Four minutes remained on the clock. Four chances remained for the foreigners to win a premier tournament in 2013.
Tick. TaeJa lifted the trophy at DreamHack Winter.
Tick. herO celebrated with cartwheels at IEM Singapore.
Tick. The final WCG title went to Soulkey.
One minute to midnight. Scarlett stood alone as the last hope for foreign fans, reaching the finals of ASUS ROG NorthCon. Her opponent was Jaedong, a player with his own world of pressure weighing down on his shoulders. He had taken second place five times on the year, and was determined not to end it with six. Even if it meant stepping on the dreams of the foreign StarCraft 2 scene.
Tick. Jaedong 4, Scarlett 2.
Boom.
Art by iHirO
And so, 2013 ended with a Korean sweep of premier tournaments. There had been close calls and narrow defeats, but in the end, those moral victories did little to soften the pain of complete and utter defeat.
Yet, it was not the end of hope. As long as even one player player dared to challenge the Koreans and at least one fan remained to cheer him on, hope would live, however faintly. But who would carry the tattered, battle-worn banner? Stephano had retired. Naniwa was losing interest in the game. Scarlett was burdened with wrist pain. The three pillars of 2012-2013 were crumbling, and no one seemed ready to step up as we headed into a new year. Even if hope remained, it seemed doomed to survive only as a faraway fantasy.
Or, perhaps, we just had to start looking in new places. Completely unheralded and unexpected, Taiwan's Sen won one of the first live tournaments of the year in the ECL. Sen and an entire brigade of Chinese Protosses trampled over the two Korean participants in MMA and Supernova, claiming the top four spots in the tournament.
Though it was not the premier tournament victory that foreign fans so desired, it the first in many small victories on the year. With Chinese and Taiwanese players offered more spots in WCS America's reorganized system, they took advantage of their expanded opportunities to challenge Korea's dominance in that league. Top eliminated viOLet. XiGua helped knock out Season 1 champion HerO. Has scored the biggest upset of all, eliminating Jaedong in the Ro32.
Even the North American scene started show signs of new strength. The Canadian-American HuK defeated HerO as he advanced to the Ro16 of WCS America. Mexican Terran MajOr, though unable to make a single deep run, racked up wins against players like Polt, Taeja, and Bbyong across multiple tournaments. The sixteen year-old Terran Neeb made his first WCS Ro16 appearance, even giving Polt a run for his money in the Ro32.
Unfortunately, foreigner momentum in WCS America has been halted. The Koreans proved to be even better when playing in ESL's Cologne than they had at Red Bull's Santa Monica studio in 2013, eliminating every single foreigner to form WCS America's first-ever all-Korean top eight.
While the Americas remain in ruins until season two, a chance for redemption still remains in Europe. Producing champions like Stephano, NaNiwa, MaNa and Nerchio, Europe has always been the most resilient bastion of the foreign scene. Even with the decline or disappearance of the aforementioned four, Europe lived up to its reputation in 2014.
TLO got to the semi-finals in IEM Sao Paulo, shooting down Bomber along the way. HasuObs had a magical run at the IEM Katowice open qualifier, where he defeated both Jaedong and Leenock.
NaNiwa's abrupt departure from the SC2 scene seemed to deliver a critical blow to the European cause, as he had accounted for half the foreign scene's finals appearance in 2013. But no sooner was an void opened up by NaNiwa, than other players have rushed to fill it. Three players in particular look to achieve what NaNiwa could not in 2013: keep the WCS Europe Premier League trophy at home.
The first and most familiar name is VortiX. The Spanish Zerg first rose to prominence in 2012 by placing 2nd in WCS Europe (a region-locked event at that point). Like many other European Zergs, VortiX's star seemed to fade with the release the HotS. However, he has slowly brought his performances back up to his old level, proving that his past successes were not just a product of the BL-infestor era.
