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Results and lack of credit
 

In response to eros wanting drama.

It's been a constant theme last year, that even though my results in LANs almost mirror former player "Light" who was worshipped as the SEA Protoss god, I'm severely underrated and not even placed in many top 8 lists that go flying around.

I'm not exactly sure why this is, maybe it's my boasting, maybe it's my ego, I do/have a lot of both. However, since results are what matters, I'm going to talk a little bit about my 2014 and why I think I deserve at least top 5 status.

Online results. None. This is the stain on my resume. It's true that I play in very few weeklies. I have a job, I have university, and I don't have time to play weeklies unfortunately. However, I want to go over why I think online results mean so, so much less than LAN results. I feel like only a full time player might disagree.

Think about a player's mentality before an online tournament, do they practice weeks in advance? Usually not, unless they're full time and are already practising all day every day. Now think about the night before the tournament, are they restless? Maybe a little. Can they sleep? Sure.

Now think about a big event, the biggest events in Australia are no doubt ACLs. 2 weeks before the event everyone gets started, this is serious. Everyone wants to show their best at the LAN. Everyone starts practicing, refining their builds, preparing for specific opponents in their group, making sure that they bring their A-game to the LAN. The night before the ACL starts, not many of us can sleep (Petrify can vouch for the fact that I have trouble sleeping before ACLs, as we literally sat up all night talking about how we can beat our opponents and what builds we should use).

The atmosphere of a LAN is totally different to an Online tournament. People take it more seriously, this is how it will always be.

So yeah, I don't have many Online results, and I don't participate in Online tournaments. Guess what though, I had the HIGHEST "Scalp" points for OSC last year, meaning I beat players who are ranked higher than me more than anyone else did. It's clear that my online results don't reflect my skill level.

So we finally get to the LAN portion, what I consider to be the best way to measure a players skill. This goes back to ACL Melbourne 2013. Why do I mention this specific tournament? Because this tournament was the first time that I was the highest placing protoss player. Since then, at every single following ACL, I have never dropped the title of highest placing Australian/Singapore/New Zealand protoss.

Not only that, but I had consecutive 4th place finishes, first at Brisbane, and then at the largest ACL ever, ACL sydney 2014.

At the last tournament of the year, I placed 2nd, losing only to Pig. SLCN domination cup was a pretty stacked tournament for a non-ACL event. Players were travelling, strong players like MightyKiwi, Alopex, Wally, Pig all travelled from outside of Melbourne. Melbourne also has a very stacked lineup atm, including Probe Rival Petrify Kez Law Fighto Runamok the list goes on...

Calling my first 4th place at ACL a fluke would be fair enough, but nobody stays as consistent as I do in LANs.

So when I'm rated under certain players, and I'm not in top 8 lists, it does hurt. It hurts my pride. It hurts because I put more into this game than most people know, I dropped uni for a year, and even though I worked on the side I still put a lot of time into practicing. I want something to show for the sacrifices I made, and I'm happy with what I've achieved. It doesn't mean much if the community doesn't respect or value me as a player. Players like Enderr, who play literally every single online weekly, of course they get results. They're spamming online weeklies... They're gonna win a few at least. But I feel like I am on that level.

Anyway this wall of text has a purpose. I'm losing interest in SC2, I have even more real life obligations, I have no time to play anymore. Unless LOTV sparks something in me, or I miraculously regain my passion, I probably won't be able to get the same results this year. I'm not saying I'm quitting, I love this game too much and going out and meeting all of you guys is the absolute highlight of my year. It just sucks that even though I got great results last year I'll never be recognised as one of the best of SEA, and I have very little hope that this year will rectify that.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

I think there is no doubt in many minds that you are definitely one of the top tosses around and one that other good players do not think lightly when they have to play against you.

Perhaps them talking more about others who take part in more online tournaments regularly do co-relate to exposure since playing in more competitive tournaments results in greater exposure.

Real life commitments will always be important as well. Definitely hoping to see you still active and around in 2015

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Well thanks nem, tbh this has been weighing on my mind for a long long time. It's nice to see a positive reply.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

You'll always be the BestPinSEA in my heart

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

I think it's just a really unfortunate nature of the beast. It wasn't until EnDerr actually qualified for WCS that he got the respect he deserved as like Top 5 in SEA, even though he had been since like 2011.

