For those who aren't as involved in the Chinese scene, "IQ Cup" typically refers to casual showmatch/stream matchs between two Chinese Starcraft community pillars, xiaose and F91. What makes it fun for Chinese viewers are their full random vs random matches, friendly yet savage banter and constant slip ups in mind games and strategy, it remains some of the most popular content they produce since 2012.
So you get the point, same deal: random vs random, casual matches, only bigger and more international.
Four Chinese qualifier spots: Coffee, Chick, Shana and LilTenacity
Playing random vs random in a 16 man GSL style tournament, for your entertainment.
This is SICK! When does it start?
Book your calendar then!
March 6th and 7th: Chinese qualifier (might not be streamed in English) March 13th: Group A March 14th: Group B March 16th: Group C March 20th: Group D March 21st: Round of 8 March 23rd: Round of 4 and finals.
Broadcast starts 8pm KST...and judging by past records, expect schedule changes.
What are on the line then?
Not a lot by Kung Fu Cup standards, but still quite nice!
1st place: 10,000 CNY ($1453), plus an Alienware Aurora R5 desktop gaming PC (worth $1500-2000). 2nd place: 5,000 CNY ($727), plus an Alienware Aurora R5 desktop gaming PC. 3rd-4th place: an Alienware Aurora R5 desktop gaming PC.
On March 02 2017 16:30 7milesJourney wrote: Its a pity that these players can not confuse each other by chatting on the same voice channel, just like classical IQ Cup do.
Is that what Xiaose and F91 does - chat with each other DURING the game? This sounds interesting, can you describe how the IQ Cup is usually played?
On March 02 2017 16:30 7milesJourney wrote: Its a pity that these players can not confuse each other by chatting on the same voice channel, just like classical IQ Cup do.
Is that what Xiaose and F91 does - chat with each other DURING the game? This sounds interesting, can you describe how the IQ Cup is usually played?
Yes,in fact chat with each other during the game is the most attractive point of IQ CUP.
For example, Xiaose and F91 often call each other "Good Brother"(this word is hard to translate, just need to know is very humiliated to say it in Chinese) after losing the IQ Cup to trade for another chance.
And there are many other funny trades they made during the match. The classical one is , when Xiaose almost lose the game , he begged F91 to "give me a moment for a song before you attack" , F91 accept it because he thought that only 3-4 mins can not change anything , and then Xiaose played a very very long song and use this time to turn the tide.
These funny performance is one of reasons why we call them two comedians.
On March 02 2017 16:30 7milesJourney wrote: Its a pity that these players can not confuse each other by chatting on the same voice channel, just like classical IQ Cup do.
Is that what Xiaose and F91 does - chat with each other DURING the game? This sounds interesting, can you describe how the IQ Cup is usually played?
Yes,in fact chat with each other during the game is the most attractive point of IQ CUP.
For example, Xiaose and F91 often call each other "Good Brother"(this word is hard to translate, just need to know is very humiliated to say it in Chinese) after losing the IQ Cup to trade for another chance.
And there are many other funny trades they made during the match. The classical one is , when Xiaose almost lose the game , he begged F91 to "give me a moment for a song before you attack" , F91 accept it because he thought that only 3-4 mins can not change anything , and then Xiaose played a very very long song and use this time to turn the tide.
These funny performance is one of reasons why we call them two comedians.
That actually sounds like an AWESOME format for a tournament - one that's more for entertainment than anything else. We currently don't have anything like that at all. I think that the closest we have is the one that Ravi (Feardragon) did, with the modified map - was it called Indistinguishable? It was also meant to be a "fun" tourney and it was hilarious, and underrated imo.
Do you know if they're going to try to mic up the players and do something similar for this IQ Cup? That'd be so hype!
On March 02 2017 16:30 7milesJourney wrote: Its a pity that these players can not confuse each other by chatting on the same voice channel, just like classical IQ Cup do.
