Grand Finals approaching! Thursday at 7pm watch 4 of the best from our fair Isles battle it out live on TB's stream!. There will be interviews before and after the event and a final post wrapping everything else and talking about future events and plans for you guys! Stay Tuned =D
Week 4 Brackets up! Check them out here!. Replay pack from week 1 now available here! Replay pack from week 2 now available here and here!
Thanks to del for all his help and Pholon, Sarge and Derre for theirs. Upgraded graphics courtesy of the lovely Disciple.
Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the inaugural StarCraft 2, British & Irish Open!
The B&I Open will be a weekly event for anyone living in the British Isles. Held every Thursday at 7pm from the 6th of May with a Grand Finals every 5th event, we hope to unite the scene and create a solid foundation for future events like LANs, show matches and some oh so secret international events!
To SIGN UP Post the following details in this thread:
ID: Country: County: Race: Current League:
Any ranks of player are encouraged to join! Even if you are a new player, we urge you to play in our events.
Only residents of the British Isles are eligible to enter. If you have emigrated elsewhere and wish to participate, please PM me.
All the spots taken? Why not become an admin? PM me!
The Games are held in a simple Best of 1 bracket until the Round of 4, when Best of 3s will be played. There will be a best of 3 3rd Place Playoff and a Best of 5 finals. The winner will then be entered directly into the Monthly Grand Finals. If the same player wins again, second place will be awarded the spot in the finals and so on. Information about the Grand Finals will be announced nearer the time and we are hoping to have some prizes available.
Note, the early round formats may change to make the tournament more run more smoothly
Date:Every Thursday from 6th May-3rd June
Time:7:00pm BST
Players:64 player maximum
Location:European SC2 Bnet servers.
Structure:Regular Single Elimination (BO1 until Final 4, Bo3 semis and 3rd place, Bo5 finals).
Admins:flicky.fij, Vilda.vilda
Prizes:Winner gains a place in the monthly Grand Final
Players must check in by messaging an Admin on Bnet 2.0 at least 30 minutes before the tournament is live.
Maps for the Best of 1 will be randomly generated from by an Admin. Maps for the Best of 3 will be pre-determined.
Observers must receive permission from both players. The must be set to Spectator.
Winners will report the results to an admin. In the event of an issue, replays must be supplied to an admin by the winning player by emailing them to "brit.sc2(at)googlemail.com". The winning player will then be directed to a new lobby by an admin.
Players will have 10 minutes to join a waiting lobby. If they cannot be contacted in the 10 minute period, the game will be forfeited.
If a player does not start a game within 10 minutes of their opponent joining, they will forfeit the game to the other player.
If a player disconnects within the first two minutes, the game will be replayed upon reconnection. The above rules still apply in this case.
The 10 minute waiting period may be extended or shortened at the discretion of an admin.
If a player disconnects after this time, the player who has disconnected will forfeit.
Players must alert their opponent in the event of a pause. They must gain permission to un-pause the game and give a 3 second countdown.
External programmes such as Map-Hacks are strictly disallowed.
Players who attempt to play without checking in will be disqualified from the event upon discovery.
In the event of an issue or complaint, you can contact an Admin. Admins have the power to disqualify players for the rest of the tournament if deemed necessary.
Grand Finals Prizes
Oh yes, this is the news some of you have been waiting for, the prizes for our Grand Final winners. I've looked around for some cool prizes that will help progress our players and our scene alongside normal things, so here are the current prizes (subject to change):
3rd Place: £15 2nd Place: £30 1st Place: £45, A place in the international iCCup TV League and your very own featured Liquipedia player page as made by myself AND a spot in the future UK&Ireland A-team.
Not only do you get a little bit of cash in your pocket, but with a spot in the ITL you'll get viewers from all over and a chance to prove yourself on an international level and with a Liquipedia page you get to sit alongside DeMusliM as a representative for the UK or Ireland. As UK&Ireland's top player, you may also get the chance to star in showmatches with top players from other countries.
(In the event that a player is already in the ITL, then we will most likely put 2nd place in to join them)
If you wish to sponsor this event and add to the prize pool or have any questions about these prizes and what not, just PM me or post here.
I hope you guys like these prizes!
I am obviously in need of more help with this. If you wish to help out with graphics, or want to stream or admin these events, please PM me!
Thanks to help from Vilda, I'm pleased to annouce a simple IRC channel: #B&I-SC2. It will be a community channel for everyone involved in the scene to join. You can use it to search for games, talk strategies and I'll announce events there, the usual IRC thing. Nothing too special. But a weblink is below! I hope to see you guys there.
Thanks to del for all his help and Pholon, Sarge and Derre for theirs. Upgraded graphics courtesy of the lovely Disciple.
I don't think there are really enough meetings in Britain for our athletes to compete properly, and because of this a lot of the talent we have has been stunted. Linford Christie
For talent to flourish regular practice is vital - be it meetings for athletes or tournaments for eSports. I feel that the core element of the above quote can be translated into many different activities and it still ring true. It’s time for this to change. With your help I hope we can truly create and promote the Great British and Irish StarCraft scene.
I’ve been following various eSports since 2006, been playing Brood War since 2007 and been following the StarCraft pro-scene since 2008. Throughout this time there has been a very small number of LAN parties and online tournaments. This has resulted in a very broken and unfocused StarCraft scene across the British Isles. I’m sure that I’m not the only person that has noticed this, but I plan to action changes that will prevent this from being the case in the future. I started off by hosting a TSL finals meet in February 2010. I was expecting a small number of people to show up, but the response I got was phenomenal. People travelled long distances by train and coach just to come and meet other players and fans. This was the event that proved to me there is a community buried somewhere out there. It’s time that StarCraft takes Britain by storm. I have big plans for this but we need the manpower to secure a solid foundation before any of this can happen.
I’ve taken it upon myself to start this uprising. How? The very first StarCraft 2 beta tournament for all British and Irish players is approaching. Regardless of the skill level of participants, any British or Irish player is encouraged to enter the tournament to help prove that StarCraft is alive here.
ID: KwarK.teamliquid Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland County: Wiltshire (although currently in Liverpool) Race: Protoss Current League: Plat
ID: rANDY.pro Country: England County: Greater Manchester Race: Zerg (Do I need to commit to a race now? I play random/other races quite a lot) Current League: Platinum
I can also help stream if I go out in an early round. Thanks for doing this Flicky =)
On April 20 2010 01:56 KwarK wrote: Really awesome that Flicky is doing this for the UK scene after the dry spell that has been the last 11 years.
kkkkkk
How can you say that about our years together!? They were at the very least moist, if not full on soaking.
i can hardly believe I overlooked this. Sorry hunny bun, you know i loves ya <3
is there gonna be any stream for this btw?
I've not got anyone set to stream right now unfortunately, but I'm contacting people (and hoping that some contact me). When I get some confirmed streams, I'll add them to the OP.
On April 20 2010 07:23 eNte[19] wrote: ID: Sens.ational Country: Ireland County: Galway Race: Protoss Current League: Platinum
NON-ENGLISH GUY! YAY!
On April 20 2010 07:18 Reach_UK wrote: Should the British and Irish Starcraft 2 team have a chat channel or something until Blizz put them in the game?
Edit: Working on getting this channel setup so we have somewhere else to chat as well.
On April 20 2010 08:40 Atom Cannister wrote: I'm thinking about joining but the racism and BM in this thread is very deterring.
I imagine beating some snobby English people joking about the Irish is probably the best way to shut them up? I know they were just joking, but it does seem like they took it a little far. I do apologise on their behalf.
On April 20 2010 08:40 Atom Cannister wrote: I'm thinking about joining but the racism and BM in this thread is very deterring.
I imagine beating some snobby English people joking about the Irish is probably the best way to shut them up? I know they were just joking, but it does seem like they took it a little far. I do apologise on their behalf.
I will join because you seem lovely... Also, the beating them isn't an option as I'm just a noob.
