The battle for the next qualifier spot in the Sound Blaster Heroes League is underway and the third invite has been released! stayGreen will join Trademark eSports and compLexity Gaming in the final 16 team bracket late next month.

About stayGreen

If you had asked someone in the Heroes of Newerth scene 2 months ago, who is stayGreen, the answer would unquestionably have been “I have no idea”. With a recent name change and a roster still adjusting to recent changes sG is perhaps the hottest new property in the competitive HoN market. Captain swindlemelonzz has been active in the scene for over two years with various teams but his most recent success started in late 2012 under the name V0TE Gary Johnson 2012. While simultaneously promoting swindle’s political views the team also qualified for Dreamhack Winter where the three Americans and two Europeans would have disappointing results. Without making it to the top 4 in the tournament the team was eliminated in group play and V0TE returned home to deal with unfinished business. They were in the Grand Finals of the HoN Tour Qualifier, coming from the upper bracket where they had easily defeated top teams like QsQ and tdM. Unfortunately the rematch against Trademark eSports did not go as planned and V0TE was left with a silver medal for their first podium finish. Though sG managed to take games and even series off of the top two teams in the scene during the first two HoN Tour cycles they were never able to secure a slot in the Grand Finals and finished out bronze in back to back cycles.

During this time the team made two large changes. With the American election over they changed their team name to stayGreen and picked up the incredibly strong and well respected carry player from down under, sLiCKz. He would allow the team to shift player roles around and fine tune an already strong roster. With team roles in flux the future of stayGreen was uncertain but practices increased in frequency, an announcement was made that sLiCKz would be moving to Florida with the Freedman brothers, and eventually it all paid off with a deep run in HoN Tour cycle 3. Once again the team made it to the Winner’s Finals and this time triumphed over Tt eSPORTS, earning a slot in the Grand Finals where they would secure the gold by eliminating Q sQuad 357 3-2. With strong drafting, great individual players, unquestionable dedication, and perseverance, stayGreen has become a mainstay of the top 3 rankings in Heroes of Newerth. It is extremely likely that by the time that stayGreen takes the field in the Sound Blaster Heroes League playoffs next month that the up and coming team will have not only have found a sponsor, but will also find themselves as a possible favorite to take it all.

The stayGreen roster includes:

Kyle “swindlemelonzz” Freedman

20 – Florida, USA

swindlemelonzz has a long and successful history in Heroes of Newerth. From taking second place during the Digital Youth Awards event in Singapore in 2010 to a 4^th place finish at Dreamhack Winter 2011 followed by a bronze medal at NASL Season 2 Finals the week after, the sG captain has found success, but few championships. He was part of the successful ICE team before moving on to captain his own team, sGty which eventually became the first Trademark eSports team. He’s finally struck gold with his current team finding success with his aggressive style of drafting and great initiation on signature heroes like Fayde and Pebbles.

Zakari “ZFreek” Fredman

18 – Florida, USA

ZFreek showed up on the scene as a last minute replacement for the Dreamhack Winter 2011 event last year. Going into the LAN HoN fans and competitors alike were calling nepotism from big brother swindlemelonzz but after a successful breakout performance ZFreek quickly became one of the stronger competitors in the scene. Finding success with the multiple tdM rosters and again with sG ZFreek is no longer standing in his brother’s, shadow but casting his own. The younger Freedman’s strength lies in his strong jungle presence which was integral to his back to back 1^st place finishes in ESL Seasons 9 and 10.

Daniel “Skyzoe” Marklund

21 – Stockholm Sweden

One of the two European players on the team, Skyzoe met his future teammates on the battlefield in late 2011. His tenure with LIONS earned him a 3^rd place finish at Dreamhack Winter 2011, triumphing over future teammates swindlemelonzz and ZFreek in the 3/4^th match. The following week he joined 3 other top teams in Southern California where the LIONS roster were tested once again, this time emerging with a 1^st place finish at the NASL Season 2 finals. While Skyzoe initially played the suicide role for the sG team he transitioned to hard support shortly after sLiCKz was picked up by the team.  

Maurice “KheZu” Gutmann

17 – Germany

The youngest member of the team and the second European, KheZu is one of the more versatile players on the team. Maurice started his time in the Heroes of Newerth scene with old school sponsor KD Gaming before forming his own team, Another Dimension, and eventually captaining the successful Blackfade.org team. With BxF KheZu found some success, scoring bronze at Dreamhack Summer 2012 as well as Gold in both the it’s Gosu May Invitational and the UNGL Bloodlust Cup, but it wasn’t until he stepped down from the captain and drafter role that he found consistency. KheZu has generally played the carry position for his teams but after the pick up of sLiCKz he has moved to the suicide position, or even playing the odd short lane solo or mid.

