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:
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.
Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
Quote:
Originally Posted by fray`Petraeus
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.
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'
___________________________________ player in
"and we'll invest more on Bots, as our first Trial bot, the 'NemBotElie' was a huge success, organising tournaments and being part of the Council of mGG. But there are a few bugs in which the bot cannot go past the skill level of a Platinum Protoss." - PaRAnorMaL
Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SLCN.Petrify
Have you ever seen someone win a gsl and credit their win to ladder? They always thank players for practicing with them.
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by x5_dot
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?
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maynarde
Hahaha I love how "Dorothy Time" is only 1 hour maximum. Priorities! ^
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.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iM Light
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.
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.
I Envy Pet and his dedication to playing mass games, I really do think it is the best method unless practicing for something like a gsl final. pets argument with the mindset and more practice is actually the best response and by massing the ladder you get the extra advantage of not knowing when it is coming. one of the worst things about doing a custom game is you know whats coming generally. I found when watching replays and pro games it didn't really help at all. in the end why are you on here reading this instead of playing a ladder game. comon people #dedication
Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
In my experience, a combination of mass laddering and MU preparation is the best. Your play will always be flawed if you forego one or the other. We are all correct here.
Re: Out with the old, and in with the new - WCS 2014.
Ray is god, discussion over.
On topic, discussing practice methods is extremely pointless as almost everyone practices differently. For example two people that do nothing but mass ladder will still do it in a different way. One person might practice 1 build per match up per map all day while the second might practice 1 style of play all day (Macro/cheese etc)
In the end you just have to find what suits you best, and whatever that style is work hard/put in the time using it. Back when i played the best players (in Oce) were all the hardest workers and i'm sure they all had different methods of practice that worked for them
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Previously known as iAmBiGbiRd
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