State of the Game needs more stating of the game

Before I delve into any criticisms, I would just like to state that I find State of the Game, the SC2 podcast hosted by MLG’s JP McDaniel, hilarious and entertaining to boot. They know how to entertain and their SC-related stories are always so fantastic, and on this personal level the show works well.

However, the truth of the matter is that the show is not as informative as it can be. I would not hesitate to say that their coverage of the scene is just straight up lacking. I know they are all busy people with lives and work, but to most of them their work is Starcraft and to deliver a product that is called “State of the Game,” they could be much more thorough in their discussion. And honestly, it does not mean watching every Go4sc2 or CraftCup to get a decent grasp on the situation.

Point 1- While their show is of course North American based, and that will get the most coverage, and I do not mind that bias, but what bothers me is their lack of knowledge of the EU scene, and even the KR scene is just bad. On episode 50, Artosis did not even know that his new protoss crush Sage was in Code A, and he didn’t get an invite but made it through the qualifiers. Also the Stephano recap was so horrid and one-sided, that it made me cringe. Incontrol never commented on the fact that in France, when contracts are signed, there is a time period where the worker can retract his commitment, and Stephano is French and heaven forbids him to act like a Frenchmen. The whole thing is a messy situation but there are other cultures in the world than American, people tend to forget that.

And if you talk about a huge tournament, and it only has 8 players (*ahem* Dreamhack Valencia), it wouldn’t be so hard to figure out who is who. Lucifron, while he may be known as the guy that got 6-pooled by ActionJesus, he came back this past summer break and tore up the EU scene. His TvZ was the best for a couple months, where he bested Stephano, Nerchio, and Lalush in tournament play. It was said that around the actual time of Dreamhack, he had drastically cut his hours of play due to his studies, but still I don’t think that he would have a chance versus DRG.

Point 2- European players are good because they produce results. Most EU people are not being facetious when they say “Europeans are better…,” the results do not lie. Look at Stephano’s run in IPL, Dimaga’s splash in the GSL World Championship, Thorzain and his reputation in Korea as the best foreigner, Mana’s PvT not only the best in Europe but a lot of people say in the world. I get annoyed when they dismiss players like Nerchio, who embarrassed top NA zergs like Idra in ZvZ. Please have an open mind, these guys are the foreign hopes.

Point 3- No Racial Balance, The makeup of the show now is 3 Protoss Players (Artosis, Tyler, Incontrol) and Day9 who churns out more content nowadays so he has less time to play, we do not really know his skill level. Not this only creates bad (meaning really skewed) balance discussions (JP you’ve ran the PvP discussion into the ground so hard), but even the discussion content about pro games is stale. Here’s a typical conversation about a GSL match:

JP: So who watched this game between *blalal vs blalala”

Tyler: No Protoss, so I stay ignorant.

Incontrol: I watched it, and Mariners, Bunkers, boring,….

Artosis: Gotta catch up with the games (assuming he didn’t cast it but he usually offers great insight)

Day9: … (He always leaves early -_- )

Yes Korean Terrans are good but they are a lot of different people breaking into the scene there. Also when Leah Jackson makes her appearance on SOTG, I appreciate the fact that she watches a lot of the content out there and it showed when she was talking.

Point 4- Get new blood (Idra as a guest is not that special anymore) in as guests, this leads in from point 2, but when DeMuslim was on the show, he was a godsend. He was a fresh face and a top terran. Guests like this man need to be more frequent on the show, his insight on the NASL players were astounding. People from the scene who are not from the NA circle so to speak would make exemplary guests. (EU, KR, or even CN)

Point 5- More in depth analysis, while the show has to cover a lot of events, I’m really curious what would an in-depth analysis of a specific series would look like. Where they would watch a series, take notes, and just comment in general about it. I think it would be very educational and entertaining. Maybe taking a stab at this would be great. Actually more thematic topics, rather just saying what’s up and talking your mind would produce quality content.

Final Thoughts- Please pillars do some more research and get a firm grasp on your talking points. Your popularity and outreach to the community is there and you are never short on entertainment, just deliver more truths to the masses.

The Money of E-Sports

The Money of E-sports

If anyone is still negligent to the fact that there is no money in playing video games, show them the site Sc2earnings.com. On this site, the creators make a global database on the top earners of Starcraft II. It is important to remember that prize money for most players is just icing on the cake, as salaries, lessons, or streaming tend to be more of steady and reliable source of income for players. With such a young game, and plenty of players already making 6 digit of money solely on prize money, it really is astonishing what the future will hold.

Some interesting notes

* While the top earners are obviously Koreans who have excelled in the GSL, Ukraine's White-Ra leads the foreigner the pack in prize money, passing Huk through his IPL Season 2 Title.

* Nestea has shown that he doesn't need to travel (...MC) to international events to get the money, rather just focusing on GSL and producing amazing results. But still, MC has won (No pun intended) everywhere (Denmark, USA, China, etc.)

* Puma, who has not even qualified for a GSL, holds the 8th spot, showing his fellow countrymen that even if you struggle through the gauntlet that is the GSL qualifiers, there is still way to hone your hours of practice on the alarming amount of international events.

* Online cup warrior Kas is remarkably ranked 50th, with his biggest cash only being 3,000 dollars, those small cup victories do tend to add up

July to Round of 16

ST_July has been having poor results lately in South Korea.

After getting 2nd in GSL March, he was knocked out in the first round of the last two GSL tournaments, and hasn't performed well in the GSLTL either. He placed high (4th) in both the NASL and Dreamhack, but there seemed to be limits to his play when he reached the highest levels and he couldn't seem to get any further.

This was something July himself seemed to realize when he was interviewed during the GSL Code S selection, where he was placed in a group with LosirA, Genius and Ensnare.

I was obviously nervous, that once again July would fall in the first round and that he might even get knocked down to the dreaded Up and Down matches, which look more and more like a postapocalyptic movie where everyone is trying to eat and kill each other. July's group was the last of the Round of 32 and looked to be a bit uncertain. The preview from Team Liquid was as follows:

LoSirA returns to the stage for another run at the championship. Will he be thwarted again? Certainly not by anyone in this group. Both LoSirA and July have been to the promised land of a GSL Code S final but July hasn't gotten anywhere close again. In fact, his performances have been slipping steadily and he narrowly avoided the Up / Down matches last season.