Trent “sLiCKz” Tucker

21 – Australia

sLiCKz is one of the most legendary players in competitive Heroes of Newerth. He has one of the most extensive histories in the game, playing with the top team Deal With it before they became the original compLexity Gaming roster, then captaining Oceanic teams Frenetic Array and Tt eSPORTS. Even though he often plays with over 300 ping sLiCKz consistently out farms and outplays his opponents on signature heroes like Soul Stealer, The Dark Lady, and Forsaken Archer. Both TteS and fray found success on LAN at Dreamhack, scoring 3 successive podium finishes and pushing long time champions Fnatic to the brink of defeat in two different finals. sliCKz augmented the already potent drafting of stayGreen and his impending move to the United States bodes well for both his and his teams future in tournament circuit.

Previous Invites

• compLexity Gaming
• Trademark eSports

Today compLexity is announcing the departure of our friend Chad “Minigun” Jones.

Chad joined compLexity in June of 2011 and has contributed greatly to our efforts in StarCraft II.  Recently, however, he has decided to step down from professional competitions and no longer desires to attend live eSports events.  Thus we have mutually agreed to part ways and we have agreed to release him from his contract early so that he can pursue a more relaxed gaming experience.

We’d like to thank Chad for his loyalty, hard work and dedication. He is a wonderful person and player and we greatly enjoyed having him as part of our gaming family. Chad had the following to say:

Being in complexity was a lot of fun, and made a few new friends. It was a great year and a half, but I am looking to take a step down from competing, at least for a little while. I wish them the best of luck, and please continue to support them after my departure.

Kevin “qxc” Riley is currently in Katowice, Poland as one of the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice analysts. The event isn’t for a couple of days, with the Open Bracket starting on January 17th. He will be at the analyst desk alongside the Protoss Frenchman, Yoan “ToD” Merlo. You can find further information about the IEM Katowice event HERE.

What a way to start off the new year, how does it feel to be back in Europe, this time as an analyst?

I was pretty disappointed when I narrowly didn’t qualify for this event, but am happy that I was able to make it out even if in a different capacity. 

Not as many big names as the usual MLG or DreamHack, but who are you most looking forward to seeing play at the event?

I’m very interested to see all the Terrans play at this event. They may be few, but they are fearsome so it should be quite a good experience to watch and learn.

Any predictions for the group stages? Could you see any crazy upsets happening?

Terran always wins. Then Zerg. But seriously.

A: Snute, Grubby
B: PartinG, Lucifron
C: Yoda, Nerchio
D: Vortix, Kas

These predictions may seem odd with only a couple of Koreans here, but besides PartinG they are either mostly untested or relatively inconsistent. With them being foreigners in a foreign country and four from three different teams I expect some amount of ‘home’ advantage for the Europeans.

SKT1’s newest signing, PartinG looks like the favorite to take IEM Katowice, is he yours? If not, who are your personal favorites for this event?

My favorites to win the event are: Yoda, Kas, Lucifron and Dream in no particular order. I leave it up to the reader to figure out why.

Viewers have heard a little about your thoughts on game balance with Fixing the Game. How do you feel about the balance of Wings of Liberty?

The balance in WoL seems pretty good right now except for possibly some issues in ZvT regarding hive tech, remaxing, production mechanics, tech switching and infestors. Perhaps none of these are really balance issues, but combined they seem to be one of the main reasons I see Terrans losing across the board. Fortunately or not, it won’t matter for too much longer how balanced WoL really is.

And even though you’re probably planning something for the next episode of Fixing the Game, in a few short words – how do feel about Heart of the Swarm’s current state?

HoTS has great potential. I hope that Blizzard continues to improve on what they’ve done so far and keep pushing and modifying. Recent patches have introduced some pretty unique and interesting concepts that with a little more tuning could really improve the game as a whole.

Planning to bring anything special to the analyst desk?

Just me. My humor and my knowledge will combine into some sort of terrific Tiger based analysis.

The compLexity team house recently closed down. How do you feel about your time there with your teammates? Any memories you’d like to share with the community?
 
I had a good time when the team was there. We had a lot of fun doing various activities and I miss the experience. I know there’s some good goswser stories to be told, but I am blanking at the moment. Perhaps if I remember on the cast and we have time, I’ll tell one.

Do you have any specific goals for 2013?

