Has the MLG hungover worn off and you’re ready for another tournament with big names, big prize pools, and new drama? Well then I have good news for you!
What if I told you there was a tournament with Dimaga, TLO, Nestea, MVP, Fruitdealer, Idra Genius, MKP and more? You’d be psyched right?
I’m gonna keep throwing names at you. Boxer, Fruitdealer, Jinro, Sen, HuK, Ret, Nada, and plenty more.
How stoked are you right now?
Remember that excitement. Hold onto for a brief second more.
That unfortunately, was a long time (six weeks) ago, in a land far far away. But it’s not over. Now before you get angry, start pounding away on your keyboard saying “Why Dougler, why oh why you selfish jerk did you get our hopes raised and dashed them like that!? We get it, we saw MLG Columbus, Koreans are better at starcra--”
They’re eliminated. You see that first bunch of names I mentioned? Those were all eliminated by three Chinese Protoss: Xiaot, LoveCD, and LoveTT.
Well it’s China right? So surely with all those awesome names I listed there must have been a zillion Chinese players which cheesed their way through our heroes right?
12 non-Korean invites TLO SjoW Jinro White-Ra HuK ToD SaSe Ret Sen IdrA MorroW Dimaga
14 Korean invites Mvp BoxeR Nada MarineKing Lyn MC Ace HongUn Genius San NesTea FruitDealer Check Moon
6 Chinese qualifiers Loner xiaOt Lovecd LoveTT Comm Revtime
...Six. They had SIX players, three of which have now reached the quarter finals. So, are we gonna let the Chinese Starcraft community say they’re better than us? Hosting their own tournament, inviting the best of the best foreigners and Koreans alike and beating them?
I say, HELL NO!
It would be an insult to the quality of our players if the Chinese Pros annihilate the competition in their first tournament. It’d be like they didn’t have to feel the agony of an IEM, an MLG Columbus, a TSL 3 --oh right we still dominated that one... high fives all around-- still, winning your first tournament as a new force in the Starcraft Metagame? No way. If only we had a fan favorite to rally behind. Someone who is good enough to go toe to toe with these newcomers and put them in their place, if only we had the self-proclaimed best protoss in the world.
Thankfully, we do.
The Min Chul Strikes Back
A mere week after defeating Naniwa and dubbing himself the best protoss in the world, oGsMC, last of the non-Chinese in the tournament is going to have to earn his title.
Think about that for just a second. He’s going up against the players that eliminated Nestea, MKP, and Idra. If MC is the best protoss in the world, then these are the players he has to beat. Don’t get me wrong, Naniwa is good, 35 BO3s in a row is amazing... But taking out MarineKingPrime, HoSeoSan, and Idra all in one tournament? That’s goddamn unbelievable.
Which brings me at last to the first of our Chinese competitors in this tournament.
XiaOt
Beating MKP, San, and Idra, is no easy feat, but it’s safe to say XiaOt will have his toughest challenge yet in his match against MC. In the beta XiaOt participated in the Starcraft 2 World Cup, beating Cezaane who recently took a ZvZ game off of Nestea, before losing to Dimaga. Since then he’s been active, participating in weekly cups and other small tournaments, but this will be his first shot at true fame, one of the major factors in this tournament, especially for players like our next player:
LoveCD
While writing this short bio I couldn’t help but start humming the song Jesus' Brother Bob. You know why? This guy right here, LoveCD. Well, who is LoveCD? Yeah... Some guy you haven’t heard of. How bout his brother: Sky. That’s right. Even if you --like me-- haven’t ever followed the Warcraft 3 Scene, if you’re a fan of e-sports then at some point in your travels you’ve heard of at least three WC3 players: Grubby, Moon, and Sky. Nowadays you’ve probably heard of Lyn as well ‘cause he’s often taking mischievous wins off of people in the GSL. So THIS is LoveCD’s big chance. He can look his parents in the eye and say hey remember me? I TOO can make it big in e-sports. High five bro, you better start practicing your SC2 skills because nobody follows Warcraft anymore, comere I’ll show you the ropes.
So does he have what it takes to make it to the top?
So far he’s taken out Nestea, TLO, and Dimaga. I’d say so. But first he needs to beat our next pro:
LoveTT
LoveTT was one of China’s best during the Brood War days, placing fourth at WCG 08. Now he’s tearing it up in SC2. Some of his ladder games against Nestea and against Zenio were casted by Husky so he’s beginning to make a name for himself, taking out Fruitdealer, Genius, and Morrow so far this tournament.
So wait...
You’re telling me its two PvPs leading to a PvP finals? I care, why?
Because history will be made and I can almost guarantee the metagame will shift.
If this was a month ago, I wouldn’t have volunteered to write this. Endless amounts of PvP? Who would want that? That was then, this is now. Already we see Archons in the mix in most PvP matches. A week ago in the NASL we saw a PvP game on shattered temple that ended up 4 bases against 4 bases. This is now. And it’s not just a BO3 where we’re gonna see one guy dance his way to the other’s base and then gape in horror at the DT slicing his probes in twain followed by a 4-gate. This is two BO5’s and then a BO7 finals. As the world asks “what IS the future of PvP?” these four players WILL answer.
