With less than stellar results at WCS America and Dreamhack: Stockholm following after he left the Korean team-house environment in favor of university life at UT Austin, it looked like CMStorm_Polt's time as a championship contender was finally over. While Polt was still one of the smartest players in the world with top class class micro to boot, the outside factors seemed overwhelming. KeSPA players were reaching their potential, GSL old timers were slipping down the totem poll or retiring, and the soon to be 24 year-old Polt seemed to be headed toward the valley where many a great player go to rest after their time at the top has ended.
Such assumptions couldn't have been further from the truth. At MLG Anahiem, Polt didn't seem anything like a washed-up part timer, but instead looked every bit the cunning and decisive player he had been in his championship days. With a thrilling 3 - 2 victory over former TSL teammate Quantic.HyuN, Polt won the MLG Spring Championship, and also the fourth ever StarCraft II player to win a major tournament in Korea, Europe, and North America. That put him in very exclusive company, alongside only MMA, Life and Mvp. Not just that, but the first place prize of $10,000 pushed Polt past MarineKing to take second place in all-time prize winnings for Terran players.
An Easy Start, then NaNiwa
Starting out the open bracket tournament, Polt had a few easy rounds against foreigners, including a 2 - 0 victory over EG's new signing, the fifteen-year-old Xenocider. Staying on course, Polt faced his first big test in the fourth round, matching up with another EG member in the form of Suppy. Faltering for the first time in the tournament, Polt dropped the second map, putting him one loss away suffering his third open bracket loss to an American Zerg, having already lost to Mill.Goswser and Liquid`Sheth in previous MLGs. However, a few hellions slipping by Suppy's defenses was all Polt needed to clinch the game in the third set, avoiding another perilous trip to the losers' bracket and allowing him to enter the final bracket from the winners' side for the very first time.
Polt would end up facing NaNiwa twice in the tournament. -Photo: Silverfire
In the winners' quarter-final on day two of the tournament, Polt faced Alliance.NaNiwa, the last foreigner remaining in the winner's bracket. While Polt entered as the favorite due to his historically strong TvP and Naniwa's continuous mentions of his PvT being weak, it was a dangerous match for Polt nonetheless. Naniwa was a famously streaky player with a history of strong performances at marathon LANs, only falling to Leenock in the finals of the previous DH: Stockholm. Polt had played in that tournament as well, not even making it to the Ro16 before getting eliminated by foreign Protosses Grubby and HuK.
There would be no upset, as Polt emerged victorious in his match with Naniwa, capitalizing on a failed immortal bust in the first game and following it up with an equally impressive victory on the second map, advancing to the semifinals of winners side. Dropping manner mules and giving a thumbs down to Naniwa, the disappointment from early eliminations in WCS and at Dreamhack were slowly washing away. Still, having not faced a Korean in the competition, Polt still had much to prove if he was to be considered a championship contender.
Oh Dear, NaNiwa again
It didn't take long for Polt to offer up that proof, as his next match was an emphatic victory against key STX Soul player Dear. Taking a dominating first set with great positioning and drop play, he followed that up in game two with a strategy that revolved around building six hellbats at a time, walking in a straight line to Dear's natural and continuing to rally in troops until everything had been incinerated by the bats out of hell. There couldn't have been any clearer confirmation that Polt was still on his game as he headed into the day three of the tournament.
Making it to the top four of a tournament for the first time since NASL of last year, Polt was dealt a return match against NaNiwa with a ticket to the grand finals on the line. Having ended his previous match with manner mules and some vigorous thumbs downs, fans eagerly awaited to see how the situation might escalate when the two faced off once more with so much on the line. While Polt took a more diplomatic stance in the interviews prior to their second meeting, Naniwa was as unfiltered as always, asking why Polt had to be "such a bitch" and setting the tone for the series.
