EPT
A decade of Starcraft 2
2011: The clash of civilizations and the remaking of the world order
With the astronomical rise of SC2 in 2010, more and more people realized the potential not only of Starcraft, but of esport in general. After multiple failures to make esports a true phenomenon in the first decade of the 21st century, the stars were finally aligned. The growth of online streaming, a company ready to put its weight behind the competitive scene and an IP that was both successful and closely associated to competitive play, had made Starcraft 2 a surefire esport hit. While for the common video game aficionados, this meant either a fleeting dream of their own success or arranging their weekend activities around tournaments time-schedule, behind the scene, early days esports figures were quickly joined by investors looking to get into what was becoming a multi-millions dollar industry. (1. 2) As money and fans flocked to SC2, the question seemingly wasn’t if it was going to succeed, but how was it going to succeed. Playing with different cards in their hands, major actors around the globe fought to push their own vision of Starcraft to ensure they would benefit the most of this new golden age.
Three distinct Starcraft regions were quickly drawn out. North America, where the game was made and where there would be the hardest push to establish a new stable and professional esports scene in the West. Europe, where a multiplicity of local and national organizations would try to coexist. And of course Korea, where the already established GSL kept on growing, but would soon come to face a domestic viewership problem. In 2011 these three regions would rapidly converge, creating an integrated and globalized Starcraft scene, although one that wasn’t without its share of conflicts.
The fourth big Starcraft region, China, rapidly separated itself and became more and more isolated from the rest, creating their own autonomous national circuits as early as 2011, most notably with the G-League, and afterward with the Golden Pro League. The minimal participation of outsiders as well an absence of any consistent non-Asian coverage made it essentially remote from the rest of the world, with the exception of the rare appearances of a few Chinese players overseas or of other international leagues such as IEM stopping in China. As such trying to cover its development without insider knowledge wouldn’t be of much interest.
An imperial triumvirate in Korea
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/RXQZe1t.jpg)
The breathless pace of the GSL in 2011 provided a hefty number of opportunities for the best players and during the first 8 months of 2011, that allowed for the distancing of a leading trio battling for the title of best in the world.
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A new power structure
While most people were busy planning the takeover of their daily life, the passing of the new year was a moment of great significance for Starcraft 2. On January second, 2011 the first season of GSL code S started. Code S marked a rupture in the way to approach Starcraft 2 in Korea. Before this, the main lure of tournaments was to have as many players as possible. The bigger the sample size, the more likely it was to find out who was the absolute best at the game. This line of thinking lead to tournaments that had hundreds if not thousands of participants and would continue to be a mainstay of international tournaments, mainly MLG and Dreamhack for years, although for somewhat different reasons. The GOMTV crew opted to go into another direction with the creation of an intricate system of two distinct leagues, GSL code A and GSL code S, linked by Up-and-down matches. (3. 4)
This format has frequently been presented as a way for up-and-comers to sharpen their skills in Code A and slowly evolve into the elite of Korean players. While this is true, there was an opposite, more immediate, effect. The dual league set up effectively served as a stabilizing tool for the upper class of a competitive scene that was still highly volatile. In the open format, previous champions and new fan favorites were always a single bad series away from falling into irrelevance, now they had multiple layers of safety nets. The first 32 code S players, chosen according to their point total in the three open seasons of GSL, were placed in four man groups, those who got out were immediately seeded into the next code S, the other felt to the Up-and-Down where they competed against the top 16 of code A, were they to lose, they would be seeded into the next code A season. There, in the first round, they would face someone coming from the preliminary qualifiers, a win against them would ensure they would get televised matches in the next GSL, be it code A or code S. So to recap, for a code S player to fall out of the spotlight he would as such need to bomb out of his group, lose his up-and-down matches, then lose in the first round of code A the next season, every time playing against usually worst opponents. This structural advantage accorded to the elite of Korean Starcraft produced near immediate results, only 4 players made back to back to back appearances in the GSL open round of 32, while 20 played in the first 3 GSL code S. On paper it looked like a solid hierarchy, in reality during the first few editions, the dual leagues frequently devolved in the latter rounds into two similarly skilled tournaments. It’s hard to argue there’s a real hierarchy between a top 8 of
MMA-Bomber-aLive-
viOLet-CoCa-Ryung-KeeN and Mvp and one of 
Top-KiLLeR-NesTea-sC-Losira-anypro-InCa and NaDa.(5) Nevertheless, be it because of talent flocking to the top or of a system destined to make only the very best sparring between themselves over and over, as time went on what was in the beginning a pretty artificial differentiation became a reality and the top of code S started to consistently be head and shoulders above the rest.The Triumvirate
Before the first code S trophy was given, another important event took place, one that flew under the radar, but would set the tone for the next twelve months to come. The Gainward invitational assembled over 700 participants online for the chance to join eight of the GSL best in an offline final at a pc café. Although prize money was quite low, pretty much everyone worth a damn signed up. Reigning GSL champion
MC tripped up early in the qualifiers and ended up watching from the sidelines, but his predecessor NesTea did no such thing, easily dispatching of his opponents until a hard-fought semi-final that saw his triumph over ByuN. While another excellent performance by Nestea was to be admired, it was the other side of the bracket that attracted the most attention. Mvp, the first player to achieve 3000 MMR,(6) ran amok in his bracket to set up the first ever head to head between the IM co-founders. Mvp made quick work of his elder, giving Nestea his first one sided loss in an offline tournament.Following the Gaiward invitational, the IM duo carried their momentum in the first GSL season, both going undefeated on their way to their semi-final clash. On the other side of the bracket, the newly found code S was less favorable to MC, as Sweden representative
Jinro took his revenge and eliminated him in the round of 16. (7) The TL player was quickly joined by EG star IdrA in what was, and still is, the first and only playoff foreigner duel in a Korean league. Europe prevailed and Jinro clashed with MKP in his second semi-final in a row. Mvp took the teamkill yet again although not without some resistance,(8) while MKP became the first player to make it to two GSL finals, guaranteeing the first terran champion. With one side of the bracket populated with fan favorite underdogs and the other with tournament favorites, the final was the letdown we could have anticipated. Mvp absolutely smoked MarineKing, out planning the Prime star every step of the way to earn the title of best terran in the world.Mvp decision to switch to Starcraft 2 had intrigue quite a few people(9) and his victory only heightened the interest. As a very promising rising talent of the Kespa system and the only real A-team player to make the switch to SC2, his success could be used as a centerpiece in both sides of the Brood war vs Starcraft 2 argument. For the apologist of this new iteration of the RTS genre, the decision of a talent of his quality to invest into Starcraft 2 over Brood War was an indication that while the old Kespa guard may have decided to stay behind, the future belongs to them. For the detractor of Starcraft 2, he was one more proof that the SC2 competitive scene was only a pale imitation of BW and fed the famous “elephant in the room” debate.(10)
Mvp return to code S derailed quickly, losing to
July (11) then getting booted right out of code S in back to back defeats against Alicia and Genius. Meanwhile, Nestea also got delegated to up-and-down matchup after losing to San combination of Keldarim amulet and archon toilet,(12) forcing us all to wonder for the first time: “Is San amazing or is protoss OP?”. This alongside other existential questions like “Is Patience good or does everyone suck?” and “How many baneling is too many baneling?” would never truly be answered. With the two other past champions out of the way, the path was clear for MC who ransacked all other players on the way to an even more dominant second GSL trophy, notably smashing San and July. In a matter of days, the Boss-toss took back the center stage at the top of Korean Starcraft 2. As a small consolation for IM, Losira took home the code A trophy after a close fight with SuperNova.(13)MC had no time to do his victory lap as a new bunch of challengers appeared, foreigners coming to compete in the GSL World Championship. The tournament was part of the effort of GOMTV to pander to their newfound foreign audience and make their league truly “global”. With Idra and Jinro doing deep runs in GSL and
Loner and White-Ra giving Genius his fair share of troubles at Blizzcon, a strong contingent of foreigners was looking to be a real challenge.A best of 15 team competition opened the tournament and it looked very good for the foreigners until July dug out a team Korea with four key kills, giving his country three match points before falling to
DIMAGA. With two players left, the decision was made to keep Nestea as the ultimate ace, sending Mvp first. The IM terran and the Ukrainian zerg went all out, but after a 20 minutes split map situation Mvp got disconnected, setting up a regame. In the face of pressure, it would be the Korean terran who’d flinch, resorting to a flimsy four racks timing that opened himself to a deadly counter.(14) Tied up 7-7, Nestea finally woke up from his slumber just long enough to give the younglings a lesson on how to beat foreigners, shoving a bunch of roaches down Dimaga's throat.(15) While “Team World” could leave the team exhibition with their heads high, the individual section would be more rocky, leading with a fully Korean final four. After an early elimination of Nestea that saw Dimaga get his revenge, it was looking like a MC-Mvp final, with MC up 2-0 in his semi-final. Then interject MarineKing Prime, the terran prince wasn’t ready to be written out as a mere extra and it was doing everything to put himself back at the center the story. Alas, it was not to be. MKP epic comeback vs MC only left him with another drubbing at the hand of Mvp, as his nemesis got his second championship pin.In front of the triumph of his terran challenger in the capital, MC decided to turn his gaze to offshore conquests, going out on an international tour that would lead him to Europe and America while Mvp and Nestea decided to stay at home. It would be the perfect opportunity for Nestea, weakened by the recent turn of events and a less than favorable balance, to take advantage of the indisposition of his rivals. MC slipped up in groups between two flights to Europe while Mvp was stuck in code A, where he saved his honor with a respectable second place finish behind Startale phenomenon
Bomber.(16) Meanwhile, the IM zerg had a hard-fought path to the final, only inching pass sC in the semi.(17) At the ultimate stage he joined Protoss player InCa, who himself had cleave through the competition, losing a single map in the tournament.(18) While Inca rise could have excited people for the young protoss, success in adversity only made Nestea more popular, especially compared to the shameless cheesing of his opponent. The people would have what they wanted, Nestea obliterated the poor Inca,(19) who probably only wanted to turn translucent and flee the public eye after this. Sadly for him, as it has been well established, Inca sucked at hiding things and as such his name became a laughingstock for terran and zerg fans around the world for years.(20)With Mvp back in code S and Nestea on top of the hill, MC came back heighten from his far away adventures, having scored 9 straight top three in offline tournament between March and July, including victories at Dreamhack Stockholm, Copenhagen Games and Starwar in China on top of a second place in NASL. Going into the back half of 2011, the three were sitting neck and neck at two GSL titles a piece. All had a decent case to ascend above their peers. MC could boast of the world's best micro as well as being the only one willing to risk exposing himself to international competition. Nestea could garner the support of the crowd by pandering to his success in the face of a disadvantageous balance as well as his unmatched GSL consistency. Finally, Mvp had the ice-cold blood of a champion, a wide array of playstyles and a perfect understanding of how to unravel his opponent's plans.
