[nirvAnA]

Weekly Digest #4 (Week ending 20th Feb 2011)

Tournament Weekly Recap

+ [Tournament] +

------------ Tuesday ------------

iMaster Of SEA #1
Winner: inF - $50
- Last 10 Ladder Replays -
Revenant was the first and last winner of the previous format, by simply obtaining #1 on the Top 200 list, he won $50! Enjoy the ladder replays of his last 10 games in the link above. Thank you iMaster for this amazing sponsorship to encourage ladder play.

After considering the feedback and the results of the poll, i decided to follow the majority vote so the new iMaster of SEA format will be like this - Top 3 ranked players + last weeks CO winner make up the top 4 who will play each other in a BO5 Single Elim. In the case that the CO winner is in the Top 3 already, the runner up of the CO will join the top 4.

Including the CO allows a spot for players who dont have the time to ladder up for the shot of $50. They will play the matches on Tuesday night when the new list is out to determine the top#3, which also means we have something awesome watch every Tuesday tentatively 7pm SGT! Winner of this tournament is required to submit his last 10 ladder games + the BO5 games so if you're in contention to play in this, keep Tuesday night free and remember to save your last 10 ladder replays!

Lastly, nGenLight qualifiers for the Big Quarterly Master of SEA Tournament at the end of March as the top 4 have already qualified.

+ Show +

Top 200 List, 2011 History - Jan-March Qualifiers

Date	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	Qualified Player
Jan 4, 2011	inF	Kroniic	YoonYJ	nGenJazBas	nGenMaSteR	inF
Jan 11, 2011	JesseTheKING	nGenStarhunt	Kroniic	YoonYJ	NEOindy	JesseTheKING
Jan 19, 2011	YoonYJ	inF	aLtKinGJessE	nGenLight	Alchemist	YoonYJ
Jan 24, 2011	inF	inF	pokerface	nGenLight	WeepingElla	inF
Feb 1, 2011	inF	inF	SwEEt	aLtKinGJessE	nGenLight	SwEEt
Feb 7, 2011	inF	nGenWild	aLtKinGJessE	NEOindy	inF	nGenWild
Feb 15, 2011	inF	inF	nGenWild	aLtKinGJessE	nGenLight	nGenLight

------------ Wednesday ------------

Community Open #12
Winner: inF $25
- Bracket - Replays -
- inF continues his domination of the SEA scene by adding a further $25 to his pocket for winning CO #12. Originally not registered on time, Santi was nice enough to let him replace one of the walkovers. Hint: If you're late for registration you can try asking Santi nicely to let you replace the walkovers and if hes not too busy he will help you out.

Revenant went on to beat fellow clan mate Roz and then PiG in the final 2-1 to become the first inFi member and 2nd Singaporean to win it! Singaporeans where are you, stop winning BSGs and come play in the COs!
Past Winners

+ [Show] +

Open #	Winner	Prize	Sponsor
#1	aLtnirvAnA	$10	Community
#2	TAEdgE	$10	Community
#3	nGenMasteR	$10	Community
#4	TAms	$10	Community
#5	NEORedArchon	$25	iMaster
#6	FXOmOOnGLaDe	$25	iMaster
#7	tGcBosser	$25	iMaster
#8	JesseTheKING	$25	iMaster
#9	nGenStarhunt	$25	iMaster
#10	NEORedArchon	$25	iMaster
#11	nGenWild	$25	iMaster
#12	inF	$25	iMaster

------------ Friday ------------

KOTH #16
Current KOTH: Maltiso (2-0)
- Result - Replays -
No prize winner for this koth, with Jesse, Master Roz only managing to have short 2-0 reigns as kings.

+ [Full Results] +

aLtKinGJessE defeats aLtPiG!
aLtKinGJessE defeats TAStarScream!

nGenMaSteR defeats aLtKinGJessE!
nGenMaSteR defeats Beethoven!

HuT defeats nGenMaSteR

inF defeats HuT
inF defeats clock

HotS defeats inF!

nGenWild defeats HotS!

tDpMaltiso defeats nGenWild!
tDpMaltiso defeats tDpBob!