Anyway, ID:Atom.Cannister Country:Ireland County:Dublin Race:Terran Current League:Gold
On April 20 2010 08:40 Atom Cannister wrote: I'm thinking about joining but the racism and BM in this thread is very deterring.
Don't worry me laddo, I've nothing against the Irish. In fact I look forward to the day when Ireland is finally reunited... back under the crown! But think about it logically, if I hated the Irish I'd want less of them in the United Kingdom, not more. :p
On April 20 2010 09:31 KwarK wrote: I look forward to the day when Ireland is finally reunited... back under the crown!
That will never happen. It took us 300 years to get rid of you and a lot people here still hate English people. I don't at all because I don't follow stereotypes or hold prejudices.
On April 20 2010 01:40 KwarK wrote: ID: KwarK.teamliquid Country: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland County: Wiltshire (although currently in Liverpool) Race: Protoss Current League: Plat
Oh cool I am going for you then, dad was born in Wiltshire. Harness the power of stone henge comrade.
YES a Welsh guy signed up - where all the Scots at?
ASDF I was about to rage that I have exams, but the time is pretty good I might have time to practice for this! [study more for Classical Mechanics or practice pwning Englishmen? GAHH]
ID: tSlayer.dbc Country: Ireland County: Clare [Currently residing in Dublin until college exams over around 10th May] Race: Random. [NOTE: May decide to play Zerg or racepick RvZ ZvT ZvP since my other matchups are usually ALOT worse] Current League: Platinium
EDIT: Fuck you guys I can enjoy spuds, drink guiness AND play Starcraft 2! [Albeit not at the same time]
On April 20 2010 21:48 durecell wrote: I suck but might as well give it a go.
ID: durecell.rabbit Country: Scotland County: Fife Race: Terran (I've not yet picked a race but I'm currently trying Terran) Current League: Doing placements again but I've been Bronze and Silver.
On April 20 2010 18:31 weepingblades wrote: o_0 this is truly awesome. No Beta for me yet, I know at least one guy who'd be interested though, I'll tell him to get his ass to the site & sign up.
GL with this Flicky, and I hope everyone has a great time playing hopefully I can join you guys in the not-too-distant,
On April 21 2010 00:21 Poetic[AoV] wrote: ID: Poetic Country: Wales County: Anglesey Race: Terran League: Platinum
What's your modifier? I'll need both the ID and modifier to sign you up properly.
On April 21 2010 00:01 DeMusliM wrote: Question: For prizes it says - winner gains spot in monthly grand final - but what's the prize there?
There will be a prize for it, money or something like that. As of now, there is nothing, but I will make sure there's at least some kind of prize for the Grand Finals. The main aim so far for these first 4 events is to tighten the community so prizes will come later.
Thanks to help from Vilda, I'm pleased to annouce a simple IRC channel: #B&I-SC2. It will be a community channel for everyone involved in the scene to join. You can use it to search for games, talk strategies and I'll announce events there, the usual IRC thing. Nothing too special. But a weblink is below! I hope to see you guys there.
ID: NoFunAllowed.nfa Country: United Kingdom County: Lothian, Scotland Race: Terran Current League: Currently copper, but that's because my gf has been playing on my account since the last reset. I'm more like silver.
On April 21 2010 00:01 DeMusliM wrote: Question: For prizes it says - winner gains spot in monthly grand final - but what's the prize there?
Respect.
Honour Bragging Rights Fame
#1 UK status (which I'm inheriting from bw and still currently hold!)
Did you ever play a series with sac in the end? He's still playing quite a bit of BW btw, top3 UK is all him.
Not recently, and I'm sure he'd own me. But that's never stopped me with the whole #1 UK thing. It's not a rank, it's a state of mind.
Yeah it's funny to see how many at TL take you seriously, in fact you've probably stolen the #1 UK player title everywhere except amongst the top players in the UK, which is quite a respectable yet underhanded achievement that even our shady tabloids would struggle to achieve.
Haha I didn't mean that to sound as insulting as it did, but really it doesn't bother me just wondered if sac was a lot better or just a bit.
On April 21 2010 00:01 DeMusliM wrote: Question: For prizes it says - winner gains spot in monthly grand final - but what's the prize there?
Respect.
Honour Bragging Rights Fame
#1 UK status (which I'm inheriting from bw and still currently hold!)
Did you ever play a series with sac in the end? He's still playing quite a bit of BW btw, top3 UK is all him.
Not recently, and I'm sure he'd own me. But that's never stopped me with the whole #1 UK thing. It's not a rank, it's a state of mind.
Yeah it's funny to see how many at TL take you seriously, in fact you've probably stolen the #1 UK player title everywhere except amongst the top players in the UK, which is quite a respectable yet underhanded achievement that even our shady tabloids would struggle to achieve.
Haha I didn't mean that to sound as insulting as it did, but really it doesn't bother me just wondered if sac was a lot better or just a bit.
When I'm active I generally consider myself a little better than Sac but my PvZ is my best matchup and I don't know about his ZvZ and ZvT. I get the upper hand when I play him but I have to be in my absolute best shape to compete with him and even then he wins like 30% of games. Right now he'd smash me. And my success vs him isn't really representative of all matchups, he may well be the better overall player even when I'm capable of beating him.
Everyone knows that since the day Poland joined the EU every Pole has been living in a single apartment building in East London. Since then the Ukrainians have moved into Poland and the Turks into the Ukraine. Everyone moved up a rank.
On April 21 2010 10:30 Gomas wrote: ID: Gomass.gumbas Country: England County: London Race: Terran Current League: Platinum
Tell me, why does your location say Poland if you live in London? I can't imagine you would move within a month of signing up to TL.
Surely because he is proud of being Polish? I imagine a great many people on TL living outside their home country would keep their original nation out of pride with the only main exception being South Korea because of it's BW Mecca status.
ID: fake.roogle Country: Northern Ireland County: Belfast Race: Terran Current League: Gold although I got lucky with placements post-wipe and should probably be Silver
ID: svetz.svetz Country: UK County: London Race: Terran Current League: Varies between mid table platinum and bronze depending on my mood/connection :/
ID: obfus.bane Country: Scotland County: Fife Race: Protoss Current League: Platinum through some lucky placement matches, but middle/lower gold is probably more accurate.
btw just as I read someone was upset at racism I said the Irish thing purely as a joke, you could easily say "England was invented in the 1900's by Macleans in order to scare people into buying their products" or something equally as hilarious and I'm sure people wouldn't care, well I wouldn't ^^
ID: GoStyle.cat Country: England County: Yorkshire Race: Terran League: Platinum
iv got a question, would it be possible to delay or play the first match a few hours later? or even the day before/after? Iv kinda already got plans for thursday until 11pm. Dont wanna miss out on this cup/league tho
After some consideration, I am changing the format to be Best of 3 from the Round of 4 instead of the Round of 8. This may be reverted in the future, but due to admin demands, I will make it simpler so that the first even runs more smoothly.
On April 22 2010 05:14 XeliN wrote: btw just as I read someone was upset at racism I said the Irish thing purely as a joke, you could easily say "England was invented in the 1900's by Macleans in order to scare people into buying their products" or something equally as hilarious and I'm sure people wouldn't care, well I wouldn't ^^
On April 22 2010 05:14 XeliN wrote: btw just as I read someone was upset at racism I said the Irish thing purely as a joke, you could easily say "England was invented in the 1900's by Macleans in order to scare people into buying their products" or something equally as hilarious and I'm sure people wouldn't care, well I wouldn't ^^
I'm deeply offended. You will pay!
