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Four Minutes to Midnight

Forum Index > SC2 General
296 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 4 5 13 14 15 Next All

Four Minutes to Midnight

Text bystuchiu
Graphics byshiroiusagi
November 27th, 2013 19:29 GMT
2013 WCS Finals

Four Minutes to Midnight

by stuchiu

The clock is ticking. Not just to the end of 2013, but to annihilation.

Throughout a long and hectic year where HotS and WCS re-ordered the entire scene, and many of our favorite teams and players were swept away on waves of retirement, one overarching thread has gone largely unnoticed: Korea has won every single Premier event in 2013. Each and every one of the MLG, DreamHack, ASUS ROG, HomeStory, IEM and WCS trophies have been taken by players hailing from the Mecca of competitive StarCraft.

Korea only needs to take four more events to close out the year with a perfect all-kill on the rest of the world: Dreamhack Winter, IEM Singapore, WCG, and ASUS ROG NorthCon. Three of those events will happen this weekend, and NorthCon just the week after that. Given the track record of foreigners in 2013, it is a very real possibility that 2013 will become the single worst year for foreigners in the history of SC2.

Yes, there have been some notable performances and close calls. Stephano got to the finals of WCS Europe Season One. Naniwa came within just a single map of defeating Leenock to win DreamHack Stockholm, and also ran through a gauntlet of Koreans to reach the finals of IEM New York. When Scarlett was on her game she looked every bit like a top Korean pro, reaching the semifinals of WCS America and giving WCS champion sOs a run for his money at Red Bull NYC. Even outside the holy trinity of foreigners, others like Snute, Grubby, TLO and Goswser showed they could get hot and make deep runs.

While those are results worthy of respect and admiration, it doesn’t change the fact that they failed to go all the way. For better or for worse we measure everything with championships, and the distance between first and second is even wider than the distance between second and last (ask Jaedong about it). There's no doubt that foreigners taking second gives us hope. But it gives us no satisfaction.

How did this happen? How did this quiet armageddon sneak up on us? No one disputes that the Koreans are the best players in the world, having had deeper roots and a superior infrastructure from the very start of StarCraft 2. But even with its inherent disadvantages, the foreigner scene always had heroes that could stand up to the Koreans and leave them bloodied. 2011 saw players like ThorZaIN, HuK, and even IdrA take points for the West, while Stephano was the standard-bearer of the foreigner cause for all of 2012.

Compared to that, 2013 has been a massacre. Some will point to the fact that the Korean scene got a huge influx of players from the KeSPA switch. While most players from the association failed to live up to elephant-sized expectations, players like INnoVation, sOs, and Soulkey have shown themselves to be world-beaters. Then there's Stephano's retirement to consider. As painful as it might be to admit, a disproportionate amount of foreigner hope had come to rest on his narrow shoulders. On top of that, Koreans just seem to be more interested in taking Euros and dollars. Even with a decrease in paid flights and invitations, more and more Koreans have worked their way to major international tournaments by any means necessary. Whatever the reasons behind it, the situation has never been more grim.

By December 7th, we will know the results of those final four internationals. On December 8th, GSL director Mr. Chae will dress in black tie finery and host the grand finals of the Hot6ix Cup, the final Korean tournament to close the year.

Depending on what happens during those last four minutes until midnight, Mr. Chae might greet the returning Koreans and congratulate them on their finest year yet. He might hand the champion his trophy and tell him he is the best in Korea, and thus truly the best in the world. As he checks the stream numbers, NaNiwa and Scarlett might cross his mind for a moment, before he laughs and wonders why he even thought for a split second that they deserved to be there.

Or, he might look out on the luminaries gathered—all the best Korean progamers, coaches, and teams—and know that for all their success, they are still just one part of a larger world.

IEM Singapore: Happy, Blysk, Feast, Has, SaSe, Grubby, PiG, Revenant, TargA, Scarlett, XiGua

DreamHack Winter: LucifroN, SjoW, NaNiwa, Goswser, TLO

WCG 2013: Babysky, BRAT_OK, Dayshi, demigod, nicholas, Socke, Timber, Xenocider, Albion, BlinG, Capoch, desRow, enjiin, HasuObs, Jim, MacSed, BLord, Cham, Clannad, Dust, Hendralisk, Ian, LiveZerg, Sen, Suppy

ASUS ROG NorthCon: LucifroN, elfi, HasuObs, Socke Welmu, Nerchio, Scarlett, VortiX