Ensnare had the misfortune of meeting NesTea in the Ro16 last season and had his run cut short, while Genius met the same fate at the hands of another ZvP terror in CoCa. Thankfully for both, July hasn't been at that level lately. That leaves the door wide open for second place in the group.

Form suggests that it won't be July. Looking at the stats, a gambling man would put his dollars Genius as he hasn't been bested in a TvP since he lost to NaDa back in May.

The prediction was that July would be 0-2 in the group and get knocked down to the Up and Down matches.

Such did not happen though, as this strange group turned schizophrenic in terms of results. LosirA, the gamer that almost everyone thought would make it through with no problems (after just finishing 2nd place in the previous GSL). He however ended up 0-2 and will go straight to the Up and Down matches. Ensnare and Genius fought over 2nd place, with Genius making it through. July, through a mixture of balls of steel and poor play made it through 2-0.

In his match against Genius on Bel-Shir Beach, July gave up his clear map advantage and instead chose to baneling bust his opponent who had forge expanded. Even though Genius had scouted the gas, he responded too late and was crushed with a volley of banelings and zerglings. It was a bold movie, July perhaps playing a mind game on Genius and taking advantage of his expectation that July would use his map advantage to play a longer safer game.

Later against Ensnare, July fought back a bunker rush, which had in the previous game set back LosirA eventually helping Ensnare win his game against him on Terminus. Clearly behind, Ensnare muscled up his forces for an all-in with Marines and Helions. July had droned heavily in the meantime, but had some defenses (banelings and spine crawlers). By the time Ensnare attacked he had a large enough force to possibly destroy July. But due to some nervousness and meekness from the Terran player he fumbled his potential advantage, and July destroyed his push.

ST_July mumumu! His next opponent in the Round of 16 is HungunPrime.We!

GSL July Lessons

Farewell to Code-S July: Lessons Learned

By: Fionn

from TeamLiquid.net

Another GSL is over and what a surprise, it ended in a 4-0 stomping. Luckily for us, the games were good, but it marks the third straight final where one player couldn't win a single game. Now, with the tournament behind us, it's time to look back on the things that we've learned from this GSL:

1. First and foremost, Nestea is the best player in the world.
2. Code-S is becoming a really even competition. All of the "upsets" this season weren't so much about the underdogs getting lucky; it's just that the gap between the underdogs and favorites has closed significantly. Except Nestea, he's still 500x better than everyone.
3. If you pick Clide into your group expecting to beat him, you'll end up getting knocked down to Code A while he makes it out of the group stages.
   
4. Immediately after getting out of the group and looking great doing it, Clide will then fall apart and never make the quarterfinals.
   
5. Wolf and qxc are the best Code A tandem GOM has put together so far. Many houses have been burned in their wake.
   
6. MarineKing can not only get 2nd place in countless GSL's, but he also can go 0-2 in the Round of 32 as well.
   
7. Putting makeup on kids who play video games for a living wasn't the greatest idea in the world.
   
8. It doesn't matter if he never wins a GSL title, Nada will always be a champion to me.
   
9. Real ESPORTS fans care.
   
10. sC's decision to pick MVP first in his group can be summed up in one word: oops
    
11. Optimus is beatable in TvP, just don't fall for his tricks.
    
12. It doesn't matter if Huk is Korean, American or Canadian. All I know is that he's a really good Starcraft 2 player.
    
13. Foreign pro-gamers clearly don't watch enough GSL, as their horrifying deaths to unexpected blue-flame hellions at MLG shows.
    
14. Foreign fans clearly don't watch enough GSL, as their surprise at the horrifying deaths of foreign pro-gamers at the hands of blue-flame hellions at MLG shows.
    
15. Despite all the gloom and doom at MLG, Sheth, Jinro, and Huk showed that success is not TOO far away.
    
16. Zenio can't actually win a match when he's half asleep.
    
17. If you bribe your player with a puppy as a reward, he will more than likely make the semifinals of a GSL.
    
18. It doesn't matter how long a PvP series is. In the end, 90% of the games will come down to 4gate.
    
19. Leenock is still the unluckiest player in the entire universe.
    
20. Puzzle has a bright future ahead of himself and will be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming Code S season.
    
21. HongUn has a guardian angel following him around.
    
22. Any time Artosis starts saying you're the best at something, and your name isn't Nestea, you will more than likely get eliminated right after.
    
23. It doesn't matter how much you hype up a GSL final because it will always end up 0-4 or being a terrible series. It is known.
    
24. While sC looks foolish for picking MVP with his first choice and getting knocked back to Code A, Losira looks like a genius for picking MarineKing, beating him, and ending up in the finals.
    
25. Did I mention that Nestea is the best player in the world?

Finals...

Incredible Miracle teamates Nestea and LosirA in the first ever Z v Z finals of a GSL.

Like most GSL Finals this one did not disappoint in terms of being onesided with very little doubt about who was going to win. Nestea dominated LosirA. Nestea showed some great skill and awesome play, but ultimately I had to go through yet another lopsided and 4-5 game GSL Finals where you have to wonder if the GSL is designed to showcase only the skills and strategies of one player and for the other it is like a massive month long Punk'd episode.

GSL July Code S

BM

FROM THE NASL
Controversy, Manners, and How North American E-Sports Distinguishes Itself
by Brandon Garrett
5/20/11

Let me take a moment to say that I am an Idra fan, so that any perceived bias towards him throughout this article is probably totally there.  In light of Idra's comments about Cruncher in recent history (TSL3, Team Liquid Forums, NASL Thursday Night)  it is clear they are rivals in some way.  Obviously Idra would never say they are rivals in terms of skill, but merely that he dislikes Cruncher and the feeling is mutual.  Incontrol made an astute observation Thursday night, albeit masked in 16th century rhetoric, that it is absurd to think players do not let their emotions become involved in playing the game competitively.  There is not just a lot of money riding on tournament play but a player's reputation as well, so it is reasonable and expected for them to take it seriously.