Korea versus China.
A shot at fame.
A man who claims to be the best protoss in the world against three other protoss.
Six thousand dollars for the winner.
If you’re not excited for this, there is something wrong with you.
Meanwhile the rest of us are gonna get our popcorn and brews and watch history be made.
On June 09 2011 19:19 FletcherChristian wrote: Here's some analysis from me about the mysterious Chinese players. I haven't seen a lot of replays from these guys, but just from what I've seen:
XiaoT - Undoubtedly the strongest player in China right now. He's just solid all around, especially when fast expanding against zerg and defending the "great wall" as one caster dubbed it, with a brilliant combination of forcefields, cannon placement, and replacing the buildings as they get get destroyed with new ones in real time. Don't know how his PvP is though. He might try some weird thing we've never seen before, or some warp prism trickery, White-ra style.
LoveTT - Extremely good blink stalker micro, the best I've ever seen, but he goes for them almost every game so he might be a little predictable.
Lovecd - Very similar style to LoveTT, heavy blink stalker usage. In fact, a lot of people thought he was the same person as LoveTT because of that. He's even on the same team.
On June 09 2011 13:27 Jombozeus wrote: You might want to make the date bigger and more visible, about 50x bigger and more visible to be exact.
Good suggestion!
Added green and bolded it and put it at the top but I actually don't know how to increase size in these forums. Tried [size=20]June 11th[/size] but that didn't work. Tips?
I find it interesting how different races prosper in different areas, and by this i mean that protoss does well in china while terran seems to be the most popular race in korea. I wonder why this is, but none the less i hope MC has a good showing. =D
This is actually pretty freaking impressive, wow. Maybe these Chinese guys can try out for GSL, that would be awesome. You never really hear about any progamers from China winning any SC2 tournaments.
On June 09 2011 14:22 TDN wrote: So, the winner gets $1k more than MLG winner? Do the semifinalists get travel and accommodation money for the LAN in Shanghai?
Yup! Yeah that's all taken care of and yeah 1k more than the MLG winner.
I agree with the other guy as well tho, definitely rooting for innovation.
On June 09 2011 14:32 SpikeNeedle wrote: This is actually pretty freaking impressive, wow. Maybe these Chinese guys can try out for GSL, that would be awesome. You never really hear about any progamers from China winning any SC2 tournaments.
I heard that Xiaot is planning on going to Korea for GSL sometime later this year, probably after the Chinese WCG qualifiers.
Definitely needs more hype to it. So fucking excited about this tournament. China fightin'! (More specifically xiaOt, but the other two are looking in pretty good shape as well. )
I've got a little tear in my eye because you made me so stoked! Excellent write up and I hope many more will turn their eyes to this event. China obviously host a whole pool of talent on it's own. One that we haven't really seen much of yet. That alone will makes this worth watching. Who knows how they play, I bet it's amazing.
Just watched Xiaot vs MarineKingPrime, Xiaot is SICK. He reminds me of MC back in his first GSL win, so creative. I eagerly await MC vs Xiaot, I have a feeling this may be epic.
Will there be English stream coverage? I believe Star Wars is a LAN tournament at the finals, so not sure what can be done.
Either way, it's going to be a lot of PvPs, and that's not exactly a MU you can predict very well. MC has a strong PvP, but if XiaoT, Lovett, etc. have been training with each other, it's not exactly impossible to win. Of those three, I'd think XiaoT would have the best micro since he was an ex-WC 3 pro and a good one at that. But going against MC on LAN, he'll probably need that micro.
Been following the StarsWar on the ICCup stream and mentioning it several time on the GG Rated liveshow for several weeks now. For some reason, clearly this tournament didnt had the visibility that other less relevant tournaments / events got.
Guess im gonna push the button again on the next show and just keep enjoying the matches that ICCup covers.
Here's some analysis from me about the mysterious Chinese players. I haven't seen a lot of replays from these guys, but just from what I've seen:
XiaoT - Undoubtedly the strongest player in China right now. He's just solid all around, especially when fast expanding against zerg and defending the "great wall" as one caster dubbed it, with a brilliant combination of forcefields, cannon placement, and replacing the buildings as they get get destroyed with new ones in real time. Don't know how his PvP is though. He might try some weird thing we've never seen before, or some warp prism trickery, White-ra style.
LoveTT - Extremely good blink stalker micro, the best I've ever seen, but he goes for them almost every game so he might be a little predictable.
Lovecd - Very similar style to LoveTT, heavy blink stalker usage. In fact, a lot of people thought he was the same person as LoveTT because of that. He's even on the same team.
good write up, deffiantly waiting on who will come out on top, I cant help but think pvp is still random, hope im proved wrong and the best man wins!!!
How did this sneak by my attention for so long?! Are there vods? Definatly stoked to see what pvp they can come up with.. I still 4 gate pvp I win tho ;p How did the boys in blue do?
I enjoyed reading it overall, but few things to note
...but this will be his first shot at true fame...