Three become two
GSL July was supposed to be the clash of the titans with all three previous winners in list, instead none of them met, Mvp and MC felt in mirror matches, the first in group stage versus ByuN and the second in a round of 8 match versus code S regular
HongUn.(21) In their absence, Nestea dominated the tournament, his 12 and 0 run was top by a 4-0 to his teammate Losira, even daring a 12-pool spine rush(22) in the final game to clinch the first and last perfect GSL run. Of the three champions, the old fox was seemingly the least appealing, but with sound preparation and an unshakeable will to win, he had completely turned around a fading BW career and firmly implemented himself as one of the game's greatest. Memes of the creator of the universe, the builder of so many baneling(23) and the dreaming god,(24) animating our collective memory for a long time to come.But Starcraft was restless and the masses were already looking to see if Nestea could do the hat trick. This time, MC immediately got match with now MLG champion Mvp, a fate that would be fatal to the protoss player,(25) whose heavy travel habit seemed to impact his play and was really starting to struggle to keep up with his rivals. In the round of 16, Mvp would then meet Nestea, in the most anticipated match of the tournament. The terran once again prevailed.(26) After that, the two-time champion proceeded to dominate
HuK(27) and July(28) before finally completely halt the rising momentum of Top, running circles around the OGS terran mech army. (29) Just when it looked like Nestea had done everything necessary to distance himself from the pack, his IM partner struck back. With was now firmly a two-man race to decide the best of the game short life span, Nestea and Mvp sat atop the GSL standing and had a date with history at Blizzcon.30Hubris and metis in North America
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/osn1e6B.jpg)
With SC2 becoming bigger and bigger every day many people were starting to realize this could be esports great moment and success seemed to be limitless. Having watched esport bloom across the Pacific for too long, the North American scene, helped by ambitious businessmen, decided it was time to put the good old US of A in its rightful place at the center of professional Starcraft.
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Delusions of grandeur
Emboldened by
IdrA recent MLG victory as well as his success in GSL, the already popular Evil Genius team went all out to become not only the face of North American Starcraft, but to build an organization that would rival the most prestigious Korean teams.(31) Signing lucrative sponsorship deals, most notably with Monster and Intel and creating a well-oiled marketing machine guided by the steady hands of iNcontroL and Anna Prosser,(32) the team would soon achieve its goal of becoming a figurehead of SC2, only rivaled in the West by TL.net own Teamliquid. Nonetheless, EG quickly faced an existential problem, their investment into a team house, big marketing contracts and generous salary for their players failed to produce the expected growth, as even their increasingly disruptive star Idra didn’t produce stable results. Without champions no amount of glitter and announcements would make them into a top team, as such Alex Garfield gang decided to turn to an aggressive acquisition tactic, a style that would come to define EG brand. The first, and perhaps most successful acquisition purely result wise, would be the signing of SCVLife PuMa. The transaction was tainted with controversy as TSL management was openly upset with the way EG had poached their promising player right after his NASL run and criticized similar maneuvers done by EG toward other Korean players.(33. 34) In an environment where teams were still largely based on good faith it would be a wake-up call that things got serious. It of course needs to be noted that EG offered their recruits very good working conditions as well as clear contractual guarantee at a time when non-Kespa esport deals were frequently shady or amateurish.(35) The acquisition of PuMa wasn’t just to have him wear a jersey in GSL, but to have him play outside of the Korean circuit, where the EG brand was the strongest. It’s not clear if it was purely PuMa decision, but after some early 2010 failures in the GSL qualifiers, he would almost exclusively compete in international events. While this would become a pretty standard practice in the years to come, PuMa was the first player to deliberately turn his back on the Korean circuit and proved that it was more than possible to have a lucrative SC2 career in spite of it.(36)
With the signing of PuMa EG got the victor of the brand-new North American Star League. If Evil Genius was the North American effort to emulate the Korean team system, NASL was unapologetic about their ambition to challenge the GSL as the premier Starcraft league as well as being a conductor in developing a more “relatable” (western) elite in Starcraft 2.(37. 38) With a 100 000$ prize poll, a plan for multiple season a year, regular week to week matches and many of the best players in the world competing including a strong contingent from Korea and Europe, NASL had seemingly everything going for itself. Yet NASL would be a pale rival of the GSL.
The first sign that something was off was their players selection process. Interested applicants had to submit a video interview of themselves and why they deserved to be in NASL, these applications were then judged by the NASL staff and accepted relatively to the quality of the player itself as well as community response. This selection process modeled on reality television shows was a good enough idea to give exposure to up and comers that had not a lot of results to be judge on and attract personalities,(39. 40. 41) but it was a bit odd to ask guys like
BoxeR, Sen and July to record a 2 minutes video where they answered boring pre-planned questions in bad English. It’s one thing to ease your viewers in, it’s another to treat your product like something you need to justify having to sell. The league was also openly rooting and relying on foreigner success, as community manager Xeris presented in a Team Liquid Q&A, demonstrating both the company somewhat disjointed communication style and its presupposition of foreign success:The GSL makes it very difficult for foreigners to compete in it, I don't really see the difference. And why would we just assume that the GSL is synonymous to the NHL? Again, if we actually look at neutral tournaments that have had Koreans & Foreigners playing in it, we've seen that:
a) Koreans are not invincible
b) Foreigners might actually be as good or better than MOST Koreans.
- Koreans were beaten by foreigners at Blizzcon
- Koreans couldn't even make top 3 at Dreamhack
- Idra & Jinro repeatedly beat Koreans in the GSL (the only foreigners in Code S have been successful repeatedly).
[…]
Give any top foreigner 3-4 months and I can guarantee they will be in Code S and successful. Just watch how Ret and HuK will perform in the next GSL (this season they probably won't do so well, but I can almost guarantee they will dominate next season).(42)
a) Koreans are not invincible
b) Foreigners might actually be as good or better than MOST Koreans.
- Koreans were beaten by foreigners at Blizzcon
- Koreans couldn't even make top 3 at Dreamhack
- Idra & Jinro repeatedly beat Koreans in the GSL (the only foreigners in Code S have been successful repeatedly).
[…]
Give any top foreigner 3-4 months and I can guarantee they will be in Code S and successful. Just watch how Ret and HuK will perform in the next GSL (this season they probably won't do so well, but I can almost guarantee they will dominate next season).(42)
One must wonder if the NASL staff didn’t make that kind of requests and statements if they could have acquired an even more impressive bracket, mainly one that would have included notable absentees like Mvp, Nestea, MMA and MKP. Still, the league was strong enough to stand firmly on its own and the group stage attracted some interest, giving us some great game anchored by the casting duo of Gretorp and Incontrol. Sadly for NASL, the Starcraft gods defied their calculations, even with the time zone and server advantage, American players would be wholly unable to keep up, with
TL.Sheth being the only American making it into the final bracket only to be swiftly eliminated.(43)If the week to week group matches hit something of a weird spot between technical mishaps, an over serious visual style and the happy go lucky attitude of our main commentators, the offline final in California would be a estravagant mess. TL writer jimlloyd encapsulate the scene:
I can imagine the brainstorm session when the Grand Finals were being planned: “We’ll have a musical number!” “Let’s do interviews with the competitors!” “Cool recap videos for each of the players!” “Look at this awesome soundboard!” “It’ll be like the Super Bowl!” And then they did all those things. But did anybody asked the boring questions of whether it was all going to work. […] The final production had a lot of flash, but it looked like something that was trying really hard to look like a professional sport, rather than trying really hard to make everything run smoothly.(44)
The wacky production of NASL season 1 final would not only suffer from technical problems, creating the legend of the NASL sound guy,(45 ) but also never-ending delays. It’s not just the technical problems that made the thing look bad, but the contrast it created with the ambition of it all. Some of the problems could be attributed to good faith bad planning, like getting a huge but ultimately poorly lit and badly decorated venue or insisting on showing multiple video segments and a musical interlude only increasing the minutes, if not hours, between the games. Other decisions, just show a team completely out of touch, such as opting to start their event early in anticipation of technical problem, at a time when VOD were behind a paywall or to hire someone that had openly never watched or played a single game of Starcraft to do interviews at what was supposed to be the final of the most important Starcraft league, leading to predictable and deplorable reactions.
Results wise, the offline tournament was a confirmation of the trend that had shown in MLG Columbus (more on that latter), with an almost purely Korean top 8, although a valiant effort by Taiwanese champion
Sen almost saw him almost upsetting MC before taking out July in the 3rd place match.(46) It would be EG prospect PuMa, that would create the surprise, coming out of the open bracket he made a run through an impressive gauntlet of Ret-Squirtle-July before facing MC and in one of Starcraft great final.(47) While some people were starting to be dubious about the number of terran Cinderella story, the PuMa-MC series somewhat redeemed the tournament,(48) with an especially tense last two games that saw MC comeback from a 40 supply deficit then PuMa stopping the Boss Toss trademark one base push to clinch the victory.Despite a rocky first season, and a resounding failure of North-American players, fans were cautiously optimistic about NASL's future(49 ) before another kind of problem fell on them. On august 11 it was announced that due to a disagreement about travel expenses, nearly all Korean teams were withdrawing from NASL season 2.(50) This move made painfully apparent how feeble NASL pretensions at replacing or at least competing on even ground with the GSL were. Gutted of the Korean players it felt back to a second-tier event, with no amount of money being able to change that fact. The rushed change of the group stage format and the departure of star caster Incontrol, who opted to focus on playing (being replaced by
orb off all people), didn’t help the company's already tainted image. With that said, the severe downgrade of NASL skill level did relieved some pressure on the league and made for a more interesting group stage of mostly foreigners with only the odd Koreans on western team, giving a bit of air to an American scene that, like NASL itself, was getting increasingly smother by Koreans.Coming in the trailblaze of NASL, one of the biggest video game media groups IGN would also enter the fray.(51) The IPL can essentially be summed up as NASL done right, first trying the field with smaller controlled online events, then organizing their big, one weekend, event in the even larger Cesar Casino in Atlantic City. While there were some serious doubts about the economic viability of an event of this scale,(52) the tip top production quality (except for a statewide Comcast internet shutdown outside of their control) managed to make it an enjoyable experience that became memorable when
Stephano made fools of every prognosticator taking the trophy back to France.(53) Although the rather easy nature of his bracket that saw him owned roach-bane all-in master Lucky diminished his accomplishment a bit, it managed to put the Frenchman on the map as one of the smartest players out there.Catching flies with honey
While NASL and EG were aggressively trying to take on Korea for dominance of the esport world, the other great USA organization the Major League Gaming, would draw from the Korea vs the rest of the World scenario to offer a specifically foreign experience they hoped would be able to federate everyone.
After an ultimate classic tournament where Sweden's
NaNiwa triumph over Canada's KiWiKaKi in an event plagued with disastrous internet problems, MLG was in a weird spot. Their traditional style of competition halfway between esport tournament and weekend Lan with a huge bracket played over a weekend, very little production value and generally no stage felt a bit out of place now that more serious and professional competitions were starting to take place outside of Korea. The playing field was also getting increasingly tough and the venerable (in esport term) Major League Gaming was at risk of becoming just an other stop on a very busy calendar. Yet instead of trying to aggressively invade the market and establish themselves as the leading force in it, MLG decided to capitalize on its strength, big weekender event with lots of players and a chance to meet up, turning this apparently outdated model, into an opportunity.On May 13th, 2011, MLG announced the MLG-GSL partnership.(54) Starting with MLG Columbus, four of the GSL best would be invited to each MLG stop and inversely the highest finishers of MLG would be seeded in the GSL. In a complete reversal of NASL approach, they spared no expense in making the GSL players conditions as good as possible, paying for their flights and accommodations and seeding them directly into the playoff bracket, making them the official favorites of the tournament. The weekender format also ensured them they wouldn’t have to miss out on GSL or need to wake up at 4 am to play an online match with bad ping. On top of that, MLG had something much more valuable, it made these Korean players into absolute stars, they were the "belles of the ball".(55. 56. 57) By inviting only a selected few and making the tournament all about them against the world, they ensure all the attention would be on them, earning them instantaneous fan clubs.