To ask for some level of courtesy and conduct is certainly something everyone expects, especially in light of a more publicized E-Sports environment. A player's conduct is certainly more policed now that it was before simply due to the transparent nature of the internet and the large number of viewers looking for anything to tweet of make a reddit post about.   Nonetheless, we as a community should not discourage rivalries, even if they are rather unfriendly.  Rivalries between sports teams are what make matches more interesting than they otherwise would have been, especially when they are unfriendly.  If you stop to think about any other professional sport there are certainly vulgar displays of emotion on a regular basis.  One only needs to read a football or basketball coaches lips to see a stream of explicit commentary not regularly heard on a primetime network.

The debate about manners and conduct has been going on for a while now and Idra seems to be the center of controversy every time it sparks back up.  While many people like him specifically for his openness about his feelings, it is certainly viewed by others as unprofessional and bad for the community's perception from the outside world.  From the perspective of those who knew nothing about brood war, I have found that the fascination of the community regarding "manners" is pretty much completely bewildering.  Many  people who are just coming in the game tell me that they do not understand why players are so nice to each other.

Certainly most members of the Starcraft community are friendly towards each other and no one is saying that this is a bad thing.  North American E-sports was around before Starcraft II, with WoW, Counterstrike, and Halo being extremely popular outside of Korea.  Not only does this show that the E-sports community can separate itself from Korea, but that an infrastructure existed before North American Starcraft II tournaments began to blossom.  People were rivalrous and controversial before the idea of professional manners became widespread in the North American scene.  This is largely due to the influence of Korean tournaments and styles.  No one is going to argue that the quality of players in Korea is not something we should emulate, but obviously we are culturally different.  Where BM is a notably large offense in Korea, it is not nearly the same in the U.S.  From the GSL rulebook- "There should be no communication between the players other than ‘GG’, ‘gg’, ‘ㅎㅎ’,'ㅈㅈ' and etc to surrender the game."  I don't think anyone would argue that that is the authoritative way to create good levels of play, but nonetheless it is an integral part of the dynamic of the GSL.

To conclude, controversy is fun!  None of us spectators are directly affected by it, and it seems that every time something dramatic happens the community jumps all over it.  Are we really the community that is so sensitive everything Idra tweets needs a 300 comment thread on reddit?  I don't think anyone wants to hear much more about the Idra- Team Liquid controversy either. As a community we should embrace and encourage rivalries by taking sides, not by condemning players teams or organizations.  No one who plays a video game like Starcraft competitively is going to escalate a rivalry (internet tuff guy) to anything beyond words so what do we have to be afraid of?

Protoss TT

Sen and Morrow putting on their ZvP "face" while watching Dimaga play San in the GSL. The smiling fellow on the left is none other than Code A caster DoA. It was sad day for foreign fans to see Dimaga lose, but if you asked him, he said that ZvP is impossible and the match up he would like to avoid at all costs. Sen and Morrow Echo his thoughts as well.

GSL- Thoughts

The GSL finals were sad sight to see if you are a Zerg player or sympathizer. The anticipated finals of MC vs July, the Gods of War of their respected races, was more of the "Protoss President" outplaying and outpreparing the Starcraft:BW legend. MC showed impeccable play with superb timings and flawless micro, July never was in control. (Except for the 3^rd set in which July conducted a slick Hydra drop timing while MC was teching)

However what made MC play so frightening was that he basically won the series only using Tier 1 Gateway Units. Dark Templars made a brief appearance but really they did not shine in any way. MC’s Sentry and Stalker control was awe dropping. His pushes of “infinite forcefields” (8 or more sentries) were just cutting up July’s forces so badly that the notion of a fair fight was nonexistent.

Not one Colossus was made, which has been the buzz word for Zerg players who cry ZvP imbalance. *cough* Artosis and Idra

One Void Ray was made, but that game was the only one that MC preceded to lose.

No High Templars were produced as well.

So what is the big story? Well gateway pushes are incredibly powerful especially backed with top notch micro and such creative timings. In Game 2, MC’s 1 Gate Expand, a build catered for Crevasse, to a 6 Gate push came at such a fast time because his build allowed him to tech to warp faster by skipping a forge (Which is usually the crucial structure for fast expansions in PvZ). Were these pushes unstoppable though? The answer in my mind is no but it is not easy. In game 1 July could have held it off if he built a few more spine crawlers but the nail in the coffin was the last couple of Forcefields at the ramp, which blocked a huge amount of Reinforcements. They were mistakes made by Tushin (July), but in the bigger picture, this series lacked something that we came to expect from the Brood War Champion.

July, who in Brood War was known for being one the best BoX players in the game. His match preparation was legendary; see his series against Best in the EVER OSL where he truly played the player and not the game. It was surprising to see him getting outsmarted by MC here.

One thing that was disheartening as well is that July was not adapting at all to his opponent’s play. The one thing that MC lacked in these brute force pushes was detection, he completely ignored robo tech in 4/5 games. Rushing roach burrow would have stopped these pushes cold, with burrow being the best way to handle force fields in the mid game. Instead we saw the Zerg units get completely torn apart. This was a bad time for July to not bring his A game especially when he is playing the best player in the world. MC’s aggression is so refined; it truly is a scary sight to see.

In my mind, this GSL final is not evidence for ZvP imbalance (Its still favored for the Protoss but the matchup itself is not broken imo) but rather that MC is really good and July simply was not up to par. He lost the mental edge that earned him his nickname in BW.

July Interview

This Friday is the finals of the March GSL, as I was hoping it'll be ST_July v. oGsMC. I'll be writing more about this later (pa'go ha' tinane' yu' ni' i che'cho'-hu). But in the meantime, here is an interview with July after he defeated his old rival (who had defeated him many times in Brood War Nada), on his way to the finals. The interview comes from this link.

