Recently there have been some people making posts about seeing StarCraft II games on TV in Taiwan, Sen also mentioned it in his interview for TSL3, so I thought I’d take the time and give an in depth introduction of the TeSL (Taiwan eSports League) StarCraft II league for everyone. I’m going to do this in an FAQ format, if anyone has any more questions I’ll do my best to Answer them!
What is the TeSL? The Taiwan eSports League was established 3 years ago and is currently moving Into its 4th season. TeSL was the second major professional StarCraft II league in the world, and the first to have live StarCraft II games on national TV (televised exhibition matches started in October 2010). The league was established when several video game companies in Taiwan (mainly Wayi and Gamania) got together and decided to form teams and play televised games of 2 Korean games (Which happened to be licensed in Taiwan through I believe Wayi and Gamania) Special Forces and Kart Rider (a cartoony Mario Kart-like without the power ups kind of racing game). 。The TeSL's official homepage (No, there is no english version, more on that later) 。Pictures of the signing ceremony where Blizzard and TeSL announce that they will be official partners to create StarCraft II league 。Here are pictures from this years Taiwan eSports Open (The finals for Special Forces and Kart Racer between the Gama Bears and Hwayi spider. Yes, the finals for the two different games are held together and their is only one champion. But StarCraft II will not be combined with the other games like that)
What teams are there and what are their relationship with the League? The teams have changed slightly in the 4 season of TeSL, but the mainstay has been Wayi Spider and the Gama Bears. Currently there are 5 professional StarCraft II teams in the TeSL, other than Gama and Wayi there are the Xpec Ironmen, the Taoyuan Jets and the TT Apollos. Compared with the pro teams in Korea and the GSL, the teams in the TeSL are more of an integral part of the league, it’s not like they can just play or not play anytime they want. Any other team wanting to participate in the league would have to officially join TeSL, kind of like the teams of the NBA or NFL, they can’t just play or not play whenever they want. 。Facebook pages of the Gama Bears, Wayi Spider, Xpec Ironmen, Taoyuan Jets and Tt Apollos
How were the players selected? After announcing in November that TeSL would be partnering with Blizzard to form a StarCraft II league tryouts were held once a week over 9 weeks rotating between locations in northern, central and southern Taiwan. Tryouts consisted of a best of 64 tournaments in Which players were awarded points according to how far they got. At the End of the 9 week tryout period players with the highest amount of points were invited to attend One last tournament where representatives from all the teams came to watch the players in action and interact with them. After the tournament the 5 teams went Into a secret meeting room to hold a draft. First each team gave a “wish list” of 5 players that they wanted. Each team’s wish list was written on a white board, and if a team had a player that no other team included in their list, that team automatically got that player. Then the teams took turns according to the order picking players that several teams had included in their list. Most teams drafted 4 players while some teams Only drafted 3. Not every player that was drafted was eventually signed. A couple of the teams decided to sign other players that were not drafted that day. 。Here are pictures from draft day. You can see the wishlists written on the whiteboard, and the players taking pictures with their uniforms after being chosen.
What kind of tournament system does the TeSL use? In the past SF (Special Forces) and Kart Rider (KR) are in a different category and tournament than StarCraft II. In both regular season and playoffs/finals SF and KR are part of the same tournament, 2 teams play both of the games to decide the winner. But SCII is separate from all that. The league is very team based, as opposed to the GSL where regular season matches are individual based. Regular season games started last week on March 12th. Every Saturday and Sunday night two teams play against each other on Live TV. The matches are best of 5 (First to win 3). The order of the First 3 players are chosen before the match starts. It’s not KOF though, the First two players play each other, than the second two players, etc. If after 3 games a winner has not been decided, the coaches from either side pick the player that they want to play in the next game. Regular season games will be played for 4 or 5 months (this season will dnd in early August) after which the teams with the best records will duke it out in the finals (I forgot if there will be playoffs, I’ll Check and get back to everyone on that). So far there has been 4 matches: 。3/12 Xpec Ironmen defeat Taoyuan Jets 3-1 。3/13 Tt Apollos defeat Gama Bears 3-2 。3/19 Taoyuan Jets defeat Wayi Spider 3-2 。3/20 Xpec Ironmen defeat Gama Bears 3-2
What kind of training and lifestyle do the players have? Most players all Live in the team house with the SF and KR players (But usually practice on a different floor). There are some players that cannot Live in the team house because of obligations with school or family but they are an exception to the rule (and are basically only allowed to do so because they are a two of the best players in the league). All players have a stable salary for being on the team and sign contracts for one year. To my knowledge the basic salary is around $700 to $1,000 per month (not a fortune, but they Live for free in the team house and food is cheaper in Taiwan). Star players are payed more though, and can get personal sponsorships by companies. The lifestyle at the team houses is very similar to that of Korean houses; players eat, sleep and breathe SCII. I don't have an Artosis-like video of all the team houses but I'll try to get something like that soon!