Here in the internets, we do not approve of your sarcasm sir. + Show Spoiler +
wow all this sounds excellent, good on u Flicky for doing stuff like this for uk community, wish u were around a few years ago
too bad i cant do anything in this, i made a bet with friends for a decent amt of money that i wouldnt play any sc for 2 months since i was burning too much time playing:S
ID: Onca.Falsus Country: United Kingdom County: Staffs Race: Terran Current League: was silver 30th or something, until patch, after which I didnt play the single player placements edit: I know my account says Sri Lanka. Thats my country, Im currently living in the UK now, dunno if Im still eligible O_o
Now that we have reached 64 players, brackets and whatnot will begin to be formulated and the planned reveal of the brackets will be on this coming Thursday, giving you a week to prepare for your matches. Because we have reached 64 players, any further sign ups will be for Backup positions where if a player does not show up in sufficient time, you will be called upon to take their place. Backup players will be listed in the OP and must contact me on Bnet to find out if they will be playing or not. Thanks to everyone for signing up, keep checking the thread for announcements!
Got any commentators lined up? Should really push for VODs even if you can't get live cast I think having a nice mix of accents will be very entertaining xD
Call to the Scots to try take out an Englishman or two :D And sent him homeward, tae think again
Brackets are now live! Check the Liquipedia Page to see them!
A look at the brackets First of all, to me one match stands out as THE match of the Round of 64 (I laughed when i saw it pop out of the randomiser) and hopefully a few of you will have picked it out too: XeLiN vs TarQeS. Not only are they both platinum ranked Random players, but also Clan-Mates and real-life friends who have played Brood War together for a number of years. I wish this was a Bo3 (I could change it, but it's not worth the effort) but alas. I'd like to think that XeLiN will get his arse into gear after seeing his opponent and ladder like mad but this is the game to watch!
Another key thing to look at here, is that rANDY and DeMuslim are at opposite ends of the bracket. Will they both make it through to the final? It seems possible, but many players stand in their way. With players like Apollo (NerdKiller) getting stuck into beta and old BW players like UK#1 (it's a state of Mind) Kwark playing we have top members of our community competing. We shall see if high-ranked players like Ourk, Fargo and Jdanzi can perform in the tournament and ultimately who will take the first Week of the First British and Irish Open and the first spot in the First Grand Finals!
So check out the brackets, find a partner on the list to practice with and prepare!
A Statistical View: Everybody likes a look at the numbers, right? Race wise we have a nice and balanced race-participation list, but the country participation is a little skewed. We also have a decent range of levels of players with is a good thing reminding us that this is a community event for everyone to enjoy. Race: 31.25% - 20 - Protoss 29.75% - 19 - Terran 25% - 16 - Zerg 14% - 9 - Random
DeMuslim told me he'd hang onto my #1 UK title for me, just for a while, for safekeeping. I died inside. Fortunately I have perhaps the easiest bracket so if the stars align I could have a shot.
On April 29 2010 08:15 KwarK wrote: DeMuslim told me he'd hang onto my #1 UK title for me, just for a while, for safekeeping. I died inside. Fortunately I have perhaps the hardest bracket in the tournament. Some of the competitors skills are insane and quite frankly I am considering giving a walkover now so as not to suffer the inevitable embaressment of game #3.
On April 29 2010 08:15 KwarK wrote: DeMuslim told me he'd hang onto my #1 UK title for me, just for a while, for safekeeping. I died inside. Fortunately I have perhaps the hardest bracket in the tournament. Some of the competitors skills are insane and quite frankly I am considering giving a walkover now so as not to suffer the inevitable embaressment of game #3.
fyp
I was rooting for TarQeS, I've changed my mine now though:
YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN OWNED ONCE XELIN. NEVER AGAIN.
On April 29 2010 08:15 KwarK wrote: DeMuslim told me he'd hang onto my #1 UK title for me, just for a while, for safekeeping. I died inside. Fortunately I have perhaps the hardest bracket in the tournament. Some of the competitors skills are insane and quite frankly I am considering giving a walkover now so as not to suffer the inevitable embaressment of game #3.
fyp
On April 19 2010 03:09 XeliN wrote: Ever since kwark beat me at a lan using prodominantly scouts...
I've never competed in anything like this before, so i have a few (probably newbish) questions.
I am wondering, are all games/stages played in one evening? I ask because, for instance, i might win a game in 10 minutes, but my next opponents games might go on for an hour, or in a best of 3, i might win 2 really quickly, and my next opponent might get 3 very long games. I'm just curious what happens there, do i leave and do something else, or do i sit in the lobby, as i dont know when said opponents games will finish.
I also don't really talk to people in game much, so the chat system is 'new' to me, so if anyone could help me with what i'd need to know for a tournament, i'd appreciate it.
(I will likely go out in the first round as i'm against Ourk.tls who is apparently very good, which is a bit sad as i'm a bronze/copper player )
What is this .tls that is after a few of the players? Is that they're 'team'?
On April 29 2010 11:46 miganto wrote: I've never competed in anything like this before, so i have a few (probably newbish) questions.
I am wondering, are all games/stages played in one evening? I ask because, for instance, i might win a game in 10 minutes, but my next opponents games might go on for an hour, or in a best of 3, i might win 2 really quickly, and my next opponent might get 3 very long games. I'm just curious what happens there, do i leave and do something else, or do i sit in the lobby, as i dont know when said opponents games will finish.
I also don't really talk to people in game much, so the chat system is 'new' to me, so if anyone could help me with what i'd need to know for a tournament, i'd appreciate it.
(I will likely go out in the first round as i'm against Ourk.tls who is apparently very good, which is a bit sad as i'm a bronze/copper player )
What is this .tls that is after a few of the players? Is that they're 'team'?
1. Yes, all games are played in one evening. If there are long waiting periods between games, you just have to wait. 2. Just need to know how to contact someone on your friends list and so on. 3. tls was a clan apparantly.
yes tls is a clan but i played a game called age of empires befor this and i was called Thelastsamurai and people called me TLS so i just put it at the end of all my nicks and no i wasnt in the TLs clan
Just to clarify was just looking at the brackets. Does the winner of each bracket to through to the finals or is there games between the people who win the brackets. I would have thought the latter but then thought it runs for 4 weeks and if 4 went through each week it would turn into a ro16 finals tourney so i wasnt sure.
On May 01 2010 06:15 TarQeS wrote: Just to clarify was just looking at the brackets. Does the winner of each bracket to through to the finals or is there games between the people who win the brackets. I would have thought the latter but then thought it runs for 4 weeks and if 4 went through each week it would turn into a ro16 finals tourney so i wasnt sure.
Yeah, it's the latter. Each week there is a seperate event where the winner goes through so that there will be 4 in the Monthly finals.
There are still some players from my brackets who can't be found since the reset, the following players need to confirm with their new nicknames and identifiers:
Monday - oneday, Tuesday - twoday, wednesday "what? how? whenday?", THURSDAY.. The Third Day!
Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child is spamming A click and reaper//roach//voidray rushing their way to fame!
Some good news here, TotalBiscuit (Of ShoutCraft fame and many other things) will be casting the event over Livestream from here!. He'll be hovering around Bnet casting games, so if he asks you to invite him, do so! For the first round he should be casting the uber grudge match of Xelin vs Tarqes (no pressure guys) and from there out he will be following whomever he wants until the finals! Hopefully throughout the night eliminated players can join him and help cast. Big thanks to him for taking his time to do this!
Just to note, we may be getting a backup caster to do a secondary stream so stay tuned for news on that too!
Sup guys, pleasure and an honour to have the opportunity to broadcast skilled players as well as work with other commentators. I'll begin promoting the event to bring in as many viewers as I can for you guys.
I will also be creating HD 1080p VoDs of the best matches, with the same audio and visual production values that SHOUTcraft has.
My ID is totalbiscuit.totalbiscuit on EU bnet, so feel free to add me. Any questions, just drop me a PM right here on Teamliquid.
On May 04 2010 23:23 Kerotan wrote: Expect, "momma look I'm on TV!" shoutouts in my matches.
Go for it.
I'm calling the Thursday night broadcast, SHOUTcraft BIO. We now have as many spin-offs as CSI and are well on our way to beating Law and Order, dear lord.
