SC2 Pro Tournament Discussion

MLG is really knocking it out of the park so far with the Winter Arena event. I haven't missed a single match I was interested in so far, which is a first for any tournament like this with so many games in so short a time.

Some great games in there, some surprises. The list of players already qualified for the finals in Columbus (Where MLG is tentatively looking to setup a permanent location.. :D) is pretty much awesome. Looks like it could end up being a great year of MLG events.

So much cheese in naniwa's games, but some of them were really fun to watch

kyrieee wrote:

So much cheese in naniwa's games, but some of them were really fun to watch

I thought him punishing Leenock for taking a quick third hatchery with that big ball of pure zealots was pretty funny myself.

Course then he did the same thing against DRG in game one of their series which... you know, didn't exactly work out.

Good to know that the vids will be available after the event. Makes sense.
I know it is all live Silentsod Just was hoping that at the end of the day, the vids
would be up there to watch for free. Just not that far into it, that I want to pay the fee yet.
But I do enjoy the quality and the atmosphere for sure. Maybe the next big event.

I took a pass on it - $20 was a little much for me given the amount I would have been able to watch live this weekend, but I'm glad that it's going well. There needs to be this sort of experimentation with different business models and if it had been a technical fiasco or some other sort of disaster I'd be concerned that other tournaments would become more reluctant to try risky things like this in the future. On the one hand, it feels like there's an over-saturation of tournaments, but at the same time, it's clear that there are people willing to pay for quality content; it's just a matter of reaching them in the right way.

(Also, go Huk, even if he did have a comparatively easy bracket.)

4dSwissCheese wrote:

(Also, go Huk, even if he did have a comparatively easy bracket.)

This is true, but only to a certain extent. Taking out Oz was pretty big, and doing it as convincingly as he did was bigger. If he can get past MKP and the other matches go his way he could very well end up with all PvP for the rest of the tournament, which if history is any indication would be just fine for Huk.

And the odds on that are actually decent with DRG starting down 2-1 to Parting in an extended series.

On the other hand if either DRG or Violet pull out a win, or if Huk should lose against MKP, things get way more difficult. And if I'm not mistaken Huk's never had much success against MarineKing.

Thin_J wrote:
4dSwissCheese wrote:

(Also, go Huk, even if he did have a comparatively easy bracket.)

This is true, but only to a certain extent. Taking out Oz was pretty big, and doing it as convincingly as he did was bigger. If he can get past MKP and the other matches go his way he could very well end up with all PvP for the rest of the tournament, which if history is any indication would be just fine for Huk.

And the odds on that are actually decent with DRG starting down 2-1 to Parting in an extended series.

On the other hand if either DRG or Violet pull out a win, or if Huk should lose against MKP, things get way more difficult. And if I'm not mistaken Huk's never had much success against MarineKing.

In an interview with Hot Bid this weekend, Huk said PvP is his worst matchup. Given the level of troll in Hot Bid interviews, though, it's not easy to tell who's serious and who's making things up. It's a pretty funny interview.

sithload wrote:

In an interview with Hot Bid this weekend, Huk said PvP is his worst matchup. Given the level of troll in Hot Bid interviews, though, it's not easy to tell who's serious and who's making things up. It's a pretty funny interview.

Kinda irrelevant. When Huk won Dreamhack? Fair amount of PvP. When he won Homestory Cup? Lots of PvP. When he won MLG Orlando? PvP. Two of those include finishing off MC for the grand final.

And he just monster moded Oz last night.

Don't care what he says his weakest match up is. If he gets close to a final and draws the mirror match he has a tendency to win. Plus he's already won 3 PvP's in this one event.

*MLG just announced that all.of today's matches will be on the main stream and the others will broadcast the player's first person perspectives

Yeah I watched the free games they showed. One of them was Sase versus another (Korean) protoss or was it terran. Wow I feel bad not remembering... Time to look at the brackets. Anyways that game was absolutely amazing. Yeah with a quick bracket check it was Sase versus San. That was a ridiculous game. The base trade.

I'm not trying to correct you, sorry if I gave that impression. I just thought it was interesting Huk thinks PvP is his worst matchup.

This was a good tournament, but I really don't like that guy from Blizzard. I don't understand why he's casting at so many tournaments. He has poor game knowledge and tries too hard to be funny.

Ok, I have a complaint that I'll be making MLG aware of if I can. The VOD's for this tournament are kind of terrible.

I had a bit of an emergency come up about halfway through game one of the finals and had to leave, so I thought well ok, I'll just check out the VOD when I get back. First up, the VOD for game one is choppy and stutters in a bunch of places, regardless of whether it's 1080p or 480p, so I assume Twitch was having some kind of trouble at the time they were playing it, though I don't remember any stuttering when I was watching it live at 1080p.

Second, they cut off almost all the pre/post game chatter between the casters. When the games end Artosis starts to analyze things and then the VOD just stops. GSL does a way better job of this in that they leave all that post-game talk at the end of the recording of one game, making it easy for the people who don't care to just skip to the next video. There's no reason to cut off that recording the instant the match is over. Anybody that doesn't want to hear it can just jump to the start of the next game.

Third, Game 3 of the grand final is split into two parts and it's missing whole minutes of gameplay. At one point it cuts off and MarineKing is making a huge push, siege tanks in tow, and right as he starts to close in on DRG's bases part 1 of the video ends. When you cut to part two three minutes have passed on the game clock, the attack is nowhere to be seen, and DRG is harassing with Mutas.