Some might say VortiX has even surpassed his previous prime. In the WCS Europe Ro32, VortiX didn't just escape the group of death, he dominated it. By going 4-0 against MMA and Mvp, VortiX showed that not even GSL champions intimidated him. VortiX also won the Vasacast Invitational, an online tournament where all of the best Koreans residing in Europe competed. He beat three of them to claim first place: MMA, Stardust and Jjakji. All three of them still remain in WCS Europe, standing between VortiX and the championship.
The second player to rise was Snute. Snute came close to stopping the Korean sweep in 2013 when he reached the finals of HomeStory Cup 7, but he only ended up kickstarting the Summer of TaeJa. After his 4-3 win over Snute at HSC, TaeJa went on to win four more championships before the year was out, the most of any Korean player. As for Snute, his trajectory went straight down afterward, suffering elimination from WCS America and failing to place high in any subsequent tournaments.
However, Snute has finally been able to get back on track in 2014. Perhaps his training at the CJ Entus house is finally paying off. Or perhaps, as Snute himself speculates, he's benefiting from laddering against the many Koreans who have moved to Europe. In any case, things are looking up for the Norwegian Zerg. At Seatstory Cup (a miniature version of HomeStory Cup), he beat Hyun 4-2 to take the championship. His good form has continued in WCS Europe, where he has reached the quarterfinals by defeating Dayshi and jjakji. As the last European to win a premier tournament before Korean players won the next 37 consecutively, Snute could end the streak.
Last, but not least, Welmu will also be challenging for the WCS Europe title. Welmu had always been respected throughout the EU scene for his skill, especially when it came to PvP. The Protoss mirror played a huge part in Welmu's best tournament result of 2013, a top six finish in WCS Europe Season 2. However he never seemed to be more than 'just another strong Protoss,' unable to make the leap to a higher level. Until Acer TeamStory Cup 3.
Taking advantage of loose tournament regulations, a coalition of Koreans had entered the ATC3 qualifiers with an eye to claim Europe's top team title as well. The team, aptly named the "Bounty Hunters," consisted of a formidable roster of MC, First, YoDa, HyuN, and Real. ATC was on the verge of facing serious controversy due to the participation of the Bounty Hunters, but any potential drama was put to rest before it even started. Welmu walloped the Bounty Hunters with an incredible all-kill, sending them crashing out of the qualifiers while earning his own team NewRoSoft a spot in the main tournament. Welmu's Korean-beating ways have extended to WCS Europe, where he has recorded a 2-1 victory against MMA so far.
What we have in WCS Europe seems too good to be true. After suffering complete and utter defeat in 2013, foreigners have a realistic shot at winning a Premier League title. VortiX, Snute, and Welmu are all catching fire at just the right time, playing some of the best StarCraft 2 of their careers just before the WCS Europe quarterfinals. All of their initial opponents seem eminently beatable: Vortix just recently defeated jjakji in the VasaCast finals, Snute looked closely matched with MMA despite losing their recent head-to-heads, while Welmu challenges San with what might be the best PvP in Europe.
Three foreigners. Three chances. Of course, we all know this could all end in yet another disappointment. Another almost. Another time the dream ended and gave way to harsh reality.
Awesome graphics, really set the tone for the piece.
As for the content, well, it just really makes me miss 2011: think about it, rise of Stephano (although I never really liked him), rise of Naniwa, the epic upsets and improbable finals of TSL3 (rise of Thorzain), Huk wins Dreamhack and MLG. It was a year of not just foreign hopes or heroes, but you could legitimately call a few foreigners among the greatest in the game.
For me, however, the biggest story was that 2011 was the premier year of top foreigners daring to travel to Korea itself and challenge the greatest Koreans on their own turf, and staying long enough to succeed (Idra, Jinro, HuK (and Naniwa later in their footsteps)).
