On March 07 2013 23:15 fluidin wrote: EDIT: it just seems silly that most bashers of the elephant article do not take into context the timing of its conception and the significance it had then compared to what it has now
What significance that article had, except for pissing off a whole lot of people?
The article at the time just pissed people off. The article was a bit too early, it should come out right about now or maybe in a couple of months.
But it had it points and today the people laughing at that article isn't laughing nearly as much looking at EG-TL in Proleague and the rise of Kespa players breaking into Code S. The hype article putting EG-TL as favourite to win the Proleague is much more laughable in retrospective.
Totally underestimating Kespa teams talent, discipline and practice regime.
Give it 6 more months and I would be surprised if there are any but Kespa A-teamers completely dominating every league.
That article should never have been made, not even now. All it did was create a barrier between fans of the current ESF players and fans of the Kespa players. There already was a barrier but all this gave was ammunition for both sides. Now why i like some of the Kespa players gameplay i cannot root for them simply cause of the annoying elephant crap going on. Oh how i wished TL would simply ban all that nonsense when HoTS comes out so all this crap is at least limited but we all know they won't
if you can't root for a player because there is crap surrounding him it's just laughable.
It's not him, its the obnoxious fans. Same reason i can't root for Stephano either. When said players stop winning the annoying ass fans stop.
no fans are annoying if you're not a fan yourself, because their arguments are pretty stupid in 99% of the cases. When there are lots of them they're just more vocals.
I live in LA. Some of you guys sound worse than Laker fans this season. They've been playing better lately but no way can they compete with the likes of Miami and OKC. The hype surrounding EG-TL was similar to the Laker preseason hype.
On March 07 2013 23:15 fluidin wrote: EDIT: it just seems silly that most bashers of the elephant article do not take into context the timing of its conception and the significance it had then compared to what it has now
What significance that article had, except for pissing off a whole lot of people?
The article at the time just pissed people off. The article was a bit too early, it should come out right about now or maybe in a couple of months.
But it had it points and today the people laughing at that article isn't laughing nearly as much looking at EG-TL in Proleague and the rise of Kespa players breaking into Code S. The hype article putting EG-TL as favourite to win the Proleague is much more laughable in retrospective.
Totally underestimating Kespa teams talent, discipline and practice regime.
Give it 6 more months and I would be surprised if there are any but Kespa A-teamers completely dominating every league.
That article should never have been made, not even now. All it did was create a barrier between fans of the current ESF players and fans of the Kespa players. There already was a barrier but all this gave was ammunition for both sides. Now why i like some of the Kespa players gameplay i cannot root for them simply cause of the annoying elephant crap going on. Oh how i wished TL would simply ban all that nonsense when HoTS comes out so all this crap is at least limited but we all know they won't
if you can't root for a player because there is crap surrounding him it's just laughable.
It's not him, its the obnoxious fans. Same reason i can't root for Stephano either. When said players stop winning the annoying ass fans stop.
no fans are annoying if you're not a fan yourself, because their arguments are pretty stupid in 99% of the cases. When there are lots of them they're just more vocals.
Well excuse me if i don't want the live report thread change into google image search for elephant.
On March 07 2013 21:07 opterown wrote: that article was probably less incorrect than the one intrigue wrote about elephants~
Kespa already has 13 spots in Code S.
And the article said they would have pretty much every spot in Code S within 3-4 months.
considering what they have achieved now, the elephant article could very well have come true had Kespa switched right at the time of the article release, when the esf players haven't matured as much
EDIT: it just seems silly that most bashers of the elephant article do not take into context the timing of its conception and the significance it had then compared to what it has now
Nope, because the article was extremely clear, and it also did so by insulting a scene which had many players which were dear to the fans. No sir, Intrigue doesn't get the benefit of having his article reinterpretated for the current times, not when it had that horrible tone. Elitist to the extreme.
Add to that, the article was so severe, even in today's situation, it's STILL wrong, and very wrong.
On March 07 2013 21:07 opterown wrote: that article was probably less incorrect than the one intrigue wrote about elephants~
Kespa already has 13 spots in Code S.