********************

Q: Feelings for advancing to Ro4?
A: I have never felt this anxious/nervous for such a long time. I do not even know how long have I not felt such feelings. When I win I kept on thinking, did I really just win?

Q: 1st 2 matches you won easily.
A: I thought today I could perform a 3-0 victory. It will be 3-0 as long as I take down the 1st match, even if I lost the 1st match it will be 3-1 victory. However, during the 3rd match I actually did a low level mistake, not scouting.

Selected strategy and spawning locations are good, but I did not see opponent's hellion coming out of base. After I saw my spawn location which are all in the correct location, I feel ladyluck is blessing me.

Q: Today matches strategy are similar
A: I saw many comments from friends on the internet. They say my matches contain aggressive elements, extremely entertaining. Even if I lose I will still see good comments for my play. I love these comments. Without these comments I will never be able to take down today's matches.

Q: You have a match with Nada after 2 years, feelings?
A: Both of us should be pretty excited about this. We trained very hard after all, and result in panda eyes. In SC1, I lose alot, thus in SC2 I hope I can win him.

Q: In 4th matches, do u notice not the small passage between the 2 barracks?
A: I do not know about this. If I knew, I could have won alot easier. Main thing is, after losing the 3rd round I felt a little bit at loss. In addition, 4th match bunker rush I defended poorly. Key factor in winning the 5th match is due to having adjusted my mental condition.

Q: Not using late game units on purpose?
A: Ultralisk is really not good. Even if I max out 200 food count on ultralisk, it is hard to win. Analysing Nada I have realised he love doing a Timing All-In. So I have decided to specifically counter against his unit's mobility. Against other player I may choose other strategy.

Q: MC said between July and Nada, whoever wins will enter the Finals.
A: I totally agreed with MC! Now I cannot see other opponent, only MC. Although in Ro32 I lose to MC, but at the finals I WILL LAUGH TILL THE END.

Q: MC said to win the finals, a zerg opponent will be the best bet.
A: Indeed, due to ZvP matchup. I can only sigh.

The races characteristic is wierd. A 200/200 maxed out engage basically Protoss could have won with just a net loss of 30 food count units. Then another push from Protoss Zerg would have KO. Zerg is too fragile. ZvP is indeed hard to fight.

Q: Next match could be Lyn or MarineKing
A: Lyn is famous @ War3, so I want to play a match against him. I have not fought him yet, I will win lyn to advance the semifinals, in the end everything will play out according to my script and I will win the finals.

Q: Alot of audience from SC1 wished today's victor would go to the Finals and win. Are you confident?
A: During group selection I have said that I have climbed from the lowest point. I will let everyone know how did I climbed to this place. I have the capabilities to advance from Code A to Code S Ro4, what is so difficult about going into the Finals? On the contary, I feel entering the Finals would make my mental condition even more stable.

Q: As of now, Zerg who advances to Ro8 take the finals.
A: There is alot differences between the past and now. Compared to last time, now racial balance is much better. But after hearing this I feel I must take the finals. Now I can only think being champion.

Q: Feel any 'Champion' Omen incoming?
A: Today, when I washed my hair, I think back of the past. Suddenly I thought of...should I dye my hair red again? Still, I feel now and the past there is some differences, now I am at the stage of climbing 1 step at a time.

Q: Last words?
A: Yesterday I discussed alot with my teammates, thank deeply for them. Many players accompanied me to train. Especially Clide whom I eliminated in Ro16, still he sincere helped me in training. Finally, I want to thank my coach.

GSL- World Championship

With the inability to play cross server on Battle.net, the opportunity to watch regions battle it out have always been a treat. Last weekend in Germany, the IEM World Championships was one of those rare occassions, and we saw the 3 Korean Representatives (ST.Ace, Fox.Moon, and ST.Squirtle) take the top 3 spots respectively with amazing games all around. Also the casting was top notch with Rotterdam (EX-Warcraft 3 pro), TLO, and Day 9 rotating matches, I recommend it to everyone and make sure to check out the VODs.

However, GSL is not going to be outdone, as they just announced a world championship tournament at the end of this month. Everyone has handpicked by their results and by the personal recommendation of Blizzard. The selection is process is interesting, it basically cuts down their nominations to two 8 man teams. One is team Korea All-stars and the other is the World All-stars (4 Europe, 2 Asia, and 2 North America). With these two teams formed, they than actually play a team match (1st team to 8 wins, Winner's league style) alongside an individual tournament in Seoul.

This tournament has potential, with players like MVP, MarineKing, Nestea, and Nada already have been named as the half of the Korean Team while Jinro, Moonglade, and Morrow have been announced as the anchors of the world all-stars team. While the other half of the Korean team will be picked by GSL results, the world team will go through a tough online tournament with these great players fighting each other for last 5 spots.

Europe

Tarson

White-Ra

Dimaga

Mana

Socke

Naama

Sjow

North America

Painuser

Huk

Fenix

TT1

Asia/SEA

RedArchon

Kowi

Revenant

Oxygen

Sen

Nv.Xiaot

Nv.Xigua

With such starpower and big money behind the tournament, expect an exciting event from GOM.

Hulio

I know that, given the way that the races were designed in Starcraft 2, it is always in the best interests of zerg to focus on their economy early, so that they can come in later in the match, with the full force of the swarm. Protoss and Terran can rush early and if it fails, still find a way to recover, but for zerg, falling behind early usually means you can never come back. As they always say in Starcraft 2, zerg has to always stay one base ahead of it's opponent.

Since I began watching the GSL last year, I've started to follow ST_July or Julyzerg, who was a professional SC1 player, even winning the OSL three times, and is sometimes known as "The God of War." His story was made interesting by the fanboy mentality of Tasteless and Artosis, who adored July from his SC1 days and would speak of him in hushed and reverent tones while casting his games. He was knocked out in Round of 16 by oGsMC in GSL 3, and got to Round of 8 in the January Code A matches and was eventually able to break into Code S in the Up/Down matches that followed. He made it through and started GSL 4 in Code S.

