SC2 Pro Tournament Discussion

Well the Korean ends up coming back in the end, but that last game was a tense 25+ minutes and Scarlett definitely had Oz nervous about how to proceed at several points throughout the game.

Super fun match, and Scarlett still has a shot coming out of the loser's bracket.

*Looking at the brackets she might have a really rough match coming up first thing in the loser's bracket. Possible opponents: Ret, Kiwikaki, Jinro, Machine, Catz, Demuslim, and... some guy that goes by Heaven. Dunno which yet, they haven't updated the brackets since the match ended.

*Idra playing really strongly in game 1 against Bomber on the main stream.

*Huk/Jjakji started up on Stream 2.

Finally IdrA shows some sticktuitiveness. Hope he keeps it up and performs well this tournament.

Huk just got totally smacked out in the middle of the map. Game 1 inevitably going to Jjakji now.

*Scarlett draws Demuslim in the Loser's bracket. He dropped Zenio earlier on 2-1. Match isn't going to be streamed.

*Bomber takes game 2 against Idra with a crapton of blueflame hellions, and a crazy lucky scan that killed all of Idra's infestors. 50/50 on a Tilt/Ragequit incoming.

*Huk drops to the loser's bracket after going 0-2 against Jjakji.

*Khaldor sounds like he's about to lose his voice.

Wow, IdrA started great winning the first game....second a tie really, but he lost...and now just...lost in 5 minutes (felt like it lol)

And he draws MMA in match 2.

*Scarlett 2-0'd Demuslim in the loser's bracket. Up next for her is Golden, formerly of both fOu and Slayers. Currently playing for Light. Another second tier Code A(ish) Korean like TeriousPrime.

*MMA totally picks apart Idra in game 1. Not even close. Then crushes game 2 as well. Outclasses Idra completely.

*MMA/Bomber is the final match of the night. Could be good, or not. Depends which version of Bomber's ever inconsistent TvT he brings to the match.

*Scarlett's run is finally over, she dropped 2 straight to Golden in loser's bracket round 5. Still an amazing and very consistent run.

*Bomber 2-0's MMA. lolwut?

*Quantic Gaming has already posted on Twitter that they can't wait to talk to Scarlett, so it looks like Playhem's experiment at running a tournament that anybody can enter and then sending the winner to a major tournament open bracket was a pretty clear success. Gotta love the Playhem people.

*vileIllusion took out SlayersRyung 2-1, ending his tournament. This makes like three or four tournaments for Illusion with results like this now. No idea why he hasn't been pilfered from vile by one of the more legit teams yet.

I don't follow the Starcraft 2 scene very much but I just want to comment on how cool it is to see this Scarlett girl not only doing well but getting a fan following. I don't know if this was mentioned but she is also a MtF transgender woman. A female player who is also transgender becoming popular and well known in the gaming community could do really good things for pushing out transphobia in the gaming scene/communities. People (especially on the internet) tend to put what they don't know or what is weird to them in a hugely negative light, it's great that they will be able to see that she is just a person (who also seems to kick ass at Zerg).

Just wanted to pop that in here.

edit: also gawd huk is so dreamy

I saw her post on Reddit talking about that but was honestly a little ashamed that people cared enough one way or the other for it to even become a discussion. Or at least enough of one that she felt the need to clarify. I never brought it up because to me it was pretty irrelevant. I thought it was pretty clear in the video interview myself, but again, who cares? She is who she is. It shouldn't matter.

Fed, do you pay any attention to the fighting game community? Ricky Ortiz plays for Evil Geniuses, and actually has for quite a while now. He's openly gay and gets a lot of support from that community. When I watched the Norcal regional finals I could hear people shouting encouragement for him in the crowd. Thought that was pretty cool, and a fairly nice counterpoint to the sexism thing (scandal?) that got so public involving that Aris douche on Cross Assault.

Thin_J wrote:

I saw her post on Reddit talking about that but was honestly a little ashamed that people cared enough one way or the other that it became a discussion that she felt the need to clarify. I never brought it up because to me it was pretty irrelevant. I thought it was pretty clear in the video interview myself, but again, who cares? She is who she is. It shouldn't matter.

It shouldn't matter, you're right. My point was that transgender people are often put in a negative light in... well... pretty much everywhere, this is just more to add onto that idea that it doesn't matter.

Anyway, yeah, I shouldn't have brought it up sorry.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

Anyway, yeah, I shouldn't have brought it up sorry.

No it's cool, and I get why it's a good thing that the response has been so largely positive. It's just a little sad to me that it has to be "a thing" at all, you know?

Like there she is in the middle of this huge event. First one ever, and all the pressure that goes with that. And in between matches against these super high profile players she ends up reading about people hemming and hawing over her gender, and feels enough pressure from those discussions to explain things that just generally aren't anybody's business.

I dunno, maybe she has a different view. Maybe going public with it, getting it out of the way, pointing out that it isn't something she wants to draw attention to, and then just not talking about it again afterward is the best possible thing she could have done. I don't know, I obviously can't begin to understand what goes through her head during all that. And maybe it's a good thing that it's out there and people can see so much support for her. I have no idea. I'm obviously no expert.

I guess I just kind of wish there hadn't been a need for her to discuss it in the first place unless she wanted to bring it up herself? Does that make sense?

Thin_J wrote:

I guess I just kind of wish there hadn't been a need for her to discuss it in the first place unless she wanted to bring it up herself? Does that make sense?

Of course.
I wasn't trying to say she had to be some sort of heroic LGBT figure now or anything I just meant that it's cool to see a situation involving a transgender person on the internet, especially in gaming, be mostly positive.

I'm not saying she has to go around giving speeches at tourneys or anything or that everybody should make a big deal out of it I guess it was just more of a hurrah for diversity post.

