EPTWith that, the 2011 MLG season has come to a close. This time the tournament was bigger, grander, and accordingly, had even more to talk about than normal.
NaNiwa opened the first day with a win over NesTea in the MLG Global Invitational, and went on to cause some minor controversy later in the tournament with some interesting manner decisions. The lovable Liquid Zerg HayprO showed his true killer side, with a win over NesTea and a solid 1-2 performance against MVP in back-to-back matches.
Of course, the real story of the tournament is Leenock. Young Leenock, after nearly missing his flight to Providence, crushed through the open bracket and fought many close battles to emerge the ultimate champion. Even after getting knocked to the loser's bracket by DongRaeGu, he played confidently and passionately, with aggression and tenacity rarely seen on stage. After busting through MMA, Idra, Huk, and MVP, he faced the man who sent him there and came back from a two game extended series deficit to make it through to the finals.
ESPORTS veteran and MLG translator, Hwanni spent the early part of the weekend saying he thought Leenock was going all the way. He was in the zone from the very start, playing to the top of his ability with a concentration and fearless attitude that is only born from absolute belief in one's own abilities.
In the finals he faced NaNiwa, who had taken down NesTea not once but twice in the last 48 hours. Fearless as ever, his aggressive responses to NaNi's fast expanding saw him through the first best-of-three and on to the extended series to make him the first player to win from the loser's bracket since HuK's win in MLG Raleigh 2010.
Here is how the top ten shook out. If you didn't have time to watch as many as you would like you can always check this thread for some unique and noteworthy games.
| # | Player |
|---|---|
| 1. | ![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/flags/ks.png)  Leenock |
| 2. | ![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/flags/se.png)  NaNiwa |
| 3. | DongRaeGu |
| 4. |  MVP |
| 5. | ![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/flags/ca.png) HuK |
| 6. | MC |
| 7. | HayprO |
| 8. | ![[image loading]](/tlpd/images/flags/us.png) IdrA |
| 9. | MMA |
| 10. | HerO |
![[image loading]](/staff/fishuu/MLGLeenocktopus.jpg)
Leenocktopus, reporting for duty
THINGS TO PONDER
By confusedcrib
For me, Providence raised many more questions about the turbulence of E-sports than it answered. While a great tournament, Providence was pretty freaking weird. A middle of the road GSL performer took the whole tournament, a Swedish guy with no big tournament results in 6 months took second place, and Spanishiwa, dde, and State placed in the top thirty two...even though there were thirteen Koreans in the open bracket. I just don't know what to think anymore, the world of Starcraft is crumbling around me. While I ponder the collapse of the world, here are some things to ponder about the tournament.
Are Mvp and Nestea Still the Best Players in the World?
Up to this point, it's been pretty unanimous that Nestea and Mvp are the best two players in the entire world. Not only are they the best players in the world but they do not lose games. Ever. But the two gods showed their vulnerability at Providence.
I knew that the big - "g" Gods may actually be lower case ones when on Friday night Naniwa took them both out in the global invitational. Ah-hah! But a mere fluke, I thought as I sat atop the judging throne with Artosis, the greatest judgment-er of them all. As the tournament went on though, things got weird, as Nestea ended up taking twelfth place and Mvp fourth. Nestea first lost to Haypro and lost to Naniwa, again. But it's important to remember that in his run through the open bracket, Nestea did not lose a single game. As for Mvp, he similarly did not lose a single game going through the open bracket, but lost to MC, dropped a game to Haypro, and then got knocked out by Leenock.
After results like that, I don't know what I should be thinking anymore. I'm with Artosis on this one
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/GSL/Oct11/artosisyell.jpg)
Should Team Evil Geniuses Have Established a North American Team House?
