The year's still got a few weeks to go, but as most Starcrafty stuff for the year is wrapped up, I figured it's a fine time to write an article about how this year's been for me. The year really does feel like it's sped by, and I'm really looking forward to another one like it in 2014. I had an amazing year of making friends, building my own brand in SC2 and being a part of a team that's become one of the best in Europe. I can't really think of what could have made the year much better. I could write a super long essay recapping everything that's happened this year, but honestly I don't really feel like writing that much, and I doubt you guys are interested in reading a practical novel-length blog post, so I'll try to make it (relatively) short and concise.
I gave up a lot to get into E-Sports. Prior to Starcraft II, my greatest passion was musical theatre. Throughout school, I was in every show, every musical event feasibly possible. After high school, I even took a foundation course in theatre while I prepared to audition for some of the best Musical Theatre schools in the world. I even got callbacks for a couple of them. Anyways, I won't ever be a professional in that field, as you really do need to stay in shape and constantly practice, so if E-Sports didn't pan out, I'd be a little bit fucked. In retrospect, choosing to pursue Starcraft II full time with a completely unknown team at the time was probably one of the stupidest decisions I've ever made, but it panned out, and I don't regret it one bit.
I also used to produce a lot of music, which I don't do anymore. I was never really any good at writing it myself, but my friend Enrico and I had a little thing going on where he'd arrange pieces and I'd perform them. Not being able to continue my musical escapades is probably the only big regret that I have about choosing to do what I do. I really do miss it quite a bit, and hopefully I can find the time to do more of that in the future at some point.
In 2012 I decided I wanted to be pro in Starcraft II. I didn't really know whether I wanted to go for casting or playing, so I decided to try both. I didn't really come into my own as a player until spring of this year, and even then I have never really excelled to the level where I can legitimately call myself a competitive progamer. I've taken games off some big names in tournaments (1-2 Targa, 1-2 Trend, 1-2 Zanster, and a couple others), but nothing consistent enough for them not to be considered flukes, if we're totally honest.
As for casting, it's been an amazing year. I was given the awesome opportunity to commentate for WCS Europe Challenger League seasons 2 and 3, and was allowed to cast a ton (far more than I expected) at Homestory Cup 8. I've also had the opportunity to cast with BaseTradeTV and through that been able to cast ATC and Dreamhack Winter, which has been awesome. I think it's safe to say that I've established myself as a reasonably decent caster in the scene, and I really hope I can continue to work on WCS Challenger next year. I have some concrete goals for my casting in the upcoming year as well. I won't mention all of them, but I definitely want to be a caster for a premier event (so if there's any event organizers reading this...!!!). I'm going to be throwing all of my efforts into my casting in 2014. I'm never going to be a tournament winning player, so it's definitely the right decision. I'll probably compete in several tournaments next year anyway since I'll be attending them anyways.
Speaking of tournaments, holy crap did I go to a lot this year. I competed in 2 ESET UK Masters events, 4 Dreamhacks and an MLG. I came top 12 in both ESET UK Masters events (not great but not awful), and pretty much bombed out of most of the other events (with the exception of Dreamhack Valencia, where I won my first group before getting trashed by Whitera and Verdi in round 2). I got to play on the NASL stream against MaximusBlack (2-0 for me) at MLG though, so that was a pretty cool experience! And I was on the main stream at Dreamhack Valencia too (also 2-0, vs some plat guy :D)!
This year's been an absolutely incredible year for mYinsanity as well. In January, if you'd have told us that we would have won Dreamhack Summer, Fragbite Masters, and have a former GSL champion on our roster, we'd have called you crazy. But as it turns out, sometimes things alilgn perfectly. The amount of coincidences that had to line up for us to be where we are today is insane. I don't believe in fate or anything like that, but sometimes it feels like some of this stuff is just meant to happen. I can guarantee you guys that 2014 is going to be an amazing year for us.
