So I do not know exactly when this happened, but it appears that Chinese Protoss player, xiaOt has decided to stop playing SCII to work in a management role within his team.
For those that do not know xiaOt, he is widely considered the very best player inside all of China, and was a very successful Warcraft III player.
In the Gigabyte StarsWar 6 Tournament (one of the only Chinese tournaments to make it to English fans) he put up impressive results taking a 3rd/4th (?) place finish. What was impressive is that on his route to the Top 4 finish, he took out (in order): MarineKingPrime.WE, NsHS.San, and EG.IdrA while only dropping one game!
His game vs MarineKing was the one of the two surprising matches in the Round of 32 in that tournament that let everyone know the Chinese are here, and they are damn good!
Frankly I just found out on TL, but I figured the best player in China not playing anymore was something people may want to know! So instead of tons of quotes and whatnot, I present you some xiaOt games!
I saw potential in his game when he played in gigabyte cup, such a shame he takes on the management role. I would had think he could be something big as a player... Oh well, can only dream.
On August 06 2011 17:56 Jakkerr wrote: hmm ok I guess. Never saw any of his games and prolly never will now ^^.
If you only ever see one xiaOt game, make it the one in the OP vs MarineKing, Game 2. You see his awesome decision making, multitasking, macro, micro, and just generally makes MKP look a very amateur player.
He was in the team that got bought for 6 million usd right?
It does seem like that tycoon want to start a new generation of chinese e-sport athletes so to speak. He probably wants xiaoT to teach his skills to budding 15-16 years old chinese
I still feel that the Warp Prism play that xiaOt did against MKP in Game 2 demonstrated how sorely underused and undiscovered the Warp Prism is. Out of all the Chinese players it just had to be him that stops being a progamer...
Argh why would you shift to management when you are like...the best in your country. He was good enough to compete in the GSL at least in some capacity for crying out loud.
This is unexpected. I cannot phantom the reason behind this. I would understand injury/military service/lost passion/personal reasons -> retirement, but going from player to management when you are like the best protoss in China?
Argh why would you shift to management when you are like...the best in your country. He was good enough to compete in the GSL at least in some capacity for crying out loud.
><
he was invited for a spot in GSL Code A before, but he turned it down due to personal reason.
He is going to be the manager of a dota/lol/sc2 multigaming called Invictus gaming formerly known as CCM (aka : N°1 DotA team in the world). The team was bought by the son of a chinese billionaire.
He is going to be the manager of a dota/lol/sc2 multigaming called Invictus gaming formerly known as CCM (aka : N°1 DotA team in the world). The team was bought by the son of a chinese billionaire.
Oh wow he's the CEO of Invictus Gaming! Well that makes sense then!
He is going to be the manager of a dota/lol/sc2 multigaming called Invictus gaming formerly known as CCM (aka : N°1 DotA team in the world). The team was bought by the son of a chinese billionaire.
Oh wow he's the CEO of Invictus Gaming! Well that makes sense then!
oh that explains it all then. good luck to him in the new position. Seems like they are really serious. Seems like we can expect some big things from them in the future. With the human resources and capital they have, hopefully some big names will emerge who can challenge the Koreans in SC2 just like Sky Fly Infi Ted did in wc3.
Sad....Extremely disappointed What a waste of progamer ! He has strength and chance to compete in GSL which every progamers want. But he gave up Hope he can train some players who have his level skill of sc2 then i will be forgive him ;(
Argh why would you shift to management when you are like...the best in your country. He was good enough to compete in the GSL at least in some capacity for crying out loud.
><
he was invited for a spot in GSL Code A before, but he turned it down due to personal reason.
According to liquipedia it was because of the chinese new year. Sad to see him stop gaming because of how amazing he was, but best of luck in his new position
damn xiaot is such a beast...the 1st time i saw him was the game with marineking, it made me a fan of him. :D sad to see him not being a pro player now... all the best for him! :D
I wonder why :[ I was looking forward to xiaOt being at the forefront of the Chinese SC2 talent breaking into the international scene as a top protoss player.
EDIT: I thought he was supposed to attempt to enter code A in the GSL after WCG?
Was going to make a thread about this today, but you got to it first (and did a far better job than I could have done).
Shame. My favorite Protoss player moving into management. He's probably getting paid a lot, so I can't really say it's a terrible move, especially with how unstable the SC2 scene is at the moment. But he really did have a lot of potential. Definitely a Code A quality, maybe even a low-to-mid Code S quality player. Sick PvZ.
I don't understand how he could benefit more as a manager as opposed to an incredible, incredible player. They have A LOT of good players for them to be turning him into a manager.
Its a shame to see him go, I had really hoped to see him tearing up some international tournaments, been a huge fan since wc3. Im sure well see him playing again at some point in the future. Also maybe well get to see him at thhe big upcoming dota2 tourney and find out more about what he's doing.
