On January 27 2026 20:37 ejozl wrote: The units and the design philosophy. It could've been a time of great innovative changes like lotv, but went with the esport approach of - the coolest moments are worker harass and high octane speed. This gave us medivac boost, oracle (unit that was never supposed to be harming workers), protoss hater mines, countless move speed increases. Phoenix had to get more range because of muta, and mship core had to be implemented to deal with muta + boost. Hellbats are uninspired and even goofy units, tempests were just always boring. Reapers + medivac boost destroyed tvt, the best matchup. Phoenix v. Phoenix kind of ruined pvp.
If that's your take I'm confused why you think LotV is better considering with LotV they tripled down on the speed creep. The economy changes alone made the game progress way faster, and spread out bases makes worker harass much stronger. And all the changes you mentioned bar mship core are still in the game.
It's because, I don't see WoL as the superior game, it's just quite different. There're things that I sorely miss, and the things I think lotv improved upon. Aside from the f2 button, lotv pretty much solved the death ball problem with stronger aoe and strong positional units. It also made micro worth it to do instead of only thinking about macro. And it made players make far more bases, which now because they place the bases so close on the newer maps, bring us closer to WoL, which sucks.
I wish we had big armies like WoL. That upgrades were more expensive but also strong. It should be worth it to turtle to get to stuff like seeker missiles, or vortex, strong carriers, or bcs. There should be way more production buildings, almost one for each of the new unit implemented, making it easier to scout things and so that there are trade offs for which tech you go.
For instance, if charge cost 200\200, there was a siege mode for 100\100 and ravager required a building cost 100\50, it would slow the game down and give more room for other units to breathe, such as adepts, stalkers, roaches, cyclones, or what have you.
On January 27 2026 20:37 ejozl wrote: The units and the design philosophy. It could've been a time of great innovative changes like lotv, but went with the esport approach of - the coolest moments are worker harass and high octane speed. This gave us medivac boost, oracle (unit that was never supposed to be harming workers), protoss hater mines, countless move speed increases. Phoenix had to get more range because of muta, and mship core had to be implemented to deal with muta + boost. Hellbats are uninspired and even goofy units, tempests were just always boring. Reapers + medivac boost destroyed tvt, the best matchup. Phoenix v. Phoenix kind of ruined pvp.
If that's your take I'm confused why you think LotV is better considering with LotV they tripled down on the speed creep. The economy changes alone made the game progress way faster, and spread out bases makes worker harass much stronger. And all the changes you mentioned bar mship core are still in the game.
It's because, I don't see WoL as the superior game, it's just quite different. There're things that I sorely miss, and the things I think lotv improved upon. Aside from the f2 button, lotv pretty much solved the death ball problem with stronger aoe and strong positional units. It also made micro worth it to do instead of only thinking about macro. And it made players make far more bases, which now because they place the bases so close on the newer maps, bring us closer to WoL, which sucks.
I wish we had big armies like WoL. That upgrades were more expensive but also strong. It should be worth it to turtle to get to stuff like seeker missiles, or vortex, strong carriers, or bcs. There should be way more production buildings, almost one for each of the new unit implemented, making it easier to scout things and so that there are trade offs for which tech you go.
For instance, if charge cost 200\200, there was a siege mode for 100\100 and ravager required a building cost 100\50, it would slow the game down and give more room for other units to breathe, such as adepts, stalkers, roaches, cyclones, or what have you.
As I watch Jumy and Ryung deathball eachother in HSC.
You know what, without grassroots tournament you can have EWC and all of the IEMs you want, but the game will still eventually die.
Go4SC2s were a blast, but I even enjoyed organizing little italian tournaments with literally nothing on stake, where we used to have like a couple of dozens of people turning up for the livestreams, but without that you don't have Babymarine or any other new player.
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
I mean it’s this, in levels of import.
1. LGBTQ people in our community couldn’t live openly in Saudi Arabia. The fact they might be tolerated for some sportswashing exercise is actually probably worse than the alternative, because it really rams home that indulgences will be extended to foreigners that wouldn’t be to native people.
2. They don’t give a shit. Sportswashing and passion can be bedfellows, if the Sheikhs or whoever dig it. But they don’t give a fuck about StarCraft, at all. Oh and after a few years it’s gone, as I said it would be, what a surprise.
They could have funded a circuit, Katowice etc at less expense than EWC.
The Gamers 8 Legends showmatches had a bigger prize pool than Code S lmao. These people don’t care about making a vaguely sensible or sustainable scene.
A game which is probably bigger in Europe than anywhere, having an easily accessible European venue? If you cared about StarCraft you’d keep that going instead of this Saudi fucking nonsense.
I said it at the time, many times, I’m just repeating myself. I was right youse were wrong so suck it up.
Shame on all the public faces of our scene who had clout, but no dick, no balls and said fuck all critical of the Saudi overlords. Well, they fucked you anyway so maybe youse shoulda stretched above the parapet eh?
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
The PIF apparently was holding around 5% of Activision Blizzard before Microsoft aquired the company. That's...not that much. And what are those CS2 teams the Saudis own? EWC '25 ownerships, just from memory: Team Vitality - Some Indian company/family MOUZ - Owned by the german CEO, I don't think MOUZ ever went public Team Spirit - Owned by a russian who relocated the org to Serbia Team Falcons - The SA-lovechild The MongolZ - Mongolian Aurora Gaming - Russian G2 Esports - Owned by multiple investors, mostly though by the founders (aka. not SA) NaVi - Owned by an Ukranian, I think relocated to London at the moment? GamerLegion - German-based Org that just fired their AoE 2 team because of money-issues, clearly not SA-owned FaZe Clan - Owned by an US-company Astralis - Owned by the Org itself if I recall, but is up for sale because they are broke af 3DMAX - a random French team HEROIC - I think they are still publicly traded in Norway? Team Liquid - Owned by Axiomatic Virtus.Pro - Russian-owned TYLOO - Chinese
It doesn't make much sense for Saudi-Arabia to own "more than half" of the teams. They own ESL and Falcons, that alone is almost enough to control a big chunk of Esports.
