.
we have seen that happen like six times this year... Sjow managed to win once, and only because apparently Idra wanted to feed his mutas to marines in both games and gave him the series.
IdrA has him so figured out its not even funny, unless Sjow 2 raxes him or somehow managed to double his low APM playstyle, Idra will just do what he does to him every series, and keep the multitasking so high that Sjow's low APM cant handle it.
On November 04 2011 00:12 morevox wrote: Sjow Vs. Idra.
Gonna be insane.
we have seen that happen like six times this year... Sjow managed to win once, and only because apparently Idra wanted to feed his mutas to marines in both games and gave him the series.
IdrA has him so figured out its not even funny, unless Sjow 2 raxes him or somehow managed to double his low APM playstyle, Idra will just do what he does to him every series, and keep the multitasking so high that Sjow's low APM cant handle it.
idra just played sjow in the NASL and idra really dominated him
On November 04 2011 00:12 morevox wrote: Sjow Vs. Idra.
Gonna be insane.
we have seen that happen like six times this year... Sjow managed to win once, and only because apparently Idra wanted to feed his mutas to marines in both games and gave him the series.
IdrA has him so figured out its not even funny, unless Sjow 2 raxes him or somehow managed to double his low APM playstyle, Idra will just do what he does to him every series, and keep the multitasking so high that Sjow's low APM cant handle it.
Your aware that multitasking does not equal APM? Idra's multitasking is mediocre and so is Sjow's and this has little to do with their APM (idra's much higher). One can have good multitasking and below average APM as it's not effective (not blizzards new or old and not SC2gears either).
Ofc Idra's the favorite and I can't see him lose to Sjow.
On November 04 2011 00:12 morevox wrote: Sjow Vs. Idra.
Gonna be insane.
we have seen that happen like six times this year... Sjow managed to win once, and only because apparently Idra wanted to feed his mutas to marines in both games and gave him the series.
IdrA has him so figured out its not even funny, unless Sjow 2 raxes him or somehow managed to double his low APM playstyle, Idra will just do what he does to him every series, and keep the multitasking so high that Sjow's low APM cant handle it.
idra just played sjow in the NASL and idra really dominated him
Nice read. Yeah even being a big white-ra fan, I have to admit this is gonna be tough for him but I always have faith with the beast from the east . Go HuK, Dimaga, IdrA and White-Ra!
On the whole, the two represent each other's respective 'weak' race match-up, at least compared to their ability to wreck face against the other races.
Dimagas weakest is vs P by his own admission and by statistics.
I think with the tone and writing, Wax, this article is my favorite SC2 writeup so far. Maybe some of the GSL ones top it (Like the super tournament deserts lol), but overall with the way you hype up the event without quite overhyping it gives this something special. I love it <3.
Similar to DIMAGA, SeleCT finally resolved this situation in August of 2011, defeating SeleCT to become the champion of the North American Battle.net Invitational.
Yeah, Select played super sick in that match vs Select.
Looking forward to this one. I think Idra should win unless he has to play Dimaga in a ZvZ. All the matchups are gonna be close though so it should be entertaining.
meh, straight knockout, usual suspects for a larger invitational, not actually THAT interested. might watch the white-ra/ret series but that's about it. i can't look at this sort of event nowadays and not think what could have been - they're budgeting timewise for 42 games. get two more PC's and an additional streaming pair, and you can make that 84 games, which is coincidentally exactly the amount of games that a bo3 all-play-all could go to, which to me would be a lot more interesting.
I'm still rather disappointed by the complete lack of koreans, and especially when it comes to the terran department. Not having at least a single top-tier terran kind of invalidates the tournament as a whole.
And yes, Select and Sjow aren't bad by any measure, but let's not kid around either, while Select's control is meticulous, his macro can be lacking at times and overly reliant on gimmicky strategies. Sjow on the other hand has the strategy part down, but is lacking in execution.
Ah well, I have a free weekend so I'll be watching nonetheless. Hoping for Select to exceed expectations and for Sjow to get rid of Idra in the first round. So much less spam in the LR thread that way ;p.
On November 04 2011 05:03 Derez wrote: I'm still rather disappointed by the complete lack of koreans, and especially when it comes to the terran department. Not having at least a single top-tier terran kind of invalidates the tournament as a whole.
And yes, Select and Sjow aren't bad by any measure, but let's not kid around either, while Select's control is meticulous, his macro can be lacking at times and overly reliant on gimmicky strategies. Sjow on the other hand has the strategy part down, but is lacking in execution.
Ah well, I have a free weekend so I'll be watching nonetheless. Hoping for Select to exceed expectations and for Sjow to get rid of Idra in the first round. So much less spam in the LR thread that way ;p.
There are players who beat the likes of Bomber in MLG just recently and who are in code S. It doesn't have a GSL winner, but that's just about it. Select is as good as other code B terrans like Puma..
