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Benji · Fri, 1st-Apr-2011, 5:55 PM

Saturday the 2nd of April is the finals of the NRG Starcraft 2 tourney, this news post/thread will be constantly updated as the tournament progreses.

UPDATE: NRG Plan on Running 2 events a year, there will be another event in August/September!

Results:

1st: ST_Ace
2nd: nGenLight
3rd: aLtiaguz
4th: Team Immunity YoonYJ
5th/6th: VTAzz
5th/6th: FXOFilthy

+ Show +

**nirvAnA** · Sat, 2nd-Apr-2011, 10:05 PM

whoa awesome updates

omg yyj

wp by light tho, his pvt seems so strong.
whats the prize structure like?

**Dox** · Sat, 2nd-Apr-2011, 10:29 PM

nGen.Light takes out aLt.iaguz 3-2 in a NAILBITING series for the semi-final. At last, we have our grand finalist to step up against ST_Ace!

Prize is:
1st: $8,000 and some crazy awesome PC (valued at like $4500 or something)
2nd: $3,000 and a huge bundle of Razer stuff
3rd: $1,000 and a huge bundle of Razer stuff!
4th-10th: Huge bundles of Razer stuff!

**Dox** · Sat, 2nd-Apr-2011, 10:36 PM

nGen.Light vs aLt.iaguz semi-finals replays are up on my FTP!
http://www.sea-play.com/replays/NRG/

**Dox** · Sat, 2nd-Apr-2011, 11:00 PM

+ [Spoiler: Grand Finals] +

Grand Finals replays on my FTP!

**Dox** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 9:00 AM

Phew! Finally back in Brisbane. I ended up leaving the venue and going on a solo pub crawl (so many pikers, oh my god!) to kill the ~5 hours while I waited for my flight. So after being awake for 30 hours, flying interstate twice and drinking a fair bit, forgive me if any of this is difficult to understand! Just wanted to add a few comments before I sleep.

I saw this Battle.net broadcast from a person who didn't actually attend the event lastnight, and I couldn't help but question their reasoning.

To respond directly to the complaints in this screenshot -

@ 12 hours: Yes, it was a very long event. The organisers will be mindful of this in the future, and break the event down over the course of an entire weekend.

@ horrible qualifying/invite system: This was their first event, and they have insisted that they are very, VERY open to feedback. Many of us (Benji, deL, tgun, Shuffle) were present when Nick Popov mentioned that their next event (scheduled for August/September) will require a lot of direction from the players and the community. Their next event will have a much larger cash prize. Their next event will have state/online qualifiers, with paid flights to the grand finals. Their next event will feature more international invites, such as ST_Ace. Their next event will have commentating (and perhaps streaming, logistics to be explored).
Their next event will be more spectator friendly, with observers visible on the TV's all around the venue. Their next event will have plenty of notice (should be announced within 2 weeks). Their next event will have a more professional approach to brackets and seeding. And all of these features are based on feedback we presented to them. Instead of blindly complaining about how "horrible" an event you didn't attend was, a much better approach would be to help them improve the next one.

@ no coverage: I did so via 3 forums - sc2sea, wcreplays, and teamliquid. I also updated almost every game via my twitter. (dox_au) Whether I qualified for the finals or not, this was my objective. I managed to get my hands on every replay for the entire event and upload them within 5 minutes of the round being finished. I guess I'll try to improve on that next time.

@ no advertising: Again, thanks to our feedback, the organisation is now aware of the correct channels to advertise. The next one will be out there.

@ the money going off shore: this is really dumb, and I strongly doubt anyone actually cares. The opportunity to meet a professional gamer from Korea, and spend an entire day with him was a great experience for a lot of people who would otherwise never have this chance. Ace was a really nice guy, very polite, patient and fun to have around. I'm excited by the prospect of bringing more foreign gamers to Australia in the future. Ace worked his ass off just as much as everyone else in that event. Complaining that a Korean won the first prize infuriates me almost as much as that stupid NASL thread suggesting that Koreans shouldn't be eligible for prize money as to "invest" in the American community. If Australians want the money, they're gonna have to step up their game, simple as that. And 3 of our players showed that they're capable. YoonYJ, iaguz and Light all played fantastic games against Ace. They each took a game off him, and some of the others were very close.

And for my own personal feedback, here's a list of everything that comes to mind within 60 seconds:
Venue was fantastic. Only 4 issues were the uncomfortable chairs, the lighting (very difficult for good photos/videos), the lack of spectator support and the chinese default language on the computers. The 3rd and 4th issues were easily resolved, so that really only leaves chairs and lights to complain about. No biggie.

