On the 12th, the Starcraft 2 team StarTale officially released the news that they have started a partnership with the American team Quantic Gaming. Quantic Gaming currently holds the famous foreign players Kim “SaSe” Hammar and Johan “NaNiwa” Lucchesi and has also claimed several Call of Duty championships in North America.
As part of StarTale and Quantic’s player exchange program, SaSe and NaNiwa are currently practicing at the StarTale team house, and StarTale players will be given the chance to come to the states to practice whenever they want in Quantic’s team house that plans on opening in March in North America, as well as participate in foreign tournaments.
On top of this, StarTale players will have all their expenses covered when participating in foreign tournaments, and henceforth the two teams will engage in various projects together.
StarTale’s manager Won Jong Wook said “I’m very happy that we were able to enter this partnership with Quantic Gaming and I hope this will be a win-win situation for both teams. We’ll make sure to provide the best environment for Quantic players to produce the best results. StarTale’s first priority will be the Global Starcraft2 League (GSL) and we will send players whose schedules don’t coincide with GSL’s schedule to Quantic to participate in foreign tournaments”.
Quantic was recently in a partnership with IM, the team that holds NesTea and MVP, but because the teams had differing views for their future, this relationship did not last long. Eventually, Quantic ended up joining hands with a different partnership candidate, StarTale.
Please let me know if any mistakes are spotted! Thank you
On January 13 2012 23:37 Torte de Lini wrote: Not surprising! But very excited and glad this is happening! Also can't wait to hear about this team house O:
Congrats on 4k post!
Lol Torte cares about the 4k post! >.< who could tell?
Unsurprising given that they're already cosy in t'teamhouse, but yeah this is great news. colmvp have done well together, so hoping for good things from theses doodz
edit:
On January 13 2012 23:46 IAmSpooner wrote: Does this mean that we might see SaSe and Naniwa in the GSTL?
There's an entry under StartaleQ in the GSTL, whereas it's only MVP not colMVP, so I'm almost certain yes.
Tought they were partners, with quantiq training at ST and all the fuss about that. But nice to get it on paper and Sase/Naniwa getting a shot at the GSTL.
Startale definitely have the best house by far at the moment, at least until Slayers move into their new one. So glad Nani and Sase are staying in such a sick training environment!
I gotta say, this says quantic will be covering all the expenses for Startale players at foreign tournaments, this makes me wonder - how can foreign teams afford this kind of thing? (I think col-MVP have a similar deal, and I don't know about slayers/eg but they might as well.) Do they take the money out of their budgets - like, they could hire another player but they do a Korean team partnership instead, since they see that as more valuable? Or is it more like they're a conduit between the western sponsor companies and the Korean teams, getting their sponsors to pay for the Koreans' travel?
Good luck Startale, hope the partnership works out well although Naniwa is quite the hard person to work with. He's starting to become like MajOr, stubborn/constantly switching teams.
On January 14 2012 00:28 strongandbig wrote: Great news! Hope this works out for the long run.
I gotta say, this says quantic will be covering all the expenses for Startale players at foreign tournaments, this makes me wonder - how can foreign teams afford this kind of thing? (I think col-MVP have a similar deal, and I don't know about slayers/eg but they might as well.) Do they take the money out of their budgets - like, they could hire another player but they do a Korean team partnership instead, since they see that as more valuable? Or is it more like they're a conduit between the western sponsor companies and the Korean teams, getting their sponsors to pay for the Koreans' travel?
Foreigner teams in general tend to have more sponsors since in Korea most sponors are still on brood war. More sponsors = more money to fly people around = more exposure to the sponsors = happy sponsors = more flying around. Foreigner/Korean team partnerships are quite important since it not only gives your team more exposure then alone but also gives your players a chance to get the best practice possible if they are up for it and play the highest lvl there is.
no seriously, what kind of expression are you making
A guy with wide eyes wearing glasses!
Sick announcement! Hopefully now Sase and Naniwa can get some booth time with a bit less pressure in them as well, so they can feel more comfortable, then tear through to Code A and beyond!