On November 04 2011 05:03 Derez wrote: I'm still rather disappointed by the complete lack of koreans, and especially when it comes to the terran department. Not having at least a single top-tier terran kind of invalidates the tournament as a whole.
And yes, Select and Sjow aren't bad by any measure, but let's not kid around either, while Select's control is meticulous, his macro can be lacking at times and overly reliant on gimmicky strategies. Sjow on the other hand has the strategy part down, but is lacking in execution.
Ah well, I have a free weekend so I'll be watching nonetheless. Hoping for Select to exceed expectations and for Sjow to get rid of Idra in the first round. So much less spam in the LR thread that way ;p.
There are players who beat the likes of Bomber in MLG just recently and who are in code S. It doesn't have a GSL winner, but that's just about it. Select is as good as other code B terrans like Puma..
This. I will never, ever understand why people would want to invite Koreans to this event. You either invite a super high level player, which makes the tournament pointless as we know who's going to win 99% of the time, or you invite a mediocre player just for the sake of people who'll go "waaaaaah no koreans no tastosis no watchy"
It's not just championship matches where Stephano beat Lucky 4-0 or HuK beat MC 2-0. It's Ret trampling all over aLive, it's Gatored beating DRG and 3-0'ing TOP, it's DIMAGA crushing Rain and JYP, it's Idra beating Boxer, HongUn, and MOTHERF***ING BOMBER.
lol that got me so hype! damn excited for this event. nice preview wax. TL always delivers with this kind of content.
Select then pulls the tournament upset and defeats Huk in the semis. while White-Ra's warp prisms cause the Gracken endless frustration, causing White-Ra to win a close 3-2.
Select then comes out Marauders and EMPs a blazing defeating White-Ra in the finals.
Honestly really pulling for Select though, especially if korea has continued to help him iron out his macro issues while allowing him to keep up his aggression.
I feel kind of bad for lolling at the White-Ra jab ("How does he win tournaments?... WE DON'T KNOW EITHER"), but often the funniest things have at least a modicum of truth to them. White-Ra is an enigmatic player in that you're not quite sure why he does what he does (no micro, but still wins, sure, why not?). Or defeating a zerg player using only zealots (keeping in mind the zerg teched to mutas) on a money'd out Kulas Ravine in a Team Liquid showmatch, player sitdown thing. Dude just has a winning energy about him. And his face is everywhere.
This article is literally killing esports, I am being serious when I say that stuff like this:
"Imagine this ASUS ROG tournament with the very same players, being played in an alternate universe where MC had won MLG Orlando, Puma had won IEM Guangzhou, and Lucky had taken the gold at IPL3. Despite its star studded line up, I don't think it's very much of a stretch to say many of the fans in that universe would not have cared."
is stupid in my opinion. I liked how Lucky played, I like Puma and I like MC. Yes, I am really happy for the foreigner wins but this would not make the game any less interesting or the wins of the Koreans in an alternative universe less exciting. Seriously we need standards about this and to stop teaming up as foreigners/koreans.
I'm with the above poster, no offense but you guys are actually terrible at your predictions. Which is completely ok with me since everyone I wanted to win except Huk won their games :D Nice article overall tho and <3 you guys. Just next time when your going to predict a major tournament, go with the exact opposite of what your originally going to type.
Why are you guys so upset? I mean they're just predictions and the results could be anything since this is starcraft, not chess or anything like that.
I was at DigiExpo on the spot to watch Select vs Dimaga and Sjow vs Idra and it was kinda great to be honest, first time watching games played live.
And yeah as someone pointed out up there, the casters were right next to the players, which was kinda weird since they weren't in booths or anything. Do they really have some crazy headsets to prevent from hearing what your opponent is doing?
Just got back, 7-and-something hours there, on the same spot -- sitting, brooding! HuK is teeny-weeny, probably doesn't reach my shoulders, Idra was swarmed by hundred people looking to get autographs and pictures (/and most of them did get them), White-Ra got the most noise from the audience.
On November 05 2011 06:03 ravemir wrote: Sorry, I just had to post this, but doesn't really look like
You have no idea how long ive been waiting for someone to post this. When i first saw Dimagas awesome smile i was like "woah!!i thought only one dude had that smile!". lol I wish everyone could smile like that to be honest.
Why is every fan of Idra a fanboy? and somehow is a reason for looking down on someone? Get over yourselves. People like Idra because they feel they know him more than others. Everyone roots for the players they feel they relate to if all else is equal.
Im happy about it being NA/EU! Wanna know these guys will get something for their hard work rather than feeling like your watching a Masters vs Diamond tourny. Koreans are awesome to watch no doubt but i dont think they need to define starcraft to get enjoyment from it. Maybe im weird. Also knowing like every player is kinda cool to follow and makes me want to actually follow the tourny rather than a player or 2.
Idra ftw i think, hes been on a hot streak. Solid as fuck!
