I am pleased and proud to announce to you today the formation of a new, international Starcraft 2 organization. Clarity Gaming was founded by some of North America’s strongest talent supplemented by some incredibly talented, high-level Grandmasters from Korea. Clarity Gaming is a Starcraft 2 team dedicated to competition at the highest levels, as well as the bonds that have held its players together for so long.
Some of you may remember a few of these players from Clash and B2B gaming, some of you may recognize others from the Jung Clan in Korea and you may recognize a further few from SAGAcity Gaming. Regardless of our past names and tags, the professionals at Clarity Gaming are putting that all aside for a new venture into e-Sports, as one. I have never in my long history of team management seen a group as dedicated and motivated to succeed as the individuals before me. They range from seasoned Korean players to champions of the local LAN tournament scene, from old to young but one thing remains a constant: their desire and will to succeed. Without further ado, I present to you the founding roster of Clarity Gaming:
Personal Statement:With 2 years of casting experience I have covered a plethora of events, most notably the E-Sports Weekly Match; a Code A qualifier tournament and the Korean Starcraft II League; a team league comprised of the top Korean teams. I'm really excited with the creation of Clarity Gaming and I hope to be able to contribute as much as possible to its success.
Personal Statement: "I’m really excited to be a part of Clarity Gaming and to strive to grow as a player within. There are many great players on the team that I’m looking forward to practicing with which will help me to become a better player. I plan to practice as hard as possible, and with the addition of coaches I look forward to trying to progress into becoming one of the best Terrans in North America."
Personal Statement: im very thankfull for beeing on such a talented and warm team as clarity gaming. Its an privilage and honor to be sorrounded of, not only good friends, but increidlbe players. im looking forward to the evolution of the team and i know it will be an awsome experience.
Personal Statement: “The unveiling of Clarity Gaming has me very excited as this is composed of many talented, experienced, and passionate individuals. I hope to put my skills to use for this great organization, and at the same time hone my skills. I believe that not only will my skills improve with such incredible players on the roster, but this organization will better me as a person overall. Hopefully I can show some real results with my refined skills in a few months, and urge everyone to keep an eye on Clarity Gaming!
Notable Results: 33rd Place, MLG Providence 2011; Top 80, MLG Columbus 2012; Top 80, MLG Raleigh 2012; Top 64, WCS USA; Ro8 Playhem Daily; Pro Player for SixPoolGaming; Coach for GosuCoaching.
Personal Statement: I am excited to be joining Clarity Gaming because it fills not only the requirements I look for in a team but also the drive and determination I look for in management. I hope our team produces great results in the future in both team leagues and live events.
Notable Results: 1st Place, Playhem Daily #218 (vs FXOCrane); 1st Place, Playhem WCS Qualifier #6; Qualified for USA WCS; 3-1 iSAxslav in GamerWarehouse Showmatch; Defeated LiquidHaypro 2-1 at MLG Anaheim 2012
Articles/Interviews:
Personal Statement: “I am really excited to see the announcement of the team finally kick off. I honestly believe that if we work hard enough, we can expect nothing but great things in the future! I am also excited to practice with a bunch of new, highly skilled, mature players and improve different aspects of my game as a team. My main goal in Clarity is to become the absolute best player I can possibly be, to improve my OVERALL game rather than just my ladder rank.”
SC2 Experience: Former General Manager/Team Leader of SAGAcity Gaming. Past administrator for multiple North American community tournaments. Past Editor in Chief of This Week in SC2 (NA Edition).
Personal Statement: The players and staff of Clarity Gaming have worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks to whip ourselves into competitive shape and ensure that we announced only when fully ready. Given everything that’s been done and the work continuing to be done to this day, I have no doubt in my mind that Clarity Gaming can and will become a force in competitive e-Sports. I look forward to achieving this with all of you.
SC2 Experience: Former General Manager of Clash/B2B Gaming. Past Organizer for multiple Korean online tournaments.
