We've reached the final installment of SHOUTcraft Kings 2016. It only seems like yesterday that TotalBiscuit unveiled his latest iteration of SHOUTcraft with its swanky new format, and yet this will already be our sixth tournament of the year. At a time when the path forwards for Korean Starcraft looks murkier than ever, with teams disbanding and players retiring alike, SHOUTcraft provides both a stage for the present and hope for the future. Events like Kings that pit the best players from all around the world against each other are becoming a rarer and rarer breed, and with the online scene set to become more important than ever come 2017, the future of the most competitive Starcraft tournament in the world outside of the GSL looks bright.

To quote from our explanation of the format last time round—this is pure King of the Hill, Winner Stays On, in a Best of One showdown for supremacy. Players get $250 for each map win, summing to a total prize pool of $5,000 per event. None of the players are aware of the opponents they’ll be facing—each is chosen individually by TotalBiscuit during the event—lending an air of mystique to the event, and making this a test of pure gameplay with little preparation possible.

Join us for a recap of last month’s event, as well as a preview of some of the players TB has lined up. As a celebration of the year that SHOUTcraft's had so far, it promises to be quite the treat.

SHOUTcraft Kings November - Recap

Over the past year, SHOUTcraft Kings has emerged as one of the most exciting and eagerly awaited events in Starcraft 2. It’s attracted a wealth of talented individuals, both foreigner and Korean, finally providing them with a canvas on which to represent themselves and their regions. In a year where the separation between the two main battlegrounds of Korea and WCS has become ever more distinct, Kings has been a glorious celebration of the excitement that ensues when the best of both are allowed to clash.

BlizzCon is the crown jewel of the WCS system and so it was a fitting setting to celebrate a special November installment of SHOUTcraft Kings. Instead of the customary 20 round King of the Hill marathon that we’ve watched on a monthly basis, TotalBiscuit and Blizzard arranged an abbreviated 8 man event to be held on the glorious Finals stage. Competing were BlizzCon participants, recently wed BlizzCon qualifiers and a number of other dangerous players.

First up was reigning SHOUTcraft King, uThermal. The Liquid man hadn’t made it to Blizzcon proper, but nonetheless he was given the opportunity to shine in Anaheim. His opponent was Hydra, someone who had dropped out of the WCS Global Finals at the last moment, eschewing $10,000 for the sort of joys that cannot be measured in cash. Fresh off his wedding (congratulations, by the way!), he brought a swift end to uThermal’s rule, crushing his 2rax reaper build with strong ling micro to earn himself a match with the ever imposing INnoVation.

Making his first post-SKT appearance, INnoVation was one of the major surprises of the event. Firstly, because he failed to win a TvZ, and secondly because of his bizarre pure cyclone build. We were all laughed when he showed that mass cyclones somehow beat full ling surrounds; we all reset our expectations when Hydra’s signature hydras shredded his mech force with their new range buff.

And so, Hydra pushed onwards, positioning himself for a match against another Zerg.
In many ways, Hydra’s fall from the head of the WCS pack this year has been mirrored by Nerchio’s rise. Over the course of 2016, the Euronics zerg has firmly established himself as the king of the WCS zergs, and after losing out in the Global Final group stages, he took his chance to stand on the main stage here with both hands. Hydra’s odd decision to go for a spine rush was fully scouted and easily beaten away by the Polish zerg, likely bringing to an end a glittering career.

Next up for Nerchio was another man on the wrong side of retirement. Stork had split his duties between player and coach for Samsung Galaxy for a long time, but towards the end of the team’s existence he put his personal ambitions beside, and firmly adopted the mantle as mentor and instructor. Like Hydra, he put forth what may very well have been a final display of his Starcraft II prowess (Brood War, as we saw in the ASL recently, is quite a different concern though). Unperturbed by the reputation of the legend he was facing off against, Nerchio claimed his second consecutive victory, tearing the Korean protoss apart with his traditionally strong macro ZvP.

His winstreak ended there, though. Solar had revenge on his mind following his elimination at the hands of the Poles in his Global Finals Ro.16 group, and there was no better place for it than the stage he was initially denied. A decisive roach / ravager push sealed the deal for him on New Gettysburg, and it was clear from his celebrations that he was enjoying his time in the spotlight.