Who are some of the players? Terran player Softball is considered the top player in the league, he was the No.1 draft pick by TT Apollo. A lot of people have probably seen Sen playing with Softball’s account, that’s because they are friends and Sen borrows his US account to practice on the US server or play in tournaments. SoftBall actually went with Sen to GSL 3 but lost in the last round of the preliminaries. He also went to Blizzcon 2010 to play in the invitational. Tt Apollo is considered the “Imba team” because other than Softball they got the top ex-WarCraft III player HRU (How Are You) widely considered as the next best player after Softball (they got him because no other team put him on their wish list because he cannot Live in the team house). Most of the players from the league come from the two largest clans in Taiwan “Rush” and “StorM”. The relationship between the current professional teams and the player’s ties to their clans is kind of interesting. For example Softball is a member of the Rush clan but his teammate HRU is a member of StorM, although their relationship is still strong with these clans, they must put their allegiance to their pro-teams ahead of this and work together to win every weekend. 。Here is a picture of all of the players in the league (From left to right: Taoyuan Jets, Wayi Spider, Gama Bears, Tt Apollos and Xpec Ironmen) 。Introduction of the Gama Bears players 。Introduction of the Wayi Spider players 。Introduction of the Xpec Ironmen players 。Introduction of the Taoyuan JetsTaoyuan Jets players 。Introduction of the Tt Apollo players
How are the matches broadcasted? TeSL cooperates with the Videoland Television Network which is the same network that broadcasts professional baseball and other big sporting events in Taiwan. Matches are held in a recording studio without a live audience. But in the future there are rumored that they will build a eSports stadium where a live audience can view the recording. The players are in a different room than the casters, so they don't need to be in soundproof rooms. The three players that will play in any match are decided before hand and sit in front of a row of computers at the two sides of the room. For anyone in Taiwan the broadcasts are shown live on channel 71 at around 9:30pm (depends on when SF and KR get done) every Saturday and Sunday night. The younger caster on the left is "SoBad", a legend among the Taiwan StarCraft community, known as being quite the ladies man. Currently Sen is called Taiwan's ZergKing, and SoBad is known as the "former" ZergKing as he was the dominant player winning basically all tournaments until Sen came around. The older caster is called ZhanYuan, and is a baseball analyst. Even though he is not a former StarCraft player he still does a very good job of doing his homework and casting in a way that non-StarCraft fans can enjoy the game. 。Here is a video from youtube that a fan recorded. It is the final game of the best of 5 from the Gama Bears vs. Tt Apollo last Sunday (There are other videos on this channel too) : 。Taiwan StarCraft legend, strong Zerg player, handsome guy, a scholar and gentlemen, the one and only TeSL TV caster Sobad:
Where is Sen? Taiwan’s best and most famous player Sen as everybody knows is a member of the Fnatic.MSI team. There were rumors that despite this Sen would attend the draft and participate in the TeSL. From what I heard there were conflicts between Fnatic.MSI’s sponsors and the sponsor of the TeSL so it didn’t work out. Currently Sen is in his final year of university, he has stated that after he graduates in June that he might join the league when his contract with Fnatic.MSI is up and make himself available in the next draft. If this is the case every team will Want to land Sen, Who is obviously a dominant player in the Taiwan SCII scene. Currently on the weekends Sen is serving as a coach/consultant for the Xpec Ironmen. 。Sen with the Taoyuan Jets players after their victory on Saturday 3/19:
I Want to play in the TeSL, how do I make that happen? Currently all players in the league must be Taiwanese citizens but TeSL is planning on allowing non-Taiwanese players to join teams as early as next season (this fall). How many will be allowed per team and exactly how it will work has not yet been determined. I have heard that at First teams might Only allow for One non-Taiwanese player per team. The main concern with this is that in general the level of Taiwan players currently is a little behind that of the international and Korean pro-scene. While since the players have moved Into the team houses they have started improving rapidly there is still probably concern that if top international (mainly Korean) players join that they might dominate and hurt the development of the league (Taiwanese fans will not want to see Taiwan players getting beat up every Weekend by foreign players). The key of course is that the overall level of Taiwan players improve, the current goal is to Reach the level of Korea, and while there is still a long way to go, in just a month’s time the players have already got a lot better and will continue to do so. When TeSL decided on how they will open the league to foreign players I will be sure to let everyone know (if they don’t make the announcement themselves). But obviously if you are interested in participating in the TeSL you would have to move to Taiwan for at least a season or a year. While the salary is not going to make you rich, it would be an amazing experience for anyone who loves StarCraft and loves experience new and different cultures. Anyone who has traveled to Taiwan will tell you about how awesome it is, how friendly the people are, and how good the food is. Anyway, I’ll keep everyone posted.
Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this? Unfortunately at this time the TeSL doesn’t have anyone in charge of international community or marketing. It might be that they are kind of have an inferiority complex sort of thing going on, afraid that when compared with the GSL or other western leagues or tournaments that it will be hard for them to be accepted. No matter the reason, the fact is they have done zero international promotion, havn’t announced the start of the league on any western fansites, havn’t even made an English version of their website. If you want to make suggestions to TeSL, show them that the international community is interested, or ask for english service, please visit there Facebook page!
If anyone has any more questions, please feel free to ask, I’ll try to Answer as many as I can!