I'll be honest guys, I'm really afraid of getting flamed for this, but it's something that's concerned me for long enough that I'm just going to say it. EG did badly, and I can't help but feel that the team house is not paying for itself. Of course when you go to EG's coverage of the event, they point to having "solid results overall," but in reality, it's only ever their golden three that do well. Thanks to Idra, Huk, and Puma, EG always manages good PR, but the results of their other players are starting to get down right disturbing: iNcontroL lost to State and Strifecro, StrifeCro lost to syckness and RuFF13, Lzgamer lost to Catz and exMaSter. Only Machine and Axslav's results are remotely explainable, with losses to Nestea, dde, Gatored, and Violet. Even with those two players though, losses to Gatored and dde when you live in a team house are hard to justify.
To be honest, if they want to justify having a team house, they need to work out a better system. While Puma and Idra seem to be practicing correctly, I can't shake the feeling that they would do well regardless of where they were living. EG needs to figure out what those two are doing right, and have everyone try to emulate it to avoid poor results. Having a team house in North America established a wonderful precedent, now they just need the results to match.
TL responses to reactions:
Heyoka (Editor for this article):
We've reviewed the section of the article internally and while we believe that writers are entitled to expressing their opinions in TL articles, we should have exercised more care in allowing this to be posted. TL as a news site carries a heavier responsibility when it comes to talking about rival teams, and we should have recognized that before posting this article.
We believe that this topic (EG's teamhouse) is a worthwhile one to discuss, but we agree that one paragraph posted in an event recap is not the right place for it. It should have been posted in an editorial format that was clear and not where it was. The argument also should have been developed much further than a single paragraph.
In the future we hope to be more thorough with our editing process. We will be taking your feedback into account and we hope to avoid situations like this.
We believe that this topic (EG's teamhouse) is a worthwhile one to discuss, but we agree that one paragraph posted in an event recap is not the right place for it. It should have been posted in an editorial format that was clear and not where it was. The argument also should have been developed much further than a single paragraph.
In the future we hope to be more thorough with our editing process. We will be taking your feedback into account and we hope to avoid situations like this.
Other responses: Liquid`Nazgul Hot_Bid 1 Hot_Bid 2 Heyoka (Note from the editor)
Who is GoSu.Gatored?
Perform well once, and it could be a fluke, do it twice, and you deserve recognition. At IEM New York, Gatored was able to take out Strelok, DongRaeGu, and oGsTop. At MLG Providence, Gatored took out Axslav and Ganzi, only losing to ViOlet and Leenock, two of the best players at the tournament. The guy is seriously becoming a PvT sniper, with his major tournament wins against Terran including Qxc, Strelok, Top, and now Ganzi. This guy is quickly gaining my attention for his results, and it would be a smart move to pay him more attention in the future.
![[image loading]](/staff/heyoka/sc2tourn/GosuGatered.jpg)
This is the guy that took out Ganzi
Photo Credit to omgyumyum.com's "omg Latern"
Hero or Huk?
Do I root for Huk or do I root for Hero? If both are streaming, who do I watch? If they decide to have a competition for who is more adorable, whose side do I take? Hero is improving at a jaw dropping rate, taking out Puma, Sjow, Ret, Puzzle, Jinro, Keen, and Sheth on his way through the tournament. And of course Huk is just the cutest little guy around. Even though he only managed to take out HerO for this tournament, he never really got the chance to prove himself, only losing to the first and second place winners.
If there is one thing I know, it's that there may now be a Hero Huk rivalry in affect. HerO finally managed to best Puma at MLG, and now it's time for him to focus on Huk. The rivalry is about more than just wins or losses, or even that it's TeamLiquid's former protoss star against our present one, it's about play style and results.
Hero and Huk both play Protoss similarly: willing to go all in, leaning towards gateway styles, and having some amazing control. They're both great players. Just be aware, you may soon be forced to pick a side
The Big Upsets
There were a lot of big wins that no one saw coming, and went uncasted on the main streams. A lot of these upsets were in the open bracket, showing that in this time of Starcraft, it may be true that no one is safe.