This is one of the lines in the description of XiaoT that I highly disagree; he's like the chinese counterpart of Grubby in WC3, and have received plenty of media coverage for his switch to starcraft, despite the fact he hasn't even been participating in western tournaments.
I say, HELL NO!
It would be an insult to the quality of our players if the Chinese Pros annihilate the competition in their first tournament.
With this tournament, we now understands how the Koreans felt in TSL3. I don't think it's an insult to anyone. If anything, it's a wake-up call for everyone to step up their game.
On June 09 2011 13:30 duk3 wrote: Nice job, it was disappointing that this tournament didn't get all the coverage that it deserved in the first place.
I'd say that the winner of MC vs xiaOt will go on to win the finals, but of course it's PvP, where a lot of changes are happening.
I think that has something to do with the damn chinese guys who would spoil the results before the games were cast in English... after every single game -.-
...but this will be his first shot at true fame...
This is one of the lines in the description of XiaoT that I highly disagree; he's like the chinese counterpart of Grubby in WC3, and have received plenty of media coverage for his switch to starcraft, despite the fact he hasn't even been participating in western tournaments.
It would be an insult to the quality of our players if the Chinese Pros annihilate the competition in their first tournament.
With this tournament, we now understands how the Koreans felt in TSL3. I don't think it's an insult to anyone. If anything, it's a wake-up call for everyone to step up their game.
Sorry about that, I'm pretty uniformed on the Warcraft 3 scene.
The second bit you quoted is just there for hype. I took some artistic liberties with the write-up for sure.
This is one of the lines in the description of XiaoT that I highly disagree; he's like the chinese counterpart of Grubby in WC3,
is that really true? XiaoT was not one of the most famous Chinese Warcraft 3 pros. The best one so far to make the switch perhaps. Most of the best ones are still playing War 3 (like TH000), it's sort of like how the best Koreans are still playing Brood War. Hopefully more of those guys will start trickling over soon.
With this tournament, we now understands how the Koreans felt in TSL3. I don't think it's an insult to anyone. If anything, it's a wake-up call for everyone to step up their game.
Not all the games were played on CN, you know that right? These wins by the chinese players are legit. XiaoT is fucking awesome based on his play this tournament, him vrs MC should be great.
On June 10 2011 02:08 Jayrod wrote: Online events make me sad =( WTB LAN and free plane tickets
"The semi-finals and finals will be played LIVE in Shanghai, China in May. All participants will be flown out to the live LAN location!" Which makes MC the favourite in my eyes, he has so much experience...
On June 10 2011 02:08 Jayrod wrote: Online events make me sad =( WTB LAN and free plane tickets
"The semi-finals and finals will be played LIVE in Shanghai, China in May. All participants will be flown out to the live LAN location!" Which makes MC the favourite in my eyes, he has so much experience...
True but he could easily be thrown off by a unique style so it's a real tossup in my opinion. I'm really looking forward to the final BO7, a high level BO7 PvP with the current patch is something unprecedented. Really stoked for that.
...but this will be his first shot at true fame...
This is one of the lines in the description of XiaoT that I highly disagree; he's like the chinese counterpart of Grubby in WC3, and have received plenty of media coverage for his switch to starcraft, despite the fact he hasn't even been participating in western tournaments.
It would be an insult to the quality of our players if the Chinese Pros annihilate the competition in their first tournament.
With this tournament, we now understands how the Koreans felt in TSL3. I don't think it's an insult to anyone. If anything, it's a wake-up call for everyone to step up their game.
What are you smoking? Difference between XiaoT and Grubby: 1. XiaoT actually win games vs top players in the world 2. He is in an actual team, while Grubby is playing by himself.
Also, you know that the Chinese players never had a latency advantage right? Games were played in different servers. Being from China I can tell you that if there were to be advantage, it definitely would not be the Chinese players.
Ok I understand some of you cannot take the fact that all of a sudden a strong force comes out of no where. but please please don't make up excuses. No one knows how these players will do in the future, or whether they are true powerhouses. But based on THIS tournament alone please stop denying their skills. Chinese players are hard working, and they beat the Non-Chinese fair and square, in front of everyone's eyes.
Please, give the good players some support and credit, and stop making up excuses on how your favorite non-Chinese got beat.
I'll confess to have never watching StarsWar before: starting now with the VoDs!
I will also confess to thinking that Protoss was in decline - no new builds to shake things up dramatically like the IMLosira roach/ling sentry snipe, no clearly viable concepts like mech to play with. Hooray for Chinese Protoss! 4 Protoss in the semifinals will be crazy, and I fully expect neat new PvP builds to emerge, along with another metagame shift.
Love the post, and quite honestly, am insulted that the community doesnt really hear about this as much as other big tournaments like dreamhack and mlg. I mean this tourny blows both of those out of the water in my opinion.
EPT![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/hVIdi.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/9/93/Mcclawgslmay.png/200px-Mcclawgslmay.png)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/1/14/Xiaotchinagamer.png/200px-Xiaotchinagamer.png)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/e/ee/Lovecd.jpg/200px-Lovecd.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/7/7d/Lovett_2.jpg/200px-Lovett_2.jpg)
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