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SLCN.Kez · Tue, 7th-Aug-2012, 1:05 AM # 1

Text: Tek Kez
Formatting: Cute + xpaperclip

In the lead up to Oceania's Biggest RTS event ever, the WCS Starcraft 2 Oceania Finals - the SC2SEA article writing team "Writer's Block" have been hard at work putting together a series of hype articles for your viewing pleasure! Fresh content will be added daily until the explosive $25,000 finals begin this Saturday... cast by none other than Tastosis!

SC2 SEA WCS Oceania Coverage
WCS Tickets & Information
Monday - WCS Hype Part 1: An Introduction by Tek Kez
Tuesday - WCS Hype Part 2: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Wednesday - WCS Hype Part 3: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Thursday - WCS Hype Part 4: Player Interviews by Lemminks
Friday - WCS Hype Part 5: Final Wrapup by Cute

Interviews in this piece:
(Click to jump)
The Build Up
Class S Players
Class A Players
Class B Players
Final Thoughts

Venue: Australian Technology Park - Bay 4 & Dining Room

The Australian Technology Park is located approximately 5km from Sydney's central business district, 8km from Sydney Airport and within 200m of Redfern Station on Sydney’s rail network.

Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/aclprosc2

Catch all the action FREE featuring casting by Tastosis, HDStarcraft, Painuser & Maynarde

Schedule:

Watch Online from Friday August 10th

This event has a fully booked out live audience on Saturday & Sunday, but do note that the WCS Australia games commence on Friday. You can watch from the comfort of your home on ACL's TwitchTV Channel at http://www.twitch.tv/aclprosc2 at 11am AEST.

Saturday, 11th August 2012

11:00 — 12:00: Doors Open! Ticket holders have express entry through to the viewing area.
12:00 — 13:00: Loser Bracket ...
21:00 — 21:55: Australia Nationals Grand Final
22:00 — 23:00: Australia Tournament Finals Presentation

Sunday, 12th August 2012

11:00 — 12:00 Doors open for Oceania Finals!
20:00 — 20:30 Oceania Finals Presentation

Brackets
For more information or ticket enquires kindly visit the ACL WCS Oceania landing page here.
A Warp up of all the Barcrafts covering the event can be found here.

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Introduction

Photo Credit: dOt89

Eerily silent, the air snaps like electricity as the crowd stares at Pig Vs Mafia. The scene: ACL Melbourne Grand Finals. Suddenly, a wild GG appears and PiG is crowned champion. The crowd roars and an equally large TA side groans. This, ladies and gentlemen, this was the last big event to be held in Australia. However, a new event has been rising in the deep. Biding it’s time, through various qualifiers for ACL Melbourne, thoughts looming deep in players minds, “what about WCS”. After months of organising, a painstaking plethora of hours planning and hundreds of nerd sweat and tears, it’s finally here. WCS Australia has come.

Announcements of announcements of possibilities of announcements had, until last week, led us to believe this event would be one of the biggest Australian E-Sports (Dudes who play video games for money) events ever to be seen. Well, last week, CEO of ACL, ‘I couldn’t find his full name 'Vanzr' something’ dropped a massive nerd knowledge bomb. That’s right people; we would finally get what various reddit threads, nerd dreams, fangirl and fanboys hoped and desired for; Tastosis, HdStarcraft and Painuser to commentate WCS Australia. Where the 16 top players from around Down Unda’ will compete for their chance at glory and one whopping grouse boomerang (note; Boomerang not actual prize).

In reality they’re competing for the 10,000 USD prize pool, where the top 6 placements will also be qualified for WCS Oceania finals, featuring our Kiwi brothers from across the Tasman sea Thomas ‘Jazbas’ Cho, and Tilea "KnighT" Flavall. 6 Aussies and 2 Kiwis will battle it out for prize, sheep, and 15,000 USD and the chance to compete with the worlds best at WCS World finals in China. But lets not count our sheep before they’re sheared.

On the 8th of August WCS: Australia will begin, and I for one, am giddy in my seat, and in a few other places I’d rather not mention, simply waiting for this to kick off. Players have been practicing non-stop, pride is on the line, and this is also the chance for Australian and other SEA players to show the world what talent we have to offer. Since not many may know of the talent we have grown in the outback, I thought I would take a little time to write up a (perhaps not so) brief summary of every player who will be competing.
Eerily silent, the air snaps like electricity as the crowd stares at Pig Vs Mafia. The scene: ACL Melbourne Grand Finals. Suddenly, a wild GG appears and PiG is crowned champion. The crowd roars and an equally large TA side groans. This, ladies and gentlemen, this was the last big event to be held in Australia. However, a new event has been rising in the deep. Biding it’s time, through various qualifiers for ACL Melbourne, thoughts looming deep in players minds, “what about WCS”. After months of organising, a painstaking plethora of hours planning and hundreds of nerd sweat and tears, it’s finally here. WCS Australia has come.

