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Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

2012 ended a great year of StarCraft for our scene. After an excellent WCS final where we saw Australian and New Zealand champions, PiG and JazBas, fall in the Oceanic finals allowing Mafia and mOOnGLaDe to step onto the world stage. 2012 ended with the SC2SEA power ranking placing the players in this order:

1. mOOnGLaDe
2. PiG
3. Mafia
4. tgun
5. Light
6. Ninja
7. Rossi
8. Petraeus
9. Iaguz
10. Jazbas

Since then 2013 has been a year full of ups and downs, whether it be the brutal times for WCS qualifiers or mOOnGLaDe's dream run through WCS America Season 1. However, most importantly, 2013 was a time of change. Slowly, we saw many of our players step back from competing. To name a few of the 10 above, we saw the iM superstars Light, tgun and Mafia retire. We saw Jazbas, Ninja and Rossi starting to take steps out of the competitive scene. And with 6 of our top ten players taking a back seat from competition, 2013 became an opportunity. Who could practice the hardest, who was hungry enough to reach the top. We saw Pezz, Megafonzie, Blysk and others step up to fill the protoss void left by Light. We saw countless zergs working to take their play to the next level and take a spot amongst the best in our region. We saw Petraeus continue his rampaging path to the elite of the SEA region and the return of the Gimli Terran, Iaguz, with the release of HotS.

However, it is clear that an era has ended. The kings of old have set the standards high and certainly they are no easy shoes to fill. Yet, as we look into a new year in 2014, we look to those who improved so much in 2013, to step forward and take our region to a new level in the new year. 2012 was a year of SEA beginning to make a mark on the world stage. 2013 was a changing of the guard. And now, 2014 will be the year of new uprisings, exciting prospects and massive upsets. As we look forward to the second stage of the WCS qualifier tomorrow. We look to see who will take on the burden left behind by our greatest players, to take our region to even greater heights and broader horizons.

Good luck.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Yeah, like abbadonz (anyone who attended ACL Melbourne may know him as Dale, the super cool admin) told me, with the wave of retirements, the field is WIDE OPEN for someone to break out and get some seriously good results within the Australian scene.

I don't see PiG or KingKong relinquishing their place as top dogs for the remainder of the time they play SC2/participate in Aussie tournaments, but now the spots for the rest of SEA's elite are very open.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Though I'm not a player, I've closely watched one for 2.5 years now and would like to say to those to want to fill those shoes: play smart. Laddering all day every day only does so much. If you're going to invest a lot of time into being a better player, or a competitive player, work out how to do it efficiently. There's plenty of room there up the top for those who do so.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Meanwhile Petraeus quickly becoming the best SEA player by massing ladder as much as possible.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Hows that going for you? #shotsfired

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

I stand by what I say. Ladder can only bring you so far.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

I've tried focusing more on analyzing and working out my mistakes, watching replays a lot, watching a lot of pro games and I've also tried the mass laddering method... The fact is I am yet to find any way of improving despite trying lots of different methods. In the last 1.5 years I've barely improved at all. I'm a slightly different case than most people, it seems.

I don't disagree with you, maybe Pet would be way better if he did other stuff instead of mass laddering, iw as just pointing out that it's working out pretty well for him.

Optimal practice is something that interests me a lot, and I've spent a lot of time reading how the best people practice in other sports but the fact is, none of those practice methods are easily transferable over to a video game. The only PROVEN method for improvement in sc2 is playing a lot of games and watching your replays when youre lost - which possibly works out better in customs/when you have a good team behind you being able to converse with them and share brain power.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

I think that^^ already sounds like a better way to improve than laddering by yourself.

I don't doubt that Pet got to where he is now by laddering, and doing so a lot, but everyone plays differently, some are more mechanically focused, etc.