On May 04 2010 22:51 TotalBiscuit wrote: Sup guys, pleasure and an honour to have the opportunity to broadcast skilled players as well as work with other commentators. I'll begin promoting the event to bring in as many viewers as I can for you guys.
I will also be creating HD 1080p VoDs of the best matches, with the same audio and visual production values that SHOUTcraft has.
My ID is totalbiscuit.totalbiscuit on EU bnet, so feel free to add me. Any questions, just drop me a PM right here on Teamliquid.
I'd like to invite you guys to some unofficial warm-up matches. I air SHOUTcraft Europe on Wednesdays at 7pm BST so if any of you wants to drop in and show-case against each other in some friendly battles, you're more than welcome. Just drop me a line at shoutcraft@cynicalbrit.com with your ID, preferred race and league standing and be available tomorrow at 7pm.
Awesome news (for me anyway): Looks like I should have a key by thursday (hooray for GAME pre-orders), so if there's a waiting list for the week 2 event I'd like to register my interest. My id will be some permutation of weepingblades, I'll let you know exactly what in a few days. I've already played a bit of the beta, so I guess I'll be Bronze-ish skill level. Cheers,
On May 05 2010 07:35 weepingblades wrote: Hey guys,
Awesome news (for me anyway): Looks like I should have a key by thursday (hooray for GAME pre-orders), so if there's a waiting list for the week 2 event I'd like to register my interest. My id will be some permutation of weepingblades, I'll let you know exactly what in a few days. I've already played a bit of the beta, so I guess I'll be Bronze-ish skill level. Cheers,
Kev
What we'll be doing for week 2 is asking all the players who compete on the day if they want to sign up for next week (to save clogging up this thread) and anyone who has previously said they are signing up for next week (special circumstances). After the event tomorrow, you can post in this thread to sign up for the next event.
On May 05 2010 00:48 TotalBiscuit wrote: I'd like to invite you guys to some unofficial warm-up matches. I air SHOUTcraft Europe on Wednesdays at 7pm BST so if any of you wants to drop in and show-case against each other in some friendly battles, you're more than welcome. Just drop me a line at shoutcraft@cynicalbrit.com with your ID, preferred race and league standing and be available tomorrow at 7pm.
have been off the scene for aaages! since like WGT 6 or something daft like that. but speaking to flicky, linked me your site, checked out some of the videos! awesome stuff! keep up the good work! and thats a great commentry voice!!
Unfortunatly i won't be available tomorrow, however will hook up at some point in the future!
I'm pleased to be showcasing both NiiPPLES.jack (who's name will be used in as many lewd jokes as humanly possible this evening) and Acefrog to the stream this evening who will be showcasing for your viewing pleasure. There are spots available for other BIO entries in this warm-up event on Livestream tonight at 7pm BST/8pm CEST, so just give me a shout on b.net and we'll see what we can setup.
ID :TheMick.Love Country : England County : South Yorkshire Race: Protoss League: Plat only just got beta and played my 5 placement games :< obvoiusly this tourney is closed, but if any fill ins are needed ill be online at 7pm
On May 06 2010 11:54 TheMick wrote: also another question, will all rounds/semis/finals etc be played straight through, obvoiusly taking alot of hours :p
Yes, everything from 1st Round to the finals for Week 1 will be played tonight.
If people wish to contact me with anything, I will be online about 6pm this evening before the event. Find me in our IRC or on Bnet.
Flicky will be assisting with scheduling and making sure everything runs smoothly for broadcast matches. I'm just here to talk loudly into a microphone, so it's best to direct your questions in his direction. I will try and get as many of your games in as possible tonight.
I'll be on b.net from 6pm onwards, giving the stream a shakedown. Last night was extremely successful with over 1.3k viewers, but Livestream did decided to crap out on a number of occassions, particularly early on. I'll play a few games myself to break it in, since it seems to stabilise once you've streamed for a while.
It goes without saying that watching the stream while playing is not kosher. At the end of the day this is a friendly tournament for fun rather than cash prizes and I wouldn't expect anyone to act with any less than stellar sportsmanship
On May 07 2010 00:57 Adeeler wrote: If I go out 1st round which I probably will I can cast/stream/admin as needed. Contact me on Adeel.adeeler or PM me.
You're playing me man. You're not going to go out.
On May 06 2010 23:59 TotalBiscuit wrote: Flicky will be assisting with scheduling and making sure everything runs smoothly for broadcast matches. I'm just here to talk loudly into a microphone, so it's best to direct your questions in his direction. I will try and get as many of your games in as possible tonight.
I'll be on b.net from 6pm onwards, giving the stream a shakedown. Last night was extremely successful with over 1.3k viewers, but Livestream did decided to crap out on a number of occassions, particularly early on. I'll play a few games myself to break it in, since it seems to stabilise once you've streamed for a while.
It goes without saying that watching the stream while playing is not kosher. At the end of the day this is a friendly tournament for fun rather than cash prizes and I wouldn't expect anyone to act with any less than stellar sportsmanship
Tally-ho chaps!
Small thing, that full stop at the end of your link breaks it
Event will be going live shortly, check out TB's stream for some test stuff, head to our IRC or to TL vent where some people will hopefully be trash talking eachother. Or playing without hands.
Cool strategy from jdanzi there, going 1 gate pressure that looks like a FE build and then go 4 gate. I simply made too many zerglings and not drones early to be able to defend when he got cyber core. Never seen it before actually. Seems much stronger than teching straight to core first.
On May 07 2010 04 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 07 2010 04 end_of_the_skype_highlighting:11 Slayer91 wrote: Cool strategy from jdanzi there, going 1 gate pressure that looks like a FE build and then go 4 gate. I simply made too many zerglings and not drones early to be able to defend when he got cyber core. Never seen it before actually. Seems much stronger than teching straight to core first.
lol thanks, I never been able to play LT very well vs zerg so I just try loads of different things and hope I get lucky
Just to wrap this up, the next match will be replayed from the 1-0 advantage that jdanzi has. We will probably delay it slightly depending on how big this patch is.
GG to everyone who played, I'll be contacting people to play for next week and cleaning up this thread to prepare for next weeks event.
On May 07 2010 04 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 07 2010 04 end_of_the_skype_highlighting:11 Slayer91 wrote: Cool strategy from jdanzi there, going 1 gate pressure that looks like a FE build and then go 4 gate. I simply made too many zerglings and not drones early to be able to defend when he got cyber core. Never seen it before actually. Seems much stronger than teching straight to core first.
lol thanks, I never been able to play LT very well vs zerg so I just try loads of different things and hope I get lucky
Definitely wasn't luck =p it helps me a lot more than you though! Because I should by rights only be making the minimum lings to survive on creep and with the queen even vs FE build so if i'm engaging on creep without queen I overcomitted. [Larvae was a total non issue so squeezing out drones would just increase the roach count for defending the 4 gate later] Feeling good about that because I'm already pretty strong vs both FE toss and if I can get away with making a couple drones extra thats going to make a huge difference. I'll have to look into how many lings you need to make against a constant 1 gate chrono zealot attack.
gg and best of luck vs ourk! You basically won 2 games but it's a shame Bnet went down when you were at a massive advantage in the first game.
On May 07 2010 06:52 Iamgrunt wrote: so are we finishing this 2 night?
We'll re-arrange it for a later date. Doing it right after a patch is not a good idea.
I've just finished doing the full brackets (check 'em out here I'll grab the replays, put them in a .rar and upload them afterwards. After that, I'll start on next weeks sign-ups (probably tomorrow).
Thanks ladies and gents, was a good night overall, save for a few hitches and Livestream's insipid fuckery. Looking forward to getting that final BO5 done, though I have a feeling some of those changes are going to really mess with the state of play.
Thanks Totalbiscuit for providing an "epic" cast. Seriously the 3-4 hours went by quickly, the cast was highly entertaining, sometimes even hilarious (Quote Totalbuiscit: "The Queen gets pounded by 3 zealots, this can only by a britsh cast")^^.