On another note I touched on earlier, this year has been an incredible one for making friends. I've made more new friends than I can count. First of all, all of my teammates are AMAZING PEOPLE. I honestly don't know how we keep getting so lucky with all of our players having just the right personality to fit right into our atmosphere. I have so much love for all of them. On top of that, I've met so many players, casters and personalities this year that have become really good friends of mine. Shoutouts especially to my caster buddies Jorosar, Nathanias, Madals and Rifkin. Much love to them too.
At this point I feel like this blog post is becoming more of a series of ramblings coming from me, so I'm going to wrap it up here. To conclude, how about some of my goals for 2014. Most importantly on a personal level, I want to cast a premier event. I don't think this is an unrealistic goal, but I still do need to work on improving before I'm at the level I have to be. But I plan on working hard and reaching that level! Another goal I have is to get all 3 races to high master level and switch to Random. I may even compete in some tournaments as Random, that would be fun, wouldn't it? I want to see mYi win a major team league. I'm talking ATC or something comparable. I have some more, but I'll keep those to myself.
Lastly, I want to take a quick moment to express my deepest thanks to everyone who has supported me in my Starcraft II career so far. All of the people who watch my casts, all of the people who watch my stream, all of the people who give me feedback on my commentary, all of the people who cheer for mYinsanity at events and in team leagues.... without you guys, I wouldn't be able to be where I am today. I'm unbelievably priviledged to be able to live the life I'm currently living, so thank you for being an integral part of why I can keep doing this. I won't let you down in 2014.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Shoutcraft America Winter Preview
While ASUS ROG may be taking most of the attention from the Starcraft scene this weekend, we shouldn't forget that the second iteration of Shoutcraft America will be happening in tandem with the German event! For those of you not familiar with the tournament, Shoutcraft America is a unique tournament hosted by TotalBiscuit and sponsored this time around by Ting. Basically, the top 7 from the North American ladder will join defending Shoutcraft champion, Kane, in a single elimination bracket for $5,000. With the brackets just being announced, I figured it'd be an opportune time to give my thoughts on the event. Here's some important notes on the qualification process:
- Only citizens or permanent residents of the Americas can compete (I.E. ForGG is rank 1 but ineligible due to being Korean living in Europe)
- Kane is qualified through being the defending champion, despite not being highly ranked on the NA ladder
- Obviously, having 2 accounts in the top 7 (as Huk did this time around) doesn't qualify you twice.
Despite a good number of vocal people down-talking the initial Shoutcraft America tournament back in Summer for lack of Korean (and therefore "good") players, TotalBiscuit was able to work his magic and brought in fantastic numbers nonetheless, so I'm very excited to see how this Shoutcraft performs! I have no doubt that with Idra and TotalBiscuit manning the casting stations, it's going to be a fantastic tournament. Side note, I really really enjoy Idra's casting. He did a fantastic job at IEM last weekend, so I'm very excited to listen to him this weekend as well. I hope he does more in the future. Now, without further ado, let's have a look at:
The Players
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| Photo by Richard "R1CH" Stanway |
mYi.Kane: Kane is the defending champion of Shoutcraft America. Going through players like qxc, Goswser and State, he was able to pocket $4,000 back in summer, and he's highly motivated to defend his title. While some might argue that he's playing with a lag disadvantage due to living in Europe, I can assure you all that we don't really get critical ping to the NA server, so have no fear! This will be Kane's first real tournament appearance for mYinsanity, so we're looking forward to it!
Acer.Scarlett: Scarlett comes into this tournament as the probable favorite to take it home, but she is going to be massively overworked this weekend between ASUS ROG Northcon and Shoutcraft America. It'll be interesting to see how well she can handle herself stamina-wise. Her Ro8 match is scheduled last though, so there is no chance of overlap with ASUS ROG, which is nice. With Scarlett's recent tournament successes, she definitely has a great chance of winning this tournament, packed schedule or not.
Major: It's been a while since we've seen Major in tournament action! Having moved back from Korea after a stint on KeSPA's 8th team, he's currently teamless, so a strong showing in Shoutcraft would be a great way to reaffirm his relevance in the scene and potentially stir up some interest in himself. I'm not too sure what to expect out of Major playwise this tournament as we really haven't seen much of him at all in the past few months, but he's always been a contender among foreigners, and could definitely pose a threat to the favorites.
