[Dox]

Team Nv was one half of the contingent that represented SEA at MLG Dallas 2012. Dox (manager) would lead Team Nv's players mOOnGLaDe , Rossi , deth and YoonYJ on what would be the first live MLG attendance for most of them. WCS New Zealand champion JazBas was the only team member to miss the trip, due his late arrival on the team.

After a week of reflection, we thought we'd give a brief summary of the teams experiences and results. We won't cover everything as this isn't meant to be a blog (I've already cut half the content!), but it should give a little bit of an idea of how the trip went for us. If you want to know more keep an eye out for our future video content.

When Nv was formed at the start of the year, Dox announced the team would attend an MLG event this year. It was exciting, it was a bold statement, but it also sounded like a massive task - this kind of thing doesn't happen a lot in SEA. Fast forward to last weekend – I was sitting in my study, frantically F5′ing MLGScores twitter to see the results of the team as they played in the open bracket of MLG Dallas! Months of training, practice schedules, analyzing, strategizing, perfecting mechanics, timings and build orders, all put to test over one weekend against the worlds best players!

mOOnGLaDe, YoonYJ, Rossi & deth watch the action, while Dox talks with Clutch

The team got off to a rocky start on their trip from Sydney (Australia) to Dallas (Texas). Their relatively straight-forward 20 hour journey more than doubled in time as they got caught by long flight delays and extensive queues. Through this they had to battle sleep deprivation (poor mOOnGLaDe feel asleep on the airport floor), lost luggage, and had cancelled flights re-booked to the wrong airport. Eventually they would arrive at their destination (without luggage) and had one day to relax, which they spent exploring Dallas and sleeping.

Obviously there was some time for the players to recover before the event, however it’s a lot different from playing at home. It’s basically another skill players need to learn and add to their checklist, and it’s one of the hardest to improve on (let alone master).

Our journey so far has been over 14,000km and 40 hours. If I can secure our luggage in the morning, all will be right in the universe once more.

Left: mOOnGLaDe falls asleep at the airport. Right: Yoon sleeps, deth is possibly a robot.

The topic of travel is extremely relevant for SEA teams/players, as the location of SEA in relation to nearly all of the worlds major Starcraft 2 hubs makes international travel both costly & tiresome. Airfares will set you back around $1600 (AUD) to get to either America or Europe. Add in any visa/passport costs, accommodation, food, local travel, plus all the other expenses and you can easily hit $2500-$3000 per person. Obviously this is an enormous cost for any team regardless of their home location, however it’s a huge deal for SEA as the scene is a lot smaller than most and money is held very tightly.

It should be noted (well, it's kind of a given...) that SEA players are absolutely dying to get to these big live events and it gives us heartache that it’s just such an unfeasible task to do so. Obviously seeding and travel stipends are a big draw for SEA players, however it's well known how terrible our internet is and playing with pings of up to 200-300 make online qualifiers painful and generally unsuccessful.

In a world where exposure is half the battle and live events are one of the best methods for getting it, it's a real struggle if you can't feasibly attend those events. It’s such a difficult position to be in as a competitive gamer in SEA.

You’ve just spent a tonne of money and travelled halfway around the world, now you have to play against an ensemble of the best players in the world! Oh, by the way, you’re also representing your region – no pressure!

Some people have the personality and mindset to overcome these obstacles. However not everyone can attest to this, especially a group of mostly inexperienced Aussies travelers. Whether they are there to talk between matches, grab you a drink, or simply there for the thought of having someone you know nearby in a foreign country – it is really beneficial to have mates there for your state of mind. After-all, you can have all the skill in the world, but if you aren’t mentally prepared and in the right frame of mind then you may as well go home before you begin.

@NvDox yoyo derek where u at! this man needs caffiene and food stat!! im in a booth on the main stage and i dont think i can leave - @mOOnGLaDeau

Thomas Shifrer from ESFI asked mOOnGLaDe this very question in an interview at the event:

Shifrer: Has having your team mates here been kind of an advantage for you?
mOOnGLaDe: It's made it a whole lot more fun, that's for sure. It's a lot nicer to travel all this distance with your team mates and friends. It was great to give some other Aussies some experience in the tournament and see what it's all like. It's been a great experience and I hope they come along next time
Pro Pass, ESFI - Full Interview

I suspect there aren't many teams that send players to the big events by themselves. However for the SEA teams, it's a very relevant issue as they generally can't afford to send staff or multiple players just to 'babysit' each other (generally the money could be better spent). The Nv players were really glad that they could travel together and have company in such an important time in their gaming careers.

Team Nv ended up with mixed results from the tournament. While mOOnGLaDe was the only player to make it out of the Open Bracket, the team and players are really impressed and happy with the results put forth.

Considered by many as the most successful and experienced player from SEA, mOOnGLaDe came into this event as the veteran of the group. Having done well in the MLG Invite Only Qualifier, he was seeded into the 5th Round of the Open Bracket where he would beat MC in his first match of the tournament.

I go back outside and I see Andy sitting comfortably with 3 bases, whilst moving across the map with a huge counter-force of Roaches, Lings & Infestors. He stomps MC's 3rd and forces him back into his natural. He overwhelms MC and floods his way to a 2-1 victory. Even though this game wasn't streamed, the spectators standing nearby lost their shit. They were cheering and clapping like crazy. And mannnnnnnnn was I proud. What an awesome accomplishment! - Dox

He then went on to win against HuK in the final match of the Open Bracket, allowing him to advance to Group Play.

