From the World of eSports
1. MMA takes the Iron Squid trophy over Symbol
After a 3-month long group stage, the first edition of the Iron Squid tournament flew its top four to Paris, France to give them love, sunshine and $25,000 in prizes. Every foreigner had fallen in the group stage and the semi finals consisted of MMA, Alive, Symbol, NesTea. Every one of them was coming from a difficult Ro8 match, but unquestionably, it was Symbol who drew the shortest straw in MarineKing - a player that had beaten DRG twice in MLG finals and was regarded as the best terran in the world at that time.
Symbol reached the final together with MMA and already he was the man of the tournament. Always staying out of the big stages, Symbol had been a terra incognita for the majority of the SC2 fanbase, especially for the ones that never followed GSTL. Symbol's impressive run through the playoffs (including a 3-0 against MKP and 3-1 versus NesTea) won him the right to be the centerpiece of these paragraphs, despite losing in the grand final to the SlayerS ace.
Sorry, MMA, you were awesome too and deserve to be in the headline picture. It's just we all know how good you are, not quite as much about Symbol.
2. Mvp wins another GSL Code S
Is Mvp for real? How did he do it? He is a genius and all but come on... Winning a GSL in spite of that bracket?
Rewinding back to May 2nd. Mvp makes it to the Ro8 after two runner-up finishes in the group stages. His play had been unconvincing and at first sight nothing had changed in Mvp's slumpland. There are games that reminisce about his former glory, but also ones that are indicative of his diminished form. His first playoff match is against Naniwa, who in fans' eyes is beyond invincible after graduating from the group stage with 8-1. Naniwa's amazing late-game is constantly brought on as an argument backing the predicted demise of Mvp. Instead, the Korean comes out, abuses Naniwa's greedy play, cheeses him thrice and gives a lecture on how match planning is everything.
Semi final. May 10th. Against Mvp stands someone way more intimidating than Naniwa - StarTale's crusher of terran hopes Parting. With a 100% win-rate in late-game and uncanny immunity to early-game pressure, Parting is the logical favorite. Very few people who still believe in Mvp remain, as the whole world is betting on Parting to possibly take the entire GSL. And once again careful planning comes to beat statistics to the dirt. A mix of cheeses and heavy mid-game attacks that counter Parting's signature colossus timing tear the protoss apart. 3-1 for Mvp and the whole world has their mouths open in bedazzlement.
May 19th, the grand final against ST_Squirtle. All along the line restored is the faith in Mvp but Squirtle remains a dangerous opponent, perhaps even scarier than his team-mate Parting. Thirty minutes into the series and it's already 3-0 for the terran and Squirtle seems doomed. Yet in a heroic feat for the ages, the young protoss fights back and equalizes the score, giving us the now famous Metropolis set that broke the 40-minute mark and had an archon toilet on Battlecruisers... You don't see s**t like that every day.
Yet somehow, game seven succeeds in being even more nerve-wrecking. Mvp goes for a bunker rush all-in which barely prevails over Parting in a game that had me chew my toenails. And the IM terran walked out to raise his fourth GSL trophy and become the first player ever to achieve that deed.
3. Violet cuts through Symbol, wins Spring Arena 2
Oh, look! It's Symbol again, trying to steal attention away with another second place finish. Not this time, Mr. Kang, this was Violet's tournament and his alone.
Near the end of 2011, Violet moved to the USA for the CSN Training Camp in a time where everybody was flying the exact opposite way - to South Korea. Seeing a talented player leave the Mecca of StarCraft 2 - and not even to join a powerful foreign team at that point - was nearly unheard of. After all, even people training in Korea haven't been able to achieve the dream results, so why would Violet run away from the perfect practice environement and exile himself in Texas?
Well, beats me. Maybe because he was no longer part of MVP and had no house to practice and/or needed a change of scenery but it doesn't really matter. He won IEM Sao Paulo, finished top four at HomeStory Cup 4, got a top eight at every 2012 MLG he attended and finally brought home the Spring Arena 2 gold. Look at the picture above and remember that smile. All he's saying is
Problem, Korean training?