Announcements of announcements of possibilities of announcements had, until last week, led us to believe this event would be one of the biggest Australian E-Sports (Dudes who play video games for money) events ever to be seen. Well, last week, CEO of ACL, ‘I couldn’t find his full name 'Vanzr' something’ dropped a massive nerd knowledge bomb. That’s right people; we would finally get what various reddit threads, nerd dreams, fangirl and fanboys hoped and desired for; Tastosis, HdStarcraft and Painuser to commentate WCS Australia. Where the 16 top players from around Down Unda’ will compete for their chance at glory and one whopping grouse boomerang (note; Boomerang not actual prize).

In reality they’re competing for the 10,000 USD prize pool, where the top 6 placements will also be qualified for WCS Oceania finals, featuring our Kiwi brothers from across the Tasman sea Thomas ‘Jazbas’ Cho, and Tilea "KnighT" Flavall. 6 Aussies and 2 Kiwis will battle it out for prize, sheep, and 15,000 USD and the chance to compete with the worlds best at WCS World finals in China. But lets not count our sheep before they’re sheared.

On the 8th of August WCS: Australia will begin, and I for one, am giddy in my seat, and in a few other places I’d rather not mention, simply waiting for this to kick off. Players have been practicing non-stop, pride is on the line, and this is also the chance for Australian and other SEA players to show the world what talent we have to offer. Since not many may know of the talent we have grown in the outback, I thought I would take a little time to write up a (perhaps not so) brief summary of every player who will be competing.

You Tube

Since I’m terribly indecisive and humpty dumpty has nothing on me sitting on walls, I thought I would divide the players into 3 groups or ‘seeds’ if you will, S-B on their chances of taking out this event, however, make no mistake, the talent in Australia, especially recently, is extremely close in skill.

So, without further procrastination, delay of my predictions, holding my tongue (or hands since this is a keyboard), let us begin!

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The S Class Players


Nv.mOOnGLaDe	Tt.PiG	iM.Mafia	GoSu.tgun	iM.Light

Nv.mOOnGLaDe

First up, let us gaze at Australia’s prime E-sport Export; Moonglade!
Andrew ‘Moonglade’ Pender, I know he capitalises his name somehow but for the life of my I’m not going to bother, has, until recently, been Australia’s undisputed not-so-heavyweight champion of the world. (at least in Australia’s mind) From competition to competition, locally he proved unbeatable, coupled with being on the international team; FXO along with Tgun. Not only has he enjoyed unrivaled success in Australia, he has competed internationally and not only exceeded expectations of his fans back at home, but made the world feel his presence as well.

His greatest placing is of course at IEM Season V world championships coming 4th, also the highest placing non-Korean, losing spectacularly to Squirtle 3-2. Since then he has proven to be a force to be reckoned with in Korea, where he spent a short period of time, and now back at home in Straya’ C***. With all these massive achievements there is a silver lining on this proverbial cloud.
Moonglade placed 4th yet again at ACL Melbourne, a great result by any means, but not up to his usual standard. Perhaps we have finally found the Achilles Heel of Mr. Pender, or he just hasn’t been practicing as much, a much more likely answer. Nonetheless, he placed well but not won any of the other big recent Australian tournaments such as GESC, where he placed second to Targa, or the Tokyo Game show Qualifiers where he placed second to Mafia.

However, if there is one thing we have learned from the ‘Dark Prince’, at major offline events you simply cannot count him out. Whether it be his experience, innate skill at the game, or that extra something which cannot be quantified or identified, but should be feared, Andrew Pender will still be the player to beat coming into this weekends event.

iM.Mafia

Next up we have the player with so much momentum behind him even an immoveable object would be blown away and ensuing paradox would not occur, we have Immunities Mafia!

Tim ‘Mafia’ He, an ex-poker professional has been a big name in the SEA Starcraft 2 scene for quite some time, but only recently has been a true powerhouse, instilling fear into nerds hearts. Recently he has gained a lot of notoriety for briefly being #1 Korean GrandMaster, Placing top 8 in TSL 4 Qualifiers, Semi finalist and Finalist in various NA Playhems, placing 2nd at ACL Melbourne and lastly, Winning The Tokyo Game Show Australian Qualifiers. All in the space of about a month. That is one busy gamer.

His ZvZ is impressive, his ZvT is unstoppable, his ZvP I actually haven’t seen as Protoss is an endangered species in Australia, I jest, it is of course as good as his other match-ups. I’m not exactly sure who the player to take him down this event will be, as he is one of the most solid players I’ve seen in quite some time.
I believe his chances of winning this event are extremely good, provided he can play to his full potential. Being calm and cool in high pressure situations is no challenge for Tim, as he has been at higher stakes than this on the poker table, taking 3rd at ANZPT Sydney event to win $320k. Will he replicate these results in Sc2? Only time will tell.