------------ Saturday ------------

BSG #8
Winner: CookieMunchR
- Bracket - Replays -

CookieMunchR takes home BSG #8! Read his interview here -be warned! Really long interview. =X

+ [Interview] +

BakaInu: Congratulations on winning BSG #08.
BakaInu: Where are you from?
BakaInu: Don't worry, casual interview. =P
CookieMunchR: Thanks.
CookieMunchR: I’m from Australia. ^--^
BakaInu: Oh awesome, another winner from Australia.
CookieMunchR: Hehe.
BakaInu: Any complains about the time of the tournament? =P
BakaInu: (If you say yes, i'll stab you).
CookieMunchR: Mm.. Not today since it’s a weekend, but could be a bit earlier since I can sleep early. =p
CookieMunchR: Especially during weekdays. x_x I've tried to enter but it was too late.
CookieMunchR: Lol.
BakaInu: Haha, sweet.
BakaInu: So do you play in the NA servers?
CookieMunchR: 1 sec, dads yelling at me. LOL
BakaInu: Since, you're bronze, and you played everybody and won. =P
BakaInu: like you know, people are suspecting you to be smurfing.
BakaInu: so prove them wrong?
CookieMunchR: I've played my placements and like 4 more games.
CookieMunchR: Got into silver there after placements.
CookieMunchR: But I won the others so I dunno...
CookieMunchR: I watch a lot of the gsl and hdstarcraft.
CookieMunchR: I like to learn from them.
CookieMunchR: That’s why I don’t actually have that many league games played.
BakaInu: Awesome.
BakaInu: Any favourite casters?
CookieMunchR: I like HDStarcraft and also Artosis since basically they are the only ones I watch. Lol. CookieMunchR: Oh.
CookieMunchR: And day9 daily sometimes.
CookieMunchR: But 1 hour is a bit long for some days because I have study... Lol.
BakaInu: Haha.
BakaInu: How old are you?
CookieMunchR: 16
BakaInu: Gamers are getting younger and younger. =P I feel old now.
BakaInu: So, any games you played in the tournament that you want to talk about in particular?
CookieMunchR: My round of 64 game seemed ok... I just kind of cheesed him. Lol.
CookieMunchR: Then round of 32, I 4gated because it was another pvp which I hate. Haha.
CookieMunchR: That’s why I played other races.
CookieMunchR: Then when round of 16 came, I got more nervous.
CookieMunchR: And people started thinking that I was a smurf... Lol.
CookieMunchR: And I really wanted to put that Aean guy in his rightful place cause he seemed to be bming a lot of people.
CookieMunchR: I got some pms before the game telling me to smash him please. Lol.
CookieMunchR: In the finals, I felt pretty comfortable in my pvz.
CookieMunchR: The tvz however, I was really scared.
CookieMunchR: After my hellions and marines melted.
CookieMunchR: I thought I would have lost.
CookieMunchR: But then, I guess the mms, thors and medivacs held. =p
BakaInu: Awesome stuff.
BakaInu: Oh, a question from Zergtastic. (DIE! >=P)
BakaInu: He asked why didn't you play random but switch between races?
CookieMunchR: I don’t feel comfortable playing random.
CookieMunchR: As I haven’t played that many games.
CookieMunchR: But I roughly know how they work and standard build orders.
CookieMunchR: I try to imitate them.
CookieMunchR: And the main reason is because.
CookieMunchR: I dislike some matchups.
CookieMunchR: Such as pvp and like zvz and zvt.
CookieMunchR: Which is why I prefer picking a race to play rather than opting to play random.
BakaInu: Haha.
BakaInu: Which race do you like the most, and why?
CookieMunchR: I love Protoss and its mechanics.
CookieMunchR: I find them to be the most fun in battles for micro and stuff. Lol.
CookieMunchR: Terran is like the standard in other RTS games...
CookieMunchR: And Zerg is kind of hard to learn.
CookieMunchR: Larvae injects and holding off early pressure.
BakaInu: Alright.
BakaInu: Any advice for other BSG players out there?
CookieMunchR: For me, a problem I really had was that I got really nervous because it was a tournament.
CookieMunchR: But I think people should just play as if it is a ladder game and forget about checking profiles and listening to smack talk.
CookieMunchR: It really puts you off you’re mindset from actually playing the game.
BakaInu: Great advice!
CookieMunchR: Thank you.
BakaInu: Do you plan to move forward to higher rankings soon? =)
CookieMunchR: Yes! Definitely! Haha... This was a real confidence booster.
CookieMunchR: But yeah, studies are coming in the way. Lol.
CookieMunchR: And the next GSL is soon. Yay! ^-^
BakaInu: Hahah.
BakaInu: Aiming for GSL? =P
CookieMunchR: One day maybe... Haha. Not that crazy yet. T___T
CookieMunchR: I still have a lot to improve on.
CookieMunchR: But yeah, the Koreans are crazy.
CookieMunchR: So I don’t think so =p just a relaxation off from studies.
CookieMunchR: ;D
BakaInu: Haha.
BakaInu: Lets wrap up the interview, shall we? =P
BakaInu: I think it went on for far too long.
BakaInu: Any shout outs to anybody?
BakaInu: -cough-Aean-cough-
CookieMunchR: LOOOL.
CookieMunchR: Shoutouts to the people who told me to smash him. ;D LOL gave me the motivation. :P
CookieMunchR: And my friends for helping me practice here and on NA.
CookieMunchR: And yeah. :P Don’t be a smartass till you win.
CookieMunchR: Like now.
CookieMunchR: ;D LOL.
BakaInu: Awesome stuff.
BakaInu: Thank you and Congratulations on Winning the BSG #08.
CookieMunchR: Thanks BakaInu!

