WCS America Qualifiers: A Chance to Shine [Part 1]

Late last year Blizzard officially announced changes to WCS in 2014 that affected the South-East Asian and Oceania Regions greatly. Compared to what the region was offered in 2013, it was seen as a marked improvement. We at Team Exile5 asked a few well known players in the region for their opinions on the new changes from a player's perspective. Part Two of this interview series will feature interviews with members of the community.

The format for the SEA/Oceania WCS qualifiers has recently been shared with players and viewers alike. How do you feel about the 2 stage Qualifier and the deep prize pool distribution for top 8?

FlashBlysk: I feel good about the format of course since I'm seeded haha. But generally it's a pretty fair format as long as both stages are double elimination. Top 8 prize pool distribution is always fair so it's perfectly fine. After all we still have SCS points to claim for doing well and getting into RO 16.

Fray'Fenner: I think the prize pool distribution is absolutely amazing. It's rare to get that kind of prize pool in SEA and just for a qualifier... The SEA scene is finally getting to taste what it's like to have support from Blizzard once again. It's also going to push people to work harder imo, I know it definitely makes me want to get into that top 8 really, really badly!

RootPetraeus: I feel pretty confident going into stage 2. With 3 seeds into WCS I don't really see myself not getting a spot. PiG and iaguz are always troublesome and KingKong will completely dominate if he actually practices but aside from that I don't think there is a lot of competition. I don't like risks so I think I'll be more comfortable playing with the current prize pool distribution; however I value the seeds a lot more.

x5_PiG: The qualifier seems to be well planned with invites given to high performing favorites as well as an open qualifier giving the chance for anyone to make a name for themselves and break into the pro scene. I hope to win the tournament so the selfish part of me wishes that more of the pool was devoted to first place. However looking at it objectively I know that having a wider prize spread gives more incentive for more players to practice hard and compete, this the best way to support a competitive environment within the region.

In 2013, SEA/Oceania received nothing from the system. Do you think the opportunities the WCS system gives us in 2014 is fair given the size of our region? In other words, are 3 spots to Challenger League (with a strong possibility of facing a Korean in the ups and downs next) fair for our region?

Blysk: I believe it is 3 seeds first season and not sure 1 or 2 seed for 2nd season onwards? 3 seeds is amazingly great, it gives us such a huge opportunity to showcase and bring awareness to the international scene about SEA. 2 is still fair, but if it were only 1 seed than it is a little bit frustrating. But I do agree 2014 does give a fairer distribution in opportunity to regions and not totally disregarding SEA.

NXZ: I think this is a vast improvement over the old format, granted it’s still not the perfect exposure that we'd like to see. If enough interest can be drawn to the Challenger matches where we'll get the Korean (probably for the first few seasons) vs Foreigner rivalry across a single match which I think is a significantly easier task to overcome than waking up at 4am and waiting hours for matches against strong competition. I think we will 100% see at least 1 SEA player in the Premier League for each season if only to not make top 16.

Petraeus: I'd say they are more than fair. Not only is it not our region but we have a much smaller competitive scene than America so 3 spots is generous in my opinion.

PiG: Well in 2013 Glade did get an invite in Season 1 and had a great run! Petraeus also qualified in Season 3, though this year’s changes meant he was dropped from Challenger. We weren't guaranteed anything though so this year's changes are a nice move forward for us. Having 3 spots in Challenger is great for us and quite generous considering the size of our region, when compared to how many spots the Americas and China got. I would love to see a system that supports more local competition rather than being swamped with Koreans but considering the way it's organised overall, SEA has been dealt a good hand.

What do you think about having to play only 1 best-of-5 series to qualify for Premier League?

Blysk: That's really cool in my opinion. If you get lucky, of course. However it's a little unfair if you were to face a top player and fall out just because of a bad draw. Perhaps they should re-use the GSL bracket system to determine the 2 people moving on to Premier? We will see how WCS decides to change and mold their system, they do tend to like to change it throughout the seasons.

Fenner: Whoa 1 bo5? I didn't realize it was like that. That sounds a bit crazy, I just expected the same or very similar system to last season. I'm not sure if I like the idea of it, since if you just get 1 opponent that you're bad against then you could get knocked out even if you're really high skill - but you're just weak against that specific opponents play-style. Generally though, in a bo5 the better player does almost always win, so I'd like to see how it plays out.

Petraeus: Its extremely coinflippy but it could very well give me a higher chance of qualifying so I'll save my complaints until I see my opponent.

PiG: It's a bit of a harsh system where there is a lot of luck in who you're matched with. But it will reward good preparation and studying opponents.

We all know who the likely top contenders will be for the top 3 spots in SEA. Who do you think is a potential dark horse?

Blysk: Really? You know? I don't even know! If you were asking about people who aren't seeded, I really can't answer, I feel like I've been focusing on myself so much more than looking at other players that I don't know who's good and who isn't.

Fenner: Hmmm. This is a tough one actually. I think someone that people may not know too much about but is getting really good right now is DemiLove, an Indian Zerg player who is practicing an incredible amount and improving rapidly. Then the other I could think of that would also be considered a dark horse if he won I guess, would be Lobo... Pretty strong Protoss getting some nice results in smaller tournaments right now. With that said, while they would be my picks, I really do think that the people that qualify will not be unexpected people. People already in Stage 2 are so strong.

Petraeus: Lobo. He's the Singaporean Hitman.

