STX Masters Tournament Review

2008 STX Masters Tournament Review

Last year, STX announced the first annual STX Masters Tournament to address seasonal depression caused by the near-simultaneous end of MSL, OSL, and Proleague play. The STX Masters Tournament is a fairly simple three-match playoff that pits four Proleague teams against each other in clanwar-style best-of-seven matches.

SK Telecom T1, Samsung KHAN, MBCGame HERO, and STX SouL are this year's qualifiers. What happens when you throw these four talented squads into clanwar-style match play? Read on for your complete guide to the 2008 STX Masters Tournament: VOD listings, recommended games, results, and brief match reports!

SC2GG Interviews on The Escapist Magazine

World of Starcraft by Daeran Wang of The Escapist Magazine

Another World
Imagine an auditorium filled with eager fans, many of them young women holding up signs and screaming themselves hoarse. Huge screens display images capturing different angles of the action as commentators attempt to analyze the performances and excite the crowd. Imagine two television stations broadcasting 24 hours a day, devoting themselves to this sport.

In Korea, this sport is StarCraft.

My World
For about six months straight, I took many of my meals at my computer, logged into YouTube. After cooking my dinner (usually pasta or rice), I would load one of Klazart's, diggity's or moletrap's StarCraft videos....

Read the full article HERE, and post on their discussion forum afterwards if you want.

Alternatively, you can discuss on the SC2GG Forums HERE.

Enjoy, and thank you to The Escapist, as well as the SC2GG members who helped out for doing this.

The OSL Update 8/26/2008

Greetings, folks, it's time for another OSL Update and holy cow, this one's exciting. OSL action has been so... its been so...

Well, the only words I really know to describe it are freakin' sweet!

Round of 36 group play is officially over, and the player pool for the round of 16 is nothing short of amazing. Before I get into all that, though, I need to issue a little disclaimer. If you're reading this for match reviews turn back now. The only review to be found here will be match scores, and the occasional reference to a must see game. This article is 100% dedicated to round of 16 hype. That said, buckle up boys and girls, this OSL is going to be one helluva ride.

Click here to read on.

Video & News Update - August 25/08

News & Interviews from around the SC World courtesy of our friends at SCForAll:

Much[gm] Interview - Grandpa Toss tells all, like how he doesn't look old, why he works out, what he thinks of himself, and yes ladies, what he looks for in a girl! - courtesy of Fomos.kr
SCForAll Article - SC2GG Forum Discussion

- MSL Game Day Interviews - Stork, Bul_T & Type-B - These three players reflect on the MSL, the results, and how they prepare and focus. Stork is one of my two favorite players (the other is Jaedong) so I liked this interview. (WARNING: May contain spoilers)
SCForAll Article - SC2GG Forum Discussion

- MSL Game Day Interviews - Sea.Ruby - Ruby has been accused of some BM in the past, but Peanut really thinks he's cute! What does he have to say about the MSL and his opponents? (WARNING: May contain spoilers)
SCForAll Article - SC2GG Forum Discussion

The SCForAll Spirit Tournament - you know, the one where YOU can become a Pro Gamer by playing vs Korean Pros and getting your results evaluated, is well into its second week, and things are progressing smoothly. Basically, how it's being run at this stage is to hold a ladder competition using the iCCup Ladder System - you can find the entire Spirit Tournament Rankings HERE. The SCForAll Article contains an overview of what's going on.
Some notable names: Popular American Gamer and TSL Semi-Finalist NonY is currently in 2nd place, with a record of 72-7! TSL Quarterfinalist MYM.Dinot is 7th, and strangely enough, the original co-founder of SC2GG.com - Eggy - is in 35th spot. Cmon Eggy, play non-Python!
SCforAll Article - SCForAll VODs, with Artosis Commentary

Ok, enough news for now - head on over to SCForAll.com and read some more there. There's something about TossGirl so you better run quick!

The Video Update - Enjoy All! Lots to watch!

OSL Prelim
Group E - SangHo (P) vs JoJoBa (Z), Winner vs Mind (T) by DimeCollector
Match 1: SangHo (P) vs JoJoBa (Z)
Games Not Done
Match 2: Winner vs Mind (T)
Game 1 on Plasma - Part 1 - Part 2
Games 2 and 3 not done.

