[nirvAnA]

The SEA Star League #2 is here! (SEASL)
sponsored by Soulja

The SEA Star League #2 begins this week with a $1,130 prize pool, eclipsing the prize pool of last years SEA SL. There is a slight twist in this years format, as our sponsor Soulja (Josh) is from NA, his intention is to give the SEA region the most exposure possible and he believes that can be done by opening the tournament to NA as well, which I feel is an excellent idea. As the masters cup has a 280$ prize pool, this technically pushes the prize pool of the SEASL#2 to $1,130. The mastercup is sponsored by FaDeBadger, Eddie and SC2SEA. Format will be simple.

Format

• 4 NA Qualifiers on the NA server, open to ANYONE with a NA account.
• 4 SEA Qualifiers on the SEA server, in the form of the COs. Only SEA residents or citizens are allowed to play in this. Koreans will have to play in the NA qualifier.
• For the SEA side it features an extra $25 prize for the winner similar to all COs, sponsored by the community.
• The top 2 of each tournament qualify for the finals which is a 16 player double elimnation bracket held on a single day.
• Seeds are important as #1 NA will play #2 SEA in the first round for every qualfier and so on.
• There will be no auto-invites.

Admins, Casters and Rules

Head Admin: nirvAnA, BakaInu
SEA Admins: Chobo_Petraeus (wTPetraeus), Eddie, Arnor
NA Admins: deL, nirvAnA

Rules are similar to our SEAL rules regarding walkover and disconnect rules and general behaviour, don't do anything silly and you will not be banned, common sense people. Users banned from SC2SEA will not be allowed to participate in our official tournaments. The tournament bans are likely to be lifted after our tournament season completes, meaning they will be lifted during next seasons SEACL #3.

Established casters who have helped us in the past will be given piortiy. This includes casters like System, Zepph, Maynarde, Benji, Stitch, Dox, Frogmite and so on who have helped us in the past and have done great jobs. Unproven casters are recommended to cast our other events like the BSGs and GPDs first.

Our Sponsor

Lemminks recently did an interview which you can see here!

+ [All about Soulja!] +

Special Edition: Sponsor Spotlight #2 with Lemminks!

For this spotlight, I have a Behind the Wheels of the SEASL special and joining me today is the main man who, with his generous donations of $200 to the site and $750 to SEASL#2, is making it all happen. He has a great interest in eSports all around the world, is a benevolent soul and can give YYJ a run for his money for all night partying! He is The Yank in a Tank:

Joshua "Soulja" Loya!

That sound you're hearing is...well...not PG13.

L'interview:

+ Show +

Lemminks: For those of us who don't know who you are, why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself.

Soulja: My names Joshua Loya, I go by Josh. I live in the States! Dallas, Texas is where I reside. 19 years of age and I've been working for my father's company since I was 13 and was prepped as far back as I can remember! I'm currently attending Northwood University, a strictly business oriented college. I picked up Starcraft back in the day, the first Starcraft of course. I would play casually, until SC2 came out. I joined the beta, and became very competitive. It's been a fun hobby ever since.

Lemminks: Care to elaborate on what your father's company does and what your role in it is?

Soulja: Proudly. Fred Loya Insurance. A car insurance company (now does home). Started in my hometown of El Paso, Texas. Now you can find us in six states at your convenience.

As far as my role goes, I started off in the mailroom, moved up to your sales representative, to your adjuster handling claims. Now I'll travel with corporate executives of the company where need be, whether it'd be training sessions, meetings, etc. All over the course of 5 years.

The family

Lemminks: A prodigy, brilliant. There's actually a lot of insurance companies advertising in Australia, they're on in every ad break.

Anyway, what surprised me was the fact that you're American, any particular reason for donating to the SEA scene as opposed to, say, hosting a small tournament in your home country (for example I remember reading about a Texas showdown on liquidpedia once)?

Soulja: Honestly, what brought me to the SEA section was their Grandmaster Manual Guide!! Didn't have a clue as to what the SEA was, it didn't matter at the time - the manual did! Over the course of several days with the manual, the site, I grew to learn some of the members by reading various posts on the forums, exploring the store, etc. As well as a few PMs from Nirvana because I had a little trouble downloading the TW\KR version of SC2 XD (which is awesome BTW!) Ever since, I've grown to visit the site normally.

