2012 GSL Season 1 is on its way with the unforgiving Code S Ro32 being played out this and next week. We hope everyone enjoys the enhanced overlays and tweaks we introduced to improve the broadcast.
Korean New Year, also known as Seollal, is the most important holiday in Korea and will be celebrated over a period of days starting on January 23rd, the first day of the lunar calendar year.
We would like to celebrate the start of a great year of GSL and StarCraft II and at the same humbly look back and reflect on how it all started. The GSL has come a long way and has evolved a lot from its beginnings during the Open Seasons in 2010. These Open Seasons paved the way for the GSL as we know it today and shall never be forgotten.
In this spirit, we would like to announce that all TG-Intel STARCRAFT II Open Season 1, Sony Ericsson STARCRAFT II Open Season 2 and Sony Ericsson STARCRAFT II Open Season 3 VODs will be permanently made free to watch for everyone from January 21st 2012.
There will be no live broadcasts from January 21st until the return of the GSTL on January 27th because of New Year celebrations, so take your time to relive some great memories and witness how legends like Fruitdealer, MC and NesTea were born. Additionally, check out some of the great performances of our international competitors such as Artosis, TLO, Loner, IdrA, TorcH, Sen, Ret, Jinro and HayprO!
If you haven’t seen these tournaments and would like to watch the VODs spoiler-free, please use the following method:
Visit the schedule page and make sure the Hide match-ups spoiler protection is turned on. Then proceed to click the small arrow in the middle of the page below the timeline and select the league you would like to watch.
I wanna give a thumbs up to Mr. Chae for making this happen. Good to be able to go back to the beginning for free.
On January 10 2012 18:54 RPR_Tempest wrote: WITNESS ARTOSIS IN THE BOOTH!
Totally forgot about this part, definitely gotta check that out again.
Don't forget Torch in the booth.
And MC and Nestea before they were good. And the antics of poopfeast420. And the Legend of BitByBit. And don't forget the entire MKP vs Kyrix series.
Gah, so many good memories. Granted, many of the games back then were quite low-level compared to today's games, though it's always fun to look back at history.
However, watching those games will probably make me want to claw my eyes out
I actually have all the seasons purchased (even Open Season 1) but I changed my account after that and thus don't have S1 in my purchase history. Nice that I can someday archive all the games if I want to.
<3 gom, I already loved watching some of it on the free weekend a few months ago. I didn't care about sc2 during the open seasons, and imo it's always sick to go back and watch some old stuff to see how extremly far this game has already come. Also bitbybitprime!!!
I highly recommend watching MarineKing's (Then named BoxeR) very first match in GSL Open Season 2. I believe it was against BabyWeRRa (Z) but I could be mistaken. Not only was the gameplay absolutely awful, but MarineKing ghost+triple nuke rushed on Lost Temple but didn't take into account that the patch had just increased hatchery HP and that three nukes wouldn't kill a hatchery anymore.
On January 11 2012 07:30 Vehemus wrote: I highly recommend watching MarineKing's (Then named BoxeR) very first match in GSL Open Season 2. I believe it was against BabyWeRRa (Z) but I could be mistaken. Not only was the gameplay absolutely awful, but MarineKing ghost+triple nuke rushed on Lost Temple but didn't take into account that the patch had just increased hatchery HP and that three nukes wouldn't kill a hatchery anymore.
Absolutely hilarious.
I really remember that those games abyssmal and clumsy at least.Then round of 32 BAM he crushes fruitdealer and makes most ppl realise that they can micro their marines..Epic times.
I guess it is time to see Tester hold the double proxy gate and Polt rolling Mc with his raven, double banshee play on scrap station again;) And maybe a little Fruitdealer\top with the mass thors against mass Ultra.
On January 10 2012 19:02 red4ce wrote: GOM with the belayed christmas present <3. Time to relive the glorious bitbybit days.