PtitDrogo was the next challenger to step up to the stage, following his own solid performance in the BlizzCon group stages. Apotheosis is a daunting PvZ map at the best of times, and Drogo’s decision to go for carriers was slapped down hard. To close out SHOUTcraft Kings November though, noted wrestling fan TotalBiscuit had one final card up his sleeve; Stephano gatecrashing the party. Not that he fared all that much better; one crisp roach ravager timing later and Solar reigned supreme as the King of SHOUTcraft Kings November.

As a final surprise, though, we were treated to something of a one-off event; one final showmatch between Stork and Stephano on Carbot’s Starcrafts Mod. The strats chosen may have been bizarre; the players clearly unaccustomed to the vastly different visuals of the cartoon battlefield; but as a final cap to the day’s celebratory feel, it was a fitting end to the tournament.


VODs for SHOUTcraft can be found on TB’s youtube channel (VOD Link Here)

SHOUTcraft Kings December - Preview

Form is a finicky thing in Starcraft 2. A player can look invincible in one tournament and utterly helpless in the next. Even in the most stable of times, players rise and fall with little to no explanation, and things are certainly far from stable right now. SHOUTcraft Kings December arrives with Starcraft 2 in a stage of flux. With the impending WCS announcement, the upheaval in the Korean scene. and the recent overhaul of the game, players are facing the unknown. At the same time, a number of players, buoyed by the new patch are excelling, taking full advantage of the shift in the game. SHOUTcraft Kings will be the largest tournament since the implementation of the patch and it promises to be the perfect opportunity to analyze not just where the metagame is leading into IEM Gyeonggi, but who is poised for success in this fresh version of Starcraft 2. Here's a quick look at the players announced so far, and also an exclusive preview of an as-yet unannounced player.

The King in his Castle - Solar

Fresh off signing for SC2 newcomers Splyce, Solar comes into Kings December to defend his throne. Since last month's event, it's been very much an up and down ride for Solar. A top 8 spot at HomeStory Cup was perhaps a little of a disappointment, bested by an in-form Stats, but his performance on the new patch has been stellar. A superb 7-1 record in the VSL carried his team No Toss to the final, including wins over aLive, Super, ByuN and TRUE, while he eased his way to a qualification spot for IEM Gyeonggi at the first attempt. As with many of the Koreans in attendance here, the only real question is how far he's willing to go to extend his winstreak—with IEM just round the corner, it'll be interesting to see if Solar's prepared to show off any new tricks.

HerO

It's been a long time since we've seen one of our old protoss favourites, but we're delighted to announce here that HerO will be one of the twenty-one players participating in SHOUTcraft Kings December. After elimination in the Ro.32 of the GSL in August, HerO dropped off the map. With no offline events to play for, and with seemingly no desire to play in the online tournament circuit, HerO went missing for a whole four months. Slowly though, he's started to move through the gears again. After signing for Team Revolution in October, HerO's kicked his streaming schedule up a notch, while several appearance in online qualifiers have marked his return to competitive play. Sure, results have been... mixed, losing to Taiwanese player Nice in the HSC XIV Qualifiers, while being dumped out of the IEM Gyeonggi Qualifiers by Leenock, Has, and aLive, but a start's a start right? Maybe more than most, HerO's a player of vast highs and painful lows, and a good run here could catapult him flying into 2017.

INnoVation

As a frequent SHOUTcraft participant, INnoVation is seemingly TB's favourite zerg-destroying machine. We all know by now that TB loves to weight the deck this way and that, and it'd be no surprise if we saw INnoVation fed a variety of zergs should he get off to a flyer. Since leaving SKT, INnoVation's become a frequent streamer and participant in online tournaments, including qualifying for IEM Gyeonggi (albeit at the second attempt, following a loss to herO on Day 1). He's racked up a 74-27 (73%) win record post-BlizzCon. TvT is a particular strength, with an unbroken streak of 18 series victories so far over a vast array of quality terrans, including GuMiho, ByuN, Dream, aLive and Ryung. On the other hand, his traditional weakness to protoss has reared its head slightly (if a 62% winrate can be termed a 'weakness'), most notably in an 0-3 loss to Classic in the Shang gan ling #6 Finals, cheesed out with three successive proxy stargate builds.