Polt and NaNniwa's interactions were one of the juiciest sub-plots of the tournament. -Photo: Silverfire
Polt began the Bo7 with a 2 - 0 extended series advantage, but Naniwa was able to take one map in impressive fashion, taking advantage of Polt's decision to sacrifice to units to snipe a nexus by launching a massive counter-attack that slaughtered Polt's weakened army. Fortunately for Polt, he was able to take the next two maps as Naniwa seemed off of his game, making errors ranging from small positioning errors to crucial colossus giveaways while performing a colossus all-in. With the 4 - 1 series victory in hand, Polt gave an interview, waved the American flag, and headed to the finals.
The Finals: TSL Reunion
In his first major final since ThorZain used Swedish magic to beat him at last year's Dreamhack: Stockholm, Polt faced off against close friend and former teammate Quantic.HyuN in a Team SCV Life reunion grand finals. Hyun, while having one more loss than Polt did the entire tournament, was entering the final as the favorite, having dominated the WCS American champion and EG-TL ace Liquid`HerO in the semi-finals, taking a 4 - 1 win in an extended Bo7 series. With his hit list consisting of ST_Sound, Starleague players ROOT.YugiOh and SKT_soO, and then HerO on top of that, Hyun undoubtedly had the harder path to the finals, impressively winning in all of his match-ups.
HyuN looked to finally win his first major title at MLG Anaheim. -Photo: itsjustatank
The best-of-five finals themselves ended up being a rough and tumble brawl, starting with a classic match on Akilon Wastes to begin. Both players were on point as the game headed to the late-game, keeping up with their macro and engaging in fights all over the map. With mass spore crawlers covering his bases, HyuN sealed off Polt's attempts to harass and put himself in a position to overwhelm Polt with head-on, brute force.
Hyun seemed to be on the verge of victory, marching across the map with an ultimate ground army of ultras, transfusing queens, and infestors. The timing looked dangerous, coming just before Polt could completely switch to an air Terran army. Plowing through a massive minefield, Hyun was able to get into the Terran natural and up the ramp into the main. However, two seeker missiles wiped out the infestor force of Hyun, giving him no way to combat the growing air force. Slowly killing off the ultras with the attacks of the battlecruisers, Polt was able to clean up the Zerg force and emerge with an invincible force dominating both the air and the ground. With yamato cannons zapping everything in sight, HyuN surrendered the game and braced himself for the rest of the series.
The next two games saw both players hit successful timing attacks to win a game a piece. Massing up roaches and banes on the second map, Hyun caught Polt moving his army across the map and crushed him with an overflowing amount of units, destroying his army, third base, and then the natural before Polt finally tapped out. Game three was one of the strangest of the tournament and possibly the year, as Polt banked up 2,000 minerals before investing it into a mass hellbat timing attack backed by siege tanks and marauders. With no air threat to take out the core units of Polt's army, it was game over when he pushed across the map, burning through everything Hyun threw at him. That put Polt at a 2 - 1 advantage, and one game away from winning his first championship in over a year.
Polt's used to this sort of thing. -Photo: Silverfire
The fourth game of the series was one that would have haunted Polt if he had lost the championship, as he went up early with good drops and a snipe on HyuN's third base. Building up a tank army to thwart Hyun's usual composition of roaches and banelings, Polt unwisely marched out of his base with what he thought was the superior army. While he might have been right, he was caught completely out of position out by Hyun's roach and baneling army, having his tanks picked off before they could siege up. Even though HyuN had committed a major error by forgetting baneling speed, Polt's error in positioning more than cancelled it out. With only bio left, Polt was unable to hold against even slow moving banelings and surrendered the series tying point.
The score tied 2 - 2, the expectation were high for an epic, fifth and final match to decide who would walk out the Spring champion. Well, while Polt had provided plenty of entertainment in and outside the game, he couldn't deliver on every point. He made some hellions and reapers, found a hole in Hyun's wall, and then killed off 25+ workers. That move effectively won the game for Polt, and he powered up on economy and production while easily denying HyuN's attempts to even take a third base. Using mines to control his space, drops to smash expansions, and finally a strong push into the natural and main, Polt captured his long sought for MLG championship, and his first one in America.
