The Biggest Fish In The SEA (aka ACL Pro and why it gives me hope.)
I know I’m not the only fish in the SEA.
A particular Saturday morning – early or late, depending on your perspective. Bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived, our faces bathed in electronic light, we sit at our computers, instant coffee clutched in our hands. We fire up our browsers, our Twitter. We open r/Starcraft. And together, the Starcraft lovers of SEA, slowly wake up our brain meats to the sounds of Tastosis, DJ Wheat and Day 9. Together, yet alone, we watch MLG.
Like a party we know about next door, that we can watch over a fence but aren’t invited to, we cheer on our favourite players, wriggling in our seats, leaning forward in anticipation and groaning with disappointment. When our fingers aren’t hysterically tweeting in capslock, they’re clutched to our faces, flailing in excitement, sharing the energy of the crowd transmitted through our headsets, our speakers. Our excitement is real.
It is a scene repeated, over and over and again, in bedrooms and lounge rooms across South East Asia.
And when it’s all over – the champions crowned, the memes created, and the highs and lows dissipate – we sit back and wonder when we will ever experience something like that. A room full of like-minded Starcraft nerds, in their hundreds, screaming, cheering, exclaiming, fusion core dancing together as one. Even the inevitable r/Starcraft post reminding patrons to wear deodorant and shower before the event doesn’t seem off-putting.
USA has MLG, Europe has Dreamhack, IEM. Korea has GSL.
But SEA?
PPSL has been the only event of note in our region, and apart of giving us a new verb (Verb: Le’des’maed – to be royally fucked. Ie: “OH BRO YOU GOT LEDESMAED!”) , nothing was gained. Our region became the laughing stock of live events of international capacity. Of course, no-one blamed the region specifically, but we all felt it – that some kind of horrible damage had been done.
Were we destined to never experience an international-level live event in our region?
On the weekend of the 21st-21nd of January this year, the first stop of a national competitive gaming circuit, ACL Pro, was held on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. Having focused on console games for years, they had decided to add Starcraft 2 to their repertoire. ACL Pro CEO Nick ‘Vanzr’ Venzetti enlisted the help of the most experienced organizers and casters in the region to ensure the tournament and stream ran smoothly.
With, perhaps, the some trepidation, the Starcraft lovers of SEA awoke again on the Saturday morning of January 21. Later this time, not as sleep deprived – turns out 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time is equivalent to 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time., not “why the hell am I awake at 4am to watch a video game tournament” o’clock.
We were greeted on stream by two of the most well-loved casters from the SEA region - Leigh ‘Maynarde’ Mandolov, the dreadlocked, mellifluous-voiced extraordinaire known for casting major tournaments run through the SC2SEA website, and James ‘TheDoble’ Doble, a well-loved caster from smaller regional live events.
We saw backdrops and a casters desk and shots of the spectators and shots of the players., a kind of professionalism in production we had never seen at a local live event.
Those who know a little about SEA think we’re a one-trick Pokemon…
..but the tournament brought us more than just handsome zerg dominance.
It brought us the great underdog story of Nicolas ‘Chadmann’ Russo, the Gold league player who miraculously won a championship bracket seed through an online qualifier. Now dubbed ‘The People’s Champion’ among SC2SEA regulars, he is not unlike a god among men.
It brought us amazing play from Rossi, the Italian stallion, TtPiG, the shirtless streamer, yang (lowercase), the great Protoss hope.
The skill gaps are becoming smaller and smaller - several players are devastatingly close to matching the skill Moonglade is known for. Close, exciting series are played out over and over again.
Suddenly we had so much that we had longed for, that we knew existed because we had witnessed it via stream from the other side of the planet.
Was it perfect? No. It was the first event on a major circuit. But Blizzard’s recent announcement that they had decided to partner with ACL Pro for some regional qualifiers and the final of Australia’s World Blizzard Championship, based on one live event and online qualifiers alone, proves that what ACL Pro has achieved in such a short amount of time is something we should all be excited about, that it is a product and event that you, as a Starcraft 2 citizen, should get behind.