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| Photo by Kevn "Silverfire" Chang |
EG.HuK: It's been a long time since the MLG winning glory days of Huk, but while he's been up and down with results this year, he has at least shown that he's still around, with a pretty good Dreamhack circuit this year (with the exception of Summer) including two top 16 finishes at Valencia and Stockholm. Comparing him to his American peers, Huk has looked pretty strong recently in online competition, specifically in the Homestory Cup VIII Qualifier where he took out qxc, Kane and Suppy, and in the IEM Singapore qualifier where he took out State, Suppy and puCK. With his ups and downs, it's hard to call how Huk will do, but if he plays his best he's always a contender.
EG.DeMusliM: Demu! It's so sad that we see so little of Demuslim in tournaments nowadays, but the lack of tournaments for him makes seeing him in this lineup all the sweeter. While he's spent most of 2013 predominantly being a streamer and not so tournament-focused, he's still regarded as one of the strongest players currently residing in the North American region. His recent tournament results, however, have been lacklustre to say the least. a Round of 32 elimination in the final season of WCS America Premier League followed by (only) a top 32 finish in Challenger League and an abysmal IEM New York open bracket performances winning only one of his 3 matches. Demuslim has a lot of fans cheering for him to go far in this tournament, and he definitely needs a good result to prove to both his fans and himself that he's still capable of challenging the best that North America has to offer.
ROOT.MaSa: MaSa is a bit more on the unknown side for those of us not super familiar with the NA scene. He's definitely a good player, but he's more of a ladder hero than anything else of late, with his last premier tournament showing being way back in NASL Season 4 back in 2012. To be honest, the only thing I remember seeing MaSa in recently is BaseTradeTV's Starcraft 2 Survivor show, and even that didn't last for long. I kind of want to predict him to do well because I know he's a strong player, but looking at the limited recent results (which include going 0-4 in the first round at the last Shoutcraft and an 0-2 record in ATC Season 1), I don't have all too much confidence in him, but we'll see if he can prove me wrong!
SYF.Hitman: Who the hell is this guy? Nobody really seems to know. If there has ever been a dark horse going into a tournament, Hitman is it. All that I can really find on the guy is that he played in some small team leagues and is regarded as extremely cheesy (apparently he only played 4 gate for all of WoL). Pulling Scarlett first is bad luck for the kid, but with nobody expecting much out of him, there's nothing to lose, and he can only impress. Even winning a map or two in the Bo5 series would be a great way to put his name on the map. I always love seeing new names rise up in the scene, so here's to hoping that Hitman can put on a good showing this weekend!
ROOT.Minigun: Minigun has had a very solid year, despite having very limited tournament opportunities due to being located in America. He's one of just a few foreigners who has maintained a WCS America Premier League spot for all 3 seasons, coming top 16 in Season 2. Minigun also managed a very respectable top 24 finish at the MLG Spring Championship in Anaheim, falling only to HerO and YugiOh. Despite coming into Shoutcraft America Winter as the last seed, I'm looking forward to a good showing from the ROOT Protoss.
The Matches
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| Shoutcraft America Winter Bracket |
Kane vs Minigun:
I think this one is going to be the best match of the first round. Both players seem pretty similar in levels of play, and personally PvZ is my favorite matchup to watch, so I'm really hyped for this. Based on having seen Kane's recent play though (and maybe partially because of my own bias, hehe), I've got to predict this one going to Kane by a scoreline of 3-2
Masa vs Major:
This one's much harder to call, since we haven't really seen much of either of these guys recently. Major has always been one of the top foreign terrans though, with a pretty solid TvT if memory serves, so I think he has to be the favorite going into this. Of all the matches, it's the ony I'm looking forward to the least, but I still think it'll be a good set of games. I'm mostly interested to see the winner vs the winner of Kane vs Minigun. I'm gonna go with Major winning this 3-1.