On January 13 2012 23:37 Zvenn3n wrote: StarTale_NaNiwa inc? I digress, this sounds real nice! Perhaps we'll be seeing ST players such as Bomber in foreign tournaments now? =)
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
oGsTL and coL-MVP are still things-- and they've been around for months.
Great to hear, definitely looking forward to seeing what the Quantic house has to offer, and maybe seeing some more of these sick Startale players at foreign events. :D
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
Thought this was already official o.0, seeing as sase/nani/destiny have already been practicing for 1-2 months in ST house already. Still, great news that they will be able to play in GSTL!
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
sooner or later every foreign team going to try to pick up a korean team for partnership simply because we can't hang with the koreans when they compete at our tournaments. If you can't beat them,join them.
Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
On January 14 2012 01:01 Theovide wrote: Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
I don't really see the point in a NA team-house for Quantic.
Their top players (Naniwa, SaSe, even Shuffle) are all in Korea, and as far as I'm aware plan on staying there for a while.
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
On January 14 2012 01:01 Theovide wrote: Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
I don't really see the point in a NA team-house for Quantic.
Their top players (Naniwa, SaSe, even Shuffle) are all in Korea, and as far as I'm aware plan on staying there for a while.
Still, congrats to them, and good luck!
Probably for other games, their CEO said on F Slasher (rip) that it would be a multi-gaming house in NA. They will probably partner with the LoL team as well as it seems that is where the money is going to be at this and next year (at least the raw numbers are there for it).
On January 13 2012 23:47 bbm wrote: Unsurprising given that they're already cosy in t'teamhouse, but yeah this is great news. colmvp have done well together, so hoping for good things from theses doodz
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
oGs-TL has been going since 2010/early 2011. colMVP has been going on for a long time as well. Only thing that really fated away quickly was Quantic-IM.
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
coL.MvP, oGsSK, SlayerS/EG are all still there.
Boy, I feel silly now.
Isn't Nada still oGsSK?
No, according to the article, the oGs.SK partnership has been dissolved.
On January 13 2012 23:37 Torte de Lini wrote: Not surprising! But very excited and glad this is happening! Also can't wait to hear about this team house O:
Best of luck to this partnership, it is probably a more natural fit than IM-Quantic since Startale does more than one game professionally.
Furthermore Startale seems more open whereas IM is characterized by more secluded, no-streaming and probably no shared coaching or practice between partners.
Awesome, it looks like the foreigners are enjoying them self in the house/team, and that the koreans like the foreigners to. Good luck to everybody =) Nani and Sase fighting!!
Furthermore Startale seems more open whereas IM is characterized by more secluded, no-streaming and probably no shared coaching or practice between partners.
IM has been streaming with Hwanni live translating.
On January 14 2012 00:44 Avril_Lavigne wrote: Won't last long, like almost all partnerships. I don't even see the real point in these partnerships really. THey all just end so fast
You're judging based off of?
Other than QIM, most partnerships formed in SC2 have stayed intact.
coL.MvP, oGsSK, SlayerS/EG are all still there.
Boy, I feel silly now.
Isn't Nada still oGsSK?
No, according to the article, the oGs.SK partnership has been dissolved.
It wasn't really an oGsSK partnership, more like... 2 players from oGs would wear SK shirts and get sent to foreign events. That's markedly different from EG/Slayers, oGs/TL, coL/MVP I think.
On January 13 2012 23:37 Zvenn3n wrote: I digress, this sounds real nice! Perhaps we'll be seeing ST players such as Bomber in foreign tournaments now? =)
Actually I would say that Startale is one of the teams that had the most players at international events in the past already. Ace, Squirtle, Bomber, Sound, Tester, FruitDealer, July all played in USA or Europe before.
I'm just surprised at where Quantic has come from really... A few months ago, nobody had heard of them other than being Sase's team, now they're one of the biggest foreigner teams with a really strong partnership.
Lol. more like a win for startale lose for quantic. paying for players flight just to have 2 ppl stay in their house? doesnt seem like a big win to me.
this is a win for SaSe and Naniwa as they are friends.