In the early part of this year I would like to emerge as the top American player. Through the middle the top foreigner and somewhere around the later stages I want Koreans to fear me.

Last but least, any shoutouts?

Thanks to everyone who have supported me. This life is not possible without you guys. Be sure to stay tuned for my next episode of Fixing the Game: HoTS Edition coming soon. Also huge thanks to all the compLexity sponsors: Sound Blaster, QPAD, PNY, Creative, Origin, and G8.

The Executives #23: Careers in eSports Journalism

Complexity Gaming and Team Dignitas, in conjunction with Sound Blaster, are proud to present the next episode of a new live show hosted by Jason Lake and Michael O`Dell: The Executives: The Business of Gaming #23: Careers in eSports Journalism.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1:00 PM EST your hosts will be joined by news anchor Patrick “Chobopeon” O`Neill to discuss the business side of recent events. This week’s episode will feature Richard Lewis, the Head of eSports Content for Heaven Media (Cadred).

The Executives’ goal is to educate the next generation of business leaders and facilitate an open discussion about the opportunities and challenges facing the eSports business today.

You can tune in at www.twitch.tv/compLexity.

VOD: All VODs will be hosted HERE.

MP3: TBD | iTunes

Direct MP3 RSS: Here

Official Team Liquid Thread: HERE

Future Guest Lineup (subject to change):

• TBA

Always feel free to share your news, show ideas and questions with our crew.

Contacts:

• Jason “1” Lake, Founder & CEO, Complexity Gaming. @coL_Lake
• Michael “Odee” O`Dell, Founder & Managing Director, Team Dignitas. @dignitasODEE
• Patrick “Chobopeon” O`Neill, eSports journalist and news anchor. @chobopeon
• Simon “Sympatico” Abitbol, Stream Producer. @SympaticoTV

compLexity Gaming: YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!

Today compLexity Gaming is announcing a roster change for our Call of Duty: Black Ops squad.

Damon “FeaRs” Abney will be departing. FeaRs was instrumental in our 1st place Frag Cup IV title and our 2nd place at UMG Chicago. We’d like to thank him for his hard work and wish him the very best in the future.

In his place we are happy to announce that we have signed Aaron “TuQuick” Chang, formerly of Fariko. We’re confident Aaron’s strong play will enable the squad to reach new heights in 2013 and we are excited to have him on board.

coL.COD captain Patrick “Aches” Price had the following to say about the change:

I’ve always been a strong advocate for keeping rosters together to better chemistry, but when chemistry is being affected, something needs to be done. With the release of FeaRs and the addition of TuQuick I feel like our attitude and hunger to win is back to top notch. Looking forward to continuing in 2013 with our new 4th.

Welcome TuQuick here!

compLexity Gaming: YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!

Today compLexity’s Filipino Champ will be in New Brunswick, Nj participating in the Apex 2013 fighting game tournament. Champ will be taking on some of the best players from around the east coast in Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3. The prize pool for UMvC3 includes a $1,000 pot bonus and a trip to the Video X Games in St. Maarten July 25th-28th. Champ’s event kicks off at 5:00 PM EST and will be streamed on one of the three streams here.

Please tune in and see why coL.Filipino Champ won Corner Pressure’s Player and Match of the Year.

With the Sound Blaster Heroes League qualifier #2 underway, the second invite has been released! Trademark eSports has been named the next team, along with compLexity Gaming, to be featured in the finals bracket.

About Trademark eSports

When the former Trademark eSports roster left their sponsor in favor of compLexity Gaming earlier this year the future of the team was unclear. Fortunately for tdM they replaced a top team with a top team. They formed the core of their team by picking up the captain of the former LIONS squad, Mynuts, and adding in former from Pubstars players Limmp and noobG. The new tdM squad made a deep run in the DreamHoN Online Summer Championship, finally falling to compLexity Gaming in the finals. Determined to do better, Trademark picked up former Blackfade.org players iNsania and zai’ and quickly made it back to the finals in DreamHoN Redemption. Unfortunately coL bested them once more, but tdM still qualified for the upcoming DreamHoN Winter event in Sweden. In the HoN Tour qualifiers tdM initially fell to V0TE (sG) but battled back, gave coL their first series loss in months, and managed to defeat V0TE in a Grand Finals rematch to take their first major win. Following this remarkable performance they crushed compLexity again the following weekend in the DreamHoN Winter LAN event Grand Finals, taking their first major LAN victory. In subsequent weeks tdM won HoN Tour Diamond cycles one and two without dropping a series, taking both Grand Finals over compLexity Gaming. While Honcast’s Team of the Year seems on top of the world they are not invincible. Just this weekend in HoN Tour Diamond cycle 3 Tt eSPORTS made tdM look weaker than they have in months by giving them their first tournament series loss in recent memory. The Sound Blaster Heroes League playoffs will be a stage for tdM to show if they’ve got what it takes to stay on top.