Despite being one of the most well remembered tournaments, MLG Columbus, just like the next MLGs of the year, had little production value compared to a GSL final, but what it did have was a passionate crowd and a proximity between the players and the fans that Korea couldn’t give.(58) The first four invite Losira-MMA-
Moon and MC (who replaced Bomber)(59) joined by Startale July who decided to make the trip, were a great fit. A code A champion, an up and comer, the greatest WC3 player ever, a solid code S player and the Boss-Toss himself were enough to get people showing up in masses. The first day included the standard 200+ entry brackets with all the unpredictability these kinds of this tended to have, but it’s once the Koreans hit the stage that the show really started. While July, MMA and Losira went undefeated against foreign opponents, both Naniwa and Idra were able to win their group, the American victory was especially electric, taking out MC in front of his home crowd.(60)It would be all downward for them on this point forward though, as we got to witness the 30 stupidest seconds of Starcraft with MMA killing his own command center then getting immediately overshadowed by Idra randomly leaving a won game.(61) He would then let MC get into his head and get 4-0 in a brutal return to reality.(62) Previous MLG champ Naniwa got a similar treatment as his brash personality was offset by the cuteness of the cat-zerg(63) before getting eliminated by MC in the lower bracket.
You could have thought a Korean top 3, including two who had never won a tournament, would be a discouraging result for the American crowd, but they fully embraced the chance to witness their Korean overlords. It was visible that the players too were over the moon with the attention they were getting, especially MC who thrived as a showman, playing the bad guy this time around.(64) Game wise, MMA confirmed that his GSTL and ST performances weren’t a fluke and took out Losira in the final. Stepping out of the booth to get his trophy he was greeted by a roaring crowd and even his pretty cookie cutter response to the post-match interview got him a standing ovation. This kind of treatment given to MMA and all of his countrymen during the weekend, reminiscing of the Kespa stars, was something reserved to the GSL champion before. By going abroad Koreans could circumvent their overcrowded competitive field and freely express their skills and personality, creating fan following that would overshadow their more successful colleagues back home.
MLG Columbus was the first unmissable foreign event of Starcraft, it wasn’t just a Lan between foreigners nor was it an invitational with a few Korean making a round trip for a quick paycheck. This was a weekend delivering some of the best competition around in front of one of the biggest crowds seen at this point for SC2 creating unforgettable moments. With a prize pool almost ten times smaller, an arguably weaker line up, a simpler production and all the matches cramped in a single weekend, Columbus completely overshadowed NASL season 1 final just a week after. It’s not just that there were less technical problems, MLG had its fair share of it, but it had heart, it didn’t try to take itself more seriously than it needed to be, it gave room to the game to shine, it celebrated its players and simply stayed fun the whole way through.
The result was immediate, while the NASL deal with Korean teams fell off, stripping the league of its best players, Koreans flew in even bigger numbers to the next MLG in Anaheim. Not only did previous champion MMA went back, but so did Boxer, Mvp,
GanZi and DRG among others. Mvp took first place in front of the three SlayerS terrans, in a tournament that saw an even clearer domination from Koreans (and terrans) and made for amazing moments, such as an Boxer run ending in an emotional loser bracket final his pupil MMA. While Mvp earned a foreign trophy on his first try, MMA was looking more and more like a serious contender to the big 3, earning his code S spot through his MLG results. MLG Raleigh was more of the same with a Korean top six as yet another Korean terran prevailed, this time Startale Bomber.(65)
With Koreans making almost half of the group stage it looked like foreigners could be completely wiped from the playoff brackets at MLG Orlando. Instead, in sunny Florida, homegrown Huk went undefeated in the upper bracket all the way to beating MC in the final.(66) The victory of canado-american protoss that had transfer from TL to EG in spectacular fashion,(67) along with a 4th place result by fellow EG player Idra, rekindled hope for North American Starcraft going into the end of the year championship round. The future would prove that Orlando wasn’t the start of a new beginning, but another anomaly Florida has the secret for. It would take until 2017 for an American to win in front of a home crowd and a decade after the fact no other has done it in a tournament that allowed Koreans players.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/wyI7Fsj.jpg)
An exotic bazar in Europe
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/u80Xnim.png)
While in Korea Gomtv instituted its new vision and hierarchical structure and that in North America NASL and MLG made their push to established themselves as central entities in the SC2 world, European Starcraft stayed very much decentralized, offering a wide array of experience to the odd visitor looking to tour the land behind the great ping wall. This fostered a diverse professional scene, with an impressive number of different players placing high in tournaments on one weekend or the next and many peculiar and original faces bubbling up.
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A diverse playing field
Following European Starcraft was like walking through an 19 century rendition of an eastern bazaar, there was always something going on, it was a bit disorienting, you weren’t quite sure if you were buying into was fake hype or something real, but at the end of the day you were sure to be entertained. Navigating among this bazaar you could end up seeing a bit of everything, among the curiosities you had the Swede duo:NaNiwa and ThorZaIN showing the two extreme effect of light deprivation and never ending winter, then you could visit the old Ukrainian fortune teller White-Ra and his happy little trickster imp DIMAGA. In the northern corner were also the shape shifting MorroW as well as Russian strong man BRAT_OK. Lower south, you could witness yoga master and owner of a self-independent bookstore selling only riddle books TLO having a heated argument with his good friend and economy professor Ret while a bit further down the street, coin toss world champion Socke was considering whether he should give one of his precious piece to the local blind man SjoW. Hanging out at the local Take bar, war crippled DeMusliM was taking a drink while having a balance conversation with ToD and Adelscott while the already quite affected Stephano was flailing aimlessly at a touchscreen in the corner, if that wasn’t your cup of tea, you could join MaNa in staring at HasuObs showing off his amazing hand-eyes coordination skills at the dart board. After this long day a warm bed awaited the weary travelers, who could slip away into Morpheus warm embrace through the sweet clicks and clacks melody of Kas and Naama laddering.
This menagerie all came together every few months, getting invited to one country or another, while staying in constant contact through a very active online cup scene. Many times, a few members of the gang were missing, replaced with hordes of local heroes trying their luck. This unofficial tournament structure was held together by the creation of multiple national scenes, with many tournament organizers and community figures animating the scene. Among the most famous featured of course Asus, TakeTV, Master series, Dreamhack and ESL, but many more were putting out content. Contrary to the American scene where the need to always have the biggest, baddest, players meant a disappearance of nearly all local scenes and mid-size tournaments in favor of bigger tournaments featuring Koreans. Europe would even keep having a good amount of local competition even when the number of Koreans coming over started to grow.
After a few events that saw the likes of White-Ra,(68) Sjow,(69) TLO,(70) Tod(71. 72) or Dimaga(73) earning a few bucks,MC was the first Korean to hit the shores, plundering a couple of trophies along the way. It would be far from the last European trip for the globetrotter, but for the time being Europe was largely exempt of any Korean presence. While European didn’t have a lot of interactions at home with Koreans, they went to greet them online, most prominently in the form of the return of Dutch website Team Liquid competition, the TSL.(74) Despite pretty much every one of the best Koreans signing up to play, Europe would easily prevail in TSL3 with an all European top 4 that culminated with an invitation to the two finalists, Naniwa, and tournament revelation Thorzain, to go play in New York. In a Swede classic, NaniWa made the ultimate mistake in game 7 by standing up to a Team Liquid staff member, which earned him the inevitable hammer of TL divine justice, prompting him to “get out” of the game.(75) On a more serious note, an all-European top 4 in a major online tournament, on top of a successful American trip by NaniWa was more than enough to make European boast of their dominance in the western world.(76)
As the mid-year came to pass the big test arrived, in the form of four Koreans looking to conquer Dreamhack Summer. The European would do no better than the American standing up to them at home, but it would surprisingly be the Canadian Huk that would save them. Having just won HSC III, he took down Moon in the final of Dreamhack to top off his European travels. Dreamhack summer was a resounding success, repeating the Dreamhack Winter formula, the big arena was packed with Lan attendants where Day9 and Apollo rocked the house and the event proved that Europe could attract the type of crowd the US did.(77)
It would make sense that while Korea structured its scene in a dense, heavily monitored way and North America struggled between the ambition of creating a major and professional esports league and the success of one-off spectacle, when the time came for Europe to have their own global event, it chose an extremely decentralize way of doing it, deeming that variety was better than having only the absolute best players. The results, the Electronic Sports World Cup, or ESWC, held in Paris, aimed to recreate a WCG vibe of the tournament. Delegating the qualification process to various national organizers and a calendar conflict with Blizzcon created a somewhat odd line up, with Bolivia sending out two players while places like Sweden ended up not having national invites, still some offline qualifiers straightened things up a bit. The GSL had only two representatives in the form ofMKP and the ever present MC and it looked for a while that it would be more than enough, but the Koreans' perfect runs were cut off by European wonder kids Stephano and MaNa. In the first successful defense of a European championship, Stephano beat the Pole and established himself as Europe's best.(78)
Coming into the end of the year, Europeans could feel pretty good about themselves, while they definitely couldn’t pretend to challenge Korea, their luxurious local scene protected by their great distance to Korea and important ping produced a few champions who could take Korean and American head on, mainly Stephano, Thorzain and Naniwa while on their homeland multiple combination of player denied any Korean vs Korean finals. Europe maybe didn’t have all the best players or the biggest leagues, but it had seemingly all the tools to create an exciting and vibrant scene.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/oq4mOCN.png)
Following European Starcraft was like walking through an 19 century rendition of an eastern bazaar, there was always something going on, it was a bit disorienting, you weren’t quite sure if you were buying into was fake hype or something real, but at the end of the day you were sure to be entertained. Navigating among this bazaar you could end up seeing a bit of everything, among the curiosities you had the Swede duo:
NaNiwa and ThorZaIN showing the two extreme effect of light deprivation and never ending winter, then you could visit the old Ukrainian fortune teller White-Ra and his happy little trickster imp DIMAGA. In the northern corner were also the shape shifting MorroW as well as Russian strong man BRAT_OK. Lower south, you could witness yoga master and owner of a self-independent bookstore selling only riddle books TLO having a heated argument with his good friend and economy professor Ret while a bit further down the street, coin toss world champion Socke was considering whether he should give one of his precious piece to the local blind man SjoW. Hanging out at the local Take bar, war crippled DeMusliM was taking a drink while having a balance conversation with ToD and Adelscott while the already quite affected Stephano was flailing aimlessly at a touchscreen in the corner, if that wasn’t your cup of tea, you could join MaNa in staring at HasuObs showing off his amazing hand-eyes coordination skills at the dart board. After this long day a warm bed awaited the weary travelers, who could slip away into Morpheus warm embrace through the sweet clicks and clacks melody of Kas and Naama laddering.This menagerie all came together every few months, getting invited to one country or another, while staying in constant contact through a very active online cup scene. Many times, a few members of the gang were missing, replaced with hordes of local heroes trying their luck. This unofficial tournament structure was held together by the creation of multiple national scenes, with many tournament organizers and community figures animating the scene. Among the most famous featured of course Asus, TakeTV, Master series, Dreamhack and ESL, but many more were putting out content. Contrary to the American scene where the need to always have the biggest, baddest, players meant a disappearance of nearly all local scenes and mid-size tournaments in favor of bigger tournaments featuring Koreans. Europe would even keep having a good amount of local competition even when the number of Koreans coming over started to grow.