Furthermore Startale seems more open whereas IM is characterized by more secluded, no-streaming and probably no shared coaching or practice between partners.
IM has been streaming with Hwanni live translating.
Thank you. I was aware of that but wasn't that just a one-off thing? If I am wrong I apologize. Regardless compare that amount of streaming with how much streaming we have seen from July, Squirtle, Rainbow, Aphrodite, Bomber, Sound, Virus (probably forgetting a few names) from StarTale is fair to say that one team is more "open" with showing some of their cards.
I am not saying it is a bad thing, from a team perspective, not to stream. I think it is a team strategy and a conscious choice. It is, I surmise, important that both teams think alike about these things if a partnership should succeed and be meaningful.
As part of StarTale and Quantic’s player exchange program, SaSe and NaNiwa are currently practicing at the StarTale team house, and StarTale players will be given the chance to come to the states to practice whenever they want in Quantic’s team house that plans on opening in March in North America, as well as participate in foreign tournaments.
"Heeeyyyyy Startale, this is Quantic! Wanna come over and practice?"
Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
I knew this was going to happen sooner or later, they had both SaSe and Naniwa staying in the house, and Destiny went there. Really glad it is official, and really hope this means we can see more bomber and what not at foreign tournaments!
On January 14 2012 04:24 hoby2000 wrote: Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
well now..... aren't you a bitter fellow huh ^^
OT: Very nice and hopefully this partnership will last much much longer than the one with IM.
As part of StarTale and Quantic’s player exchange program, SaSe and NaNiwa are currently practicing at the StarTale team house, and StarTale players will be given the chance to come to the states to practice whenever they want in Quantic’s team house that plans on opening in March in North America, as well as participate in foreign tournaments.
"Heeeyyyyy Startale, this is Quantic! Wanna come over and practice?"
"Oh your busy? Uh...are you sure?!"
"...Alright, maybe next month then!"
Players would stay there if their tournament schedule meant it'd be wiser to stay in America than Korea, like when there was a big foreign tournament every week or so near the end of last year.
On January 14 2012 04:24 hoby2000 wrote: Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
Don't bring that shit here. Quantic has one of the strongest lineups of any foreigner team, and are willing to pay for tickets if STs players want to participate in foreign tournaments. Why on Earth wouldn't they want a deal like that?
This is great, was expected but still an amazing partnership, so is there a new tag that will come into place? Quantic Startale? :-P SaSe and NaNiwa are baller protoss players, and JulyZerg is a legendary Zerg, This will be great and interesting to say the least, gl guys~
On January 14 2012 05:33 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: Great for ST, QxG, and for NORDiwa!
nordiwa? more like swediwa ^^ lololo
Scandinavians are also called Nordics or Nords. Also, Nords are the most badass people in TES (especially Skyrim) . It's a great compliment to call him NORDiwa .
I remember someone made a shooped picture of Naniwa with the gear Dragonborn has in the Skyrim commercial. I lol'd xd.
On January 14 2012 04:24 hoby2000 wrote: Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
On January 14 2012 05:33 JudicatorHammurabi wrote: Great for ST, QxG, and for NORDiwa!
nordiwa? more like swediwa ^^ lololo
Scandinavians are also called Nordics or Nords. Also, Nords are the most badass people in TES (especially Skyrim) . It's a great compliment to call him NORDiwa .
I remember someone made a shooped picture of Naniwa with the gear Dragonborn has in the Skyrim commercial. I lol'd xd.
yeah you don't need to lecture me about that haha :D
Ahhhh i need to open my Xbox 360 version of Skyrim soon..... but i need to go through the awesomeness that is Zelda Skyrim Sword first
On January 14 2012 04:24 hoby2000 wrote: Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
On January 14 2012 06:09 rS.eZrA wrote: Saw this coming a mile away.
Considering they have been at the ST_House training.
I know at least Destiny/Naniwa were.
NaNiwa is still @ StartaLe house and SaSe has joined up aswell.
Technically Sase was there before Naniwa. He's just been home over christmas.