The guys running the tournament really deserved a huge thanks/congratulations. I doubt many people realised how much 3 guys were actually doing all day, with each of them taking ~20 rounds each and keeping games flowing, results up to date and IT issues resolved. They were very polite and also very direct at the same time. If they wanted someone to sit down and play, they made it happen. So yes, despite being a very long event, it could have been much longer. These guys really did a fantastic job, and I look forward to more of their events in the future.

In closing, thank you to everyone who attended and made it a memorable day, and congratulations to those who managed to show that they have what it takes to compete with the best of the best. The amount of cheering and clapping in the room each and every time we saw Ace type out GG created a very electric atmosphere.

EDIT: Just to clarify one thing for those who didn't attend - this is easily one of (if not absolutely) the biggest events we've ever had in Australian eSports. And the organisers have every intention to make the next one bigger and better, with 2 per year. This is SO big.

ROOT`iaguz · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 9:32 AM

Dox is basically entirely correct. +1 to everything he said.

Light has a very refined style but the problem is that he opens this way every game. If he whipped out this style of gateway aggression once or twice a series, it'd be a lot better for him. After game 2 I just started opening blindly against assumed 3 gate aggression openings (didn't entirely work cuz I cocked a fair few things up, but well, you know.

**nGenLight** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 2:13 PM

Good writeup Dox, there is certainly room for improvement future NRG events, but yesterday's event was not bad at all.

Iaguz: I usually switch up between 2Gate Robo/expo or 3 Gate pressure depending on spawning positions, and pull out occasional 4gate or Stargate expo/play. On our second game I 2gate Robo'd because I thought you were close air.... turned out my probe just didn't see the CC in the close spawns T_T. On our 4th game you totally crushed me when I saw 6 marauders move out into the middle of the map, catching my sentries completely off guard, at that moment I knew you were catching on to my build. Our 5th game I decided to go 2 gate expo into double forge, hopefully switching it up a bit. I understand we both made mistakes and stuff as we were so tired, but nontheless it was a great pleasure playing you sir.

Few observations/notes I want to add:
- YYJ was very mannered and nice yesterday, he came around greeting everyone, and the leaving on game 3 was just extremely mannered even though he could have floated and forced a draw.
- It is unfortunate we didn't see Tgun advance very far (even though he is one of the best players there yesterday), he will need to fix his ZvZ to really destroy all his competition.
- Sorry for team-killing you nGenBenji and nGenStarHunter (who invested a lot in airfare to fly over to play/socialize)
- Once again, TAScarecrow and TARossi ended up with very nice standings, having improved tremendously from the first time I watched them play!
- Everyone there was nice and friendly, and I thank everyone for supporting me (TA/nGen/Azz/CjC/Staff/Everyone else) when I went on my run of adrenaline through the lower bracket (Was averaging close to 300apm on every game), totally forgetting about what being "tired" was. I was so exhausted after Yoon's games but I think my adrenaline kept me going through Iaguz's games. My adrenaline died as soon as I knew I was going up against Ace.
- Ace is just incredible and plays on a complete different level, watching him make 100% crisp moves during warm-up and games really made you understand the difference between casual gamers and a professional who TRAINS 15 hours a day, it was like witnessing perfect micro, perfect macro, perfect decision making. Now I am certain that I do not want to improve no more in SC2, there is no way I can possibly be on that level to compete without SC2 being my job (which isn't an option financially or family opinion).
- With that said, I have high hopes for SEA SC2 level as we were able to take 3 games off him yesterday! 3 games off the freaking IEM champion!
- Had a lot and a lot of fun!

**iM tgun** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 2:27 PM

Observations for the day?

- Everyone there was super cool, mannered and seemed to have fun (especially the staff, they were serious but could joke around)
- Tournament needs work (not the way the brackets fell, I understand things like that will happen), but finding out your matches themselves was fairly hard
- Computers / settings were great. Being able to swap in my own peripherals was also very helpful.
- My ZvZ needs work.
- Not being able to play ACE was a huge letdown for me, not even in a practice match

- Light, the baller that he is, was friendly the whole time and lived up to my expectations of at least top8
- SEAs general competition & skill level is a lot higher than I generally give it credit for

And to top the night off, I got off the train at 11:40 with my phone being out of batteries, no idea what my parents / girlfriends # is or money and had to run the 1hr home.

But hey, my dad was lucky that day (up >$1k in bets), so there's where my luck went.

Was definately an awesome experience, and anyone who had the chance to go and didn't missed out heaps.

**Dox** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 2:57 PM

P.S. Thanks to tgun for buying me lunch ^____^!

I've just downloaded all my footage (almost 2 hours!) and I'll begin editing tonight. So much to do! I'm hoping the audio came out okay without a microphone.

**iM tgun** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 3:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dox

P.S. Thanks to tgun for buying me lunch ^____^!