Group F - Iris (T) vs Pusan (P), Winner vs Bisu (P) by PsyonicReaver
Match 1 - Iris (T) vs Pusan (P)
Game 1 on Plasma - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Return of the King - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Andromeda - Part 1 - Part 2
Match 2 - Winner vs Bisu (P)
Game 1 on Plasma - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Return of the King - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Andromeda - Part 1 - Part 2

Group J - Go.Go (T) vs BestGod (P), Winner vs GGPlay (Z) by Deus_073
Match 1: Go.Go (T) vs BestGod (P)
Game 1 on Plasma - Part 1 - Part 2
Games 2 and 3 not done.
Match 2: Winner vs GGPlay (Z)
Games not done.

Group K - Soo (P) vs Fantasy (T), Winner vs NaDa (T) by Cholera
Match 1 - Soo (P) vs Fantasy (T)
Games not done.
Match 2 - Winner vs NaDa (T)
Game 1 on Plasma - One Part Only
Game 2 on Return of the King - P1 - P2 - P3 - P4 - P5
Game 3 on Andromeda - Part 1 - Part 2

MSL Survivor Tournament
Group 4 - Frozean (T), DarkElf (T), Luxury (Z), Tempest (P) by KnightOfNi
Game 1 on Athena - Luxury (Z) vs Tempest (P) - One Part Only
Game 2 on Athena - Frozean (T) vs DarkElf (T) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Byzantium - Winners Game - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 4 on Byzantium - Losers Game - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 5 on Blue Storm - Final Game - Part 1 - Part 2

Group 6 - Savior (Z), Spear (P), Hyuk (Z), Upmagic (T) by KnightOfNi
Game 1 on Athena - Savior (Z) vs Spear (P) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Athena - Hyuk (Z) vs Upmagic (T) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Byzantium - Winners Game - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Games 4 and 5 not done.

Group 10 - Firebathero (T), Koala (T), YelloW[Arnc] (Z), NBS (P) by Cholera
Game 1 on Athena - Firebathero (T) vs Koala (T) - One Part Only
Game 2 on Athena - YelloW[Arnc] (Z) vs NBS (P) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Byzantium - Winners Game - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 4 on Byzantium - Losers Game - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 5 on Blue Storm - Final Game - One Part Only

Other SC Commentary Games
The Ensnare Debate - Settled by Moletrap - No longer can people wonder what Ensnare does!

FPVods
Deus_073 (T) vs Various - 3 Games, 5'oclock vs 1'oclock on Othello - Part 1 - Part 2
Deus_073 (T) vs Vaul (T) on Othello - Commentator Clash! - Part 1 - Part 2
Vaul (T) vs Silver (Z) on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2
Vaul (War3 Undead) vs Bnet User (War3 Undead) - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

MSL Round of 16 from May 29th, 2008 - yep, this is old!
Hwasin (T) vs NaDa (T) by Dimecollector
Game 1 on Othello - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Colosseum - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 Not Done

NOTE: Comments have been temporarily disabled due to an error causing front page load times to increase. Hopefully, this can be corrected soon enough.

In the meantime - DISCUSS THIS NEWS POST ON THE FORUMS

Hope everyone has a good day!

MSL Survivor Tournament Update - by BachHo

SC2GG's Coverage of the MBC Survivor Tournament

The new season of the MSL is well underway with the MBC Survivor Tournament in progress to see who progresses to the Round of 32. The Survivor Tournament is simple, twelve groups of four compete in a grueling series matches and the top two players out of each group move on to the next round. We're only just over halfway the tourney, but there have already been plenty of shocks and surprises in the MST. One of the world's best new players gets knocked out early while a legend and a champion make startling comebacks. Who am I talking about? Read on here to find out.

Video Update - Aug 20/08

First, I want everyone to make sure they've read Peanut's Interview below this big post - don't miss it!

Ok, now that you've done that, you can watch these games:


Semi Finals - Much (P) vs Stork (P) by Moletrap
Game 1 on Troy: One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2

Semi Finals - Jaedong (Z) vs Luxury (Z) by Moletrap
Game 1 on Troy: One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Losers Finals (3rd/4th Place) by Moletrap
Game 1 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5
Game 2 on Othello: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Grand Final by Moletrap
Game 1 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Othello: One Part Only
Game 3 on Troy: Part 1 - Part 2

Semi Finals - Much (P) vs Stork (P) by deus_073
Game 1 on Troy: One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2

Semi Finals - Jaedong (Z) vs Luxury (Z) by deus_073
Game 1 on Troy: One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Grand Final by deus_073 - Deus labelled his games the wrong way around.
Game 1 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Othello: One Part Only
Game 3 on Troy: Part 1 - Part 2


Note: The STX Masters Cup uses a "Clan War" format, where the winning player advances to the next round. To avoid spoilers, I will not reveal who is playing, you'll have to watch the games. First team to win 4 games wins.