***Edit*** Good news everyone! The guys over at Taiwan's biggest StarCraft fansite: TWSL (Taiwan StarCraft League) have opened a forum just TeSL where they're going to put all the TeSL VODs from youtube with an english description: http://sc2clan.tw/f/viewforum.php?f=140
I love team based leagues, it adds so much more intrigue to the game for me. Thanks for the write up though, many of us would have never known about this league otherwise.
So if I read this correctly though, there are only 3 or 4 players per team? I hope they get the chance to expand their rosters, we see the wonders practice partners do for the players in Korea. Either way, best of luck to this league in the future, more starcraft can never hurt.
On March 21 2011 23:38 atombombforpeace wrote: I love team based leagues, it adds so much more intrigue to the game for me. Thanks for the write up though, many of us would have never known about this league otherwise.
So if I read this correctly though, there are only 3 or 4 players per team? I hope they get the chance to expand their rosters, we see the wonders practice partners do for the players in Korea. Either way, best of luck to this league in the future, more starcraft can never hurt.
Yeah, currently only 3-4 players (plus a coach who are all former or current players), but if the league is successful they will definitely expand
I'm amazed. A televised team-based league with the teams living in progaming houses and I haven't heard of it? I'm no SC2 guru but I definitely thought I would know of this.
I'm extremely happy to know that esport is growing in taiwan as well and hopefully an english site can be created or atleast a stream that broadcasts the games to Euros/Americans/Koreans. Good luck with everything and i wish everyone great success
On March 21 2011 23:48 Ragoo wrote: Done, I requested English stream+homepage Thanks for all the information, I'm very interested to see where this is going.
On March 21 2011 23:51 JoxxOr wrote: Are there any kind of vods?
I'm extremely happy to know that esport is growing in taiwan as well and hopefully an english site can be created or atleast a stream that broadcasts the games to Euros/Americans/Koreans. Good luck with everything and i wish everyone great success
Currently VODs are not being released because they want to protect the strategies of the players, but they are considering it.
On March 21 2011 23:56 ZeaL. wrote: Yeah I would love to see some vods since I prefer team leagues over individual and I can actually understand what the commentators are saying.
There are some videos up on Youtube, I'll go find some of them and put them into the original post!
Excellent post, really intrigueing insight into Taiwan's SC2 scene, the league looks really impressive.
I'd absolutely love to see VoD packs released or even better a live web stream, it's obvious everything is handled very professionally and with Teams practicing in house so much the standard is obviously going to get pretty high pretty fast (especially with guys like Softball in the competition, and Sen as a prominent figure in the SC2 scene)
I will be traveling to Taiwan from Mid December to probably mid January. Last time I was there it was only the Beta and had no idea that sc2 was even known in Taiwan at all. I would love to check this out. Is there any big LAN/gaming cafes known for having SC2 players play there?
I will be in Houlong, Miaoli County. I guess the best places too look would be Taoyuan & Taipei. Do you have any exact locations?
On March 21 2011 23:51 JoxxOr wrote: Are there any kind of vods?
I'm extremely happy to know that esport is growing in taiwan as well and hopefully an english site can be created or atleast a stream that broadcasts the games to Euros/Americans/Koreans. Good luck with everything and i wish everyone great success
Currently VODs are not being released because they want to protect the strategies of the players, but they are considering it.
Hm, that doesnt make sense - people are watching the games on TV anyway so how can you protect the strats -.-?
Awesomeness! Taiwan SC2 scene rising ! Can't wait to follow this further and see what exiciting games these new players bring to the overall big SC2 communities around the world.
On March 22 2011 00:50 Liquid`Jinro wrote: Hm, that doesnt make sense - people are watching the games on TV anyway so how can you protect the strats -.-? Or do you mean replays?
Hey Jinro, yeah, I meant replay. Supposedly they will be releasing official VODs in the future, but for now the ones online are fans that have recorded the TV broadcast. I will try to find some of the better ones and put them in the original post.
On March 22 2011 01:19 Cadgers wrote: Are there no Zergs in Taiwan(other than Sen ofc)? So far every player has been T or P in this VOD.
This is one of the biggest problems that TeSL is facing. In Taiwan for some reason Protoss is by far the most popular race, followed by Terran. Right now I believe out of 19 players there are only 2 maybe 3 zergs. There are 1 or 2 random players though (most noteably DS or Demon Sheep of Hwayi Spider). I hear coaches are trying to encourage some protoss players to switch over to other races for the good of the whole league
On March 22 2011 00:33 Nizzy wrote: @Leolisk, I will be traveling to Taiwan from Mid December to probably mid January. Last time I was there it was only the Beta and had no idea that sc2 was even known in Taiwan at all. I would love to check this out. Is there any big LAN/gaming cafes known for having SC2 players play there? I will be in Houlong, Miaoli County. I guess the best places too look would be Taoyuan & Taipei. Do you have any exact locations? -Nizzy
Thats actually crazy because I'm from Houlong! Haha. Um, big LAN or gaming cafes, your best bet would be Taipei, or Taichung which is closer to Miaoli and is actually like the base for the Rush clan. As far as I know though, most players still play together from home now, unless a bunch of friends plan to go to a cafe together.