I've just downloaded all my footage (almost 2 hours!) and I'll begin editing tonight. So much to do! I'm hoping the audio came out okay without a microphone.

This man runs around doing pretty much everything for the center, should've been paid for his work! Lunch is the least I can do to contribute.

aztecx · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 3:37 PM

I think they should have had better coverage in the sense that I think there should have been 1-2 casting streams so that people all around the world could watch the event. As well as this I think the qualifiers could have maybe been held online, that way everyone can qualify fairly and these 'pros' don't just get a free spot into the tourney. I feel like they should qualify just the same as everyone else. Not that it makes much of a difference but I would rather this equality in the tournament.

**nirvAnA** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 3:40 PM

sounds like such an awesome event, tho could have been publicised better.

looking forward to more!

**Dox** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 4:03 PM

All replays from the NRG event are now saved in a single archive on my FTP.
http://www.sea-play.com/replays/NRG/NRG_Replay_Pack.rar

**Eddie** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 4:12 PM

Thanks for the updates Dox and Benji. Sounds like a great tournament. Look forward to watching some of the replays!

deL · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 5:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aztecx

I think they should have had better coverage in the sense that I think there should have been 1-2 casting streams so that people all around the world could watch the event. As well as this I think the qualifiers could have maybe been held online, that way everyone can qualify fairly and these 'pros' don't just get a free spot into the tourney. I feel like they should qualify just the same as everyone else. Not that it makes much of a difference but I would rather this equality in the tournament.

I think for other Australian players there should be aone online qualifier for out-of-state players (and you have to pay for entry before you play in the event, to ensure they show up). For international players a direct invite is fine, lots of tournaments do it, and offline qualifiers for Sydney-based players is also a lot of fun.

A stream is a bit trickier as it's just an internet cafe not a booth or venue like MLG and GSL have. To have commentators that the players can't hear would require a fair bit of effort and planning and it would be restricted to moderate quality because of the internet. It could certainly be done but elsewhere has the infrastructure and much larger fanbases to make it viable.

However there are a few things that could be done to increase exposure overseas or on a live stream (which I think sponsors would appreciate) and on-site to make spectating a bit easier. I think Unstable and myself will probably make some recommendations about that.

I think they should look to spread the prizepool further down to say top 16. If 1st was $6000-7000 instead of $8000 and cash prizes went down to 16th place then a lot more local players would be rewarded and that would mean there's less ill feeling about having a lot of big-name invites from Korea or elsewhere coming to sweep all the prizemoney.

**Dox** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 5:49 PM

Photos from the event:

Click here.

clock · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 8:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nGenLight

- Ace is just incredible and plays on a complete different level, watching him make 100% crisp moves during warm-up and games really made you understand the difference between casual gamers and a professional who TRAINS 15 hours a day, it was like witnessing perfect micro, perfect macro, perfect decision making. Now I am certain that I do not want to improve no more in SC2, there is no way I can possibly be on that level to compete without SC2 being my job (which isn't an option financially or family opinion).
- With that said, I have high hopes for SEA SC2 level as we were able to take 3 games off him yesterday! 3 games off the freaking IEM champion!
- Had a lot and a lot of fun!

Light u took a game off one of the best players in the world, with alot less practice, dont think like that, you can do it!

be constructive, you have a talent, dont let it go to waste, i am not anywhere near your level and i am stuck working 60+ hours a week, but I am not giving up!

I will win GSL one day, AND SO WILL YOU JUST KEEP GOING MAN !!

Breaker.846 · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 9:23 PM

Dox! thank you so much for providing so much coverage of the event with the results, photos, replay packs and everything. You're a boss and a half.

TAScarecrow · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 10:22 PM

Would be nice to see the top 12 players recognised in the OP just as they were at the awards ceremony. All won significant hardware prizes ($200-$450) over a very deep field and 3 travelled interstate to be there.

That said I'm stoked Light managed to pull such a great result, the $2k plus taking a game off a progamer was well earned.

Tourney was disorganized in parts but they were approaching many of us about feedback and I'm sure the next one will run far smoother. Thanks to the staff for working a ridiculous 15 hour shift!

Great to meet so many fellow SC'ers, hopefully see you all at the next one. The promise of 3 more of these with this as a minimum prize pool should be ample motivation for the community.

Congrats also to YYJ, Iaguz and Light for taking games off Ace.

**Dox** · Sun, 3rd-Apr-2011, 10:56 PM

I've started editing all of the video footage I recorded and it's coming along quite nicely. Unfortunately I haven't been able to stay awake longer than 2-3 hours at a time and keep passing out. Still recovering from such an exhausting trip. :/

Video will be finished next weekend!