1. Jeong "Mvp" Jong Hyeon - $373,520 2. Choi "Polt" Seong Hun - $194,670 3. Lee "MarineKing" Jung Hoon - 187,140 4. Mun "MMA" Seong-Won - $180,595 5. Lee "PuMa" Ho Joon - $142,650
Not only did Polt finish his three-continent grand slam, but it was also his third championship on his third different team—something that only HuK has done in his career—having won the Super Tournament on Prime, Assembly Winter on TSL, and now the MLG Spring Championship on CMStorm. Additionally this is the third consecutive year where Polt has won a major championship, as he's been hoisting trophies since the Super Tournament in 2011.
Now, with a major title under his belt in 2013, Polt will enter WCS America Season II as one of the big favorites to take the entire tournament. On summer vacation from his courses at the University of Texas, Polt can be expected to be at the same level he was at MLG when he plays in the upcoming WCS tournament. For one of the greatest players in StarCraft II history, there will be no stopping.
The Other Tales of Anaheim
by Fionn
The Era of Naniwa?
With EG.Stephano.RC soon retiring and looking far less dominant than before, the spot for best foreigner in the world has been left open for the first time in a long while. With Alliance.NaNiwa's top four finish at MLG, is there anyone else who you can give the title to? Liquid's TLO and Snute are both improving at an incredible pace and have performed well at every tournament they've entered recently. However, Naniwa's case is stronger, as he got to the finals of Dreamhack: Stockholm where he only lost to Leenock in a close 3-2 series, and he has now made the semi-finals of an MLG while taking out Koreans such as Dear and Jaedong. The only player to defeat him was the eventual champion of the tournament in Polt, with Naniwa playing his weakest match-up.
The next step to Naniwa's rise to the foreign throne will be WCS Europe, where he will hope to break Mvp's hold on the continent and take the championship. NaNiwa's PvZ and PvP have looked top class the past few tournaments he's been in, but with the Europe region littered with elite Terrans like Mvp, MMA, and ForGG, he will need to improve his PvT if he wants to take the title. Still, even if Terrans prove to be NaNiwa's ultimate undoing, he might still have a chance to face Stephano in a highly anticipated "King of Europe" match. All in all, MLG was a great tournament for Naniwa, and makes us look forward to what he might do in the future.
The Kong Line's New Member
In less than a year, Quantic.HyuN has reached the finals of major StarCraft II tournament twice, and has taken it to the final map both times. And for the second time in less than a year, Hyun has lost on that final map, first losing to Sniper in the GSL finals held in Las Vegas, and now taking another heartbreaking loss against Polt in the finals at MLG Anaheim. HyuN's macro is insane, he has amazing timing attacks, and he is strong in the late game, but he just doesn't seem to be able to seal the deal.
On Quantic, Hyun will have a lot more chances to compete in foreign tournaments, hoping to break his Kong streak in 2013. Not being in the WCS American Premier League will hurt him, as he showed his inconsistent side by failing to qualify for the tournament despite being one of the best players signed up for the region. But he may be able to still make the Blizzcon finals if he can continue racking up points on the foreign tournament circuit and qualify for WCS America Season Three. Most importantly, he will be trying to break his Kong curse, wanting to win an offline championship for the first time in his career and not drop another final in the climactic game of a tournament.
Quick Hits on the Rest
KesPA: There wasn't a lot of hype around the three players who qualified from the online KeSPA qualifiers, and they didn't do anything to change that opinion this weekend. KT_Stats fell to the famously bad Jaedong vs. Protoss match-up, STX_Dear couldn't beat Naniwa in a PvP, and SKT_soO was taken out by Root's Sage, putting all three KeSPA members out of the top four spots of the tournament. It may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but you'd expect players like Innovation, Flash, and Soulkey to have more pressure on their shoulders to get through the qualifiers next time and better represent their organization.
eSF: And to be fair, it's not like eSF had a good showing either. Like the KeSPA pros, neither ST_Golden and ST_Sound were able to reach the top four of the tournament.