+ [Past Winners] +

BSG Open #	Winner	Interview	Replay-Pack
#01	Fusion.835	Link	Link
#02	mustapusta.239	Link	Link
#03	Phoenix.338	Link	Link
#04	Jings	Link	Link
#05	Noobinater	Link	Link
#06	jimOK	Coming Soon	Coming Soon

Cure and Zans All-Star Finals
Winner: nGenJuicy - $200
- Brackets - Replays -
The suprise of the tournament and probably a sign of things to come in the Singapore scene as current Singapore champ Refallen takes a backseat due to school commitments. nGenJuicy suprises everyone by annihilating his bracket and wining the first CnZ tournament, after defeating a very strong set of players like Refallen 2-0, EdgE 2-0 and then OxygeN 4-2 in the finals for his well deserved $200. OxygeN performed well too defeating Jesse, EdgE, Revenant and JaBiTo on his way to #2. New rising star JaBito got #3 and these players received $75 and $25 respectively. Big thanks to our community, specifically rLsCure, rLsZanooKu, rLsMilionaire and Derpy for running and self-sponsoring this tournament. Hope to see more in the future!

------------ Sunday ------------
GBD #1
Winner: DsDPsyche - $10
- Bracket - Replays -
Psyche from legendary Singapore clan DsD wins the very first GPD tournament beating Sunshin in the finals! Turn out was 45 players and we hope to see Eddie hosting this weekly! Hope everyone had fun.

Singapore vs PH
Winner: Singapore - 2-2 (Ace match - 3-2)
- Replays -
Our first friendly match in months, Singapore led by team Manager Mezza manages to edge out Philippines 3-2, with Aaron winning the key ace match against Rising Star JaBito. Revenant OxygeN and HGHx also played some part in the fixture. Wawa did a great job organising and streaming the even to 100+ viewers. Check out the battle report of the featured game by ddengsterbelow! Go SINGAPORE!!

Weekly Happenings

+ [Happenings] +

Main Story: kellyMILKIES to cast CODE A!


kellyMILKIES has earned the amazing honour to cast Code A games for this seasons GSL! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Games start tomorrow! Unfortunately Kelly drew quite alot of criticisim because of her "accent/pronounciation". As much as i love my fellow clanmate/countrymen/sc2seaian, I myself admit theres room for kelly to improve as does she, but as of now shes only a young girl bravely following her passion and dream in the far away land of Korea. She needs SEA's support now more than ever, so lets stand by her while she continues to work hard to improve. Show your support in the TL thread here and our sc2sea thread here.