Demuslim vs Huk:
This one's probably the most highly anticipated match for the masses. The EG Teamkill will definitely pull views, that's for sure. Huk is definitely the favorite, but if Demuslim is going to put his name back on the map, taking out Huk would be a great way to do just that. I have no doubt that he's going to be very motivated going into this, and he definitely has the quality to upset Huk. I'm expecting a close match either way, but based on recent results, I have to go with Huk 3-2
Hitman vs Scarlett:
I am so hyped for this. I really love watching new talent pop up and see how they can do, and that's exactly what Hitman is going to be doing here. Going up against the tournament favorite in the first round is some pretty awful luck, but we'll see what this wily Protoss can pull out to try to take down Scarlett, who doesn't have the most fantastic recent track record against Protoss cheese (WCS America Season 3, anyone?). That being said, even with the potential tournament fatigue from coming off of ASUS ROG Northcon, I still have to favor Scarlett to take a pretty convincing 3-0.
In Summary:
It's gonna be another fantastic weekend of Starcraft. Even if you're more inclined to follow ASUS ROG Northcon, you should definitely stop by and show your support for Shoutcraft America Winter as well, as this bracket has the potential to show us some seriously awesome games. So make sure you tune in, and cheer for Kane!!
ASUS ROG Northcon Preview!
ASUS ROG is almost upon us! This weekend, 16 top Starcraft 2 players will duke it out at Northcon, the largest LAN party in Germany, for $25,000 of prize money. Before diving into my predictions, there are a few notable factoids that should be mentioned:
This is the last chance for a foreigner to win a premier tournament in 2013. Enough said. This is it. 7 Koreans vs 9 Foreigners.With Scarlett and Vortix there, I think there's a legitimate chance of it happening, but it is still pretty unlikely.
Taeja is not going. Generally, there wouldn't be much of a point in mentioning somebody's absence, but given how unbelievably good Taeja is at the moment (clear number 1 in the world in my eyes for the time being), the chances for everyone there increase exponentially due to his absence.
StarDust and Jjakji will be there! OK sure, for most people that's probably not the hugest of deals, but given that these guys are my teammates and my buddies, for me it is!
One participant is still to be determined! There will be a BYOC qualifier to decide who the final player in Group A will be. To be honest, I don't really see many strong players making the trip all the way there for a BYOC qualifier with only 1 slot in the main event, so I assume that the winner of that will be a German player who doesn't have to travel too far. TLO perhaps? Would be cool!
The current Northcon defending champion is mYi.ABomB. Yes yes yes, I know, it wasn't a premier tournament last year and there were no big names in it BUT STILL!
But now, without further ado, ONTO THE PREVIEW!
The Players:
Acer.Innovation: For months, Innovation was the undisputed number 1 in the world. While he's dropped off a bit in the past couple of months, he's still a formidable force to be reckoned with. He hasn't won a major title recently, but results like a top 4 finish at Dreamhack Winter, a 77% winrate in the ATC and an 86% winrate in the GSTL speak for themselves. |
| Picture by Kevin "Silverfire" Chang |
NrS.Welmu: It's hard to feel optimistic for Welmu coming into this tournament. The poor guy has had health issues that prevented him from attending Dreamhack Winter most recently, and one has to wonder how his form is looking. On top of that, he doesn't have a Protoss opponent to show off his legendary PvP. Life is hard for Welmu (horrible pun intended this time) this weekend, but I hope he can defy the odds and upset the Korean titans in his group!
EG.Jaedong: Jaedong wants this. Bad. His seemingly endless string of second place finishes this year gets more painful to look at every time he fails in a final. Something to consider, though, is that while this tournament is stacked, JD has made it through much harder tournament brackets already this year. If there ever was a tournament for him to finally reach out and grab that trophy, this is it.
mYi.StarDust: StarDust has not been playing the best Starcraft of his life lately. This summer was fantastic for StarDust, with a win at Dreamhack Summer, a top 4 finish at Dreamhack Valencia, and a top 8 finish at the last ASUS ROG in Finland. A top 12 finish at Dreamhack Bucharest was respectable also, but his last two tournaments have been fairly forgettable, with a Round of 16 elimination at Homestory Cup and a very disappointing first round elimination at Dreamhack Winter. StarDust is motivated to show a sign of life and show that he's still a contender at this tournament.
