[nirvAnA]

---

SC2SEA Awards 2012

---

You can review Part 1 of the awards here.

---

Player & Team Awards

---

Best New Clan

Nominees:

• ETL
• pX
• iOS OS
• mGG
• FS

+ [And the winner is...] +

There were several good clans that popped up over the year. Phoenix e-Sports is a relatively new clan that regularly host their own tournaments. OS is a Singapore clan that even made their own custom jerseys.

ETL is driven mostly by soundwave, in the same way FS is driven mostly by its leader BenAd. Special mention has to go to Ben who does an amazing amount of work for his clan. They have run internal cups, clan wars and even organized and won their own Fusion Slugs Clan league which was a fantastic effort!


Team OS

However, the winner this year is should be obvious. I think its partially due to how many committed members they have involved, and how they all work well together. From Alpha to Asrathiel & GooSe to Nemesis, mGG has a lot of individuals dedicated to growing the scene and their clan. And this has resulted in massive growth in all deparments from clan numbers, activities and tournaments. They are by far the biggest sub-community on SC2SEA today and have the most popular channel on battle.net. Even Protoss Star Light ending up joining mGG giving them his stamp of approval.





They also just turned one!



Winner: mGG
Runner-Up: FS

Most Improved Clan

Nominees:

• ToR
• mGG
• TCP
• FS
• TA
• aLt
• FaDe

+ [And the winner is...] +

For most improved clan, we look at the overall improvement across all the divisions. All the nominees have a tight community that encourages growth in each other's games. TA and aLt had nice improvements with players like Kez, Fourby, BigBird, Ninja, NXZ, Stally, delete going from nobodies in 2011 to quality players in 2012. But improvements in these clans were mostly top heavy.

TCP, FS, FaDe and ToR we clans that seemed to improve all round. I felt the biggest improvement was from ToR. They came from barely winning the new clan award last year to having their own Pro team. Whats better was they were made up of homegrown stars Dano, Pez, Zoom and Pox and they have come a long way.

At one point it seemed that the whole of SC2SEA was ToR! Their activity has seemed to have dwindled recently though and it will nice to see them as active as they were before! Somebody please start giving Spartaz some help.

You Tube

You Tube

Winner: ToR

Best Pro Team

Nominees:

• Immunity
• Nv
• Frenetic Array
• xGking
• Mineski
• Flash

+ [And the winner is...] +

Fray have been doing a lot of awesome stuff from coaching winners of BSG cups to helping in charities. IMO this is mostly due to Chadmann's great networking abilities. He continues to lead his team well and secure sponsorships for them. I remember him being super protective of Pet when he was in Singapore, whenever I tried to talk to Pet, Chad was right there lol. And he even accompanied him to France so he could just focus on his games. He makes the best of what fray is provided with.

Mineski have quite a big budget but the PH community though is very disconnected from the SEA scene. So we don't feel that they are involved much even though they are. I hope this changes next year. They have sent their players several times to Singapore and EnDerr and JaBi seem to be treated like PH e-Sports royalty each time I see them.

Flash picked up some decent sponsors but the best thing about them were the players they groomed. They picked up three virtual unknowns, one of each race in BlitzHawk, netherdrake and Kyzersoze. Then instilled in them a proper training schedule and dedication. Their joining of Flash motivated them so much that they ended up becoming Singapore Starcraft 2 stars. I don't think there has been progress quite like that anywhere else in SEA. This is something big other teams can learn from.



xGking had a fantastic start to the year and would have won this year's award again if it was a mid-year awards. They won the most team competitions, placing a #2 in SEASL, SEACC and winning the Frog Cup. Not to mention strong performances in other regional leagues, finishing in the top 4 for the TCL S4, ASIT and XGTL. There were no team competitions in the second half of the year though.

Unfortunately, the purchasing power of the richer teams meant that they key stars of xGking - Light, MaFia and Jazbas had now left them and they have become a shadow of their past self. And with Benji's shifting attention to LoL I am not sure what will happen to xGking in the future. However, its still a relief to know that they are still in good hands, with Eddie, delete, Stally and the Korean beast King Kong.