Quantic.Bubbles cannon rushed Coach Park, eliminated a 13-year-old kid GM, and then knocked Nony out of the tournament. Good job, American Sniper, your Korean counterpart would be proud.
EG.Jaedong.RC: Another tournament and another bittersweet ending. His vs. Protoss will need to get better if he wants to take a championship, or he will need to get the luckiest bracket ever of avoiding every high level Protoss to the end of the tournament. He did beat Proleague stalwart Stats, giving his fans a bit of hope that his JvP might be getting better, but that notion was quickly dismissed when Naniwa took him out 2 - 0 to eliminate him from another tournament.
Ha! I've been waiting for the news update on Polt! I am so glad he ended up winning. I've been following Polt since 2010 when he was in Prime. Goodness, he is still amazing.
On July 01 2013 15:49 Vidar wrote: Why does the main page advertise this thread with a big picture of Innovation, when Innovation wasn't even at this tournament?
but you'd expect players like Innovation, Flash, and Soulkey to have more pressure on their shoulders to get through the qualifiers next time and better represent their organization.
On July 01 2013 15:49 Vidar wrote: Why does the main page advertise this thread with a big picture of Innovation, when Innovation wasn't even at this tournament?
On July 01 2013 15:49 Vidar wrote: Why does the main page advertise this thread with a big picture of Innovation, when Innovation wasn't even at this tournament?
because that way there's no chance of a spoiler
Ingenious.
Also: This is legitimately a great wrap up. One of the best wrap ups I've read imo.
Congratz Polt ! It's a funny ending, especially considering those who predicted "a top 3 KeSPA with the KeSPA qualifier being so brutal it could have replaced the tournament" (or sort of)
Welp, no !
It's been a long time, so happy for Polt ! (He must've been completely adopted by the 'muricans I suppose...)
You forgot a dollar sign in the terran money ranking. "3. Lee "MarineKing" Jung Hoon - 187,140"
Anyway, I'm so happy to see Polt winning. I really didn't expect him to be able to beat HyuN, but he did, and it was glorious. At least game1, which was all I could catch before I fell asleep. Totally regained some of my passion this weekend.
This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
not really. Stephano did well in almost all tournaments. Stephano rewrote the playstyle of pvz and pvt 2 - 3 times entirely marking new playstyles. Yes nani got up with the gateway first into 4 gate in hots... but honestly.. this was a build that was at the same time also used by hasuobs and MC but not seen by the big audience... while stephanos 12 roach max or is roach hydra vs. terran was completely new...
nani is a very good player don't get me wrong. but he is not that predictable as stephano is. Also I don't agree that stephano slips. even when stephano slips he was second place WCS season 1... if that is called slipping than we have a problem here...
When this MLG began, I felt it was a bit lackluster. But as the story lines emerged, I wanted Polt to grab the trophy. It was a rocky road but he came out victorious. Great!
Love Polt winning. Though anaheim felt like being the weakest MLG ever.. I mean, last season finals, flash vs. life.. that's hard to counter, I guess. Nice event though, and a not-at-all-awkward winning ceremony.. thumbs up, great work team!
The highest success levels are pretty funny, you have the 100k club, the 200k club and the Mvp and MC competing against each other while no one else is even close to them club.
So glad to see Polt win this. He played great this tournament. Also congrats to Hyun for reaching another finals. Hopefully he gets to win one soon, which shouldn't take too long considering his current form. Love both the finalists, so any result was great.
On July 01 2013 18:13 Incognoto wrote: Ehn that last game, Hyun fell apart. So many zergs have trouble dealing with multi-prong medivac harass.
Still an overall nice series, I liked game 3 for it's sheer strangeness i guess. gg polt
It wasn't just that Polt saved up 2k minerals for hellbat production, it was that he stayed on >1k minerals for minutes...and then won with hellbats. I actually have don't know what happened in that game.
