SC2 and South Korea

Any opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of compLexity Gaming or its parent company.

by JP “moogle” McDaniel

In the Starcraft competitive community, South Korea is regarded as the mecca of e-sports. Countless articles have been written about the ‘national past time’ over there and just how big it is. If you aren’t familiar with it all, feel free to google — I’m not going to rehash all that content. I want to talk about Starcraft 2 and South Korea instead.

You’ll see this picture linked in pretty much every one of the articles you find on Google. It is pretty crazy, though.

Right now the biggest SC2 event in the world is the Global Star League put on by GOMtv.net. Each month a tournament consisting of a $170,000 prize pool is going on. First place earns just around $85,000. Think about that for a second. Second place is around $25,000. The finals match has $50,000 on the line — talk about player pressure. You would expect a tournament of this size to be once a year, but instead it is once a month. That is pretty incredible.

The part that is really interesting is the fact that the event is open to anyone as long as you can be in South Korea for a months time. That is, if you qualify in the first place. For Season 1 there were over 2,000 players in the prelims. I have not heard the number for Season 2 prelims but they should still be open at time of print. Players are randomly seeded into a 64 player bracket and must win. It is no small feat, but in the first Season four foreigners managed to make it out: LiquidTLO, EG.IdrA, TorcH, and Artosis. All four players were eliminated by the RO32 though.

The tournament has one match left in the RO4 (HopeTorture (T) vs. oGsEnsnare (T)) which will be played Thursday at 4:00 AM CDT. The grand finals will be taking place on Saturday at 4:00 AM CDT between the winner of the RO4 match discussed above, and “a Fruit Dealer (Z)”. If you’re looking to watch the match live you can view it at GOMtv.net as long as you have a login. The HQ stream is $20 but you get access to all VODs from the season. Without the $20 you can only view the first games.

While Season 1 is exciting and all, the real excitement for Starcraft fanatics is Season 2 and 3. Throughout the first season, some of the biggest Starcraft 1 South Korean professional players announced that they were going to switch over to Starcraft 2. Names like NaDa, JulyZerg, and Boxer have all said they will most likely be playing in the upcoming seasons. When big names like that begin to play and try to master the game, real innovation begins.

Make sure to stay tuned to GOMtv as the best players in the world will always be in attendance. With the insane prize pool you can always expect the competition to be fierce. See ya next time.

The latest World of Warcraft expansion seems to be arriving just in time for the holiday season. Blizzard has revealed that its upcoming World of Warcraft expansion, subtitled Cataclysm, is primed and ready for release just prior to Christmas.

More specifically, it’s set to arrive on December 7 for Windows and Mac, both on disc and downloadable from the Blizzard Store. They have also mentioned that there will be a retail-only special edition, featuring exclusive bonus items, including awe and wonder. 

Cataclysm sees the world of Azeroth changed forever thanks to the devastation brought by the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing. The game also features two new races, worgen and goblins, plus new locations, powers and a level cap of 85. 

Blizzard has also been noted to say that Cataclysm will include the best content that they have ever created for World of Warcraft. It’s not just an expansion but a re-creation of much of the original Azeroth, complete with epic new high-level adventures for current players and a redesigned leveling experience for those just starting out. 

What better way to while away the festive season than a return trip to Blizzard’s refreshed Azeroth? Yellow snowballs not withstanding.

Click here to visit the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm website.

Former squad ruins have changed their name back to d2x. The squad was last seen in action at WCG USA where they were able to put up some impressive scores on some of the top teams.

Dustin “dizzaman” Dilyerd and Chris “TRULS” Navratil are leaving the team to pursue real life commitments. Replacing them will be Paul “Adrenaline” Baker, and Travis “tuBBy” Bechtol. tuBBy is currently at WCG Grand Finals, as he is the stand-in for EG.

The team will be in action next weekend at IEM5 American Championship. d2x has fallen into the group with compLexity, Area 51, Artyk.

dizzaman and TRULS were both forced to contend with real life commitments that would leave little to no time for the team. After WCG, they both decided it would be best for the team if both of them to take time off from CS. Bryan “buskey” Buskey

d2x lineup:

Travis “tuBBy” Bechtol
Bryan “buskey” Buskey
Dan “mehLer” Mehler
Kyle “flowsicK” Mendez
Paul “Adrenaline” Baker

Source: ESEANews

QPAD, the Swedish company world-renowned for it’s premium gaming gear, today announced their main sponsorship of the reigning World Cyber Games Champions – Frag Executors.

QPAD has always been 100 % committed to offer the best pro gaming gear possible to the world’s best and most dedicated gamers. Today, we are proud to announce a strategic partnership with the reigning World Cyber Games Champions – Frag Executors. They are undeniably one of the best Counter-Strike teams in the history of eSports. This partnership is the starting point of a new QPAD era and at the same time a welcome reunion with Taz, Neo and the guys. It is with our utmost pleasure that we welcome them back to the QPAD family.” – Christer Körnbäck, QPAD CEO

Today is a unique day for us and one that we have waited a long time for. Thanks to work done by the entire Frag eXecutors team, especially our gamers, we have started our partnership with the Swedish company QPAD – a producer of the highest quality accessories for gamers. Adding QPAD as our main sponsor would not be possible without the constant unwavering support of our fans who we wish to thank.” – Arkadiusz Cybulski, Fx Entertainment President

About QPAD:

QPAD is a world-renowned, premium brand creating lifestyle products and peripherals for computer gaming. For more than 10 years QPAD has sponsored electronic sports and QPAD mouse pads have been used by gamers for over 16 years. QPAD brings a no-nonsense approach to gaming peripherals: quality and feel are paramount during development. QPAD takes no short cuts and makes no compromises when it comes to producing the best gaming products that the world has seen. The Q in QPAD stands for “Quality”.  For more information on QPAD, visit the official website www.qpad.com

More information about the sponsorship can be found here.

