New Guam Starcraft 2 League!

In an attempt to jump start the Starcraft 2 scene on Island, the fine folks at Guam Starcraft League are hosting a bronze to diamond only tournament with a 50 dollar donation being the prize for 1st place! They need to spread the word and don't worry if you/your friends are afraid to lose, it's all about good fun and camaraderie and hey, with a well executed strategy, you have the chance to beat anyone. ^_^

Click the link for more details.

BW Programers switching to SC2, or playing

Movie is ready for anything

An impressive list from Teamliquid.net reports a large amount of current BW programers in Korea playing SC2 during the offseason. Some notable names include:

Hydra (He is blind in one eye and still won a Starleague)

Leta (Banshees were made for him)

Horang2 (I want to see what strats this man can come up with for SC2)

Snow (Your PvT is needed in this game!)

Movie (Warp Prism!)

Best (How will his beast macro translate into this game)

Bisu (Don't have to say anything really)

n_dieSoo (The zerg SKT needed)

Fantasy (Will his bio still suck?)

Flash (Or Lucifer, they have the same name)

Hyvaa (Any top zerg switchers will be so scary)

Shuttle (Go show that imposter on NSHoseo who the real boss is)

Midas (He cannot even remember when he 1st became a BW progamer)

Baby (Scary good)

For Korean accounts, you need to use your Korean identity number to register for B.net, so the sudden influx of Korean streamers have "outed" a lot of players. It is no secret though as it has been reported that these teams (the majority of them are from STX, SKT, and CJ) have upgraded their PCs (Causing speculation of the "switching"). What will the upcoming months entail for the scene? Will the recent foreigner resurgence be stifled when the big boys come to play? Will the Korean scene close once again when KESPA/Proleague starts switching over? A lot of questions that we are all waiting anxiously for the answers.

New Units in Heart of the Swarm!

With Blizzcon taking place over the weekend, they revealed some of the new units and abilities in the upcoming expansion for Starcraft II, Heart of the Swarm. Here's a nice video done by HunterStarcraft on Youtube, showcasing what has been visually revealed. Remember this is only the beta versions, and expect a lot of changes before the final release.

Idra on CNN

From last year.

The Rise of Streams

I often myself awake in the middle of night not playing, but watching people play through their point of views. This concept started off in the late Brood War days and when the SC2 beta came out, the trend continued. To see the players gracefully execute their actions and see their thought process on what they see and how to react accordingly is so educational. My 2 favorite streams happen to be from my 2 favorite players, Sen and White-Ra. White-Ra commentates in games in English (Alternating with Russian as he is from Ukraine) and tells his viewers about his "special tactics." He is so well mannered and hilarous to boot, priceless entertainment. Sen on the other hand is just a beast and tonight I watched him rip through the North America ladder like it is nothing. His infestor play is just awe dropping, and to quote him in the chat, "Infested Terrans are the Z FFs." ^_^

White-Ra's Stream (Become a Follower!)

Sen's Stream (Become a Follower!)

The Dreamhack Invitational

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of watching the most well run and highest quality tournament on a stream, the Dreamhack Invitational. The games (Invited players include MC, Jinro, White-Ra, Huk, Idra, TLO, Sjow and Morrow), commentators (Demuslim and D'Apollo, forever now know as the English Archon ^^), and production values were all top notch. Watch the VODs here at their Justin.TV site. Thanks you you nerds in Sweden, for showing everyone how to put on an E-sports event.

The SC Center

If you are short on time to sort through all the news releases of the Starcraft World, the SC Center is great way to inform of all the happenings.



They go through the all the major tournament results, the latest team announcements, and just about everything.

The show is hosted by JP Mcdaniel, who works for MLG (Their new season starts soon and SC2 is fully on board) and Patrick O'Neil, who gained notoriety for putting together The Starcraft Bible, a terrfific compilation of articles all about why Starcraft is the premiere E-sport out there.



Please suppport the book if you can, Mr. O' Neil turned his labor of love into something that is tangible, and be an important item on a coffee table. < 3

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

A Protoss vs Terran Clinic by AtN Socke

White-Ra or The IEM (Intel Extreme Masters) European finals were held in the city of Kiev 2 weekends ago. The participants were players who traversed through their own national qualifiers, and while all 10 players are worthy participants, the racial distribution was rather embarrassing. 8 Terrans and 2 Protosses qualified. The two heroes that hail from Aiur are

Socke, a German player who’s creativity has no limits, especially in the Protoss vs Terran Match up. Socke’s style has had the tendency to create epic games, for reference watch (Jinro vs Socke) (Socke vs Drewbie, cast is in German but the game is still sick) (Socke vs Sen).

There are no better two players to represent the Protoss race in a field of Terrans in Europe (Except for Naniwa) However sparring off with Terran players such as:

Sjow- a flawless Terran player from Sweden, has shown incredible tactics and multitasking in his gameplay

Kas- A macro monster terran, has shown his solid play by steamrolling opponents in the 1^st TSL Open Qualifier (Team Liquid StarLeague)

Naama- Winner of Dreamhack Sweden who showed his Tank heavy TvP in that same tourney

The other players like Tarson, Predy, Goody, Demuslim, Sarens are all beasts in their own rights as well.

A game that was played though that I found comforting as a Protoss player was Socke vs Sjow on Xelnaga Cavern. Socke played a beautiful game to say the least, using the Protoss arsenal to its fullest and making Sjow fight on Socke’s terms. Things to watch out for in the VOD

- Sockes Map Control is brilliant, using Void Rays to keep Sjow in his own base while securing his own expansion

- A smooth transition into Collosus play, but once the Terran gets that critical mass of Vikings, changes aptly into other tech. Also Socke’s micro and unit positioning is phenomenal, and all Protoss players should take notes.

- A Dark Templar transition after the 3^rd is secured, creating a constant threat and making the Swedish Terran player waste valuable scans to end the cloaked assassins.

- His High Templar usage on harassing Sjow’s expos late game decimated the Terran’s economy

While Socke’s play is nothing revolutionary, it is just that his execution and decision making are amazing. This was Sjow’s only loss in the tournament before the finals (He played more than 15 games).

Thanks to the Casters of the linked games, Blizshouter , HDHomerj, ExoStarcraft, and Eonshikeno.