Anyway you guys can go back to discussing your lame game now

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

I guess it was just more of a hurrah for diversity post.

No I get this. Her fanclub on Team Liquid is already about twice the size of Jjakji, who won the GSL just a couple months ago

ESFI has a very decent article up about her run and everything surrounding it.

*vileIllusion has now beaten Kiwikaki, Ryung, and ended Oz's run in the tournament too. He faces CreatorPrime next. WHY IS THIS GUY NOT MAKING BANK ON EG OR LIQUID OR QUANTIC OR WHEREVER? Makes no sense!

*All foreigners eliminated from the open bracket. Only the guys seeded into pool play remain in the tournament. So that's Stephano, WhiteRa, and Idra. WhiteRa and Idra are both currently 0-2 in their groups. Stephano is 1-1.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:
Thin_J wrote:

I saw her post on Reddit talking about that but was honestly a little ashamed that people cared enough one way or the other that it became a discussion that she felt the need to clarify. I never brought it up because to me it was pretty irrelevant. I thought it was pretty clear in the video interview myself, but again, who cares? She is who she is. It shouldn't matter.

It shouldn't matter, you're right. My point was that transgender people are often put in a negative light in... well... pretty much everywhere, this is just more to add onto that idea that it doesn't matter.

Anyway, yeah, I shouldn't have brought it up sorry.

Nothing to apologize for. I wondered if she was transgendered when I saw the interview with HotBid, and I was going to say "Hey! Is...?" and then, like the rest of us, realized there's no need to point it out in the context of her accomplishments playing Starcraft.

FedoraMcQuaid wrote:

this is just more to add onto that idea that it doesn't matter.

Agree 100%.

Idra up a game on Jjakji in group play. Preparing myself for the inevitable collapse.

*Worth noting, I'm not sure what Idra is playing for here except maybe placement that decides prize money. He's in last place in his group at 0-3 so I'm pretty sure he's mostly playing spoiler at this point. I don't believe it's possible for him to get into the championship bracket. So that he's playing well at all and not ten pooling or whatever because the game's don't seem to have much value is at least interesting.

*White-Ra and Puma are also last in their respective groups at 0-3.

*Hilarious picture:
IMAGE(http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc356/vicboi/swg/Scarlett.jpg)

That's Nestea, Marineking, and also supposedly Leenock off to the right giving her a thumbs up after that win in game 1 against Oz.

That's Foxer giving the thumbs up with the red shirt.

liquid wrote:

That's Foxer giving the thumbs up with the red shirt.

Thin_J wrote:

That's Nestea, Marineking, and also supposedly Leenock off to the right giving her a thumbs up after that win in game 1 against Oz.

Oh, sorry. Headache, not seeing things clearly xd

Stephano took his match with Curious 2-1, putting him at 3-1 and second place in his group to secure his spot in the championship bracket.

*Final list of players to move on from groups to the championship bracket:
MarineKing (4-0)
Stephano (3-1)
Nestea (4-0)
Alive (3-1)
Polt (3-1)
Squirtle (3-1)
Bomber (3-1)
MMA (3-1)

What's interesting about the list is that only maybe one of those players (Squirtle) wouldn't be there if their whole team hadn't been flown out for the GSTL finals. Everybody else was either seeded into groups or going to be there for the open bracket anyway. We'd probably be looking at that same number of Korean players in the bracket even without two whole teams showing up for the open bracket.

What I missed the most? Artosis casting NesTea.

liquid wrote:

What I missed the most? Artosis casting NesTea.

The HD and Painuser combination is easily the worst. Other than HD, really, the casters have been passable. Not near Tastosis-good, but passable.

On the contrary, the observer on the main stream has been phenomenal. Pay attention to what he's doing.. he underlines stuff, circles stuff.. especially when HD is casting, the observer does a better job telling you what's happening than the guys talking.

It's the GSL observer again, I think.

And yeah, PU-HD is bad. Which is surprising because I've watched them a bit before and they seemed fine, nothing amazing but decent. Must be nerves or something. Cats - Apollo is easily the best duo there at the moment. It's a shame TB couldn't make it, he would fit well with PU so he could focus only on analysis.

But I mainly miss artosis because of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...

Anybody want a $5 gomtv discount coupon? It's going to expire on the 13th, and I'm assuming that no new tournament is going to show up that I can buy a ticket for between now and then. Since I have everything up to now, including yearly tickets for GSL and GSTL, it doesn't do me much good.

Just back in time from a beach party/bbq. Finals almost starting. The microphones are terrible so it seems...quality was quite alright before. Hopefully it is fixable.
Didn't really watch the 'ceremony' all the way. But finding it a bit much with all the flags and all lol
But ok, they want to give the public something to watch. I could do without that or something that makes more sense. Beats me right now what that would be.
Hoping for great games to come

Just tuned in for the GSTL, just ordered a pizza, just took a couple of hours off working... It's gonna be a good couple of hours

Maybe we should try a hangout someday while watching this. If that is feasible bandwidth wise.

I can't hear the commentary over the music...

Sparhawk wrote:

Maybe we should try a hangout someday while watching this. If that is feasible bandwidth wise.

I can't hear the commentary over the music...

Same here with the commentary... now that the music is over it's alright...

Edit: however, the game is over the commentary too

I think the sound mix is a little better on the GOM stream, but there've been a few issues with the stream cutting off and having to reconnect. (And you need the GOM player, of course.)

I was really hoping they would fix the audio/commentary balance between games but it doesn't seem like they did.

I take it back. It's really no better on the GOM stream.

They did start balancing it out a bit. I think they need to go just a little farther though.

Thin_J wrote:

They did start balancing it out a bit. I think they need to go just a little farther though.

It seems a bit better indeed...but yeah, could do with less still. But, I can actually follow the conversation now