I still get chills thinking about Fruitdealer vs. BitByBit on Jungle Basin, where Fruitdealer just sat that kid back down. Artosis going crazy: "Surrounding with drones?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
On January 11 2012 07:30 Vehemus wrote: I highly recommend watching MarineKing's (Then named BoxeR) very first match in GSL Open Season 2. I believe it was against BabyWeRRa (Z) but I could be mistaken. Not only was the gameplay absolutely awful, but MarineKing ghost+triple nuke rushed on Lost Temple but didn't take into account that the patch had just increased hatchery HP and that three nukes wouldn't kill a hatchery anymore.
Absolutely hilarious.
I really remember that those games abyssmal and clumsy at least.Then round of 32 BAM he crushes fruitdealer and makes most ppl realise that they can micro their marines..Epic times.
Oh god I still remember that....easily one of the top 5 upsets to date in the gsl (Sanzenith's sudden upgrade to ManZenith takes the cake though)
Everyone crapped on him for disgracing the name of Boxer with those games, then he turns out to be better and go to the finals -.-...
On January 10 2012 19:02 red4ce wrote: GOM with the belayed christmas present <3. Time to relive the glorious bitbybit days.
I still get chills thinking about Fruitdealer vs. BitByBit on Jungle Basin, where Fruitdealer just sat that kid back down. Artosis going crazy: "Surrounding with drones?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
Great news, it will be nice to revisit some of the nice moments from the start of last year. Hopefully a season or two 'unlocks' as current ones are completed.
On January 11 2012 07:30 Vehemus wrote: I highly recommend watching MarineKing's (Then named BoxeR) very first match in GSL Open Season 2. I believe it was against BabyWeRRa (Z) but I could be mistaken. Not only was the gameplay absolutely awful, but MarineKing ghost+triple nuke rushed on Lost Temple but didn't take into account that the patch had just increased hatchery HP and that three nukes wouldn't kill a hatchery anymore.
Absolutely hilarious.
I really remember that those games abyssmal and clumsy at least.Then round of 32 BAM he crushes fruitdealer and makes most ppl realise that they can micro their marines..Epic times.
That was amazing.
"This BoxeR ripoff is going to get CRUSHED by the best zerg in the world LOL"
Watching the VODs reminded me that I miss Lee Hyun Joo (she's having a baby for some months currently). Really useful for me are seasons 2 and 3, because they were during a period when I couldn't follow.
On January 10 2012 19:02 red4ce wrote: GOM with the belayed christmas present <3. Time to relive the glorious bitbybit days.
I still get chills thinking about Fruitdealer vs. BitByBit on Jungle Basin, where Fruitdealer just sat that kid back down. Artosis going crazy: "Surrounding with drones?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
On January 10 2012 19:02 red4ce wrote: GOM with the belayed christmas present <3. Time to relive the glorious bitbybit days.
I still get chills thinking about Fruitdealer vs. BitByBit on Jungle Basin, where Fruitdealer just sat that kid back down. Artosis going crazy: "Surrounding with drones?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
On January 10 2012 19:02 red4ce wrote: GOM with the belayed christmas present <3. Time to relive the glorious bitbybit days.
I still get chills thinking about Fruitdealer vs. BitByBit on Jungle Basin, where Fruitdealer just sat that kid back down. Artosis going crazy: "Surrounding with drones?!? WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"
That's really cool. I didn't catch any of the open seasons on account of being overseas and away from an internet connection for all of 2010. Looking forward to catching these.
So now that these are free I'm watching Season 1 (I started with season 2) and game 2 between Idra and his first opponent literally made me lol these are definitely worth watching
Nostalgia time. The game was so much different back then in my opinion. So many player like to say that everyone was terrible, still trying to figure things out, but it was still exciting. I can't imagine what it's like for someone to just start following pro-Starcraft 2 now and hear someone shriek BitByBit!!! and have no idea why they would yell such a random collection of words out just because someone is taking some SCVs with an attack.
Oh I never watched Season 1 or 2! I'm really interested to see how the GSL was right at the very beginning! I might just go waste 2 hours doing so right now before bed!
Back when Byun was bleach, Sage was FreeDSL, Inori was Overthezero, and SangHo was BabyByeBye Back when TorcH was one of the four forgineers (w/ artosis, idra and TLO) to make it into the tournament. Back when there were TWO rains. Back when NesTea didn't know what creep tumors were. Back when Polt beat MC and no one knew who Polt was.
The open season... So glorious.
