After three swift days, HSC has concluded its two group stage rounds.
Days 1 & 2 - Is this 2013?
Days 1and 2 progressed as expected, with Korea ruling the roost and progressing by a combined scoreline of 50-13. Six Koreans progressed in first place, while Rogue lost out to aLive in Group A. Patience was the sole Korean representative beaten by a foreigner all day long, after an impressive showing from PtitDrogo.
That's not to say that everything went the favourites' ways though. TY looked incredibly shaky early on, dropping a macro game on KSS to HateMe and two to an ascendant Namshar, while Elazer gave signs that his semifinal appearance at BlizzCon was no fluke in a tight 2-3 loss to Zest.
One of the final stories of the day came in Group G, where technical difficulties and mech combined to push the schedule late into the evening. Cheers of "TLOTLOTLO" erupted as the Liquid zerg triumphed 3-2 over MarineLorD, but a swift 0-3 shutout from sOs brought him quickly back for the rematch. This time, it was the Millennium terran who took the series 3-2, securing his spot for Day 2.
Snute getting into the mood
Day 3 - Sporadic upsets as favourites roll on
Once more, Korea reigned supreme in Krefeld on Day 3. This time, the damage was a hefty 30-5 win/loss record for Korea against the world, but while that might point to a hefty advantage, the truth is a little more nuanced. PtitDrogo gave a good account of himself against aLive, while uThermal's 2-3 loss against a shaky Zest was one of the closest series of the day. Still though, it's hard to look past all the other sweeps. Solar in particular looks in the kind of form we expected a few weeks back at BlizzCon, while sOs has menacingly drifted into the playoffs with ease. To top it all, aLive has been the star of the show so far (literally in the case of his spectacular pajama bottoms), and has illuminated the crowd with his stylistic brand of standard terran play.
So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
You realize that the community literally paid for these Koreans to go to HSC? You really can't speak for everyone if you don't enjoy them being there, a lot of people very apparently do.
"Foreigners caught up", i nearly shat my pants there.
So we are back to 2012/13 basically, where foreigners didnt have the slightest chance vs koreans. Also its funny how a lot of koreans had quiet a lot of unspent ressources during their games but still just ran over those foreigners. but thats no surprise, if you have to watch foreign players, whos units hit 20 seconds later or just chill on the map for a minute, without achieving anything. Reddit posts about a scripted scene dont even seem that stupid to me anymore. but then again, its fucking reddit
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
If you ever visit Korea, you will understand how awesome is to see Koreans playing live. There is a solid reason why they are fan favorites.
On November 20 2016 20:20 Olli wrote: You realize that the community literally paid for these Koreans to go to HSC? You really can't speak for everyone if you don't enjoy them being there, a lot of people very apparently do.
You know, when the "you-have-to-pay-for-koreans-if-you-want-them-at-hsc" action started on the taketv stream, I asked Naruto how to donate against the Koreans, and promised the then-asked $5000, if they didn't bring any Korean. And Naruto answered, literally, we don't want the money, we want the Koreans, because everyone likes them and it's so good for business and such. And now they say they don't get sponsors anymore, even though they can show Koreans playing all day long...
On November 20 2016 20:20 Olli wrote: You realize that the community literally paid for these Koreans to go to HSC? You really can't speak for everyone if you don't enjoy them being there, a lot of people very apparently do.
You know, when the "you-have-to-pay-for-koreans-if-you-want-them-at-hsc" action started on the taketv stream, I asked Naruto how to donate against the Koreans, and promised the then-asked $5000, if they didn't bring any Korean. And Naruto answered, literally, we don't want the money, we want the Koreans, because everyone likes them and it's so good for business and such. And now they say they don't get sponsors anymore, even though they can show Koreans playing all day long...
You have to be a real special kind of person to donate for the cause of not giving the best players in the world a chance to play abroad, and have fans miss out on them.
Sponsors being hard to find is a general issue for SC2, no matter if Koreans are playing or not.
It is understood that some fans are pissed because Koreans are winning, but it would be stupid and childish to compete only between foreigners and then cheer that they are the best. I favor foreigners(now Sortof) but I think the best shall win, no matter if foreigner or Korean.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
You're trying to make these things related even though they're not. Starcraft 2 and HSC itself are money sinks for sponsors. Other than the sense of personal accomplishment, they gain nothing from sponsoring tournaments. This doesn't magically change with or without Korean players. If a 32 foreigner HSC had 3 times the viewers you could try to start making an argument that makes any sense. But it wouldn't.
