NASL: Koreans? Top Koreans? - Page 30

On March 16 2011 09:31 godemperor wrote:

NASL is not the proving for some newcomers, NASL is the place for the best for have already proved themselves. IF a player wants to prove themselves, there are many 100$ weekly cups that they can attend. Many of the current top players rose to fame through playing many smaller tournaments.

On March 16 2011 09:33 Ves wrote:



Those people who win those $100 tourneys are the ones I'm talking about. A lot of those players who posted VODS that people haven't heard of are winning those tournaments so why shouldn't they be allowed to prove themselves even further in the North American Star League?

On March 16 2011 09:32 Pokebunny wrote:

Agreed.

On March 16 2011 06:42 motbob wrote:
Frankly, the best scene right now is clearly the Korean scene. The evidence for this is diverse and extremely convincing. In IEM, players who can generously be considered high Code A material wiped the floor with some of the best players the rest of the world had to offer. In the FXOpen, an international tournament, relative unknowns in the Korean scene oGsHero and TheStC placed first and second. Huk was one of the best players, if not the best player, in North America during the time between the launch of the game and his trip to Korea. He recently qualified for Code S after some struggle, implying that his dominance over the North American scene did not translate to dominance over the Korean scene.

The list goes on. Koreans are simply better right now.

Another thing we need to discuss before proceeding is that the NASL format is very, very favorable to players already in the league. The top 42 34 out of 50 players in an NASL season advance to the next season. So, we can probably assume that players such as MC, MVP, etc would never leave the league.

Given the above, I would be surprised if the NASL invites more than about 5 Koreans, and I would be surprised and disappointed if they were to invite the very top Koreans. I'll explain why.

The TSL is the best international tournament in terms of quality of play. The organizers invited the very best players because they wanted to see the very best play. But the NASL is not the TSL. It has very different goals from the TSL.

Forget the NASL intro video. "The best players the world has ever seen?" If that were their goal, they'd invite 30 Koreans. The NASL's goal is entertainment, and they have a very specific mindset about how to achieve that goal. We've seen that a big part of the league is about drama and storylines.

Inviting the top Koreans will make the NASL worse, for one main reason: the likes of MVP would trash the top foreigners in North America (barring maybe Idra) with no problems at all. It would not be close. If ST.Ace can smash some of the top Europeans without dropping a set, imagine what the very best players in Korea could do. That prospect does not appeal to me as a spectator, and I don't think it's an outcome that the NASL organizers want.

Inviting Koreans in general is problematic because it's difficult to create storylines and drama around them, but that can be mitigated by only inviting Koreans that are unique in some way, other than just being really good. Names that pop up in my head are July, GuineaPig (for his aggression both on the battlefield and in in-game chat), Squirtle, Moon (his play at IEM was like nothing I'd seen before).

So. Invite a few Koreans, ones that have a creative style, or better yet ones that have ties to the foreigner community already (like Cella!)

I can watch GSL if I want to see the best play in the world. I want NASL to have the highest entertainment value possible, and that's why I don't support inviting many Koreans or the best Koreans.

On March 16 2011 09:25 RevRich wrote:


Jinro didn't fly over to Korea and just own it up. He slowly got better over time because (for the 900th time) he was able to put in the same amount of time as the Korean players. We need to make it so our scene supports team houses and sponsorships, etc etc.

Playing 1 set vs a Korean in NASL and getting smashed isn't going to improve our players skill. Its just gonna discourage them from pursuing sc2 as anything more than a hobby. Start slow, invite a few Koreans, but most importantly grow e sports so we can actually compete with the Korean practice machines.

Playing 1 set vs a Korean in NASL and getting smashed isn't going to improve our players skill. Its just gonna discourage them from pursuing sc2 as anything more than a hobby

On March 16 2011 09:34 LegendaryZ wrote:


Well, it has to happen somewhere. It's "global" in the sense that anyone in the world is given a chance so long as they can physically get there.

On March 16 2011 09:34 crms wrote:


when did TSL ever claim to have been seeking the 'best of the best' i'm pretty sure they didn't. I could be wrong so if they did please post. I'm pretty sure all the hype has been about having the largest online invite tournament ever, which is all true.

On March 16 2011 09:37 Gijian wrote:
Just make the NASL in close time with GSL. Thus most highly skilled Korean who's already in GSL will be too busy to attend the NASL, while those that are not high up in GSL will have the time to do NASL, thus we're not biasing =)

On March 16 2011 09:32 Zeri wrote:
It amazes me how you don't seem to understand that the only way to break the divide in skill is to let 20+ them come play everyone else consistently. That is THE only way to close the skill divide. Non-Koreans and Koreans playing each other consistently

On March 16 2011 09:12 Zechs wrote:Moreover, who are these "casual viewers" you talk about?

On March 16 2011 09:13 Kazzabiss wrote:
Regardless, it still is an Invite-Tourney

On March 16 2011 09:34 FOUTWENTYSIXTY wrote:
Players arent better because theyre Korean or because they're foreign or what have you.


They're better because they're professionals.

The foreign scene is semi-amatuer. Koreans are professionals, and it broke my heart to see the huge prize pot of IEM go to invites.

Domestic leagues are fine for sports. If a sport is a minority interest in many countries say like Golf or Tennis but of high quality, than the idea of opens is appealing as the quality of the tournament is the main concern.

This is true of starcraft without Korea.

Korea distorts everything, it will be like basketball in the olympics, with everyone racing to be second.

The NASL is the best shot so far at having proper professional infastructure in the US for starcraft 2, and if you assume the majority of the top prizes are going to Koreans that's not going to happen.

On March 16 2011 09:37 Ves wrote:


Exactly. Which makes it not global....

On March 16 2011 09:37 Gijian wrote:
Just make the NASL in close time with GSL. Thus most highly skilled Korean who's already in GSL will be too busy to attend the NASL, while those that are not high up in GSL will have the time to do NASL, thus we're not biasing =)

On March 16 2011 09:38 PetRockSteve wrote:


How are you defining a "casual viewer"? I've played 10 or 11 ladder games and no custom games outside of the computer a few times. Hell, I haven't actually played a game in close to 6 months. However, I watch a LOT of Starcraft 2. Does that make me a "casual viewer"?