It’s not about individuals, it’s about creating an event we can call our own that we can be proud of. We are organisers, casters, players, engineers, graphic designers, writers, spectators, shit-stirrers, professionals, students - we are many things, but we all love this game. We are all part of its success.
If you’re in Sydney next weekend (21-22 April), attend. Make cheerfuls, bring your friends or make some new ones. If you’re anywhere else, take some time to watch what passion and hard work alone can create for what we love. An event like MLG for SEA is not a dream, or far away at all. It’s right at our doorstep.
All it needs is us.
“My bounty is as boundless as the SEA,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.”
- William Shakespeare
(I don't know how to submit this under articles or make a blog. This site is so confusing I could vomit rainbows. Feel free to move it. It's 2:30am and I don't give a shit I'm just trying to get back into writing - this was my first go at it in a long time. Stuff I do in the future will be less emotive, more news focussed. But probably still contain stupid pictures. Bitches love stupid pictures.)
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We are The Saddle Club.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us...
Going back and having another read through, actually drawing a comparison between the PPSL fuckup, ACL and SEA as a region is not a very good one. Here's why.
SEA isn't really one big region, it's a lot of small regions who occasionally interact with each other. Sure we share the same server and Ladder and we get to play each other in SEA leagues and tourneys and that's cool but in reality as far as offlines go, the philipines have their own thing, Malaysian/Singapore have their own thing going, New Zealand have their own thing going, Thailand have their own thing and Australia has theirs and these things never really overlap with each other all that much.
Because of this, I feel it's difficult to consider us a proper region in the same way we'd consider USA and Europe to be a region. ACL only matters to Australians (plus Jazbas and Ryoomak I guess). How is an almost completely Australian event really a South East Asian event? Gus and the PPSL was a Philipines community event, and the tourney itself was mostly philipinos anyway with only 2 Australians (and frankly you guys can bloody keep zanooku, though I won't blame if you if you won't have him) and no other representation from other SEA nations.
BUT, I can understand why you'd consider this to be a sort of silly thing to point out and argue over, and I do agree. Huzzah, video games.
It was more the perception of what PPSL was.
More people said "that's a SEA event" than "that's a Filipino event".
Whether we liked it or not, it reflected on the region.
Distance and language barriers are a problem in SEA, yes, but perhaps no more than eastern/western Europe.
It's also true that all the smaller countries have their own things going, of course, which is fantastic, but I don't think that's stopping us from dreaming even bigger What's stopping large Singaporean/Indonesian/New Zealand teams sending out representatives to ACL Pro events if they think it's worth their while? Perhaps we should make it worth their while
But I'm glad we agree.
It was more the sentiment than the technicalities I wanted to convey.
Anyway, this is boring. What were we talking about?
AWWWW YEEEEE FKN HEAPS MUTAS BRO FKN OP NAH MATE WOT LOLZZZZZ
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We are The Saddle Club.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us...
I know enough about the SEA scene to know that putting money on you being negative about what I wrote would not have been a bad idea at all
If you'd like to back up anything you've said, that'd be great - constructive criticism is the shit
Who do YOU think is the biggest? How does ACL make SEA "more accessible" to the NA scene and how is that bad? Who exactly did I piss on?
You would have lost your money....
Zendex has already provided you with two, "Tgx and Estc", Hell Ill give another the Gview Invitational Tournament has probably did more the promote the scene than anything else has to date, not to mention Dox and Zie's efforts putting together the SEA/ANZ Blizzard Invitational (hell atleast a dozen other events Dox has run over the last 18 months or so), Eddie's Masters Cups? SC2SEA and their CO's, SEACC, SEACL and SEASL tournaments/leagues? , Frogmite's Frog Cup? Brysny's who brought us 45 Go4sc2cups (and numerous monthly, IEM qualifier and holidays tournaments as well)
yes ACL is the currently the biggest thing coming out of Australia, but there is a f-load of things that are happening in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore etc (not to mention online) hell look at Team Eve's post the other day, if done correctly it easily has the potential to outstrip ACL, the online format actually allows involvement for the entire region rather than one island.
