E-Sports@ OnRPG: March 17th Report

By Umar Farooq(Kluey), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Orb Dismissed from Evil Geniuses

Orb, one of the upcoming casters in the scene was recently hired by Evil Genius to cast their EGMC tournament. I have tuned into one of his casts and I wasn’t all that impressed. He has a suboptimal understanding of the game itself and doesn’t possess a TotalBiscuit voice either. Nevertheless, he will make do.

 

 

The problem came when some screenshots were posted on /r/Starcraft regarding his racist and extremely bad mannered comments to opponents on the ladder. That in itself is bad yes but, it has been done before. Orb then went on to lie about it and say that it was not him. According to him, it wasn’t him and was one of his friends but regardless, he made a mistake. The folks at Reddit then went on to show more screenshots and unfortunately contact sponsors. Why is this unfortunate? E-Sports are not a huge industry yet. Contacting sponsors hurts the entire scene because money is blocked from the scene. Anyhow, the situation went on and Orb was dismissed expectedly. Evil Geniuses had no choice because they were under so much pressure from sponsors and fans alike.

 

 

If we can learn anything from this situation, it’s that problems in the industry should be solved locally. There is absolutely no need to contact sponsors and essentially let the sponsors know that E-Sports is an immature community which is absolutely wrong.

 

 

GSL Season 2

 

GSL is known for being the best competition in the world for Starcraft II and this line-up is evidence of that. 11 GSL championships are in this line-up. I cannot possibly predict the entire tournament but I can inform you on who to look out for from each race.

 

 

Terran : SlayerS_MMA, IM_Mvp, NSH_jjakji, MKP, oGsFin(ForGG), MaruPrime

MarineKingPrime just came off of a MLG victory and looked brilliant in that tournament. Although no one can predict MKP, he should be able to do well this season. ForGG has been practicing extremely hard. He streams multiple hours a day and without a doubt does custom games against practice partners. If that alone wasn’t enough, ForGG was a successful Broodwar professional and is an extremely talented RTS player. MaruPrime is 14 years old. Does more need to be said? Although he will not win this season, it will be interesting to see if he can snipe some fans.

 

 

Zerg: Zenio, Leenock, July

Zenio is a consistent Code S Zerg but has never been able to show a good result. Leenock had a little hump of fame but quickly fell back. This season will show his true skill and if he really is a top player. July is a Broodwar professional but hasn’t done anything super amazing in Starcraft II for a long time. He’s made a final early in the GSL but also fell off.

 

 

Protoss: StarTale_Parting, Liquid_HerO, Quantic_NaNiWa

Parting is in my opinion one of the best Protoss in the world. He’s consistent, smart and fast. Liquid_HerO is a huge fan favourite in the foreign scene. He is a player that is known to be extremely skilled but also nervous. On his Livestream, he can pull off some amazing plays but always chokes in tournaments. If he can make a Top 8 finish in the GSL, he will be a top player in the world.

 

 

IEM World Championships – Starcraft II

IEM had a great tournament. The production was great and the games were better. It seems like whenever a good tournament occurs; they luck out and get insane games. IEM was no exception. In the end, MC came over one of his many rivals, PuMa, to take the first place trophy along with a hefty amount of money.

 

 

Feast also had an amazing tournament run. Getting top foreigner spot over players like IdrA, DIMAGA, Kas, SeleCT and Grubby isn’t an easy task to accomplish. This tournament will be a career changing one for Feast as he has now established himself as a top foreigner.

 

Dota 2: The Defense Tournament

Recently, I have been playing a lot of Dota 2. The game itself is great. The skill is not overly capped like League of Legends. Valve is extremely wealthy unlike S2 Games and the graphics and interface are much better than Warcraft 3. Overall, the game is a must-try for any MOBA fan.

 

 

The Defense was the first Dota 2 tournament I watched. Apparently, Na’Vi is really good. And by really good, I mean by far the best. Their play was extremely solid, especially their team chemistry which many teams in the MOBA scene lack. Na’Vi took out EG and then Quantic to take first place in this event. Quantic had also beaten EG in the Lower Bracket finals.