I even remember iNcontroL almost qualifying for season 3 but ended up losing in the final round of his prelimiary pool (I forget who he lost to though)
On January 21 2012 20:14 yawnoC wrote: Back when Byun was bleach, Sage was FreeDSL, Inori was Overthezero, and SangHo was BabyByeBye Back when TorcH was one of the four forgineers (w/ artosis, idra and TLO) to make it into the tournament. Back when there were TWO rains. Back when NesTea didn't know what creep tumors were. Back when Polt beat MC and no one knew who Polt was.
The open season... So glorious.
I even remember iNcontroL almost qualifying for season 3 but ended up losing in the final round of his prelimiary pool (I forget who he lost to though)
huk also lost in the last round
polt beat MC with what is basically the 1-1-1.. and im fairly sure he did it 2 games in a row
HAHAHA just gone back to watch some season 1 for nostalgia. The play is prett bad, but its nothing compared to the maps. Scrap station, Blistering Sands, Lost temple (those cliffs man), Desert Oasis, Steppes of war, etc. What were we thinking back then?
On January 21 2012 22:17 Blacktion wrote: HAHAHA just gone back to watch some season 1 for nostalgia. The play is prett bad, but its nothing compared to the maps. Scrap station, Blistering Sands, Lost temple (those cliffs man), Desert Oasis, Steppes of war, etc. What were we thinking back then?
"we need better strats and better maps" comes to mind
Great call by Gom! People are probably not going to pay for them anymore since it's been such a long time ago, but it's a really nice gesture to the fans <3
I don't know, looking back I was a lot more excited for the first few GSLs and I'm more excited to re-watch them than I am for the games over last 4-5 months.
I don't know why, but there was some kind of glamour to the first 3 seasons, like you were watching something really big. Obviously the game is in a much better place now, but I just don't feel the same thrill any more.
The greatest set from the open seasons is hands down MarineKingPrime (then known as BoxeR or FoxeR) vs. Kyrix. That was THE moment where people realized marines could be split to dodge banelings and SC2 wasn't just a rocks paper scissors game. Amazing.
Wow, just skimmed through some of the previous seasons. Good lord, it's amazing how far the gameplay has come in a little over a year. I feel like I'm watching the
I'm so thankful players like Bit-by-bit are gone. So ugly to watch.
Tasteless's observing season 1 is almost comical. The game between idra and jitaehoonzenith where tasteless is obsing the hole behind the natural for at least 30 seconds...... XD
On January 21 2012 22:17 Blacktion wrote: HAHAHA just gone back to watch some season 1 for nostalgia. The play is prett bad, but its nothing compared to the maps. Scrap station, Blistering Sands, Lost temple (those cliffs man), Desert Oasis, Steppes of war, etc. What were we thinking back then?
LOL, our game knowledge was so poor back then. Too think that we thought these were somewhat balanced maps.
On January 22 2012 05:57 casualman wrote: Tasteless's observing season 1 is almost comical. The game between idra and jitaehoonzenith where tasteless is obsing the hole behind the natural for at least 30 seconds...... XD
That game was actually a mistake, where they were showing Artosis's computer instead of Tasteless's. But yeah, overall his observing is pretty lolworthy so far.
I vow that I will watch all of Season 1. So far so good!
On January 21 2012 22:17 Blacktion wrote: HAHAHA just gone back to watch some season 1 for nostalgia. The play is prett bad, but its nothing compared to the maps. Scrap station, Blistering Sands, Lost temple (those cliffs man), Desert Oasis, Steppes of war, etc. What were we thinking back then?
"we need better strats and better maps" comes to mind
Back then there was also the whole "all the maps should be on the ladder so those without teams can be on an even playing field" argument. There was also the hope that Blizzard would release good maps eventually, and only when that didn't happen did GSL come out with their own maps.
Haha I've been going through Season 1. I've fairly sure even my horrible abilities could beat half of these players. The only ones who've stood out so far are Clide and Fruitdealer, who actually macro (They actually maxed out. I don't think there has been more than a couple games with a player getting maxed). Every Terran just abuses reapers. There's no Zergs after RO32 other than Fruitdealer, and all the Protoss either warpgate all-in, or do risky expands build that would die to a modern 2rax. Also, I forgot just how busted original Lost Temple was. Holy crap, Terran basically got free wins in close positions or if they dropped tanks.