I didnt say it was a bad thing to be more accessible to NA, and who you are pissing on is the other major tournie organizers (I do not count myself among these just an fyi)
For constructive criticism Id ask you take the time to look whats happening outside of Australia, before writing an article saying "Hey its PPSL and ACL" and know that just because something wasnt posted on TL (heck for some of these countries English isnt their first language) doesnt mean the event shouldnt be considered a success (or big fish).
I do apologize if I came across as harsh this morning, but I logged on this morning, read the replies to Team Eve's latest thread, read another thread regarding Flash's new recruits, then another regarding cR's latest venture, then read this and see alot of the people ive come to respect in the community's efforts not acknowledged, If you want to write a piece highlighting all the awesome things the ACL boys have done go ahead and do it, just be careful with the words you write
Who is the biggest fish? id say Eddie's Master's Cup hands down.
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[07-10, 22:00] PiG Unfortunately I'm incredibly lazy so most of my video footage is just me and iaguz in bed
Last edited by ToR.Arnor; Mon, 16th-Apr-2012 at 1:41 AM.
Zendex has already provided you with two, "Tgx and Estc", Hell Ill give another the Gview Invitational Tournament has probably did more the promote the scene than anything else has to date, not to mention Dox and Zie's efforts putting together the SEA/ANZ Blizzard Invitational (hell atleast a dozen other events Dox has run over the last 18 months or so), Eddie's Masters Cups? SC2SEA and their CO's, SEACC, SEACL and SEASL tournaments/leagues? , Frogmite's Frog Cup? Brysny's who brought us 45 Go4sc2cups (and numerous monthly, IEM qualifier and holidays tournaments as well)
I think Sunset is trying to suggest - LIVE events.. LANs etc... which I 100% agree. ACL is a big thing.. a version of MLG in Australia is a very exciting thing indeed...
Additionally, large prize pool online events - imo are not sustainable.. the 'live' exposure for sponsors is multitudes more appealing than an online event.
As far as events that were streamed and watched by people around the world... PPSL is it - what other event in SEA had MC, MKP and all the other top tier players competing in?.. those players brought thousands of viewers from europe and the US to watch them.. not Revenant or Strafe in Gview tournament.
I think the assumption that ACL is the biggest thing internally for SEA and PPSL was the biggest event externally for this region is 100% correct. What we have to do - is make ACL and events like it externally appealing... get European's staying up to silly hours to watch Rossi v Mafia or mOOnGLaDe v yang (1st round ) This is the undertone that Sunset is delivering.. not PPSL and ACL are the only decent things...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnor@CityHunter
Who is the biggest fish? id say Eddie's Master's Cup hands down.
Who is the biggest fish? id say Eddie's Master's Cup hands down.
Thank god you ended your post with something so stupid even the most uneducated people in our scene will realize your opinion should hold absolutely no weight, that's a real load off.
I understand where Chris is coming from, that any offline/LAN event in SEA (so far) cannot really show a true representation of the region, due to how spread out we are. Online events are the closest we can get atm.
ACL is massive for Australia though, and as a result will improve SEA's representation on the global scale.
Comparing individual events, biggest fish, etc, is basically comparing apples and oranges. The more events the better! Go SEA esports
I am sure this type of bickering and such happens in all the other regions, but they are probably big enough to sustain it.
I liked the opinion piece that was written; cause it was just that somebodies opinion on 1 event that is happening; I have to admit that ACL is the biggest offline event that I am aware of, I am sure this is due to the exposure and promoting that they do.
Reading the article I did learn about some other events, that I wouldn't mind having a look into.
I really don't understand why some people in this community/scene decide that anything somebody writes need to be scrutinised, it comes across as petty; if you want to open up a discussion on that point take the time and effort that Sunset obviously put into this and write a piece on those events.
EDIT: Good piece sunset keep them coming, not a bad read of a nighttime
Last edited by TAEaeron; Tue, 17th-Apr-2012 at 12:28 AM.