In People's Mouths
4. Blizzard drops Dota name, picks up All-Stars
In November 2011, Blizzard and Valve entered a dispute about the rights over the brand "Dota" after the latter company registered the name as a trademark in the US Patent Office. Blizzard argued that Valve had no rights over the name as the franchise had its roots in the WarCraft 3 map-making community and has thus been long associated with a game that's a property of Blizzard Entertainment. The notice of opposition, filed on 16/11/2011 had this as it's first clause:
1. By this Opposition, Blizzard seeks to prevent registration by its competitor Valve Corporation ("Valve") of a trademark, DOTA, that for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard. By virtue of that use, the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard, including to signify a highly popular scenario or variant of one of Blizzard's best-selling computer games, Warcraft III. Over the past seven years, the mark DOTA has been used exclusively in connection with Blizzard and its products, namely Warcraft III. Most notably, DOTA has been used as the popular name of a Warcraft III software "mod" file that has been distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans (under license from Blizzard); that utilizes and is built upon the Warcraft III game engine, interface, and gameplay mechanics; that is comprised of Warcraft III characters, items, spells, artwork, textures, and color palates; that can be played only using Warcraft III software and via Blizzard's online service Battle.net; and whose name (DOTA, an acronym for "Defense of the Ancients") is a reference to Warcraft III characters known as the "Ancients.
Half a year later, the legal suit ends with an agreement that saw Valve as the official winner. The rights over the "Dota" brand remain in Valve and the company will be allowed to use it commercially. Non-commercial custom made products by the Blizzard community can still use the name "Dota", but Blizzard themselves had to pick "All-Stars" as the brand for their commercial products. The former "Blizzard DotA", which is to be released with Heart of the Swarm", has thus been renamed to "Blizzard All-Stars".
5. Flash on SC2: "Protoss is OP"
May has been a cornerstone month in StarCraft 2's history. The long awaited switch of KeSPA players over to SC2 began. The bonjwas and legends of Brood War began practicing for the hybrid SK Planet Proleague and soon began giving interviews about their first impressions of the new game.
In an interview for GameChosun, Flash expressed a number of very strong statements that made the community sit in front of their keyboards and type endless walls of texts supporting or disagreeing with the great bonjwa or just simply throwing excrements at game's balance.
Protoss might be OP, UP or perfectly balanced but the most important thing is to have it in our minds that these statements came from a person who, according to himself, is still a complete noob in the game. Listening to Flash is always useful and there might be subtle and ingenious insights hidden in his words but the SC2 fanbase should always be on its guard and not take interviews like this as the final decree about the state of the game.
But what do I know. I play zerg and to me Protoss seems pretty OP...
6. Jaedong: "There is no guarantee that SC1 skills transfer to SC2"
Ouch! This had to be hurtful to everyone convinced that the Brood War pros will be kings of StarCraft 2 before the calendar year is over.
There's still the benefit of the doubt that the Tyrant with the charming smile said that just as an insurance against eventually disappointing StarCraft 2 season. Or in the context of "I got GSL silver on the first try? Well, I guess SC1 skills do not transfer to SC2". Overall, this is sure to cool off the passions of the blind believers and have them look at the switch-over with earthly expectations.
7. Flash, Bisu, Jaedong confirmed for MLG Spring Expo Tournament
Enough talk. Protoss OP, SC1 skills... who cares. This is the real deal: the best Brood War players going to MLG Spring Championship for a StarCraft 2 expo tournament. Last month we asked "Flash against Bisu. Who will win?" On June 9th we find out. And with the bracket that is, this might very well be the grand final match. Boy, are we all excited!
8. Thorzain joins Evil Geniuses
In early May, the American-based team approached DreamHack Stockholm champion Thorzain with an offer he could not refuse: more money and a Korean training. As neither Mousesports nor any other team that approached Thorzain could meet EG's generous proposal, the Swedish terran changed the red with dark blue, picked his promotional energy drink and joined the roster of Puma, HuK, Idra, JYP and the rest. Training in the SlayerS house is indeed a strong incentive.
As a member of EG, Thorzain now has a busy on Korean tournaments schedule. He's seeded into Code S as DH champion and will play alongside the best Koreans in the world as part of the EG/Slayers GSTL joint roster. And if one Swede could bring us so much GSL happiness, imagine what two of them can do.
Out of the GosuGamers' Oven
9. The "Marauder Flank" Column: Spring Cleaning
When a writer gets tired of doing the same MLG reviews and previews over and over again (and that happens more often than you might think), he finds another such writer and in an outbreak of uncontrollable goofiness and satirical overflow, the two come out with a piece like that.