The Fruitdealer game Artosis claimed to be the greatest SC2 game he'd seen in the semi-finals is like an average Platinum TvZ nowadays.
Edit: Oh, season 3 is included. Everyone go watch Jinro! One of the only macro Terrans at the time and he dominated. That was my first GSL and it will always be my favourite.
Starting Season 2 after I just finished season 1. Immediately noticed Jungle Basin. That map makes me sad.
God dang, just started watching the games again. Just weird to see...
Even the worker splits suck bad.
But... I'm loving every second of it. It really feels so... nostalgic. haha. But you can feel the players actually getting better so fast. and things changing from game to game. Things change these days too, but not as fast as back then.
On January 22 2012 11:32 Ben... wrote: Haha I've been going through Season 1. I've fairly sure even my horrible abilities could beat half of these players. The only ones who've stood out so far are Clide and Fruitdealer, who actually macro (They actually maxed out. I don't think there has been more than a couple games with a player getting maxed). Every Terran just abuses reapers. There's no Zergs after RO32 other than Fruitdealer, and all the Protoss either warpgate all-in, or do risky expands build that would die to a modern 2rax. Also, I forgot just how busted original Lost Temple was. Holy crap, Terran basically got free wins in close positions or if they dropped tanks.
The Fruitdealer game Artosis claimed to be the greatest SC2 game he'd seen in the semi-finals is like an average Platinum TvZ nowadays.
Edit: Oh, season 3 is included. Everyone go watch Jinro! One of the only macro Terrans at the time and he dominated. That was my first GSL and it will always be my favourite.
Starting Season 2 after I just finished season 1. Immediately noticed Jungle Basin. That map makes me sad.
Haha, I know what you mean. Really, when you go back and watch the earliest stages of any competitive game, it's all so bad relative to the modern standards that you could send back a lot of average players in a time machine and they be factors. Still, seeing the first marine splits, seeing fruitdealer rip face, seeing Boxer vs Nada, it's all worth the rest of the play being straight up bad.
The 1st game was the most memorable for me for a while, simply because it was the first instance of Foxer constantly microing a stream of Marines with no Combat Shields against tons of Banes.
But then Game 5. I had forgotten about game 5 until now, but WOW, it was phenomenal. Game 1 was cool and memorable and all, but game 5 was SICK good and blows it completely out of the water. Just such a back-and-forth slug-fest with so many momentum changes and very close throughout.
Artosis flipping out over NesTea in season 2 finals is probably the first/last time his hype was/will be accurate, so it's worth seeing just for the historicity of the moment
On January 22 2012 16:26 corpuscle wrote: Artosis flipping out over NesTea in season 2 finals is probably the first/last time his hype was/will be accurate, so it's worth seeing just for the historicity of the moment
lol, I thought he was actually tame back then. The Chuck Norris-esque jokes for Nestea didn't really come until much later. Tastosis was really just tame in general now that I think about it, you didn't really get too many of their batshit insane jokes but more focus on the games. I still like the Tastosis of today though xD
Pretty crazy that back then the best maps in the pool were Xel'naga and Shakuras (metal had close spawns...). It's surprising that Zergs actually took the first two opens and explains why so many went down fast in season 3 what with no vetoes being allowed and the popularity of scv all-ins combined with bunker wall-offs......yes I'm still bitter about Rain eliminating Nestea. Bastard...
I can't help but think that the games in S1 were played at like a mid-diamond level today. I'm pretty sure if i went back in time and practiced even reasonably hard I could win GSL S1 as a mid-master T today.
On January 23 2012 01:51 m3rciless wrote: I can't help but think that the games in S1 were played at like a mid-diamond level today. I'm pretty sure if i went back in time and practiced even reasonably hard I could win GSL S1 as a mid-master T today.
A few things to note, racial and map imbalances make certain things today not realistic. As well as people can study you before they play you and you should never underestimate the ability of pros to dissect you apart. Plus, people were... goddamn cheesy so the better player isn't necessarily going to win.