I would maybe have done it in my home country, but I also wanted to donate to SEA for all your help, the guide, the TW\KR version, etc. I felt like I owed a little to SEA community.

Also, I wouldn't be able to single-handedly host a tournament at the size I'd want it to be. I want it to attract a lot of players, top level players, and I know Nirvana, the staff, and SEA can do that.

Lemminks: Well I'm pretty sure that the format Nirvana and the other admins have chosen suits your vision perfectly.

You seem to go by several IGN's (In Game Name), soulja on sc2sea and BEASTMODE on sc2, do you have a permanent IGN in particular and if so where did it come from?

Soulja: Soulja was spur of the moment, but 98% of the time - I am BEASTMODE. The name came from my high school days at the gym, on the track field, the football field. They would call me BEASTMODE when I was... I guess BEASTMODE lol XD I was a gym fanatic since 7th grade and I've always been a little slim - so other students, JV, and Varsity would be surprised at the weight I'd put up as a freshmen and what not. So I was given the name by my upper classmen.

Beast. Baller. The whole package

Lemminks: Hehe, Beast was one of my favourite phases that the Americans would always say when I was in Japan.

So despite being a complete baller at the gym, have video games, and the Starcraft series in particular, always been a big part of your life?

Soulja: Oh definitely, I was always VERY competitive even at an early age, with FPS games. Like the Halo series, the Gears of War series, the Modern Warfare series. Halo 2 I would say was my peak. I would attend tournaments and receive no lower then 2nd place at my events. I looked up MLG events on the official website and try to fly out there, but my parents thought it was ridiculous Lol XD. This was my 8th grade through Freshmen year, so unfortunately I never made it past your online and local tourneys.

The MKP of FPS's

Another game that's not listed in that category, was Dance Dance Revolution.

That also went beyond just being a fun hobby. Every weekend, when my parents would allow, I'd be at your local Peter Piper Pizza 3+ hours on DDR. For months. I increased my skill, I was able to play on the Expert level. I went on also to online tourneys, we didn't have many local tourneys in El Paso at the time (two minor events).

Lemminks: Brilliant to see eSports was always a big part of your life.

As someone who seems to follow a fair number of eSports scenes (such as the FPS's and DDR), in your opinion how does the Starcraft eSports scene match up against the others?

Soulja: No comparison!!
MLG Providence was amazing!! I didn't actually go but I was up to date on all the vids, all that good stuff. I was so surprised when I saw how full the stadium was!! I loved it! I also tune into GOMTV.net daily. I have my yearly subscription and I always watch the VODS to improve gameplay or just to see who's coming up, who's coming down (SlayerS_Boxer -_-). Sometimes I'll stay up till 3AM just to watch them live.

The SC2 fans are so dedicated to the scene, it's amazing. The Korean players, especially SlayerS have so much passion in the game. It's awesome. Also, casters like Artosis, Tasteless, Day 9, Mr Bitter, Husky make the game all that better. The SC2 scene wouldn't be the same without them, and I believe we owe them our gratitude and thanks.

On another note, it may seem like too much. DDR, Halo, GoW, MW3. But I no longer play those games competitively, or hardly at all. I'll jump on MW3 on a rainy day, but doesn't catch my interest as much as it, or FPS in general. It's all in the past. Just Starcraft for now.

RTS's moving forward

Lemminks: Are there any other hobbies that demand your attention?

Soulja: I love snowboarding, with a passion. But I don't go enough to get "good" at it. Just on the holidays, to get away. Ruidoso, New Mexico the Ski Apache slopes is where you'll find me during the Christmas season.

Lemminks: LOL there seems to be quite the positive correlation between people who love Starcraft and people who love Snowboarding/Skiing.

Soulja: Is that so? Are there others on the SEA scene that love the snow as well? XD

Lemminks: Yep, JoFritzMD, who sponsored the SEACL #2, is apparently an "arctic creature that has Ski's for feet."

Soulja: LOL!! I love it!!

Lemminks: Well to finish off, what are you hopes for the eSports scene in SEA and the World?

Soulja: My hopes for the eSports scene in SEA and the World...

