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Active: 1404 users

Armani to retire, join army at June 27th

Forum Index > SC2 General
26 CommentsPost a Reply
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TheOneAboveU
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany3367 Posts
June 14 2017 11:30 GMT
#1


Former SAMSUNG Zerg player (Z)Armani will retire at the end of this month to do his military service.

During his career he achieved a Proleague record of 3 wins and 9 losses for his team. He also played in foreign tournaments two times, placing Top 12 in HomeStoryCup and Top 16 in a DreamHack.

Armani's Liquipedia Page
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Moderatoralias TripleM | @TL_TripleM | Big Dark Energy!
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55555 Posts
June 14 2017 11:35 GMT
#2
Sad news.

I wonder how VSL will handle this.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
CynicalDeath
Profile Joined January 2012
Italy3478 Posts
June 14 2017 11:37 GMT
#3
...kinda sad to see him go, I'm so used to seeing him play these days...
ModeratorSC2 LP Admin - My Life for Aiur - Let the Metal flow - @Cynical_Death
TheOneAboveU
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Germany3367 Posts
June 14 2017 11:49 GMT
#4
On June 14 2017 20:37 CynicalDeath wrote:
...kinda sad to see him go, I'm so used to seeing him play these days...


Yup, definitely!
Back when I was admin for some German online cup series Armani was one of the few KeSPA players, who'd join the tournament, which was a pretty cool thing back then, as KeSPA had just come over to SC2.
Moderatoralias TripleM | @TL_TripleM | Big Dark Energy!
Surufka.
Profile Joined July 2015
United States5 Posts
June 14 2017 13:39 GMT
#5
I never realized that he had won a ZOTAC and gotten top 12 at HSC, Sad to see him off. Hopefully he gets back into the scene afterwards.
Azzur
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia6260 Posts
June 14 2017 14:27 GMT
#6
Poor Armani - I remember seeing him lose vs Major at the GSL - someone commented that if you lose to a meching foreigner, it may be time to reconsider your priorities...
Zaros
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United Kingdom3692 Posts
June 14 2017 14:32 GMT
#7
On June 14 2017 23:27 Azzur wrote:
Poor Armani - I remember seeing him lose vs Major at the GSL - someone commented that if you lose to a meching foreigner, it may be time to reconsider your priorities...

Even getting in the GSL is an accomplishment though.

Always sad to see Pros have to retire for military service wish it was didn't have to happen.
Edpayasugo
Profile Joined April 2013
United Kingdom2216 Posts
June 14 2017 16:14 GMT
#8
Good luck!
FlaSh MMA INnoVation FanTaSy MKP TY Ryung | soO Dark Rogue | HuK PartinG Stork State
zealotstim
Profile Joined February 2015
United States455 Posts
June 14 2017 16:50 GMT
#9
That's too bad. Always sad to see the Koreans retire to the military.
lechatnoir
Profile Joined November 2016
390 Posts
June 14 2017 18:17 GMT
#10
I'll always remember that one proleague game last year when everyone expected nothing of him. GL Armani.!
Surufka.
Profile Joined July 2015
United States5 Posts
June 14 2017 18:39 GMT
#11
On June 15 2017 03:17 lechatnoir wrote:
I'll always remember that one proleague game last year when everyone expected nothing of him. GL Armani.!


Do you remember which one that was?
FAkeJinAirMaru
Profile Joined February 2017
7 Posts
June 14 2017 20:51 GMT
#12
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55555 Posts
June 14 2017 20:57 GMT
#13
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

What do you want them to do? Pay new people in Korea to start playing SC2? Dispose of North Korea so nobody will ever have to retire to do military service again? Force everyone who left SC2 for another Blizzard game to return?

There's only so much they can do.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
SNSeigifried
Profile Joined April 2013
United States1640 Posts
June 14 2017 21:15 GMT
#14
On June 15 2017 05:57 Elentos wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

What do you want them to do? Pay new people in Korea to start playing SC2? Dispose of North Korea so nobody will ever have to retire to do military service again? Force everyone who left SC2 for another Blizzard game to return?

There's only so much they can do.

Armani's retirement was known months ago when he told voltz in his stream chat that this GSL would be his last.
Icebound Esports
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55555 Posts
June 14 2017 21:19 GMT
#15
On June 15 2017 06:15 SNSeigifried wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 05:57 Elentos wrote:
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

What do you want them to do? Pay new people in Korea to start playing SC2? Dispose of North Korea so nobody will ever have to retire to do military service again? Force everyone who left SC2 for another Blizzard game to return?

There's only so much they can do.

Armani's retirement was known months ago when he told voltz in his stream chat that this GSL would be his last.

I know. It's still interesting with VSL. By the time the team league portion starts, Armani (who qualified) will be in the military. That means they'll have to replace him.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
Solar424
Profile Blog Joined June 2013
United States4001 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-06-14 22:57:30
June 14 2017 22:56 GMT
#16
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

Well the middle class in Korea is basically dead. Before players could live off of their Kespa salaries and live and eat in the teamhouse. Now that ecosystem is gone and the number of middle and lower-tier players on a team can be counted on a single hand. Aside from the players at the very top who can live off their tournament earnings or stream donations, more and more players are going to retire because there's nothing left for them in SC2. There's not much of a point in being a progamer when you only get to play in one GSL group every 3 months instead of Proleague every week. The Korea scene now is like what the NA scene has been since WoL, with a few full-time pros at the top and the rest struggling to survive.
Chris_Havoc
Profile Joined August 2016
United States600 Posts
June 14 2017 23:06 GMT
#17
On June 15 2017 07:56 Solar424 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

Well the middle class in Korea is basically dead. Before players could live off of their Kespa salaries and live and eat in the teamhouse. Now that ecosystem is gone and the number of middle and lower-tier players on a team can be counted on a single hand. Aside from the players at the very top who can live off their tournament earnings or stream donations, more and more players are going to retire because there's nothing left for them in SC2. There's not much of a point in being a progamer when you only get to play in one GSL group every 3 months instead of Proleague every week. The Korea scene now is like what the NA scene has been since WoL, with a few full-time pros at the top and the rest struggling to survive.


Very true, and I don't see a way out of this scenario.

Also, I did a headcount of Korean pros a few months ago, and with Armani & Dream retired and ViOlet switching to LoL, the Korean pro count is down to 47. With more likely to retire later this year and only MMA likely to return this year the declining player base will only get worse.


Owner of the SC2 Esports Anthology channel on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SC2EsportsAnthology
DieuCure
Profile Joined January 2017
France3713 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-06-14 23:14:10
June 14 2017 23:09 GMT
#18
ro32 wasnt really strong back then too

I dont think top 16 players will leave in the near future, until the blizzcon 2018 at least

And top 16 is what we call KR, not players like ragnarok/departure

But ye it's always sad to be a spectator of decline
TL+ Member
Boggyb
Profile Joined January 2017
2855 Posts
June 15 2017 02:17 GMT
#19
On June 15 2017 08:09 DieuCure wrote:
ro32 wasnt really strong back then too

I dont think top 16 players will leave in the near future, until the blizzcon 2018 at least

And top 16 is what we call KR, not players like ragnarok/departure

But ye it's always sad to be a spectator of decline

On the plus side, now Cure can make it through the GSL qualifiers.
pvsnp
Profile Joined January 2017
7676 Posts
June 15 2017 05:02 GMT
#20
I mean the top guys will stick around because they can reasonably expect big payouts from tournaments. But the mid-to-lower players have no reliable source of income without a team, so how can you expect them to stick around?
Denominator of the Universe
TL+ Member
MoonyD
Profile Joined December 2013
Australia191 Posts
June 15 2017 06:42 GMT
#21
This is really sad news for the scene and quite worrying. There is a severe lack of new players coming into the scene that needs to be addressed. I know SCBW is picking up steam again which is great, but it feels like SC2 in Korea is no longer popular at all. At this rate I can't see there being many progamers left after 5 years or so.
The world wants to be deceived
AbouSV
Profile Joined October 2014
Germany1278 Posts
June 15 2017 08:02 GMT
#22
He's still quite young also, didn't have much opportunities to post-pone it I guess.
gl for the future to him.


On June 15 2017 05:57 Elentos wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 05:51 FAkeJinAirMaru wrote:
I feel like the whole WCS Korean region is disappearing and it is just a matter of time. Isn't Blizzard aware of that?

What do you want them to do? Pay new people in Korea to start playing SC2? Dispose of North Korea so nobody will ever have to retire to do military service again? Force everyone who left SC2 for another Blizzard game to return?

There's only so much they can do.


You already listed three solutions.
They could step up their game!
Vendethiel
Profile Joined February 2017
213 Posts
June 15 2017 09:44 GMT
#23
On June 15 2017 11:17 Boggyb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 08:09 DieuCure wrote:
ro32 wasnt really strong back then too

I dont think top 16 players will leave in the near future, until the blizzcon 2018 at least

And top 16 is what we call KR, not players like ragnarok/departure

But ye it's always sad to be a spectator of decline

On the plus side, now Cure can make it through the GSL qualifiers.

Didn't you hear? He's switching to overwatch.
Maru <3
DieuCure
Profile Joined January 2017
France3713 Posts
June 15 2017 10:03 GMT
#24
On June 15 2017 11:17 Boggyb wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 08:09 DieuCure wrote:
ro32 wasnt really strong back then too

I dont think top 16 players will leave in the near future, until the blizzcon 2018 at least

And top 16 is what we call KR, not players like ragnarok/departure

But ye it's always sad to be a spectator of decline

On the plus side, now Cure can make it through the GSL qualifiers.


Cure made it through ro4 and was top 2 terran in 2016.
TL+ Member
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55555 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-06-15 10:05:07
June 15 2017 10:04 GMT
#25
On June 15 2017 19:03 DieuCure wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 15 2017 11:17 Boggyb wrote:
On June 15 2017 08:09 DieuCure wrote:
ro32 wasnt really strong back then too

I dont think top 16 players will leave in the near future, until the blizzcon 2018 at least

And top 16 is what we call KR, not players like ragnarok/departure

But ye it's always sad to be a spectator of decline

On the plus side, now Cure can make it through the GSL qualifiers.


Cure made it through ro4 and was top 2 terran in 2016.

And this season he couldn't make it into GSL because Armani was too good for him.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
DieuCure
Profile Joined January 2017
France3713 Posts
June 15 2017 10:23 GMT
#26
You can go season off just like INnoVation did, but then he will take it all

+ He is a Gentleman, he knew that he can make it to blizzcon with only one bullet, so he gave Armani a chance to participate in his second and final GSL
TL+ Member
RANgER1
Profile Joined March 2017
2 Posts
June 16 2017 22:23 GMT
#27
bye ;(
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