You can read more about the amazing artwork used above at the bottom of the post!
Happy Starcrafing! 😀 I just wanted to say a few things here before getting to the news. You will realise, when you head into this rather lengthy post, that I have added a smalls section to the start of both the Tournament & Event News and Community News sections. This little summary of news posts makes it a little easier to set these posts up. I throw all the news in there that I feel is not really worth actually elaborating on in the post, while still keeping it in there for all those die-hards out there. Sooo be sure to skim over those and make sure you aren’t missing something you don’t want to miss! Otherwise, enjoy the news and thanks for all the support!
Starcraft II Patch 1.2 – Release Date?
To start this off I just wanted to give everyone a heads up, Blizzard confirmed that they’ve been doing more fixes and testing on an internal PTR and that Starcraft II Patch 1.2 is expected to come hit the live servers next week, if all goes well. That is really great news, so, if you want to prepare for the changes that are coming I suggest you give the latest version of the PTR patch notes a quick read, you can find them below, along with the official announcement of the patches release. Enjoy!
StarCraft II Patch 1.2 Release Plans *1/5 – Starcraft II Official Forums
StarCraft II Patch 1.2.0 PTR Notes – Starcraft II Official Forums
1/5/11- After additional testing and feedback from the community on the PTR, we’ve identified and fixed several issues and are now targeting next week for patch 1.2. We will update this thread should there be any further delays.
Blizzard Entertainment
GSL – Code-S / Code-A
The GSL play-days are flying by fast and we are being treated with more and more extremely high quality play. There really have been some amazing games, but, there have also been a few upsets. So let’s have a look how all our favourite Code-S and Code-A players are doing. There is an amazing thread up on the TeamLiquid forums that was put together by a user named motbob and well, look no further for your GSL results.
In the Code-A big names such as IMJunwi, aLivefOu, oGsTOP, sCfOu, Loner and ST.July. have made it through to the next round. Well known players that failed to advance in the Code-A include TankboyPrime.WE, ST.Ace and LiquidRet.
Players that have advanced to the next round in Code-S are IMNesTea, TheBestfOu, IMMvp, oGsZenio, SlayerS_BoxeR, oGsHyperdub, choyafOu, TSL.sSKS, NSP.Genius, ST.RainbOw, oGsMC and finally oGsNaDa.The Code-S has not been without upset, though. The following big names failed to progress – Polt & MakaPrime, The Fruitdealer, who lost to IMMvp and oGsZenio, HongUnPrime, oGsTheWind, KyrixZenith, TSL_Rain, LeenockfOu, sanZenith and oGsInca.
There are more matches to be played tomorrow, so as I mentioned, if you check the post linked below out you will get a much clearer picture of what’s going on right now. It really is well put together and gives all the right information. Keep checking back here for more GSL updates, though.
[R&S] GOM Code S/Code A Jan 2011 – TeamLiquid
GSL Official Map Change Coming Soon
In some more GSL related news, GSL Code-S pro-gamer NSPGenius posted a thread on PlayXP about an upcoming, and official, GSL map change. According to NSPGenius, the four bad maps that are set to be pulled out from GSL maplist are Steppes of War, Delta Quadrant, Blistering Sands and one last unknown one. The maps set to replace those maps are the following: Aiur Garden, Tal’Darim Altar, Biohazard, Crossfire and Terminus Re. According to a reply from GSL staff it seems like the Gisado Star-Challenge is now testing the new maps for next GSL season. I guess we will just have to wait and see if these new ones will actually get used, or if Blizzard will step in and step up with their maps. Who knows, see images of the new maps below along with the full quotes, enjoy!
GSL official map change SOON™ – TeamLiquid
GOMtv Send Your Favourite Player To Korea
GOMtv has sent out a request to the community seeking their opinions on which foreigners to invite to participate in the next season of the GSL, starting in February. They let us know, in the same quote, that there will be at least four spots to fill. This means that players who cannot play in the preliminaries or were not able to win a spot in the qualification has still the chance to play in the Global StarCraft 2 League’s main event. So if you are keen to help out or just see what others are saying you can head on over to the GOMtv support forums to check it out.
Discussion thread for 4 seeded foreign players in next GSL – GOMtv
Hello,In GSL Feb, which will take in February we plan to invite 4 notable foreign players who will be given seeds to be invited to play in Code A. Which players do you feel deserve such chance?
Discuss and name the players who will be worthy of receiving such seeds. Your discussion will provide valuable feedback for us and help to make more interesting GSL.ex)name : your opinion
Thank You.
