During the MLG Winter Season Showdowns, 56 of the world's best StarCraft II players will compete in Heart of the Swarm. Each player will compete in 1 best-of-5 Showdown Match, with each winner receiving a paid trip to compete in the MLG Winter Championship. Tune in and watch every match in FREE 1080p HD at www.majorleaguegaming.com and on Twitch.TV.
Monday, Feb 04 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Parting vs FanTaSy Tuesday, Feb 05 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - RorO vs herO Wednesday, Feb 06 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Innovation vs TY Thursday, Feb 07 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Soulkey vs Last Friday, Feb 08 10:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) - Rain vs Flying
The 28 winners will receive placement at the Winter Championship in Dallas from March 15-17 where they will compete with Life, Leenock, Flash and Bomber.
Flash - Top 4 2012 MLG Fall Championship Leenock - Top 4 2012 MLG Fall Championship Life - Top 4 2012 MLG Fall Championship Bomber - Top 4 2012 MLG Fall Championship
I'm finding it hard to get excited about these games, given the state of the beta. It still seems like there's A LOT of balancing that needs to be done. I don't know how these guys will play a serious tournament under these conditions.
On February 05 2013 06:00 sitromit wrote: I'm finding it hard to get excited about these games, given the state of the beta. It still seems like there's A LOT of balancing that needs to be done. I don't know how these guys will play a serious tournament under these conditions.
Well, Parting played SC2 back when it was a lot less balanced than HotS is. HotS balance seems ok to me, although to a man everybody playing ilhas no idea what they are doing.
I'm watching this for sure! Let's see which interesting tactics HotS brings to the table. Doens't matter much who wins to me by the matchup, but if the winner is at MLG, I'd like to see PartinG advance. I want to see if Immortal-Sentry all in still can be done in HotS.
On February 05 2013 06:00 sitromit wrote: I'm finding it hard to get excited about these games, given the state of the beta. It still seems like there's A LOT of balancing that needs to be done. I don't know how these guys will play a serious tournament under these conditions.
I don't think Balance is THAT far off.. Get rid of the bio tag on Hell bats maybe a slight nerf to Voidrays and things look pretty decent imo. Plus how can you really find out what is and isn't balanced without the best of the best going toe to toe and testing these things out? These matches could be a very useful tool for blizzard before release!
I'm not exactly a balance expert or anything but that's just my 2 cents.
Either way I'm pumped for these matches, I really can't wait to see what these guys can do with HotS! Though I do fear both players will just end up using standard WoL builds/compositions because it's a pretty big match and a bad time to experiment with something with so much on the line
Parting should have a big edge, not playing in Proleague means much more time for HotS I feel, guess we will see. Then again FanTaSy is the deadweight on my FPL team, so maybe he's been playing a lot of HotS too -.-;
I honestly don't care one way or the other who wins, but I'm super excited about it haha. I guess it would be better for e-sports if Fantasy won though. So, Go Fantasy!!
On February 05 2013 06:53 Joedaddy wrote: HypeHypeHype!
I honestly don't care one way or the other who wins, but I'm super excited about it haha. I guess it would be better for e-sports if Fantasy won though. So, Go Fantasy!!
On February 05 2013 06:19 Adebisi wrote: Parting should have a big edge, not playing in Proleague means much more time for HotS I feel, guess we will see. Then again FanTaSy is the deadweight on my FPL team, so maybe he's been playing a lot of HotS too -.-;
PartinG has Code S... You know, only the biggest WoL tournament going on right now...
On February 05 2013 07:17 Derez wrote: I doubt either parting or fantasy has played more than a couple of hours of HotS.
Parting supposedly is practicing only hots for Proleague. Not sure if he has played yet though.
Really? His GSL play looked way too good for that to be true.
Well, he's exclusively playing hots FOR proleague, doesn't necessarily mean he's started practicing for proleague.
That said, I'm pretty meh about his GSL performance, sick PvZ, but shaky PvT against Byun.
Well it seems people seem to think if you play hots you are going to suck at WoL. There isn't THAT big of a difference. Mechanics are still the same just some new compositions. It's not like he's going to forget how to do any three base timings as I imagine in hots he plays with everything not just new units.
On February 05 2013 07:30 Joedaddy wrote: umm; I don't think Fantasy has played HOTS at all before this. If he had, he wouldn't have not pulled his scvs on that oracle fly by.
What the hell?
How would that matter if you had ever played HOTS before this or not, if someone gets units in your mineral line or drops something there you better fucking run, no matter what game it is, that much should be obvious.
Sorry the games are very likely to suck because SKT1 is known for their 'PL first' attitude. I bet both of them had close to zero practice for this series.
