[Benji]

Saturday was the first NRG Hardcore Gamer Starcraft 2 tourney (You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about this tourney) and whilst I am bored at work, I thought i'd give those that did not attend abit of an overview like I always do with Sydney LANs.

Firstly, we were told first thing that NRG has already confirmed and locked in another 4 Tournaments with even larger prize pools than this one. The next will be in August/September with 2 happening each year, so if you're a SC2 player in SEA (Hell even worldwide), you NEED to be at this event. Its one of the biggest events in the world, and there is no excuse not to be at the next one if you think you're a top player. Its events like these that tell us who the best SEA players are, not coming is basically admitting that you aren't that good.

Also, I believe Unstable can shed more information on this but next time there WILL be a live stream/onsite casting. There are 2 VIP rooms at the venue where casted players can play in, which I believe are relatively soundproof, so look to see your favourite SEA casters (Unstable/Benji) doing live casts from the event.

Placings!

(Note 7th-12th i am sketchy about, if someone can confirm, please do so!)

1st: ST_Ace - $8000 + NRG Computer (Valued around $3000-$4000 imo) + Gear
2nd: nGenLight - $2000 + Gear
3rd: aLtiaguz - $1000 + Gear
4th: Team Immunity YoonYJ
5th/6th: VTAzz
5th/6th: FXOFilthy
7th/8th: TAScarecrow
7th/8th: TARossi
9th-10th: TAdeth
9th-10th: TAhocus
11th-12th: nGenStarhunt
11th-12th: TASanchez

4th-10th recieved assorted gear, Including Corsair PSU's, Razer Starcraft 2 Gear, Logitech Keyboards and Other Assorted computer accessories. 10th Place recieved more of a prize than most events have for 1st!

Notable Upsets:
nGenBenji - Ok i'm just putting myself in here to annoy Del, I'm not good enough to win :P
FXOtgun - Despite avoiding myself, faced endless ZvZ, was knocked to the Losers bracket early and was finally eliminated by Sanchez and placed 12th-16th.
aLtPiG - Was knocked to the lower bracket by his teammate, iaguz and hit TAdeth and was eliminated I believe around 12th-16th
nGenMafia - Hit ST_Ace in round 2 and was knocked to the lower bracket early and was eliminated.

Not sure if you can call it an upset, but Light completely demolished the lower bracket. Most people overlook him as a top tier player, and were predicting YYJ, Filthy etc to take second (Ace was never going to lose :P). But Light went through Starhunter, Filthy, YYJ and iaguz to take second. In my opinion he is one of, if not the, best Protoss on SEA at the moment.

There has also been quite alot of talk about ST_Ace, so i'll keep this short. He dropped 3 games all tourney, a Baserace vs YYJ, a BO loss vs iaguz and a PvP vs Light who tricked him into thinking he went Blink Stalker (When he actually went 1 base Coll). He was the best player there, no doubt, BUT he isnt completely unbeatable.

Next NRG I guarantee there will be more than just ST_Ace there, I imagine a few more Koreans and even some American Pros will come, so if you guys want to take some of these sweet prizes home, you're going to need to train hard for it. Being good on SEA is no longer good enough, we need to be good on a world stage. If Australians don't place well in these tourneys, the tourneys will simply move overseas.

VODS:

You Tube

You Tube

Pictures:
Pictures!

Interviews:
Dox did some interviews, will link when they are online!