While i agree with the article in that there are hardly new storylines in gsl and that makes it somewhat stale, in general people get excited for it because of its history and meaning in the context of sc2. That's still the most important factor when looking at the gsl i think.
Looking at wcs i would argue that the main factor why it was more memorable isn't mana or has or even reynor makign these runs, it is serral waiting in the finals, the david vs goliath factor. Serral single handedly legitimised the whole wcs tournament scene because it was clear that he is around top korean lvl (and later he proved that he is in fact at the very top). It is basically the korean vs foreigner effect. Remove serral and i doubt people would have been anywhere near as interested in any of these "narratives", it would lack proper gravitas.
On February 06 2019 22:05 Fango wrote: Other than the miracle runs of Has, Mana, and Reynor, I'm not sure WCS was any less stale than GSL to be honest. It was mostly the same players in the ro16/8 each stop iirc. The difference is WCS felt fresh, it didn't feel like a weaker version of an 8 a year old tournament like Code S. Even though the level of play was still a lot lower.
Still, GSL had more exiting moments than people give it credit for because Serral's achievement outshone everything else this year. Maru's first finals in 8 years, that season 1 match against Dark might still be the series of the year in my book. The repeat championship with unrivalled dominance in season 2, and then the tension with how close he came to losing in season 3. Scarlett and Neeb's playoff runs were the first non-korean threat in Code S in forever. Even Reynor's breakout performance was GSL season 3, even if people it being WCS Montreal.
I actually provided numbers. WCS is more stale than GSL. They're just better at providing story which is mostly done by the domination by Serral. Look at the hype Zest received and how everyone tried to provide the story and then Maru just denied everything, gave uninspiring interview and left smiling.
On February 07 2019 00:34 The_Red_Viper wrote: While i agree with the article in that there are hardly new storylines in gsl and that makes it somewhat stale, in general people get excited for it because of its history and meaning in the context of sc2. That's still the most important factor when looking at the gsl i think.
Looking at wcs i would argue that the main factor why it was more memorable isn't mana or has or even reynor makign these runs, it is serral waiting in the finals, the david vs goliath factor. Serral single handedly legitimised the whole wcs tournament scene because it was clear that he is around top korean lvl (and later he proved that he is in fact at the very top). It is basically the korean vs foreigner effect. Remove serral and i doubt people would have been anywhere near as interested in any of these "narratives", it would lack proper gravitas.
IMO WCS had always have better story telling. Even Artosis admitted it in one of the first Pylon shows(I didn't watch many of them, so it had to be something up to the number 10 ). It's harder to provide the story for Koreans to the foreign audience.
On February 06 2019 22:05 Fango wrote: Other than the miracle runs of Has, Mana, and Reynor, I'm not sure WCS was any less stale than GSL to be honest. It was mostly the same players in the ro16/8 each stop iirc. The difference is WCS felt fresh, it didn't feel like a weaker version of an 8 a year old tournament like Code S. Even though the level of play was still a lot lower.
Still, GSL had more exiting moments than people give it credit for because Serral's achievement outshone everything else this year. Maru's first finals in 8 years, that season 1 match against Dark might still be the series of the year in my book. The repeat championship with unrivalled dominance in season 2, and then the tension with how close he came to losing in season 3. Scarlett and Neeb's playoff runs were the first non-korean threat in Code S in forever. Even Reynor's breakout performance was GSL season 3, even if people it being WCS Montreal.
I actually provided numbers. WCS is more stale than GSL. They're just better at providing story which is mostly done by the domination by Serral. Look at the hype Zest received and how everyone tried to provide the story and then Maru just denied everything, gave uninspiring interview and left smiling.
On February 07 2019 00:34 The_Red_Viper wrote: While i agree with the article in that there are hardly new storylines in gsl and that makes it somewhat stale, in general people get excited for it because of its history and meaning in the context of sc2. That's still the most important factor when looking at the gsl i think.
Looking at wcs i would argue that the main factor why it was more memorable isn't mana or has or even reynor makign these runs, it is serral waiting in the finals, the david vs goliath factor. Serral single handedly legitimised the whole wcs tournament scene because it was clear that he is around top korean lvl (and later he proved that he is in fact at the very top). It is basically the korean vs foreigner effect. Remove serral and i doubt people would have been anywhere near as interested in any of these "narratives", it would lack proper gravitas.
IMO WCS had always have better story telling. Even Artosis admitted it in one of the first Pylon shows(I didn't watch many of them, so it had to be something up to the number 10 ). It's harder to provide the story for Koreans to the foreign audience.
GSL is the only tournament where I woke up at like 5am during holidays in order to watch Maru destroy Zest not even for the finals but for the semi finals tho :D It's more oriented towards the hardcore sc followers whereas the WCS attracts both hardcore and casual viewers
Also the fact that Serral was invincible for a few months before almost losing to Lambo, Scarlett AND Reynor in the last tournament made the tournament that more exciting to watch, it was really the final boss. For the same reason Maru vs TY finals had even more stakes than an usual Maru vs TY bo7, because 3 GSLs in a row is unprecedented.
WCS or GSL being more stale be damned, 2018 was a fucking great starcraft 2 year either way
One could argue that the BW ASL is going to become the same thing. And even further it's winners were established players from the Kespa era who are reproving their continued abilities from MSL/ASL days. I think what drives the fun factor in regards to storylines are the new players that sneak their way in. Usually the Ro24 and Ro16 add tons of fun because we get to see the new rotation of low tier players put their best strategies to the test against the elite. Ro8 onward is less about weaker player storylines and more about how awesome the games will be as the titans finally get to face each other in prepared matches.
This applies to SC2 in the same way. These days it is not about royal roads, but about how the Elite SC2 players have adjusted and tweaked their performances to put up amazing play against their opponents. 2018 was awesome in the way that Maru was immune to all attempts to overtake him when it came to prepared best of series. And even though his "easy" reign is arguably dull, it creates an amazing storyline for 2019. This GSL1 give us patch changes and map changes that vary so strongly from 2018 + plus a new skillset of players such as Fantasy's mech style that will certainly present new challenges to Maru that we can all enjoy watching. It's almost as if 2018's unhypeness of the GSL is setting us up for an even greater 2019 year. Bottom line it's going be tons of fun to watch!
Interesting points! While personally I enjoyed GSL over WCS (albeit that having other variables like casting, format, etc.) I do agree with the fact that the storylines, especially the second place finishes were more exciting in the WCS side, with the exception of TY vs Maru which was actually one of the sickest Code S finals ever imo.
I hope we return to the system of integrated points for foreigners and koreans to have 13-14 koreans in global finals and 2-3 foreigners who REALLY deserve that. and then let's see who prevails!
EPT
). It's harder to provide the story for Koreans to the foreign audience.