It is near the time of Spring Arena 2. MarineKing and DongRaeGu already met each other three times, erasing everything else about MLG from people's perceptions. The American league evolves into a MKP/DRG dichotomy and everything is very fishy. Two "marauding journalists" embark on a tongue-in-cheek quest to discover the future of MLG and discover its darkest secrets: the plans for the new "Code Meh", the "Xtreme edition" extended series, the banishment of Parting and much more.
Consume in case of laugh deficiency.
10.Meet Fnatic part 3Alive: "Conversing with foreigners allows me to learn more"
On May 1st we talked to a very humble (for no reason, really, the guy just won goddamn IPL 4) Alive as part of our "Meet Fnatic" series of features. We asked him how does the unsteady performance affects him (which he apologized about), what kept him at the top of his game during his tumultuous departure from TSL (which he apologized about), how's life in Fnatic's house and what the IPL grand final against Squirtle felt like.
In the end, I never got that apologetic attitude, but maybe because I am not from a collectivist culture. It was a genuine pleasure, however, to converse with the diametrical opposite of MC.
11. Barcraft World Tour
» Vienna, Austria
» Auckland, New Zealand
» Zürich, Switzerland
» Derby, United Kingdom
Our dear colleague Eyal "KOKO" Stern kept flying around the world of barcrafts, reaching as far as New Zealand, collecting all kinds of weird stories along the way. We heard Thomas (Vienna) who plans to register a non-profit eSports organization, officially recognized by Austrian law; Byron (Auckland) who sold charity cupcakes during his first barcrafts and is now helping Blizzard with New Zealands's B.net World Championship Series tournaments; Vinz (Zürich) and his GSL Brunchcraft; and Mason (Derby), whose barcraft is the home of the "MULE" and the "Creep Tumour" cocktails.
God damn it, suddenly I have a craving for barcrafting!
GosuGamers will return in exactly one month, on July 2nd, with the next portion of "The Month in Headlines". June, do not let us down!
1. MMA takes the Iron Squid trophy over Symbol
After a 3-month long group stage, the first edition of the Iron Squid tournament flew its top four to Paris, France to give them love, sunshine and $25,000 in prizes. Every foreigner had fallen in the group stage and the semi finals consisted of MMA, Alive, Symbol, NesTea. Every one of them was coming from a difficult Ro8 match, but unquestionably, it was Symbol who drew the shortest straw in MarineKing - a player that had beaten DRG twice in MLG finals and was regarded as the best terran in the world at that time.
Symbol reached the final together with MMA and already he was the man of the tournament. Always staying out of the big stages, Symbol had been a terra incognita for the majority of the SC2 fanbase, especially for the ones that never followed GSTL. Symbol's impressive run through the playoffs (including a 3-0 against MKP and 3-1 versus NesTea) won him the right to be the centerpiece of these paragraphs, despite losing in the grand final to the SlayerS ace.
Sorry, MMA, you were awesome too and deserve to be in the headline picture. It's just we all know how good you are, not quite as much about Symbol.
2. Mvp wins another GSL Code S
Is Mvp for real? How did he do it? He is a genius and all but come on... Winning a GSL in spite of that bracket?
Rewinding back to May 2nd. Mvp makes it to the Ro8 after two runner-up finishes in the group stages. His play had been unconvincing and at first sight nothing had changed in Mvp's slumpland. There are games that reminisce about his former glory, but also ones that are indicative of his diminished form. His first playoff match is against Naniwa, who in fans' eyes is beyond invincible after graduating from the group stage with 8-1. Naniwa's amazing late-game is constantly brought on as an argument backing the predicted demise of Mvp. Instead, the Korean comes out, abuses Naniwa's greedy play, cheeses him thrice and gives a lecture on how match planning is everything.
Semi final. May 10th. Against Mvp stands someone way more intimidating than Naniwa - StarTale's crusher of terran hopes Parting. With a 100% win-rate in late-game and uncanny immunity to early-game pressure, Parting is the logical favorite. Very few people who still believe in Mvp remain, as the whole world is betting on Parting to possibly take the entire GSL. And once again careful planning comes to beat statistics to the dirt. A mix of cheeses and heavy mid-game attacks that counter Parting's signature colossus timing tear the protoss apart. 3-1 for Mvp and the whole world has their mouths open in bedazzlement.