After a few events that saw the likes of White-Ra,(68) Sjow,(69) TLO,(70) Tod(71. 72) or Dimaga(73) earning a few bucks,
MC was the first Korean to hit the shores, plundering a couple of trophies along the way. It would be far from the last European trip for the globetrotter, but for the time being Europe was largely exempt of any Korean presence. While European didn’t have a lot of interactions at home with Koreans, they went to greet them online, most prominently in the form of the return of Dutch website Team Liquid competition, the TSL.(74) Despite pretty much every one of the best Koreans signing up to play, Europe would easily prevail in TSL3 with an all European top 4 that culminated with an invitation to the two finalists, Naniwa, and tournament revelation Thorzain, to go play in New York. In a Swede classic, NaniWa made the ultimate mistake in game 7 by standing up to a Team Liquid staff member, which earned him the inevitable hammer of TL divine justice, prompting him to “get out” of the game.(75) On a more serious note, an all-European top 4 in a major online tournament, on top of a successful American trip by NaniWa was more than enough to make European boast of their dominance in the western world.(76)As the mid-year came to pass the big test arrived, in the form of four Koreans looking to conquer Dreamhack Summer. The European would do no better than the American standing up to them at home, but it would surprisingly be the Canadian Huk that would save them. Having just won HSC III, he took down Moon in the final of Dreamhack to top off his European travels. Dreamhack summer was a resounding success, repeating the Dreamhack Winter formula, the big arena was packed with Lan attendants where Day9 and Apollo rocked the house and the event proved that Europe could attract the type of crowd the US did.(77)
It would make sense that while Korea structured its scene in a dense, heavily monitored way and North America struggled between the ambition of creating a major and professional esports league and the success of one-off spectacle, when the time came for Europe to have their own global event, it chose an extremely decentralize way of doing it, deeming that variety was better than having only the absolute best players. The results, the Electronic Sports World Cup, or ESWC, held in Paris, aimed to recreate a WCG vibe of the tournament. Delegating the qualification process to various national organizers and a calendar conflict with Blizzcon created a somewhat odd line up, with Bolivia sending out two players while places like Sweden ended up not having national invites, still some offline qualifiers straightened things up a bit. The GSL had only two representatives in the form of
MKP and the ever present MC and it looked for a while that it would be more than enough, but the Koreans' perfect runs were cut off by European wonder kids Stephano and MaNa. In the first successful defense of a European championship, Stephano beat the Pole and established himself as Europe's best.(78)Coming into the end of the year, Europeans could feel pretty good about themselves, while they definitely couldn’t pretend to challenge Korea, their luxurious local scene protected by their great distance to Korea and important ping produced a few champions who could take Korean and American head on, mainly Stephano, Thorzain and Naniwa while on their homeland multiple combination of player denied any Korean vs Korean finals. Europe maybe didn’t have all the best players or the biggest leagues, but it had seemingly all the tools to create an exciting and vibrant scene.
October through December: The clash of civilizations and the remaking of the world order
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/pn72JNj.jpg)
As our collective dependence on separation of time demands, the last months of the year would be the time to close out a competitive loop. Rather than having a centralized end of the year event, multiple tournament organizers did their own final event, and each wanted to crown their own world champion.
+ Show Spoiler +
In total we can identify five “world finals”, two of those were world-cup style events; Blizzcon and WCG and three were season finale; one in North America, MLG Providence, one in Europe, Dreamhack Winter and one in Korea, Blizzard Cup. While we can effectively take out the venerable WCG on account of the level of competition, it still leaves us with four world finals, each trying to justify its place in the Starcraft world.
First one to step-in was Blizzard itself, not able to resist its urge to organize another dubious invitational, Blizzcon would also be the stage for the final of GSL October. GSL's decision to host their one-year anniversary at Blizzcon is one of the best examples of the state of Starcraft 2 in its first golden age. Not satisfied with signing partnership deals and sending their players overseas, the taste of the roaring crowd of MLG and Dreamhack as well as impressive viewership numbers for the English broadcast of the GSL were enough to convince GOMTV to export their very own tournament. The 9th iteration of GSL had been an eventful one, with a racial distribution that would make 2020 look like a happy time for the sad zealot. Mvp eliminated Nestea in the round of 8, in a cruel turn of events the IM Zerg was the first to two points, but this time it was a bo5, and the Game Genie Terran climbed back to set up a pure terran round of 4,(79) where he would take his Super Tournament revenge onGanZi. On the other side of the bracket, SlayerS ace MMA punched his ticket to Anaheim(80) for a third grand final match up against Mvp after their GSTL and MLG joust. The Emperor son once again got to the final of a Korean event winning only TvT, even pushing his insolence as to lose his only non-mirror against Nestea in the group stage.
Easily assembling the biggest crowd yet in Starcraft 2 history, October 22, 2011, Blizzcon final day, shaped up to be Mvp coronation, but it would nearly turn into a deposition. On the first day of Blizzcon, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Nestea and Mvp had secured their spot in the winner final of the Blizzcon invitational, ensuring Mvp a shot at a dual Blizzcon-GSL victory. But coming in as the statistical favorite in GSL, the crowd would turn on Mvp, adopting the MLG Columbus champion as their own. Mvp would prove them right, stumbling 4-1 in a stunning upset.(81. 82) MMA became the first player to ever best Mvp in a final and the first GSL champion to have started progamming with SC2.
Mvp day went from bad to worse as he had to come back to the stage just a few hours later to suffer the first defeat of his career at the hands of Nestea, falling to the lower bracket. There he would need to wait, giving us time to look at what happened in the rest of the tournament. In his second Blizzcon appearanceSen once again proved his doubters wrong making his way through a rather easy loser bracket before upsetting NaNiwa who lost his bet of skipping ESWC, going home empty handed while Taiwan finest assured himself of another podium. It would not be enough to stop the inevitable rematch of the Koreans, and when everything was on the line Mvp rallied and proved to be the more decisive player. In a continuation of their epic macro duels, Mvp took the two bo3 2-0, 2-1, saving two tournament points to collect the Blizzcon crown.(83[/url. 84]) In a moment, Mvp erased from everyone mind the hardship of his weekend, while MMA went home with the GSL trophy, it’s Mvp that got home as the greatest the game had to offer, his consistency and clutchness had overshadow even Nestea, earning him the definitive title of King of Wing.
With an unmatched crowd, great games, and thousands of dollars in prize money, Blizzcon 2011 weekend was one of the biggest moments of Starcraft 2 golden age as the game continued to rule over mainstream esports as the hottest thing around. Yet, it wasn’t just fans watching, away from the spotlight Blizzard had invited some of BW finest to Anaheim.Jaedong, FanTaSy, Bisu and JangBi as well as Kespa representatives were there to witness firsthand the potential of SC2.(85) The Kespa champions went back home with the image of the best Starcraft 2 had to offer, reflecting upon the moment they would take back the applauses that should rightfully have been theirs.
A new generation
Even if Blizzcon had crowned its champion, the year was far from over, as the world that had come together for a moment once again split up, each region ending the year according to their own vision of Starcraft 2's future. First, came North America with MLG Providence, inviting previous winners and finalists of MLGs as well as other strong finishers of NA events. It was their deepest tournament yet, with a line up of over 20 Koreans including every single Korean tournament winner (except Polt). Providence was the MLG, spectacle first, concept at its best, dropping the group stage in favor of an absurdly staked 272 players bracket and assuring that some foreigners went deep in the tournament with a rather partial seeding system. They made sure to have all the most popular players and it made for amazing matches, like Mvp taking on MKP,(86) MC beating the King of wings before losing the rematch in the lower bracket,(87) NaniWa and Nestea developing a nasty rivalry over the weekend,(88. 89) Idra eliminating PuMa in an EG teamkill or DRG stomping MMA and MC. (90)
North America came to Providence looking for its savior, with Huk having won the last event and Idra once again looking good, hopes were high for, if not a victory, for at least a good showing for the NA crew. In the end, it was Europe that almost delivered the most stunning upset, with Naniwa coming ahead of the winner bracket, but the tournament would without a doubt be the story ofLeenock.(91) A 16 years old prodigy already noticed in early GSL open tournament for his immense potential,[92] Leenock would cleave through a grueling lower bracket, beating boxer, SLush, MMA, IdrA, HuK, Mvp, DRG and finally crushing Naniwa to earn the absurdly large trophy. (93. 94) Coming from the lower bracket Leenock went 18-2, 34-4 overall, to become the youngest Starcraft champion and win everyone hearts.
Nevertheless, MLG Providence started to show some of the limits of MLG hidden in the nature of the mega tournament format. It wasn’t a matter of a lack of talent, Providence was arguably the hardest tournament of the year, but more of a lack of narrative. one one side, even though Providence was supposed to be the end of the year event, it was pretty much an autonomous affair, but the biggest problem was the oversaturation of matches. Korean players like Sc, Keen or Bomber that could have highlighted previous MLG were now lucky to get any kind of screen time as dozens of matches went unnoticed. Even Nestea got eliminated off stream byHayprO. It lacked the weight put behind every match; you didn’t have time to notice a player run that it was already over and the kind of electrifying run Leenock provided wouldn't be regular occurence. MLG still had a bright future in front of it, notably using its trademark showmanship ability to introduce Kespa players to the world, but it would never quite be able to go past its estival status the way fellow California based tournament EVO managed to federate the FGC around a single weekend. Winning MLG would earn you love and praise (and money), but not quite the title of world champion.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/HJrwl14.jpg)
Next up on the list was Europe's end of the year celebration at Dreamhack Winter. While inviting the previous champions and organizing a few national qualifiers, Dreamhack kept a very European way of doing things. A low number of Koreans showed up and were greeted by multiple European champions and various foreign players deemed to have a shot at beating them. Dreamhack Winter is where the idea of the “foreign Korean” would come to fruition, the concept, still a bit vague, would come to encapsulate all the Koreans who, despite ailing from the country of the rising sun, were deemed worthy to become honorary foreigners. Generally on foreign teams, they would sometimes play in Korean tournaments, but most of their success and reputation would be built in foreign events, becoming champions for their adoptive region. Their tendency to play a lot of sets with foreign players inevitably leading to a few losses, they could be presented as “within reach”, particularly of Europeans. While MC andSeleCT arguably fit part of the mold, PuMa and herO would be the first real foreign Koreans, representing EG vs TL, NA vs EU. Having already took down one batch of foreigners at NASL season 2, they did the same at Dreamhack Winter, with PuMa even stopping by to eliminate the other two Korean players, future GSL finalists Genius and DRG. The day would go to Liquid Hero, taking it 4-3 and going out on the stage visibly shaken in front of what would now be his home crowd.(95) True to their habits, Europeans also made sure no single individual went too far ahead of the pack, with Stephano and Throzain facing group stage elimination at the hands of foreigners and Mana losing to Nerchio, NaniWa would at least have the honor to get the axe from a Korean, DRG in this case. As the prime-time event of Europe, DHW lineup certainly couldn’t compare to MLG Providence, however it had probably the best production value outside of Korea, including a smooth and free broadcast at a time when that was still less than guaranteed. It also had a much deeper line up of foreigners, or at least the lower number of Koreans made it seem like there was a decent chance for European to take the trophy home, giving the whole thing a more local flavor. It did what MLG and NASL couldn't, to the detriment of the lineup, it created a truly “European” event witout hurting the overall quality of the entertainement. An event where looking where the locals ended up placing was just as interesting as looking at if they could beat the Koreans.