Ultimately nobody really care that much about Top 8 or Top 4 or whatever unless you're also upsetting those favored against you. If you beat PiG/KK to come Top 4 or something I think a lot more people would rate you highly.

You've done absolutely nothing wrong, it's just kind of how the human mind is.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

In response for eros wanting drama

ctrl+f deth

0 results

tldr

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

The only comments you should care about is how FIGHTO always said you're a really good player, which you indeed are. The people who practice with you are the ones who know you best and I guess when someone like FIGHTO says you're good, it should probably weigh 10000x more than any other people

See you more in 2015 please no quitterino or breakerino until quitterino.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

I do feel genuinely a little sad that you don't want to/or wont be playing as much in the future

You're one of my favourite players in the game. The complete package, top tier micro (blink king), and your builds are always so well though out and practised. At a lan event you are always the player i try and watch first person views games of.

One of my favourite memories was at a respawn lan. LAN itself was nothing special, in fact you probably won it, with RivaL as the main competition, however i was able to watch you play from the venue in an online tournament series vs HuK, and defeat him with awesome control. That was big! And meant more than a respawn win. iaguz, PiG, Petraeus are well known, not for just being the best in SEA, but for beating the best of other regions, and koreans stars often, and i personally think you're one of the next few in line who can/will improve doing this. (Hopefully some more Bounty collections!)

Opinion polls don't really count for that much, and change. I wouldn't let it get to you.

I disagree with you about online v LAN. I'd say LANS count a great deal less, especially in Australia, and even overseas, it's only really the big ones, IEM, MLG, dreamhack that are decent. ACL's in Australia aren't bad, but even ACL Syd 2014, which was probably the biggest and most hyped to date, just didn't have the same range of top tier players you get vs online. There was no Petraeus, PiG, EnDerr, DemiLove, Lobo, Crimson, Fenner, mOOnGLaDe + others who were unable to make the trip.

While LANS do have the travel factor, and a different atmosphere, it's still largely a tournament from the local city, with ACL attracting a few more from interstate. In SEA LANS just aren't practical.

And sure not everyone can make every online tournament, but it is more likely/easy, and across the year, we do start to see where everyone fits in. (For those that play) I'm glad you mentioned Scalp Points, as that is the reason it was designed, to show you beat higher ranked players a lot!

Looking at the OSC Rankings, despite not playing a great deal, you only fell out of the top 16 very late, and your performance vs Proleauge level koreans in the actual finals was very impressive. Infact i'd probably give you a SEA MVP award for the finals (Not a bad idea to implement this season.)

It is a bit sad that Australia is quite far behind in supporting it's players, and many have to work and study while playing, and this makes being competitive very hard. If we keep growing at our current rate, i hope/expect we'll see some sort of starting 'salary' common place in 15-18 months. But still the main reason we play is for the competition and passion, so i really hope you find that spark again, and keep fighting the good fight.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

A lot of it comes down to visibility, you had results but u weren't very visible compared to for example Light so you won't get the same recognition.

Extra: I don't even know if you got sponsored or who sponsored you but likewise I do know Light was on IM.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

I've considered you best Protoss in SEA for a while now Pezz. Some one who I look up to in tournaments.

When thinking off the top of my head best players in sea, your name may not always come up (though lots of the time it does).

BUT

When I'm looking at a list of players in a given tournament I always expect to see you at the top end (cheering for you all the way until you hit a fray player then gotta go for Wally or Alopex to beat you... though they dont always).

Guess that comes from what Azz was saying about visibility. You dont always come to my mind straight off the top of my head cause I don't see you around as much as some of the others.

Hope to see more good things fromyou this year. Wish I could do some of the shit you get away with in game :P

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

As I said in sound waves thread

I think you solidified yourself as a clear level above the rest of the second tier players. You should be proud of your achievements. And it is unfortunate that the player with the most potential to break into the top 5 is considering stepping back from the competitive scene.

I obviously can relate with where you're coming from, all I can say is I hope you do stick around and keep playing but all the best regardless.


It didn't hit me until I saw your results at the SLCN syf lan. I rated you very highly already, especially after you put me in my place at Sydney but I still wanted to err on the side of online heroes like MK and Blysk. But after seeing that 2nd place where to be frank you demolished everyone that's not pig for the second time (I rate your sydney performance higher than brisbane) i have to put you above everyone else.