May 19th, the grand final against ST_Squirtle. All along the line restored is the faith in Mvp but Squirtle remains a dangerous opponent, perhaps even scarier than his team-mate Parting. Thirty minutes into the series and it's already 3-0 for the terran and Squirtle seems doomed. Yet in a heroic feat for the ages, the young protoss fights back and equalizes the score, giving us the now famous Metropolis set that broke the 40-minute mark and had an archon toilet on Battlecruisers... You don't see s**t like that every day.
Yet somehow, game seven succeeds in being even more nerve-wrecking. Mvp goes for a bunker rush all-in which barely prevails over Parting in a game that had me chew my toenails. And the IM terran walked out to raise his fourth GSL trophy and become the first player ever to achieve that deed.
3. Violet cuts through Symbol, wins Spring Arena 2
Oh, look! It's Symbol again, trying to steal attention away with another second place finish. Not this time, Mr. Kang, this was Violet's tournament and his alone.
Near the end of 2011, Violet moved to the USA for the CSN Training Camp in a time where everybody was flying the exact opposite way - to South Korea. Seeing a talented player leave the Mecca of StarCraft 2 - and not even to join a powerful foreign team at that point - was nearly unheard of. After all, even people training in Korea haven't been able to achieve the dream results, so why would Violet run away from the perfect practice environement and exile himself in Texas?
Well, beats me. Maybe because he was no longer part of MVP and had no house to practice and/or needed a change of scenery but it doesn't really matter. He won IEM Sao Paulo, finished top four at HomeStory Cup 4, got a top eight at every 2012 MLG he attended and finally brought home the Spring Arena 2 gold. Look at the picture above and remember that smile. All he's saying is
Problem, Korean training?
In People's Mouths
4. Blizzard drops Dota name, picks up All-Stars
In November 2011, Blizzard and Valve entered a dispute about the rights over the brand "Dota" after the latter company registered the name as a trademark in the US Patent Office. Blizzard argued that Valve had no rights over the name as the franchise had its roots in the WarCraft 3 map-making community and has thus been long associated with a game that's a property of Blizzard Entertainment. The notice of opposition, filed on 16/11/2011 had this as it's first clause:
1. By this Opposition, Blizzard seeks to prevent registration by its competitor Valve Corporation ("Valve") of a trademark, DOTA, that for more than seven years has been used exclusively by Blizzard and its fan community, under license from Blizzard. By virtue of that use, the DOTA mark has become firmly associated in the mind of consumers with Blizzard, including to signify a highly popular scenario or variant of one of Blizzard's best-selling computer games, Warcraft III. Over the past seven years, the mark DOTA has been used exclusively in connection with Blizzard and its products, namely Warcraft III. Most notably, DOTA has been used as the popular name of a Warcraft III software "mod" file that has been distributed, marketed, and promoted by Blizzard and its fans (under license from Blizzard); that utilizes and is built upon the Warcraft III game engine, interface, and gameplay mechanics; that is comprised of Warcraft III characters, items, spells, artwork, textures, and color palates; that can be played only using Warcraft III software and via Blizzard's online service Battle.net; and whose name (DOTA, an acronym for "Defense of the Ancients") is a reference to Warcraft III characters known as the "Ancients.
Half a year later, the legal suit ends with an agreement that saw Valve as the official winner. The rights over the "Dota" brand remain in Valve and the company will be allowed to use it commercially. Non-commercial custom made products by the Blizzard community can still use the name "Dota", but Blizzard themselves had to pick "All-Stars" as the brand for their commercial products. The former "Blizzard DotA", which is to be released with Heart of the Swarm", has thus been renamed to "Blizzard All-Stars".
5. Flash on SC2: "Protoss is OP"
May has been a cornerstone month in StarCraft 2's history. The long awaited switch of KeSPA players over to SC2 began. The bonjwas and legends of Brood War began practicing for the hybrid SK Planet Proleague and soon began giving interviews about their first impressions of the new game.
In an interview for GameChosun, Flash expressed a number of very strong statements that made the community sit in front of their keyboards and type endless walls of texts supporting or disagreeing with the great bonjwa or just simply throwing excrements at game's balance.