Great to see Polt doing well, progaming doesn't even seem to be his top priority these days and he still won a major championship. True testament to his talent in SC2, not many players I'd describe as a very smart player but Polt is definitely one of them.
I think the BM between players is rather annoying. I mean sure, it adds a certain drama to the tournament. But aren't the games drama enough already? I don't know what's more childish. Thumbs-downing somebody or then not shaking the other guys hand because 'oh noez, you hurt me feelings, cry,cry'. This obviously doesn't only apply to NaNiWa (cough IdrA cough) but still. But maybe that's just me :')
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
not really. Stephano did well in almost all tournaments. Stephano rewrote the playstyle of pvz and pvt 2 - 3 times entirely marking new playstyles. Yes nani got up with the gateway first into 4 gate in hots... but honestly.. this was a build that was at the same time also used by hasuobs and MC but not seen by the big audience... while stephanos 12 roach max or is roach hydra vs. terran was completely new...
nani is a very good player don't get me wrong. but he is not that predictable as stephano is. Also I don't agree that stephano slips. even when stephano slips he was second place WCS season 1... if that is called slipping than we have a problem here...
You missunderstod me. Stephano is the best, no contest. My point was only stephano can show better results then Nani. Naniwa is by far nr 2 on the best forigners list despite a bad run at wcs and dh summer.
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
not really. Stephano did well in almost all tournaments. Stephano rewrote the playstyle of pvz and pvt 2 - 3 times entirely marking new playstyles. Yes nani got up with the gateway first into 4 gate in hots... but honestly.. this was a build that was at the same time also used by hasuobs and MC but not seen by the big audience... while stephanos 12 roach max or is roach hydra vs. terran was completely new...
nani is a very good player don't get me wrong. but he is not that predictable as stephano is. Also I don't agree that stephano slips. even when stephano slips he was second place WCS season 1... if that is called slipping than we have a problem here...
You missunderstod me. Stephano is the best, no contest. My point was only stephano can show better results then Nani. Naniwa is by far nr 2 on the best forigners list despite a bad run at wcs and dh summer.
I don't know about that. Lucifron is an extremely strong player... TLO said recently that he thinks that lucifron is at the moment the strongest foreigner and I kinda agree with him. Seeing lucifron play amazes me everytime. But we will see how nani performs at WCS season 2. I hope for the best, since I can always steel his builds
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
not really. Stephano did well in almost all tournaments. Stephano rewrote the playstyle of pvz and pvt 2 - 3 times entirely marking new playstyles. Yes nani got up with the gateway first into 4 gate in hots... but honestly.. this was a build that was at the same time also used by hasuobs and MC but not seen by the big audience... while stephanos 12 roach max or is roach hydra vs. terran was completely new...
nani is a very good player don't get me wrong. but he is not that predictable as stephano is. Also I don't agree that stephano slips. even when stephano slips he was second place WCS season 1... if that is called slipping than we have a problem here...
You missunderstod me. Stephano is the best, no contest. My point was only stephano can show better results then Nani. Naniwa is by far nr 2 on the best forigners list despite a bad run at wcs and dh summer.
I don't know about that. Lucifron is an extremely strong player... TLO said recently that he thinks that lucifron is at the moment the strongest foreigner and I kinda agree with him. Seeing lucifron play amazes me everytime. But we will see how nani performs at WCS season 2. I hope for the best, since I can always steel his builds
While Lucifron may be technically strongest - I don't know, I'm not on the level to judge that - results-wise NaNi still outshines both TLO and Lucifron.
On July 01 2013 20:39 Markwerf wrote: 'JvP' is not really that weak anymore, it's a running gag that's far past it's prime.