On March 22 2011 00:33 Nizzy wrote: @Leolisk, I will be traveling to Taiwan from Mid December to probably mid January. Last time I was there it was only the Beta and had no idea that sc2 was even known in Taiwan at all. I would love to check this out. Is there any big LAN/gaming cafes known for having SC2 players play there? I will be in Houlong, Miaoli County. I guess the best places too look would be Taoyuan & Taipei. Do you have any exact locations? -Nizzy
Thats actually crazy because I'm from Houlong! Haha. Um, big LAN or gaming cafes, your best bet would be Taipei, or Taichung which is closer to Miaoli and is actually like the base for the Rush clan. As far as I know though, most players still play together from home now, unless a bunch of friends plan to go to a cafe together.
Whoa. Totally crazy. Are you still located in Houlong? I'm probably going to have a lot of free time when I am there. I'd love to go to some gamer cafes and hang out with some Taiwanese gamers ^_^. I don't know any mandarin though. T_T
Personally speaking, what I'm worried about with respect to Sen leaving Fnatic for TESL is that he'll participate in non-Taiwanese foreigner tournaments less.
On March 22 2011 02:55 Azarkon wrote: Personally speaking, what I'm worried about with respect to Sen leaving Fnatic for TESL is that he'll participate in non-Taiwanese foreigner tournaments less.
i think no matter what Team i am i will participate in as much international tour as i can in the future
On March 22 2011 02:55 Azarkon wrote: Personally speaking, what I'm worried about with respect to Sen leaving Fnatic for TESL is that he'll participate in non-Taiwanese foreigner tournaments less.
i think no matter what Team i am i will participate in as much international tour as i can in the future
Thats great news I was worried about the possibility of losing you too. Best of luck to you!!
Seems Taiwan has their infrastructure in order. Now they just need time to catch up to the Koreans. They're off to a good start with team houses. Feels like Taiwan if they continue with this. They will be one of the bigger e-sports nations for sc2. Seems a bit bold to not let foreigners in that easily only because they might get crushed. But I can understand why they want that. The Taiwanese fans obviously wants the Taiwanese people to dominate because that just makes it more popular for them. I'm so jealous of the Taiwanese scene :<<< Great for e-sports though.
If only we had any indication what level the taiwanese scene is at :D
On March 22 2011 01:19 Cadgers wrote: Are there no Zergs in Taiwan(other than Sen ofc)? So far every player has been T or P in this VOD.
This is one of the biggest problems that TeSL is facing. In Taiwan for some reason Protoss is by far the most popular race, followed by Terran. Right now I believe out of 19 players there are only 2 maybe 3 zergs. There are 1 or 2 random players though (most noteably DS or Demon Sheep of Hwayi Spider). I hear coaches are trying to encourage some protoss players to switch over to other races for the good of the whole league
Interesting. I wonder how that worked out? That said with a league in place I bet they can convince a few to switch over.
On March 22 2011 03:54 Wesso wrote: Looks awesome! Around what skilllevel are the players?
In terms of GSL players, I would say there are about 1-2 mid to upper level code A players, 2-4 other players who could make it into code A, and the rest would be so-called Code B players but improving fast~
Interesting. I wonder how that worked out? That said with a league in place I bet they can convince a few to switch over.
Its hard because the teams have a lot of pressure to win, so when it comes to encouraging playesr to switch races the long term interest of the league (it would be better to have a healthy mix of races) is conflicted with the short term interests of the team (a player switching to an off race will likely have a hard time for a while).
On March 22 2011 02:55 Azarkon wrote: Personally speaking, what I'm worried about with respect to Sen leaving Fnatic for TESL is that he'll participate in non-Taiwanese foreigner tournaments less.
i think no matter what Team i am i will participate in as much international tour as i can in the future
When I heard this I was ecstatic for the sc2 scene in Tawain. I think Asia might see a boom or atleast a very positive step forward with Sc2. According to Jinro he says that SC2 scene in S-Korea is getting bigger everyday, China will soon have SC2, and now this.
please keep us updated. Would be really cool to have a GSL like live stream for this league. I love the Gama Bears ^^
It's funny because Taiwan has team names that a person can easily relate to like Spiders, Jets, Bears, and Ironmen. On the other hand the Korean team names are very ambiguous and hard to relate to. For our Utopia, oGs, TSL, Wemade Fox. Cute.
I am REALLY interested in watching games from this league, hope there will be streams or the like. great to see more leagues, I don't want to see SC2 eventually becoming isolated in korea like sc1
On March 21 2011 23:51 JoxxOr wrote: Are there any kind of vods?
I'm extremely happy to know that esport is growing in taiwan as well and hopefully an english site can be created or atleast a stream that broadcasts the games to Euros/Americans/Koreans. Good luck with everything and i wish everyone great success
Currently VODs are not being released because they want to protect the strategies of the players, but they are considering it.
Hm, that doesnt make sense - people are watching the games on TV anyway so how can you protect the strats -.-?
To be critical, if Sen really is "dominating" them (probably an exageration) then the players are probably not that good. Not that good meaning Code B or may be even a little lower. It should still be interesting, but yea it seems they'll be sort of off on their own community. Which I guess is good. But hopefully they will also catch up to the Koreans like the other foreigners are :D
Watched the match between softball and croly (?). Despite not completely polished mechanics the gameplay is still solid and quite fun to watch. Will be following softball in the future hope this league gets more notice on TL
Exciting news. Hopefully the skill of Taiwanese players increases to the point where they can send out players to play in international tourneys like MLG. I'd like to see what softball can do. Even though it's a small time operation now, this sort of stable gaming environment can only be good for the growth of esports.