Protoss might be OP, UP or perfectly balanced but the most important thing is to have it in our minds that these statements came from a person who, according to himself, is still a complete noob in the game. Listening to Flash is always useful and there might be subtle and ingenious insights hidden in his words but the SC2 fanbase should always be on its guard and not take interviews like this as the final decree about the state of the game.
But what do I know. I play zerg and to me Protoss seems pretty OP...
6. Jaedong: "There is no guarantee that SC1 skills transfer to SC2"
Ouch! This had to be hurtful to everyone convinced that the Brood War pros will be kings of StarCraft 2 before the calendar year is over.
There's still the benefit of the doubt that the Tyrant with the charming smile said that just as an insurance against eventually disappointing StarCraft 2 season. Or in the context of "I got GSL silver on the first try? Well, I guess SC1 skills do not transfer to SC2". Overall, this is sure to cool off the passions of the blind believers and have them look at the switch-over with earthly expectations.
7. Flash, Bisu, Jaedong confirmed for MLG Spring Expo Tournament
Enough talk. Protoss OP, SC1 skills... who cares. This is the real deal: the best Brood War players going to MLG Spring Championship for a StarCraft 2 expo tournament. Last month we asked "Flash against Bisu. Who will win?" On June 9th we find out. And with the bracket that is, this might very well be the grand final match. Boy, are we all excited!
8. Thorzain joins Evil Geniuses
In early May, the American-based team approached DreamHack Stockholm champion Thorzain with an offer he could not refuse: more money and a Korean training. As neither Mousesports nor any other team that approached Thorzain could meet EG's generous proposal, the Swedish terran changed the red with dark blue, picked his promotional energy drink and joined the roster of Puma, HuK, Idra, JYP and the rest. Training in the SlayerS house is indeed a strong incentive.
As a member of EG, Thorzain now has a busy on Korean tournaments schedule. He's seeded into Code S as DH champion and will play alongside the best Koreans in the world as part of the EG/Slayers GSTL joint roster. And if one Swede could bring us so much GSL happiness, imagine what two of them can do.
Out of the GosuGamers' Oven
9. The "Marauder Flank" Column: Spring Cleaning
When a writer gets tired of doing the same MLG reviews and previews over and over again (and that happens more often than you might think), he finds another such writer and in an outbreak of uncontrollable goofiness and satirical overflow, the two come out with a piece like that.
It is near the time of Spring Arena 2. MarineKing and DongRaeGu already met each other three times, erasing everything else about MLG from people's perceptions. The American league evolves into a MKP/DRG dichotomy and everything is very fishy. Two "marauding journalists" embark on a tongue-in-cheek quest to discover the future of MLG and discover its darkest secrets: the plans for the new "Code Meh", the "Xtreme edition" extended series, the banishment of Parting and much more.
Consume in case of laugh deficiency.
10.Meet Fnatic part 3Alive: "Conversing with foreigners allows me to learn more"
On May 1st we talked to a very humble (for no reason, really, the guy just won goddamn IPL 4) Alive as part of our "Meet Fnatic" series of features. We asked him how does the unsteady performance affects him (which he apologized about), what kept him at the top of his game during his tumultuous departure from TSL (which he apologized about), how's life in Fnatic's house and what the IPL grand final against Squirtle felt like.
In the end, I never got that apologetic attitude, but maybe because I am not from a collectivist culture. It was a genuine pleasure, however, to converse with the diametrical opposite of MC.
11. Barcraft World Tour
» Vienna, Austria
» Auckland, New Zealand
» Zürich, Switzerland
» Derby, United Kingdom
Our dear colleague Eyal "KOKO" Stern kept flying around the world of barcrafts, reaching as far as New Zealand, collecting all kinds of weird stories along the way. We heard Thomas (Vienna) who plans to register a non-profit eSports organization, officially recognized by Austrian law; Byron (Auckland) who sold charity cupcakes during his first barcrafts and is now helping Blizzard with New Zealands's B.net World Championship Series tournaments; Vinz (Zürich) and his GSL Brunchcraft; and Mason (Derby), whose barcraft is the home of the "MULE" and the "Creep Tumour" cocktails.
God damn it, suddenly I have a craving for barcrafting!
GosuGamers will return in exactly one month, on July 2nd, with the next portion of "The Month in Headlines". June, do not let us down!