GOMtv
Tournament & Event Smalls:
- effka Wins Craft Cup Lite #27 – CraftCup
- Gomas Wins Craft Cup Lite #28 – CraftCup
- nani Wins Craft Cup #25 – CraftCup
- Strelok Wins Go4SC2 Cup #71 – MyM
- MaNa Wins Go4SC2 Monthly Finals – MyM
- TheLittleOne Wins PokerIdol European Championship – SK Gaming
- Black Dragon League Has Started – White-Ra & Socke Take Their Games – GosuGamers
- Tons Of TSL Information On LiquidPedia – TeamLiquid
Go4SC2 & Craft Cup Monthly Finals
Tying in with the weekly cup winners we have the Go4SC2 and Craft Cup Monthly finals coming up soon. Yes indeed, the four winners of last month’s CraftCups are set to battle it out on each first Sunday of the new month for a 500$ Price Pool. As you all probably know, the Go4SC2 Monthly Finals work in pretty much the same way, too. So if you want to read about all the big names set to take part in both these events, or just when exactly both are set to start, check the links below for all of that and more!
Go4SC2 – Monthly Final December! – TeamLiquid
CraftCup EU – King of the Month – TeamLiquid
Kas Wins TeamSpeak TL Open #8 (VODs & Interview Included!)
TeamSpeak TeamLiquid Starcraft II Open #8 has been completed and Kas has taken the first place. It is worth noting that this event was also a qualifier for the PokerStrategy.com TeamLiquid Starleague 3. That does in fact mean that Kas has qualified for the TSL3 and the top 16 finishers of the event also earned quite a few qualifier points to help thems earn their own spot. You can see the full results, read an interview with the winning player, Kas, and watch the VODs of the TS TL Open #8 below.
[VODs] TeamSpeak TL SC2 Open #8 – TeamLiquid
PokerStrategy.com TSL3 Qualifier #1 Recap – TeamLiquid
Machinima Realm Starcraft II Invitational
Machinima Realm has announced their first venture into the world of Starcraft, an invitational including the teams Liquid, ROOT, EG, mousesports and Prime, who all will be competing for the prize pool of $2,500! The tournament is going to be a best of 7 clan war containing both 1v1’s and 2v2’s. Dates are apparently not finalized yet and the matches will, as far as I can tell, be played when the players have the time for them. (That sounds a little loose?) Lucky for us, though, the replays will be cast by none other than Crota, from the BlizShouter channel. You can read more about the event and watch the announcement videos below!
Machinima Realm Invitational – GosuGamers
StarCraft 2 XMG Series By TaKe
The German ESL TV commentator, TaKe has introduced his very own tournament series, the StarCraft 2 XMG Series. The series is set to be split into four tournaments. The participants will have the chance to win 100 Euros in each one as well as a ticket to the offline finals, to be held in Hannover, Germany. In Hannover, the players will battle it out for the grand prize of a XMG Notebook worth more than 2,000 Euro, sponsored by MYSN. The first of the series of tournaments is actually set to take place on the 11th of January! Stay tuned for more information about this and, if you want to know more about where to watch this or about where to sign up you’d better follow the link below.
StarCraft 2 XMG Series by TaKe – GosuGamers
IMMvp Wins Gainward Starcraft II Tournament
The terran playing IMMvp managed to take former GSL winner, clanmate and zerg player IMNesTea down in the finals of the Gainward Starcraft II Tournament in Korea. In the grand finals he won with a convincing score of 3 to 0 to take hom $4,300 and the first place trophy. The top three at the event were as follows:
- IMMvp
- IMNestea
- MarineKingPrime
You can find the full results and read more about the event and all that transpired there in the link provided below!
Gainward SC2 Tournament by Absolute Korea (9/01) – TeamLiquid
Bacchus OSL – Ro8 Week One
Even more Brood War goodness incoming! TeamLiquid have, once again, published some amazingly in-depth coverage of the Bachus OSL that’s currently running in South Korea, for Starcraft: Brood War. Although, after seeing Flash and JaeDong’s premature departures, is there really any more excitement left? Well, I guess I will leave that open for debate and let you discover the answer for yourselves. Read about the first week of the round of 8 below , it’s full of great write-ups, results and some funny images to boot! Enjoy!
[OSL] 2010 Bacchus OSL- RO8 Week One – TeamLiquid
Community Smalls:
- Mousesports seeks German StarCraft 2 talent – GosuGamers
- Jimpo And Inuh Join SK – GosuGamers
- ToD Joins Millenium – MyM
- LiquidRet vs SEA All-Stars Showmatch – TeamLiquid
- SEn Invited To SEA IEM Qualifiers
- Millenium Recruits DieStar – MyM
- Clan Empire Restructured – MyM
Liquid Weekly #21
The 21st Liquid Weekly is out and, as usual, it is packed full of TeamLiquid goodness. While this edition is mostly just GSL news, there is a really lengthy TheLittleOne interview along with some pictures of his playspace, if that’s what you call it. They also spotlight Blamous and his daughter Stargirl from over at the NuubCast on YouTube and give us even more Jinro replays with two all new Jinro wallpapers. A pretty interesting weekly with more than enough to keep us happily reading, watching and enjoying for at least a little while. Check it out below.