Kind of sad about this... Overall I really just wish there was more connectivity with China though... I hoped SC2 would change that but it doesn't seem to be the case.
In the Gigabyte StarsWar 6 Tournament (one of the only Chinese tournaments to make it to English fans) he put up impressive results taking a 3rd/4th (?) place finish.
He finished second, after MC.
No he lost to MC in the Semi finals and was set for the 3rd/4th place match. Somehow the match got delayed to a later date, and the actual results have never made it to the English scene so I don't know if he was 3rd or 4th.
On August 07 2011 03:47 DeepBlu2 wrote: I don't understand how he could benefit more as a manager as opposed to an incredible, incredible player. They have A LOT of good players for them to be turning him into a manager.
Well, firstly, he's getting paid a shit ton more than he would have gotten paid as a player from a country with a shitty internet connection (making it hard to play in international competitions) in a scene that's still relatively new and taking off.
Secondly, I imagine he can actually do quite a bit to grow eSports in China. This may just be me acting optimistic. I'm still very depressed by all this.
I do think he'll try to send iG's SC2 team to the GSL eventually. Given how much both he and XiGua talked about competing in the GSL, he and his team obviously recognize how important it is for them to make a splash in the scene.
Latest news from WCG, top national player IG.xiaOt has forfeited his place in China WCG Finals. XiaOt's decision may be due to IG's manager too busy to manage the team's practice. XiaOt might be taking over a managerial role in his team in the near future.
Latest news from WCG, top national player IG.xiaOt has forfeited his place in China WCG Finals. XiaOt's decision may be due to IG's manager too busy to manage the team's practice. XiaOt might be taking over a managerial role in his team in the near future.
On August 07 2011 03:56 Mikilatov wrote: Kind of sad about this... Overall I really just wish there was more connectivity with China though... I hoped SC2 would change that but it doesn't seem to be the case.
I agree, XiaOt was the only chinese player I heard of, seeing him 2-0 IdrA after saying he will dominate IdrA because his teammate zergs are so much better than him...makes me wish I saw more Chinese players, if there are any good ones oo
There is a lot of "might be" and "may be" sentences in that original source; this would be a bit of a disappointment as he was pretty awesome to watch (from the Stars Wars tournament) and completely dominated MKP, San and IdrA. China has some great talent and i look forward to more exposure of their scene.
i cant believe he stop playing, i guess being part of the teams management will result in a more solid salary than being a uncertain progamer(even tho he was one of the best).
On August 08 2011 07:09 Maliris wrote: China are the next Korea anyway considering their ladder dominance since day 1 of getting the game (despite being months behind)
You mean on Sc2ranks? That was ladder inflation I believe, just like how there were so many people at the top of the ladder on SEA and LA >.>
On August 07 2011 03:47 DeepBlu2 wrote: I don't understand how he could benefit more as a manager as opposed to an incredible, incredible player. They have A LOT of good players for them to be turning him into a manager.
Probably because players get paid diddly squat in China compared to managers.
Can't he pull a choya or TheWind and be a player/manager?
But it seems to correlate with the fact that he hasn't really looked as dominating in the Chinese scene for awhile. Never really seen him place as high as expected in a lot of the Chinese tournaments and he dropped a lot in his ladder rank.
Some chinese fans commented maybe he feels that it's already past his peak considering his age would be 24(?) this year. Plus given a CEO position, should be a very high pay. :D
Come on Xiaot ! you are killing me here ! I followed him in wc3 and since I saw him in starswar , I knew this is the guy who will own all the koreans in a the near future and be the first non korean to win a gsl (yes a man can dream) , and now he decided to stop playing , Xiaot just gave up his legendary status which I am 100% sure we was on the way to.
I am happy for xiaOt and sad for the chinese competitive scene at the same time. I am sure xiaOt wouldn't have made this move if he had thought that he would get the worse end of this. And considering that he was one of the best chinese players, this position must bring a lot of money for him.
On September 01 2011 07:10 dacthehork wrote: XiaOt is playing on the dota team ig.Y now. Not sure if permament but he will be playing in a show match this weekend.
He's also playing in a SC2 tourney, I think he might just be doing the play once in awhile thing for publicity. Not sure however.
On September 01 2011 07:10 dacthehork wrote: XiaOt is playing on the dota team ig.Y now. Not sure if permament but he will be playing in a show match this weekend.
Sorry if I updated this old thread but I haven't found any news about Invictus Gaming Starcraft 2 disbands. The team disapeared of TLDB without explanations. I would like to know if someone knows something about them...
EPT![[image loading]](http://a0.att.hudong.com/05/53/01300000209538121749533728620.jpg)
MarineKingPrime.WE, 
NsHS.San, and 
EG.IdrA while only dropping one game!
Oh well, can only dream. 