Although he did very well, and making it into Code S was a big feat in and of itself, July wasn't showing the God of War powers that Tastosis kept bestowing him. Ironically, they called oGsMC, the Protoss who beat July in GSL 3 "the Kraitos Protoss" who is the title character from the series God of War. And in GSL he seemed to be more worthy of the title.

One thing that July has shown me so far in the GSLs is that he can be hyper aggressive in the early game. This hasn’t always worked out for him, as zerg isn’t meant to do it, and my brother hates it when I talk about wanting to see more zergs take control of the game early and not let Protoss or Terran dictate things by whether they choose to rush or not.

Last week I watched LiquidHaypro v. IMGanzi in the Code A matches and it showed me why some of the conventional wisdom on zerg needs to change, and how easily the “one base ahead” need can be used against zerg. Haypro expanded like mad on Terminus in order to try to stay ahead of the GanZi, he lost so many hatcheries that even Tasteless couldn’t keep track anymore. The new commentator Kelly had mentioned that GanZi loves to drop and can sometimes do more than two drops at once and he showed that very well in this match. Zerg would win every engagement in the middle, but GanZi just starved Haypro out, by constantly denying his ability to expand, and also using the drops to keep Haypro from engaging, and forcing him to divide his mind and decide whether to divide his forces (which he rarely did). I’ve often heard that the late game belongs to zerg, but this match showed how that can be denied. The better that Terrans become at multitasking in the late game, the worse it will be for zerg. And although the new massive GSL maps make for epic games, they make it difficult to impossible for those with a large central force to be able to stop harassment. Haypro showed that weakness in the game, by not being able to split his units or defend himself, and GanZi made better use of his race’s adaptability and the fact that with every drop he would be able to do plenty of damage before the first speedling got there to defend.

In last night’s Code A, a similar thing happened to LiquidRet, who was better than Haypro at stopping the harassing or at least minimizing it, but still fell to a similar starving out strategy against Slayers_M. On a night where many a zerg was slaughtered and the first three matchups were taken 2 -0 by Protoss or Terran, in the final round a zerg was finally able to beat a Protoss, but only by creating a massive Muta ball which could one shot pylons and canons. The zerg ended up losing though.

The GSL Code S started last week with the “Group of Death” which had two players who are considered by most to be the best players of their race, IMMvp (Terran) and oGsMC (Protoss), and someone who revolutionized zerg in SC1, but has yet to prove himself “god-like” in SC2, ST_July. I felt bad for the remaining player in the group oGsHyperDub, who stood in the shadow and would be shadow of all the others, and struggled in the matches to prove himself.

July had made this more interesting by wanting to be in this group in order to take out MC who beat him out of GSL 3. Although July lost to MC, who easily made it out of the group on top, most everyone who was watching the group of death was probably blown away by the fact that it was July and not Mvp, who moved on to the next round. MVP won the first GSL Code S tourney in January, becoming the first Terran to do so by defeating MarineKingPrime.We. His win rate was phenomenal in SC2 for the past few months, massacring zergs and being known as unbeatable against Terran as well.

But on the first day of the GSL, July beat MVP twice to move on, both times by being aggressive early, the first time failing miserably and then coming back, the second time, by being very very lucky, and attacking at exact moment he should. In the first match, July got his banelings into the main of MVP but did very little except killing a supply depot, a tech lab and no SCVs. His economy in shambles, he tried to rebuild, but MVP was clearly in the lead and Tastosis was already calling it for MVP. MVP pushed too early into the main of July, thinking him to be weaker than he actually was. The push failed, and although July lost quite a bit, MVP lost his advantage. July came back with mutas, and attacked again with speedlings and banelings and broke MVP.

The second match, on Metapolis, July once again went for early aggression, intending to baneling bust MVP. MVP walled in with two barracks, and did not notice July waiting outside his main when he lifted up his buildings to move them around. July had already attacked, not knowing that the buildings were lifted up. When July waltzed right into the main, with all of his units intact, he actually hesitated and turned around, not sure what was going on, and if there was some trap waiting for him. He only turned around for a moment and then pushed back in, easily massacring MVPs units and SCVs. Most players when they lose they stare off into space for a bit or shake their head and mutter to themselves as they unhook their keyboard or mouse, MVP put his head down on his keyboard and didn’t move.

I’m looking forward to see how July can do in the next round and to see if he can really make it to the top of SC2.

Growing Up on Video Games

"Growing Up on Video Games"
Michael Lujan Bevacqua
The Marianas Variety
December 22, 2010

I, like many people of my generation, grew up dreaming that amidst all the boring jobs which were waiting for me, somehow the planets would align and God would create a position for me in the field of getting paid to play video games. I knew even as a kid that it was ridiculous for me to hope for it, but since video games were such a central part of my generation and our particular take on life, that was my dream. To own a house, have kids and support it all by playing Nintendo all day. An na guinife!

Part of the reason for why I somehow believed that this was possible even into my middle school years was the 1989 movie The Wizard, starring Fred Savage from TV’s The Wonder Years. The film is pretty silly, about an older brother breaking his younger brother Jimmy, out of a mental institution in order to cure him of an unnamed mental disorder that he develops after his twin sister is drowned. Along the way they find out about a Video Game tournament in California and that Jimmy is incredibly adept at playing them. The climax of the movie involves a video game tournament in LA, with a $50,000 prize. In the end, the film was as critic Robert Ebert noted basically 100 min. long commercial for Nintendo, with the highlight of the movie being the introduction of the 3rd Super Mario Brothers game to US gameplayers.

The Wizard has faded from most people’s memories save for the hard-core geeks such as myself. But one of the first video game films to reach a broader level of impact, Tron, just had a sequel premiere last week. Tron is high-tech sort of down the rabbithole tale leads to revolution story. A computer programmer named Flynn is digitized and transported into the world of computer programming which is being dominated by an entity called the Master Control Program. Here computer programs are not lines of code but personified as people who Flynn can interact with and in some cases watch be terminated. The name of the film comes from a program developed by a friend of Flynn. Tron was designed to monitor the MCP and with the help of Flynn they eventually destroy freeing millions of programs which it had been controlling.