FanTaSy playing HOTS the ForGG style (though not to the extreme of ForGG as he doesn't even bother with afterburners), use pretty much just WoL stuff as the HOTS stuff isn't worth using for a terran.
On February 05 2013 07:37 forumtext wrote: Sorry the games are very likely to suck because SKT1 is known for their 'PL first' attitude. I bet both of them had close to zero practice for this series.
Well it seems Parting has some idea of how to use HotS units/integrate them into his builds
On February 05 2013 07:37 forumtext wrote: Sorry the games are very likely to suck because SKT1 is known for their 'PL first' attitude. I bet both of them had close to zero practice for this series.
Except Parting cannot play PL before HotS so it would make sense for him to practice HotS.
On February 05 2013 07:37 a3den wrote: PartinG so fancy ~-~
Thanks for showing us how op protoss is in the beta.
^_^ There are of course imbalances - after all it still is beta and come to think of it it took quite some time for WoL to get pretty decent balance wise ~
On February 05 2013 07:30 Joedaddy wrote: umm; I don't think Fantasy has played HOTS at all before this. If he had, he wouldn't have not pulled his scvs on that oracle fly by.
What the hell?
How would that matter if you had ever played HOTS before this or not, if someone gets units in your mineral line or drops something there you better fucking run, no matter what game it is, that much should be obvious.
More likely he just didn't pay attention.
He was paying attention, his marines were running unstimmed to his main mineral line the whole time. He even built a turret in his natural line.
He did everything but run.... I guess he just underestimated them or something....
On February 05 2013 07:30 nomyx wrote: 18 workers lost in 10~ seconds from the oracles?
As a protoss player, that is disgustingly overpowered
They're easy to stop with like a single turret.
3-4 oracles power down a turret very quickly and with just 1 pull back you don't lose a single oracle then can crush mineral lines!
Oracle expand has been my favourite PvT build to do on ladder
That being said they are extremely fragile and if scouted and you have a marine or two with the turret it gets shut down hard and leaves you really far behind. You have to do crippling damage and turtle up hardcore because after the initial harras you are very, very vulnerable to attacks.
On February 05 2013 07:39 Hier wrote: Really not looking forward to HotS in its current state.
You're watching a pro game between someone who plays HoTS all day in prep for the next round and someone who probably has barely touched it.
Well Parting still has GSL to play too. But on the most part this is correct.
Fantasy is still prepping hard for Pro league.
Parting can't play in Pro league till the HotS round, SKT is very, very Pro league first team so I expect he has been playing a crap ton more HotS then Fantasy
On February 05 2013 07:37 forumtext wrote: Sorry the games are very likely to suck because SKT1 is known for their 'PL first' attitude. I bet both of them had close to zero practice for this series.
Except Parting cannot play PL before HotS so it would make sense for him to practice HotS.
What is this, logic?
Come on, guys - Parting doesn't have all that much to prepare for except wonwonwoning three Zergs in his GSL group. He cannot play SPL until Heart of the Swarm is out. Likewise, he knows that this match - Heart of the Swarm - decides if he gets to go to MLG Winter or not. On the other hand, Fantasy plays, at least, 2 important matches WoL each week. Even if Protoss is stronger than Terran in HoTS' current state, one player here is quite obviously more experienced than the other.
On February 05 2013 07:39 Hier wrote: Really not looking forward to HotS in its current state.
You're watching a pro game between someone who plays HoTS all day in prep for the next round and someone who probably has barely touched it.
source? lol.
parting is in code s ro16
Parting is also on SKT and on SKT the teams needs come before the majority of your own.
That's why SKT have generally always done so well in proleague. He's probably practicing with the top in SKT for GSL, but while they're practicing for proleague he'll be practicing for HoTS I believe.
On February 05 2013 07:39 Hier wrote: Really not looking forward to HotS in its current state.
You're watching a pro game between someone who plays HoTS all day in prep for the next round and someone who probably has barely touched it.
Parting probably hanst played a whole lot of hots. his biggest focus is on this GSL.
I reckon it might be 50/50 or so. Parting himself has stated that he doesn't need a lot of practice for his Soul Train because he's played it so many times, and with a 3-zerg group I don't think he's practicing all that much WoL. SKT, however, is very team-centric and has always put PL first. I don't know, of course, what they've said to Parting, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's playing a lot of HoTS to prepare for killing people once PL switches to HoTS.
On February 05 2013 07:55 Aquila- wrote: HOTS LOOKING AMAZING GUYS I CANT WAIT!!
sigh
Calm down, its beta and even if it wasn't and the game would stay the same no one knows the meta yet.
Haha yeah, there really isn't much of a meta yet, and from the looks of it Fantasy hadn't played more than 2 or 3 games HoTS prior to this match. I reckon the foreigner - foreigner matches will be the better ones, in fact.