Writers: stuchiu.
Graphics & Photos: shiroiusagi, Silverfire.
Editor: Waxangel.
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Moderator
Aeromi
Profile Blog Joined August 2012
France14461 Posts
November 27 2013 19:29 GMT
#2
Foreigners, it's your turn !
https://twitter.com/DrAeromi | Updates on live tournaments: @StarCrafteSport
Zealously
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
East Gorteau22261 Posts
November 27 2013 19:35 GMT
#3
In the words of Chazz Princeton:

You go bye-bye
AdministratorBreak the chains
ROOTCatZ
Profile Blog Joined June 2005
Peru1226 Posts
November 27 2013 19:37 GMT
#4
awesome write-up, #believe
Progamerwww.root-gaming.com
Dinotramp
Profile Joined August 2012
Nauru2871 Posts
November 27 2013 19:37 GMT
#5
Holy fuck, great write up.
RIP Starcraft scene in the UK. Defeated by EG money and Swedish Zergs.
sM.Zik
Profile Joined June 2011
Canada2550 Posts
November 27 2013 19:39 GMT
#6
Finally the skill level of Starcraft 2 is where it should be
Jaedong Fighting! | youtube.com/ZikGaming
intotheheart
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Canada33091 Posts
November 27 2013 19:41 GMT
#7
If the foreigners win all those four events, would this still be the worst year for us?
kiss kiss fall in love
Zealously
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
East Gorteau22261 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-27 19:49:17
November 27 2013 19:44 GMT
#8
On November 28 2013 04:41 IntoTheheart wrote:
If the foreigners win all those four events, would this still be the worst year for us?


Nope.

Well, I suppose it depends on how you look at it. In terms of numbers, foreigners would still have won the least tournaments. But not all tournaments won by foreigners in 2012 had line-ups even remotely comparable to almost every single one of this year's tournaments.
AdministratorBreak the chains
operwolf
Profile Joined April 2008
United States324 Posts
November 27 2013 19:45 GMT
#9
I believe...

...in the koreans.

Nice writeup stuchiu!
He'll end up dead, because he'll die.
zajeBEASTY
Profile Joined March 2011
Poland40 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-27 19:47:23
November 27 2013 19:47 GMT
#10
Nice, Koreans are still miles ahead of rest of the world and it doesnt look like it will change soon. Gratz for them!
http://www.duchprawdy.com/poemat.htm / http://www.valtorta.org/the_poem__freeonlinereadingoffer.asp - Poemat Boga-Człowieka / Poem of the Man-God
Lorch
Profile Joined June 2011
Germany3684 Posts
November 27 2013 19:48 GMT
#11
On November 28 2013 04:39 sM.Zik wrote:
Finally the skill level of Starcraft 2 is where it should be


True, true. I think the best chance for a foreigner to win an event now is around lotv release. I feel like a year or two after lotv seeing a foreigner take a map off of a korean in an offline competition will be huge.
Spectralx
Profile Joined November 2010
United States198 Posts
November 27 2013 19:50 GMT
#12
Nice writing dude
Spectral - Paralyzed Quadriplegic Gamer
Reborn8u
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States1761 Posts
November 27 2013 19:50 GMT
#13
I don't see anything changing, I think it's going to snowball. As sponsors, and popularity go more and more away form foreigners.
:)
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
November 27 2013 19:51 GMT
#14
Didn't Xenocider win that one Tournament?
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Zealously
Profile Blog Joined October 2011
East Gorteau22261 Posts
November 27 2013 19:52 GMT
#15
On November 28 2013 04:51 Enema wrote:
Didn't Xenocider win that one Tournament?


You're welcome to consider this a major win, but I don't think many others will.
AdministratorBreak the chains
hellokitty[hk]
Profile Joined June 2009
United States1309 Posts
November 27 2013 19:57 GMT
#16
Koreans good unit.
People are imbeciles, lucky thing god made cats.
ftm
Profile Joined August 2013
Australia47 Posts
November 27 2013 19:59 GMT
#17
This doesn't really change anything since early brood war anyways.
"Hell...ain't a man of 'em could catch you on a vulture Jimmy"
CyCo
Profile Joined January 2011
Belgium67 Posts
November 27 2013 20:02 GMT
#18
Nice write up!
gogo foreign power
teddyoojo
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
Germany22369 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-27 20:04:09
November 27 2013 20:03 GMT
#19
nvm i suq
Esports historian since 2000. Creator of 'The Universe' and 'The best scrambled Eggs 2013'. Host of 'Star Wars Marathon 2015'. Thinker of 'teddyoojo's Thoughts'. Earths and Moons leading CS:GO expert. Lord of the Rings.
Redrot
Profile Blog Joined September 2012
United States446 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-11-27 20:06:51
November 27 2013 20:06 GMT
#20
Who cares? Koreans are better, this has been established. I don't get the point of the article, what it is trying to argue.
I root for CJ because their fb posts are hilarious
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