In Group Play, mOOnGLaDe found himself playing his weakest match-up against a very tough opponent and fan favourite - viOLet . After dropping 0-2, he then bounced back, beating Major and Revival before again facing viOLet in an extended series where he would take a game, but ultimately lose 1-2 (1-4 overall). This strong run placed mOOnGLaDe into Round 4 of the Championship Losers Bracket, where he would bow out of the tournament after losing to Daisy who was on a similar monstrous run.

As we started walking back to our hotel to get a nice big sleep, we received a message from Thundertoss. "GLaDe has to play his Championship Bracket tonight. At 11:00PM." Well shit. mOOnGLaDe literally fell asleep at the dinner table, and now he was expected to play another match in 90 minutes.
It seems that fatigue got the best of him, as he forgot Zergling Speed, Roach Speed and Overlords on numerous occasions, allowing Daisy to secure the victory. - Dox

Andy narrowly missed out on Championship Sunday, and finished as one of the highest placed foreigners of the event.

In his first match, Rossi would face 2-base Roach timings in both games where he would play safe and win convincingly. He would face more 2-base all-ins from his next Protoss opponent, however this time he would be a bit more adventurous and send out a double drop, sniping all his opponents gateways and clear the way for a win.
In his third round Rossi would run into (and lose to) fellow SEA player MaFia . Rossi labelled this an amazing series:

"Mafia played extremely well, continuously making me question my decisions and coming from what i felt like what was behind to win the series."

These guys are good mates and have a long history of playing against each other. It should come as no surprise that they would play out 3 long gruelling games.

His first match the on Day 2 would be against 'SniXSniPe' (brother of TriMaster, who is training with compLexity Academy). Rossi would use very aggressive builds in all 3 games, however would run into an extremely defensive macro playstyle and eventually would fall behind in two of the games, inevitably knocking him out of the tournament.

Rossi had this to say in regards to his performance:

I lost but took it in stride happily as i was just happy to be at the event and was able to have this experience. Overall i played fairly well but wish i had prepared much more thoroughly - it was difficult however as i have returned back home to exams. The experience has definitely reinvigorated my passion.

After a first round bye and crushing through his second round opponent, deth would hit the NA Protoss ]Insur and be defeated (Insur would go on to make it to the Championship Bracket).

On Day 2 deth suffered a similar result. After a quick win in his first match of the day, he would play qxc and unfortunately get knocked out of the tournament.

deth has put continued effort into his training and it's really been showing. While he suffered a somewhat early defeat in the tournament, he continues to improve with a strong passion for the game - expect big results from deth in the future.

MLG Dallas would be the last event YoonYJ would attend before retirement. Whilst he didn't make it out of the open bracket, he did make a splash on the way out. In the third round he faced off against qxc where they would play an awesome match that would come down to a nail-biter of a third game, where Yoon would narrowly win in a base race.

Whilst all this was going on (mOOnGLaDe winning against HuK), YoonYJ had won the most intense series against coL.qxc. By now, you've all probably seen the deciding game 3 on Daybreak. You can't imagine the tension floating around those two as we all stood around biting our nails. It was electric.

YoonYJ retires from gaming with the respect from his team and his community. He was (is) an amazing, naturally talented player that will be missed. We all wish him the best in his future.

Overall, the team is very happy with their results. All the players would probably tell you they would have liked to gone a little further, but in the same breath are pleased with how they performed. They all agree that it was an amazing experience, had a blast playing, met some amazing people (Rossi being the big old fanboy that he is), and as a team they would love to do it again (fingers crossed!)

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Andrew "mOOnGLaDe" Pender

You Tube

You Tube

David "Rossi" Rossi

You Tube

You Tube

Derek "Dox" Reball

You Tube

You Tube

MORE VIDEO INTERVIEWS
Slasher interviews mOOnGLaDe for Gamespot

CSN interview mOOnGLaDe

CSN interview mOOnGLaDe

Quantic Media interviews Rossi

Quantic Media interviews Rossi

Quantic Media interviews mOOnGLaDe

Quantic Media interviews mOOnGLaDe

ESFI Pro Pass interview with mOOnGLaDe

ESFI Pro Pass interview with mOOnGLaDe

The team is organising video content that will cover their thoughts of the event in full. We will also take a look at what's happening in the future for the team, both locally in the SEA region and the possibilities of future international endeavours.

Twitter: @NvSC2 | Facebook: NvSC2

Visit the thread on Reddit: MLG Dallas Recap by Australian Team [Nv]

From Australia to all the international players & fans, we can't wait to meet you all again soon!

ps. mOOnGLaDe will be participating in the Blizzard World Championship event next weekend - give him a cheer!

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[ProAnnn]

Will anyone from Nv coming down to play the open bracket for IEM SG?

Quick Comments

Dox:

Nope

[nGenLight]

Personally I knew once Andy learned how to shift-T, he would be an astounding ZvP player. ^-^

Really enjoyed the moment he crushed MC in game 3.

[Bash]

On November 12 2012 23:27 Dox wrote:
Next year we'll be aiming to visit South Korea (Code A / GSTL), Europe (Dreamhack) & America (MLG again). Exciting times ahead, thanks everyone for your friendly support during our time in Dallas.

have my babies plz

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by Dox

Next year we'll be aiming to visit South Korea (Code A / GSTL), Europe (Dreamhack) & America (MLG again). Exciting times ahead, thanks everyone for your friendly support during our time in Dallas.

Gets me all wiggly

EDIT:

Lol looks like bash had the same idea

Quick Comments

Bash:

♥

[Dox]

My CSN interview is up now too -

Quick Comments

VB_WhiplashJC:

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/137tbw/derek_dox_reball_on_building_the_australian_scene/