The games themselves were ok, a bit medicore tough. And for gods sake stop complaining about how boring PvP is!^^
All in all I hope you get more opportunities to cast games, Totalbuiscit! Day9 and Totalbuiscit, that would be an epic duo! :D
There were a bunch of people on IRC which is good, because at times bnet bugged out and it's good to have a place to announce things if something should happen.
On May 07 2010 18:54 Vilda wrote: There were a bunch of people on IRC which is good, because at times bnet bugged out and it's good to have a place to announce things if something should happen.
OK, I'm just officially opening sign-ups for next week. All previous people signing up have been added already. If you already played this week, all you need this time is to post your ID!
To whoever signed mech.kgz up, we need the rest of his information before we can add him to the list.
I'd like to sign up again since i didnt actually get to play this one cos bnet booted me off and wouldnt let me log in due to the patch. InfernoKoi.lyter
On May 07 2010 20:08 Flicky wrote: OK, I'm just officially opening sign-ups for next week. All previous people signing up have been added already. If you already played this week, all you need this time is to post your ID!
To whoever signed mech.kgz up, we need the rest of his information before we can add him to the list.
ID: mech.kgz Country: England County: Tyne and Wear Race: Terran Current League: Platinum
On May 07 2010 07 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 07 2010 07 end_of_the_skype_highlighting:50 Slayer91 wrote: The sentry nerf is bad news for jdanzi it could make or break a 4 warpgate attack
lol we will see, by the sounds of some friend's comments the game will be back to immortal timing vs zerg.
I've not watched a lot of these games, but all of you guys should check out rANDY vs Star for a very intense low economy ZvZ mirror. It's crazy non-stop micro.
On May 08 2010 08:23 Flicky wrote: Replay pack now available here!
I get this error message now when i try to open the page
Error
This file is neither allocated to a Premium Account, or a Collector's Account, and can therefore only be downloaded 10 times.
This limit is reached.
To download this file, the uploader either needs to transfer this file into his/her Collector's Account, or upload the file again. The file can later be moved to a Collector's Account. The uploader just needs to click the delete link of the file to get further information.
On May 08 2010 08:23 Flicky wrote: Replay pack now available here!
I get this error message now when i try to open the page
Error
This file is neither allocated to a Premium Account, or a Collector's Account, and can therefore only be downloaded 10 times.
This limit is reached.
To download this file, the uploader either needs to transfer this file into his/her Collector's Account, or upload the file again. The file can later be moved to a Collector's Account. The uploader just needs to click the delete link of the file to get further information.
I thought I put it on a premium server, have re-uploaded it.
Oh yes, this is the news some of you have been waiting for, the prizes for our Grand Final winners. I've looked around for some cool prizes that will help progress our players and our scene alongside normal things, so here are the current prizes (subject to change):
3rd Place: £15 2nd Place: £30 1st Place: £45, A place in the international iCCup TV League and your very own featured Liquipedia player page as made by myself AND a spot in the future UK&Ireland A-team.
Not only do you get a little bit of cash in your pocket, but with a spot in the ITL you'll get viewers from all over and a chance to prove yourself on an international level and with a Liquipedia page you get to sit alongside DeMusliM as a representative for the UK or Ireland. As UK&Ireland's top player, you may also get the chance to star in showmatches with top players from other countries.
(In the event that a player is already in the ITL, then we will most likely put 2nd place in to join them)
If you wish to sponsor this event and add to the prize pool or have any questions about these prizes and what not, just PM me or post here.
I was very much happy with just being in a UK competition, the prizes are a very nice bonus I especially love the kind of 'promotion' into the A team/ITL
just an idea, would it not be a better represenation of skill if the games were BO3 instead of BO1? would probably be easier to organise as well as people wouldnt be moving onto next rounds so quickly etc..
On May 10 2010 17:32 Luxotica wrote: just an idea, would it not be a better represenation of skill if the games were BO3 instead of BO1? would probably be easier to organise as well as people wouldnt be moving onto next rounds so quickly etc..
or do you think this would take too much time?
It would take a very long time. This first event took about 2 hours 45 minutes and a possible 4 matches of the finals weren't played so it would most definetely been over 3 hours. With every round being best of 3, then it would be nearing midnight before the finals even started.
On May 10 2010 17:32 Luxotica wrote: just an idea, would it not be a better represenation of skill if the games were BO3 instead of BO1? would probably be easier to organise as well as people wouldnt be moving onto next rounds so quickly etc..
or do you think this would take too much time?
It would take a very long time. This first event took about 2 hours 45 minutes and a possible 4 matches of the finals weren't played so it would most definetely been over 3 hours. With every round being best of 3, then it would be nearing midnight before the finals even started.
I must also point out that casting for 5 hours without a break might cause my death.
There is about a 90% chance that i can play i very rarely have to work on friday night so either sign me up or put me in reserves at your disgression. Thanks!
Jdanzi defeated Ourk 3-2 in our first finals. Despite being over 5 maps, all the games were short as Jdanzi went for aggressive 3 gate-Robo pushes while Ourk tried a standard Expand build. Ourk managed to hold him off twice, but Jdanzi prevailed and takes the first Finals spot!
Map Changes
To keep the games slightly fresher and promote different play, the following maps have been changed for Week 2:
FYI, warmup matches will be happening once again on Wednesday at 7pm ol' blighty time. These will be broadcast on SHOUTcraft Europe and those who are interested in showcasing some friendly games please leave a message in this thread so I know who to contact on b.net. My ID is totalbiscuit.totalbiscuit and all comers are welcome.
I might have made the switch to Ustream by then but that depends entirely on the results of testing this evening. I'll keep you posted.
On May 11 2010 17:45 TotalBiscuit wrote: FYI, warmup matches will be happening once again on Wednesday at 7pm ol' blighty time. These will be broadcast on SHOUTcraft Europe and those who are interested in showcasing some friendly games please leave a message in this thread so I know who to contact on b.net. My ID is totalbiscuit.totalbiscuit and all comers are welcome.
I might have made the switch to Ustream by then but that depends entirely on the results of testing this evening. I'll keep you posted.
you can add me and I'll do a few practice games or two Star.aka
On May 11 2010 17:45 TotalBiscuit wrote: FYI, warmup matches will be happening once again on Wednesday at 7pm ol' blighty time. These will be broadcast on SHOUTcraft Europe and those who are interested in showcasing some friendly games please leave a message in this thread so I know who to contact on b.net. My ID is totalbiscuit.totalbiscuit and all comers are welcome.
Brackets are now live! Check the Liquipedia Page to see them! Note that areas marked with SPACE are exactly what they sound like. We still have some spaces left and sign-ups will remain open until an hour before the event starts!
A look at the brackets So once again I'll do a little bit of hyping here with a quick glance at the brackets. This week's featured game for Round 1 will be between StarCraft 2 superstar DeMusliM and high ranked Protoss Cuppatea who made it quite far into last weeks before being stopped by Star. This will be a good TvP and I think Cuppatea can put up a decent fight if he goes in confident. Like last week, TotalBiscuit will be kicking off the stream with this corker.
rANDY and Ourk are at opposite ends of the bracket. Will they both make it through to the final and will last week's 2nd place winner Ourk make his way to finals and claim his place in the grand finals? Ireland's top player tSlayer has a good shot after showing strong results in other events: the Zerg beat last weeks winner Jdanzi in the last EU CraftCup to be the last UK/Irish player standing that event. 3rd place Kwark returns with more practice time under his belt and strong runners Star and Jelly are back to see if they can go that bit further. Can other strong players like TarQeS, Poetic, Jelly and Apollo (nerdKILLER) rise to the challenge and claim their spot in the Grand Finals? Tune in tomorrow to TotalBiscuit's Live cast to find out!
So check out the brackets, find a partner on the list to practice with and prepare!