Personal Statement: “Coming together as Clarity Gaming has been a really invigorating experience for everyone involved here. I think we’ve all got something going on within the team to be very excited about. Hopefully we can bring the passion within the team into our future endeavors strongly enough that it carries over into the public eye . Each and every event and plan we have coming in the foreseeable future is something I’m really happy to not only be a part of myself, but offer to our players as well.”
SC2 Experience: Co-founder of Team Think Quick in SC2, Zerg player for Professional Team Clash, Head Coach/Player Manager for Team Clash, Head Coach/Player Manager for Back2Back Gaming
Personal Statement: “I'm excited to be working with a hard working and enthusiastic person in Adama. With a solid back end, it allows me to focus on my duties and draw from my past experience to really help further the development of Clarity Gaming and our players. I think this team has great potential, and I'll be there every step of the way guiding our players to be the best they can be.”
As excited as we are about the official unveiling of the team, this is only the first step for us here at Clarity Gaming. We have a lot of big, exciting stuff just around the corner, and we hope you'll take the time to follow us and keep an eye out for what we have coming in the near future!
Yea boy, good to see bb players getting a new home and keeping the so called band together at that. Good luck have fun boys. See you on the field of battle!
I'm proud and honored to work alongside such an outstanding group of individuals. We've got a long way to go and much to accomplish, it's time to get started .
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
On September 27 2012 09:08 Torte de Lini wrote: Not a fan of Katu, but I love the rest of your team (Shew, Sarovati and Siphonn!) Of course yourself virgil :B Goodl uck with your team!
I don't think many people who know of that whole Katu thing with Dragon are really fans of him
While casting Dragon in Playhem, Katu was extremely unprofessional, and he ignorantly started talking about Dragon's past cheating and hacking... except Katu was pretty much completely incorrect about everything he said (not to mention it was inappropriate, and even his co-caster was trying to get him to be quiet): http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=316351 He was very apologetic after the community made a fuss, and it was a while ago, so... whatever.
Regardless, best of luck to the new team! Don't really know many players here, but hopefully you guys do well
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
adama i think kawaiirice's joke just went over ur head lol
Team name = Clarity gaming
Kawaiirice "Not everything is CLEAR to me yet. This post lacks CLARITY" ^^
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
adama i think kawaiirice's joke just went over ur head lol
Team name = Clarity gaming
Kawaiirice "Not everything is CLEAR to me yet. This post lacks CLARITY" ^^
Haha no I got it, it's just something I figured people might be confused about prior to because he wasn't listed under staff as well. Avoiding misunderstandings now :D.
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
adama i think kawaiirice's joke just went over ur head lol
Team name = Clarity gaming
Kawaiirice "Not everything is CLEAR to me yet. This post lacks CLARITY" ^^
no I was legitimately confused why Katu was under players.
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
adama i think kawaiirice's joke just went over ur head lol
Team name = Clarity gaming
Kawaiirice "Not everything is CLEAR to me yet. This post lacks CLARITY" ^^
Despite the (obvious, not really subtle, but still very clever) jokes that KR made, I think that the clarification on Katu's player status was still something to be elaborated on, because he was previously known in the community as a (minor) caster- not really a player.
On September 27 2012 09:03 KawaiiRice wrote: Wait what? Katu listed under as players? Not everything is clear to me yet.
this post lacks Clarity.
Katu in addition to being our Head Caster is pursuing a competitive gaming career. He's been working incredibly hard and we look forward to seeing him progress as a player in the coming days.
adama i think kawaiirice's joke just went over ur head lol
Team name = Clarity gaming
Kawaiirice "Not everything is CLEAR to me yet. This post lacks CLARITY" ^^
no I was legitimately confused why Katu was under players.
Adama uses clairvoyance. It's super effective!
Katu has shown a significant improvement in a short amount of time, is passionate about the game and takes his practice seriously. He is putting forth the effort, so I have taken the chance on him. We'll see if it pays off.