If you ask aynone about "Pro Teams" in the SEA scene today, the first two that would come to most people's minds are Immunity and Nv. IMO a large part of the teams success depends on the financial power it wields - look at EG for example. Then after that it comes down to management. Immunity lacked a dedicated active manager in the scene. Dox from a players perspective has to be one of the best managers you could ask for. He handles all the logistics and spares no expense for his players either - the Nv boys stay at classy hotels whenever they travel.

So between Immunity and Nv, I felt Nv had the edge in terms of management and giving their players opportunities. The Nv boys were basically given an opportunity of a lifetime, though so far it only seems like mOOnGLaDe has been able to capitalize on it fully. Its hard to give any non-glade team the award based on his performances alone.

It is rumored that a large 5 figure amount was spent on Team Nv this year which came out of Dox's own pocket. Whether this will be sustainable remains to be seen but for now Nv continues to give the whole of SEA a reason to cheer whenever they perform at international events from IEMs to MLG.



Winner: Team Nv

Most underrated player

Nominees:

• ToRXzam
• ProAnnn
• IXLSaviour
• xGkingMyuu
• TABigBird
• Lobo
• aLtNXZ
• AuXMegaFonzi (Caz)

+ [And the winner is...] +

None of the top SEA Zergs used to give ProAnnn respect even after he knocked them out of tournaments (*cough* tgun/mafia). Whether they do now I have no idea but ProAnnn the master 2 baser has always performed well in Singapore tournaments, finally winning the IEM Singapore qualifiers.

Saviour is another guy who used to get a lot of flak and he probably deserved it too as he went on consistently about beating a fake Naniwa, omitting the fake part each time. I think people would rate him higher if he was more likable. BigBird had a massive performance at WCS, coming out of nowhere to qualify then taking out iaguz. Lobo is a clanless Singaporean who has quite decent results but has never been given any attention.

NXZ won SpringSmash 2012 Brisbane and reached GM on NA but surprisingly remains teamless till today. Caz and Xzam and two very good Australian protoss players who need to start playing in more tournaments or will forever be under the radar. The winner though goes to a player so low profile only the top players would know about and rate. Hes like a ghost. I don't think he has an sc2sea account either and you probably are wondering what race he plays.



Winner: Myuu

Most Likely to get banned in 2013

Nominees:

• Frustration
• cruxis
• Ruined
• Centrelink

+ [And the winner is...] +

Winner: You are all terrible.
Hall Of Fame for most bans on SC2SEA: AtlasMech

Whatever happened to?

Nominees:

• deL
• crAzerk
• yoonyj
• yang
• Satu
• JimDiddy

+ [And the winner is...] +

Jimdiddy came back from the wilderness to take ACL Brisbane Regional with a 6-0-0 score including taking out moonglade. He then returned into the wild and was never heard off again. Yoon had his last big run at MLG destroying American hero QXC, before joining the A team. I think he even deactivated his facebook account. Come on yoon come back!!



crAzerk went off to study in america, yang lost interest in the game and Satu... well I have no idea too!

The award tho has to go one of SC2SEA's biggest contributors, who among many other things did a fantastic job running T4 of the SEAL last season. He was in the middle of hosting the much anticipated sOO before disappearing into the bizarre triangle of love.

Winner: deL

Congrats on your engagement deL!

He also recently donated $50 to our SEAL tournament. And heres a short interview.

+ [Interview] +

Q1: You were previously one of the most active community members in the scene. Then one day you suddenly disappeared. What happened!

A1. I had wanted a break for a while, and it just coincided with me getting back into the dating scene (well, getting into it at all). I met a lovely lady by the name of Cheyanne and 5 months later we are engaged, with a wedding hopefully as soon as November this year Spending time with my now-fiancee is a big part of what kept me away from the computer.

Aside from that, a big part of my motivation for being so active was to follow tournaments and local players, and provide events for them to prove themselves. I went from being a tournament host into more of a general fan and casual player as there was no real need for me to be hosting events any more because there were a bunch of people doing an excellent job already. It was natural that my activity decreased because of this.