And the article said they would have pretty much every spot in Code S within 3-4 months.
considering what they have achieved now, the elephant article could very well have come true had Kespa switched right at the time of the article release, when the esf players haven't matured as much
EDIT: it just seems silly that most bashers of the elephant article do not take into context the timing of its conception and the significance it had then compared to what it has now
No, the elephant article was stupid because Kespa WEREN'T switching. So basically the author just went on this SC2 pro bashing ramble which could never be proved nor disproved and it just created a divide between Kespa fans and eSF fans. Like you pointed out, since Kespa switched a year later, the SC2 landscape was different. So nothing can be proven.
And having Kespa teams actually pick up eSF players like PartinG for a significant salary shows that eSF players aren't innately less talented in RTS. Which was what the article was trying to say. Also, having Roro in the GSL finals when players like JD, Bisu, Stork are still struggling doesn't help the article either.
Ive said many times that Bisu wasnt as good during the end of Broodwar. Roro also elimnated Bisu in the last BW osl preliminaries. Elephant isnt entirely right either. Soulkey started to become S class level in BW during 2010, had he switched to SC2 during that time he would receive the same shit from BW elitists. MVP and MC might become the next Soulkey if they stayed in BW.
Not sure why all the writer bashing is going on, at the time of its writing the assessment was perfectly valid, the Korean teams where an unknown variable on the whole, we had seen sparks of brilliance from some of their representatives like Flash, herO and RorO, Effort, Reality etc, but on the whole we had zero knowledge regarding the rest of them.
On the other side HerO and Taeja where known variables, both with multiple championship wins, high finishers in Code S and good performances overall in other team leagues, and those are just the aces JYP is a strong PvP player and a good PvZ specialist, Stephano a very good ZvT player and a ZvP specialist, then you had JD that displayed sparks of brilliance in ZvZ like his old BW self, and suddenly you have a good strong core, the supporting cast was never that impressive but honestly if all went well they wouldn't even need to be sent out that often.
So yes, on paper the team is really good. I do believe however that the writers did hype up EG-TL too much, more caution should have been forewarned, because, as has been demonstrated in the past by the eSF teams, Korean work ethic and practice will make them champion contenders in the long run, the question was never of if, it was of when.
What we have learned from this experience is to never, ever under estimate the KeSPA teams and their practice methods. This is why I believe that a change in philosophy and direction is needed for EG-TL. The team just can't base all its hopes on Taeja and/or Hero, or all its hopes on HoTS, the team is basically going all-in with this move, what the team really needs is a new, better, more rigorous more efficient practice regime that, while won't bring immediate results, will work out in the long run, and they need ALL their lineup to perform, and I do mean ALL of them, each and every one of the members of EG-TL has to pull his weight.
Keep in mind the transition from WoL to HoTS is much less extreme then from BW to SC2, so at the rate KeSPA teams improve I'll give it one month at most for them to get a grip on HoTS, after which it will be the exact same situation we have now unless EG-TL changes something.
On March 07 2013 21:24 Serimek wrote: Only Stephano above 50%. Not something I was expecting at all before SPL started...
Its kinda hard to make a point with player stats. they dont all share the sample size. Huk has 2 losses but that doesnt mean he is the worst player in PL you need to have bigger sample size to determine whos the best
Bisu is 1:1 this season. 50% winrate This means that he would be a top EG-TL player.
I think EG-TL's problem is the very weak rooster line up, I'm not referring to player skill but the amount of players. KESPA teams are up to 20 players deep (including B teamers), they are able to train for very specific circumstances and have others dedicated to breaking down players and exploiting their weaknesses. EG-TL doesn't really have this network of practice regimes that KESPA teams have established over a decade. A single coach can only do so much for a team.
On March 07 2013 21:00 StarVe wrote: At least now we have an article to link to morons who believe TL writers were simply biased in the Round 1 preview and no one with a clear mind would have thought that EGTL would do well.
I think at one point you could swich two teams on the PL ranking and you would have the exact opposit of his preview ranking of the teams. That is incredibly inaccurate. And it is not only that, Fionn (and other TL writers as well) consistantly predicts that the kespa players will lose (and they are consistantly wrong).
I recomend that they watch some more of PL. I think it is at this point the most competitive league in the world.