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
Had it been possible to get the tank earliar and set up quicker when he had more SCVs to block, I think he would have held that. That's coming from a terran player who understands how weak tanks are btw.
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
Ahaha, DiMano, you're Liquipedia through and through, even using the random capitalization in Fantasy's name. :D
Bad games, as expected, looked like GSL open seasons.
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
Why would Parting only be practicing HotS?
because he can't play in PL until the HotS rounds.
On February 05 2013 08:04 sitromit wrote: Parting is in Code S ro16, he's not practicing HotS.
This is when I mention that SKT is very team league-centric and that Parting will be playing in PL once HoTS hits, meaning that he (or SKT) might want to get an advantage by practicing HoTS.
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
Why would Parting only be practicing HotS?
Sorry, sorry I forgot about his terrible oracle micro
On February 05 2013 07:58 DiMano wrote: How can it be good if FanTaSy had 0 HotS practice and PartinG parctices only HotS? Last game shew that FanTaSy just did not know what to do.
Why would Parting only be practicing HotS?
because he can't play in PL until the HotS rounds.
He still has GSL tho.
I'd say he will be playing more than other KESPA players tho.
It strikes me that a lot of the special content that MLG comes out with is silly.
The MLGvProleague invitational, which had half the players forfeit towards the end and culminated in a tournament that was meaningless except for the top 4 qualifying. These Showdowns, which feature players practicing WoL in a HotS game. Arenas that are quickly abandoned as a concept. WCS NA during MLG with lots of scheduling issues. Various other MLG invitationals that few people care about.
I think what they should do is only organize offline tournaments, since it's the main thing they're good at.
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Round 4 is still a long way off and with PartinG not allowed to play in WoL Proleague, he will be one of the players who practice HotS the most, even if he doesn't do it now, so he should have a bit of an advantage. Not to mention that he's one of the best players on a Kespa team anyway. And Protoss has had the best win rate in Proleague by far up to this point.
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Well really I'm generally of the opinion that the "HotS reset" people keep talking about is rubbish. People that are still great at WoL will be just as great at HotS with only maybe a couple of exceptions since some players become reliant upon certain ways of play that will change.
I don't really know how much HotS practice Parting has. I know people assume he's already focusing on proleague, which is probably partly right, but he is also Ro16 GSL and people underestimate the practice he does because his soul train has done so well.
Surprised people think Parting has been exclusively training in HotS. Is there an interview or something I missed where he indicated this?
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Well really I'm generally of the opinion that the "HotS reset" people keep talking about is rubbish. People that are still great at WoL will be just as great at HotS with only maybe a couple of exceptions since some players become reliant upon certain ways of play that will change.
I don't really know how much HotS practice Parting has. I know people assume he's already focusing on proleague, which is probably partly right, but he is also Ro16 GSL and people underestimate the practice he does because his soul train has done so well.
Surprised people think Parting has been exclusively training in HotS. Is there an interview or something I missed where he indicated this?
That's bullshit. In his Code S interview he thanked almost everyone on SKT for practicing with him and that wasn't about practicing HotS. Another quote:
This is the last WoL tournament so I really want to make a splash.
I can't believe he's really focusing hard on HotS, that'd not be very smart.
It's just people's way of justifying what we saw in these games. Everything Parting abused, people have been complaining about for months in beta, it's not a surprise.
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Well really I'm generally of the opinion that the "HotS reset" people keep talking about is rubbish. People that are still great at WoL will be just as great at HotS with only maybe a couple of exceptions since some players become reliant upon certain ways of play that will change.
I don't really know how much HotS practice Parting has. I know people assume he's already focusing on proleague, which is probably partly right, but he is also Ro16 GSL and people underestimate the practice he does because his soul train has done so well.
Surprised people think Parting has been exclusively training in HotS. Is there an interview or something I missed where he indicated this?
I agree about the "HotS reset." It may give a boost to more thinker-type players who use the metagame to stay ahead of the curve (like NesTea, Squirtle, Mvp, just to throw out a few examples), but for everyone else ... does anyone honestly believe players like Life, Leenock, DRG, Bomber, Gumiho, and Parting will suddenly suffer some kind of deficiency in play or something? And that Bisu will suddenly become good? :/
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Well really I'm generally of the opinion that the "HotS reset" people keep talking about is rubbish. People that are still great at WoL will be just as great at HotS with only maybe a couple of exceptions since some players become reliant upon certain ways of play that will change.
I don't really know how much HotS practice Parting has. I know people assume he's already focusing on proleague, which is probably partly right, but he is also Ro16 GSL and people underestimate the practice he does because his soul train has done so well.
Surprised people think Parting has been exclusively training in HotS. Is there an interview or something I missed where he indicated this?