Is that what Xiaose and F91 does - chat with each other DURING the game? This sounds interesting, can you describe how the IQ Cup is usually played?
Yes,in fact chat with each other during the game is the most attractive point of IQ CUP.
For example, Xiaose and F91 often call each other "Good Brother"(this word is hard to translate, just need to know is very humiliated to say it in Chinese) after losing the IQ Cup to trade for another chance.
And there are many other funny trades they made during the match. The classical one is , when Xiaose almost lose the game , he begged F91 to "give me a moment for a song before you attack" , F91 accept it because he thought that only 3-4 mins can not change anything , and then Xiaose played a very very long song and use this time to turn the tide.
These funny performance is one of reasons why we call them two comedians.
That actually sounds like an AWESOME format for a tournament - one that's more for entertainment than anything else. We currently don't have anything like that at all. I think that the closest we have is the one that Ravi (Feardragon) did, with the modified map - was it called Indistinguishable? It was also meant to be a "fun" tourney and it was hilarious, and underrated imo.
Do you know if they're going to try to mic up the players and do something similar for this IQ Cup? That'd be so hype!
The language barriers make it a bit difficult to pull off the mic part. But they also did not use mic much except to post-game interview in the Chinese qualifiers. The biggest problem with this is that the qualifier games I watched are largely decided by random luck as most of the players are only decent with their main race. But I guess this would improve a lot with BO5 or BO7 for later stages. Still a lot of fun watching.
On March 02 2017 16:30 7milesJourney wrote: Its a pity that these players can not confuse each other by chatting on the same voice channel, just like classical IQ Cup do.
Is that what Xiaose and F91 does - chat with each other DURING the game? This sounds interesting, can you describe how the IQ Cup is usually played?
Yes,in fact chat with each other during the game is the most attractive point of IQ CUP.
For example, Xiaose and F91 often call each other "Good Brother"(this word is hard to translate, just need to know is very humiliated to say it in Chinese) after losing the IQ Cup to trade for another chance.
And there are many other funny trades they made during the match. The classical one is , when Xiaose almost lose the game , he begged F91 to "give me a moment for a song before you attack" , F91 accept it because he thought that only 3-4 mins can not change anything , and then Xiaose played a very very long song and use this time to turn the tide.
These funny performance is one of reasons why we call them two comedians.
That actually sounds like an AWESOME format for a tournament - one that's more for entertainment than anything else. We currently don't have anything like that at all. I think that the closest we have is the one that Ravi (Feardragon) did, with the modified map - was it called Indistinguishable? It was also meant to be a "fun" tourney and it was hilarious, and underrated imo.
Do you know if they're going to try to mic up the players and do something similar for this IQ Cup? That'd be so hype!
The language barriers make it a bit difficult to pull off the mic part. But they also did not use mic much except to post-game interview in the Chinese qualifiers. The biggest problem with this is that the qualifier games I watched are largely decided by random luck as most of the players are only decent with their main race. But I guess this would improve a lot with BO5 or BO7 for later stages. Still a lot of fun watching.
They actually mic up with Macsed on one of his series yesterday. Their chat is extremely distracting that Macsed lost to an amateur with his main.