A Statistical View: The Stats are back, with the racial balance looking pretty good once again but also, the countries stats not looking so good again. It's up to our Welsh, Irish and Scottish players to kick some English guys out and bring their friend's next week. What is interesting, is that the percents of English players is about equal to the percentage that England takes up in the population of the UK.
Ok ladies and gents, we're all set for tonight's show. After some research, it appears that the Livestream disconnection issues were not a result of low bandwidth as Procaster claimed, but of a caching bug within the latest version of Procaster, which caused the framerate to gradually drop until a point that it got so low, it would disconnect the stream. I have downgraded to a supposedly 'stable' version of Procaster and upped the resolution a bit, here's hoping for smooth sailing this evening.
Please bear with us with sign-ups. There's a lot of last minute changes.
Note: There is apparantly going to be a service patch which could interrupt your games. Please find your admin in the IRC and query them if this becomes an issue. If the servers go down completely, we will have to wait to see if they come back. Talk to you admin if there are any issues.
Hooray! We will wait for this thing to pass and continue afterwards. Blizzard aren't exactly friendly with this, but I'm sorry guys, can't do anything about it. Keep in contact on IRC and with your opponent and we'll get this going asap.
On May 14 2010 04:38 Pholon wrote: As I noticed the brackets aren't full yet I would like to reiterate I would be proud indeed to represent Clogshire in this.
You're pholon yourself if you think you'll be allowed to play.
seems like we all hung around for very little tonight, I feel sorry for TotalBiscuits not being able to cast this :-( It is pretty amazing how everything is fine for x hours before the tournament and then 5 minutes to go and it all goes to pants, can't count the number of times it's happened - good ode Murphy's law
As you probably know, Blizzard EU's, inability to apply a patch meant last night had to be cancelled. When I went to bed at 2:40am the servers were still dead.
Due to my schedule and how I set up the event, we will play Week 2 on Tuesday 18th at 8pm and Week 3 will be on Thursday 20th at 7pm.
Note that the matchups you have will stay the same, but the Maps wil be changed. Also note that Vilda will not be there on Tuesday, so you may have a different admin. All signups in this thread will be assumed for Week 3.
On May 14 2010 19:51 TotalBiscuit wrote: I have no issues broadcasting at either time.
Sounds good, but if we do it on Tuesday, there will be another event on the same Thursday so it would be 4 days in a row if you can handle that :p.
Pfft, breaks are for the weak. Bring it on.
Incidently, projected installation for my new internet connection is 25th of this month. Dunno if it'll be active on that date, but whatever the case, it's got better upstream and more reliability than what I have right now, so less lag and nicer stream hopefully.
Work on the migration to Ustream is progressing well, there are still some hurdles however.
As you probably know, Blizzard EU's, inability to apply a patch meant last night had to be cancelled. When I went to bed at 2:40am the servers were still dead.
Due to my schedule and how I set up the event, we will play Week 2 on Tuesday 18th at 8pm and Week 3 will be on Thursday 20th at 7pm.
Note that the matchups you have will stay the same, but the Maps wil be changed. Also note that Vilda will not be there on Tuesday, so you may have a different admin. All signups in this thread will be assumed for Week 3.
Are the slots able to be filled? I would like to fill one if possible as well as signup for week 3, infernokoi.lyter
As you probably know, Blizzard EU's, inability to apply a patch meant last night had to be cancelled. When I went to bed at 2:40am the servers were still dead.
Due to my schedule and how I set up the event, we will play Week 2 on Tuesday 18th at 8pm and Week 3 will be on Thursday 20th at 7pm.
Note that the matchups you have will stay the same, but the Maps wil be changed. Also note that Vilda will not be there on Tuesday, so you may have a different admin. All signups in this thread will be assumed for Week 3.
Are the slots able to be filled? I would like to fill one if possible as well as signup for week 3, infernokoi.lyter
I'd like to throw my name in if possible Eamo.grit
Country: England (But I'm Irish County: London Race: Terran Current League: Copper
RX was an internet/LAN cafe in town. It was pretty good for it's time, I spent a lot of my youth there. It changed owners tho and went down the pan in the end.
On May 16 2010 04:31 AL_2208 wrote: RX was an internet/LAN cafe in town. It was pretty good for it's time, I spent a lot of my youth there. It changed owners tho and went down the pan in the end.
Ah probably before my time, or I just didnt know it exsisted.
Would be nice to play some local players tho, or just anyone who wants to play Vs T
ID: Meepy.meepy Country: England County: East Sussex Race: Protoss League: Plat Sign me up for week 3 Edit: I'm also up for tuesdays tournament if someone dosent show put me down for standby
Balls, he's my admin. Guess I better stop Pholon around. It wasn't out of any malice, I just couldn't resist the temptation and it got out of hand. Sorry man. No hard Pholons.
On May 18 2010 23:42 KwarK wrote: Balls, he's my admin. Guess I better stop Pholon around. It wasn't out of any malice, I just couldn't resist the temptation and it got out of hand. Sorry man. No hard Pholons.
You shall be shot at dawn, for crimes against comedy.
Stream will be starting in 30 minutes at http://tinyurl.com/shoutcraft2. Still another week until my new internet gets installed so apologies in advance for the low resolution.
That's right! Let's defy blizzard and tell them that they can try and stop us all they want, but we'll just move! Haha! All Brackets are open for sign-ins. flicky.fij and pholon.liquipedia are the guys to find! GL!
Congratulations go to rANDY for taking the second place in the Grand finals! I hope he does well and gets himself some money!
Good job to the remainder of our top 4: TarQeS, Poetic and Rotsor for getting to the Bo3 stages.
Thanks to all players for joining us and to Totalbiscuit for casting us! See you guys on Thursday. I will finish the brackets tomorrow and we'll sort out all the last bits then!
On May 19 2010 18:10 beakermimi wrote: I'd say a lot of the irish players won't be available... I for one. Exam time in 3 weeks
My exams finished the 10th. Sucks to be you. =P Go to college, leaving cert is for nubs.
Grats Randy!! If someone like Kwark won I woulda raged hard at my zvz game I failed hard in trying to be trendy!! >_< No offense kwark "I'm just pholon around" AMIRITE
On May 19 2010 04:32 jargs wrote: hey i'd like to sign up, jargs.abc is my nick on EU starcraft.
Can you give me the rest of the info please. Need to know your country, county, race and league.
Checking In
A number of players are not checking in with admins before starting their games. It is important that you do this so that we know who is here and who needs replacing. Players who play without checking in will be disqualified from the event.
I will be putting up the brackets some time tomorrow before the event. There are still lots of spaces, and time to sign-up so please do so! Note your admins as there will be another change.
Brackets are now live! Check the Liquipedia Page to see them! Note that areas marked with SPACE are exactly what they sound like. We still have some spaces left and sign-ups will remain open until an hour before the event starts!
A look at the brackets So some lovely hype to start. While we are low on numbers this week, there are still plenty of top games being played! For first round matches, we have three top games: Wingnut vs Jelly, Ourk vs Furor and finally Poetic vs Cuppatea. Wingnut and Jelly are both strong players, While Ourk is a second place winner and Poetic third we've got some good options for our cast!
rANDY returns for another week after his triumph on Tuesday. Can he repeat his success and defend his win? We shall see. Last week's 3rd and 4th place players Poetic and Rotsor return to see if they can go just a little further. KwarK returns with more practice time under his belt and a hidden weapon. Will his currently rather empty bracket help carry him to the finals? These players will have to overcome strong runners like Star, Jelly, Wingnut and tSlayer to get that spot for a chance at the top prizes. Tune in tomorrow to TotalBiscuit's Live cast to find out!
So check out the brackets, find a partner on the list to practice with and prepare!
No stats this week guys, too much has changed at short notice!
That's right! All brackets can now sign in! Let's have another great event like Tuesday! Haha! flicky.fij and Kovutalli.kovutalli are the guys to find! GL!