Gatored 2 – 0 GanZiHerO 2 – 1 PuzzleMajor 2 – 1 ArtistGanZi 2 – 0 PuzzleOz 2 – 1 GanZiMC 2 – 1 MVPPuMa 2 – 0 LosirAPuMa 2 – 1 BomberLeenock 2 – 1 MMANaNiwa 2 – 1 NesTeaNesTea 1 – 2 HayprOGoing into the tournament, I don't think that many people would have predicted some of these close results. In a lot of ways, Providence made the “unbeatable” players look pretty beatable.
Rise of the "No Names"
If you hunt your way through the open bracket results, there are a lot of really weird things to see; results that imply the skill gap between top ladder players and lower tier professional players may be closing. The question of what it really means to be a pro gamer is getting less obvious, as more and more "no name" players snipe out top dogs to get their names out there.
State 2 – 1 iNcontroLHeavOnEarth 2 – 1 AghGatored 2 – 0 AxslavsycknesS 2 – 0 StrifeCroForbs 2 – 1 DrewbieForbs 2 – 1 SpadesOstojiy 2 – 0 Destinydde 2 – 0 MachineBinski 2 – 0 TylerRuFF13 2 – 1 StrifeCroIs the skill gap closing? Or was this just a bad tournament for the bigger name players that are listed above?
THE 2011 MILGIES
By zarepath
The 2011 Milgies
Not to be confused with Milkis the translator, the Milgies are awards for the entire 2011 MLG season. Despite the connection to MLG, the actual Milgie awards are not shaped like X-Box controllers. Instead, they are manifest entirely within your own imagination, and are worth thousands of ESPORTS dollars. It surprises no one that they are universally coveted, and that Kanye West doesn't think that Taylor Swift deserves one.
Not to be confused with Milkis the translator, the Milgies are awards for the entire 2011 MLG season. Despite the connection to MLG, the actual Milgie awards are not shaped like X-Box controllers. Instead, they are manifest entirely within your own imagination, and are worth thousands of ESPORTS dollars. It surprises no one that they are universally coveted, and that Kanye West doesn't think that Taylor Swift deserves one.
The Decorah Eagles Milgie for best LR thread
MLG Dallas was beset by more technical problems than any major SC2 tournament to date (other contenders: Blizzcon 2010 Invitational, NASL Grand Finals Day 1, IPL 3, and the PPSL). Because of the venue's poor internet, MLG was only able to stream a grand total of three matches over the entire Saturday. So what happens when you promise tens of thousands of Starcraft fans the greatest Starcraft of their lives, and then withhold it from them?
This happens, the Day 2 Live Report thread. The broken stream hammered spectators to desperation, and in their desperation, they turned to something they didn't fully understand: eagles. The thread is filled with eagle macros. Pictures of kittens jumping over streams. Fake MLG stream notices. The kind of shenanigans that no TL mod would ever tolerate in any other circumstance. But on that day, everyone had thrown up their hands, and this LR thread is a testament to the wanton abandon that filled the Starcraft void.
Winner: the MLG Dallas Day 2 Live Report Thread
The Keen's Applause Milgie for Best Ceremony
When MLG introduced the Korean player exchange program, they didn't just bring the world's best gamers to their tournaments -- they also brought the world's best ceremonies. The most the West had offered until that point was IdrA flipping-off Huk. Post-injection, we got hadoukens, Boxer boxing, and throat-slitting (not literal). (As far as we know.) But the most elaborate, hilarious, and nonsensical ceremony has to be this:
Winner: MC's Murloc Dance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvVAa5SV8b0
The Fantasy GG Milgie for Worst GG Timing
While we were never sure whether IdrA would win an MLG or not, no one doubted his ability to win this award. The real question is whether he wins it for GGing against hallucinated void rays, or for GGing after breaking MMA's tank line and was ahead on bases.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40ccy9kljvI&feature=related
IdrA couldn't have known that MMA had destroyed his own command center, and so it was harder for him to know that he was ahead. And yet against Huk, he should've seen that the void rays were doing no damage to his corrupters, and that Huk simply didn't have the infrastructure to produce them. However, IdrA ended up beating Huk in the extended series, while the loss to MMA was the beginning of the end for him. Also: "Wait -- WHAT?"