Group A: Jieshi, Scarlett, Chick, Dark Group B: TIME, Zest, LilTenacity, Leenock Group C: Coffee, Solar, iAsonu, TY Group D: Shana, Innovation, Cyan, herO
Group A: Jieshi, Scarlett, Chick, Dark Group B: TIME, Zest, LilTenacity, Leenock Group C: Coffee, Solar, iAsonu, TY Group D: Shana, Innovation, Cyan, herO
Group A: Jieshi, Scarlett, Chick, Dark Group B: TIME, Zest, LilTenacity, Leenock Group C: Coffee, Solar, iAsonu, TY Group D: Shana, Innovation, Cyan, herO
I really hope they'll try their best to mic up the players! I tried to look for the VODs of the Chinese qualifiers on the scboy Douyu channel, but I couldn't find them :'( I wanted to see the "Macsed getting distracted" game that CxWiLL was talking about lol
On March 11 2017 07:04 Aiingel wrote: Edited: There is actually a Liquipedia page for this event! IQ Cup/2017/International
I really hope they'll try their best to mic up the players! I tried to look for the VODs of the Chinese qualifiers on the scboy Douyu channel, but I couldn't find them :'( I wanted to see the "Macsed getting distracted" game that CxWiLL was talking about lol
It start with F91 got knocked out by an amateur (麦乐鸡块, basically McNugget) because Xiaose and Mayuki cast his game with Sichuan accent. VOD of F91 vs 麦乐鸡块
So when 麦乐鸡块 face Macsed the next round, they mic up with Macsed to screw with him, claim they want to harrass all the pros out of this qualifier. VOD of Macsed vs 麦乐鸡块
On March 11 2017 07:04 Aiingel wrote: Edited: There is actually a Liquipedia page for this event! IQ Cup/2017/International
I really hope they'll try their best to mic up the players! I tried to look for the VODs of the Chinese qualifiers on the scboy Douyu channel, but I couldn't find them :'( I wanted to see the "Macsed getting distracted" game that CxWiLL was talking about lol
It start with F91 got knocked out by an amateur (麦乐鸡块, basically McNugget) because Xiaose and Mayuki cast his game with Sichuan accent. VOD of F91 vs 麦乐鸡块
So when 麦乐鸡块 face Macsed the next round, they mic up with Macsed to screw with him, claim they want to harrass all the pros out of this qualifier. VOD of Macsed vs 麦乐鸡块
Macsed won the series even after losing game1 with protoss.
Hey thanks SO MUCH for these links CxWiLL! This Bilibili site looks amazing for uploading tourney vods - it looks like they are all linked in a tournament playlist.
But because I had difficulty getting the videos to run smoothly (it's the same with Douyu, outside China the streams are not smooth), I poked around and found that Xiaose has a Youtube channel!! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGwoGHVFaPZy1u3os6rYKJw
So I managed to watch the Macsed vods and they were hilarious He's really sporting actually! He was trying so hard to speak in dialect too, and it was funny when he lamented "what is wrong with putonghua (standard Mandarin)" at one point hahaha
I totally understand the appeal of the IQ Cup now. Looking forward to the Group A games tomorrow - even with the language barrier, Xiaose and 91 should still be entertaining. Also, Tenshi will be casting the English stream!
(edited to add: Even though MacSed won that series he still didn't make it to the actual group stage?)
On March 11 2017 07:04 Aiingel wrote: Edited: There is actually a Liquipedia page for this event! IQ Cup/2017/International
I really hope they'll try their best to mic up the players! I tried to look for the VODs of the Chinese qualifiers on the scboy Douyu channel, but I couldn't find them :'( I wanted to see the "Macsed getting distracted" game that CxWiLL was talking about lol
It start with F91 got knocked out by an amateur (麦乐鸡块, basically McNugget) because Xiaose and Mayuki cast his game with Sichuan accent. VOD of F91 vs 麦乐鸡块
So when 麦乐鸡块 face Macsed the next round, they mic up with Macsed to screw with him, claim they want to harrass all the pros out of this qualifier. VOD of Macsed vs 麦乐鸡块
Macsed won the series even after losing game1 with protoss.
Hey thanks SO MUCH for these links CxWiLL! This Bilibili site looks amazing for uploading tourney vods - it looks like they are all linked in a tournament playlist.