Samsung KHAN vs SK Telecom T1 by Diggity
Game 1 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 2 on Athena: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Blue Storm: One Part Only
Game 4 on Othello: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 5 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 6 on Athena: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 7 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Cholera Special Game 6 - Watch this after, if you don't want spoilers - Part 1 - Part 2


Group 3 - JangBi (P), Zergbong (Z), Shark (Z), go.go (T) by KnightOfNi
Game 1 on Athena: JangBi (P) vs Zergbong (Z) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Athena: Shark (Z) vs go.go (T) - One Part Only
Game 3 on Byzantium: Winners Match - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 4 on Byzantium: Losers Match - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 5 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2

Group 6 - sAviOr (Z), Spear (P), Upmagic (T), Hyuk (Z) by Cholera
Game 1 on Athena: sAviOr (Z) vs Spear (P) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Athena: Upmagic (T) vs Hyuk (Z) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Byzantium: Winners Match - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 4 on Byzantium: Losers Match - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 5 on Blue Storm: One Part Only

Group 6 - sAviOr (Z), Spear (P), Upmagic (T), Hyuk (Z) by PsyonicReaver
Game 1 on Athena: sAviOr (Z) vs Spear (P) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Athena: Upmagic (T) vs Hyuk (Z) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Byzantium: Winners Match - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 4 on Byzantium: Losers Match - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 5 on Blue Storm: One Part Only



PsyonicReaver's FPVOD's VS Cholera by PsyonicReaver
Game 1 on Plasma: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Colosseum: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - Part 1 - Part 2

Cholera's FPVODs - VS PsyonicReaver by Cholera - Same games from Cholera's perspective
Game 1 on Plasma: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - One Part Only
Game 2 on Othello: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - One Part Only
Game 3 on Colosseum: Cholera (Z) vs PsyonicReaver (T) - Part 1 - Part 2

Ever want to meet PsyonicReaver? Well, now you can: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Vaul's Games by Vaul
Vaul (T) vs PlayJudge (T) on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2
Vaul (T) vs iCCup User (T) on Othello - Part 1 - Part 2
WC3 VOD - Sky vs Lucifer, with special guest Tillerman - Part 1 - Part 2
Mondragon (Z) vs JF (P) on Blue Storm - Part 1 - Part 2
Mondragon (Z) vs JF (P) on Wuthering Heights - Part 1 - Part 2

100 VODs produced in 3 days. Congratulations guys, that's amazing!

SC2GG and Peanut in the Korean Sports Newspaper "Ilgan Sports"

Dear SC2GG Community,

Check it out! I was interviewed by a reporter at Ilgan Sports, a big sports newspaper (think Sports Illustrated) in Korea, this past Sunday at the WCG finals. Here's the photo from the article as well as a rough translation (the Korean headline takes you right to the article online). This will be great for the site! Check out Jaedong's smile ...

재미동포 하버드생, 한국 스타크 마니아됐네

JAEDONG AND HARVARD STUDENT, KOREAN ESPORTS MANIA INTENSIFIED



"Harvard and MIT students really enjoy Korean StarCraft games"

This past 17th (of August), the final elimination rounds to determine the WCG 2008 Korean representative took place. At the StarCraft event, Yi Jae-dong (Lecaf team) and Song Byung-gu [aka Stork] (Samsung team) won the championship and one woman enthusiastically cheered Jaedong. This woman was Harvard rising senior and linguistics major Chung Jeeyong [aka Peanut], pictured to Jaedong's right.

These two people share the same enthusiasm about eSports. Chung is an Ewha summer school student who is visiting Korea for the first time and came into contact with the eSports scene for the first time this past year. This happened through the website sc2gg.com. SC2GG gets 25,000 hits a month and is a StarCraft game forum and fan club website.

Chung enthusiastically participates in the "mania" of the eSports scene and has seen many StarCraft events. She excitedly attended the Proleague finals in Busan at Guanggali beach on August 9th, and she has also been to Starleague and MSL league games.

"Korean eSports culture is unique in the whole world and it is extremely fun and dynamic. Harvard and MIT students watch a lot of Korean gaming events through SC2GG," she says. Her favorite player is two-time MSL champion and league star, the Striker, Yi Jaedong.

She says she is writing her undergraduate thesis on the relationship between Korean progaming players and fans in eSports culture. After graduation she wants to become a StarCraft professional commentator and she will come back to Korea to this end next spring. She is determined to work in eSports.