Sase was never at the Startale house, he was in IM house (and GomHouse before that) before Dreamhack and he was in China after christmas he just got to the ST house for the first time (last week). And also Naniwa was in Startale before he was at MVP house.
On January 14 2012 04:24 hoby2000 wrote: Good. I hate Startale, and now I can hate them even more. They must be looking desperately for a foreigner team to help support them in foreign tournaments if they're willing to partner with a team that has Naniwa on it.
On January 14 2012 06:09 rS.eZrA wrote: Saw this coming a mile away.
Considering they have been at the ST_House training.
I know at least Destiny/Naniwa were.
NaNiwa is still @ StartaLe house and SaSe has joined up aswell.
Technically Sase was there before Naniwa. He's just been home over christmas.
Your wrong. NaNiwa was there first long before SaSe. SaSe joined the Startale house first a couple of days ago. If you don't believe me ask eighter NaNiwa or SaSe.
I wonder who will end up being the better player out of the two Swedes. They seem similarly dedicated to the game, although perhaps SaSe is a bit behind the curves as I think he only dedicated himself 100% to the game after Naniwa had already been doing so.
Their PvZ is probably their weakest matchup, at least by Korean standards so getting to practice with Curious should help fix that!
I just hope these guys get to actually practice with the team proper, if i recall correctly Naniwa complained that the MVP guys didn't really practice with him as much as he had previously hoped. Just hope Quantic have got this kind of thing in mind and really maximise the potential for this linkup, instead of just forking out money to send Startale's players to MLGs
I hope this can help lead to better results for Startale. They have such an awesome array of players, but just haven't been producing the best results lately.
On January 14 2012 01:01 Theovide wrote: Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
I don't really see the point in a NA team-house for Quantic.
Their top players (Naniwa, SaSe, even Shuffle) are all in Korea, and as far as I'm aware plan on staying there for a while.
Still, congrats to them, and good luck!
You have no reason commenting here if you are calling shuffle one of there top players.
I remember after the news of Destiny training in the StarTale house, something was going to happen, and I'm glad it did! I hope this partnership lasts longer than he QIM one.
On January 14 2012 01:01 Theovide wrote: Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
I don't really see the point in a NA team-house for Quantic.
Their top players (Naniwa, SaSe, even Shuffle) are all in Korea, and as far as I'm aware plan on staying there for a while.
Still, congrats to them, and good luck!
You have no reason commenting here if you are calling shuffle one of there top players.
I'd get legitimately offended but i'm too busy chuckling
On January 14 2012 01:01 Theovide wrote: Awesome stuff, also it seems that this relationship is even more far going (as in a more partnershippy partnership, or whatever you say) than the last one with quanitc? Also a teamhouse in NA is big new! :D
I don't really see the point in a NA team-house for Quantic.
Their top players (Naniwa, SaSe, even Shuffle) are all in Korea, and as far as I'm aware plan on staying there for a while.
Still, congrats to them, and good luck!
You have no reason commenting here if you are calling shuffle one of there top players.
I'd get legitimately offended but i'm too busy chuckling
And one of the worst kept secrets of SC2 comes to an end! :p
Good luck to both parties and I wish them a lasting companionship, I really like team partnerships in SC2... especially when the teams have players of arguably equal skill level.
Hmm this deal is kind of bitter-sweet. On the one hand it's great that Korean teams and foreigner teams are coming together to bridge the gap. However, it's pretty sad that Korean teams are unable to obtain lucrative sponsorship deals like the BW teams, and as a result must rely on NA teams for financial support.
On January 14 2012 13:12 Shebuha wrote: I really like this and am happy that a team house will be opening up for Quantic. I wonder if Agh and Destiny will be there? ^_^
Destiny, Naniwa and SaSe (if he has returned from that china tourney(WCG?)) are there already afaik.
On January 14 2012 13:12 Shebuha wrote: I really like this and am happy that a team house will be opening up for Quantic. I wonder if Agh and Destiny will be there? ^_^
Destiny, Naniwa and SaSe (if he has returned from that china tourney(WCG?)) are there already afaik.