Tron has become a historic film primarily because of its unique look which was light-years ahead of most films in 1982 and its style has gone on to be parodied and emulated numerous times. But for me, the historic nature of this film wasn’t its surface, but rather the depth that it created. Tron was historic because of the way it added depth to something which was even at that time perceived as being flat. Video games were simple at this time both in their appearance and in their function. They were pure wastes of time; simple lines and shapes moving across the screen, leisurely wasting your time. Things which punk kids in seedy arcades would waste money on instead of preparing for life.

Like most movies which take a subculture and try to give it substance reveal its inner dimensions, complexities of it, Tron provided a very concrete metaphor for the expansiveness of gaming. As we are sucked into the world of computer programs with the Flynn, we are made to see that the simple veneer of video games masks a universe unto its own. This is something which lurks within all technology. We experience the surface, we can come very adapt at using the surface, but lying beneath all of that is a universe potentially beyond our comprehension.

Just because a game such as Pong appeared simple enough did not mean it just happened naturally. There are no old women who take young girls as a part of their rite of passage to the liyang down by the saddok and they harvest video games from the lumot on the walls. People create them. People work hard to make them. There is not only a world of code within them, but a world of business which makes and markets them.

In today’s high-tech world we have seen video games move from being a subculture into being part of popular, dominant culture. Gaming is no longer nerdy but also has casual dimensions as well. Sports gaming was something which hoped up the video game industry to demographics they never imagined they could tap into before. Hardcore gamers no longer determine the market, for instance, the philosophy for the Nintendo Wii system is geared towards the more casual gamer who doesn’t play for 12 hours a day, but just a few hours each week to kill time.

Part of this mainstreaming of gaming is that the type of video gaming tournament featured in The Wizard is now common and that the idea of winning as much as $50,000 in a competition is not so farfetched. Right now we are seeing the emergence of “esports” where people literally live the dream that I had as a child, where they play video games professionally. Small tournaments followed primarily by nerds have been happening since the 1990s, but now have reached a global level, with huge cash prizes. Over the weekend a session of the Global Starcraft 2 League or GSL just finished in South Korea, a country which has helped lead to the rise of esports especially in terms of the Starcraft games, where you can literally watch matches on TV.

There are professional teams where players are sponsored and receive their room and board free and simply practice playing all day. In this most recent round of the GSL, hundreds of players even some from the US and Europe competed for a chance at first prize which was more than $80,000!

All this progress makes me melancholy, for sometimes I think I was born a generation too late to ever get that dream of playing video games for a living.

The Dealer of Fruits

Storylines must be present for any sport to succeed, and in the 1^st season of the GSL (Global Starcraft League), the producers could not ask for a better story than Fruitdealer, (aka Cool, Kim Won Gi). Being the 1^st season of a newly released game, the game was still being figured out, but one thing that was known is that Zerg was the most underrepresented race in competitive leagues. Terrans were dominating, and Protoss were decimating, but the sheer amount of Zergs being slain at the highest levels of gaming were astounding. The phrase “Zerg tears” was coined as famous players such as Dimaga were even of thinking of switching to other races due to their frustration. However in this dark time, in the biggest Starcraft 2 tournament in the world, a humble ex- Starcraft:Brood War progamer showed everyone the power of the swarm.

In the 1^st season of the GSL, no Zergs but Fruitdealer and Check Prime made it past the Round of 32, 16 Zergs qualified out 64 spots, and with the aforementioned Check being knocked out convincingly in the Round of 16. Some say the maps played a big difference, such as the Zerg graveyard Kulas Ravine, but Cool showed the true tenacity of a champion by going undefeated in that map. His gameplay was truly special at the time, mixing his styles of a macro game with early aggression, Cool had flair. Cool also had brains, often anticipating what strategy his opponent was going to use and then countering it (see Game 4 on Desert Oasis versus IntoTheRainbow, where he blindly made a baneling nest that defeated an early marine stim push, as Rainbow assumed he was going mutas on a close air position map like Desert Oasis). His 1^st game against NexLiveForever on Metalopolis is still imprinted in my mind. He dealt with constant aggression from the Terran (lost over 80 drones in the 1^st 12 minutes of the game) but persevered until he got 5 bases and every late game tech the Zerg has to offer and then rolled his human foe. His Queen usage was so spectacular that game as well. He handled early pressure so much better than any other Zerg in the world.

If you can Watch Fruitdealer’s run in the 1^st GSL , watch it. You can learn what E-SPORTS is all about, an underdog story who turned into a legend. An ex-progamer who helped his parents sell fruit during, hence his name, to a S-class progamer with a solid 80,000 dollar prize in his pockets, it’s a story all gamers can aspire for. All players, even if you do not play Zerg, can learn from his play and mental aptitude.

Highlight Video of Fruitdealer, thanks to Teamliquid.net

GSLTL

The GSL Team League starts tonight. Esta mafahan i tiket-hu, ya listo yu'!

For those who don't know what this means, the 8 best teams in Korea with players in the GSL will be competing against each other to see who is the best Starcraft 2 team in South Korea right now. All of the famous names will be on standby over the next few days and may be called forth to defend the honor of their team. The teams in question are:

The SCV Life (TSL) home to Clide, Killer, Alive, Rain and winner of GSL Season 1, Fruitdealer.

Old Generations (oGs) home to Nada, Ensnare, theWind, and winner of GSL Season 3, MC.

Startale (ST) home to July, Rainbow, Squirtle and the foreigner Torch.

Incredible Miracle (IM) home to winner of GSL Season 2 Nestea and winner of GSL Code S IMMvp.

For Our Utopia (fOu) home to Leenock, thebest, scf and choya.

Prime World Elite (Prime.WE) home to check, anypro, polt, maka and the always predictable unpredictable (2 time finalist but never champion) MarineKing.

Slayers home to really only Boxer (although training with him could make anyone badass).

And finally Zenex home to Kyrix, Byun Choa and ButterflyEffect.

I was searching online to see who people are favoring to win this Team League, and most divided the league into two tiers, with only 3 or 4 teams capable of winning the whole thing. OGS, ST and TSL were clearly favored, with IM close behind, although not for any depth of their team, but simply because they have the best Terran and Zerg on their team (although not much else after that).

