[deL]

SC2SEA Event Spotlight: Platinum/Diamond ClanLeague

SC2SEA's premier Clan League tournament for players in Platinum and Diamond leagues has gone a bit under the radar after the flurry of high quality SEA events recently, including many BSG tournaments. Erasmus and Rizzisk have been working to make the PDCL run smoothly over the past few weeks and it would be a shame to overlook some of the exciting results and close-fought matches this league has produced.

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Questions and Answers with head admin Erasmus

I took the time to catch up with head PDCL admin Erasmus to talk about the league so far. No one would know more about the PD ClanLeague than Erasmus, who fostered the idea and eventually implemented it almost single handedly.

+ [Read the interview] +

Q1 Where did the idea for a Plat/Dia ClanLeague come from?

A1 I'd been part of a clan for a while but it had all been pretty casual, and then the BSGCL came along just after I'd started playing more and gotten promoted. I was kinda bummed that I couldn't play with the guys I'd become friends with. Since the extra competitiveness of that helped a lot of them make the jump to platinum too, it just felt like it was time there was something that brought that team feeling to the Platinum/Diamond level players.

Q2 How did you go about setting up the league from scratch? Did you base it on another event like the BSGCL or did you make it your own?

A2 I took a lot of inspiration from the BSGCL. When I came up with the idea and took it to a few people, it seemed fairly popular. We discussed a few different ranges of leagues and such (mirroring the GPD opens for example with a GPD clan league) but eventually decided it would make sense from an sc2sea perspective if we kept the format the same as the BSGCL but for Platinum/Diamond, and even to try and sync up the seasons for each.

Q3 Have there been any surprises in the season so far, either in terms of the games or the reception of the event?

A3 I'm pleasantly surprised by the clans which I hadn't heard of around sc2sea before signing up and participating in this league (like AsG or IGL). Hopefully this sort of event helps to draw more people into the SEA community. The clan events are great for this as it's a bit of a social thing as well as being a way to test your skill at this amazing game.

Q4 Which players or teams should we look out for as particularly skilled or entertaining?

A4 Well, currently FaDe are on top of the PDCL table, and they have beaten crux-ToR (currently sitting second) in a friendly event, so they are definitely looking like a strong team that everyone needs to beware of. I haven't watched all of the games in the league, but I believe optix is a pretty scary terran. He certainly impressed me in the game I watched. Also Rizzisk from ToR is only platinum but already achieved an all-kill in the first week of the league, so I think he has a lot of potential. (Possibly biased towards my own players, but I know them best). Also props to FaDeLemon as the only girl in the league that I know of, a pretty solid protoss and she already has a few kills to her name.

Q5 What kind of time commitment is required to run the PDCL successfuly as you have?

A5 Well, it certainly gets easier to organise once the initial getting it running is out of the way. But I still need to allow a few hours just to enter the results and update them into threads and the ladder for the league. Then it's just being online for a few hours on one (although often two) nights a week to make sure things run smoothly.

Q6 Any plans to run an 'all stars' match like BSGCL season 1 did, or perhaps have a showmatch against the winner of an NA server PD clanleague?

A6 I haven't got anything planned yet, but I have been thinking about some kind of all stars match. Possibly something with a small prize and ask each team to nominate an MVP to duke it out after the finals are done... I'll wait until a bit later before officially organising anything though.

Team Guide
With so many teams who most members of sc2sea may not have heard of before a Platinum-Diamond ClanLeague team-by-team guide will help familiarise you with the competitiors in this great event.

+ [Read the team guide] +

Terror Australis Captain: TAsCarLet | Rank: 5 | Record: 1-2 | www.clan-ta.com
TA is well known around sc2sea as a large, mostly Australian-based clan with a good spread of members across all leagues. They bring a strong team spirit, competitive practice environment and active roster to the league. Look for TA to attempt to break in to the top of the table in the coming weeks as practice pays off.

Player to watch out for: TABreylin is yet to feature in a lineup but has taken some high rank scalps in TA's internal team leagues.

H A Captain: HTgRim | Rank: 5 | Record: 1-1 | www.teamht.net
HT is another team with a large, diverse roster as can be guessed by the inclusion of two teams in the league. Focussing recruitment on platinum-masters level players means this team has great depth and a wealth of practice partners.

Player to watch out for: HTgRim has already made a name for himself in the league with some strong results from solid play.

H B Captain: Malik | Rank: 5 | Record: 1-2 | www.teamht.net
As above, the other half of team HT is characterised by lineup depth and an active roster. Being another mid-pack team expect one or both of these HT representatives to try to make their move up the ladder shortly.

Player to watch out for: Team captain Malik always leads from the front, so expect him to try and set an example for his charges.

crux-ToR Captain: CruxSpoon | Rank: 2 | Record: 3-1 | www.wix.com/stallion15/crux# | http://timeofrising.webs.com
The combination of competitive SEA clan Crux with notable BSG-level team Time of Rising is proving a formidable alliance in the PD clanleague. Consistently at the top of the ladder all season they are favoured to be very involved in the playoffs.

Player to watch out for: Rizzisk has been punching above his weight as a platinum league player and will look to replicate the success he has had in the early rounds.