I wonder if, when Idra made that fateful announcement that he was leaving Korea to grow the NA starcraft scene, he could have predicted just how many Koreans would eventually follow him, a few to stay, yes, but most to just win our money and fly back to Seoul. Not that I'm blaming them for being good at the game and making good economic decisions, just sad that foreigners are reduced to futilely floundering against the Korean horde in WCS NA and EU, while the GSL hasn't seen a single foreigner past the ro32 since mid 2012, and any foreigners at all since 2013 season 1. (Major props to the few that keep slogging it out in the code A qualifiers season after season)
Hehe, it always amuses me as I care quite little about the nationality of the winners, but that was an interesting read.
It seems it always ends up this way. Korean wins tournaments, people call foreigner dead. But when you look closer, you see they're still somewhat relevant, and are fare from being many classes below the koreans.
Don't worry, fans of foreigners, it's not the end, it never has been. Oh and cheering for the underdog is cool. It might be way more rewarding when he actually wins!
Ye, Welmu had one of the best pvp but there was always one name that he couldnt beat: elfi :D
But in this one I fear for Welmu. San has very good pvp skills. In my dreams welmu would have played agaisnt zerg (its his best mu (he has also said that))
Nice write up, but could've definitely been better by looking at WCS 2013 Blizzcon final at least a little bit... I feel like Naniwa's career is too over-simplified in this article when talking about "Foreigner Hope"... especially when compared to Scarlett...Ya sure Naniwa's exit wasn't a glamorous one, nor was it as graceful as most Naniwa fans would hope, but looking back at his career and "highlights" it seemed fitting. I guess what I'm trying to say is, instead of bashing players like Naniwa for their blunt personalities how about we embrace it like what we did with IdrA? Oh I forgot race matters too. It's because Naniwa is Protoss so he can't be the foreigner hope, amirite TL?
EDIT: Forgot to add this... what did you people expect from Naniwa? A curtsy?
What we have in WCS Europe seems too good to be true. After suffering complete and utter defeat in 2013, foreigners have a realistic shot at winning a Premier League title [...]
Do we dare believe?
On April 10 2014 15:45 Waxangel wrote: The follow-up piece to the critically acclaimed* four minutes to midnight.
What we have in WCS Europe seems too good to be true. After suffering complete and utter defeat in 2013, foreigners have a realistic shot at winning a Premier League title [...]
On April 10 2014 16:09 Emerson_H wrote: Wouldn't be surprised to see Vortix take it all. He's the foreign hope we need.
Considering that even if he beats Jjakji he is guaranteed to play either MC or Stardust I would say his chances are very low. However Stardust is favoured over MC which helps Vortix because MC's PvZ is stronger
What we have in WCS Europe seems too good to be true. After suffering complete and utter defeat in 2013, foreigners have a realistic shot at winning a Premier League title [...]
Do we dare believe?
On April 10 2014 15:45 Waxangel wrote: The follow-up piece to the critically acclaimed* four minutes to midnight.
was machete kills bad? I loved machete original :[
As a huge fan of the original, the honest truth is the best trailer of all time was good enough to be stretched out into an entire film, but not three.
I don't think foreign fans = fans of foreigners. There are plenty of foreigners who prefer Koreans over Foreigners.
That being sad, if anyone can make it happen I think it's either Snute, cause he has won events with top Koreans before, or Vortix because he has been looking great lately. Realistically though this should be another MMA win with MC keeping up the Kong performance.
On April 10 2014 19:20 Lorch wrote: I don't think foreign fans = fans of foreigners. There are plenty of foreigners who prefer Koreans over Foreigners.
That being sad, if anyone can make it happen I think it's either Snute, cause he has won events with top Koreans before, or Vortix because he has been looking great lately. Realistically though this should be another MMA win with MC keeping up the Kong performance.
Sadly our system does not yet support different Bo formats (finals are Bo7, not Bo5) so I'm also gonna leave this here, for our predicted hypothetical finals:
On April 10 2014 19:20 Lorch wrote: I don't think foreign fans = fans of foreigners. There are plenty of foreigners who prefer Koreans over Foreigners.