Acer.Nerchio: Similar to StarDust, Nerchio is another tournament winning caliber player, but one who has not been playing at his old level lately. He did have a top 8 finish at WCS Europe Season 3, but coming out of both of his groups in second and then falling 0-3 to MMA in the Round of 8 didn't make it the most glorious of runs, and with his most recent performance being a Round of 32 elimination at Homestory Cup, this tournament is going to be important for Nerchio if he wants to finish 2013 on a good note.
mouz.HasuObs: HasuObs had a pretty good summer this year as well, with a top 8 finish in WCS Europe Season 2 and a respectable Round of 16 finish at Homestory Cup VII, losing out to Hyun and Violet. Recently, however, he's looked less strong, with Round of 32 eliminations at both WCS Europe Season 3 and Homestory Cup VIII. He did do reasonably at WCG this past weekend though, taking a 2-0 win over Capoch as well as a 2-0 win over Taiwanese representative, Ian. I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the German, but hopefully with the home crowd on his side he can have a good showing.
yoeFW.San: San comes into this tournament off the back of a 2nd place finish at IEM Singapore, where he reaffirmed that he is the current king of the PvZ matchup. He's another one who has yet to taste victory in a premier tournament, though he has come close this year with two runner up finishes (the other being at the previous ASUS ROG this summer). With a bit of bracket luck, this could be his time to shine and finally grab that tournament win.
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| Picture by Kevin "Silverfire" Chang |
mouz.Vortix: One half of the Spanish Armada, and in my opinion, one of the two (moderately) realistic foreigners to take this tournament. Vortix has a good year behind him, with a top 8 finish at WCS Europe Season 2 and a top 4 finish at Season 3. He notably also boasts a 68% winrate in the ATC where he all killed Quantic Gaming not one month ago. Vortix is a scary force to be reckoned with, and even if he isn't the favorite to make it out of Group C, the Koreans had better watch out.
aTn.Socke: Socke is the second German representative in ASUS ROG Northcon. Qualifying alongside HasuObs from the BCON Clash qualifiers, he's had to earn his spot here. He started the year with a phenomenal top 4 finish at IEM Katowice, but he seems to have had a bit of trouble transitioning to Heart of the Swarm, as he was eliminated from WCS Europe entirely in Season One, following which he suffered Round of 32 eliminations in both Homestory Cup VII and ASUS ROG Summer. After a 2 month break from events however, Socke showed us a sign of life at the most recent Homestory Cup, beating out MaNa and Zenio to advance to the Round of 16, where he would finish 3rd in his group, after Leenock and HyuN. Oh and don't worry guys, the Socke that went 0-14 at WCG wasn't this guy.
mYi.Jjakji: Jjakji was one of those forgotten GSL Champions for a pretty long time. After winning GSL November 2011, he did nothing for almost two years until he tore through WCS Korea Season 3 out of nowhere, finishing 6th place. After moving to Europe, his first result was 3rd place at Homestory Cup VIII, and since arriving he's maintaining a 90% winrate on the EU ladder after about 300 games between his accounts. Jjakji is ridiculously strong at the moment, and he can definitely take this tournament, though with people like Life and Jaedong around, I wouldn't make him the top favorite to win it all. Either way, keep an eye on him.
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| Picture by Kevin "Silverfire" Chang |
mouz.LucifroN: The other half of the Spanish Armada. Lucifron has always been pegged as one of the top foreign Terrans, but a huge success still eludes the Spaniard. He has a good year behind him nonetheless, with a 6th place finish in WCS Europe Season 1, and two Dreamhack Top 8 finishes at Summer and Valencia. Recently, though, his form has declined with a Round of 32 elimination in WCS EU Season 3, and an abysmal 0-8 mapscore at Dreamhack Winter. Lucifron needs a good showing to remind people why he's considered one of the top foreign Terrans, and he needs a good performance to ensure that his final memories of 2013 aren't first round eliminations.