Dreamhack model would later on prove to be the more durable, while MLG “super tournament”, made sure they had every recognizable Korean face, the idea of wanting to put the best of the West vs the best of the East, would become less and less interesting. With more Koreans hugging the top spot and the local North American scene dying out from a lack of a decent grass root opportunity, the dream of the USA becoming the new center of SC2 became a passing fantasy. The end of 2011 had shut all doubt that still existed on Korean players superiority with their victory at Blizzcon, Providence and Dreamhack winter and to top it all off KoreanAphrodite managed to upset Colagirl in her home soil in China and then went on to beat American representative Flo to become the de jure best woman in the world, putting the last touch to Korean success.
Blizzard Cup
Confirming the success of Korea in keeping it’s grasp on Starcraft, it would be GSL honor to close the year and decide the world champion in an event that would match their old champions against a new generation. Nevertheless, after a decade of isolation in Brood war, Korea now needed to compromise with other organizations around the world to put out a true world final.
The first iteration of the Blizzard Cup assembled the victor of every big tournament series, Leenock and NaNiwa from MLG, Stephano from IPL, DRG from IEM, HerO from Dreamhack, Mvp getting the WCG, Blizzcon and GSL spot and finally the best GSL performers in Nestea, MC, MMA and Polt. While some may have regretted the invitation of the latter on virtue of his 5th place finishes in GSL ranking above two-time NASL winner Puma, the lineup had every right to be called a world final. Glancing at the bracket of previous world stage events will send everyone but the most diehard of fans into the rabbit hole of liquipedia to figure out who some of the players are, but this time there can be no mistakes that we are in front of the best of the best, names everyone know of a decade after. From the thousands of participants of early GSL preliminaries to the maze like MLG brackets, our game had achieved the maturity necessary for some individuals to stand head and shoulders above the rest.
All the matches until the final took place in the rather unimpressive GSL studio, with Tastosis, Wolf and Kaldor playing second fiddles behind the Korean broadcast, yet when it started the occasion immediately became momentous.
In group A Stephano jumped ahead with two straight win against DRG (96) and HerO(97?) and was looking to shock the world against a seemingly defang MC. The Boss Toss, like any good old “foreign Korean”, nevertheless outclassed the French zerg (98) who then had the unenviable task of going against MVP in a bo1 for his tournament life. Thinking the future was already there he decided to go for a ballsy double evo chamber-two base infestor rush on the back of pure zergling that earned him the stern disappointment of the King.(99) Meanwhile, after an eternity of being talked up, DRG finally delivered on his potential, winning the group, followed by Mvp and MC. In group B, MLG Providence runner up NaNiwa became the punching bag of the Koreans. Going 0-3 in the group, the Swede was clearly less than happy being the butt of the joke. Having said less than kind things about Nestea, he went for a probe rush effectively forfeiting a meaningless match and provoking the ire of fans around the world.(100) The two happy beneficiaries of Mvp monopolising three invite, MMA and Polt, got out of the group joined by Leenock continuing his brilliant momentum.
The first two matches of the playoff ended up being Mvp vs Polt, and MC vs Leenock. While the first ended up in predictable fashion with the King of Wings proving too good for the Prime terran,(101) Leenock-MC was where the fun was. Leenock was the hottest commodities around and hopes were high for the new generation he represented, meanwhile MC pretention of being the best in the world seemed all but gone, nonetheless while the music may have stopped, MC was not done dancing. He dismantled the young zerg(102) to set up a semi-final match against DRG where he would once again be predicted to lose. (103)
The semi-finals with on one side MC vs DRG and on the other Mvp vs MMA were a turning point in Starcraft 2 history. Were the two multi-GSL champions to win, they would keep hold of their dominion over Starcraft in Korea, perpetually chasing each others while reaching new heights. Were the newcomers to win, it would be a vindication for the Korean way of doing Starcraft as new talents proved to be able to compete at the highest level. MMA answered the call loud and clear, reacting his Blizzcon performance and beating Mvp 3-0 with two cheeses and a macro game.(104) MC was a tougher beast, going up 2-1 vs DRG, he had one of his definitive what if moments in a career full of them, letting victory slip through his fingers with a dubious air toss build.(105) Still a 3-4th place in a tournament where the other protosses went 0-8 was more than enough to make the world remember he was still the best protoss in the world.
So in the end, it was the new generation that won out. While Nestea, MC and Mvp had burst into the scene immediately going all the way to the top, MMA and DRG rise was a slow and steady one. They went through all the phases of development of this new professional scene; getting into code A, excelling in team leagues, placing high in international events, qualifying for code S and finally getting to be part of the elite capable of contending for the title of best in the world. Korea had done what the rest of the world couldn’t, not only having Brood War veterans dominate the circuit, but growing all new talents that could replace and transcend them.
Much has been written and reminisced about the Man from Busan and the Emperor Son grand finale. Taking place in a university amphitheater, it had nowhere near the crowd of Blizzcon or Providence, but GOMTV production, as good as ever, made it look way bigger than it was. The story is well known, MMA looked imperial in the first three games, defeating the cheese, winning in the macro game, then pulling a cheese of his own. Coming out ahead of the build order choice in game four, he was already tasting his victory, but a lapse of attention was all DRG lings needed to sneak through his base and wreak havoc. DRG got a bit of life back in him, and the next two games saw the two competitors attitudes radically change, DRG getting back in his grove while MMA progressively fell back in his chair, seemingly unable to grasp what was happening to him. The last game on Shakuras Plateau went full macro, MMA managed to endure the mutalisk harass and took an amazing stance at the center of the map anchoring down with turrets, bunkers, tanks and thors, but DRG managed to strom the terran position and created the air he needed to get his macro going. After an overzealous attempt to break MMA with ultralisks, the game “stabilized” to a razor edge slugfest for 30 more minutes. With the map almost mined out, DRG saw his opening, plunging for MMA main in the hope of checkmating the terran, Slayer's ace accepted the challenge and stood his ground. Leaving out all the intricate details about Starcraft, the game was reduced to the most basic of proposition; if DRG’s brood lords could reach the heart of the productions and shut down the starports and barracks, he would win, if MMA defended, he would go home victorious. MMA bent oh so much, but didn’t quite break, collapsing on DRG brood lords at the last moment. Within seconds, the SlayerS team was up on the stage, throwing in the air the man who had just played arguably the best Starcraft 2 game ever. (106)
Ending the year, MMA triumphs made him the idol of the new era of Starcraft. Becoming the definitive best in the world on his own soil, MMA story is impossible to tell without looking outside of Korea, his MLG and Blizzcon victory weren’t just sideshow to his success at home the way it was with Mvp. The promises of the idyllic word of Starcraft encapsulated within MMA probably explain in part why he is one of the most beloved players. The turn and twist of his rise tell a story of an integrated scene, where a victory against Idra or Naniwa is just as important as one against DRG or MC. It conveys the idea that while the Koreans were better, the path to greatness inevitably went through foreigners and foreign tournaments. A year of confrontation and negotiation between rival ambitions and visions of Starcraft had led to this agreement. Korean Starcraft had proven its superiority, but couldn’t stand on its own, desperately needing the foreign viewership as well as the outlet of their cheering crowds. Non-Korean investors had realize the potential of Starcraft 2 has an esport and business venture, but the failure of NASL had reminded them that couldn’t hope to expect a local lineup to challenge GOMTV in this current environment, instead relying on them to provide the stars power necessary to bring out the crowd by milking the “Korean vs the world story line” or adopting them as their own. With the viewership getting bigger and bigger, new stars raising up and more tournaments in the making, the future of the king of esport future was as bright as it could ever be, promising to lead the industry to new heights.
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/i6NejsJ.jpg)
First one to step-in was Blizzard itself, not able to resist its urge to organize another dubious invitational, Blizzcon would also be the stage for the final of GSL October. GSL's decision to host their one-year anniversary at Blizzcon is one of the best examples of the state of Starcraft 2 in its first golden age. Not satisfied with signing partnership deals and sending their players overseas, the taste of the roaring crowd of MLG and Dreamhack as well as impressive viewership numbers for the English broadcast of the GSL were enough to convince GOMTV to export their very own tournament. The 9th iteration of GSL had been an eventful one, with a racial distribution that would make 2020 look like a happy time for the sad zealot. Mvp eliminated Nestea in the round of 8, in a cruel turn of events the IM Zerg was the first to two points, but this time it was a bo5, and the Game Genie Terran climbed back to set up a pure terran round of 4,(79) where he would take his Super Tournament revenge on
GanZi. On the other side of the bracket, SlayerS ace MMA punched his ticket to Anaheim(80) for a third grand final match up against Mvp after their GSTL and MLG joust. The Emperor son once again got to the final of a Korean event winning only TvT, even pushing his insolence as to lose his only non-mirror against Nestea in the group stage.Easily assembling the biggest crowd yet in Starcraft 2 history, October 22, 2011, Blizzcon final day, shaped up to be Mvp coronation, but it would nearly turn into a deposition. On the first day of Blizzcon, to the surprise of absolutely no one, Nestea and Mvp had secured their spot in the winner final of the Blizzcon invitational, ensuring Mvp a shot at a dual Blizzcon-GSL victory. But coming in as the statistical favorite in GSL, the crowd would turn on Mvp, adopting the MLG Columbus champion as their own. Mvp would prove them right, stumbling 4-1 in a stunning upset.(81. 82) MMA became the first player to ever best Mvp in a final and the first GSL champion to have started progamming with SC2.
Mvp day went from bad to worse as he had to come back to the stage just a few hours later to suffer the first defeat of his career at the hands of Nestea, falling to the lower bracket. There he would need to wait, giving us time to look at what happened in the rest of the tournament. In his second Blizzcon appearance
Sen once again proved his doubters wrong making his way through a rather easy loser bracket before upsetting NaNiwa who lost his bet of skipping ESWC, going home empty handed while Taiwan finest assured himself of another podium. It would not be enough to stop the inevitable rematch of the Koreans, and when everything was on the line Mvp rallied and proved to be the more decisive player. In a continuation of their epic macro duels, Mvp took the two bo3 2-0, 2-1, saving two tournament points to collect the Blizzcon crown.(83[/url. 84]) In a moment, Mvp erased from everyone mind the hardship of his weekend, while MMA went home with the GSL trophy, it’s Mvp that got home as the greatest the game had to offer, his consistency and clutchness had overshadow even Nestea, earning him the definitive title of King of Wing.With an unmatched crowd, great games, and thousands of dollars in prize money, Blizzcon 2011 weekend was one of the biggest moments of Starcraft 2 golden age as the game continued to rule over mainstream esports as the hottest thing around. Yet, it wasn’t just fans watching, away from the spotlight Blizzard had invited some of BW finest to Anaheim.