Tt.PiG

Next in line, we have Pig. Australia’s loveable full-time gamer. With an international outing to IEM: China, and a few other international online appearances such as ONOG invitational #2, Pig is a name more and more foreigners and Koreans alike are starting to recognise, and for good reason.

His dedication to the game has been amazing the last 12 months or so, since he decided to go pro, and his results have steadily increased since. After breaking out and taking 3rd at WCG: Australia in 2011, Pig would go on to take 3rd in many other events such as ACL: Gold Coast, ACL: Sydney, Sea Star League season 2, along with placing well at various other events. Until a few weeks ago where we saw him shove aside his 3rd place demons and take first at ACL: Melbourne. This could be an indication that he has finally conquered whatever offline stage fears he may have had, and is now finally ready to once again win another major offline tournament.

For those of you not familiar with the SEA scene, ZvZ is the major match-up down here, and Pig (along with just about every other Zerg on the planet) has expressed his distaste for the match-up. However he will need to put these problems aside if he wishes to equal his ACL Melbourne placement. I know there’s a “when pigs fly” joke in here somewhere but for the life of my I can’t think of one so you’ll have to do the legwork yourself!

GoSu.tgun

Feast your eyes on: the loveable rage-a-holic who was on FXO and competed in GSTL and practices with amazing players. Alas he also appears to have problems at offline events, where unfortunate it is say, most of pro gaming matters. However, irrespective of classes or labels, Tgun is an amazing player who should not be taken lightly and has just about as good of a chance to take it as any of the other class A players. Recently taking first place in the ASUS Starcraft2 Pro-Am, I thought we might see continued dominance into ACL Melbourne, an event I’m sure you’re tired hearing of now. Tgun took a respectable 5th-6th place, equaling other past ACL events.

Challenges will include not beating himself up for losing a map or a series to a player he feels he shouldn’t, and then getting over what LAN nerves he might have, (disclaimer: I have no idea if he does or not, merely speculation, as his online performances are far better than his LAN ones). Regardless, definitely keep an eye or 3 on him, yes I said 3.

iM.Light

Lastly but certainly not least: Immunities Light, the best and sexiest Protoss in Sea now that Pinders' Jaw line has retired. Light will be looking to make a good impression now that the world is watching. He placed 3rd at that event I keep referring to, and has been a very talented Protoss when he wants to be. Most notably his narrow loss to ST.Ace at the NRG Lan in Sydney a while back, and has since been just as talented and just as quiet. Definitely a player to look out for on the stream and I wish him the best of luck!

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The Class A Players


Nv.Rossi	Nv.deth	cR.Ninja	iaguz

To preface this group of players, a word to the wise. Any of these following players on their day can compete with the very best of Australia and SEA. The scene is actually incredibly tight these days, and I had many sleepless nights (but not really) deciding who would be the favorites, and who would be cast aside. The only traits the next group of players lack is consistency, and proven tournament wins in big situations, with that being said..

To start of with the next round of players who I hope will still be friends with me even after ranking them (slightly I swear) below the rest, we have

Nv.Rossi

Mr David "Rossi" Rossi (Still trying to figure out how he got his handle) Is a David vs Goliath story. Starting out in Starcraft 2 in Australia's' Premier clan 'Terror Australis', as a newbie in gold, with tender love (or lack of) and care he quickly grew into a powerhouse Terran, taking 2nd at ACL Goldcoast. Since then, he has placed highly in many online and LAN tournaments, and taken 2 qualifying tournaments in IEM Gamescom SEA Qualifier #1, and [WCS] APL National Qualifiers #2.

Whilst I put him slightly below the favorites make no mistake, this Italian stallion should not be messed with, and on his day will easily slice through the SEA (geddit?) of zergs like they were spicy home made meatballs.

Nv.deth

Daniel "deth' Haynes is another strong Terran, bursting out into the SEA scene early after release winning multiple online and LAN tournaments and representing Australia in the Southern Cross series. In 2011 he won every major Melbourne LAN defeating Targa handily every time, which as far as I'm concerned made Targa rage quit Melbourne and move to Brisbane.