Edit: Normally it would suck that its on at 3am but its friday and im stimulated. So pumped for this!
As the guy above kinda said, I'm amazed how popular Idra is even in Finland where he got roaring applause when they introduced him. I'm just wondering why? After the games people swarmed around him to get an autograph and everything.
I personally respect White-Ra and other polite players much more than him because manners really do matter to me when I perceive people.
People also swarmed around White-Ra to get autographs, and the cheers for him were -- in my opinion -- greater than those for Idra. I was there, and that's what I felt.
Requiring Koreans to legtitimize the integrity of a tournament's competitiveness will always be true so long as the rest of the world has to collectively circle jerk and brand ourselves as "foreigners" rather than seperate national identities. We have to collectivize the entire world in order to feel on par with the Koreans by themselves.
On November 05 2011 17:27 herMan wrote: As the guy above kinda said, I'm amazed how popular Idra is even in Finland where he got roaring applause when they introduced him. I'm just wondering why? After the games people swarmed around him to get an autograph and everything.
I personally respect White-Ra and other polite players much more than him because manners really do matter to me when I perceive people.
It's because Idra is one of the best zergs on the planet. People like good players, bad mannered or good mannered.
On November 05 2011 17:27 herMan wrote: As the guy above kinda said, I'm amazed how popular Idra is even in Finland where he got roaring applause when they introduced him. I'm just wondering why? After the games people swarmed around him to get an autograph and everything.
I personally respect White-Ra and other polite players much more than him because manners really do matter to me when I perceive people.
It's because Idra is one of the best zergs on the planet. People like good players, bad mannered or good mannered.
"Personality should be irrelevant. This is a computer game tournament, not a dating show." - IdrA
On November 05 2011 17:27 herMan wrote: As the guy above kinda said, I'm amazed how popular Idra is even in Finland where he got roaring applause when they introduced him. I'm just wondering why? After the games people swarmed around him to get an autograph and everything.
I personally respect White-Ra and other polite players much more than him because manners really do matter to me when I perceive people.
It's because Idra is one of the best zergs on the planet. People like good players, bad mannered or good mannered.
"Personality should be irrelevant. This is a computer game tournament, not a dating show." - IdrA
Sad but true !
anyways it was a pretty good series.... i think only huk could stand IdrA in this series
On November 05 2011 21:10 MildSeven wrote: Requiring Koreans to legtitimize the integrity of a tournament's competitiveness will always be true so long as the rest of the world has to collectively circle jerk and brand ourselves as "foreigners" rather than seperate national identities. We have to collectivize the entire world in order to feel on par with the Koreans by themselves.
It will always be true as long as they are clearly the best players..
Am I the only one experiencing sound delay on the stream? The sound has been delayed by about 4 seconds during the whole event, you would think they would have fixed it by now.
On November 06 2011 19:22 JayDee_ wrote: Am I the only one experiencing sound delay on the stream? The sound has been delayed by about 4 seconds during the whole event, you would think they would have fixed it by now.
If you are experiencing sound delays, please refresh your stream and try to view in 1080 as that is the native for this production. Twitch is appearing to have slight issues with streaming + encoding at the same time for the other resolutions.
On November 06 2011 19:22 JayDee_ wrote: Am I the only one experiencing sound delay on the stream? The sound has been delayed by about 4 seconds during the whole event, you would think they would have fixed it by now.
If you are experiencing sound delays, please refresh your stream and try to view in 1080 as that is the native for this production. Twitch is appearing to have slight issues with streaming + encoding at the same time for the other resolutions.
1080 is too high for most people to stream smoothly. oh well
On November 05 2011 21:10 MildSeven wrote: Requiring Koreans to legtitimize the integrity of a tournament's competitiveness will always be true so long as the rest of the world has to collectively circle jerk and brand ourselves as "foreigners" rather than seperate national identities. We have to collectivize the entire world in order to feel on par with the Koreans by themselves.
It will always be true as long as they are clearly the best players..
i don't disagree with you, but at the same time, it is pathetic on our part to masturbate collectively every time a foreigner wins a tournament with Koreans in them.
This was only my second live tournament, which have both been held in Helsinki, Finland by Asus.
Enjoyed the tournament throughout, sat there for hours and hours. I also got Greg to sign my mousepad and to take a picture with me, so Im ofcourse extremely pleased.
Lots of non-starcraft-players watching it live :D. I even recall seeing an old man (half bald, grey hair and big round glasses) watching the whole Dimaga vs Select series.
EPT
EG.HuK
Acer.Elfi
mTw.DIMAGA
dignitas.SeleCT
EG.IdrA
dignitas.SjoW
Liquid`Ret
Tt.White-Ra
![[image loading]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AHmWcCUAmLI/TrKBhFwowrI/AAAAAAAAAns/a-NFOFjHqrA/s800/Over9000DRG.jpg)