Heck, Clide arguably was the best player in the world and is doing things that look very much like the norm now, but he still didn't win.
So fun to see these old games, such underdeveloped strategies; also funny to hear Tasteless talking about players, some of whom they're saying are good who are completely gone now, or really good pros today who were unknown/underestimated back then.
On January 22 2012 14:27 churbro wrote: Woo, best three seasons by far.
I dunno about that. I think starcraft 2 overall just kinda sucked back then. Wasn't interesting to watch, less interesting to play, tons of imbalanced crap, horrendous maps.
In terms of Story Lines, I still think GSL Open 2 was the best tournament to date. The returns of Boxer and Nada with them finally meeting in the Ro8. The emergence of MarineKing, who looked truly terrible in the first round but just kept getting better and better. Our first glance at Leenock. Kyrix with his endless baneling busts. Fruitdealer and Rainbow, the two finalists from GSL Open 1 making deep runs into the tournament. Clide was actually the best player in the world. Good foreign presence in the form of Idra, TLO and Loner. Makaraxes.
And of course, the beginning of the Legend of Nestea. The guy who couldn't spread creep in GSL Open 1 was now crushing everyone. Not dropping a single game until the finals.
On January 23 2012 11:03 Teim wrote: In terms of Story Lines, I still think GSL Open 2 was the best tournament to date. The returns of Boxer and Nada with them finally meeting in the Ro8. The emergence of MarineKing, who looked truly terrible in the first round but just kept getting better and better. Our first glance at Leenock. Kyrix with his endless baneling busts. Fruitdealer and Rainbow, the two finalists from GSL Open 1 making deep runs into the tournament. Clide was actually the best player in the world. Good foreign presence in the form of Idra, TLO and Loner. Makaraxes.
And of course, the beginning of the Legend of Nestea. The guy who couldn't spread creep in GSL Open 1 was now crushing everyone. Not dropping a single game until the finals.
omg I remember that wasn't it "boxer" (marineking) vs cella I believe? That was crazy I remember everyone shitting on him (me to) for being awful then he like got over his nerves or something and played super good rest of the tournament making finals or something surprising everyone. Good times .
I don't know if I agree with storyline #2 being best but man good times :D.
Very excited. Looking back at some of the strats, its funny how far the game has come since then. Also cant wait to go back and watch some of the epic matches. Amazing by Gom to bring attention to their business and show the progression of SC2 as a game. LOVE IT!
On January 23 2012 11:03 Teim wrote: In terms of Story Lines, I still think GSL Open 2 was the best tournament to date. The returns of Boxer and Nada with them finally meeting in the Ro8. The emergence of MarineKing, who looked truly terrible in the first round but just kept getting better and better. Our first glance at Leenock. Kyrix with his endless baneling busts. Fruitdealer and Rainbow, the two finalists from GSL Open 1 making deep runs into the tournament. Clide was actually the best player in the world. Good foreign presence in the form of Idra, TLO and Loner. Makaraxes.
And of course, the beginning of the Legend of Nestea. The guy who couldn't spread creep in GSL Open 1 was now crushing everyone. Not dropping a single game until the finals.
omg I remember that wasn't it "boxer" (marineking) vs cella I believe? That was crazy I remember everyone shitting on him (me to) for being awful then he like got over his nerves or something and played super good rest of the tournament making finals or something surprising everyone. Good times .
I don't know if I agree with storyline #2 being best but man good times :D.
I think that it's because BaByWerra (was him not Cella) was so awful that MKP did look bad too. Plus the fact that he named himself "BoxeR". If I remember correctly he was highly ranked on ladder when his first game was played, so he was already good back then
I watched all of MKPs season 2 games to try and get hyped up for his resurgence this GSL but then I got really depressed when Nestea's lings had just killed everything in his base in game 7 but MKP isn't gging and you know that its because he's crying in his booth. come on Boxer don't break my heart again
This is a really great present for long-time SC2 fans from GOMTV. Just watched some games from OPEN season I and I must say that hearing the "Ready to Roll" theme again instantly gave me goosebumps all over. Totally awesome to see this again!
EPT
these are definitely worth watching 
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