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Mod Edit:
@RotterdaM08
Sound unfortunately couldn't make it to the #IEM, @followgrubby will replace him. This means 5P+Nerchi. This also means Elfi wins the group.
Today, via the posts made between Violet and Sound on twitter it was announced that Sound will not be attending the IEM WC event in Germany, which starts tomorrow.
I have been waiting for confirmation of the attendance of our players, first learning that Fruitdealer would not attend and now Sound.
On behalf of StarTale, I would like to thank everyone for the support they have shown StarTale and the kind words we see daily from the fans.We are sorry that our players will not be present at the event and hope we can visit our fans outside of Korea in the future. The IEM WC is going to be a world class event, with last years event being incredibly special to us with Ace and Squirtle taking 1st and 3rd respectively.
I would also like to apologise to IEM for having this come out one day before the event and hope we do not cause too much disruption to the schedule. I know the Korean coaches were looking for ways to send Sound but it did not seem possible.
It has been up in the air for sometime and has now gone public about the attendance for our players, I tried to get an answer as soon as possible but this was a very last minute decision and one I respect from the other members of StarTale.
We are deeply sorry about the situation we have caused, we tried to find ways around it but by the end of it we were still unable to send Sound due to the costs.
* Directly from me (JBanks) - I appreciate peoples views and concerns on this matter but there is only so much someone in my position can do. I have to go with what is said by the Korean coaches and work with them, they tried very hard to find a solution but the final attempt failed and this is our current outcome, once again, sorry to everyone who we let down. In ST I work on simply trying to engage with the fans outside of Korea, marketing, working with our sponsors and looking after players during their trips in Europe, hopefully we can bring some ST players to Europe again soon*
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Is this an open letter to IEM or did they know before hand that there's a possibility of Sound not attending?
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Pretty big blow to the scene imo that we have top class players canceling at the last minute unless the tournament pays for accomodations. IMO kinda disresepctful by the Korean players to accept invites to tournaments without trying to book travel months in advance... I guess due to the randomness of GSL schedule. Unfortunate, though - something will definitely have to change.
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Sad to hear, will still be a great event, shame about sound not being able to attend.
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That's unfortunate. :/
Title scared me a little bit. I thought that ST_Sound had gone missing and been kidnapped or something while trying to get to IEM. Glad it wasn't so! 
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i thought startale had money to send players to events maybe it's only for their top players
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On March 05 2012 23:43 mki wrote:
Is this an open letter to IEM or did they know before hand that there's a possibility of Sound not attending?
This is an open post to the community and I have been talking via skype with Carmac who works for ESL.
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as much as tournament organizers get called out for mistakes so should teams and players, cancelling participation one day before the event without good reason is just unacceptable
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I realize that you're providing second-hand information, but it is embarrassing to delay announcing not being able to send your player to a tournament due to the cost until a day before the tournament begins. It is extremely inconsiderate of the tournament organizer and rather amateurish by the team not to plan ahead.
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Really? One day before the event? How can a team not know it earlier? Doesn't sound (lol) very professional! Feel sorry for the player and for IEM. They have to deal with this.
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iem suffers fom "massive" drops and is it just bad lack or something else? I hope it is really bad luck that so many players have decided to decline their invitation.
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On March 05 2012 23:48 Tsubbi wrote:
as much as tournament organizers get called out for mistakes so should teams and players, cancelling participation one day before the event without good reason is just unacceptable
This is why I asked if it's an open letter. JBanks seems to have said that he has been in talks with Carmac which wasn't a straight answer but once can infer that ESL has known this was a possibility for quite some time.
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How unfortunate...Pokebunny is totally right, something needs to change with these situations but at the same time GSL is so random you never know when you will have to play months in advance if you accept an invitation.
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Maybe there is some local talent to fill in? Enough players in Europe that can hup in a plane.
Koreans should try to avoid this in the future though, seems like every time that they have to make sure the VISA/Flight/Accommodation is taken care for something goes wrong.
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Really feeling bad for IEM, this was gonna be an awesome tournament, and I'm sure it still will be, but that's 4 of the original players who aren't going now... Granted Ret's cancellation was due to health reasons, one still sorta is disappointed...
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On March 05 2012 23:50 archonOOid wrote:
iem suffers fom "massive" drops and is it just bad lack or something else? I hope it is really bad luck that so many players have decided to decline their invitation.
It had to been expected. Players were automatically qualified due to their IEM performance.
Its not like in other tournaments were players have to confirm an invitation.
There had to be scheduling issues and other stuff.
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Maybe the ST team decided that he'd be more useful in the GSTL on satuday when StarTaleQuantic faces Prime again?
He does seem like one of their better players, and they made it to the RO6 after all so there's not too long of a way to go before the finals, and Prime did beat StarTale convincingly in the IPL TAC and Prime all-killed them in the KSL.
I'm personally cheering for Prime in the match-up, but it would be a shame if StarTale lost to Prime a 3rd time in such a short while.
Some of the players such as DRG have been seeming pretty enthusiastic about GSTL finals taking place in Vegas.
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But to be honest. I think it would be much more valuable for ST to send Sound to the IEM than keeping him in Korea for the GSTL. Sound is by far no regular GSTL player for ST and they have a deep enough lineup to find a substitution for him. But IEM would be a chance for him and the team, to get some worldwide audience. I really can't understand this decision. (especially since Parting was send to MLG with ST having an important GSTL match against IM and with Parting being actually their strongest player!)
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EPT
