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Intrigue and I will be posting random tidbits about MLG and our experience here as we help them run their StarCraft 2 event. Most recent posts will be on top. Check out video logs from Liquid`Tyler (NonY) and others at TL's youtube channel.
Day 2 - Saturday
- MLG is known as the premiere US gaming competition, but the final three players are all from outside the US. Kiwikaki and Huk are both Canadian and Socke is from Germany.
- Huge crowd watching Kiwikaki vs Huk, with really nice reactions to every move made. Can't wait to see the grand finals and how awesome that atmosphere will be.
- MLG has an "extended series" rule, which means if two players played each other previously, and play each other again, the Bo3 is "extended" to a Bo7, which includes the first score. For example, if Player A beats Player B 2-0 in their first Bo3 and they play again, then Player A would start out 2-0 in a Bo7.
- Many players (like Kiwikaki and Inka) agree that the Euro ladder is more difficult and has higher level players than the US ladder. Socke, the lone European Protoss at this event, certainly plays a different style late game PvT, opting for Carriers with lots of Shuttle-Templar harass. He even made a mothership against Drewbie.
- Really interesting how differently the P players play PvT. Kiwi goes Colossus tech, massing them throughout the game, while Huk has shown Colossus into Templar tech or straight Templar Archives in his games against Drewbie.
- Kiwikaki is the only Root player left in the draw after a stellar day for the team. He came into the tournament seeded #1 and hasn't lost a series yet. Interestingly, Kiwikaki hasn't been a featured casted match yet -- the winner's final will be his first.
- Out of a field that included Drewbie, Qxc, Cauthonluck, Painuser and many others, with 5/8 T players in the winner's finals, who would have expected that the much lower seeded Lastshadow would be the last hope for the Terran race in the final four?
- Day 2 is winding down, and our final four are Kiwikaki vs Huk in the winners finals and Socke vs Lastshadow (ajtls) in the loser's final. After so many TvTs, it's surprising that the final few matches might be all PvP.
- Incontrol's secret to success to staying alive in tournaments. Note the killer expression.
- MLG, despite having no history on which to base their analysis, actually did quite a good job at seeding the tournament, as their #1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 seeds all made the winners' quarterfinals.
- Most of the winners bracket matches will get casted today. Lzgamer vs Incontrol is first on the list, cameras are being set up as we speak.
- Yesterday TT1 made it a point to thank us about giving him a chance to play in TSL2. Given their histories, this tournament could be a bit of redemption for both him and for Lastshadow (ajtls).
- Huk after seeing the GSL qualified players list: "I guess foreigners aren't that far behind. **** I should have went. I mean, this is a nice event and all, but 85k is 85k."
- Both Day and Lee Chen of MLG are both rocking the TL shirts today, and MLG_Shrew generously made me the proud owner of an MLG shirt. He's monitoring TL IRC all day for stream problems, let him know his hard work is appreciated!
- Nadagast is supposedly nasty at Natural Selection, the RTS/FPS hybrid game as well. There is a lot of healthy respect among the MLG staff for the top WoW guys, and rightly so, given how much better those guys have done in the SC2 tourney thus far.
- Casters are here bright and early reviewing scripts and getting ready for the broadcast. Venue is slowly waking up, and you can hear the sounds of rock music and team halo growing louder and louder.
- First guys to show up for early morning practice: Socke, agh, Huk, Response, Gretorp, Incontrol. Even had a little time to get in a few 4v4s with the other MLG admins.
- A quick trip to get coffee and we're off to the convention center bright and early. We're down to our final 24 players (8 in winners bracket). Really pumped to see who makes the finals.
Day 1.5 - Friday Night - After a long seven hours, we're ready to do it all again tomorrow at 10:00 AM EST. We're very excited for tomorrow's matches!
- There was a huge crowd watching Select's FPV, as he was one of the fastest screens there, constantly switching around. You could see a lot of the fans who weren't used to the high APM and multitask with jaws open and shaking their heads -- it's clear they've never seen real RTS hand speed.
- The Root guys, especially the French Canadians Kiwikaki and Slush, have this extremely calm air about them when they play. They are very chill, collected, and measured. It's a big contrast with EG's passionate style, where you can read the wins or losses by the players' reactions.
- Gretorp played two close TvTs, the Bo3 where he eventually lost to Silver took as much time as two rounds for everyone else.
- It's fun to watch coaches and managers at the tournament. Complexity's owner, EG's manager, and Xeris (for Fnatic) are always there living and dying on their players' results. They make great fans.
- So many TvTs were played today, but the final sets of matches have a good number of cross race matchups. Hopefully the lone Zerg hero Slush can make it farther.
- Awesome moment in the Socke vs Drewbie match when the Mothership appeared, the roar of the crowd was deafening. Great series there.
- Huk is hilarious, having his zealots /dance several times in game. Lastshadow also gets super excited when winning battles, almost jumping out of his chair.
- Team Root is legit. They have five players in the final eight of the winners bracket. Slush is the only Zerg alive in the winner's bracket, and he played a great defensive game against Masq's reapers.
- The top World of Warcraft player Nadagast is the real deal. Very nice Terran play, and very very fast. He has a legion of fans too. Is everyone on TL going to make fun of Inc for losing to a WoW player now?
- Sad about Tyler losing, but if someone had to beat him, at least it was TL's banling Incontrol, who had to face his teammate Machine in the first round.