On March 22 2011 13:46 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Epic epic epic :D
Hurray for eSports!
To be critical, if Sen really is "dominating" them (probably an exageration) then the players are probably not that good. Not that good meaning Code B or may be even a little lower. It should still be interesting, but yea it seems they'll be sort of off on their own community. Which I guess is good. But hopefully they will also catch up to the Koreans like the other foreigners are :D
I don't agree Sen for me is easily code S material, he almot defeated Nestea in ZvZ which is huge (Nestea is the best ZvZ player in the world and maybe the best Z in the world) and i think he throw up a little bit his match because he wanted to go back in Taiwan. So even if Sen is dominating the sc2 scene in Taiwan that doesn't mean there aren't some code A material. And we all know what a code A can do in a tournament in Europe (Hi Ace).
On March 22 2011 13:46 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Epic epic epic :D
Hurray for eSports!
To be critical, if Sen really is "dominating" them (probably an exageration) then the players are probably not that good. Not that good meaning Code B or may be even a little lower. It should still be interesting, but yea it seems they'll be sort of off on their own community. Which I guess is good. But hopefully they will also catch up to the Koreans like the other foreigners are :D
Why, sen is easily a code S zerg?, hes on par with idra/ret/morrow/dimaga for being the best zerg outside korea and he easily has the best zvp out of all of them imo
It's pretty cool to see more relatively large leagues popping up around the world, maybe the Taiwanese influence can help spread SC in China even (or might hinder it, heh, not sure how the two cultures interact)
@Leolisk: What's your position in relation to the TeSL, btw? just out of curiosity (devoted fan or actually work for TeSL? etc.)
On March 22 2011 13:46 Yoshi Kirishima wrote: Epic epic epic :D
Hurray for eSports!
To be critical, if Sen really is "dominating" them (probably an exageration) then the players are probably not that good. Not that good meaning Code B or may be even a little lower. It should still be interesting, but yea it seems they'll be sort of off on their own community. Which I guess is good. But hopefully they will also catch up to the Koreans like the other foreigners are :D
Why, sen is easily a code S zerg?, hes on par with idra/ret/morrow/dimaga for being the best zerg outside korea and he easily has the best zvp out of all of them imo
Yeah his ZvP against Naniwa was stellar, you are totally right!
On March 22 2011 15:37 Ichabod wrote: @Leolisk: What's your position in relation to the TeSL, btw? just out of curiosity (devoted fan or actually work for TeSL? etc.)
Devoted fan and very active Taiwan StarCraft community member ; )
On March 22 2011 13:50 jalstar wrote: Any Taiwanese people who can restream? It's really cool that they're focused around a team league, seems to be a bit like the Korean BW scene.
Yeah, usually there are Taiwan fans who restream the broadcast on Justin.tv. Next time I'll try to put a link or two up on TL before it goes live (it will be in Mandarin but you can still watch it). It starts at about 930pm Taiwan time which is (checking...) 6:30am PDT (California) and 1:30pm GMT time depending on what time Kart Rider matches end and goes for about an hour or so.
This is awesome, I would love to get more interaction between the taiwan and foreign community to help increase awareness and see some english commentary of the matches!
【♥ Announcement】 Thank you for visit our website. We have heard your needs. We will collate your opinion and return to our managers. Thank you for your advice（http://www.facebook.com/TeSL.tw?sk=app_2373072738）, we will provid English information on our offical website （http://www.esports.com.tw/2011/）as soon as possible. thanks
【♥ Announcement】 Thank you for visit our website. We have heard your needs. We will collate your opinion and return to our managers. Thank you for your advice（http://www.facebook.com/TeSL.tw?sk=app_2373072738）, we will provid English information on our offical website （http://www.esports.com.tw/2011/）as soon as possible. thanks
They just posted this on there FB-Site.
and they just linked to this topic on their fb page too.
Saw this on Artosis' twitter. What the hell this is huge, absolutely awesome. Literally the only way SC2 could get more amazing is if... it starts with a capital L, but I won't go into that.
Sen is so beastly, loved him in the GCPL, it would definitely make sense and for the benefit of the league if he could compete in it, but FnaticMSI love Sen, can't be an easy decision to make.
They replied to everyone on facebook in English. Good to see we got them to realize that what they're doing is amazing and the world is really interested in it.
This is seriously incredible! I've decided to become an Ironmen fan. What's a common cheer you'd use in Taiwan? I'm looking for an analog to "Let's go Nationals" or "KT fighting"
On March 23 2011 00:08 Antoine wrote: This is seriously incredible! I've decided to become an Ironmen fan. What's a common cheer you'd use in Taiwan? I'm looking for an analog to "Let's go Nationals" or "KT fighting"
yes!
picking teams! good thinking Antoine. I am now an Apollos fan.
Btw those practice house pictures look amazing, talk about a step up from anything we've ever seen outside of Korea (could even be nicer than Korea by the looks of it).