Jurg vs Protoss :D?
jurg jurg jurg
JaedongvP lets face it .. still not top notch .. still not on the same level with his JvT .. although JvT is still not as insanely good as his JvZ .. while he is still weak in that matchup against top notch players .. he has still alot of room to improve and i believe he will still manage to reach in par with innovation,flash and others .. but maybe thats a long road to go
Great write up, great tournament. Gj polt and hyun and hero and nani! Weird bug on that sc2earnings site: they spelled Jurgen's name wrong, and that definitely isn't what the German flag looks like
On July 01 2013 16:26 MuMeise wrote: This article about naniwa is not that well researched. Actually naniwas results at the last WCS were not that good he almost dropped out of WCS entirely. he was defeated 2:0 by Mouz.HasuObs in the challenger league.
I think nani is one of those that sometimes outshine themselfs... and then drop back to a very poor result. His performance at WCS was nothing near to dreamhack or mlg...
I would say nani deliver on a level only stephano can do (talking only forigners), but also slump in between like any top player. Every one have bad periods, but name one who put up nanis results exept stephano?
not really. Stephano did well in almost all tournaments. Stephano rewrote the playstyle of pvz and pvt 2 - 3 times entirely marking new playstyles. Yes nani got up with the gateway first into 4 gate in hots... but honestly.. this was a build that was at the same time also used by hasuobs and MC but not seen by the big audience... while stephanos 12 roach max or is roach hydra vs. terran was completely new...
nani is a very good player don't get me wrong. but he is not that predictable as stephano is. Also I don't agree that stephano slips. even when stephano slips he was second place WCS season 1... if that is called slipping than we have a problem here...
You missunderstod me. Stephano is the best, no contest. My point was only stephano can show better results then Nani. Naniwa is by far nr 2 on the best forigners list despite a bad run at wcs and dh summer.
I don't know about that. Lucifron is an extremely strong player... TLO said recently that he thinks that lucifron is at the moment the strongest foreigner and I kinda agree with him. Seeing lucifron play amazes me everytime. But we will see how nani performs at WCS season 2. I hope for the best, since I can always steel his builds
What have Lucifron done in recent tourneys? Yes him and TLO is great Players but have not shown the result nani put up.
While I disagree with Naniwa being better than Snute or TLO (at least lately!), considering Snute only lost 3-4 to Taeja, and beat Hyun, while TLO lost I think 2-3 to Taeja, while also beating Hyun. That's easily just as impressive, and I think they have more consistent results with HotS.
But wonderful write up :D I loved seeing polt win!
@Keidy: TLO just finished in ro4, equalling nani's round of four here haha. And I think he has more consistent finishes than naniwa lately. Naniwa is obviously a great player, but TLO and Snute imo are doing better. Also, TLO beat nani in WCS ro16 fwiw
On July 01 2013 21:49 Alryk wrote: While I disagree with Naniwa being better than Snute or TLO (at least lately!), considering Snute only lost 3-4 to Taeja, and beat Hyun, while TLO lost I think 2-3 to Taeja, while also beating Hyun. That's easily just as impressive, and I think they have more consistent results with HotS.
But wonderful write up :D I loved seeing polt win!
@Keidy: TLO just finished in ro4, equalling nani's round of four here haha. And I think he has more consistent finishes than naniwa lately. Naniwa is obviously a great player, but TLO and Snute imo are doing better. Also, TLO beat nani in WCS ro16 fwiw
TLO was 3rd @ HSC while NaNi hit SF in MLG:SC. While MLG had weakest lineup in long, long time, it still was more impressive than HSC.
I think the discussion about who is the best foreigner is really... just a bit weird. there are many good foreigner Sjow beat Life... what no one really expected showing a very, very good performacne aswell...
so... we wait and see. I think nani is good. but honestly in the games vs. polt he made very very stupdi mistakes that cost him the games.. like throwing away 2 colossi... man he would have won the game with 2 more colossi in the game... these are mistakes you can't make on highest level honestly. and this is the problem why nani has sometimes so good results... and then he slippes so hard like WCS S01...