This year with school commitments studying journalism (however still not being able to spell 'death' properly) he has been unable to practice for various amounts of time and has had somewhat lackluster results on the national stage. This time round however, he has been practicing heavily as he has been on holidays, so expect his impeccable macro and decision making to come shining through.

cR.Ninja

Alex "cR.Ninja" Smith has exploded out of the woodwork not, unlike, a ninja, to take an impressive 4th place at ACL Sydney. Shortly afterwards crushing everyone in online tournaments that stood in his path, he very quickly made a name for himself as someone you don't want to mess with.
This particular event many fibers in my body wanted to put him in with the big dogs, the only thing holding him back is being slightly unproven in winning events. A word to the wise tho, watch this player. Posting various replays of him dismantling none other than iM.Nestea and going 2-1 with ST.Rainbow in various series, this little ninja is a force to be reckoned with.

iaguz

Next up, we have a player (dwarf) who's name is older than time and the Australian scene itself. Ethan "Iaguz but should have called himself Gimli' Zugai. When I was just a lowly platinum newbie, fresh and eager to learn about the Australian and SEA scene, I would always see two names popping up. Moonglade, and Iaguz. These two have so much history playing each other the scriptures of the kings don't even go that far back. Unluckily for Iaguz this was when Moonglade was in his prime, playing with FXO, and the Gimli Terran was bested every time that I can recollect.

Regardless of this rivalry, and with new uprising superstars, Iaguz has remained a relevant and very deadly threat in Australia. Boasting the best TvZ, a very important match-up in SEA atm, he will have to live up to his big words (cough) and deliver.


Nv.YoonYJ	iM.yang	Eve.techtron	cR.EdgE	Tek.BigBird

Nv.YoonYJ

Yoon had a great year in 2011 taking just about as many online competitions as he dare enter. This year he has been relatively inactive with school and other commitments, but rumblings in the deep warn of his intense practice schedule leading up to the event. This old school player will have to bring some new school skills to make it far into this tournament, will he be up to the challenge? only time will tell.

iM.yang

This adorable little fellow came into the scene in a big way winning 2-3 big Sea cups, defeating Moonglade and other various established players. Since then he has been Perths' shining hope at making Australia realise it is indeed a part of the country. With good, solid performances since then, and being protoss, definitely keep an eye on this one!

Eve.techtron

Staying in theme with adorable players, this young player has steadily been making more and more of a name for himself. Originally performing well at Melbourne LANs and online competitions, he made his first major LAN Victory taking down Nv.Yoon in the open bracket. Steady practice, and an innate ability for TvZ continued, with this little guy astounding everyone but me (I can prove it with previous blogs) to make it out of his group at ACL Melbourne, eventually taking 7-8th! If he has practised, and even if he hasn't, if your race begins with T and you get Techtron, you better have something planned up your sleeve, or you might quickly find yourself in the losers bracket.

cR.EdgE

Starting a new theme with adorable players Mums, we have EdgE who for a long time has been putting Adelaide on the map for Starcraft 2 in Australia, until recently where he was bested by BigBird to qualify for ACL Melbourne, and WCS. He managed to qualify via last chance tournament by a single map over yours truly, but deserved his place, crushing all in his group except for Moonglade and Tgun, where he lost narrowly. Now he is back for revenge.

Widely regarded as one of the most naturally talented players who gives the littlest of fucks, if Edge has decided to practice for this event people had better watch out and take note. He is one scary mofo.

Tek.BigBird

The man from Sesame Street himself, Luke "BigBird" Bridley is a strong up and coming player from my very favorite team in SEA, Teknicity

Bias aside, he is showing strong promise. Recently going toe-to-toe in his group with Techtron, Rossi, Targa, YoonYj in close 2-1 series, I'm waiting for this bird to release his wings and fly.[/spoiler]

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The Class B Players


Legionnaire	Exile5.Frustration

By now we come to the lesser known players (in Starcraft 2, at least):

Legionnaire

For you Broodwar followers, you have probably heard of Legionnaire. He was the first foreigners to all kill a Korean Team, one of the first foreigners to live in Korea, and took 3rd place at WCG 2005. Unfortunately, he has quit pro-gaming. Recently by some miracle he qualified for WCS by taking 4th place at the qualifiers at Brisbane. It will be interesting to see how much he has practiced, if at all, and how well his gifted skills from BW have transferred into Starcraft 2.

Exile5.Frustration

After Yang had qualified for WCS, we heard rumors that Perth would be allocated 2 spots for this prestigious event, and suddenly everyone was trying to think who else actually bought and/or played Starcraft 2 in Perth. The answer would come in the form of Frustration. Whilst I don't hold him at the same standards as everybody else, provided he has come into this tournament prepared and plays well, anything can happen. Always fear those that have nothing to lose!

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Final Thoughts

So that's it folks. I await with baited breath as my phone/inbox will blow up with angry people telling how much they hate me. But it's fine, it's for the good of e-sports damn it! Australia has been waiting for an event like this for quite some time now. I know myself and every other avid Starcraft 2 enthusiast has had to buy many new changes of underwear thinking about this event. So please, tune in, tell your friends, spread the word, WCS Australia and WCS Oceania is not to be missed!

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Brought to you by the SC2SEA Writing Team
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Next: WCS Hype Part 2: Player Interviews by Lemminks