PiG: There's a few potential dark horses but I'm not really sure how much SEA mainstays like Rossi and Ninja have been practicing. I'd like to see some completely unknown or under-rated players breaking into the top 8. Pezz, Myuu, Fenner, Megafonzie, Pokerface and Surge all could cause upsets and place highly. Oh and Blysk! Blysk did really well in the recent Masters Cup, taking down some great players. I think he'll show some very strong games.

How do you feel about the other changes to WCS 2014 overall?

Fenner: Honestly I was happy with the previous format and also happy with the way they're taking it. I can see the pros and cons for both sides of the argument... Having the best players vs having local talent. Personally I just love to see the best players so I wouldn't have minded if it was left how it was. But at the same time it will be cool to see which foreigners can rise up. Both ways work in my opinion, they're just different. I think most people do prefer the direction it's going now though.

I’m more happy that they brought SEA back on board.

NXZ: Whilst I think that Blizzard still hasn't reached the perfect balance for format but I think it has improved somewhat. As a fan I didn't like the Season Finals because it felt like it invalidated Blizzcon as the year ending event. Now, with it removed the whole America vs Europe vs Korea stories are much more interesting, it’s still not quite as hype inducing as the League of Legends' LCS but it’s an improvement nonetheless.

On the other hand I think that the changes to Challenger are a, let’s say, an interesting way of approaching the Korean domination of the so called America region. Ladder wildcard spots, even if taken by Koreans encourage those "beatable for a a good American" level Koreans to play more on the American ladder which will help raise the skill of the ladder, in my eyes at least. 200 wins may end up not being enough though, depending on the time period allowed for those wins. As a professional player, this would be very achievable in maybe 2 weeks which might not be enough.

Petraeus: I think they are heading the right direction. I don't have any major complaints or issues with the system.

PiG: I believe the 2014 WCS system is a small step up from 2013. The advantages are quite clear in having our own qualifiers for WCS in SEA on our time zone, no longer having to wake up at 4am to compete in brackets filled with rogue Koreans as well as the Chinese and American hopefuls. Just qualifying to Challenger also gives a minimum prize of $600 so at least $1200 each season (2 SEA qualifiers after season 1) combined with the money Blizzard is putting into our qualifying tournaments of $2500 = at least $3700 coming into SEA each season, even if our players drop out of Challenger immediately. I just hope the qualifiers remain a big deal like this first one with similar or hopefully even larger prize pools!

The main issue with the system is that whilst the path into Challenger is made easier, there is now even less chance to gain exposure for sponsors once there. Challenger league is now easier to follow for viewers and the games are much more important but a single best of 5 set can be incredibly brutal as qualifiers are always matched with Premier League drop-outs. The vast majority of these are Koreans and so there will be a lot of finger-crossing by players hoping to get one of the few "favourable" drop-outs. Ultimately the path in and out of Challenger has opened up, but the Koreans already dominating the league will take years to 'bleed out' and significantly change the composition of WCS America Premier league.

Starcraft is no LoL. There is no protection of regional competition and so the most elite eSport has become one of the harshest proving grounds for non-Korean gamers. My path has changed from that of the lush meadows of 2012 to a harsh desert, but I am not demoralised, I am simply forced to dig deeper within myself to reach my goals.

The map pool for WCS has just recently been released, what are your thoughts on the maps?

Blysk: Interesting maps to say the least. Blizzard has fulfilled their goal to make it diverse that's for sure. But Daedalus Point is utter bull**** for Protoss, any Protoss would agree. Other than maybe Hitman ^.~

Fenner: Aaaah man I love and hate them at the same time. I love them because I really do think that they force people to come up with new strategies, they force people to play differently, use different openers. Previous map pool I was literally just using the same build on every map and vetoing Alterzim. Now with the new map pool I really think you need to have different strategies for different maps, which is amazing for the game - more flavour, yo. So why do I hate them? Well, this just comes from wanting to win, since I do need to come up with new ways to play on certain maps it means that I need to put a lot more into strategy which wasn't previously needed. You know what after typing that sentence I feel like I shouldn't hate them, that's a good thing right? Just need to work harder!

Petraeus: I haven't had enough experience on the new maps to have any opinions but since I'll be playing mostly ZvZ in the SEA qualifiers I'm not too worried.

PiG: When I first heard this I got pretty mad that the maps just got released on ladder and are already being used for a tournament. However, after playing for a few days and enjoying the maps (especially Daedelus lol!) I don't have any qualms. I should be familiar with them by the time of the tournament. Daedelus is very zerg-friendly, Heavy-Rain demands multitasking and Habitation station is relatively straight-up. I'm completely fine with all of these factors.

Bonus question for Petraeus - Do you think your current living situation (living in the Root House) gives you an advantage over the other SEA players or will the lag and time zones be a big disadvantage?

Petraeus: The lag definitely won't be an issue as I have better ping to SEA from the US than I did from NZ to NA. US is ahead in time so there’s no way the time zones will be an issue either. No excuses for me sadly. [Editor's note: It starts at roughly 7-8PM for Pet]

Broadcast Details
Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/aclproSC2

Stage 1 - Online Open Qualifier Stage
Date: Saturday 11th January 2014
Time: 11.30am for 12pm start AEDT

Stage 2 - Round of 16
Date: Sunday 12th January 2014
Time: 12.30pm for 1pm start AEDT

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Contributors:-
WCS 2014 Summary: x5 Daehfeurd/Potthead
Interviews: x5 Stormz
Editing: x5 Dot

All StarCraft 2 images are the property of Blizzard Entertainment

WCS America Qualifiers: A Chance to Shine [Part 1]

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