Reason: Forgot something
ACL is striving to be a hub for competitive gaming in Australia and we appreciate the support. In fact the support we get from the SC2SEA community as a whole is amazing and we hope to deliver the best possible live gaming experience we can.
haha before I even got through the comments I couldve picked you were from the NA scene, a very well written article for promoting ACL even if it does kinda piss on alot of people/organizations efforts in the process T_T
Excuse me? Where the hell do you get off. Just because she supports ACL and promotes them doesn't mean she doesn't support other events and leagues. If you knew anything about her you would know she is a loyal stream/event follower in SEA and can usually almost always be found watching or promoting our events and players.
The difference between her an you is she doesn't have a constant agenda to be pushing. Just because she isn't riding Benji's dick like you doesn't mean she doesn't have support for other organisations in SEA.
Take a step back and appreciate the work of people put in to doing things for the community and offer some praise for the fact she has worked hard on this article before you move to talk shit.
EDIT: - Because people think I am saying Chris does nothing for the community, that is NOT what i am implying. Sure he runs events etc, but everything he does is for the benefit of Xeria/CH as is with Benji, you can deny it all you want but at the end of the day you all know its true.
Nirvana/Mods I am sorry that you may think this is out of line and I am 100% willing to accept any infraction/warning/ban you feel is in order, but I refuse to edit my post and I refuse to let my best friends article which she worked hard on be attacked.
User has received an infraction for this post. Accumulation of points pass a certain number will result in automatic bans.
Excuse me? Where the hell do you get off. Just because she supports ACL and promotes them doesn't mean she doesn't support other events and leagues. If you knew anything about her you would know she is a loyal stream/event follower in SEA and can usually almost always be found watching or promoting our events and players.
The difference between her an you is she doesn't have a constant agenda to be pushing. Just because she isn't riding Benji's dick like you doesn't mean she doesn't have support for other organisations in SEA.
Take a step back and appreciate the work of people put in to doing things for the community and offer some praise for the fact she has worked hard on this article before you move to talk shit.
EDIT: - Because people think I am saying Chris does nothing for the community, that is NOT what i am implying. Sure he runs events etc, but everything he does is for the benefit of Xeria/CH as is with Benji, you can deny it all you want but at the end of the day you all know its true.
Nirvana/Mods I am sorry that you may think this is out of line and I am 100% willing to accept any infraction/warning/ban you feel is in order, but I refuse to edit my post and I refuse to let my best friends article which she worked hard on be attacked.
I appreciate any and all feedback, thanks for taking the time and effort ^_^
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[07-10, 22:00] PiG Unfortunately I'm incredibly lazy so most of my video footage is just me and iaguz in bed
this thread is made up entirely of people, in so many words calling arnor a silly billy(is that tame enough not to get infracted?)
its really sad to see words as tame as "petty" "juvenile" and the mere suggestion of lacking intelligence deemed so horrible that they are worthy of an infraction.
"even if it does kinda piss on alot of people/organizations efforts in the process T_T"
For the record I don't agree with Arnor's statement and I think it was quite an over reaction, the aim of the article was to hype up and celebrate ACL as we finally had a sort of MLG albeit a smaller version of it and I didn't get any negative vibes or even see any comparisons to other SEA tournaments from what sunset wrote.
With that being said, Arnor has run at least 5 Community Opens, helped run the SEALCL Tier 2 with Eddie halfway though the season and he is now helping run the SEASL. All these do not benefit CH/xGking in any way - He has been a extremely helpful and reliable in running community tournaments and I'm sure anyone who has played in the CH lans hes run will say the same thing.
Anyway lets not talk about Arnor's views anymore this article was meant for ACL hype and I'm very much looking forward to the games this weekend, even Frogmite is flying all the way there just for ACL!
Just want to say a huge thanks to the SEA community, and especially those that support what we're trying to achieve. Special mention to Sunset for writing this article (when I had no knowledge of it) and Nirvana for helping an old man remember which email he used to sign up.
Thanks guys.
Look forward to seeing you in Sydney (in one way or another) !!
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