The WCG administration has just announced that the Counter-Strike prize pot for the 2010 Grand Finals has been reduced from $75,500 to $40,000. The winner will be taking home $25,000 as opposed to $35,000 and second place will get $10,000. Third place will get $5,000. Last year in China first through eight received prized money, however this year, only the top 3 will be receiving the prize.

Updated Prize List

1, $25,000 Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ and Samsung Netbooks
2. $10,000 Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ
3. $5,000 Samsung SyncMaster 2233RZ

Stay tuned to CompLexityGaming.com as we bring you the latest updates from the WCG Grand Finals for 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

The WCG have released the official match list for the matches at the World Cyber Games Grand Final for 2010 to be held in Los Angeles, California starting tomorrow. 25 teams will be competing for the gold in CS 1.6, starting at 1:00PM PST.

The match schedule can be downloaded in PDF form, however for a matter of convenience we have provided you with an image of the schedule below.

To download the PDF of the schedule, click here. Stay tuned for news and updates all weekend regarding the WCG 2010 event!

With the WCG Grand Finals just around the corner, the staff and crew have been working diligently to create a memorable 2010 event at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. The WCG has put up an official gallery of setup pictures for you to see.

The full gallery can be found by clicking here.

Several days ago we announced the groups for the IEM5 American Finals at ComicCon in New York City. Rounding out Group B, along with EG, ex-Loaded and Backfire was Punto.cL, a Chilean team who was one of the three South American teams invited to the event.

Unfortunately for the team, they have announced that they will be unable to attend as they can’t afford the travel expenses. This comes after Punto.cL was originally the team that would be stepping in for Wild Ineters who were forced to decline the invitation for the very same reason.

The IEM organizers have announced that the American teams of WinOut and Excello will be playing an online match to determine who will attend the event to make Group B an all-American group.

The announcement regarding this can be found below:

Unfortunately neither Quake Live player John ‘ZeRo4‘ Hill nor the Chilean Counter-Strike team Punto cL will be able to attend the American Championship Finals taking place in about two weeks. Dan ‘vamp1re‘ Bradham will step in for Zero4 into group B of the Quake Live groupstage. Punto’s replacement will be determined in a match between WinOut.net and excello.zowie, which both lost their previous relegation matches.

More information about the event and the announcement can be found by clicking here.

Team Liquid has recently announced that Chris “HuK” Loranger, considered by many to be StarCraft 2’s best player, will be joining the organization. Fresh off his victory at the first ever MLG SC2 Tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina, HuK has been overwhelmingly  predicted to win the IEM American Finals, making him a very hot commodity for any organization looking to advance in the SC2 field.

HuK will also be moving in to the Liquid-oG house in Incheon, Korea along with Jonathan “Jinro” Walsh and Dario “TLO” Wunsch.

Liquid had the following to say about the aquisition:

We’re really happy to announce that HuK will be joining us as we strengthen our Liquid lineup Korea, and look forward to fielding him in the upcoming GSLs,” said Victor “Nazgul” Goossens, Manager of Liquid. “We’ve grown quickly since the retail release of Starcraft 2, and with HuK looking to go to Korea, we saw it as a great opportunity to recruit the strongest foreign Protoss in the world.

Liquid also did an interview with HuK. An excerpt can be found below:

MLG Raleigh – you took 1st place there, and in doing so grabbed the first major American title for SC2. When you started playing back during the beta, did you ever imagine you’d be at the top of a podium just a few months later?

Um yeah, kind of – I don’t want to sound too cocky but I told everyone before I even started playing the beta that I was going to be really good. Then once I started playing I knew I had the 100% commitment that you need to be the best. So I guess in a way I knew it was coming but it’s still cool how it’s happening so fast.

That’s interesting. How did you know you’d perform so well?

Well I had always been really good at games in general. I was good at Broodwar, among other RTS games, and that was during high school when generally I had 10901230120 different things going on as well. So when during the SC2 Beta I had nothing going on in my life, I could really focus on it and do well.

You’re the fourth Canadian to join Liquid, and the first to join the team’s SC2 lineup. Apart from producing a TSL Champion, your country also boasts of SC2 up and comers like KiWiKaKi and Suggy. Gonna give you moment now so you can give us a GO CANADA.

LOL. GO CANADA. But I’m American too. I grew up in the USA. 1 – 16 in USA, 16 – 21 Canada.

The full release can be found by clicking here.

Only one week after PoV announced that they were disbanding, Derek “dboorN” Boorn has signed a new contract from the likes of the Evil Geniuses. Derek will be taking the place of Ediz “goodfornothing” Basol, who has decided to retire from professional CS.

DboorN will be making his first start with EG at the WCG Grand Finals in Los Angeles, California where he will be representing the USA for Counter-Strike 1.6.

Alex Garfield had this to say about the pickup:

Derek is a player we’ve been eyeing for quite some time and have just recently had the opportunity of pursuing,” stated Alex Garfield, Executive Director of Evil Geniuses. “We were very sad to see Ediz go, as he was an incredible player, teammate, and person.  But with his decision to retire, we’re excited to welcome Derek’s talent, personality, and passion, and give him the opportunity to be embraced by his new teammates. We’re sure the team’s chemistry and ability will be empowered by his presence.

This makes the EG roster:

Danny “fRod” Montaner
Tyler “Storm” Wood
Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert
Tomi “lurppis” Kovanen
Derek “dboorN” Boorn

The full announcement can be found by clicking here.