EPTUpdate:
https://www.facebook.com/thatglaiveguy
https://twitter.com/GGlaive
For mods: I´m not sure if this is the right place but from what I gathered from the "advertisement/self-promotion" guidelines, I think a thread like this is okay? The goal is simply to announce my return and hopefully earn the status of a featured streamer in time. If not just move/remove the thread
I´m known as Glaive (or for any oldschool fan, Beef-on-a-stick) and I´m a former semi-professional gamer.
For a long time I´ve been frequenting this site, it´s about time I stepped out of the shadows and introduced myself for those who don´t know me from the Warcraft3 days!
Grandmastering the Ladder is what I´m going to call my little corner of the internet where I stream and record my journey toward Grandmaster-level Terran play. Working full time at becoming a profesional gamer once again. I should perhaps first mention that I am currently residing in the top 8 of a high masters league on the european servers.
Stream status: Break time!
http://www.twitch.tv/GGlaive
Edit: After recieving a couple of emails from amazingly supportive liquidians out there I feel a bit silly that I left out the fact that I´m currently sponsorless. I´m currently negotiating with a few different teams that have been able to offer LAN spons (entry fees, travel expenses and hotels). But as of today nothing is finalized, so I encourage any serious organization who is looking to recruit new players to send me an email (alexander.itg@gmail.com). I don´t require any sort of high salary at all as I live a pretty minimalistic lifestyle at the moment (and obviously have yet to actually prove myself in leagues/tournaments) However, as my savings are quickly running dry I will need to cover rent and such in order to be able to continue practicing full time.
Maintenance note:
I´ve finally started putting together this thread, just a little place to call home. Right now it´s just a horribly rough draft. Not even half of what I´m thinking it will be upon completion. But knowing myself, things well move along at a 10 times faster pace if I actually put this up there and start adding as I go along instead of piecing bits and pieces together in one long sitting that surely will get procrastinated even further.
Will be updated with:
*Website
*Stream info (currently changing from Xsplit to to probably OBS since the quality on Xsplit is super shitty and capped at 480)
Grabbed the link to a recent session from the archives for anyone who curious and the stream is currently offline: http://www.twitch.tv/gglaive/b/405618504
*Contact info
Skype/Email: alexander.itg@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GGlaive
I only completed my new PC a month ago so I´m still feeling pretty rusty but things are progressing nicely and it´s becoming more and more obvious to me what I need to work on in my play.
For now I´m just going to start writing on a good and thorough introduction of myself. Sort of just about my life from the perspective of a competitive mind, for anyone who may be interested in getting to know me now, or more likely in the future when I start making a bit of a splash. It´s something I´ve been wanting to get started on writing on for quite a while, too.
Basically I´m looking for a place to post my thoughts and progress, update when I´m streaming, where I do some commentary and analysis during and inbetween games. If I´m lucky maybe even start a little following. You guys have proven to be extremely loyal supporters of players who have proven themselves worthy, I can only hope to count myself among them some day soon.
Long ass introduction, (rough, draft) part 1:
My IRL handle is Alexander Angleby, also known as Glaive. I hail from the great gaming nation of Swedenland, home to many true vikings that some of you are probably very familiar with. Back in 2004-2008 I was still in school but traveled quite a bit competing in Wc3, as what I suppose you would call a semi-professional gamer. When I was at my peak, before I was forced into retirement due to medical issues I was competing at roughly this level: http://classic.battle.net/tournaments/season4/brackets.shtml
From this point forward, however, as I am dedicating myself to gaming full time; I will be refering to myself not as a student, not as on sick-leave, but as an aspiring actual progamer. I have been quietly practicing for myself without having any real presence on the scene for a very long time so I´m just trying to get the ball rolling here. This site has been among the first I go to when I first sit down at a computer, even before facebook, for many years.
Gaming community websites was where I spent insanely huge chunks of my teenage years. You, and everyone else who has read and posted on these sites have taught me so much about life, and about communication. I can honestly say that you, in an immensely positive way, have shaped and influenced the very core of what identifies me as a person.
Sites like TL and WCReplays is where I learned everything I needed to know to become a professional gamer. Throughout the years it´s been a place where I could go and always find great comfort and support whenever I needed it. The life of a gamer is not easy at times, this community, especially a few of you who became teammates and close friends, kept me focused and motivated when I otherwise would have given up.
I could not think of a better place to return to for this, my rise from the ashes.
I have reached a skill-level in HotS where I now feel that the vast majority of players can at least learn something from watching my games, even if you´re already in Masters. Maybe especially if you´re in that mid to high masters and you are kinda stuck trying to get to that next level. I have great experience in making that jump from casual to more serious and professional in simply how you approach the game, attacking that long list of things you know that you need to work on, approaching things the right way and in the right order to make the time we put into ladder as efficient as possible.
So, here I am "making the switch", even though I´ve explored HotS enough to feel very confident that Starcraft 2 is a great game for me to compete in. I am very eager to see if me in my best shape can compete with the youngsters of today, or if the bar is simply too high now with the huge influx of player flooding the competative scene. Can I achieve some of my goals in getting to a point where we can make money off of this and maybe even get to travel to some tournaments? That would make me very happy and give my life a sense of purpose.
I have come to terms with the fact that I am a very sick individual, and unless some medical breakthrough is made, will be for the rest of my life. This leaves me with very few realistic options of "living life" while I´m still relatively young. But pitting my brain against some elses, E-sports, Blizzard RTS games, these are my passions. And coincidentally these are all things you can explore in front of your computer. This is pretty much ideal for obvious reasons, it´s very difficult for me to maintain a regual office hours schedule with my condition. As the sort of... average level of well-being has drastically decreased over the last year. Due to the worst physical condition I´ve been in a long time, a combination of the disease acting up, me not exercising, and lately a pretty severe depression - something that has been just completely new for me to deal with. So this truly is a climb from rock bottom.
Worst case scenario? Even if I manage to realize none of my dreams I am still confident that Starcraft will provide exactly the type of mental exercise and training in discipline that I desperate need in order to get life back on track. With the future so uncertain as to when the next surgery will take place, going back to school is not really an option. I mean, it is but I´ve been down that road before. It leads to no actual credit due to periods in the hospital of varying lengths that often coincide with exams and random deadlines. So basically the past few attempts to pick up my studies have been just a huge waste of time that is very demoralizing. Another such setback is definitely not what I need in my life right now. I need something that gives back as much as I give, no more and certainly no less.
I am a firm believer in the philosophy that Artosis share with me, that playing Starcraft actually makes you a better person. So this is my new life plan, hopefully I can make a living off of this, because anyone that is truly happy will tell you that they got there by doing what they loved...
I may or may not be undergoing surgery in the upcoming weeks so I´m not quite sure when the next big update will come but definitely soon!
Do you think that watching something like this may interest you? If so let me know in a comment below! Feedback will be most appreciated. Demuslim, for instance, is kind of doing what I´m trying to do, obviously a lot better, but I´m actually catching up a lot quicker than I expected and pretty soon I´m going to feel confident asking some old friends who are actually already doing this for a living for practice. But since I don´t want to waste let´s say Grubby´s time by just getting completely slaughtered, I still have some serious practice ahead of me. Let me know if you have any fun ideas for the "show", I´m going to try to be as interactive with the viewers as possible. I´m considering announcing a fun little official launch night for my stream, mainly to boost my own motivation not to just sit quietly. I want to practice commentating (obviously not casting in any way since we are trying aiming for perfection in our play) and doing post-game analyses.
To be continued guys. Thanks for reading!