My hopes for the eSports scene in SEA is that I hope it continues to grow, not only in SEA, but in the world. It's come a long way in the USA, I hope this growth continues worldwide. The day Time Warner Cable, Dish TV, DirecTV get a dedicated eSports channel... That'll be the day XD.

Lemminks: Well I've had an absolute blast conducting this interview with you. Thank you so much for being such a Beast and thank you once again for donating ^^.

Soulja: No problem! Thanks again.

Lemminks: Any shoutouts before we go?

Soulja: Shoutouts to any of the users? Is that what you mean?

Lemminks: Well anyone in general, this is the part where you go listing a bunch of names while we pull you off stage ^^.

Soulja: Nirvana - I felt like I owed him for his help with my general introduction to the SC2SEA scene, and his continuous help with SC2SEA store.

And I know a certain someone is going to read this - She stays up with me watching me play SC2, she nagged at me to get off while QxGDestiny was coaching me, she watches replays with me at times, every night - Carmen Carrillo. .

SWAGs (Starcraft Wives and Girlfriends), the most supportive of all the sporting special other.

Lemminks: Bonus Question: Any plans for visiting the Lovely SEA Region?

Soulja: Oh man.. to be continued. (..Nirvana check your PMs in the near future! XD)

Want more Joshua Loya?
Check out his Twitter here
Check out his Facebook here
Add him on NA: BEASTMODE.814

The history of the SEASL

The SEA Starleague was SC2SEA's first ever major tournament and saw close to a thousand players from all over the region entering into the qualifers, with a few brackets close to 200 players. It featured for the very first time the powerful prescence of the pinoys, and discovered the new stars of tomorrow, with Iaguz and TargA both winning their Code A qualifiers over more established names and getting picked up by aLt and inFi shortly after.

It was also a tournament I banned my buddy glade from playing in (lol! A debatable decision but he was cool with it mind you.) because at that point of time he was in FXO living the Korean dream in GSL Code A and way above the skill level of everyone else in SEA and I wanted to give other players a chance. His team mate FXOFilthy ended up winning it, with captain planet EdgE coming in second, perfect human jazbas third and Aaron "protoss sucks" Koh coming in fourth. A lot has changed since then with half the top 4 not haven't even touched the game for 6 months, so all previous "Code S" status will unfortunately be lost, but not forgotton. You can read all about all first SEASL over here!

http://www.sc2sea.com/forumdisplay.php?f=92

So when does it start?



Players can choose to play in as many qualifiers that they want. SEA players can play in NA qualifiers if they want too. Winners who have already qualified however, will not be allowed to play in any of the other qualifiers.

SEA Qualifiers
QUALIFIER #1 - Hosted by wTPetraeus.
Winners: PiG, Mafia

Qualifier #2 - Hosted by TBD.
Tentatively next Wednesday, 11th of April at 7PM AEST, 2 hours earlier to accomodate NZ players.

The other SEA qualifer dates will be announced shortly and at least one of them will fall on a weekend.

NA Qualifiers
This Masters Cup shall now also act as the first NA open qualifier for our new season of the SEA Star League, a $850 prize pool, 16 player double elimination tournament. The top two players from this event earn seeding into the SEASL. Reminder that you need to signup in the masters cup thread with your NA ID, so your opponents can identify you easily.

NA Qualfier #1 - This sunday's (8th April) master cup. http://www.sc2sea.com/showthread.php?t=4275

After discussion with the sc2sea admins, PiG and Mafia are allowed participation in the masters cup as it would be wrong to deny them entry to such a big tournament prize pool, but they will be inelgible to play in the other @$25 SEA qualifier community opens as they might knock potential winners out and they already won seeds. Should they qualify for this tournament again, their seed will just go to the next person in line.

Baka and deL will announce the other NA qualifier dates shortly.

Quick Comments

	syfChadMann:	ohhhh yeahh guuurrlll
	aLtShortizz:	Sweeeet
	Asrathiel:	Pink laptop eew :p
	ROOTPetraeus:	gimme
	SLCN.NXZ:	Awesome!!!!! Soulja fighting!!
	Maynarde:
	iMSystem:
	xGKingdelete:	so excite
	FSBenAD:
	FaDeKerrigan:
	JaFF:
	Bash:	nod nod nod
	Baldie:
	tex0111_slyguy_golden:	hi5 SLAP SLAP!