- The winners bracket final eight are: Kiwikaki PvT Nadagast, Lastshadow TvZ Slush, Qxc TvP Huk, and Cauthonluck TvT Drewbie. Check out all 24 players still alive (with losers bracket) over at GotFrag.
- After a long day Intrigue and I are finally done. The SC2 event completely finished and 90% of it was perfectly on time, not bad for MLG's first try.
Day 1 - Friday - Brackets will be up here soon. As the tournament progresses, check for updates on the page and on the actual stream live blog.
- MLG thinks Day[9] is too ugly to go on camera without makeup, and this may or may not have upset him. Husky on the other hand is "enjoying this a bit too much" (his own words!).
- Bracket comes out at ~5:00 PM EST. Since this is the first SC2 tournament, there's no previous results on which to base seedings, so we could see some big names face off in the earlier rounds.
- The meeting's finished, and our heroes file out for a group photo. Something about the act of lining up makes people smile goofily and look like kids waiting for the schoolbus. And then, back to practice!
- Just had a player meeting in a conference room upstairs, and the biggest concerns voiced are regarding the disconnect and extended series policies. Here's to hoping there are no disconnects when the game has been decided!
- Former TSL champs are sticking together -- Tyler (Nony) is warming up against JF, who is not at the event but helping him practice.
- Gretorp vs qxc warm up game is currently drawing the largest crowd.
- Huk still uses 0 as the hotkey for his nexus, so his left hand jumps all the way from 0 to e back to 0.
- Players warming up get to play one game and then must step off, so some players prefer playing against the computer (like Machine) who has been just moving banelings around and expanding everywhere in the same game against the comp.
- Day has fans, asking for his autograph by his side. Huk (wearing a white hoodie and big headphones around the outside) gets interviewed on camera. Lots of players standing behind and watching the players warm up and practice.
- Doors are open and the players are streaming in, making a mad dash to the computers to practice.
- Intense debate between the players and casters as to which group of booth girls (Dr. Pepper or Doritos) are more "effective at promotion." Intrigue and I went to investigate.
- Security to Incontrol: "Players are not supposed to be here." Incontrol: "Do you see this jersey? It says Evil Geniuses." Security: "You may be evil..." Incontrol: "I went to Harvard. Then I went to MIT. I'm supposed to be here." (Security leaves him alone).
- TLAF-Liquid`Tyler finally lands, and is immediately interviewed by JP.
- Some more pictures of the venue. The main stage and the control room, where the magic happens.
- In addition to the main sponsors like Dr. Pepper and Doritos, there are other sponsors setting up booths here, including Hot Pockets and Astro peripherals.
- Shoutout to MLG Shrew for letting us use his camera. We found a picture of the EG guys looking hardcore from yesterday. From left to right, Incontrol, Inka, Machine, and Lz.
- We found the FnaticMSI guys Xeris, TT1, and Gretorp in the interview room with all the casters. Day and Gretorp wouldn't stop talking about Banshees. We had to tell them to stop so we could take a badass photo.
- Here is the SC2 Tournament Area, where all the action will happen later today. All the techs are going over the computers as we speak for some last minute checks.
- "Yo gangsta, how do I get in? Do I just walk up and be like 'I'm Huk bitches?' or what?" -- Huk to the MLG PC Tournament Director.
- We got our MLG blue ref jerseys and official badges out of a back of a truck just now. They have a color code just like TL does with names. Black shirts are Halo refs, blue shirts are PC refs, and the red shirt is Ryan Moore, the PC director. The color hierarchy is not unlike TL.
- FPS guys supposedly talk a ton of smack when playing. When MLG had Gears of War on their Pro Circuit, the refs had to make sure the teams wouldn't punch each other.
- MLG's venue is legit. It's huge and you can see the production value quality everywhere -- lots of cameras, staff, and techs. Here's the Halo area.
- JP is rocking a TeamLiquid Shirt under his "pro" black sportcoat. Look for it on stream.
- The MLG administration staff love the Liquipedia Entry for MLG Raleigh, they even used it as a resource for their own newsposts.
Day 0 - The Prince of Qatar came to MLG Orlando to play WoW, supposedly with a backpack full of cash. He plays StarCraft 2 now and flew Incontrol over there to coach him. You can hear him in the background of TL Attack: qxc.
- Trancez says that Lee Chen, the guy who gave us this great interview, rarely ever gives interviews and is basically Diamond Rank 1 of MLG administration for the PC division. Check out the interview if you have time.
- The two other SC2 refs, Trancez and AngryBird, are longtime TL lurkers. They even played a lot of BW back in the day. They also do WoW reffing, and say they love the TL community because of our standard of posting and moderation (at least compared to WoW).
- The Halo kids are big on trash talking to everyone, and PainUser apparently got into a shouting match with one of them outside. "So you're one of those StarCraft nerds?" Painuser: "You're here for a Halo tournament."
- Intrigue and I met the four casters -- Day, JP, HD and Husky. They are all in the same room and sleep on the same beds in their casting pairs. How cute.
- I arrived at the same time as HDStarcraft and sat in the same van to the hotel as him, but he didn't know I was sitting right behind him. He lost his sunglasses and I texted him "sorry about the sunglasses" and he looks up really confused and says "Hot_Bid?" to everyone in the van. IRL trolling ftw.
Check back for more updates and photos soon.
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