StarCraft News & Notes

KiWiKaKi has re-appeared out of the aether to qualify for TakeTV's Legacy of the Ultras tournament (using an Adept-heavy style; admittedly not having to beat any heavyweights--Tarantius and ParanOid are the most notable); subsequently ROOT posted a short interview with him.  What stood out for me was this:

I never liked HOTS when it came out because of swarm hosts and it's a big reason I didn't come back.

As far as I know he's the only pro besides NaNiwa who specifically left the game because of that unit.  Whether he'll stick with LOTV remains to be seen, but it's good to have an NA foreigner return to SC2 after such a long break.  For those unfamiliar with the Canadian Protoss player, he was at his best in 2011 (here's an old Day9 episode that includes him).

DreamHack Tours has come and gone and on the whole was a great success (the finals were excellent and closer than the 3-1 score might indicate; for some analysis of the tournament you can check out The Late Game [I'll post the link once Lycan puts it up on Youtube]).  In terms of foreign performances it was a mixed bag.  Only MMA was knocked out by a foreign player (both Scarlett and Revolver beat him in the second group stage), although four Koreans lost in non-elimination matches (Lilbow beat HyuN, TargA beat Leenock, Verdi beat Heart, and Bly beat San).  Harstem made it the furthest (R8), largely on the strength of his PvZ against fellow foreigners (he lost to HyuN); Lilbow should have beaten MarineKing, but threw the deciding game.  Snute and MaNa also made it to the round of 16.

Speaking of tournaments, Lambo became the latest EPS champion (beating HeroMarine); while the German player hasn't qualified for Challenger this year, I'm surprised he's currently teamless.  Lambo seems to be virtually the only Zerg left in the EPS now that Hanfy doesn't participate (technically there's also KiToO, but he doesn't get very far).

The latest LOTV balance update has come out and includes a mix of strange and interesting changes.  The tweaks might help TvZ a bit, but there's nothing on the table to balance PvZ.  The Lurker nerf seems to be the only one everyone embraces.  Both Remax and The Late Game discussed the changes (in the latter I have no idea why Jakatak continues to complain about force fields and the warp-in mechanic--he's smart enough to know Blizzard isn't going to completely redesign Protoss, so he's better off with constructive thoughts within the realm of possibility--blanket balance whine about Protoss is pointlessly toxic).

I was surprised to see that some pros still believe Nerchio cheats in online cups (he discusses the issue in an old Team Acer interview); without proof its too speculative to take seriously.

Now that we're into season two of GSL, I thought it was worth taking a snapshot of how the Koreans who returned from WCS America/Europe have done against stronger competition back home (excluding ByuL who returned to Korea before the soft region lock, as well as players who are retired, inactive, or switched games: SelecT (NA), TheStC (NA), JYP (NA), NesTea (NA), Balloon (NA), Mvp (EU), Golden (EU), and Genius (EU)).

GSL
MMA (EU) - R4 (S1), Code S in S2
YoDa (EU) - R16 (S1), Code S in S2
Bomber (NA) - R32 (S1), Code S in S2
MC (EU) - R16 (S1)
San (EU) - R32 (S1), R32 SSL (S1)
Patience (EU) - Code S in S2, R32 SSL (S1)
TaeJa (NA) - R32 (S1), R32 SSL (S1)
HyuN (NA) - R16 SSL (S2)
First (EU) - R32 (S1)
Sacsri (EU) - Code S in S2
Seed (NA) - R32 (S1)
Heart (NA) - R32 (S1)
HerO (NA) - Code S in S2

Others: jjakji (EU), Pigbaby (NA), Alicia (NA), Arthur (NA), Revival (NA), Check (NA), CranK (NA), Ryung (NA), aLive (NA), and Oz (NA, failed to get into Code S in season one, now retired or inactive)

No surprises in the results, except perhaps for Patience (whose reputation in EU had sunk quite low).

Fenner posted an update on his earnings as a streamer, so for those interested in that check it out.  Speaking of Fenner, he recently played through the SC2 campaigns, which was pretty entertaining and worth checking out if he ever posts them.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)