These problems aren't limited to the Grand Finals, as they seem to be scattered throughout various matches here and there over the course of the tournament.

As far as the tournament itself and the live experience, I would still say it was pretty much excellent start to finish. I dug the moment at the end where everybody seemed like they weren't actually sure it was over. Was more than a little amusing.

Also, there was one particularly hilarious comment made during the tournament...

Artosis wrote:

He's actually just about to die everybody, watch this

Actual, honest to god lol from that one.

I think that the stream went down during those 2-3 minutes if you're talking about the game on Shakuras.

kyrieee wrote:

I think that the stream went down during those 2-3 minutes if you're talking about the game on Shakuras.

Hence why the VOD should be recorded locally by the tournament runners and not dependent on the stream.

so, it should be for free for now? Asking, as they still want money for it....
maybe only when you let the first match go and try to automatically watch the next one. Seems others are for free....will keep looking and testing lol
Navigation is really not that good in there. Maybe I am missing it, but I can't see a decent stream that will show me one match after another, in the right order.
Or at least a list that looks that way that I can click on. Looks all just thrown in there somewhat.

Also, something that people should be complaining about. I was able to watch the entire finals for free through the spectator view of MarineKingPrime. They forgot to paywall one of the streams showing the finals. The chat channel on the day of the finals was gold.

Sparhawk wrote:

so, it should be for free for now? Asking, as they still want money for it....

It helps if you actually read the threads you post in

liquid wrote:

All vods will be free a week later, iirc.

Thin_J wrote:
Sparhawk wrote:

so, it should be for free for now? Asking, as they still want money for it....

It helps if you actually read the threads you post in

liquid wrote:

All vods will be free a week later, iirc.

You said after the event was done... it is done now, right?
But ok, I did miss the one week pointer..... granted

Then what would be the point in charging for it? Nothing that is PPV will ever be released for free the second it's over :).

Some potentially really important matches got played in Code A today. I've managed to avoid spoilers all day. About to start MVP/Sniper. MVP's only been back from NYC for like a day and a half, super interested to see how he deals and handles that match, or if he does.

*Some good/fun stuff in yesterday's Code A games. Zenio/SC is good and Killer/MKP is particularly, uh, entertaining. At one point Marineking starts building like fourteen barracks. At once.

Thin_J wrote:

Some potentially really important matches got played in Code A today. I've managed to avoid spoilers all day. About to start MVP/Sniper. MVP's only been back from NYC for like a day and a half, super interested to see how he deals and handles that match, or if he does.

*Some good/fun stuff in yesterday's Code A games. Zenio/SC is good and Killer/MKP is particularly, uh, entertaining. At one point Marineking starts building like fourteen barracks. At once.

Thanks for the updates, I buy some of these things it's always neat to hear when a game I need to watch comes up because I don't always get through all of them.

... So question: Who do you think wins GSL this season. Genius or DRG?... I put in my liquibet this morning as DRG, but am secretly hoping for Genius to win. I love the way Genius plays, but I have only seen him play against Terran and Protoss. I am not sure about PvZ and DRG is kind of on top right now.

SodaGremlin wrote:

... So question: Who do you think wins GSL this season. Genius or DRG?... I put in my liquibet this morning as DRG, but am secretly hoping for Genius to win. I love the way Genius plays, but I have only seen him play against Terran and Protoss. I am not sure about PvZ and DRG is kind of on top right now.

My heart says DRG. My brain says Genius.

It really could go either way though. IMO, this is the most even any GSL Finals matchup has been in a long time, or maybe ever. In the past there's always been one player who seemed like they lucked their way into the finals because the brackets worked out in their favor, like Inca, or a player that was clearly and absolutely the underdog. Of course last season that was Jjakji and he ended up winning so that doesn't mean as much as it used to, but this really is the first time where I feel like both players deserve to be there.

*Also, if there's a match to skip from yetserday's Code A games, I think Nestea/Keen is passable. Game one is roughly equivalent to Nestea walking up to Keen, snickering, and then snapping his neck. Game 2 is like watching a cat pick up the same mouse over and over again and toss it around like a toy, playing with its food.

Thin_J wrote:

My heart says DRG. My brain says Genius.

I agree. If DRG wins, will he have to return his King of Kongs title?
I would be happy with either winning. At least if Genius wins, it means a Protoss other than MC will have a GSL championship.

trying to watch the GSL finals live and I can't get connected... site is so slow, doesn't give me much hope for the stream when it kicks in.

Finally in, working great... first game was good. If you aren't logged in and are still up, looks like it's gonna be a good one.

Watching live. The Genius "bubble" video was... a wee bit disturbing.

I think the site got slammed pretty hard as the stream started. I was able to get in easily ~15 minutes before the official stream start time, but couldn't do stuff on the site after that. Stream's fine once connected.

Hypatian wrote:

Watching live. The Genius "bubble" video was... a wee bit disturbing.

I think the site got slammed pretty hard as the stream started. I was able to get in easily ~15 minutes before the official stream start time, but couldn't do stuff on the site after that. Stream's fine once connected.

haha... agreed... Second game starting... They are casting right now that they are having a traffic overflow. So I guess good for esports.

Lets see what's up next.

My 3rd or 4th login finally got me in there.

That was a good final.

Hypatian wrote:

That was a good final. :D

Indeed it was... I went straight to bed afterwards, but it was worth staying up for.

Watched the final this morning and I thought it was really entertaining. Watching the some Code A matches I'd missed now. MKP crushing Killer's face makes me all warm and fuzzy.