On September 27 2012 20:44 HalloniKanada wrote: Couldn't even write their ages? Lol.
Does it matter? I'm genuinely curious.
On September 28 2012 03:25 SilSol wrote: I haven't seen much of Shew lately tho. I just thought that he stopped playing or something.
Things have been pretty quiet for the most part since the back2back announcement. The owner made a ton of false promises, got as much free advertising out of us as he could, then folded all e-sports operations. Since then, we've been practicing a lot and just refocusing the team.
Tough run with bb, Glad to hear your representing Canada like a boss though. :D KC and Saro are really good, now lets see how they do in a bigger pond.
I reaaaaalllly shouldn't be nitpicking this, but your slanted banners feel so...wrong. It's like an optical illusion, makes the entire text look slanted.
That said, best of luck to you. Always wonderful to see a new team form.
<3 ty all for the kind words. Our team has had a long string of unfortunate events since earlier this year. Things have been foggy, but everything seems to be clearing up (clarity puns are so fun :p)
Ty to all my friends posting in here the kind words, means a lot.
One of Clarity’s finest Protoss’, Shew is a familiar face in the Major League Gaming circuit and the North American Starcraft 2 scene as a whole. In between games of an intense ladder session on the Korean server, our writer GreYMisT had the opportunity to speak with cShew about the upcoming invite-only qualifier for MLG and how prepared he feels going into the Fall circuit;
Clarity Gaming: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us Shew! I know you’re busy. So first off could you give a brief introduction to the readers?
Shew: I’m Alex “Shew” Raymond, Protoss player from USA. I’m 19 years old and am currently taking off time from school to pursue my passion of professional gaming.
Clarity Gaming: We know you’re going to be attending MLG Dallas, but let’s talk about the MLG’s of the past.. Which have you attended? Which was your favorite and why?
Shew: During 2011 I went to MLG Anaheim and Providence, and during 2012 I’ve been to Columbus, Anaheim, and Raleigh. I got 33rd in Providence 2011, Top 88 at Columbus 2012 and and 73rd at Raleigh 2012.
MLG Providence, my first MLG was my favorite hands down. I got to put a face to the name of many of the players I practice with online. In addition, I got to go to the MLG after party which was awesome.
Clarity Gaming: How prepared do you feel for the upcoming Fall Championship in Dallas compared to your prior MLG’s? Because of your previous success in past MLG’s you received an invite to the invite only qualifiers. What are your expectations going into this?
Shew: I was feeling good until my internet was dead for about 5 days, so I’m trying to make up for lost time by practicing on the Korean server. I went to LAN cafe’s while my internet was out so I feel like it shouldn’t impact me much. I’ve been developing a few new builds in each match-up that’re really starting to shine through for me in practice as well so that’s always a plus. In addition I’ve felt more pressure to practice harder and perform well because we are actually a team now and we have a practice schedule.
I had previously always wanted to qualify for an online Arena. However, since there isn’t one I now just want to get as far as possible so I can get an advantage going into MLG. This is going to be a difficult tournament as there are many strong players I’ll have to beat but I’m up for the challenge.
Clarity Gaming: What do think of MLG paying for the flights of top finishing players in these qualifiers?
Shew: I think it’s a very important step for the e-Sports scene as a whole. If more tournaments follow the lead of MLG by offering flights for qualified players it’d allow smaller teams to send their players to more events internationally. That money can then be reallocated to the players and teams benefit. So all-in-all, great move from MLG.
Clarity Gaming: I’ d have to agree with you there. Shew, thank you very much for your time! Do you have any final words?
Shew: I’d like to give a shoutout to Clarity Gaming, Adama, Goon Squad, Sixpool Gaming and Gosucoaching.com. Please follow me on twitter at twitter.com/clarityshew and check out Clarity Gaming’s website and twitter at www.claritygaming.com and @clarity_gaming respectively. You can also follow the interviewer GreYMisT at @GreYMisT09.