Winner: IdrA's GG against MMA
The Dante Alighieri Milgie for Open Bracket From Hell
It's no secret that the open brackets got more and more difficult with every tournament. Koreans began to realize that a good three-day run at an MLG would pay them a lot more than a month-long Code A run against harder opponents. Other big names started coming in the hope of securing a seed for Providence. But because the prize money was so end-loaded into MLG Providence, it comes as no surprise that its open bracket was by far the most nightmarish, including more Koreans than any other tournament.
Winner: MLG Providence
The Olympic Milgie for Best Event
MLG Providence opened with a fantastic finish to the Global Invitational, skipped the often drama-deflating Pool Play, and went straight into the cutthroat Open Bracket with the most competitive international tournament to date. But all that cannot match the excitement that MLG Columbus brought. After the Dallas debacle, MLG brought in a satellite truck, soundproof booths, two concurrent streams, Tastosis, and Koreans for MLG Columbus. They did everything within their power to make Starcraft 2 the flagship game for both their circuit and for ESPORTS, and they did it all at once. Everyone came out of that tournament excited about MLG, Starcraft, and ESPORTS as a whole.
Winner: MLG Columbus
The Taht's Just Halo Milgie for Most Memorable Game
There are a lot of contenders for this coveted Milgie. IdrA 2-0ing MC to welcome the Koreans, countering stalkers with roaches and MC's own immortals. Any of IdrA's premature GG episodes. Any game with Kiwikaki's mothership use. Bomber's MULE bombs, nuke cancels, and scan clouds. Any of the amazing hidden jewels from the open bracket games, such as Avilo's 50-plus nukes in one game. But the game that will be remembered most for how two players played their absolute best against each other, giving no ground and making almost zero mistakes, has to be Boxer and Rain's first game.
It went on for over an hour, splitting the map and tech-switching countless times until they both had enormous air armies with multiple ravens, using hunter-seeker missiles, nukes, thors, yamato cannons, and PDDs. Both players refused to give up and it ended with Boxer failing to produce a stalemate. The game is made even more memorable by the fact that Boxer came back to win the series 2-1, drawing the largest single crowd cheer for any individual player.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUv2xfUUsiI
Winner: Boxer versus Rain, Game 1
The Great Bambino Milgie for Most Dominant Performance
Leenock's hit list is easily the most impressive of any MLG champion. Then consider that he climbed from the bottom of the most difficult open bracket. It would be hard to give this Milgie to anyone else.
But several of his wins were 2-1 victories. Leenock didn't look untouchable, just better. Now consider Naniwa's first MLG in Dallas. He likewise climbed through the open bracket, but was 26-0 in games until the championship, where he lost 2 more games to the always-volatile Kiwikaki in the always-volatile PvP matchup. He ended with a record of 28-2.
While Leenock's wins were more impressive, and he proved that he is the better player this last weekend, Naniwa was much more dominant over his competition than Leenock was in Providence. MLG Dallas began a string of Bo3's that Naniwa would win in a row, proving to the world that he was much more than just the TSL3 runner-up.
Winner: Naniwa in MLG Dallas
Thank you, MLG, for making this year of Starcraft 2 a memorable one. We look forward to a new format and a new year of great ESPORTS.
PLETHORA OF PHOTOS
Courtesy of silverfire (@silverfire), WhatIsHip (@lairdphotos), and R1CH (@R1CH_TL)
Day 2 - Saturday
Day 3 - Sunday
Photos by silverfire (@silverfire), WhatIsHip (lairdphotos.com), and R1CH (@R1CH_TL).
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PgaFx.jpg)
