[x5.Crescendo]

On September 17, In the Year of our lord and saviour Probe 2016 (#YOP2016), Melbourne had its first major Starcraft 2 LAN in over a year, and the first SC2-specific LAN in at least two years.

Organised and hosted by local pro Sean 'Probe' Kempen, currently Australia's most successful Protoss player, it saw thirty players sign up to compete with several people showing up just to spectate.

The LAN had a prize pool of $500: half of which was provided by Eugene 'x5.uJeanz' Astuto, and the other half by Probe - along with some sweet loot provided by Blizzard for giveaways throughout the day.

It was an incredible event, and culminated in an amazing grand finals duel between PiG and Seither, while 3rd place winner Rize got to show just how much damage he could do to the brackets on zero hours of sleep. <insert tired cliché about Protoss being EZ race here. mental note not to forget this crucial prerequisite to any SC2 article in the editing stage>


Racial Equality in the Top 3: Rize, Seither, and PiG


But it wasn't all about the heavyweight clashes between veterans. None will forget when Slurmee, brand new to SC2 with only two weeks experience, baited out a widow-mine shot from the veteran Terran dropbear Deth like a pro. If only the macro had matched the micro: RIP Slurmee. We will never forget.

Nor shall I forget the death by mass oracle suffered by Queensland Zerg player and avid SC2 fan HBT at the hands of the incorrigible South Australian cheese afficionado Ice. Harsh treatment, Ice. Harsh. A little part of my zergy heart died when I saw that game

At the same time a new LAN meta was established when Protoss player SilkMoth mindgamed his Zerg opponent Dragon into forgetting to top up his PC credit. It only worked once, though, as the Zen Gaming Lounge staff upped their vigilance for such shenanigans, and made sure all our players got to play out their full games.


The perfidy of protoss players cannot be underestimated


A special note needs to be made here in praise of the staff of Zen Gaming Lounge in Melbourne, whose milkshakes bring all the nerds to the yard (serious truth here: the oreos cookie&cream milkshake made my bloody day). Their venue and equipment are well maintained, and the staff were extremely helpful despite having to divide their attention between an SC2 tournament and DoTA tournament on the same day.

While the top 3 players of the LAN got to walk away with cash in hand, Probe also compiled several accolades after the event, which I have the pleasure of announcing here on his behalf.

Presenting to you now


'Probe's Absolutely Official Accolades of Awesomeness'
(award ceremony title non-alterable and non-refundable. Sorry Probe )


Best provider of food - Anyone who bought me maccas
You know who you are: kudos for literally helping save esports!


Best WoW player - Deth

He's preparing for a raid even now



Best twin casters award - Snow and Ace

The likeness is almost as close as that of Probe and Snute o.O



Best actually not dodging award - Seither

MFW Seither is not an AI developed by the Korean government to combat the rise of ByuN



Best password forgetting into stealing my account award - SpeedWagon

Given that the above is Probe's idea of security, I suspect this scenario was inevitable



Best pantless latecomer - Chase

Now with pants, having a manly pose-off with Seither.



Best god - Slurmgod

Slurmgod fears no man or dropbear


Twitch chat has spoken: Slurmee is the people's champion



Best DDOSer - everyone

I call hax on the lot of these cheesers.
And the brackets were rigged to make sure I faced two protoss GMs.
Reddit is going to hear about this, I can tell you now.



In the spirit of these awards, I have awarded Probe the title of 'Best LAN Zealot'


He almost gave his life for Aiur, but was saved by people keeping up a steady supply of minerals. I mean, maccas.


And now, here were Probe's thoughts on the LAN itself:

~~~~~~

C: With the first Melbourne Spring Cup LAN completed, please share with us how you feel about the experience of having hosted a major SC2 LAN tournament

Probe: I'm very happy with how it went. Despite the slow start to the day, the rest of the day was very enjoyable for me and I believe many other people felt that way too.

I still feel there is plenty I have to improve for the next one, but I am happy I have started down this road.


C: It's been a year since ACL held Melbourne's last major SC2 LAN. When did you first start planning this one, and how did it come about?

Probe: Probably 2-3 months ago I started planning it. Ultimately we found out that ACL Lan was probably never coming, so I felt like doing something small, but hopefully fun.

Starcraft has given me a lot, so this is the very least I can do.


C: How did the planning process start? What were the logistics of arranging the event?

Probe: After talking with Eugene about what we wanted in general, I spent most of my lunch breaks planning the event. This involved the heavy use of notepad, my new best friend.

We had to organise a venue, pricing, prize pool, how we will advertise, graphics, etc. This took various iterations and weeks.


C: On that topic, is there any advice that you would give to other would-be LAN organisers in other areas?

Probe: Just do it. Nothing gets down if you just sit there dreaming. It doesn't have to be big, just something to get you started.


C: Any advice on the logistics? Pitfalls to avoid and/or tips on ways to approach marketing and venues?

Probe: I don't really consider myself an expert in the matter, so just learn it as you go. Try and interact with as many places on the internet as possible though.


C: What was the most challenging part of arranging the event?

Probe: Not announcing it prematurely


C: If there was anything you'd do differently next time, what would it be?

Probe: Work on improving the stream and the start of the tournament so that both flow smoothly. Hopefully resulting in us finishing a bit earlier.


C: One of the things which I really liked was the turnout of a whole bunch of unfamiliar faces alongside those folks I knew. I personally made a couple of new friends and practice partners there. Were you expecting that kind of turnout, and how do you feel about the strong support your event received in terms of folks attending?

Probe: When I started the process of planning the event my aim was to get 30 people minimum to come down and play. We hit this aim so I am very happy. While some well known people in the scene couldn't come, it was great that newer people filled that gap.

I am hoping for an even stronger response for the next one!


C: Me too! Would you tell us with what kind of frequency these LANs are likely to occur?

Probe: There will hopefully be one at the end of this year. Past that... secrets :P


C: I am looking forward to it!

[x5.Crescendo]

TL;DR version: it was a bloody awesome LAN, and I can't wait for the next one!

[syfIce]

LAN was awesome Oracles are fun

[Slurmee]

Originally Posted by x5.Crescendo

local pro Sean 'Probe' Kempen, currently Australia's most successful Protoss player,

Don't you mean second most successful? Pretty sure there was an up and coming new protoss at lan that's better than Probe

Nice write up though.

[stephen]

GG silkmoth. GG. i didnt stand a chance . The lan was awesome and i love that this article was written up was well worth the read. poor HBT didnt hear that that was what ended his run. awesome another LAN by end of year!!!!

Quick Comments

SilkMoth:

Heheh, now I just need to work out how to stop them from topping up your account..:D

[stephen]

how can i survive these shenanigans??? i need to get another zergling at next lan so one can sit at your computer and whisper your secrets to one sitting with me. who hear of ONE zergling!!?!

[HOTBIGTIT]

I was so happy to be able to attend. It was great meeting some of the faces behind the names I've heard so much about. I had heaps of fun even though I got absolutely blown the **** out by Ice.

Thanks so much to Probe for hosting and organizing it. I'll never forget it!

[ThatGuyDoMo]

Wish I could have come but I had a massive breakdown the night before and had to cancel my flights etc.

Dw I will be stronger for the next one