Yankees of SC2 – St.Life

I love St.Life

I’d like to start by pointing out the obvious significance of NY Yankees. In short, they are where a professional team wants to be. Their deep pockets produce talent, which in turn produces affluence. It’s the financial model.

I wonder how he’d look in pin stripe

When you have the most money, you get to roster the greats. I think what makes a lot of great athletes is, perhaps obviously, their feats. There will be a handful of Code S champions every single year, but will we remember their names? Like the pitcher who strikes out an all-star batter, a great feat will permanently cement you in the mind of the fans who saw. It can make a player invaluable to you on a very personal level. If I had to think of a moment in athletic sports for me it would be a moment in the NHL. Enter game 7 of first round of the 2010 playoffs. The Vancouver Canucks are in overtime with the Chicago Black-hawks. Two necessary pieces of context are that the Black-Hawks were the reigning Stanley Cup Champions from the previous year, and the Black-Hawks had eliminated the Canucks for the two previous years.

Alex Burrows intercepts a pass on his chest, and put’s it in like he’s playing on the street behind his house. It happened in the blink of an eye and the city erupted. I personally think it is what whipped the city into the frenzy which culminated in the infamous riots. In one of the fiercest rivalries the city has known, Burrows slew the dragon and millions will never forget it

Life’s primary feat has got to be the code S defeat of LG-IM.MVP. Not because that was the best he has ever played, I suppose, but for the fact of what he took from Jung ‘MVP’ Jong Hyun that night. Life’s performance stands out in particular because virtually any other player, under that sort of pressure, would have been trampled underfoot in MVP’s endless crusade for glory. However, Life would not be denied. When MVP’s victory seemed so certain, that the GSL preemptively made a commemorative 5 title trophy, Life responded by slaying the dragon.

St. George

Perhaps for some this will be his defining moment for some, but it doesn’t stop there. Tonight he disassembled his team mate and current world champion, St.PartinG. Perhaps more significantly, he disassembled the fearsome immortal sentry push. If PartinG was able to 4-0 Life, perhaps there would even be talk of imbalance. Game 2 was when the dreaded build was played. Perhaps getting a little too cheeky with his roaches, Life fell. However, game 3 saw Life dig his heels in and go toe to toe with the legendary soul train. With a spine wall and ling/infestor, even when infestor is decidedly un-meta to the immortal sentry push, Life took the game convincingly. PartinG’s confidence was visibly shaken, and with the air let out of his tires he fell to Life 4-2.

We watch them for their feats, but love them for their heart

Let’s just say there would be no hesitation as Yankee officials laid pen to paper. Yea, Life would look great in pin stripe.

Macro for Bronze: Worker production

When new (or bad) players are looking for ways to improve, the advice is almost always the same across the board. Macro harder. Now, people understand the basics of this (make workers, expand, build production, etc.) but yet people still forget to do even these basic things. When I’m watching my bronze friend practice my instincts are screaming at me to tell him to make workers, but I don’t because I don’t want to sound like a broken record. Why is it that someone can repeatedly neglect doing which is arguably the single most valuable action in the game?

A couple years ago I took a course in computer science which focused on video game theory, more specifically what makes games fun. Basically, game play is a series of microscopic transactions of effort returning reward. That is to say, when a gamer executes an action, if he doesn’t feel rewarded he doesn’t have fun. On a very basic level, it’s easy to understand that for a certain level of effort we expect to win an amount that is proportionate. Fun is the return of investment (ROI) for our effort. This also explains the success of games like Call of Duty, because contemporary game developers have found ways to artificially inflate this sense of reward so that no matter how badly you’re doing you feel on a subconscious level that you’re still kicking ass (see: assists, death streaks, etc.) As long as we see those congratulatory words flash up on the screen coupled with points we (not so much Starcraft players) experience fun. How does this relate to Starcraft?

2012 GSL Code S – Season 2

[via TL.net]

Here is the current list of Code S competitors for Season 2:

Terran [10]: GuMiho, aLive, MMA, Mvp, Ryung, TaeJa, jjakji, MarineKing, NaDa, Polt (seeded)
Protoss [8]: Genius, Puzzle, Parting, MC, Seed, Oz, Hero, NaNiWa (seeded)
Zerg [4]: DongRaeGu, Curious, Zenio, NesTea
+10 players who will advance from this week’s Up&Down matches

Today the GSL Season 2 Up&Down matches will start and the remaining 10 Code S players will be determined.
Here’s the detailed schedule:

 

iS (Infinity Seven) signs AXSLAV

Axslav is one bad dude, and he just got signed!

I couldn't find a picture I liked, so I made one...

Here’s the announcement on Team Liquid:

 

Los Angeles, March 12, 2012 – Infinity Seven is proud to announce the signing of North American Protoss player, Nick “Axslav” Ranish.

Axslav will make his debut with Infinity Seven at the upcoming MLG in Columbus. He will compete alongside his new teammates, CrazymoviNG, jEcho, Insur, Pyre, and HonoR. With Axslav’s recent performance in MLG Winter Arena, he has been seeded in the Winners Bracket Round 5 and will start his matches on Saturday, March 24th.