But because I had difficulty getting the videos to run smoothly (it's the same with Douyu, outside China the streams are not smooth), I poked around and found that Xiaose has a Youtube channel!! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGwoGHVFaPZy1u3os6rYKJw
So I managed to watch the Macsed vods and they were hilarious He's really sporting actually! He was trying so hard to speak in dialect too, and it was funny when he lamented "what is wrong with putonghua (standard Mandarin)" at one point hahaha
I totally understand the appeal of the IQ Cup now. Looking forward to the Group A games tomorrow - even with the language barrier, Xiaose and 91 should still be entertaining. Also, Tenshi will be casting the English stream!
(edited to add: Even though MacSed won that series he still didn't make it to the actual group stage?)
He lost the final qualifying series against an amateur. Got Protossed lol.
On March 13 2017 20:45 Yiome wrote: rofl Jieshi's interview is 10/10
What'd he say?
He was super butthurt about losing :p And the casters kept ribbing him about it (losing face for nation, you lost vs a girl, blah blah)
Jieshi then joined the two casters to cast the next match ~
Are Chinese players and casters close to eachother?
I would say yes for most players. Some players are not as outgoing so it is harder to tell, but most of them have been working with F91 and Xiaose for a long time.
On March 13 2017 20:45 Yiome wrote: rofl Jieshi's interview is 10/10
What'd he say?
He was super butthurt about losing :p And the casters kept ribbing him about it (losing face for nation, you lost vs a girl, blah blah)
Jieshi then joined the two casters to cast the next match ~
Are Chinese players and casters close to eachother?
The caster group scboy is like the one kept chinese scene alive. They may get 10x viewerships by playing ladder games while the other channel is casting gsl final. So... yeah, the well-known players are close to them. Or otherwise whoever close to them is well-known. xD
On March 14 2017 20:40 Elentos wrote: Can any of you Chinese guys tell me anything about LilTenacity?
Nothing, no one knows about him. Random vs random has a lot of RNG so an amateur (that probably isn't very good) making out of the qualifier isn't that surprising.
On March 14 2017 20:40 Elentos wrote: Can any of you Chinese guys tell me anything about LilTenacity?
Liltenacity isn't a progamer. He won in the qualifier, which both progamers and amateurs can participate in. You know, nothing is impossible for random vs random.
On March 22 2017 22:50 digmouse wrote: Haha PvP PvP and ZvZ for two Terrans.
aLive off-races a lot and at a pretty high level. Most players in this tournament would for sure need their main race to beat his off-races. I was hoping TY would get some main race luck but no dice.
this format is what i was wishing for so long. should get way bigger attention, also price pool wise. imagine that on gsl level. and no balance whining possible (even i would shut up) because same chances for everybody. and a player who would dominate this format would truly be a god of sc2.
On March 23 2017 22:20 inken wrote: this format is what i was wishing for so long. should get way bigger attention, also price pool wise. imagine that on gsl level. and no balance whining possible (even i would shut up) because same chances for everybody. and a player who would dominate this format would truly be a god of sc2.
You can also just roll the worst race on each map and die because the other one got the best one, so ya it's not perfect either.
It's definitely not perfect because if someone rolls their main vs someone else's offrace it's an almost guaranteed win. There was only one instance of a main losing to an offrace this tournament, so there's a very heavy RNG factor which is of course a bad thing.
On March 23 2017 22:20 inken wrote: this format is what i was wishing for so long. should get way bigger attention, also price pool wise. imagine that on gsl level. and no balance whining possible (even i would shut up) because same chances for everybody. and a player who would dominate this format would truly be a god of sc2.
Eh this is mostly just a fun side tournament. There is a lot of RNG involved and it sucks to be on the other side. And no, it is not really feasible for anyone to be at the very top level with all 3 races considering the vastly different mechanics and high skill ceiling of SC2.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8XDPU5m.jpg)
IQ Cup/2017/International
Dark, 
INnoVation, 
herO, 
LilTenacity
He's really sporting actually! He was trying so hard to speak in dialect too, and it was funny when he lamented "what is wrong with putonghua (standard Mandarin)" at one point hahaha
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/rQ8caxd.jpg)