The Trademark eSports Heroes of Newerth Division consists of:

Johan “Mynuts” Andersson

22 – Uppsala, Sweden

The captain of the tdM HoN has only been involved in the competitive HoN scene for just over a year but in that time he has made his presence felt. As captain of the former LIONS eSportsKLUBB squad he led the team to a 3^rd place finish in Dreamhack Winter 2011, and a first place finish at the NASL Season 2 Grand Finals. He also filled in as a ringer for the Tt eSPORTS team at Dreamhack Summer 2012, contributing to the team’s silver medal. The jungle player for tdM has his own way of drafting and building heroes but with a best drafter award from Honcast for the year of 2012 adding to his multiple podium finishes he is one of the most accomplished HoN players in the last 18 months.

Linus “Limmp” Blomdin

17 – Stockholm, Sweden

Along with fellow from Pubstars player noobG, Limmp joined tdM in the initial restructuring of the

team and found success as the teams mid player and ganker. He is one of the more versatile players on the team, stepping out of his defined role to pick up the occasional Zephyr while still punishing them like the ganker he is at heart. While previously Limmp played on teams like it’s Gosu with his brother, Chessie, they now find themselves on opposite sides of the fierce rivalry that has permeated the compLexity Gaming vs. Trademark eSports match up.

Lasse “noobG” Jacobsen

19 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Trademark’s carry is the only non-Swede on the team, but the similarities end there. Along with several teammates he received an award as an individual from Honcast last month. The Carry of the Year got his start playing for teams like from Pub Stars and sGty but since joining tdM his Draconis, Silhouette and other carry heroes have come to be known by most and feared by all. noobG has

made Ghost Marchers his signature item, picking them up on almost all heroes and using them to secure the top spot on the MMR ladder.

Ludwig “zai'” Wåhlberg

15 – Skara, Sweden

zai’ along with fellow ex-Blackfade.org player joined the team in the second restructuring phase for tdM in late summer of 2012. He had shown some success with Blackfade as they took 3^rd place at Dreamhack Summer 2012 but his true skill shown through once he joined tdM. With a role transition

to that of a suicide player zai’ has been a huge part of tdM’s success in the later half of 2012. He

was recognized by the Honcast yearly awards not once, not twice, but three times as the Best Suicide/Solo, Breakout Player, and overall MVP. The 15 year old self styled ‘coLslayer” seems to have no limits as he somehow finds success in any suicide match-up.

Aydin “iNsania” Sarkohi

18 – Linköping, Sweden

Like teammate zai’ iNsania had only moderate success in his previous teams, notably taking 3^rd in Dreamhack Summer 2012, and first in the it’s Gosu May Invitational. Once he was inserted into an atmosphere with other highly skilled and dedicated players his support skills enabled the team to

sore to new heights. iNsania stresses the mental aspect of Heroes of Newerth in his favorite quote, “Attitude is the little thing that makes the big difference.” His positive attitude helps keep the team from tilting in major matches and as long as you find a ward in his inventory he is bound to stay happy.

Speaking about his team’s invitation to the Sound Blaster Heroes League Aydin “iNsania” Sarkohi had this to say:

“We feel very honored to be invited to this tournament. We’re of course going to do our very best to prove ourselves and hopefully be able to bring the entire thing home.”

Previous Invites

• compLexity Gaming

coL.COD captain Patrick “Aches” Price discusses creating the right team in Call of Duty Black Ops.

compLexity Gaming: YOUR source for professional gaming news and entertainment!

Today we are announcing the departure of our friend Kim “Heart” Min Hyuk.  Heart has been with our gaming family for a year and has contributed immensely to our StarCraft 2 efforts.

We wish him the very best and thank him for his hard work!

Heart’s accomplishments:

• 3rd – MLG Spring Arena #1
• 5th – MLG Spring Arena #2
• 3rd – 2012 Major League Gaming Winter Championship: Columbus
• 1st – 2011 CSN playSTARCRAFT Cup Series 1 Qualifier #3
• 1st – 2011 TeamSpeak TeamLiquid Open #21 NA

Moving into 2013 we are evaluating our StarCraft 2 plans and investment.  It is our goal to remain a supporter of the game while continuing to expand our multi-gaming presence.  Stay tuned for updates and thank you for your support.