On November 20 2016 20:20 Olli wrote: You realize that the community literally paid for these Koreans to go to HSC? You really can't speak for everyone if you don't enjoy them being there, a lot of people very apparently do.
You know, when the "you-have-to-pay-for-koreans-if-you-want-them-at-hsc" action started on the taketv stream, I asked Naruto how to donate against the Koreans, and promised the then-asked $5000, if they didn't bring any Korean. And Naruto answered, literally, we don't want the money, we want the Koreans, because everyone likes them and it's so good for business and such. And now they say they don't get sponsors anymore, even though they can show Koreans playing all day long...
You have to be a real special kind of person to donate for the cause of not giving the best players in the world a chance to play abroad, and have fans miss out on them.
Sponsors being hard to find is a general issue for SC2, no matter if Koreans are playing or not.
Yeah and HSC X had insane viewership, and we also had 7/8 koreans in the top 8 back then.
HSC XIII with 7/8 foreigners had not even half the viewership.
It's has zero to do with Korean or Foreigner @Haukinger, you just want to have the best players possible on the final day.
Overall the numbers for sc2 are just declining and and getting sponsors is hard, having no Koreans at HSC would just make it worse.
I like that title. It embodies an ideal I find cool (hehe).
OT: Been nice to watch some Starcraft 2 again. I miss the old days a bit, but honestly legacy is cool to watch. I still followed the scene and its stories from afar, just getting the general idea of what was happening over there, and it seems I missed the era of foreigners apparently.
I expected Neeb to show up way more dominantly than he did (losing a game to Stephano...?), and if any foreigner in the Ro8, I didn't foresee SortOf in that role.
On November 20 2016 20:20 Olli wrote: You realize that the community literally paid for these Koreans to go to HSC? You really can't speak for everyone if you don't enjoy them being there, a lot of people very apparently do.
You know, when the "you-have-to-pay-for-koreans-if-you-want-them-at-hsc" action started on the taketv stream, I asked Naruto how to donate against the Koreans, and promised the then-asked $5000, if they didn't bring any Korean. And Naruto answered, literally, we don't want the money, we want the Koreans, because everyone likes them and it's so good for business and such. And now they say they don't get sponsors anymore, even though they can show Koreans playing all day long...
Ahaha because the last hsc without koreans attracted so much more people right?
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
If that were true this HSC would blow the last HSC where the only Korean was TRUE out of the water, but it isn't.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
If that were true this HSC would blow the last HSC where the only Korean was TRUE out of the water, but it isn't.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
If that were true this HSC would blow the last HSC where the only Korean was TRUE out of the water, but it isn't.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
If that were true this HSC would blow the last HSC where the only Korean was TRUE out of the water, but it isn't.
You cannot compare cross Events generally speaking. Starcraft 2 isn't doing super great currently. The Blizzcon numbers are simply Blizzards range.
We didn't have higher Viewers for non Korean vs Korean or non Korean vs non Korean because its so saturated. We had highest Viewer numbers for the Korean games.
On November 20 2016 20:05 Haukinger wrote: So, Naruto, tell me again why it's fun or exciting to have Koreans at HSC? No surprise, there's no sponsors around anymore, if it's just "a baby-GSL-group plus beating up Europeans"...
Higher Level of Play. Highest Viewer numbers = Korean Matches.
If that were true this HSC would blow the last HSC where the only Korean was TRUE out of the water, but it isn't.
On November 21 2016 07:00 NarutO wrote: You cannot compare cross Events generally speaking. Starcraft 2 isn't doing super great currently. The Blizzcon numbers are simply Blizzards range.
We didn't have higher Viewers for non Korean vs Korean or non Korean vs non Korean because its so saturated. We had highest Viewer numbers for the Korean games.
EPT
Rogue lost out to 
aLive in Group A. 
Patience was the sole Korean representative beaten by a foreigner all day long, after an impressive showing from ![[image loading]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/HSCXIV/n-RL3qFF/i-XpGmHd5/0/L/i-XpGmHd5-L.jpg)
![[image loading]](https://photos.smugmug.com/Other/HSCXIV/n-RL3qFF/i-8BKvH5N/0/L/i-8BKvH5N-L.jpg)
Hope Rogue and/or Solar will prevent that.