ENCE.Elfi: Finally, we get to Elfi, our last player. Elfi is the most unpredictable character in the European scene. Sometimes he'll have incredible showings (Top 8 at Dreamhacks Bucharest and Valencia), and sometimes he just... won't (Round of 64 elimination at Dreamhack Stockholm, Round of 32 elimination at WCS EU Season 2). One thing has to be said for the guy: he's never a bore to watch. He's playing pretty well recently, with his last major tournament being Dreamhack Bucharest's top 8 finish, and more recently he's maintaining a 50% winrate in the ATC, where he recently took out Taeja, TLO and HerO back to back. As always, I'll be interested to see how the eternal dark horse does this weekend.
The Groups
Group A:
Prediction:
Life > Innovation
Welmu > TBD (Hard to judge since we don't know who it will be yet)
Life > Welmu
Innovation > TBD (Less hard to judge, no matter who comes through BYOC)
Innovation > Welmu
Group B:
Prediction:
Jaedong > StarDust
Nerchio > HasuObs
Jaedong > Nerchio
StarDust > HasuObs
StarDust > Nerchio
Group C:
Prediction:
MMA > San
Vortix > Socke
MMA > Vortix
San > Socke
San > Vortix
Group D:
Prediction:
Jjakji > Scarlett
Elfi > Lucifron
Jjakji > Elfi
Scarlett > Lucifron
Scarlett > Elfi
In Summary:
This should be another awesome tournament. Looking beyond the group stages, I think the favorites to take this tournament have to be Life, Jaedong and MMA, with Jjakji definitely capable of posing a threat. Scarlett has the best chance of the foreigners, though I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you. Jaedong could also finally nab a tournament win here too. It's stacked, but not as stacked as others where he's failed. If I had to put my money on somebody though, it would be Life. Unfortunately, if my predictions come true, StarDust and Jjakji will end up in a team kill situation in the Ro8, which would be very sad,but we'll see what happens. I won't be attending this event, so I'll be camped out on the couch with the other guys at the house, but I'll definitely be cheering my heart out for Jjakji and StarDust!
A Wild Blog Appears!
I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while now. I don't have any real master plan behind starting this thing up, but I've always enjoyed writing, and I figured it might be fun to have somewhere for me to write stuff up every now and then. I'd like to make posting here a relatively regular thing, but to be quite honest, there is a very real chance that I'll just get bored, so I'm not going to make any promises!
Presumably, most people who end up visiting this will be coming from my own social media, so 99% of you probably know who I am, but a short introduction for those potential visitors who aren't familiar with me: My name is Stefan (PengWin in the online world) and I'm a 20 year old Swiss guy from Zurich who does Starcraft II stuff fulltime, whether it be commentating, playing, managing... I'm sort of one of those "Jack of all trades, master of none" kind of guy. Although I guess as a player I'm technically a master league player so that's kind of a misnomer... but whatever. I also am very into music, acting, musical theatre, and all that sort of stuff as well! I'm never really that good at "short" introductions to myself because I'm never sure where to stop, so that'll round this introduction up I guess.
As for this blog, what's its purpose? The main purpose I suppose is just to have a place where I can leave my thoughts. A large amount of the posts are going to be Starcraft related, because honestly, Starcraft is about 90% of my life right about now. Occasionally I may stop in to write up something not related to SC2, but that remains to be seen. Oh, one thing I'll definitely be doing a lot of is pre-tournament write ups and predictions. I'm not a wizard who correctly predicts everything ever or anything, but I find making predictions fun, so hey, why not? I'll probably post a prediction write up for ASUS ROG Northcon tomorrow or something, since that's this weekend. I'll probably also document events that I go to personally, though there shouldn't be any of those for the next month or two, so that depends very much on whether or not I'm still actually doing this whole blog thing.
Anyways, I can't think of anything else relevant that needs to be included in this post, so welcome to my blog, and I hope you enjoy my ramblings!
Oh, and while you're here, have this cute picture of a penguin:
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