On May 21 2010 05:07 KwarK wrote: Sigh, quarters, semis, quarters. This is getting frustrating. Man I hate PvT on lt.
=P I always fold like a deckchair in this tourney. Seriously, I am pretty much never nervous at all in other tournaments, playing super good players like TLO[okay i didn't play too well vs him] and hasuobs, but in every week i've lost, like playing really badly vs jdanzi/furor/randy in the 2nd round.
Just watched the vods. Fargo's compact base vs me with a lot of marines is a reaction to void ray builds. Outlying buildings allow voids to charge up before the marines can get there while a compact base means the marines can get to wherever the voids are charging very quickly. My plan was to hallucinate colos to avoid the tanks one shot sniping my only colo but I messed it up. Should have killed way more marines than I did there. Charge was also a few seconds too late, it completed just after my natural died.
Anyone who was in Week 3 Brackets 3 and 4 who I havnt contacted already and is intrested in playing in Week 4 Please contact either me or Flicky, or leave a post here saying so =D
Sorry I couldn't inform someone that I wasn't going to be able to make last nights tourney. Something came up last minute and i've only just been able to get to a computer.
I'd like to sign up for week four if there's places still goin.
Finals Date: The finals will likely be sometime on the 30th (Sunday), depending on when all the players are available. The Replays will be cast by Totalbiscuit.
Upcoming Patch: There will be a patch released shortly that will change the naming system. Please PM me, or post your new ID in this thread.
Map Change Scrap has gone back to being Kulas. Note that the new patch may remove some maps.
Please make sure you have read and fully understand this.
As you all know, the new friend's system leaves a lot to be desired. Having 40+ players disclose their eMails and handing them to eachother is not a brillliantly smart system. So this is what we're going to do.
1. Add your admin with their Real ID (these will be posted here at a later date). Sign-in with your admin. Once signed in, create a lobby as instructed. 2. Once your opponent is ready, the admin will invite you both to a conversation. From here, you should be able to add people as friends without the need for swapping un-necessary information. 3. Play the game and continue the tournament like normal.
Another problem this week, is that there are a massive amount of empty spaces to be filled. We got 41 players right now, leaving 13 BYEs dotted around the brackets.
Fortunately, the server issues have been fixed and the tournament should be able to run as planned.
I look forward to seeing who makes it through to our finals =D.
I'm wishing Blizzard would hire some real programmers & directors to make bnet 2.0
regarding the lag, I played a little last night and had slight delay in units responding to commands so not sure they are entirely fixed yet, what has everyone else experienced so far?.
I'm not sure if you are still supposed to post if you're doing warmups on wednesday but I will be there since the server has been terrible and my MMR is gone to crap when 50% of my games are drop--> loss. [I'm like 14-14 and haven't played a single good player =( ] Though hopefully its fixed now! my real ID in spoiler [ i only use it for gaming anyways so i don't care too much] + Show Spoiler +
Brackets are now live! Check the Liquipedia Page to see them! Note that areas marked with SPACE are exactly what they sound like. We still have some spaces left and sign-ups will remain open until an hour before the event starts!
A look at the brackets Firstly you'll notice there's a lot of spaces this week which is a shame, but I'm going to put it down to University exams and all that junk. I am planning to more of these and many other events in the future, so look out for those. All events will be labelled [UK&Ire] so check them out. I also seem to be making some headway with the Planned LAN so look out for news about that.
Now despite the spaces, we've still got a lot of top players here. First round, check out Ourk vs InfernoKoi. It's Ourk's last chance to get his finals spot and he seems pretty determined to get it. From here, we can get lots of games between players like Meepy, Wingnut, Star, Poetic, KwarK, tSlayer and Fargo alongside any new players who want to show what they can do! We'll have a steady stream of games to come live on TotalBiscuit's Live castt!
So check out the brackets, find a partner on the list to practice with and prepare!
As you guys may have heard, the beta is being extended to the 7th of June. Because of this, we can now have the finals on the correct day! I will double check that it's fine with all the players and if so, we'll crack the whip for TB and make him cast up to 20 games from the best of Britain and Ireland! The details will be coming up soon and I'll hopefully have some interviews and cool stuff to come!
That's Jdanzi, rANDY, Star and DeMusliM in 4 Best of 5s!
So here's the first two interviews with rANDY and Star for one of our final matches. The other two interviews will be added soon!
rANDY Interview: "Call it over-confidence or arrogance - I don't mind, but all the preparation I am doing for this final four tournament has been for a clash against DeMusliM in the finals." + Show Spoiler +
First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself. Well, I'm a protoss player from SC1, now unsure of my race in SC2 but I seem to be a zerg player. I graduated last summer with a degree in mathematics, I'm currently playing poker for an income but also applying for a few "real" jobs
One of the better protoss too, no modesty allowed! Well in the UK, yes, but that’s not saying much I was pretty much the only decent toss - who is kwark?
He'll be in the thread spamming UK#1 before you know it. So, you technically qualified twice by winning two competitions on the trot (out of three entered). How do you feel about these games? Were they fun, easy, hard? For the first tourney, the signups were full and there were a lot of decent players but no DeMusliM, and as long as he's not in I feel I should be winning so losing in the second round there to Star was disappointing, however he is a decent player and losing to him in the bo1 stage is nothing to be ashamed of. The second week went pretty smoothly, had a few "hiccup" games but fortunately these happened in the bo3 and bo5 last rounds so recovery was possible. The third week the turnout seemed the weakest of the 3 weeks I played, and I got through without dropping a game, and had my revenge against Star in the finals which is always a nice thing
So your first opponent is Star who has already played you 4 times in a tournament or streamed game. You're ahead at 3-1. He's a pretty aggressive player that can hurt your greedy style; you got some stuff planned for him?
Well I have played quite a bit with Star in the past, also in 2v2 so I have a good idea of his style and tendencies and also his weaknesses. I feel that he has the ability to take odd games off me especially since he will probably play random which can give you early build order leads, but in a best of 5 series I believe I should win 90% of the time. Call it over-confidence or arrogance - I don't mind, but all the preparation I am doing for this final four tournament has been for a clash against DeMusliM in the finals.
What do you feel your chances are of winning this whole thing? I have been practicing with Tarson who has a very strong TvZ, and he has shown he just how hard ZvT can be with top players. At the moment DeMusliM will be a clear favourite. I would put my chances around 25%.
Tarson is pretty good. Definitely a good option to be practicing with. So do you feel anyone else missing deserves to be in this final?
No - you only deserve to get into the final if you play and if you win
How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play? I found the tournaments great fun though and it was nice to meet a lot of the other UK players I didn't know and to be shown on a popular stream. So a lot of thanks to Flicky and Total Biscuit and all those others that made this event so great
OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors? Shout outs to Ryan, Adam, Kish, Nancy, Simon, Cam, Blub, Leo, Sean, Gary and all my team-mates and friends at RAGE Multigaming, check us out at http://www.esc-rage.com/?lang=1
Well thanks for the interview and good luck =)
No problem, thanks to you too
Star Interview "besides seeing some nerd rage is also entertaining too ^^."
First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself.
Thanks Flicky~! Well I've been a pretty competitive gamer ever since goldeneye on the N64 that’s probably where it all started for myself, playing in a couple of locally run tournaments. I soon after got into PC's and became a huge blizzard fan with the first StarCraft, I then played in the first world cyber games going to Korea in 2000 for gbr which was exciting times. I later moved into Warcraft 3 and dabbled a little with WoW whilst attending university mixing it in with Dota and HoN for a few years until today with the awesome SC2 beta
Okee doke, you qualified in Week 3 sorta by default, how do you feel about your performance in that, and other events?
I felt my performance was pretty good in week 3, I decided to pick a race and stick to it (zerg), it evidently help to improve my game. Winning the Zerg vs. Terran v (Fargo) was a hard game, I found TvZ the hardest back then with the mech stuff they. As for the finals vs. randy, knowing I was through because he had won before and that I had beaten him too I felt very relaxed and decided to sit back and random it, unfortunately I got terran 3 times in a row and my mech build was sloppy so I went 0-3 but looking forward to the finals and seeing what happens there for real.