In my eyes there's still the top 4 guys in pig, iaguz, kk and pet with Enderr a level below. If you aren't on the same level as enderr, there's at minimum definitely a clear gap between you and the other contenders for top 10 players. For those that followed melee this year, I think axe is probably a fair comparison for how pezz performed this year.

Either way, I understand where your coming from, as someone who's been on both sides of the respect train, it rarely accurately depicts where you actually sit. You've won the respect of your competitors and that's who you should listen to the most.

@eddie
I've played online tournaments where I've been on Skype with my opponent, or just chatting with someone while playing. With the exception of the WCS qualifiers which I think can be treated with a similar respect to that of the ACLs I think online tournaments while a good measure of a players skill, doesn't trump lan results. To be honest, You overstate the player pool of online tournaments too. Enderr won the most tournaments in 2014? I'd like to know how many of them iaguz played in, how many kk played in, how many pet played in. So, I'd argue that any singular lan carries significantly more weight than any singular online tournament. Granted, due to the sheer number, online tournaments are still very telling.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Mate, you need to be very careful with what you are saying there!! I know you, and you're a trustworthy bloke, but live out of game communication with your opponent, or someone else who might be viewing stream, would likely result in disqualification and severe bans. Even if it was harmless, it would bring into doubt the legitimacy of an official match with money on the line, match fixing, etc.

As for some players participation, it does vary. We saw a lot of the top players (PiG, iaguz, Petraeus, MightyKiwi, Fenner) live overseas for extended durations in 2014, where latency and timezones to SEA weren't great. They still nearly all played in the bigger events, Masters Cups, Hairy Smashes, $300+ things. But you are right, that's exactly why you don't judge or rate by any one event.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

When my Protoss players ask who in the SEA Scene are good Protoss players. I tell them straight away " Check out SLCN.Pezz He is probs the best in SEA atm" There are many of us who believe the same man.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Of course, and I think that especially talking with someone else while playing a tournament could be very shady. But it gets my point across reasonably well, people value a LAN much higher, often your paying to get out there and as such you bring your absolute best to the table.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Fair enough. I think you should always be giving it your best shot when decent money is on the line, if not for pride. I don't think LANS match the prizepool (frequency + totals, and taking into account price of flights, accom, etc from winnings), difficulty of opponents, or exposure of online tournaments. I can see online tournaments getting a lot bigger, lans not so much (here in Aus). Lans are fun, good times with mates.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Wow I'm actually pretty overwhelmed by the positive responses here guys... I really let this stuff get to my head. Maybe I just need a bit of a breather from sc2. You guys have made me feel a lot better though (insecure much? haha).

@Eddie, you have a point, just for me personally I know how much more effort I put into LANs. Also I feel like with online tournaments you can try every week, where-as for LANs you got one shot, do not, miss your chance to blow :P

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Nothing wrong with a bit of a break with the game. Just make sure its not to long and you stick around, us lower level protoss need more high level SEA protoss to get inspiration from . There isnt many of you :/

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

Lans will always have more respect then an online comp though, there are a lot more factors that go into a lan. Playing away from home, infront of people you know that are actually sitting right next to you or people in the crowd is a much different experience. There is also more prestige for winning lans imo

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

in 2014 the protoss i heard most about was pezz from sea players

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

The more I think about it, the more I put you in my top 8 lists
but you don't play online much so you're not always in the forefront of peoples minds when they make these lists.

I still agree that you are the best P in SEA, followed closely by Blysk and then Frustration.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

You're da best m8.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

My fondest memory was at ACL Melbourne 2012 - the first ACL I went to - where you beat Kez on main stage back when you were Pezzaperry and nobody knew you and you just did 2 base all ins and Kez was SO MAD. Good times. It's always great to see you Jack and I hope 2015 is more rewarding for you xox

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

*throws bag of attention

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

You definitely do deserve a lot more credit. But that's one of the sad things about eSports; we see really good players that have a lot of potential, but they don't get enough credit.

For a small scene like ours, the fact that you didn't really get rated so high surprises me. You're a freaking beast at LANs and do very well on online tournaments. But it could be that "lack of presence" (as Chadmann said) that might be causing why you're not getting the recognition you deserve. But that's just how I see it, so take it with a grain of salt at best.

I'm with people here that say that you're the best Protoss in SEA, but it's a shame that it wasn't highlighted the way it should be.

Best of luck in your future endeavors.

Re: Results and lack of credit
 

your second only to real pet in my book :P keep going mate