[TAhackdZ]

Scene News: ACL Brisbane - with Ridiculisk

Hey guys, Ridiculisk here! I've got something a little different for you all this week. Instead of the regular scene news I'm going to be bringing you guys some photos and interviews from the ACL Pro Qualifiers in Brisbane. Sit back and enjoy!

The Australian Cyber League - History and Staff Interviews



Newcomers to the world of professional Starcraft, ACL have previously been recognised as one of Australia's leading Console leagues. Running tournaments for Halo, Call of Duty, Fifa 11, Super Street Fighter and Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Beginning in 2006 as nothing more than a group of friends who wanted to host the coolest nationally recognised Halo 2 Tournament - by the community, for the community. ACL (Then known as the Australian Console League) went on to host qualifiers across the country and a national final.

In 2009 ACL came under the leadership of Nick 'Vanzr' Vanzetti, and are now looking to become bigger and better as they hold more tournaments across the country, and branch out into new avenues for E-sports.

I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk to VaNzR, and ACL's Online manager J.B:

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(I'd like to apologise to Vanzr and J.B here, since most of this is paraphrased from my notes, next time I'll use the Dictaphone...)

Ridic - Can you guys tell me a little bit about the ACL? What's your history in E-sports for those that haven't heard of you?

Vanzr - We started in 2006 with Halo. Everything was community driven, just a bunch of guys playing video games. We held qualifiers in every state and a national final in Sydney. I took over in 2009 and J.B joined us in 2010. We started teaming up with other event organisers, like SGL (Sydney Gamers League) in 2010. We added more games, like Fifa and Marvel Vs Capcom, and now we're coming to Starcraft.

Ridic - Why the sudden interest in SC2?

J.B - Well obviously we can see the appeal of Starcraft 2, it's got amazing amounts of potential as an E-sport, and we want a piece of that! We've always been about putting Aussie E-sports first.

Ridic - What do you hope to achieve in terms of future ACL events?

J.B - We want to unify the Australian gaming scene, create a national identity. Our focus is mostly on LAN events so we would like to hold big, live, spectator friendly events, like an Aussie MLG.

Ridic - What did you think of the competition today? What will the ACL take away from this?

J.B - Well we didn't get the biggest turn out, but this is only the beginning. We'll take these core dedicated players and build up form there.

Vanzr - It's good to learn from everything you do, so we'll take this on and improve. We really want to work with the community to create event you will want to come to.

Ridic - Do you have any final words for the SC2sea community?

Vanzr, J.B - Big thanks to Derek 'Dox' Reball, he's been a huge help. Elysium Internet Cafe for hosting us here today. The casting team, Plastic/Doble, and of course all the community members who registered and came down to play.

For more information about ACL and their staff, check out this page!


The Games & Players

The Players -

mOOnGLaDe
SQLTtSenSei
TAHetic
aLtJimdiddy
EveSigns
Shockwave
Breadfan
Collision
Aiya
SundeR
ChadMann
elimzkE
Sensator
birkses

Some Pictures -

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mOOnGLaDe busy kickin ass...


...must....concentrate....many.....Banelings......


More games being played.


If only I had this many hands....I'd be unstoppable.....

As the games continued throughout the day I got a chance to sit down and talk to the three highest seeded players, mOOnGLaDe, aLtJimmdiddy, and SQLTtSenSei

SQLTtSenSei

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Ridic - How do you think you played today? Are you pleased with the result?

SenSei - Horrible...

Ridic - Horrible?

SenSei - Horrible.

Ridic - Did you have a plan coming into today? Or did you just decide to wing it?

SenSei - Ummm, not too much of a plan just sorta winged it. That's usually the way it goes for me anyway. If I practice too much I get uptight and play bad.

Ridic - What did you think of the competition today?

SenSei - Way too many Zergs for my liking...especially since PvZ is my worst match-up. There's mOOnGLaDe, Jimdiddy, Hectic and about 8 other Zergs, and there's like 2 Protoss and 1 Terran...

If it was a bunch of Protoss and Terran I'm sure I'd feel much better.

Ridic - What did you think of ACL, how the tournament ran? Will you keep participating in future ACL events?

SenSei - Yeah sure, like, in the local LANs definitely. We'll have to see about the interstate ones, obviously not gonna put my own pocket out to fly down, but who knows maybe. The Gold Coast one sounds good, kinda sucks that there isn't as many people here as we hoped but, we do the best with what we've got. So yeah.

Ridic - Okay, any final words for the SC2sea community?

SenSei - Yeah, shout-out to my new team (Sequential Gaming), our sponsors Tt E-sports & USA Foods. To the SC2sea community, you guys are really awesome, I'm always on SC2sea.com and if you're not, you should be 'cause it's the hub of everything. Lastly shout-out to my Clan TA, love you guys and yeah that's it.

Ridic - Thanks SenSei

mOOnGLaDe

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Ridic - How do you think you played today? Are you happy with the result?