Jaedong, FanTaSy, Bisu and JangBi as well as Kespa representatives were there to witness firsthand the potential of SC2.(85) The Kespa champions went back home with the image of the best Starcraft 2 had to offer, reflecting upon the moment they would take back the applauses that should rightfully have been theirs.A new generation
Even if Blizzcon had crowned its champion, the year was far from over, as the world that had come together for a moment once again split up, each region ending the year according to their own vision of Starcraft 2's future. First, came North America with MLG Providence, inviting previous winners and finalists of MLGs as well as other strong finishers of NA events. It was their deepest tournament yet, with a line up of over 20 Koreans including every single Korean tournament winner (except Polt). Providence was the MLG, spectacle first, concept at its best, dropping the group stage in favor of an absurdly staked 272 players bracket and assuring that some foreigners went deep in the tournament with a rather partial seeding system. They made sure to have all the most popular players and it made for amazing matches, like Mvp taking on MKP,(86) MC beating the King of wings before losing the rematch in the lower bracket,(87) NaniWa and Nestea developing a nasty rivalry over the weekend,(88. 89) Idra eliminating PuMa in an EG teamkill or DRG stomping MMA and MC. (90)
North America came to Providence looking for its savior, with Huk having won the last event and Idra once again looking good, hopes were high for, if not a victory, for at least a good showing for the NA crew. In the end, it was Europe that almost delivered the most stunning upset, with Naniwa coming ahead of the winner bracket, but the tournament would without a doubt be the story of
Leenock.(91) A 16 years old prodigy already noticed in early GSL open tournament for his immense potential,[92] Leenock would cleave through a grueling lower bracket, beating boxer, SLush, MMA, IdrA, HuK, Mvp, DRG and finally crushing Naniwa to earn the absurdly large trophy. (93. 94) Coming from the lower bracket Leenock went 18-2, 34-4 overall, to become the youngest Starcraft champion and win everyone hearts.Nevertheless, MLG Providence started to show some of the limits of MLG hidden in the nature of the mega tournament format. It wasn’t a matter of a lack of talent, Providence was arguably the hardest tournament of the year, but more of a lack of narrative. one one side, even though Providence was supposed to be the end of the year event, it was pretty much an autonomous affair, but the biggest problem was the oversaturation of matches. Korean players like Sc, Keen or Bomber that could have highlighted previous MLG were now lucky to get any kind of screen time as dozens of matches went unnoticed. Even Nestea got eliminated off stream by
HayprO. It lacked the weight put behind every match; you didn’t have time to notice a player run that it was already over and the kind of electrifying run Leenock provided wouldn't be regular occurence. MLG still had a bright future in front of it, notably using its trademark showmanship ability to introduce Kespa players to the world, but it would never quite be able to go past its estival status the way fellow California based tournament EVO managed to federate the FGC around a single weekend. Winning MLG would earn you love and praise (and money), but not quite the title of world champion.Next up on the list was Europe's end of the year celebration at Dreamhack Winter. While inviting the previous champions and organizing a few national qualifiers, Dreamhack kept a very European way of doing things. A low number of Koreans showed up and were greeted by multiple European champions and various foreign players deemed to have a shot at beating them. Dreamhack Winter is where the idea of the “foreign Korean” would come to fruition, the concept, still a bit vague, would come to encapsulate all the Koreans who, despite ailing from the country of the rising sun, were deemed worthy to become honorary foreigners. Generally on foreign teams, they would sometimes play in Korean tournaments, but most of their success and reputation would be built in foreign events, becoming champions for their adoptive region. Their tendency to play a lot of sets with foreign players inevitably leading to a few losses, they could be presented as “within reach”, particularly of Europeans. While MC and
SeleCT arguably fit part of the mold, PuMa and herO would be the first real foreign Koreans, representing EG vs TL, NA vs EU. Having already took down one batch of foreigners at NASL season 2, they did the same at Dreamhack Winter, with PuMa even stopping by to eliminate the other two Korean players, future GSL finalists Genius and DRG. The day would go to Liquid Hero, taking it 4-3 and going out on the stage visibly shaken in front of what would now be his home crowd.(95) True to their habits, Europeans also made sure no single individual went too far ahead of the pack, with Stephano and Throzain facing group stage elimination at the hands of foreigners and Mana losing to Nerchio, NaniWa would at least have the honor to get the axe from a Korean, DRG in this case. As the prime-time event of Europe, DHW lineup certainly couldn’t compare to MLG Providence, however it had probably the best production value outside of Korea, including a smooth and free broadcast at a time when that was still less than guaranteed. It also had a much deeper line up of foreigners, or at least the lower number of Koreans made it seem like there was a decent chance for European to take the trophy home, giving the whole thing a more local flavor. It did what MLG and NASL couldn't, to the detriment of the lineup, it created a truly “European” event witout hurting the overall quality of the entertainement. An event where looking where the locals ended up placing was just as interesting as looking at if they could beat the Koreans.Dreamhack model would later on prove to be the more durable, while MLG “super tournament”, made sure they had every recognizable Korean face, the idea of wanting to put the best of the West vs the best of the East, would become less and less interesting. With more Koreans hugging the top spot and the local North American scene dying out from a lack of a decent grass root opportunity, the dream of the USA becoming the new center of SC2 became a passing fantasy. The end of 2011 had shut all doubt that still existed on Korean players superiority with their victory at Blizzcon, Providence and Dreamhack winter and to top it all off Korean
Aphrodite managed to upset Colagirl in her home soil in China and then went on to beat American representative Flo to become the de jure best woman in the world, putting the last touch to Korean success.Blizzard Cup
Confirming the success of Korea in keeping it’s grasp on Starcraft, it would be GSL honor to close the year and decide the world champion in an event that would match their old champions against a new generation. Nevertheless, after a decade of isolation in Brood war, Korea now needed to compromise with other organizations around the world to put out a true world final.
The first iteration of the Blizzard Cup assembled the victor of every big tournament series, Leenock and NaNiwa from MLG, Stephano from IPL, DRG from IEM, HerO from Dreamhack, Mvp getting the WCG, Blizzcon and GSL spot and finally the best GSL performers in Nestea, MC, MMA and Polt. While some may have regretted the invitation of the latter on virtue of his 5th place finishes in GSL ranking above two-time NASL winner Puma, the lineup had every right to be called a world final. Glancing at the bracket of previous world stage events will send everyone but the most diehard of fans into the rabbit hole of liquipedia to figure out who some of the players are, but this time there can be no mistakes that we are in front of the best of the best, names everyone know of a decade after. From the thousands of participants of early GSL preliminaries to the maze like MLG brackets, our game had achieved the maturity necessary for some individuals to stand head and shoulders above the rest.
All the matches until the final took place in the rather unimpressive GSL studio, with Tastosis, Wolf and Kaldor playing second fiddles behind the Korean broadcast, yet when it started the occasion immediately became momentous.
In group A Stephano jumped ahead with two straight win against DRG (96) and HerO(97?) and was looking to shock the world against a seemingly defang MC. The Boss Toss, like any good old “foreign Korean”, nevertheless outclassed the French zerg (98) who then had the unenviable task of going against MVP in a bo1 for his tournament life. Thinking the future was already there he decided to go for a ballsy double evo chamber-two base infestor rush on the back of pure zergling that earned him the stern disappointment of the King.(99) Meanwhile, after an eternity of being talked up, DRG finally delivered on his potential, winning the group, followed by Mvp and MC. In group B, MLG Providence runner up NaNiwa became the punching bag of the Koreans. Going 0-3 in the group, the Swede was clearly less than happy being the butt of the joke. Having said less than kind things about Nestea, he went for a probe rush effectively forfeiting a meaningless match and provoking the ire of fans around the world.(100) The two happy beneficiaries of Mvp monopolising three invite, MMA and Polt, got out of the group joined by Leenock continuing his brilliant momentum.
The first two matches of the playoff ended up being Mvp vs Polt, and MC vs Leenock. While the first ended up in predictable fashion with the King of Wings proving too good for the Prime terran,(101) Leenock-MC was where the fun was. Leenock was the hottest commodities around and hopes were high for the new generation he represented, meanwhile MC pretention of being the best in the world seemed all but gone, nonetheless while the music may have stopped, MC was not done dancing. He dismantled the young zerg(102) to set up a semi-final match against DRG where he would once again be predicted to lose. (103)
The semi-finals with on one side MC vs DRG and on the other Mvp vs MMA were a turning point in Starcraft 2 history. Were the two multi-GSL champions to win, they would keep hold of their dominion over Starcraft in Korea, perpetually chasing each others while reaching new heights. Were the newcomers to win, it would be a vindication for the Korean way of doing Starcraft as new talents proved to be able to compete at the highest level. MMA answered the call loud and clear, reacting his Blizzcon performance and beating Mvp 3-0 with two cheeses and a macro game.(104) MC was a tougher beast, going up 2-1 vs DRG, he had one of his definitive what if moments in a career full of them, letting victory slip through his fingers with a dubious air toss build.(105) Still a 3-4th place in a tournament where the other protosses went 0-8 was more than enough to make the world remember he was still the best protoss in the world.
So in the end, it was the new generation that won out. While Nestea, MC and Mvp had burst into the scene immediately going all the way to the top, MMA and DRG rise was a slow and steady one. They went through all the phases of development of this new professional scene; getting into code A, excelling in team leagues, placing high in international events, qualifying for code S and finally getting to be part of the elite capable of contending for the title of best in the world. Korea had done what the rest of the world couldn’t, not only having Brood War veterans dominate the circuit, but growing all new talents that could replace and transcend them.
Much has been written and reminisced about the Man from Busan and the Emperor Son grand finale. Taking place in a university amphitheater, it had nowhere near the crowd of Blizzcon or Providence, but GOMTV production, as good as ever, made it look way bigger than it was. The story is well known, MMA looked imperial in the first three games, defeating the cheese, winning in the macro game, then pulling a cheese of his own. Coming out ahead of the build order choice in game four, he was already tasting his victory, but a lapse of attention was all DRG lings needed to sneak through his base and wreak havoc. DRG got a bit of life back in him, and the next two games saw the two competitors attitudes radically change, DRG getting back in his grove while MMA progressively fell back in his chair, seemingly unable to grasp what was happening to him. The last game on Shakuras Plateau went full macro, MMA managed to endure the mutalisk harass and took an amazing stance at the center of the map anchoring down with turrets, bunkers, tanks and thors, but DRG managed to strom the terran position and created the air he needed to get his macro going. After an overzealous attempt to break MMA with ultralisks, the game “stabilized” to a razor edge slugfest for 30 more minutes. With the map almost mined out, DRG saw his opening, plunging for MMA main in the hope of checkmating the terran, Slayer's ace accepted the challenge and stood his ground. Leaving out all the intricate details about Starcraft, the game was reduced to the most basic of proposition; if DRG’s brood lords could reach the heart of the productions and shut down the starports and barracks, he would win, if MMA defended, he would go home victorious. MMA bent oh so much, but didn’t quite break, collapsing on DRG brood lords at the last moment. Within seconds, the SlayerS team was up on the stage, throwing in the air the man who had just played arguably the best Starcraft 2 game ever. (106)
Ending the year, MMA triumphs made him the idol of the new era of Starcraft. Becoming the definitive best in the world on his own soil, MMA story is impossible to tell without looking outside of Korea, his MLG and Blizzcon victory weren’t just sideshow to his success at home the way it was with Mvp. The promises of the idyllic word of Starcraft encapsulated within MMA probably explain in part why he is one of the most beloved players. The turn and twist of his rise tell a story of an integrated scene, where a victory against Idra or Naniwa is just as important as one against DRG or MC. It conveys the idea that while the Koreans were better, the path to greatness inevitably went through foreigners and foreign tournaments. A year of confrontation and negotiation between rival ambitions and visions of Starcraft had led to this agreement. Korean Starcraft had proven its superiority, but couldn’t stand on its own, desperately needing the foreign viewership as well as the outlet of their cheering crowds. Non-Korean investors had realize the potential of Starcraft 2 has an esport and business venture, but the failure of NASL had reminded them that couldn’t hope to expect a local lineup to challenge GOMTV in this current environment, instead relying on them to provide the stars power necessary to bring out the crowd by milking the “Korean vs the world story line” or adopting them as their own. With the viewership getting bigger and bigger, new stars raising up and more tournaments in the making, the future of the king of esport future was as bright as it could ever be, promising to lead the industry to new heights.