I agree about the "HotS reset." It may give a boost to more thinker-type players who use the metagame to stay ahead of the curve (like NesTea, Squirtle, Mvp, just to throw out a few examples), but for everyone else ... does anyone honestly believe players like Life, Leenock, DRG, Bomber, Gumiho, and Parting will suddenly suffer some kind of deficiency in play or something? And that Bisu will suddenly become good? :/
Life is one of those thinker-types. Most of modern-day ZvZ formed around the builds he popularized. If more zerg players were fundamentally solid, he would have revolutionized ZvT as well.
Why is everyone assuming PartinG is playing tons of HoTS? He's in the round of 16 code S right now. The guy might not have to practice for proleague, but I'm sure he's prepping lots for GSL.
EDIT: He likely is playing more HoTS than FanTaSy, but I doubt he's completely devoted to it.
This is the best protoss in the world who is on a roll for months against (no offense to his bw history) a not so good terran. So Hots or not, it's not a big upset.
On February 05 2013 10:11 Ace Frehley wrote: The result would be the same even in wol tbh
tbh i think that is inaccurate..
we can only speculate on these particular games, but it very likely if not completely obvious fantasy has barley touched HOTS. even if balance issues are a factor(or not) it is silly to assume that some one with fantasy's skill level would not be playing better then this against even the best players once he has more time with the game. in WOL fantasy taking out parting would not be a surprise to most people even considering fantasy's current slump.
On February 05 2013 10:11 Ace Frehley wrote: The result would be the same even in wol tbh
tbh i think that is inaccurate..
we can only speculate on these particular games, but it very likely if not completely obvious fantasy has barley touched HOTS. even if balance issues are a factor(or not) it is silly to assume that some one with fantasy's skill level would not be playing better then this against even the best players once he has more time with the game. in WOL fantasy taking out parting would not be a surprise to most people even considering fantasy's current slump.
Fantasy's on a six-game loss streak with a mediocre TvP, and Parting's arguably the best Protoss on the planet in WoL. I would be extremely hard-pressed to bet on Fantasy over Parting, and it would considered an "upset" in WoL if Fantasy won. Maybe Fantasy might've been able to take one game though. Who knows?
On February 05 2013 10:11 Ace Frehley wrote: The result would be the same even in wol tbh
tbh i think that is inaccurate..
we can only speculate on these particular games, but it very likely if not completely obvious fantasy has barley touched HOTS. even if balance issues are a factor(or not) it is silly to assume that some one with fantasy's skill level would not be playing better then this against even the best players once he has more time with the game. in WOL fantasy taking out parting would not be a surprise to most people even considering fantasy's current slump.
Fantasy beating Parting would be a massive upset in WoL
On February 05 2013 10:11 Ace Frehley wrote: The result would be the same even in wol tbh
tbh i think that is inaccurate..
we can only speculate on these particular games, but it very likely if not completely obvious fantasy has barley touched HOTS. even if balance issues are a factor(or not) it is silly to assume that some one with fantasy's skill level would not be playing better then this against even the best players once he has more time with the game. in WOL fantasy taking out parting would not be a surprise to most people even considering fantasy's current slump.
Fantasy's on a six-game loss streak with a mediocre TvP, and Parting's arguably the best Protoss on the planet in WoL. I would be extremely hard-pressed to bet on Fantasy over Parting, and it would considered an "upset" in WoL if Fantasy won. Maybe Fantasy might've been able to take one game though. Who knows?
he is in a slump sure, i did make note of that, but if you don't just look at the score you can see the amount of skill he has. fantasy was over hyped at one point sure due to him starting off with a ridiculous win loss ratio in sc2, but now he is certainly being underestimated, and i look forward to fantasy proving the naysayers wrong. : )
On February 05 2013 08:22 bittman wrote: Round 4, Parting easily going to be the most picked up Kespa player for FPL.
Otherwise, yeah pretty much as expected.
EDIT: Wow so many naysayers. I feel people forget the glory days of WoL beta and even the first few months of competition.
With such terrible oracle micro!?
Well really I'm generally of the opinion that the "HotS reset" people keep talking about is rubbish. People that are still great at WoL will be just as great at HotS with only maybe a couple of exceptions since some players become reliant upon certain ways of play that will change.
I don't really know how much HotS practice Parting has. I know people assume he's already focusing on proleague, which is probably partly right, but he is also Ro16 GSL and people underestimate the practice he does because his soul train has done so well.
Surprised people think Parting has been exclusively training in HotS. Is there an interview or something I missed where he indicated this?
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1SBCW8F.png)
2013 MLG Winter Championship/Showdowns
PartinG vs 
FanTaSy![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KW89H3N.jpg)
knowing his harras with Vulture from BW his Hellbat drops could be fucking insanity!