Seeing a whole team league forming is awesome as well, it's too bad that one team seems to have the two best players, and also looks like Fnatic won't have a chance to keep him with the offers that a big name taiwanese company would be able to offer Sen, as well as that practice setting and league all at his home.
Also makes me wonder if Fnatic has made any statement on this yet. But hell, as a professional player if my home country sprouted a scene like this with big name sponsors and teams and practice houses etc. Would be REALLY difficult for a foreign team that has sent him to a few events thus far to convince him to stay.
Tt Apollo: Outside of HRU and Softball who seem to be considered the top 2 taiwanese players this side of Sen, NW榮榮 is actually 94th on the TW ladder Points Wins Losses Win % 3,399 543 456 54.35%
While Aprorush is 138th
3,317 816 693 54.08%
Seems like that team will be the SK of Taiwan, and whichever team Sen gets drafted to (presumably the team that is doing the worst once Sen is available) will become the Jaedong Oz
Edit: Looks like their facebook page just said they have heard the outreach and plan on making an english version of their website.
Man, this makes me wish I weren't a fail chinese-american, and could actually read chinese lol, I only understand cantonese too, so I can't even help with the roughest translations human possible *sigh* would have been nice to help out similar to how so many Korean-speaking TL members help out with translations, subs, and live translating during streams.
On March 23 2011 00:08 Antoine wrote: This is seriously incredible! I've decided to become an Ironmen fan. What's a common cheer you'd use in Taiwan? I'm looking for an analog to "Let's go Nationals" or "KT fighting"
the common cheer in Taiwan is "Add oil (加油)" It means add more fuel to the person you cheer for and hope their success.
Add oil! Taoyuan Jets!~ (if we're picking teams =p)
I think it's really worth applauding Leolisk for his efforts in compiling such a great thread for the English communities attention, and for helping out with the international awareness of the TeSL. It looks like a direct result of this exposure is going to be an increased English language presence/access for the league, which is absolutely awesome =)
This is how all teams leagues should be done, this is awesome. I like the one vs one dynamic where you have to use your entire roster and win as a team rather than having all-kills. That being said all-kills are pretty cool too, it's just cool to see some variation.
Why, sen is easily a code S zerg?, hes on par with idra/ret/morrow/dimaga for being the best zerg outside korea and he easily has the best zvp out of all of them imo
Actually haven't seen him play recently much, but of the ones I've seen him play in, he seems to be Code A, perhaps barely Code S. Out of the other foreign zergs, only Idra has proved himself to be Code S worthy (totally opinion xD). IDK, I assumed that he wouldn't be Code S so easily especially after his break when he went back temporarily to play SC1 in WCG2010, though he was definitely one of the best Zergs back in Beta.
I <3 the Tt Apollos logo, so swearing my allegiance to them :D Plus, they have Apollo on their side, god of light/sun, you don't need to add oil, they're already burning up baby.
On March 23 2011 15:08 Rampager wrote: I <3 the Tt Apollos logo, so swearing my allegiance to them :D Plus, they have Apollo on their side, god of light/sun, you don't need to add oil, they're already burning up baby.
When I go back to Taiwan this summer... OOH IMA BE THE NEXT BIG PROGAMER
OMGIROK THE ABC STARCRAFTII GOD LEGEND PRO ZERG SECOND TO NONE OTHER THAN SEN
Because I just watched that TvP youtube fancam, and let's be honest, they're like low masters/high diamond and also since not many people in Taiwan play rts enough, don't know/have the resources (liquipedia, gsl, etc.)
Thanks for the great writeup Leolisk, my Chinese typing isn't up to par and I have been looking for information about SC2 within the TeSL for a while, I was wondering this was starting up. Hopefully the TWN server willl become more active after this league. It's great to see all the infrastructure in place already, all that is missing is more players. more fan support and more marketing. Oh and Zerg players
Thanks for everyone's positive response! And it seems that TeSL is feeling the love. I've heard from other members of the community that they will try to post updates every weekends with match results and VoDs if their on youtube.
Why, sen is easily a code S zerg?, hes on par with idra/ret/morrow/dimaga for being the best zerg outside korea and he easily has the best zvp out of all of them imo
Actually haven't seen him play recently much, but of the ones I've seen him play in, he seems to be Code A, perhaps barely Code S. Out of the other foreign zergs, only Idra has proved himself to be Code S worthy (totally opinion xD). IDK, I assumed that he wouldn't be Code S so easily especially after his break when he went back temporarily to play SC1 in WCG2010, though he was definitely one of the best Zergs back in Beta.
Just watch his stream when he plays hes insane he used to get spammed by korean pro's wanting to practice with him. But as for whether he joins TESL... .I dont see fnatic wanting to let go of him anytime soon. Hopefully they can match or outbid whatever the TESL offers so that he can continue to play internationally! He is a great personality and his blogs on MLG and travelling are always fun reads. TESL is amazing though. I wonder if they have exhibition games with the mainland with teams like World Edition.
On March 23 2011 18:56 Leolisk wrote: Thanks for everyone's positive response! And it seems that TeSL is feeling the love. I've heard from other members of the community that they will try to post updates every weekends with match results and VoDs if their on youtube.