Fairly certain Destiny isn't at any practice house right, he didn't seem to be on stream and asking his chat chat comes with the same answer: no, hes not.
On January 14 2012 13:12 Shebuha wrote: I really like this and am happy that a team house will be opening up for Quantic. I wonder if Agh and Destiny will be there? ^_^
Destiny, Naniwa and SaSe (if he has returned from that china tourney(WCG?)) are there already afaik.
Fairly certain Destiny isn't at any practice house right, he didn't seem to be on stream and asking his chat chat comes with the same answer: no, hes not.
Hmm is Destiny still in Korea? I did see Naniwa on Destinys stream some time ago so I thought theyre both in ST house.
On January 14 2012 13:12 Shebuha wrote: I really like this and am happy that a team house will be opening up for Quantic. I wonder if Agh and Destiny will be there? ^_^
Destiny, Naniwa and SaSe (if he has returned from that china tourney(WCG?)) are there already afaik.
Fairly certain Destiny isn't at any practice house right, he didn't seem to be on stream and asking his chat chat comes with the same answer: no, hes not.
Hmm is Destiny still in Korea? I did see Naniwa on Destinys stream some time ago so I thought theyre both in ST house.
No, he's not. He recently just left and is back in the US.
I'm intensely curious about the exact problem that caused Quantic/IM to fail, and why a similar problem is not expected to eventually torpedo this partnership.
It was sort of expected with Naniwa and Destiny chillin at the ST house for so long, people are bound to get to know each other and work stuff out that way
On January 15 2012 11:28 kedinik wrote: I'm intensely curious about the exact problem that caused Quantic/IM to fail, and why a similar problem is not expected to eventually torpedo this partnership.
Even though you are not saying it right out it sounds like you already made up your mind that it was Quantic who made the partnership fail.
We can't know if a similar problem is to be expected since we don't know the details why their partnership fail. They probably agreed on that they wouldn't publicise it. And IF it was Quantic's fault then you can't compare the Quantic/IM partnership with the Quantic/Startale partnership sinces IM and Startale are two completely different teams.
I know that you are just curious but your comment makes me think of gossip magazine's. Don't overreact.
On January 15 2012 11:28 kedinik wrote: I'm intensely curious about the exact problem that caused Quantic/IM to fail, and why a similar problem is not expected to eventually torpedo this partnership.
Since no one know why they split up it's impossible to say if it will happen again. I've seen nothing that suggest there is any bad blood between quantic and IM and I'm sure if there was anything serious star tale would have heard about it behind the scenes. I don't think there is anything to worry about.
On January 13 2012 23:52 sad.wish wrote: Korean team hopper : Quantic
Fits the team hopping Destiny perfectly!
Sorry how is Destiny a team hopper? Was on Root for the longest time then Root got absorbed by by Complexity an Destiny wasn't all comfy cosey with the team so he left them and went teamless for the longest time. Then signed with Quantic an seems like he'll be there for a while. So please keep blatant falsehoods out next time it's much appreciated Also having one partnership with a Korean team fail makes you a team hopper?
On January 13 2012 23:52 sad.wish wrote: Korean team hopper : Quantic
Fits the team hopping Destiny perfectly!
Sorry how is Destiny a team hopper? Was on Root for the longest time then Root got absorbed by by Complexity an Destiny wasn't all comfy cosey with the team so he left them and went teamless for the longest time. Then signed with Quantic an seems like he'll be there for a while. So please keep blatant falsehoods out next time it's much appreciated Also having one partnership with a Korean team fail makes you a team hopper?
I agree with this. Seems more like NaNi switches teams around a lot. Wasn't he somewhere before Dignitas? That makes it _____, Dignitas, coL, QxG
On January 16 2012 22:25 MutaBisque wrote: Quantic is like the Oakland Raiders of Starcraft. Naniwa, Destiny, they take the players the others teams dont want lol
welcome to team liquid youngling!
They aren't exactly your typical pro-gamers but they atleast have the skill to compete.