EPTStarcraft 2
You know, I don't like Patience. It's nothing personal, he seems like an ok guy. Young, polite and clearly with potential. However, he (1) plays protoss, (2) has no korean nor international achievement for which we can draw a storyline about him, and more importantly (3) he plays protoss, which in itself means your soul is corrupted, dark and hopeless. However, I was rooting for him sooo much in the semifinals! Man, I couldn't believe we would have a ZvZ so I was rooting for whoever could prevent that from happening. It was like the worst prospect ever, even if we were having gimmicky and genuinely fun players to watch like TRUE or Curious... But then ZvZ happened and the finals were actually a lot of fun! The main stage was not packed for the finals, but almost, and I had the feeling that people gathered together as the series went on because Curious and TRUE made it so entertaining. I saw people watching at first like 'so many aliens spitting that green acid, omg I don't know what is going on', which went full passion clapping and cheering for every move (especially in the Bridgehead game, which was a super fun game). Then I saw that the viewing was very low, probably because of the timing, but I can assure you that the event attracted a lot of people, and that the production was wonderful. And SC2-wise, it was an above average tournament. I can't really say why, but last year the only thing that made the crowd cheer was watching Majestic and Vortix do well, but this time it has been more of a well-rounded tournament with entertaining games and one foreigner dropping out to the eventual champion.
You know, the casters desk was about 10 meters away from the main stage, and they were a little bit isolated form the crowd. It was awesome to see Wax leave their desk right when Curious won and clap hard, he was probably one of the very few there who understood what it meant that Startale.Curious, the Gatekeeper, would finally win a (mid/top-tier) tournament. I think it was a great moment, I wish someone had caught that moment on camera because it was awesome to see the expert (no quotes here) being excited about a tournament winner.
And as for the casting, I think it was great. I would have liked Nathanias to step in and cast some terran games, but still the trio Moonglade-Valdes-Tod was exceptional. I guess everyone may agree now that Valdes has become a solid play-by-play commentator, with fair game knowledge as well. As for the rest, Moonglade and Tod are awesome and always deliver.
DH'15
You know, I think DH made the right move. Last year there was a dedicated stage only for SC2, and while I would say it was a success in terms of audience and show, there were too many games played from the "Arena" (that area with many computers lined up for playing group stages or early bracket matches) that gathered 10-20 people. Man, even a hardcore SC2 follower like me got bored at some poing. But this time, with Heroes, SC2 and CS:GO sharing a main stage, it meant all the three games shared the best resources, a kind of pompous stage which really felt like something bit. This didn't happen last year. And will this meant that SC2 got moved to Friday and did not have the spotlight on Saturday, what I saw was a very healthy audience watching, cheering and getting excited. Plus, the CS:GO finals were great as well, and that game really has something, it's easy to understand (that was my first time watching CS:GO) and produces nail-biting moments all the time. Personally, I think SC2 is miles ahead in terms of spectating experience, but still pretty good. I don't like MOBAs so can't comment on the Heroes tournament.