Watched it yesterday outside my home on my laptop (stupid twitch and their mobile service)
Sloppy last game with both players making mistakes, but I guess nerves do happen. Otherwise overall glad Polt won, hard not to cheer for him to win it, even though both players were very humble
Polt- enthusiastic, mannered, great guy. Very glad he won.
MLG, on the other hand, I'm super disappointed in. There was no reason to block mobile devices, and I think that might be the last straw for me with MLG's products (and I've paid for the premium for every MLG since they still had Super Smash Bros and WoW arena).
We already went through the same thing with select. Some people will consider a foreign rep. Some will consider him korean. There will never be a consensus.
As far as favorite players go, seeing Polt win and Naniwa go far makes me overjoyed. However, seeing that those two favorites also had some ugly though amusing drama happen between them specifically makes me go ._.
Jezzz people how does Naniwa train? He always seems to come out of no where and beat top level Koreans and make it into at least the top 8 in every major torny.
The most amazing thing about the tournament wasn't that Naniwa and Polt took out Kespa's best of the best 2-0, but that Polt won without abusing hellbats game after game. I mean, yes he used them but didn't make a career out of using them game after game in every situation and whether the other player knows they're coming or not simply can't compete cost effectively with it like Innovation.
Fantastic wrap up, tournament was lack luster but my god the semi's and finals were amazing games to watch, well worth suffering through the earlier parts
Also thumbs up for Day9 and Djwheat. Great casting. I liked how they remained very excited in the last game, even though it was clearly over after the helion runby. I still felt the hype, even though it was actually quite anti climactic.
The USA "adoption" of Polt, and the Polt thumbs down to Naniwa were very exciting and warm/fuzzy moments for me in this MLG. Polt is simply put, good for the game.
Also, the good guy/bad guy drama between Polt and Naniwa makes sense, since as we all learned from "Man of Steel", all the good hero's get adopted by America!
On July 01 2013 22:11 Zax19 wrote: Seriously, no mention of qxc, the only American player in top 16? Not even a word? Meh...
only American?
i think not
It's so sad that again and again Americans are trying to make someone "their" representative instead of actually having one.
Considering he lives here, will be living here for the foreseable future, I would definitely consider him a representative of my country.
By that logic Sharapova is representing USA in tennis, not Russia.
USA needs somebody that can represent in sc2, no american has any hope
women's tennis on the other hand, we got williams
You may need to have somebody but you don't have to have someone. You can admit to yourself the facts and watch to cheer for the better player - exactly how Poland watched tennis before Radwańska popped into the scene. I can't grasp the idea to adopt random player which has the tiny tiniest ties to US and cheer him as your own.
On July 02 2013 03:58 Iron_ wrote: The USA "adoption" of Polt, and the Polt thumbs down to Naniwa were very exciting and warm/fuzzy moments for me in this MLG. Polt is simply put, good for the game.
Also, the good guy/bad guy drama between Polt and Naniwa makes sense, since as we all learned from "Man of Steel", all the good hero's get adopted by America!
All I learned from Man of Steel was "Jesus". But living in the USA I think we already knew that.
Polt is pretty awesome, but I also have issues with "adopting" him. He's not even a citizen, right? Probably here on a student visa or something... not exactly American.
On July 02 2013 03:58 Iron_ wrote: The USA "adoption" of Polt, and the Polt thumbs down to Naniwa were very exciting and warm/fuzzy moments for me in this MLG. Polt is simply put, good for the game.
Also, the good guy/bad guy drama between Polt and Naniwa makes sense, since as we all learned from "Man of Steel", all the good hero's get adopted by America!
All I learned from Man of Steel was "Jesus". But living in the USA I think we already knew that.
Polt is pretty awesome, but I also have issues with "adopting" him. He's not even a citizen, right? Probably here on a student visa or something... not exactly American.
By "adopting" what I was referring to was the crowds breaking into "USA" chants when he was on stage, and the fact that he gives his interviews in English, and studies in the USA. Of course he is not technically American, but who cares, we need a winner to cheer for!