I am also quite into fishkeeping as a hobby and have 6 fishtanks, which takes up alone time

Q2: Do you still play Starcraft?

A2. I haven't touched StarCraft for a long time, though I have watched a few games here and there since I've vanished. Mostly Korean ProLeague and of course following all the SEA guys in MLG and other big events. I will be getting back in to it for SEACL if there's a team that can take me, though I shudder to think how slow and useless I will be even compared to usual. I have been playing a few casual games but mostly console stuff. I still remember the basics though so hopefully the builds that were relevant when I left are still used.

Q3: What are your future plans, do you intend to come back to the scene?

A3. I doubt I will be as involved in the scene as I have been in the past, at least for the near future. HotS and other expansions may change this of course but after marriage and a job things that take up your spare time just increase. Kids are planned in the near future too Maybe the break will increase what I get out of the game or give me a new perspective that will encourage me to return! You guys seem to be doing fine though haha.

Breakthrough tournament performance

Nominees:

• fray`Petraeus @ ESCW
• FlashdraKe @ Alienware Arena
• TargA @ GESC
• FlashBlysk @ TGS
• fray`Ninja @ ACL Sydney / IEM Singapore
• EveYekke @ WCS

+ [And the winner is...] +

Blysk took his first championship by winning the TGS qualifies, coming back from the losers bracket to beat Revenant 4-0! Yekke who was regarded as an unknown at that point of WCS Singapore my most, surprised many by finishing #2. Ninja got finally recognized as a top tier player after finishing top 4 at ACL Sydney and then later finished as the only SEA player in the top 12 in Singapore.

TargA who had a string of decent performances but never a big win yet - took down the $2,500 first prize in GESC and his first major victory on Australian soil, defeating moonglade in a super tense final game. draKe had his year of hardwork finally awarded clinching a computer at Alienware arena.

The winner however, goes to somebody who risked flying over just to compete in a qualification tournament. Although he placed third, at that point had his fair share of doubters. It takes a strong mindset and a lot of self-belief to have traveled for that tournament. His results shocked many and from that moment on Petraeus was acknowledged as one of the best SEA players. His courage and his performances since then wins him the breakthrough performance award of the year.



Winner: Pet @ ESCW qualification

Most Improved Rookie

Nominees:

• ToRPox
• xGkingdelete
• xGkingPoker
• fray`fenner
• x5.Frustration
• fray`Petraeus
• FlashdraKe
• FlashKyzer
• FlashBlysk
• EveYekke

+ [And the winner is...] +

Poker made unprecedented improvement ever after switching to Zerg from being a Random player. delete had several strong performances in ACL and CH lans. Pox went from being unknown to finishing deep consistently in many events. Frustration came out of nowhere to win a spot in WCS Australia but its hard to think of him positively so I forgot him lol.

As mentioned earlier the Flash boys and Yekke have improved significantly over 2012. fenner went from being fenner to being good. (And making awesome videos!)

The winner again is someone who was once an SC2SEA organizer. He would regularly help manage the wTs and COs. And he also used to get into silly chatbox fights with Spartaz and Light. Then in a dramatically short period of time he became a New Zealand superstar. Taking the crown from resident king Jazbas and representing New Zealand in Japan for TGS. And that was only the start! Who would have thought?

Petraeus again wins the award for best rookie for a fantastic year!

Winner: Petraeus

Player of the year:

Nominees:

• iMLight
• Nv.mOOnGLaDe
• iMtgun
• PiG
• iMMafia
• Fray`Petraeus
• Ninja

+ [And the winner is...] +

The most obvious award every year. GLaDe still remains a league above the other players in SEA. In the SEA performance of the year, he took out MC and then Huk to win his open bracket. He then beat Major and Revival before finishing the MLG tournament as the 2nd highest foreigner behind Naniwa!



Will anything change in 2013? That remains to be seen. For now all hail our SEA king!



Winner: Nv.mOOnGLaDe

The End!

Until 2013's awards! Now let the drama and butthurt begin!