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
Team Liquid - Owned by Axiomatic
Vitality, Falcons, G2, NaVi, FaZe, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid are part of the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program and receive up to 6-figure funding directly from the Saudi royals. the other CS teams included in that program were knocked out in the qualifiers afaik. I only used CS as an example, since it is a game with broader representation from the big esports teams compared to say sc2
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
Team Liquid - Owned by Axiomatic
Vitality, Falcons, G2, NaVi, FaZe, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid are part of the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program and receive up to 6-figure funding directly from the Saudi royals. the other CS teams included in that program were knocked out in the qualifiers afaik. I only used CS as an example, since it is a game with broader representation from the big esports teams compared to say sc2
The EWC Support thingy doesn't mean the Saudis "own" the teams though. That one is actually more self-serving than just sportswashing I would say. Esports after all plays a role in SAs "Vision 2030", but for that to work Esports actually has to grow, which the Club Program helps with.
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
Team Liquid - Owned by Axiomatic
Vitality, Falcons, G2, NaVi, FaZe, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid are part of the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program and receive up to 6-figure funding directly from the Saudi royals. the other CS teams included in that program were knocked out in the qualifiers afaik. I only used CS as an example, since it is a game with broader representation from the big esports teams compared to say sc2
The EWC Support thingy doesn't mean the Saudis "own" the teams though. That one is actually more self-serving than just sportswashing I would say. Esports after all plays a role in SAs "Vision 2030", but for that to work Esports actually has to grow, which the Club Program helps with.
you could make an argument that Vision 2030 represents a broader win for those who are systematically discriminated against in SA - that engaging with nations can lead to improvements in human rights.
since Gamers8 kicked off in 2022, SA's civil rights score on the liberty index has improved from 6/60 to a whopping 8/60! SA's political rights score remains at 1/40
at that rate, maybe SA will be a civilized nation by the time their oil runs out (estimates vary, but up to 200 years). in the meantime, we just have to be complicit and continue with this pointless diplomacy
On January 22 2026 04:24 Balnazza wrote: Yeah, fuck you Wombat!....what did you do though? ._.
Nah he's cool I'm just giving him a hard time lol. He was always virtue signaling about boycotting EWC because it was run by the saudi's, which would inevitably lead to them canceling sc2 when the viewership numbers were bad. I thought it was rather silly given that our ecosystem needs every injection of life it can get.
Or perhaps he was just voicing a thoughtful perspective? Virtue signaling has a negative connotation because it suggests that the goal is to signal beliefs that are insincerely or cynically or opportunistically held. It doesn’t apply well here because clearly in this community this is the unpopular, minority position so there isn’t much to be gained by “signaling it,” as these comments demonstrate.
Even if you don’t care about human rights, one could argue that if your game has been abandoned by the publisher and is relying on Saudi money to stay afloat, that’s an extremely precarious position to be in. But of course there’s also no question that this is a huge loss for the players who rely on this prize pool and everything that comes with it (e.g. team salaries and support) to justify continuing to playing at the professional level.
no dick, no balls
and no money!
I would have supported a professional boycott if the Saudis tried to step in during sc2's peak. I can imagine a timeline where Blizzard / KeSPA / ESL jointly banned any players who participate in EWC. this kind of professional resistance probably would have needed the support of other esports companies, like Valve and Capcom. unfortunately, KeSPA wasn't involved in sc2 anymore and the Saudis were already major shareholders for Blizzard and Capcom before the first Gamers8 tournament was hosted. during the '25 EWC, the Saudis owned over half of the participating counter-strike teams. they basically own the esports world now. they can do whatever they want. I'm not sure what a small-scale community resistance would have accomplished.
Team Liquid - Owned by Axiomatic
Vitality, Falcons, G2, NaVi, FaZe, Virtus.pro and Team Liquid are part of the Esports World Cup Foundation Club Support Program and receive up to 6-figure funding directly from the Saudi royals. the other CS teams included in that program were knocked out in the qualifiers afaik. I only used CS as an example, since it is a game with broader representation from the big esports teams compared to say sc2
The EWC Support thingy doesn't mean the Saudis "own" the teams though. That one is actually more self-serving than just sportswashing I would say. Esports after all plays a role in SAs "Vision 2030", but for that to work Esports actually has to grow, which the Club Program helps with.
you could make an argument that Vision 2030 represents a broader win for those who are systematically discriminated against in SA - that engaging with nations can lead to improvements in human rights.
since Gamers8 kicked off in 2022, SA's civil rights score on the liberty index has improved from 6/60 to a whopping 8/60! SA's political rights score remains at 1/40
at that rate, maybe SA will be a civilized nation by the time their oil runs out (estimates vary, but up to 200 years). in the meantime, we just have to be complicit and continue with this pointless diplomacy
Not really defending SA here, just pointing out that it isn't as dire as you described. Personally I would love to love the EWC, because it is a cool concept. And I fully enjoy the pros and orgs getting good money to grow my favorite sport. But I would also love if this wasn't run by SA, so I'm not as enthusiastic about it as I usually would be. It would also help if SA didn't just buy the E(S)WC name, but also actually build on its legacy as they originally pretended to do, by listing the "history of ESCW" and stuff.
EPT![[image loading]](https://filipinotimes.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/mlbb.png)
