I can't remember WC3 players ever having a problem with salaries or prize money when they were with SK. SK was one of the most reputable teams during their wc3 era. Also they had good relations and experiences with koreans cuz of their teammanager Reis.
I must say SK|MC and especially SK|Nada looks pretty sick. Who would've thought that a european team was ever gonna pick up Nada a few years back?
Sk|Nada at every foreign tournament seems like a good deal for SK to me. They are not investing too much I think. Think of Day9 announcing "SK NADA" every time while casting MLG or Dreamhack. Can't get more exposure than that.
Look at how much attention this got already. Even if people dont think the players "belong" to SK they are associated with SK and SK gets the attention, the clicks, the exposure without even having played a single game.
On July 15 2011 21:31 stratmatt wrote: ALso, SK is famous for stealing the best players in the world away from their teams, and rightfully so. SK supports their players like none other...but they have to provide results.
That was true once long time ago. Their support now is actually pisspoor.
Would you by chance be the Yiska i remember from Hydramist? If so, great to see you as a part of SC2 aswell!
On July 15 2011 22:54 AntiGrav1ty wrote: I can't remember WC3 players ever having a problem with salaries or prize money when they were with SK. SK was one of the most reputable teams during their wc3 era. Also they had good relations and experiences with koreans cuz of their teammanager Reis.
I must say SK|MC and especially SK|Nada looks pretty sick. Who would've thought that a european team was ever gonna pick up Nada a few years back?
Sk|Nada at every foreign tournament seems like a good deal for SK to me. They are not investing too much I think. Think of Day9 announcing "SK NADA" every time while casting MLG or Dreamhack. Can't get more exposure than that.
there was an incident where SK sent WC to an international tournament and then kept the prize money for the air fare. Which might be not that bad as such but the issue there was that the players were not informed that would happen because it would have been bad for their morale which is pretty disrespectful and untrusting. I am too lazy right now to search for the source but if you really insist and don't find it yourself I could search it.
SK is a really big and respected team, so it's good for them to have players like MC and NaDa to represent them on foreign events, and good for SC2 to have such a team in the global competition.
But to me, it looks more like some try to make their team shine again on the RTS scene. MC and NaDa will still be oGs members before SK members, and for people who follows GSL, like most of TL does, their real team will be oGs. I mean, they live and practice there...
I think there's something behind this, and imagine if oGs disbands, SK will instantly be one of the best teams worldwide if they keep MC/NaDa or other oGs members... But at the time it's just one powerful airplane/logistic support.
Also i would like to know what's up with Liquid partnership in this, some official announcement would be nice.
On July 15 2011 21:31 stratmatt wrote: ALso, SK is famous for stealing the best players in the world away from their teams, and rightfully so. SK supports their players like none other...but they have to provide results.
SK has a loooong history of not paying salary according to the contract. And keeping pricemoney they're not entitled to. So no, not rightfully so, they are one of the most shady organizations in the eSports world.
I guess I must be really lucky to get all my money from SK and 100% of my prizemoney during the last 4-5 years. There are so many people talking without knowing anything.. :S
The only way i see it possible for SK to have honored their contracts and paying salaries is if HeatoN, Potti & Tentpole are all a bunch of liars, who have publicly stated that they're still owed money. It may be possible, but i find it unlikely.
As much as I love those players, it is well known that there was plenty of friction and gray areas between them and SK over the years that have lead to a lot of rumors spreading hurtful for both sides.
Why was there friction though? Obviously friction can come from alot of different things, but i don't see why the players in question would state themselves that they were owed money if they really were not. Unless SK had the worst possible luck and found 3 of the dumbest bigtime liars. Which i would not think of someone like HeatoN, who to this day still is working in eSports and just a few months ago talked to Fragbite.se about the salary and prizemoney issues in an interview.
If it was all lies and rumors i feel like SK should have proven so by now. Although i must say that they seem to have shaped up greatly on that part, because of the crap they have gotten.
That does not take away from the fact that i find this deal with oGs really cheap and dirty.
Thanks for your respect in the other post first of all. The question that always comes in my mind when reading this... why didn't they take legal proceedings. If you are owed money it's a normal thing to do imo. Both sides even signed a contract where should be stated everything about the money. As I have said I have no idea about these cases, but thats always a weird question that comes into my head. SK did the same thing vs. a sponsor this year and as far as I know some other players that are owed money are currently infront of court as well. eSports has turned into serious business.
I've actually had the same thoughts myself, and i don't know why they have not. It might not be worth it. No clue to be honest.
Even if these players were infact lying, or what the heck ever that was going on, SK should explain themselves. If for nothing else, then for their own good. Nothing good can come from such negativity as that which has rained down on SK over the years.
And i for one love the fact that a shit-ton of money is beeing fed into eSports, even if i myself dont make a dime from it, atleast production and team professionalism will rise alongside the money.
On July 15 2011 18:55 Animostas wrote: Really kind of weird in my opinion, I don't really see why MC and Nada can't just play as oGs members.
I don't know if SK Gaming is really renowned as a Starcraft II team so it just feels kind of off to have two of the best players in the world representing them all of a sudden.
Sponsors obviously. SK has not had any good players at all in starcraft 2 something they obviously want to change. Think that answers your questions.
On July 15 2011 22:27 Beyonder wrote: Fully agree with ineq :o SK is a shady organization. The stories are there for a reason, be it tricky contracts, be it full truth..
Yeh, their most successful cs team ever with HeatoN, Potti etc went out and said that they were mistreated by the SK organisation. Kept the prize money of tournaments completely away from the players in the end.
On July 15 2011 22:48 LastDance wrote: lol SK added Nada and MC to their team roster: http://www.sk-gaming.com/players/ in the profiles they made it says "former teams oGs"
Seriously SK, nobody considers these players yours. you've just become their airfare bitch
Everyone that played Quake3 many years ago knows that back then SK had one of the toughest and most successful teams with SteLam, Slinger, Zyz and more. I guess since then their success has stagnated, but still its a very good team with much reputation. Also as a german i'm a little bit proud to have my favourite player (MC) in a german team ;-)
Eh, i don't like this at all. If you're on a team, you are on that team. Maybe if OGS was like the Korean national team and SK is just a private club in some other country i'd feel better about it. But this is just too weird, regardless of all the shady accusations surrounding SK.
And to further add on MC has stated that whenever you are traveling to a foreign event and participating you are losing practice time. And he is even taking a break right now from foreign tournaments in order to practice more and get his skill level up as he has mentioned he can feel that his late game macro has started to slip. I hope that SK doesn't end up expecting too much from these two.
This is not exciting news for me. Funny thing is, i didn't even like SK in CS either. I rooted for 3D all the time and was a huge Method fanboy.
So, it seems SK gave up on having an SC2 division team. They just decided to do personal sponsorships for MC and Nada. It's like how Stride sponsors Tyler, Sony Ericsson for TLO, and Dr. Pepper for Kiwikaki.
EPT
If so, great to see you as a part of SC2 aswell! 