I am so pumped to see a Singaporean/ SEA caster in GSL, who would have thought it was possible?
Tune in to GSL at 5pm today!!


Also glade plays his first ever game this Friday in CODE A, the whole of SEA will be supporting you GLaDe!!!

Other scene happenings
Notable clan transfers
Spidereight leaves iterror TA to join up with iinfi inFi. CO#12 runner up PiG and old schooler XianG aka SeMu gets picked up by ialt aLt. MsKi, a team previously not well known on the SEA server makes its prescence felt with strong performances in Cure and Zans All-Star tournament and in the Singapore vs Philippines nation war.

Notable Threads
This week's notable threads include the "Benji Win-Trade shirts", Tom's "A brief history of Australian Starcraft" and "A channel for 1v1 practise" so check them out if you haven't already! Also a special mention to the Smacktalk thread. Its the "RETURN OF Ah_Chua" as he makes a comeback with a series of posts sure to make you laugh hahaha.

PTSL signups have started
A SEA team league organised by pinoystarcraft.com with $130 in prize money thus far! So grab your clan/team together, sign up here and prepare for some epic team battles over the next couple of months!

Replay of the Week
From the Singapore vs Philippines match, write up by sc2sea's battle report master ddengster.

+ [ROTW] +

aLtOxygeN(T)VS WaningMoon(P)
TvP on Metalopolis

aLtOxygeN (red) spawns at the bottom, WaningMoon(light blue) spawns at the top.

It is 1-1 for both players. This is the last match out of the best of 3 series. The stakes are high for both players. Oxygen starts off with a barracks and fast gas, while WaningMoon goes for the standard one-gate core. His scouting probe manages to snag first blood on one of Oxygen's SCVs before fleeing.


The probe with killer teeth

Oxygen then opts for a fast tech lab and produces a reaper followed by a marauder while upgrading concussive shells. The reaper moves out and takes revenge on the WaningMoon's scouting probe lingering outside the natural of his base and heads off for the protoss base where WaningMoon has claimed his 2nd gas and built 2 more gateways.


Delaying the protoss expansion


Oxygen's investment in this reaper has paid off, delaying the expansion for the protoss. Oxygen is thus able to get up his natural expansion slightly faster than his opponent. He builds up a total of 4 barracks with tech labs pumping marauders while WaningMoon secures his expansion and warps in a robotics facility. Oxygen then decides to apply some pressure on WaningMoon, but WaningMoon punishes him for it.


Pro forcefield tip: If you watched this short battle, you might have noticed how WaningMoon baited oxygen to move into a position where he could utilized forcefield more effectively (or more efficiently)

WaningMoon opts for the normal colussus mid-game tech, but Oxygen decides to do something more creative. He goes for..


You know what this means...

Both players then decide to move out to establish some map control. WaningMoon manages to catch oxygen's marauders at the southern watch tower.


When you visit watchtowers, you should either go solo or with a date.

Oxygen is not one to back down however. He gets off an emp on the sentries and kills them off before backing up. Both players decide to retreat and secure their third expansions. Meanwhile, one of Oxygen's ghosts has a mission..




So much for the OxyNuke

Unfortunately, his first 2 nukes net a total of 0 kills, thanks to the timely evacuation of WaningMoon's probes. Oxygen starts on his viking production while WaningMoon gets his legs and storm tech up. Oxygen drops a ghost in WaningMoon's main and launches a third nuke, but his ghost is eliminated before the nuke finds its target.


Third time's the charm

All these distractions has, amazingly, afforded Oxygen a good amount of time to build up a mass of marauders and vikings. His force marches towards the protoss's third base and takes out a protoss wall consisting of 3 warpgates, a forge and a cannon, before engaging the main protoss force.


Storms and nukes!