Liquid Weekly #21 – TeamLiquid
eG Recruit DeMusliM & Promises GSL Action
One of the bigger pieces of player and clan news of the past week is that eG bought DeMusliM out of his running contract with mTw in order to add him to their already impressive Starcraft II line-up. eG already currently homes several stars of the RTS scene such as Starcraft II Badboy IdrA, Warcraft III legend Grubby and many others. DeMusliM released an official statement about the transfer that basically just said he was thrilled to be part of eG and that he was glad that the guys from mTw took it so well and supported him throughout. You can read the full details of the transfer below along with DeMusliM’s full statement.
Right after this it was announced that eG have plans to set up a house in South Korea where their players would be able to prepare for and compete in competitions such as the Global Starcraft 2 League and the Global Starcraft 2 Team League. Aditionally, it was revealed that they would in fact be sending Benjamin “Demuslim” Baker to South Korea to participate in the future qualification rounds of the GSL. These articles and quotes are definitely worth a read, they even compare Desmuslim’s marketability to another famous European player’s, Grubby. Read all of that below, enjoy!
DeMuslim will go to Korea – TeamLiquid
eG acquires DeMusliM – MyM
Starcraft II In Western eSports: Is A Korean Model Needed?
FNATIC recently published an article by Marc ‘frequency’ Onofrio where he argues that there is no need for StarCraft II to be televised in the West for it to gain mainstream popularity and success. He claims that online streaming is a far more efficient and logical way to push the game in the right direction. He says he’d love to hear your opinions on the topic, and any general feedback/questions. It is an interesting concept and, well, one that is actually quite often mentioned and talked about. Obviously streaming and online is the way forward, the whole world can be involved in absolutely any event from absolutely anywhere. But, it’s just not the same as a live event, is it? Ah well, if you are interested, check that out below, definitely worth a read!
StarCraft II in Western e-sports: Is the Korean model needed? – FNATIC
ESL TV: RotterdaM University
The chief of Intel Extreme Masters, Michal ‘Carmac’ Blicharz, is set to be featured in a new show on ESL TV where he will go from a total noob to a Diamond player. How, you ask? Well this will be done with the help of Kevin ‘RotterdaM’ van der Kooi. The show will be called RotterdaM University and will follow the process of the former WarCraft III legend RotterdaM teaching Carmac every little thing he needs to know about StarCraft II. Carmac is a well-known eSports journalist, having worked for sites as SK-Gaming and Global Gaming League, but, one thing is certain, he sucks at Starcraft II. So you can watch the incredibly funny trailer for the show above and read more about it in the links below. The first episode is set to air sometime in the month of January.
Korean Player of the Year – GosuGamers Awards – 2010
GosuGamers have revealed yet another of their Top of 2010 series of posts, this time we are voting for the top Korean Starcraft II players of 2010! So help GosuGamers out by voting for the player who, in your opinion, was the Korean of the year in 2010. The voting will end on January the 14th and the winner will be presented shortly thereafter. There are a bunch of amazing choices here, names I really don’t need to even mention, but will anyway. MC, FruitDealer, Tester, NesTea, MarineKing, Genius, BoxeR, Mvp, Maka and Rainbow. If there was ever a hard choice to make, this is no doubt it. The nominees were carefully chosen by the GosuCrew and I look forward to seeing which if these amazing players comes out on top in the polls. Check it out and read more about all the candidates below, enjoy!
GosuGamers Awards 2010: Korean Player of the Year – GosuGamers
ESL TV: RotterdaM to teach Carmac StarCraft – GosuGamers
Blizzard Fan Art Gallery Update
Blizzard has added six new pieces of artwork to their Blizzard Fan Art Section today. There are a few really, really amazing pieces here. So if you are keen to have a look at the many different interpretations of the StarCraft universe forged by some extremely talented artists, you know where to look!
Blizzard Fan Art Gallery Update – Starcraft II Community Site
Robert Clotworthy Interview
The blog Reactiontime has a pretty interesting interview up with someone we don’t really hear enough from, outside of Starcraft II that is, Robert Clotworthy. Robert is the man behind the voice of Jim Raynor in Starcraft II, if you were wondering. The best part about this interview? You don’t have to read it! Yes indeed, an audio interview with the man himself. You can check that out to hear more about his involvement with Blizzard, voice acting in general and the future of Starcraft II and Jim Raynor. Get to know the man behind that legendary voice, Enjoy!
Interview with Robert Clotworthy – Reactiontime
GSL – Artosis Trolled During Player Interviews
Lastly for those of you that want a bit of a laugh, it seems like Artosis is STILL being trolled during his player interviews at the GSL, quite hard I must add, by the users of the GOMtv forums. The names these guys come up with… really now. Check the video out above, enjoy!
mitarn 