That being sad, if anyone can make it happen I think it's either Snute, cause he has won events with top Koreans before, or Vortix because he has been looking great lately. Realistically though this should be another MMA win with MC keeping up the Kong performance.
Count me as one of those people who prefers Koreans over Foreigners. It has nothing to do with nationality, though. Koreans just consistently deliver the most exciting games.
On April 10 2014 19:20 Lorch wrote: I don't think foreign fans = fans of foreigners. There are plenty of foreigners who prefer Koreans over Foreigners.
That being sad, if anyone can make it happen I think it's either Snute, cause he has won events with top Koreans before, or Vortix because he has been looking great lately. Realistically though this should be another MMA win with MC keeping up the Kong performance.
Sadly our system does not yet support different Bo formats (finals are Bo7, not Bo5) so I'm also gonna leave this here, for our predicted hypothetical finals:
That said, I would love nothing more than MMA winning in dominant fashion and in a fantastic display of skill.
Well my realistically is not the one based on stats (as they never tell the hole story not even in games with more telling stats like moba and fps), but rather on who I feel is capable on winning this kind of tournament with this kind of format and a bit of personal player preference as well. I guess MC is kind of a gutsy prediction, but I have learned a long long time ago that whenever to many people doubt him he'll just win a tournament out of nowhere. Recently though, he has established himself as more of a Kong and if there is one thing that I like almost as much as players who just know how to win tournament after tournament, it's the storyline of those always getting close to the number 1 spot but somehow failing a lot in grabbing it.
On April 10 2014 19:20 Lorch wrote: I don't think foreign fans = fans of foreigners. There are plenty of foreigners who prefer Koreans over Foreigners.
That being sad, if anyone can make it happen I think it's either Snute, cause he has won events with top Koreans before, or Vortix because he has been looking great lately. Realistically though this should be another MMA win with MC keeping up the Kong performance.
Sadly our system does not yet support different Bo formats (finals are Bo7, not Bo5) so I'm also gonna leave this here, for our predicted hypothetical finals:
That said, I would love nothing more than MMA winning in dominant fashion and in a fantastic display of skill.
Well my realistically is not the one based on stats (as they never tell the hole story not even in games with more telling stats like moba and fps), but rather on who I feel is capable on winning this kind of tournament with this kind of format and a bit of personal player preference as well. I guess MC is kind of a gutsy prediction, but I have learned a long long time ago that whenever to many people doubt him he'll just win a tournament out of nowhere. Recently though, he has established himself as more of a Kong and if there is one thing that I like almost as much as players who just know how to win tournament after tournament, it's the storyline of those always getting close to the number 1 spot but somehow failing a lot in grabbing it.
I was just providing an additional point of view, of course stats will never be able to tell the whole tale in a complex and volatile game. Personally I think MMA has been the most consistent over the last few months even if he didn't actually win anything other than small online tournaments. But I think any one of these guys, on a good day, can take the whole thing, as they've no doubt shown in the past.
Also, I disagree with the notion that FPS has "more telling stats" but that's a different discussion entirely and off-topic to this thread.
Sen won a tournament that had 2 Koreans, both Terrans. MMA and SuperNova are solid players but it is hardly an exciting win for foreigners.
People that are realistic about WCS EU know that a Korean Protoss is going to take it all. Even without all of the minor victories, everyone knows that WCS EU/NA Koreans are far from a Code S/Proleague Korean. Blizzcon may produce some upsets, but at the end of the day a Korean GSL champion is going to be raising the trophy not a NA/EU Korean. I'm so sick of this Korean vs the World mentality. Starcraft is a beautiful game, why can't people just appreciate the game for what it is and NOT for who plays it?
On April 10 2014 20:27 yido wrote: I'm so sick of this Korean vs the World mentality. Starcraft is a beautiful game, why can't people just appreciate the game for what it is and NOT for who plays it?
Because in the grim dark future there is only war.