soO

Much like his ex-SKT (and current Yeoksam-dong) stablemate, soO's quickly become one of the darlings of the Korean SC2 streaming scene. soO's 2013-14 form was one of most miraculous runs of form in Starcraft history; although it's a bit unfortunate that 'miraculous' cuts both ways here. Relative to that high water mark, his form in the past two years has been a grave disappointment; relegated to the role of a ZvZ expert. His renaissance post-BlizzCon then has been one of the delights of the offseason so far. Crushing victories in Olimoleague October, as well as the Olimoleague Grand Finals, resulted in his first individual titles since KeSPA Cup 2015, while wins over ByuN and Dark in the VSL Teamleague were highly impressive. Since then, it's been a little bumpier—qualifying for IEM at the third attempt, after losses to INnoVation (understandable, perhaps) and TAiLS (???)—but for the first time in a while, soO looks capable of stamping his authority on his home scene.

TY

How infuriating must it be to be a fan of TY? On the surface, things look great. He's been one of the very best macro-oriented terrans of Legacy so far; confident in late game play in all three matchups, while still capable of pulling out dirty cheeses now and then. His cerebral play style is generally a shakeup from the non-stop aggression preferred by most other top quality terrans—Maru, ByuN and INnoVation, for example—and his ability to exploit map terrain is generally second to none. It all sounds good... apart from the fact that TY just can't win. Whether it's his semifinal failures of 2015 and 2016; the GSL Finals loss to Zest; or his hattrick of top 8 finishes at the end of 2016, TY always falls before the final hurdle. His twin eliminations at the WCS Global Finals and HomeStory Cup told the story of his career so far in microcosm. Dumped out by ByuN in the quarterfinals in his favourite matchup; edged out by Patience and Zest in the only triple-Korean Ro.16 HSC group. TY has always been the bridesmaid, looking flashy and exciting before politely bowing down to accommodate the eventual winner. Having failed the IEM qualifiers on all three occasions (losses to Leenock, Trust, and Maru), SHOUTcraft now represents TY's final chance to wrap up 2016 on a high.

Nerchio

Who'd have guessed that, coming up to the final event of the year, Nerchio is the player currently leading the SHOUTcraft Winners' Rankings? Indeed, he stands amongst a triplet of elites—Nerchio (12), ByuN and INnoVation (11 each) are the only three players currently in double figures for the year so far—Solar is a distant 4th at 6 wins. It all marks a rather weird year for Nerchio. Consistency-wise, it's hard to argue against him being the top WCS zerg of the year (and would've arguably been in with a shout for being the best foreigner of the year save for Neeb's KeSPA Cup heroics). A whole hatful of top 8 finishes, capped by his first championship win since 2012 at Dreamhack Valencia, is an impressive haul for the year. Still though, there's a sense of underachievement; of a failure to claim the top prize on the biggest stages. Edged out by Polt and ShoWTimE at WCS Winter and Spring, he then put in sub-par performances at the remaining key events for the year (WCS Summer / KeSPA Cup / WCS Global Finals). So while 2016 marks a wonderful recovery from his HotS semi-retirement, Nerchio will be hoping to kick on in 2017. Ending the year as the most successful player in SHOUTcraft Kings should be a fitting way to do it.

TIME

TIME might not have appeared on many people's radars yet, but he's been developing a reputation one of the up-and-coming terrans on the Chinese circuit. He's appeared at a couple Chinese / International LANs—most notably the NSL International this year, where he managed to best MarineLorD and Jieshi to emerge from his group and finish in the top 8. Outside of those very occasional offline appearances, he's mainly been a stalwart in the Leifeng Cup. Born in 2000 (frankly, a terrifying statistic to me), hopefully he'll continue to show here why he's rated as the future of Chinese terran play.





You can watch SHOUTcraft at:

• https://twitch.tv/totalbiscuit (EN)
  
• https://twitch.tv/ogamingsc2 (FR)
  
• https://www.twitch.tv/crank (KR)
  
• NEO TV (CN)