Out of curiosity, what other things have you tried doing? And what is your practice schedule like? It would be interesting to compare this with others.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

I went through a good period a while back of watching a LOT of replays vods and figuring out why people played like that, writing down builds etc. Aloing with singleplayer macro practice (idea was if you just play singleplayer you're always going to get lategame which means you get good macro practice, kinda like an exercise drill just to keep mechanics up)

Right now I'm just laddering, checking replays when im clueless and watching vods when im super clueless ;D for about 6 hours a day (8 hours if you include my stream, but that shouldn't be as effective)

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Re: PiG's training. This is Jared's schedule board:



Granted, he doesn't always do things in this order, or include all of that, or even start at 9, but it helps him order his day a little. He normally does 4 hr sessions, but is experimenting with shorter sessions too. Sessions can include anything from laddering to streaming to coaching to customs with others. Not saying THIS is the way to do things, but really, there's many other things to do to improve and as the meta shifts constantly, its about keeping up with that as well.

E.g. He met a huge brick wall v terran a few months ago, which not only affected his play but also his confidence. After a (long) while he realised laddering wasn't helping and sought help with a practice partner. Once he figured it out, he went back to laddering more. I can only imagine this will occur again if he becomes stuck again.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Hahaha I love how "Dorothy Time" is only 1 hour maximum. Priorities! ^

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Yeah very similar to me including wake up time haha. Although I tend to practice in 2 hour sessions since I find that 4 hours is pretty unhealthy, since i had problems with wrists before 2 hour sessions solved that.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

My advice? Don't play at all.

No but seriously, laddering is pretty useless most of the time, it just keeps your mechanics sharp. Custom games vs practice partners is where its at.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

omg dot that PiG schedule is adorable

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

It's true I don't have a lot of experience with "refined" or practice. I don't do a lot of analysis of replays or working on specific areas; I just like to ladder. I feel that this mostly works out for me but I'm sure there are more efficient ways of doing it.

However I feel that this is another area of eSports where people are given far too much credit. Similar to people who appear to not practice at all, people who supposedly have smarter and more efficient practice are given so much more respect than "ladder warriors". People often disregard results and just assume that if someone is playing customs or watching replays instead of laddering that they are doing a better job.

Comments like "laddering is pretty useless most of the time" are great examples of how people fall for the illusion of more efficient practice.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Have you ever seen someone win a gsl and credit their win to ladder? They always thank players for practicing with them.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

I'm wondering: have you ever had a mental block? Or been unable to figure something out in the game? How did you beat it? Did you just continue laddering? I know Jared would eventually get tilted from it and play worse.

Also, are you doing anything differently now that you're in the Root House?

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Love PiG's schedule... and the most important 'Dorothy time'

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Irrelevant argument. If you're preparing for a specific match in a tournament then of course you are going to practice with partners who match that race and/or play style especially if you have the infrastructure of a Korean team house.

Not really. If I have a mental block its mostly due to my own bad mindset or being outplayed rather than not knowing how to beat something. More practice against it obviously helps and that does come slower on ladder but you get a lot more variety which I feel is better at my level at least.

At the ROOT House my practice is exactly the same as at home with the exception of constant advice from CatZ/Sasquatch which is always helpful. Sage is also an incredibly good coach and watches other people play the most which is funny considering we are all Zerg.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Actually Jaedong said sometime that he practices almost exclusively on ladder since then he can play the most variety

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Jared you lucky pig, my boyfriend duties ranges from anywhere between 1-3 entire days per week where I can't do anything else but give her my fullest attention.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

gotta lay down the law ray!!

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

"I'd like to thank myself for being so fuckin' awesome and laddering all day"

Yeah that'd sound awesome.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

You guys gotta keep in mind that jaedong hasn't won a GSL or a format similar in SC2. Nor has he finished highly. He excels in the weekend tournaments, which, interestingly is a lot more like ladder then a gsl format where custom games for prepared builds is much more effective. For the foreign scene, it is ignorant to say that custom games are the best way to practice and that you shouldn't ladder. In the end, it comes down to what you end up practicing the most against. If you only ladder and hit a mech terran once every 20 zvt games and play a mech only player in a tournament you just won't do as well as someone who found a mech only practice partner and played many games against that style. On the other hand if you end up vs a bio terran than the ladder player would have the advantage.

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Sigh, try to suggest different practice methods in addition to laddering. Turns into an argument over the best way to practice o.O

Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
 

Stop starting drama Dot.