That would be great, you opened the window into taiwaneese e-sports for me at least and I'm sure many people didn't know how big it was there. I hope it will continue to grow and that we can get a stable source of information in english :D.
Wow, this looks awesome for Taiwan. Of course everyone knows Sen and I think this is a great way for the Taiwanese scene to improve. I definitely understand why they might not want foreigners in the league but I think it would be awesome to let in just a few. It might be good for the Taiwanese scene to see some of their own play against foreigners, and I hope they can choose people around the level of Softball to bring in if they decide to allow foreigners. It would be a good marketing idea imo since foreigners would be more excited and more likely to watch if some of their great players were a part of this.
On March 23 2011 07:19 Zlasher wrote: I feel like this should be in the SC2 General section, this is a big announcement that should be getting more coverage if you ask me haha
On March 23 2011 15:44 OmgIRok wrote: When I go back to Taiwan this summer... OOH IMA BE THE NEXT BIG PROGAMER
OMGIROK THE ABC STARCRAFTII GOD LEGEND PRO ZERG SECOND TO NONE OTHER THAN SEN
Because I just watched that TvP youtube fancam, and let's be honest, they're like low masters/high diamond and also since not many people in Taiwan play rts enough, don't know/have the resources (liquipedia, gsl, etc.)
not really i was under the impression that best taiwanese players were around the strength of most top 200 NA players
not really i was under the impression that best taiwanese players were around the strength of most top 200 NA players
Softball is solid Code A caliber. There are 3-4 other players who would have a chance to make it into Code A. There rest are "Code B" level, but have all been improving rapidly.
Sen is easily code s material, he nearly beat Nestea, god of zvz, in some VERY close matches. And Im sure Sen is as good as mid code s players like hongun/scfou/inca/checkprime around there.
I think Sen is at least on par if not better than Jinro / Idra, who's been to the semifinals of multiple GSL. Saying he is around checkprime and co's level is undermining his ability. (not to say checkprime and co are bad).
On March 24 2011 19:11 FindMeInKenya wrote: I think Sen is at least on par if not better than Jinro / Idra, who's been to the semifinals of multiple GSL. Saying he is around checkprime and co's level is undermining his ability. (not to say checkprime and co are bad).
Yeah, I regularly see him taking games of top GSL players on his stream.
On March 25 2011 15:25 Cadgers wrote: From what I understand from SotG how did the two best players get on the same team?
It was explained in the article. When teams made a wishlist of players for the draft, no other teams had HRU on their list because he is not able to live in the team houses, and teams thought that was a possible liability. (Also I think that each of those teams thought that they would be the only one not to include him on the list, they didn't expect that only one team would put him on there). So basically, they lucked out.
Drafting system... bah, totally not my world, I hate drafting leagues. It makes all teams appear just like a bunch of legionaires playing in their united sponsor's sand box. I won't ever get exited for a league using drafts.
im not sure if this has been posted in this thread, but you can watch vods of that league on youtube. some of them are even 5 months old. http://www.youtube.com/user/wlcc7223
I'm so surprised that I haven't heard of this before - the games are pretty amusing, the production value is awesome, and it's a great chance for me to work on my Chinese. o.o
On March 26 2011 04:29 imperator-xy wrote: im not sure if this has been posted in this thread, but you can watch vods of that league on youtube. some of them are even 5 months old. http://www.youtube.com/user/wlcc7223
On March 22 2011 15:37 Ichabod wrote: It's pretty cool to see more relatively large leagues popping up around the world, maybe the Taiwanese influence can help spread SC in China even (or might hinder it, heh, not sure how the two cultures interact)
@Leolisk: What's your position in relation to the TeSL, btw? just out of curiosity (devoted fan or actually work for TeSL? etc.)
haha it should be all sweet with Taiwan and China. Even though there's a lot of conflict between the 2 countries in terms of politics and government, we were basically the same people around 50-60 years ago. i think most of the population of the 2 countries see each other as brothers and there's a lot of friendly banter that goes on (at least where I live). im chinese and we still watch taiwanese tv shows/movies/music etc.
Esport in Taiwan are less proifitables than in Korea, looks like blizzard is chargin the taiwanese companies much less than korean wich is bad bussiness practice
3-2 won over TTapollo today (P)TtApolloApro 0 vs 1 (Z)SpiderMax on Scrap Station (P)TtApolloHRU 1 vs 1 (R/P)SpiderDS on The Shattered Temple (T)TtApolloBall 2 vs 1 (P)SpiderJAS on Shakuras Plateau (P)TtApolloHRU 3 vs 1 (R/P)SpiderDS on Tal'Darim Altar LE
Abit to much of a textwall but nevertheless a great topic. Will survey it better when Im sober.
EDIT: wow their site is pretty amazing... how come theres so many people dressing up, getting makeup/clothes in their team colours etc? Theres no such thing for western/korean teams. Its pretty nice! 'Tis a shame one has not heard about them before
Would like to see some of these tourney's, Any English translated streams in the horizon for this? Maybe Kelly could do it, would be a great fit in my opinion.