For me, it's hard to pick who I think will win. I've only been following Starcraft 2 for a couple months now and don't have any real team favorites. So instead of picking the team which I like or think will win, I've decided to root for the team which I want to win, simply because everyone else thinks they can't win. I don't know much about the team Zenex, but they are my underdog choice for winning the GSLTL this week! I hope that I don't have magic powers of negativity and tragedy in the same way Artosis has, in which whatever he says will happen doesn't simply because the universe likes to make him look stupid.

Foreigners

One of the things I find very interesting about Starcraft and Starcraft 2 is the way in which the world becomes reordered with South Korea at the center. The best players are in South Korea, the hardest ladder on SC2 is the Korean ladder, and the best prizes and most competitions are in South Korea. In the last GSL that I watched, Open Season 3, there were a number of foreign players who qualified, and one, LiquidJinro actually made it to the semi-finals, but for the most part, most of the non-Korean players got picked off early and in very anti-climatic ways. This contrasted in very interesting ways with the commentary of Tasteless and Artosis who are working hard to carry the banner of foreign players in Korea in hopes of expanding the audience and influence of the game, and so they would often speak the hyperbolic glories of a player right before and in the middle of him being flayed alive by some Korean player with far less of their talent or potential. It is hard to tell whether or not they are good since the commentatory comes from either a place of horizontal fraternity or of wishing for vicarious victories.

This drama makes it more attractive to non-Korean players who watch the tournaments with an unconscious nationalist bent, who see themselves as involved in some mental battle for world supremacy. Even if people don't articulate themselves in such way, they draw from imagined cultures, countries, civilizations and so it becomes an epic war where countries that are used to be at the top, are now the new underdogs. You cheer for people who in another situation you might see little connection to except for a love of SC or SC2, but in this moment you become the eager coalition of non-Koreans, a gosu group of rebels seeking to topple the gosu Galactic Empire.

GOMTV, even opened a foreigner house recently so that overseas players can have a place to sleep and practice while they are in South Korea trying to qualify for a tourney and whittle away at the South Korean Starcraft behemoth.

If you're interested in following how foreigners are doing in SC2, someone who is following it very carefully is Artosis and has uploaded over the past week several videos of interviews with foreign players who have been comign into Korea from Europe, the US and Australia to try their hand in the GSL.

Liquid Jinro Interview

In the past two GSL tournaments (Season 3 and Code S) Jinro from Team Liquid made it into the semi-finals, the Round of Four, but lost both times. Against oGsMC he was soundly defeated, and while things were sometimes close against MarineKingPrime.WE, he still lost 1-3. Most of the things I read about Starcraft 2 are from American sources, in English and so they are naturally biased towards non-Korea or "foreign" players. In the case of Jinro, since the most popular Starcraft website in the world is dedicated to the team he is a part of, he gets far more attention than most. But one thing you have to like about Jinro is both his honesty and his humility. I think he'll

I've been let down by the incredible dominance of Terran players in both the Code S and GSL Season 3. It has led to some incredibly exciting and mind-boggling T v T, but also to alot of Terran Cheese Rushes, which are probably the least interesting to watch. I'm not really looking forward to the finals for Code S later this week, even though I find MarineKing's style to be unorthodox and interesting to watch. I've already noticed that Zerg are finding ways to come back on the ladder, developing various cheesy rush tactics of their own to take our Terran and Protoss just in the way they've been taken out with SCV all ins and Four Gate rushes. I hope that at the highest levels of SC2 the best zergs in the world can find similar ways of coming back. I did see some fantastic play from IMNestea in Code S, although he did not make it to the finals.

When my brother made it to the Master's League and then broke back into the 3000 points level, I decided to buy him some Jinro to celebrate. I told him, hopefully someday he'll be able to drink Jinro with Jinro at the OGS house in South Korea. Returning to LiquidJinro, I came across this interview on TeamLiquid.net after his loss last week, and decided to paste it below.

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Tough loss. What's your take on what happened vs. MarineKing?Hm, well I was definitely outplayed in the last game, in the Jungle Basin game I just messed up really hard because I got overenthusiastic when my marines were killing his depot :D . In the Steppes game, I got a bit overeager to end it too, and then his good defense bit me in the ass. Game 1 went according to plan, except for him getting siege tanks - didn't expect that.

MarineKing plays a very unique style. How did you do against it in practice?

Decently, but I think to beat him I'd need more prep time, as he plays this style everyday whereas most other Terrans don't play in that style, so I don't know this specific matchup (his style vs a more normal terran style) as well as he does.

Looking back on your Code S run, what are you especially proud of? What do you regret?

Winning TvP with mech on TV was a very nice feeling. I regret losing games I should have won, such as vs Check and the first match against MarineKing, which led to team mates getting knocked out. I also regret not setting my goal as winning the tournament and nothing else (I had a goal of making it back to the semis), as during the semis I didn't feel nearly as nervous as during any other game, which isn't good - it indicates I didn't want the win enough.

In a previous interview, you said you felt you needed to prove last season's run wasn't a fluke. You made it back to the semifinals, where you finished before. Do you consider that progress?

I think I played a lot tougher opponents this time, and even in the games where I lost (ie vs MarineKing), I was at least for the most part playing pretty well. So yes, progress in that regard.

Do you feel player and fan opinion about you has changed in Korea?

The reception to me losing seem to have been a lot better than last time I lost, i.e. no "overrated" posts at all from what I've seen but I have no idea how I'm supposed to tell if people are see me differently apart from that. The oGs guys treat me like they've always done. Lots of people ask for autographs, but that's not new.

We've heard you've been feeling under the weather lately. Are you going to take a break or rest up before the next Code S tournament? How long do you have?

Well, as soon as the games vs MKP ended I noticed a pretty serious throat-pain, and everything just got worse from there - fever etc. I actually thought it was all caused by not getting any sleep, so I even went to the gym when I got back. Not such a good idea as it turns out, now I'm sick AND sore. I don't know when the next GSL starts, I didn't plan to take any real time off but since I'm sick there's no choice really.