The ghost dies before the nuke lands, unfortunately, and the protoss emerges victorious from the battle. But Oxygen, never giving up as always,goes in for a second attempt once his ghosts have joined up with his army.


Will it hit this time?


OXYNUKE!


Upon seeing the high marauder count, WaningMoon wisely instructs his robotics facilities to start producing immortals. He does a threatening death push towards the terran's base, but a combination of SCVs and well-placed emps forces him back.



Both players now take their 4th bases. Oxygen does a drop at WaningMoon's 4th base, catching him at a time where WaningMoon's main army was at the gold mineral base and heading toward's oxygen's 4th base. WaningMoon, confused, ultimately decides to send all of his forces back to try and punish oxygen's drop. Oxygen's marauders snipe the nexus, falls back up the ramp, and goes on the offensive again and snipes an immortal and a templar before deciding to board the dropship back home.


Note where the protoss's forces where at the time of this drop

WaningMoon has acknowledged the fact that he was too spread out in terms of bases. He makes use of the fact that oxygen is spread out due to his fourth base, and takes down oxygen's 4th base while expanding at his gold minerals. Both the protoss army and the terran army engage soon after. Oxygen, showing an impressive display of micro, emps 4 templars with 4 emps in quick succession.



EMPXYGEN

Thanks to the EMPs, oxygen manages to take out the entire protoss force with significant losses. He pushes towards WaningMoon's gold base, even even cloaks a ghost and nukes WaningMoon's 3rd expansion, snagging a small number of probe kills.



Yet another nuke is aimed at the protoss's gold base, but it yields no results other than protoss mining time. These resources spent on nukes finally shows when Oxygen finds himself unable to defend his gold base as WaningMoon's army pushes in.



Having run out of miners, a secure expansion and losing in the upgrades war, oxygen taps out and calls gg

Afterthoughts

+ Show +

Oxygen was able to hold on for such a long period of time thanks to his good decision-making. He didn't necessarily play serious, but was still able to give us a good show with Oxynukes!
WaningMoon played ok even under such pressure. Him having a long term plan prevailed over oxygen's nuke strategy. If he works on that macro he'll be gold.

Next week's Tournaments
This week marks the first time there will be tournaments to watch/compete in literally every day of the week!

Watch out for our new tournaments, our first 2v2 tournament run by Baka on thursday, and GPD#2 run by Eddie on Sunday.

+ [Show] +

------------Tuesday , February 22nd ------------

iMaster of SEA #2 - $50 Prize
Top 4 SEA players fight it out for $50 on stream Bo5 Single Elim!! (Top 3 on Top 200 list + last weeks CO winner (Revenant))
Hosted by:nirvAnA
Time:7pm SGT
Stream:TBD


------------Wednesday, February 23rd ------------

Community Open #13 "GSL Maps" - $25 Prize(128 players)
Our weekly staple 1v1 tournament open to the entire sc2sea community.
Hosted by:Santi
Time:Signups open Wed Morning, Games start 7pm SGT
Stream:Benji


------------Thursday, February 24th ------------

SC2SEA Team 2v2 #1
Our brand new 2v2 competition. May be a regular thing depending on the response.
Prize - $20
Hosted by:Baka
Time:Signups open Thursday Morning
Stream:


------------Friday, February 25th ------------

King of the Hill (KOTH) #16 [Hosted by Mukade.651]
The top players on SEA battle it out KOTH style for prizes for consecutive wins.
Time: 7pm SGT
Stream: http://www.justin.tv/benjisc2


------------Saturday, February 26th ------------

BSG #9
BSG (Bronze, Silver, Gold) #8(More Info)
Tournament for Bronze, Silver and Gold League Players.
Hosted by:Zergtastic.610 & BakaInu.974
Time: 6pm SGT / 9pm AEST (Melbourne, Australia)
Stream: TBA


------------Sunday, February 27th ------------

GPD (Gold, Platinum and Diamond) #2 (More Info)
A tournament only for Gold, Platinum and Diamond players.
Hosted by: Eddie
Time: 8pm AEST/5pm SGT
Stream: TBD