On April 10 2014 20:27 yido wrote: I'm so sick of this Korean vs the World mentality. Starcraft is a beautiful game, why can't people just appreciate the game for what it is and NOT for who plays it?
Because in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.
Also, because stupid internet drama. Most people don't really give a shit either way, it's just a vocal minority that keeps posting this doomsaying everywhere in a non-constructive manner and I guess to some degree we're to blame as well for validating its existence with our responses.
On April 10 2014 20:27 yido wrote: I'm so sick of this Korean vs the World mentality. Starcraft is a beautiful game, why can't people just appreciate the game for what it is and NOT for who plays it?
Because in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.
Also, because stupid internet drama. Most people don't really give a shit either way, it's just a vocal minority that keeps posting this doomsaying everywhere in a non-constructive manner and I guess to some degree we're to blame as well for validating its existence with our responses.
I think he was trying to be funny with his last post Though I agree, the whole doom and gloom attitude of some people is stupid, the entire foreigners vs Korean thing is kind of stupid, but hell, it makes for a great read!
Snute's win was already a victory as far as I'm concerned. I really don't think Welmu or Snute will make it to the Ro4, but I think Vortix has a realistic chance of winning
Frankly if a foreigner wins this tournament, I'll be completely shocked.
The best foreigners are as good as many Koreans. But when there is eight great players, and five are Korean and three aren't, even if those three are as good as Koreans, pure chance favors the Koreans. And with that being said, I'd say they have the edge in skill too.
Is there anyone out there who still defends Blizzard's decision not to lock WCS regions?
On April 10 2014 23:20 BronzeKnee wrote: Frankly if a foreigner wins this tournament, I'll be completely shocked.
The best foreigners are as good as many Koreans. But when there is eight great players, and five are Korean and three aren't, even if those three are as good as Koreans, pure chance favors the Koreans. And with that being said, I'd say they have the edge in skill too.
Is there anyone out there who still defends Blizzard's decision not to lock WCS regions?
yes there are plenty of arguments speaking for it. No need to discuss it once again.
I really really love these writeups!! They build up soo much hype EU fighting!
And i think Blizzard made the absolute best decision possible regarding the soft region-lock. They cant very well kick out all the koreans that have already qualified. Even if they could i prefer a ro8 like this, with the foreigners vs koreans. It makes it alot more exciting since you know that the winner is really really good.
The AM region will take some time to stabilize around a decent balance since so many koreans were already in challenger league. However with a maximum of 2 koreans added to CL each season the amount of koreans should decrease since there is a high probability that they eliminate each other in CL. Also there is talk about offline PL like in GSL. That would make it a huge investment for koreans to participate. (unless their tickets from korea get paid, does anyone know if that is the case?)
On April 10 2014 20:27 yido wrote: I'm so sick of this Korean vs the World mentality. Starcraft is a beautiful game, why can't people just appreciate the game for what it is and NOT for who plays it?
That is the biggest problem with sc2 people and Blizzard did a big mistake with sc2 game itself (exactly the same with Diablo3). Apparently the game isn't beautiful enough to have the passion for this game. D2:LoD, WC3 and SC:BW were pretty differently.
^ lol. seems like I'm not the only one that was thinking of this:
I could never understand this whole foreigner aspect. I mean, it's cool that people cheer for their countrymen and I do it all the time too but the constant 'will a foreigner finally win?' seems overplayed at this point. I guess this puts me in the 'best player wins' category then lol. Also, watch as Snute, Welmu and Vortix all end up crashing out of WCS EU leaving an RO4 with only Koreans lol. Good write-up though
Well, I think the foreign dream is still alive, we have a lot of good players, but it's too bad seeing that these players are the ones carrying the dream now.
Seeing them makes me believe that teh urn is daed u.u
On April 10 2014 16:56 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Korean cyborg-mutants led by San will stomp the sapling of hope. The hunt for the last of foreign humanity begins..
The rebels have been destroyed. Humanity is now extinct