We were curious as to how her parents reacted to her dream. "My mother and father don't know anything about StarCraft, but they encouraged me to follow my passion, whatever it is," she said.

Though her parents are both Korean, she can't say more than "hello" in the language. However, she can speak Chinese, Spanish, and English fluently. But she also said that she is determined to study Korean very dilligently. She is leaving Korea on Sept 3 to come back next year and we are curious to see what she will accomplish in Korea.

By Park Myung-gi

Video Update - Aug 17/08

Sorry about not posting this yesterday, I was over halfway done, and then my browser crashed and I lost it, so I was demoralized into not wanting to anymore, plus I wouldn't have had time. I'll start off with a few SC2GG news links going on around the site, just in case you've missed things.

OSL Round of 36 - Week 1 Reviews and English Commentary, plus Week 2 Schedules
SC2GG Star Cup - Get involved in this for fun league with a Proleague-style format!
WCG Korea Semifinals Preview - The Round of 4. Which Korean gets to beat on the rest of the world in WCG?
New Commentator Peer Review - If you're new, want people to watch your videos, and want to improve your work or just have fun commentating, start here!

Also, before we get started, Moletrap has provided a review of the new map, Byzantium. He explains what you can expect to see on it, and from the games I've watched so far, it looks very exciting. Map Review VOD Here

MST Prelims
Group 1 - Lucifer (P), Dongrae (T), Iris (T) & maGma (Z) by KnightOfNi
Game 1: Lucifer (P) vs Dongrae (T) on Athena - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2: Iris (T) vs maGma (Z) on Athena - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3: Winner of Gm 1 vs Winner of Gm 2 on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2 on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs Loser of Game 3 on Blue Storm - Part 1 - Part 2

Group 4 - Luxury (Z), Frozean (T), Dark Elf (T) & Tempest (P) by Moletrap
Game 1: Tempest (P) vs Luxury (Z) on Athena - One Part Only
Game 2: Frozean (T) vs Dark Elf (T) on Athena - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3: Winner of Game 1 vs Winner of Game 2 on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2
Game 4: Loser of Game 1 vs Loser of Game 2 on Byzantium - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 5: Winner of Game 4 vs Loser of Game 3 on Blue Storm - Part 1 - Part 2

WCG Korea Round of 8
Mind (T) vs Luxury (Z) by Moletrap
Game 1 on Blue Storm: One Part Only
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: One Part Only

Mind (T) vs Luxury (Z) by Cholera
Game 1 on Blue Storm: One Part Only
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: One Part Only

Mind (T) vs Luxury (Z) by Deus_073
Game 1 on Blue Storm: One Part Only
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: One Part Only

Mind (T) vs Luxury (Z) by BladeOfAuir
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: One Part Only

Flash (T) vs Much (P) by Deus_073
Game 1 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Flash (T) vs Much (P) by Cholera
Game 1 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Flash (T) vs Much (P) by BladeOfAuir
Game 1 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 2 on Colosseum: One Part Only

fOrGG (T) vs Stork (P) by Cholera
Game 1 on Blue Storm: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
Game 2 on Colosseum: Part 1 - Part 2
Game 3 on Andromeda: Part 1 - Part 2

Other Commentary Games
Deus_073 FPVOD on Luna - Deus_073 (T) vs Deus_072 (Z) - Part 1 - Part 2
Deus_073 FPVOD - TvP on Python - One Part Only
KnightOfNi - MBC Offline Prelim - maGma (Z) vs Rock (P) on Athena
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
VaulSC - Flash vs Savior on GSI - A Clip of a game that Vaul wants to talk about.

And finally, the Proleague Finals - OGN Sparkyz vs Samsung KHAN , by Diggity, Moletrap and Vaul
Disclaimer - Why this wasn't uploaded to begin with?
Game 1: Hades (Z) <Katrina SE> Leta (T) - Watch Here
Game 2: Stork (P) <Andromeda> Luxury (Z) - Watch Here
Game 3: TT (P)/ JiHyun (Z) <Hannibal> Zeus (P)/Yellow[ArnC] (Z) - Watch Here
Game 4: firebathero (T) <Wuthering Heights> go.go (T) - Watch Here
Game 5: JangBi (P) <Colosseum> Chalrenge (P) - Watch Here
Game 6: Juni (Z)/ yOon[s.g] (P) <Hunters> Flower (Z)/ Spear (P) - Watch Here
Game 7: Ace <Blue Storm> Ace - Watch Here

Hope everyone likes the games - we've got some cool stuff coming down the pipe, so be ready!