Epilogue: A fragile equilibrium
+ Show Spoiler +
Now that we’re at an end, you may have noticed that there’s a notable tournament I did not addressed, one that while being one of the year's biggest, felt impossible to fit in any kind of satisfying narrative, like it had no right to be there. I am off course talking about Super Tournament, WCG, IEM Guangzhou, GSL November. The tournament that saw jjakji defeat Leenock in an nail-biting series to become the first ever GSL champion to be crowned in relative indifference. In the Teamliquid preview of the final jjakji was deemed “the luckiest player in GSL history”,(107) with the writer trying endlessly to turn this into a backhanded compliment and not a straight up burn. While there’s something to be said about the alignment of the stars that saw jjakji lift the GSL trophy, seeing him as the luckiest player in GSL is the wrong way to look at him, he might even be one of the unluckiest, but more importantly he was an early indication of a systemic problem in the way competitive Starcraft 2 was set up, a disequilibrium that would never quite be solve.
Having just won the world's most difficult tournament, jjakji should have in all logic been considered one of, if not the, best player. But there was no place for a jjakji in this world, the best players in the world needed to be the Koreans playing at MLG, IPL, ESWC and Dreamhack, those who battled the great foreign hopes and had the crowds fired up. Deep down everyone knew Korea was filled to the brim with talented players, but it was one thing to welcome a few Koreans into our tournaments, it was another to accept that the champions crowned in them could have been replaced by half a dozen others. Following his GSL win, there was no international tour for jjakji, no global final, just a great big check, a trophy, and a collective effort to forget him.
Leenock decision to go to MLG Providence just a couple of days before his GSL final, earned him way more crowd recognition than jjakji ever got, on top of a precious Blizzard Cup final invite. The current de facto best player in Korea ended up having to watch the world championship from the sideline, without anyone finding that much to say about it. jjakji victory was then deemed a fluke, after all he didn’t do that well in the next GSL season. It was much easier to talk about how sad it was that Leenock didn’t get to have his GSL, or to make jokes about his (objectively) stupid name and Artosis curses power, than to take notice of the warning sign. Acknowledging jjakji victory would have meant accepting thatPuzzle had just as many code A championship as Bomber, that InCa had an almost flawless run to a code S final, that PuMa never made it into code S or that anypro had better GSL results than herO. In other words, it would have meant accepting that the equilibrium that was instituted during the game golden age was only a fleeting moment. The Koreans going to the West were not the ultimate obstacle of foreigners, the last hurdle to jump before playing on even grounds. They were the product of an overcrowded and underappreciated Korean scene spilling out quickly into every acre of green pasture to satisfy its member aspiration to success, fame, and a decent paycheck. With the sound of the elephants footsteps coming ever closer, what had started with MC and a few of his pals going abroad, had grown to international tournament inviting a few Koreans to challenge their stars, then to contingents of Koreans populating the top spots of tournaments, would soon become a mass exodus, leaving not even the smallest online cup or the most humble national competition safe from being overtaken.
jjakji defeat Leenock in an nail-biting series to become the first ever GSL champion to be crowned in relative indifference. In the Teamliquid preview of the final jjakji was deemed “the luckiest player in GSL history”,(107) with the writer trying endlessly to turn this into a backhanded compliment and not a straight up burn. While there’s something to be said about the alignment of the stars that saw jjakji lift the GSL trophy, seeing him as the luckiest player in GSL is the wrong way to look at him, he might even be one of the unluckiest, but more importantly he was an early indication of a systemic problem in the way competitive Starcraft 2 was set up, a disequilibrium that would never quite be solve.Having just won the world's most difficult tournament, jjakji should have in all logic been considered one of, if not the, best player. But there was no place for a jjakji in this world, the best players in the world needed to be the Koreans playing at MLG, IPL, ESWC and Dreamhack, those who battled the great foreign hopes and had the crowds fired up. Deep down everyone knew Korea was filled to the brim with talented players, but it was one thing to welcome a few Koreans into our tournaments, it was another to accept that the champions crowned in them could have been replaced by half a dozen others. Following his GSL win, there was no international tour for jjakji, no global final, just a great big check, a trophy, and a collective effort to forget him.
Leenock decision to go to MLG Providence just a couple of days before his GSL final, earned him way more crowd recognition than jjakji ever got, on top of a precious Blizzard Cup final invite. The current de facto best player in Korea ended up having to watch the world championship from the sideline, without anyone finding that much to say about it. jjakji victory was then deemed a fluke, after all he didn’t do that well in the next GSL season. It was much easier to talk about how sad it was that Leenock didn’t get to have his GSL, or to make jokes about his (objectively) stupid name and Artosis curses power, than to take notice of the warning sign. Acknowledging jjakji victory would have meant accepting that
Puzzle had just as many code A championship as Bomber, that InCa had an almost flawless run to a code S final, that PuMa never made it into code S or that anypro had better GSL results than herO. In other words, it would have meant accepting that the equilibrium that was instituted during the game golden age was only a fleeting moment. The Koreans going to the West were not the ultimate obstacle of foreigners, the last hurdle to jump before playing on even grounds. They were the product of an overcrowded and underappreciated Korean scene spilling out quickly into every acre of green pasture to satisfy its member aspiration to success, fame, and a decent paycheck. With the sound of the elephants footsteps coming ever closer, what had started with MC and a few of his pals going abroad, had grown to international tournament inviting a few Koreans to challenge their stars, then to contingents of Koreans populating the top spots of tournaments, would soon become a mass exodus, leaving not even the smallest online cup or the most humble national competition safe from being overtaken.Footnotes
+ Show Spoiler +
1. Wilhem, Alex, The rise of Major League Gaming and the future of esport, TNW, June 26, 2011. https://thenextweb.com/insider/2011/06/26/the-rise-of-major-league-gaming-and-the-future-of-esports/
2. Miller, Patrick, 2011: The Year of eSports, PCWorld, December 29, 2010. https://www.pcworld.com/article/214432/2011_the_year_of_esports.html?page=2
3. Shannn, GSL S and A League and the Up/Down format revealed, TL.net, December 15, 2010. https://tl.net/forum/community-news-archive/177150-gsl-s-and-a-league-and-the-up-down-format-revealed
4. TLnet Poll, Do you understand the GSL format?, TL.net, December 28, 2010. https://tl.net/poll/index.php?poll_id=472
*In true 2011 fashion, most of TL readers didn’t understand the new GSL format
5. Liquipedia Starcraft II, 2011 LG Cinema 3D Global StarCraft II League May, Liquipedia.
2011 LG Cinema 3D Global StarCraft II League May6. GTR, MVP first player to 3000 points, TL.net, November 09, 2010. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/167642-mvp-first-player-to-3000-points
7. GSLvods, MC vs Jinro Jinro : “I’m the 5% terran”. youtube.com, January 17, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=QvkvKfKSkhI
8. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep.20 - Nestea vs Mvp, youtube.com, September 25, 2012 [january 23, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=t-WBjbk4l2o
9. Motbob, New Korean SC2 Team – IM, TL.net, October 01, 2010. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/157293-new-korean-sc2-team-im
10. Intrigue, The Elephant in the Room, TL.net, May 12, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/final-edits/221896-the-elephant-in-the-room
11. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep. 25 -July vs Mvp, youtube.com, October 3rd 2012 [february 22, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=UEUPuLb4w9c.
12. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep. 26 - NesTea vs San, youtube.com, October 9 2012. [february 26, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=udKCcWO_9fQ
13. GOMTVNET, GSL's Greatest Ep.30 - LosirA vs SuperNova, youtube.com, October 9 2012.[may 11, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=iYqTMaSLds4
14. SC2 vods, GSL 2011 World Championship - KR vs the World - Mvp vs DIMAGA Set 14, youtube.com, July 4, 2016 [march 29, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=cws6TYywnX0
15. SC2 vods, GSL 2011 World Championship - KR vs the World - NesTea vs DIMAGA Set 15, youtube.com, July 4, 2016 [march 29, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=yhZYhe4z8rk
16. GOMTVNET, GSL's Greatest Ep.36 - Bomber vs Mvp, youtube.com, 24 oct. 2012 [may 6, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=Cs64DIjeKtw
17. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep.37 - Sc vs Nestea, youtube.com, October 23, 2012. [ may 7, 2011].youtube.com/watch?v=vx9zGvYYm4g
18. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep.33 - InCa vs Rain, youtube.com, October 16, 2012. [april 26, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=lvk-ImVy2GI
19. GOMTVNET, GSL’s Greatest Ep38 - InCa vs NesTea, youtube.com, October 24, 2012.[may 14, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=UB3NZVi5r-4
20. ChickenLips, [GSL] Grand Finals - Code S May, TL.net, May 13, 2011. This final has the distinct honor of being probably the worst final of all time, with every single game being deemed “not recommended” by 85% of the TLDR thread or higher.
21. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2 -, youtube.com, february 21, 2014. [July 19, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=MhJgF02EHgg&list=PL138uAudOtA_EVDbquQqsixKhAexUZt2x&index=22
22. GOMTV Plus, -Starcraft 2 -, youtube.com, february 21, 2014. [July 30, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=d4L62IDnQeM&list=PL138uAudOtA_EVDbquQqsixKhAexUZt2x&index=45
23. PlayerStreams, NESTEA beats Mass THORS with banelings..!?! [GSL], youtube.com, September 21, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=AECveho2tSQ
24. PromeheusStarcraft, Nestea according to Tastosis, youtube.com, December 2, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=x7XF3mQoUAs
25. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft2 -, youtube.com, january 27, 2014. [august 9, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=JT85f4dGpVo&list=PLBoL-GeKUaBQ4Ip8uoyVBrS6PFTCqOuBv&index=6
26. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft2 -, youtube.com, january 27, 2014. [august 24, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=lv9bCuiLQ7o&list=PLBoL-GeKUaBQ4Ip8uoyVBrS6PFTCqOuBv&index=37
27. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft2 -, youtube.com, january 27, 2014. [august 31, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=KuvQQx_eYdQ&list=PLBoL-GeKUaBQ4Ip8uoyVBrS6PFTCqOuBv&index=54
28. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft2 -, youtube.com, january 27, 2014. [September 5, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=wscZKAFOSQ0&list=PLBoL-GeKUaBQ4Ip8uoyVBrS6PFTCqOuBv&index=66
29. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft2 -, youtube.com, january 27, 2014. [September 10, 2011] youtube.com/watch?v=FxunTdErUB4&list=PLBoL-GeKUaBQ4Ip8uoyVBrS6PFTCqOuBv&index=71
30. pencil_ethics, NesTea, MVP to BlizzCon, TL.net, august 17, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/255828-nestea-mvp-to-blizzcon
31. Steiner, Dustin, Good Game: A year in the life of team Evil Geniuses Starcraft 2 team, gamezone.com, may 4, 2012. https://www.gamezone.com/originals/good-game-a-year-in-the-life-of-team-evil-geniuses-starcraft-2-team/
32. Evil Geniuses, Evil Geniuses: Tour of the Lair, youtube.com, september 23, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=2WXvLj5TCKw
33. Milkis, Puma leaves TSL for EG, TL.net, July 21, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/245970-puma-leaves-tsl-for-eg
34. Ottersareneat [Alex Garfield], EG signs PuMa, responds to criticism, TL.net, July 25, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/247655-eg-signs-puma-responds-to-criticism
35. Nokz88, TSL to become first SC2 team with player salaries, TL.net, march 14, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/201086-tsl-to-become-first-sc2-team-with-player-salaries
36. Esports earnings, Lee "PuMa" Ho Joon - StarCraft II Player, esportsearnings.com. https://www.esportsearnings.com/players/1174-puma-lee-ho-joon
37. Fenzel, Peter, The North American Star League and eSports, Overthinkingit.com, February 22, 2011. https://www.overthinkingit.com/2011/02/22/starcraft-america/
38. Xeris, [Q&A] Official NASL Thread, TL.net, February 22, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/195486-q-and-a-official-nasl-thread
39. NetgamingTV, NASL Application of MoMaN, youtube.com, March 10, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=t9Cu65q8bPM
40. nonytube, NonY's NASL Application Video, youtube.com, September 7, 2013. youtube.com/watch?v=bTdBK9LPZ40
41. ArtosisTV, NASL application for Artosis, youtube.com, march 7, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=jcOz5R-M3Ps
42. Xeris, [Q&A] Official NASL Thread, TL.net, February 22, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/195486-q-and-a-official-nasl-thread
43. North American Star League, NASL Season 1 Finals - FXOSheth vs STSquirtle, youtube.com, August 8, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=b5yVwLC-PaM
44. JimLoid, What you see is what you don’t get, in Waxangel and al, [NASL] The Verdict, TL.net, July 19, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/news-archive/245513-nasl-the-verdict
45. Peter Richter, The Ultimate NASL Sound Guy Compilation: Part 1 of 150 (Intro), youtube.com, December 21, 2020. youtube.com/watch?v=94WeQVJiCI8
46. naslseasonone, NASL season 1 - Grand Finals - 3rd place match -Sen vs July, Twitch.com, 2011. twitch.tv/videos/47983178
47 naslseasonone, NASL season 1 - Grand Finals - 3rd place match -Sen vs July - Final - PuMa vs MC - Part 1, Twitch.com, 2011. twitch.tv/videos/47979745
48. Kirk Hamilton, Forget Baseball and MMA, the Sport to Cheer for in this Bar was StarCraft, kotaku.com, July 12, 2011. https://kotaku.com/forget-baseball-and-mma-the-sport-to-cheer-for-in-this-5820360
49. Waxangel and al, [NASL] The Verdict, TL.net, July 19, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/news-archive/245513-nasl-the-verdict
50. NASL.Tv, Korean teams withdraw from NASL, TL.net, august 11, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/253750-korean-teams-withdraw-from-nasl
51. chobopeon, IGN's new $150k+ SC2 League, March 22, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/community-news-archive/204024-igns-new-150k-sc2-league
52. Stuchiu, SC2 History Pt. 8: The Height of Foreigner Power, [2min 20- 2min 55], youtube.com, February 17, 2018. youtube.com/watch?v=C7I7CNc58ZY
53. IGNProLeague, IPL 3 - Championship - Grand Finals - Lucky vs Stephano - Game 4 of 7, youtube.com, october 19, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=gl2coFllKiw
54. MLGNetworkNews, MLG and the GSL Create Groundbreaking League Exchange Program, majorleaguegaming.com, may 13, 2011.
GSL-MLG Exchange Program55. Major League Gaming, The Arrival-MLG Columbus, youtube.com, June 3, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=hfpek7FChlQ
56. AsKJoshyGaming, MLG Columbus Vlog #6 - AskJoshy Gets Autographs! - StarCraft 2, youtube.com, june 4, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=IMhY4kq2a38
57. Hot_Bid, MLG Columbus Preview, TL.net, june , 2011. https://tl.net/forum/news-archive/229043-mlg-columbus-preview.
*TL Preview asking the fans to cheer for the Koreans as much as possible to make sure more come back to the West.
58. WellPlayed Productions, Inside MLG: Columbus 2011 (part 1), youtube.com, June 9, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=DdkEZjIIlfE
59. Hot_Bid, MC, July to MLG Columbus, TL.net, June 2, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/228922-mc-july-to-mlg-columbus
60. Major League Gaming, MLG Columbus 2011 Starcraft 2 - IdrA vs MC - Pool Play, youtube.com, June 21, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=rnqtlSUMhTY
61. Theratkingz, Idra quits a potentially won game vs mma, youtube.com, June 5, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=9yOw-hYMbDY
62. AskJoshy Gaming, MC disses Idra at MLG Columbus - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, June 10, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=wANxtcDLANg
63. kurossc2, MLG Columbus 2011 - losira vs naniwa - game2 - ZvP, youtube.com, June 6, 2011.youtube.com/watch?v=bdDIohxi0zo
64. Major League Gaming, MLG Weekly Episode 1: The Rivalry, youtube.com, August 12, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=SpdPlREV95U
65. AskJoshy Gaming, Bomber Wins MLG Raleigh 2011! - StarCraft 2, youtube.com, August 31, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=eDw24cANxHw
66. PlasmaSC, HuK vs MC - MLG Orlando 2011, youtube.com, october 16, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=52LmQuyb1QU
67. Evil Geniuses, Evil Geniuses: Rivals Shall Unite, youtube.com, august 16, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=6ySMaqXQPgY
68. Liquipedia Starcraft II, IGN ProLeague Season 2, liquipedia.
IGN ProLeague Season 269. Liquipedia Starcraft II, IEM Season V - European Championships, liquipedia.
IEM Season V - European Championships70. Liquipedia Starcraft II, PokerIdol.com European Championship, liquipedia.
PokerIdol.com European Championship71. Liquipedia Starcraft II, Millenium Cup by Winamax, liquipedia.
Millenium Cup by Winamax72. Liquipedia Starcraft II, ESL Pro Series France Season X, liquipedia.
ESL Pro Series France Season X73. Liquipedia Starcraft II, ASUS Cup Winter 2011, liquipedia.
ASUS Cup Winter 201174.TL.net Bot, PokerStrategy.com TSL3, TL.net, January 1, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/news-archive/180950-pokerstrategycom-tsl3
75. teamliquidnet, Game 7 - Dignitas.NaNiwa vs mouz.ThorZaIN - TSL3 Grand Final, Mai 15, 2011.youtube.com/watch?v=EiBdfTLt2yU
76. Decaf, EU or NA ladder, which is harder?, TL.net, February 9 2011. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/191710-eu-or-na-ladder-which-is-harder
77. HellfireWarlocks, Dreamhack 2011 Final Game - Huk vs Moon - crowd goes wild, youtube.com, youtube.com/watch?v=bySSoMwUT4g
78. goodgameru, Highlights : Stephano at ESWC 2011, youtube.com, November 9, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=tDHKW1h17zw
79. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [October 11, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=yLiGyxJ0wuA
80. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [Octobre 14, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=aPOkvPROtHM
81. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2 Mvp vs MMA-, youtube.com, January 7, 2014. youtube.com/watch?v=b6JuP8CINaY&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzqOmfzKEwNHc405XKHV7Lw&index=27
82. Timothy Chen, In-Crowd Reaction to SlayerSMMA Win Blizzcon 2011, youtube.com. youtube.com/watch?v=BswePMJyJxs
83. freedin, NesTea [Z] vs [T] Mvp - All games - Grand Finals, youtube.com, October 24, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=-jn4gC9XJMw
84. AskJoshy Gaming, MVP vs. NesTea - Blizzcon 2011 Finals - StarCraft 2, youtube.com, October 25, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=VCM8bTY6Xkk
85. McCormick, Rich, Why Blizzard invited the world's best StarCraft: Brood War players to Blizzcon 2011, pcgamer, October 26, 2011. https://www.pcgamer.com/why-blizzard-invited-the-worlds-best-starcraft-brood-war-players-to-blizzcon-2011/
86. burgback, HD Starcraft 2 TvT MVP vs MarineKingPrime Game 1 MLG Providence 2011, youtube.com, December 10, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=qfYG4-dREm8
87. EARPproductions, MC vs MVP Game 3: Final Battle + Murloc Ceremony @MLG Providence 2011, youtube.com, November 20, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=LAXTYL63N7Y
88. PhoeniHope, Naniwa thumbs down Nestea after game, youtube.com, november 19, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=GgQOdfxvmoY
89. kentliu, Naniwa calls Nestea an idiot, youtube.com, november 19, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=kJG3l7sFF6U
90. TL.net, MLG Providence Day 3 Live Report Thread, tl.net, November 19, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/sc2-tournaments/287197-mlg-providence-day-3-live-report-thread
* Due to the nature of the tournament and the lack of VOD, the best way to plunge back into it is still roaming the TLDR thread
91. McCormick, Rich, MLG Providence in review: the story of Leenock, pcgamer, November 21, 2011. https://www.pcgamer.com/mlg-providence-in-review-the-story-of-leenock/
92. GOMTV Plus, Leenock vs NaDa (ZvT) Set 1 2010 Open Season 2 GSL - StarCraft 2, youtube.com, January 9, 2014 [October 28, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=VL4NcQai0Tg
93. PlasmaSC, Naniwa vs Leenock Game 4 - MLG Providence 2011, youtube.com, November 21, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=mX1I9JK5UFA
94. StarcraftAlaska, MLG Providence, Leenock Winning the grand finals against Naniwa, youtube.com, November 22, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=7vb_SbinCtI
95. Day9TV, Dreamhack Winter 2011 Grand Finals Game 7, youtube.com, November 26, 2011. youtube.com/watch?v=mmo9WyFlzmA
96. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 12, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=9_XpXIo1R3I&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzCgway9fIV74Hao3Q6LGrd&index=5
97. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 12, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=RToH0MYI4-Y&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzCgway9fIV74Hao3Q6LGrd&index=2
98. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 12, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=Yo_dswDDRMY&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzCgway9fIV74Hao3Q6LGrd&index=7
99. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 12, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=82Xs34ezyZk&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzCgway9fIV74Hao3Q6LGrd&index=9
100. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 13, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=GFRXDs3PgIk
101. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 14, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=W-f9QUQXTro&list=PL2SVHep0vjIx240FRmFPFVX3DJEwdc0Ap&index=5
102. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 14, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=5UJtKP8Z_DM&list=PL2SVHep0vjIx240FRmFPFVX3DJEwdc0Ap
103. deezl, Easy Peasy MC-eezy?, in deezl, Fionn and WaxAngel Blizzard Cup - Semi-Final Preview/RO6 Review, TL.net, December 14, 2011. https://tl.net/forum/news-archive/295091-blizzard-cup-semi-final-preview-ro6-review
104. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 15, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=pHHDpoL9jE0&list=PL2SVHep0vjIx240FRmFPFVX3DJEwdc0Ap&index=14
105. GOMTV Plus, - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, January 7, 2014 [december 15, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=KKtVa55AOfw&list=PL2SVHep0vjIx240FRmFPFVX3DJEwdc0Ap&index=9
106. GOMTV Plus, 2011 Blizzard Cup Grand Finals Set 7 - Starcraft 2, January 7, 2014 [december 17, 2011]. youtube.com/watch?v=nTb2gPV8M8k
107. GOMTV, Jjakji vs Leenock (TvZ) Finals Set 1 - Starcraft 2, youtube.com, February 16, 2014. youtube.com/watch?v=GnU6r8Za-aU&list=PL2SVHep0vjIzb5P70R6LWhUMHeXHGb88g&index=25
108. TL.net ESPORTS, [GSL] Code-S November Finals Preview, TL.net, December 2, 2011. tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/291049-gsl-code-s-november-finals-preview