Crazy robo PvP on close pos ST, GoW made a really risky decision to go take down Croly's hidden base (after seeing probes transferring) all the way on the other side of the Map. Croly countered at the main and took out almost all of GoW's probes and some buildings before GoW could get back to win the battle. GoW counter pushed and just about took out Croly's army and most of his probes, we ended up left with a manic micro battle between a couple of zealots and an immortal vs a couple of zealots, stalkers, and a sentry hehe, GoW could ultimately reinforce a little while Croly was all out, and took the win.
By my reckoning that is 2-0 Jets?
===
G3 = GamaBears Heero(T) vs TaoyuanJets Nifi (P) on Terminus RE
Heero setting up very defensively, and going for a pretty interesting Thor/Hellion build with a handful of marines and a Raven.
Nifi started out going Colossus, but dropped 2 stargates and is pumping out voidrays.
Nifi has a base advantage pretty much constantly, but Heero's blueflame harass is keeping his worker numbers down. Huge clash incoming, everything is going to get blown up one way or another =p
Nifi's front 2 phoenixes get evaporated by the Thors, he pauses for thought, and attacks into it anyway. PDD down for Heero and his Vikings are in a great position to do huge damage to the Colossus. Nifi backs up but Heero's defence has definitely thinned down, and after another big round of warp ins Nifi attacks again and blasts his way through Heero's defences.
That's GG and 3-0 (unless I messed up spectacularly xD)
Well unfortunately this is another tournament I don't have time to watch, but I hope there is some international coverage. I wouldn't mind seeing who some of the star players are there and follow how they do. Adding extra international coverage will help their popularity drastically. I hope the league works out! They have a nice setup so far.
HRU is so badass! The commentators are hilarious too (they talk in chinese though). They were cheering because in today's game ultralisks were broadcasted on TV for the first time in the league I only know Apollosball(softball) from gsl so i guess im rooting for Apollos also. 加油!
Yep, JulyZerg is on TV! He is currently playing Hui, a solid protoss player that appears often on TESL. I guess this is an exhibition match sponsored by Zowie, who is a personal sponsor for JulyZerg.
July moves in to take out Hui's third with Hydra/Corruptor, but six carriers three voidrays and a small group of zealot/sentry make mincemeat out of the army. Hui advances to July's natural.
Even JulyZerg smiled after that carrier VR zlot rape, it seems that this is the only exhibition match today, the rest is the normal team league matches.
this is so awesome. I lived in Taiwan for a year when I was 19, its the most fun country I've ever been in by far. Much more fast paced than say, Thailand, yet very similar to Korea in many aspects;
Back then SoBaD[RuSH] was a dominant zerg, used to play with those guys in downtown taipei @ random pc bangs;
having Taiwan as another area for pro gaming to take place is amazing for multiple reasons. IMO this will be the minor leagues for most foreigners looking to make it in Korea, since the teams will be shooting for that A class player, instead of A++
Looking at the stats for season 2, and it seems as if the Taoyuan Jets aren't playing in the league anymore? Did they disband? I will be in Taiwan for the month of February and wondering if they open their gaming centers to fans on certain days for visit.
Any information would be great or if there's vods of the recorded matches online?
Wow TESL upped the quality of their international stream, its now in 720p. Despite the cast being mandarin, I'm still surprised that there's not much buzz about this.
On October 21 2011 23:14 Mi.rai wrote: Wow TESL upped the quality of their international stream, its now in 720p. Despite the cast being mandarin, I'm still surprised that there's not much buzz about this.
I don't think there's much buzz because most of these players have not proven themselves against international competition. Most people don't know anyone other than Sen and until they prove their skill level on the international and/or Korean scene I don't see people outside of Taiwan paying attention. These teams should really send their players to compete at some of the bigger events around the world if they want any kind of recognition. It's similar to the Chinese scene, but seems even more isolated.
On October 22 2011 00:01 Taf the Ghost wrote: They've really got to do something about that map pool. It still has Steppes of War in it. ><
no way. I dont think so. it's been out for a long long long time.
Are you sure? I've been uploading some results to Liquipedia, and since I am using the translated pages, it seems they are still using it.
EDIT: Look here. "TeSL薩爾納加洞穴" translates to "Steppes TESL"
If you google them you will see it translate to Xel'Naga Caverns.
That's weird: the in-browser translator doesn't translate that, but Im pretty sure I've seen previous Xel'Naga Caverns translations. Also, in this page there is the "TeSL夏庫拉斯高原" map, which was translated to "Steppes TESL of War", but if I google images for it, it is Shakuras Plateau.
Bah, can't trust the translator for maps...at least it gets the races right...
Sorry for digging out old thread, but I need some help
So I moved to Taipei 2weeks ago and will stay here for a few months at least. I was wondering if it is possible to go watch some live TeSL events here in Taipei, but I can't find any info, since everything I find is in chinese and I can't read that. If anyone would be so nice and could give me some information about events like this I would really appreciate. Also, if you know some Barcrafts that would be cool
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eOeZ2l.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/iruLZ.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6r6nh.jpg)
Thanks for all the information, I'm very interested to see where this is going.
![[image loading]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4143/5449320551_a17c322956.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5134/5449319791_8eb4bf1b94.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5056/5449319319_7d11bc8333.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4146/5449928820_1d0f167731.jpg)
hope this league gets more notice on TL
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eL1zq.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/y3hNG.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7553/cvbndfghfdghf.png)