I think you should don't know what you're talking about. I have watched every Proleague game this entire season (and most of the other writers also watch Proleague regularly); if I predict a KeSPA player to lose, it's because I think he's in a worse spot than his opponent(s), not because he's KeSPA because that's a bullshit reason.
It's the job of TL writers to hype the "home" team. What, you really thought they would make an accurate assessment and put EG-TL at the middle of the pack? No way, they're going to hype everything TL related. EG-TL so far has even exceeded my expectations for being bad though, I thought they would've been in the 4-6 range, not dead last. I suppose I should've remembered the lessons of GSTL.
On March 08 2013 00:47 TeslasPigeon wrote: I think EG-TL's problem is the very weak rooster line up, I'm not referring to player skill but the amount of players. KESPA teams are up to 20 players deep (including B teamers), they are able to train for very specific circumstances and have others dedicated to breaking down players and exploiting their weaknesses. EG-TL doesn't really have this network of practice regimes that KESPA teams have established over a decade. A single coach can only do so much for a team.
I don't think this is the case anymore. I read during the game switch that many of the b-teamers/trainees quit because they had devoted so much time and all for nothing when sc2 came. Some of them took the chance to make it with sc2 instead but those who didn't make it into a Proleague lineup quit too. The Starcraft divisons don't have as much cash anymore either when like every team have LoL teams now too.
Some of the teams probably have a few trainees but I don't think they have a full b-team grinding their asses off every day like they used to have. I think the avarage lineup is like 10-12 players, the same as EG-TL this season.
On March 07 2013 21:07 opterown wrote: that article was probably less incorrect than the one intrigue wrote about elephants~
Kespa already has 13 spots in Code S.
And the article said they would have pretty much every spot in Code S within 3-4 months.
considering what they have achieved now, the elephant article could very well have come true had Kespa switched right at the time of the article release, when the esf players haven't matured as much
EDIT: it just seems silly that most bashers of the elephant article do not take into context the timing of its conception and the significance it had then compared to what it has now
No, the elephant article was stupid because Kespa WEREN'T switching. So basically the author just went on this SC2 pro bashing ramble which could never be proved nor disproved and it just created a divide between Kespa fans and eSF fans. Like you pointed out, since Kespa switched a year later, the SC2 landscape was different. So nothing can be proven.
And having Kespa teams actually pick up eSF players like PartinG for a significant salary shows that eSF players aren't innately less talented in RTS. Which was what the article was trying to say. Also, having Roro in the GSL finals when players like JD, Bisu, Stork are still struggling doesn't help the article either.
i think we had this discussion before. i reiterate my stand that there are viable points for both sides, that while the kespa players could easily have taken over, that was not to say esf players are trash. I believe some of them are amazingly talented too, but a huge difference is the way kespa teams operate and train, which will give them a huge advantage. this was shown in proleague.
it is sad that both sides couldn't have just discussed the article amicably. granted, the tone of the elephant article didn't help a bit.
EDIT: alright, i'm probably understating the impact the article's tone had. it was pretty insulting, i agree
I didn't see anyone mention KeSpa's ridiculous map pool. Of course they're winning more, when EGTL are practicing on maps for GSL, MLG, etc. and the KeSpa players are practicing on maps like Arkanoid and CalDeum (on which maps EGTL has like a 5% winrate) Edit: And to further prove my point - when KT Rolster started practicing GSL maps, they dropped to 6 losses in a row in Proleague, while getting 2 players into Code S.
◆Will HotS be their Saving Grace? EG-TL's plan is to use round four, which will commence as HotS, to bring themselves back into the league. EG-TL hasn't officially confirmed this but there seems to be a plan to switch up the foreigners roster for round four. There is a very high chance that EG will add on to the EG-TL roster, Benjamin "DeMusliM" Baker and Greg "IdrA" Fields who has already been preparing for HotS for a long time.
Here is the most important question of all, can EG-TL's main players show a different form for Heart of the Swarm? If EG-TL is unable to perform up to expectations yet again for HotS, then there is a good chance that EG-TL will never be able to break out of last place. However, EG-TL had a head start in preparing for HotS compared to other Proleague teams so once again, there are high expectations for them.