You seem to have an uncanny ability to put opponents on tilt. You have any comments on this?
The meta game is important, quite often battles are won before they are fought. Putting your opponent into a certain frame of mind makes him even more predictable and likely to lose a step in his play, besides seeing some nerd rage is also entertaining too ^^.
What do you feel your chances are of winning this whole thing?
Hmm that’s a tough one as everyone has a decent style of play, for my own chances, well in one simplistic view my odds are a 1 in 4 chance. Which is pretty good odds that I would certainly bet on but we will have to wait and see what happens on the day and who has the best performance as it could end up being unpredictable.
Were you surprised that any certain player didn't make it to the final?
I wanted to see a few players into the finals, Ourk had fought hard with his toss, KwarK, Fargo were also good player I wanted to see in the finals and and wingnut is also a pretty decent player (although I might just be saying that because he knows my style and beats me sometimes). But yea I think if Randy didn't beat Wingnut in week 3 and I had to play him in the finals it would've been rather an intense round
How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?
Yea the event was pretty awesome, getting the British/Irish players together to take part in the eSports scene was an excellent move. Hopefully that'll continue well into the release and we'll all continue to get together and become a little more organised and focused to take eSports to a new level for here. And of course the event went pretty smoothly except for the patch day on week 2.
OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors? Words to fans: play smart not hard and above all else stay in school to graduate. Shout outs go to all the teamliquid guys, clan TBP , Grax, Dan Mullineux, Callum, Aymeric, the Aris crew (sponsors), hyperion, Wingnut and to my loving wife Yini.
And here are the final two interviews with Jdanzi and DeMusliM for our final matches. Tune in tomorrow to find out our winners!
Jdanzi Interview: "Well to me there would be not point in playing a game competitively if I didn't think I could reach the top." + Show Spoiler +
First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself and your gaming history.
I'm 17 (almost 18) from the UK (obviously) been gaming my whole life. Most recently had a little bit of success in dow2 with the team I played for picking up 2nd place in EMS IV
Oh so you were actually a DoW2 player? Awesome. Was EMS live?
Well I played loads of games but the most recent competitive one would be dow2, I’ve done games such as tf2 rol ra3 and many others before. I can't remember to be honest with you, I don't think we had streamers though so I guess not.
Okee doke, so you qualified in week 1 after beating Ourk. How did you feel about the matches and the first week?
It felt great to win, it is my first tournament win in sc2. I felt the matches up until the b.net shut down on that Thursday were really good. However, the games played after that I don't feel reflected the quality of the first game.
I've noticed you're generally getting quite far in other Weekly tournaments such as ZOTAC and that so after playing other top players in these events, how do you feel about your chances in this event?
Well, DeMusliM is the obvious favourite and to be honest I would be surprised if he didn't win the event. I was hoping to face him in the final, although due to the brackets it looks like 3rd place would be a more realistic aim. I've met and lost to/beaten quite a few top terrans in other tournaments, however, I don't think any of the terrans I’ve beaten are as good as DeMusliM.
Do you think there will be a point in the future where you can be a top player with international success too?
Well to me there would be not point in playing a game competitively if I didn't think I could reach the top. However, I’m really quite unhappy with the current state of sc2 and if it is like this at launch I will have no interest in pursuing the game competitively until issues have been fixed.
Do you feel anyone else missing deserves to be in this final?
Well I'm a bit surprised Ourk didn't qualify, but to be honest I don't really know what's happening in the UK scene. I hadn't heard of any other UK players aside from DeMusliM before the qualifiers started. Oh and tSlayer? Is that his name lol? He’s pretty good as well
Yeah, the UK scene has been like this for a while, especially with Brood War. Hopefully this event will help people recognise who our best are =). So how did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?
Well I only took part in the first qualifier. Aside from problems cause by battle net it was ran very smoothly. Yes it was fun to play.
OK, so any words to any fans (if you have any) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?
zzz? ^^
I hope that means something to someone. Thanks for doing the interview and good luck on Thursday!
Thank you =-D
DeMusliM Interview: "The UK scene has the potential to do well, it's just mainly down to finding the players motivated enough to be the best." + Show Spoiler +
First of all congratulations for making the final! Tell us a little about yourself and your gaming history.
Hi, thanks. I'm Benjamin Baker - former Warcraft 3 player also known as DeMusliM. I’m 20 years old, been playing to a pretty high level since I was 15.
So one thing I must know, what's with the ID?
Made the nick because it looked cool, and at the time I saw Muslims as boxers such as Muhammad Ali - I was very young, the ladder name stuck - I do plan on changing it, dunno what to - as I have been invited to events with the demand to change it, or excluded entirely because of it.
Wow, that's quite ridiculous =p Anyway, you qualified in week 4 after joining last minute and beating Ourk. How did you feel about the matches and other players?
Hmm, I’m not really sure - was all a bit rushed, I felt everyone who played vs. me was nervous so made more mistakes than normal, so I can't really judge them just based off that day. My main impression is a few players seem quite bad-mannered from the UK, and are under the impression they are better than they actually are - but I won't hold a grudge, was first time impressions so ^^.
So most people would agree that you’re the best player in the UK/Ireland. How do you feel about the UK scene in general and do you see yourself as someone who can lead the other players to an international level?
The UK scene has the potential to do well, it's just mainly down to finding the players motivated enough to be the best. We have a pretty diverse group of people - we have some young talented guys new to the RTS scene, and some much wiser guys who are very experienced - I believe if we combined the 2 groups and laboured away at some of the flaws we have in our game play we could be a big competitor in national events
So do you feel confident about your chances in this event? Don't worry if you sound arrogant.
Hmm, I’ve read interviews that these guys are all preparing to beat me - that makes me feel quite careful, but overall I feel pretty confident yeh. I believe I can handle the pressure better than my opponents at the moment, and my play is getting better day by day. I know what to watch out for, I won't go in too cocky - I think my chances are pretty good.
So mannered, the continentals must love you. Are you surprised that any certain players didn't make it to this final?
I'm surprised Apollo didn't make it, he practiced a lot and was in 2 of the qualifiers and there was a lot of talk about him early on. - Besides him other names such as KwarK and Ourk are also pretty good - But overall no, not really surprised - I’m not too familiar with who’s the best in the UK, but I do believe the top 4 in this grand final are a pretty accurate representation so far.
How did you feel about the event in general? Was it fun to play?
Hmm, yes it was fun to kinda show some UK guys who’s boss, as quite a few of the UK guys don't actually know what's what in the UK scene. Besides proving some guys wrong, I found it overall a positive experience. Playing guys of the same nationality is always a bit of a grudge match - I come from a game where national competition wasn't too fierce and so the amount of people that showed up was a pleasant change. Besides that - as I said earlier, a few players are quite Ill-mannered and that's something that embarrasses me. - That’s the only bad thing I have to say about it.
OK, so any words to any fans ( you actually have some) or shout-outs to clan mates or sponsors?
Well, I’d like to say thanks to the sponsor of MYM! - Razer, PUMA and Cheiftec - I’d like to say hi to the fans - and hope you support MYM! Peace
well, at ESWC 2006 - the Nigerian manager launched a protest and demanded i was banned from ESWC permanently for using such a nick - the ESWC guys just changed my nickname for that event to BAKERB.
Personally i don't think it should be made a problem, but there have been some weird moments because of it such as the one i listed above.
I suppose I ought to allow Andy have his moment. After all those years in my shadow I should let him enjoy the benefits of his six month head start playing sc2. Good luck and try not to let the team down.
nice to see all this stuff happening in the uk sc scene, hopefully we can become as good an sc2 nation as places like germany, poland, canada were in sc1? solid job flicky and congrats demuslim
EPT
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