What are your goals for the next GSL?

To win and only to win. Both this and the last GSL my goals weren't victory focused enough - for GSL 1, I wanted code S and when I played the semis I was kinda expecting to lose. For GSL 2, I wanted to prove my last run wasn't a fluke so once I got to the semis, I wasn't really expecting to lose but I was a bit too... satisfied I guess.

You felt different before these matches?

For every other GSL game, aside from last Semis, I've been nauseatingly nervous. Every time I'd have something to drink after the first game, my arm would shake - especially if I'd just won. But this semis, nothing. While its good in that I didn't make the kind of mistakes I sometimes do when nervous, like miss depots etc, I don't think its good from the standpoint of being mentally sharp, on edge. So my goal for next season is to get into the semis, feel terrible and win them then get into the finals and feel the same way and win those too.

How will you prepare differently next season?

I want to work on my overall game and mechanics for the next GSL. Both MarineKing and MVP are extremely active ladder players, and I think their ability to just beat opponents with standard, strong play saves them a lot of mental strength in the earlier rounds of GSLs, whereas I usually spend a lot of time and effort preparing new things from the first round to the last, energy that could be better saved for the later rounds I think.

Any last words for your fans?

Thanks for watching and supporting, hopefully I'll see you at the finals next GSL.

Thanks for the interview, feel better!

Thanks.

GOMTV

I don't have cable at home and so there is no plopping on the couch to watch TV each night. Instead my television each night is actually GOMTV, which is a website where they broadcast matches which are part of the Global Starcraf 2 League or GSL. They've had three seasons of tourneys so far and right now are knee deep in their Code A and Code S matches, which make use of a system which I don't quite understand but are still fun to watch since there are still plenty of great players there.

While I was checking out the schedule earlier tonight I saw something interesting. Like everything else in the universe except me, GOMTV has a Facebook page and so they have the widget on their page which shows their FB updates and also the number of people that "like" them. The number is above 10,000 and so usually when I pass by there the random profile images they show are of people I don't know. But tonight I was shocked to actually recognize one of the profiles as being my brother's! I snatched an image of it and I've pasted it below.

GSL Finals

I have to admit, I was let down by finals of the GSL last weekend.

I was all excited and pumped up, I even decided to write about the GSL in my column in the Marianas Variety this week just to share even a faint engram of how excited I was. My brother's friend had GSL watching party, where we had pizza and endured the incredibly long and mind-numbing interludes between matches, only to watch TSL_Rain get completely outplayed by OGSMC. There wasn't really a lot of suspense, although there were some interesting plays.

I got the feeling that most people expected Rain to act like Bitbybit and simply all in rush every single game, but I felt like he was straining against that and trying to prove himself to be a bit more than that, and as a result a sort of cautiousness crept into his play. He made the unusual move of going siege tank against protoss in his first two games, as if to prove he wasn't one of those kaduku taisensia na all in freaks, he brought some siege, some marines and medivacs and would bunker like crazy just outside of MC's base. He wasn't rushing but trying to blockade. In both instances, his timing was a bit off. Although he had no way of actually knowing it, MC had already expanded in both games, the first to his protected natural, the second to a hidden base, and so the blockade didn't work since Rain was stuck on one base. In both cases he didn't press effectively, and so MC was allowed to come back.

This is not to say that Rain is not a great SC2 player. You don't get to the finals of the GSL by being lucky or super-cheesy. You have to have alot of skill just to play at that level. But you could definitely see Rain's newness in his play. He started off in a way that seemed to doubt himself and to doubt his style of play.

In the 3rd match, Rain was able to come back by playing with the mind of MC and tricking him into thinking he was going to go two barracks when in fact he was going for the infamous partial "Tasteless Build" to rush out cloak banshees.

In the 4th match, MC almost completely mindf-cked Rain by doing the cheesiest most despicable rush possible where you build your gateway in your opponent's main, pylon on 7, gateway on 8 and then just chronoboost out zealots to tear the base to shreds. The map was Steppes of War which is one of the smaller maps ideal for quick and brutal rushes and I like most people watching was anticipating a super fast Terran Rain rush, but MC shocked everyone (ko'lo'lo'na Si Rain) by rushing his attack before Rain had even built his supply depot.

The 5th game, was the final, although it was very close. Both players got attacks into each other's bases at the same time. Rain snuck blue flame hellions into MC's base and took out all his probes. Rain tried to defend off a zealot-immortals-stalkers-sentry force which invaded his main but could not. It was somewhat close, but ultimately Rain's command center could not escape as it was surrounded by sentries and stalkers picking it off.

OGSMC is a great player. The way he picked apart LiquidJinro in the round of four was so brutal it should have come with a warning for people watching. But I was disappointed that one of the more macro players did not make it to the final to make the last games more epic. It seemed that many players had practiced techniques to try to kill your opponent in that first timing window when they expand, or get them with some sort of blitz tinigong before they are even ready for aggression. I was glad that at least one of the final games (game 2) went to an epic level, with nearly all bases taken and so many things happening at once not even the commentators could keep up. I hope that in the next tournament however there is a good mixture, because the first layer of strategy, the mind games which take place at the very start can be fun to watch, but there is nothing more satisfying than a game which pushes the limits and endurance of both players and the audience by going far beyond what you could imagine at the game's start.

Kesu

I've been following the GSL in South Korea, and in the later rounds I've really come to wonder what the difference is between "cheese" and good tactics and well-timed rushes? Is the only difference that cheese is something that looks desperate when you do it? Is cheese something you do to mask how you aren't really that good at the game? When I first started playing Starcraft II I assumed that "cheese" was anything that kept the game from reaching the point where you would actually have a battle somewhere on the map with a decent enough number of forces that it would test the abilities of you and your opponent to manage said army that you have created. Basically anyone who attacked you when you weren't ready was "cheesing" you. But now I've seen entire pro-matches where people try to out-cheese each other as quickly as possible and so I'm not sure what's a good way to define it.