FaDe Captain: Audacity | Rank: 1 | Record: 4-0 | http://fadegaming.enjin.com/
Table-toppers FaDe are another large clan with a massive playerbase, but they are not specifically aimed at the plat-diamond level. This has resulted in quite a small roster considering the clan's size, but they certainly make up for that with the quality of players they possess.

Player to watch out for: Lemon has posted some strong results so far and has proven she can compete in this tournament. It will be interesting to see where she can go in this event.

VB Captain: Ice | Rank: 3 | Record: 2-1 | www.vbclan.net/
More of a social or casual clan, VB is very active in the community and events and would be very happy with their high placings in the league so far. With experience in several games on their side and a strong team bond we could see VB go all the way.

Player to watch out for: BSGCL captain VBWhiplashJC has since been promoted to platinum and now features in VB's PDCL lineup. He was the star performer in the BSGCL and if he continues to improve he could be a telling force in VB's PDCL run.

ImperiaL-Winter Nights Captain: Cute | Rank: 5 | Record: 1-1 | http://winternights.enjin.com
Another alliance of clans features some of the standout players from BSGCL season 1 in Zeion and Kroot, as well as sc2sea moderator BakaInu.

Player to watch out for: Kroot was the ace player in BSGCL and may be ready to prove himself at the next level in the PDCL.

Ascension Gaming Captain: AsGSedz | Rank: 3 | Record: 2-1
These newcomers don't boast any big names from the BSG or PD scenes and are possibly less active on sc2sea or the SEA server than some of the other teams, but nonetheless they have a reasonably sized roster and could go far.

Player to watch out for: Any players who contributed to the team's first win.

IGL Captain: Squind | Rank: 9 | Record: 0-3
Another unknown entity, IGL has not shown impressive results yet as they sit at the bottom of the table. However, that just means they have more to prove and nothing to lose and they could pull a surprise upset on one of the more recognisable teams.

Player to watch out for: No standout players, but the roster has a lot of Diamond level players.

Brothers Til Death Captain: Interdiction | Rank: 9 | Record: 0-3 | www.brotherstildeath.com
The BSGCL season 1 finalists are off to a rocky start in their PDCL campaign, sharing the bottom ranking after 3 rounds with IGL. This may be due to the fact that Interdiction is the only name recognisable from their BSGCL exploits and with an untried roster they may need time to reach their full potential. This Oceanic clan spans a lot of games and this may reduce practice time for all of the players.

Player to watch out for: Interdiction has proven his managerial skills running the BSGCL team to a final.

Predictions

So now that we know what the event is all about, what teams are participating and who the star players are, who do we think can take home the glory and possibly some nice sc2sea forum custom achievements with it?

Erasmus While it's too early to call who I think the consistent performers throughout the league will be, FaDe are looking strong, and I think crux-ToR are definitely up there. HT are doing alright and should have at least one team near the top at the end of the season. I also think AsG are a lot stronger than their current ranking, and a few good showings will see them charge up the table. As for Most-Valuable-Player, I think HTgRim already has a good number of wins, as does Rizzisk.

deL If I put aside the bias of being on the roster for TA's PDCL team, I can't go past FaDe as favourites for the event. They have been a well known and liked clan whose members have proven their skill in the various events and tournaments around sc2sea and it would be no surprise if they swept all before them in this tournament. Having said that, crux-ToR, TA, VB and HT (both teams) all have a lot of potential and some have some room for improvement after some underwhelming first weeks. A late resurgence from any of these teams could see FaDe quickly dethroned.

More Information

PDCL Season 1
Brackets
Banner Source

Quick Comments

	:	great writeup!
	frequency:	Good job Brendan. A high quality example of the amazing content you produce for the South East Asian StarCraft II community. I hope you continue to provide this type of content for us adoring fans, and that you have a long and prosperous life.
	Brultze:
	inFeZa:	Awesome Job! ~ I wanna play in it, but i dont have a clan to participate & Cant use SQL... - Anyone wanna pick me up?
	cruxBsK:	outstanding Del, great to see some of the lower levels getting good exposure great content
	Zealo:	how did i only just find this? :(

[nirvAnA]

I have decided to lift deL's indefinite ban, and have asked deL to come up with 3 community articles for the community to enjoy. This is the first and of three and I have seen all of them and they look great. I hope all of us have learned from these lessons so lets move on and put the past behind.

[deL]

Happy to be back, I've already covered apologies etc. elsewhere so I'll keep this on topic, but happy to be back and contributing

I really think this event doesn't get as much attention as it ought to, hopefully my boring walls of text will convince you guys to get involved!

Quick Comments

|Erasmus|:

deL can definitely be a good bloke. Appreciate the write up mate.

[nGenLight]

What does the chick have to do with Starcraft

Quick Comments

TAriiChard:

did your gf say that?? I KNOW YOU LOVE HOTTIES!

[TAriiChard]

GOGO TA!!! and nice writeup man. Glad you're back =) and cheers to Nirvana for having him back!

Quick Comments

deL:

TA is kinda struggling, I blame sCarLet's poor leadership!

[Nemo]

Nice writeup, thanks !

[Malik]

nice i use the picture at the start as my wallpaper though i do have it on rotation with boxer
http://imgur.com/r/starcraft/J4fbw