GLaDe - I'm fairly happy with how I've played so far, I managed to lose one series to Jimdiddy, he's rather good ZvZ so I'm not too surprised, but ummm, I did make some mistakes. I hope I get to play him again!

Ridic - Get some revenge eh?

GLaDe - Yeah, exactly.

Ridic - So, what did you think of the competition today, was it a challenge for you?

GLaDe - Ummm, there are some GrandMasters here, so it's fairly good. Some good games for sure. It's always fun having a Brisbane tournament, all the players come out of the woodwork that you don't normally see. Like I've run into 2 Grandmansters here today who I had no idea lived in Brisbane. It's very fun, unfortunate that not more people turned up but, hopefully they keep having them. Keep em coming.

Ridic - Did you have a plan coming into today's games or did you just come in planning to wing it?

GLaDe - I have been practising a lot lately so I'm pretty in form. I was kinda just gonna turn up, I didn't really have a plan for anyone. Yeah I'll rock up, see who shows and take it from there. I'm going to the Sydney qualifier tomorrow so, if I do bad here, I'm always just gonna play again tomorrow so no pressure.

Ridic - So you'll be on a plane tonight then?

GLaDe - Yeah, it's not too bad, only an hour flight. Then staying at my girlfriends house. That'll be cool.

Ridic - Okay, so what do you think of Elysium, have you played here before?

GLaDe - Oh yeah, generally most of the Starcraft events in Brisbane are here. It's a very nice venue. Very clean, nice looking net cafe. Better than most I've been too so, I'm very happy to play here.

Ridic - What was your favorite part of the day? Did you have a favorite play?

GLaDe - I like the Brisbane tournaments cause everyone is really cool and chill, we just have fun, each lunch together and have a good time.

Ridic - Cool, any last words for the fans, etc?

GLaDe - Shout-out to everyone who supports me and cheers for me. Shout-out for everyone who turned up in Brisbane, it's always good to see a tournament in Brisbane. Shout-out to ACL for hosting these things.

Ridic - Cool, thanks GLaDe and good luck.

aLtJimmdiddy

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Sorry Jim.... Photo turned out crappy and it's the only good one I've got of you....

Ridic - How do you think you played today? Are you happy with your result?

Diddy - Well yeah, so far I'm really happy. I've only lost one game so far and that's to GLaDe so yeah really good. I managed to take him out in a best of three, so yeah really happy.

Ridic - Two games up on mOOnGLaDe is no small feat. What did you think of the rest of the competition?

Diddy - Mainly GLaDe and SenSei were the ones I was afraid of losing against.

Ridic - Coming out of a win against GLaDe must be a big boost in confidence?

Diddy - Yeah exactly.

Ridic - Did you have a plan coming into the competition today, or were you relying on fate?

Diddy - I havn't played much at all in the last few weeks, with uni and stuff.

Ridic - So winging it?

Diddy - Pretty much.

Ridic - What did you think of Elysium? Have you played here before?

Diddy - Yeah I played the WCG qualifiers here. It's a pretty good venue but it's actually the only netcafe I've ever been to, so I don't have a great point of comparison.

Ridic - What was your favourite part of the day, did you have a favourite play?

Diddy - I guess my favourite moment would have to be beating GLaDe, like when he pushed in the third game and I just held it. I knew I had a good lead, a good chance to win.

Ridic - Cool, well thanks for the chat dude, and good luck with the future.

Awards, Final thoughts, and more Pictures!

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All in all I think it was an awesome day. ACL delivered a tournament that was fun, well organised, and generally badass. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, the stream was awesome, and we got some epic matches. Alas, though all good things must come to an end, and come 5pm awards needed to be handed out so everyone could go home.



Some handshaking and prize giving....mmmmmm prizes......



The calm after the storm.

Results:
1st: aLtJimdiddy ($100)
2nd: mOOnGLaDe (HotS PreOrder)
3rd: SQLTtSenSei ($50)

More Pictures!

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The Casting Crew - Plastic/Dobel



More Casting.



The ACL Boys - (From Left) J.B, Beware, Vanzr



Our word is law. You will have fun.

GLHF and I'll see ya'll at the next ACL event!

Quick Comments

	nirvAnA:	Really enjoyed this, thanks so much for the writeup
	:	great writeup!
	Maynarde:	Nice man, good work!
	Dox:	Love your work. <3
	Eddie:

[ACL VaNzR]

Good writeup! Thanks for coming and putting in all this work!

[nirvAnA]

jimdiddy such a boss! congrats to all the winners

love the pictures and interviews your best work yet ridiculisk!~ amazing!

Quick Comments

TAhackdZ:

Awww shucks, you gonna make me blush :)

[syfChadMann]

I can see me.. .
was a fun day... hope I didn't annoy anyone with my constant bad jokes and horrible play... :P
Keen to check out the nationals - but its over the same weekend as Big Day Out - good luck to the interstate players getting hotels.. :S

[Dox]

Originally Posted by ChadMann

Keen to check out the nationals - but its over the same weekend as Big Day Out - good luck to the interstate players getting hotels.. :S

ffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu