Category Archives: Articles

PSISTORM at Dreamhack Austin: Day 0

Articles, News, Tournaments

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Starting April 28, Dreamhack Austin begins! Part of the WCS circuit, this event sports a $100k prize pool, a 64 player open bracket and a BlizzCon seed to first place. We are tied with ROOT Gaming in being the most represented team with 8 players. We have 2 players seeded into the third bracket stage and 6 fighting it out in the first group stage.

We’ve got PiLiPiLi, JonSnow, TRUE, Silky, PengWin, WarreN , jheffe and sLeet.

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PiLiPiLi and JonSnow had an amazing performance in the NA qualifier, placing 2nd and 4th respectively. Defeating such opponents as TRUE, Semper, puCK and Scarlett, they both were able to make it out of the Losers’ bracket and make the top 4. Even while knocking out teammates TRUE and Silky on their way, they simply proved they were the best then and there. They will wait for the competition on Saturday while the first bracket stage is played out.

In this bracket, we have TRUE, PengWin, WarreN, Silky and jheffe, battling it out for a top finish in their groups. Somehow, even with 16 groups, we found a way to make a teamkill situation with WarreN and Silky in Group K. They will have to find a way to beat Bly, Fear or even each other to advance into the second Group Stage. All the way back in Group C, our player manager Pengwin, has to best xKawaiian, the Protoss TheorY and Blast to advance. In another potential teamkill situation, TRUE and academy player jheffe have to find a way through Bails and Jjajan to continue on. All by his lonesome, academy player sLeet is in Group O with the Swedish Zanster, Dolan and mLty.

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Overall, we believe each player has the potential to make it out of the first group stage. We have been preparing for this event since it was announced and progress has shown.

Make sure to tune in and cheer on our players throughout the event!

Full bracket here.

Follow PSISTORM on twitter or on Facebook to get updates.

Silky is promoted to the Pro team

Articles, News

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Just before Dreamhack Austin, we are glad to announce that our academy player Silky is being promoted to the Pro team! He will become the 11th player of our roster joining such amazing players as TRUE, GuMiho, JonSnow and PiLiPiLi.

Pro team manager PengWin’s statement:

“When we picked up Silky, I knew that he was well on his way to being a member of the pro team. Recent performances have more than underlined that, with fantastic team league performances as well as a stellar top 8 in the WCS Austin NA Qualifier. I’m very excited to see how he goes on to perform, because he truly is one of the most talented players the NA scene has to offer”

We had a quick interview with him regarding the promotion.

P :First, give us a quick introduction.

Nick “Silky” : Hey everyone my name is Nick “Silky” and I’m a Zerg player from California. I have been playing the game since 2011 and have loved every minute of it.

P :What does this promotion from the academy to the pro team mean to you?

I’m extremely excited to be apart of PSISTORM and be on a team with very high level players. I think this is a great opportunity to improve my game and take on a new adventure. I look forward to becoming a better player and I hope that my practice will turn into great results!

Silky will play at Dreamhack Austin in Group K with Bly, Fear and teammate WarreN.

Make sure to follow Silky on twitter.

7 Months after Proleague: Where are they now?

Articles, News

18044639910lA little over 7 months ago, on the 17th of October 2016, SC2 Proleague was discontinued. Immediately following the news, SKT, KT, CJ and Samsung disbanded their teams. A little after HSC XIV, Afreeca freecs disbanded on the 21st of November. A little over two weeks later, MVP disbanded their SC2 team. To this day, JinAir GreenWings is the only remaining korean based Starcraft 2 team still operational.

With 5 of the 6 korean teams closing their doors, 39 players were now homeless in difficult times. Many people were bringing up the “ded gaem” meme, others were hopeful for new sponsors stepping in.

So far, 15 players found new teams and 2 players retired. We will go through the old teams rosters and explain where each player is now.

SKT Telecom 1:
With a roster of 6 players, only one was able to find a new team. Impact joined Team Dead Pixels, the Switzerland based team, February 5th 2017. The rest of the powerhouse team; soO, INnoVatioN, Dream, Dark and Classic are still teamless

soO – Teamless
INnoVation – Teamless
Impact – Team Dead Pixels
Dream – Teamless
Dark – Teamless
Classic – Teamless

Samsung Galaxy:
With a roster of 7 players, two of them were able to find new teams. Armani joined IsIMBA, a Romanian based team, on December 12 2016. In a suprising move to many, the NA based team Splyce, known for its EU League of Legends team and NA based CS:GO Squad, signed Solar a day after his contract officially expired on December 1st 2016. The remaining members, Bravo, Dear, Hurricane, Journey and Reality remain teamless.

Armani – Joined IsIMBA
Bravo – Teamless
Dear – Teamless
Hurricane – Teamless
Journey – Teamless
Reality – Teamless
Solar – Joined Splyce

KT Rolster:
With a roster of 7 players including big names like jjakji, Zest, Stats and foreign favorites like Losira and Leenock. Only 2 of their players were able to find new homes. The Terran player jjakji, having been on mYi in 2015, was able to find a new home in another foreign team; Team RevolutioN the 27th of December 2016. Stats was also able to find a new team with Splyce the 25th of December 2016. The other 5 players, Leenock, Losira, Trust, TY and Zest remain teamless.

jjakji – Joined Team RevolutioN
Leenock – Teamless
Losira – Teamless
Stats – Joined Splyce
Trust – Teamless
TY – Teamless
Zest – Teamless

CJ Entus:
With a small roster of 5 players, 2 of their players were able to find new teams, albeit one of them is a short term-test contract. The smiling assassin herO joined ROOT Gaming, the long-established NA team, the 14th January 2017. Meanwhile, Byul has a short-term test contract with BaseTradeTV, the community caster organisation, the 15th March 2017. Hush and Bunny both joined DuSt Gaming, the NA based organisation, the 2nd December 2016 (Bunny is released the 21st of April). The Zerg player RagnaroK remains teamless.

ByuL – Personal sponsorship by BaseTradeTV
herO – Joined ROOT Gaming
RagnaroK – Teamless
Hush – DuSt Gaming
Bunny – DuSt Gaming Bunny released by DuSt Gaming

Afreeca Freecs
Featuring a roster of 8 players, Afreeca Freecs had the most players before the disbanding. One player, the famed Terran Bomber ended up retiring to do his military service, leaving 7 free agents. The first to find a new team was Patience, returning to Dead Pixels, having played under their banner for a little over a year, from December 2014 till March 2016. He joined them December 13 2016. The only other player to find a new team was aLive. The Terran player joined mYinsanity the 2nd April 2017. The 5 other players, Billowy, Curious, DRGLing, Super and Symbol, remain without teams.

aLive – Joined mYinsanity
Billowy – Teamless
Bomber – Retired
Curious – Teamless
DRGLing – Teamless
Patience – Joined Dead Pixels
Super – Teamless
Symbol – Retired

MVP
The last team of 5 teams who disbanded, MVP’s players have had the most luck in finding new teams, with 4 of their 6 players sponsored by organisations. The Terran, Ryung rejoined True eSport on the 10th December 2016, having been on their roster back in October 2014-January 2016. Forte, on his side, joined IsIMBA the 2nd January 2017, meeting up with Armani. Gumiho, also known as the Towel Terran, joined PSISTORM Gaming on the 3rd February 2017. Finally, the Zerg player Pet joined Team RevolutioN the 8th February 2017. This leaves only Blaze and NaTuRal without teams.

Ryung – Joined True eSport
Forte – Joined IsIMBA
Blaze – Teamless
GuMiho – Joined PSISTORM Gaming
NaTuRal – Teamless
Pet – Joined Team RevolutioN

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But what about the players without a team. How have they been doing?

Well the big names have been having the same results as before with a few players finally getting the results they wanted.

TY had his best year ever, winning WESG and bringing back $200k, he also won IEM Katowice taking home $100k. His performance in GSL, SSL and Afreeca GSL Super Tournament and have been the same as before, top 8’s and top 16’s with no issue.

INnoVation has had the same results as before, won IEM Gyeonggi, finished in the top 8’s at all GSL’s, SSL’s and Afreeca GSL Super Tournament and even top 8 at IEM Katowice.

Dark with top 4 at IEM Katowice and Gyeonggi, top 16 in GSL S1, top 8 in Afreeca GSL Super Tournament. It’s pretty much the minimum you would expect from such a strong player.

Meanwhile, even without SKT T1 to back him up, soO is still unable to win a GSL making it his fifth try. With a top 8 at IEM Katowice and top 16 in the Super Tournament. He’s doing about the same as before.

The Chin-Toss Classic has been continued being solid yet not outstanding. Top 12 at Gyeonggi, top 12 GSL and in the top 10 of the Super Tournament. Consistent, yet still missing an edge.

Zest slumped just a little, top 16 Gyeonggi, top 24 GSL, top 12 Katowice. Not bad results by any means, but he has played better in the past and produced better results.

Finally we have Dear left in the “big names”. He was unable to qualify to GSL S1, didn’t even try to qualify for Gyeonggi, nor Katowice. Some even said he was going to retire, but he came back. Finishing top 16 at the GSL Super Tournament and is now in round of 32 of GSL S2 and top 10 of SSL Challenger.

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All in all, with the big names, despite not having teams are having about the same results as before. The strong players continue to be strong while the average pro korean continue to linger in the shadows.

When Blizzard announced the format for WCS in 2017, they also announced that the system used will likely be the same for 2018. This is good news for the Korean scene who will still have at least 8 tournaments to play in next year.

In addition, more and more players have been streaming now that they don’t have loaded schedules. A full comprehensive list can be found here made by lilsusie.

So all in all, the korean starcraft 2 scene hasn’t been doing that bad. The top of the top have been doing great in tournaments, some have found teams while others support themselves with tournament winnings. More and more players have been streaming and interacting with their fans. Korean Starcraft is doing pretty okay.

Frostbite is the social media manager and writer for PSISTORM Gaming, give him a follow Twitter

Gumiho at the 2017 GSL Super Tournament

Articles, Tournaments

Gumi at GSL Super Tournament by Kenzi
Picture by Kenzi

The 6th of April, Gumiho played vs. the GSL Season 1 Champ, Stats in the Ro16. They faced off where our Terran player was the clear underdog. Stats was hot off his win, where Gumiho couldn’t even get past the Ro32. Even before that, he finished second in the incredibly stacked IEM Gyeonggi where Gumiho wasn’t even able to qualify. Despite the odds stacked against him, the GumiGod played his own way and it worked. Here’s how he did it.

The first game was played on Cactus Valley, a big four player map, PvT’s on this map either end really quickly or they go for awhile. This was an example of the latter. It started off as any other game, Gumiho tried some drop pressure, Stats was able to defend it. He quickly teched up to colossi while getting a third, Gumiho build up his bioball with a third and started to position aggressively with an army composed of MMM, widow mines and vikings to snipe the colossi. With some patience and some back and forth, Stats was able to defend his expansion, making both players to play the basics; macro. Gumiho pumped out a fleet of liberators with range while dropping every which way. In the climax moment, Stats moved his army to threaten Gumi’s fourth. Defending his fourth from afar with liberators, the terran found himself in an advantageous position when he beelined for the protoss’ main and sniped the natural nexus. Forced to walk across the map to defend, Stats was zoned out by the liberators and forced to take a poor engagement which earned Gumiho the win.

The second game was played on Newkirk Precinct, with a base-to-base distance quickly covered by flying units, air unit openers are quite common. That’s exactly what happened here, but game 2 was a series of unfortunate plays. Gumi opened with a widow mine drop harass, but Stats opened phoenix/adept. Losing the drop without doing much, he was in a poor position when Stats came flying into the main with a prism and 8 phoenix. After having caused massive damage to his army and economy, Gumi tried to muster up a force and doom drop Stats’ main, but he defended it with a massive colossus based army, did a counter push and forced out the GG.

Echo LE, one of the golden maps from HotS repurposed for this expansion, composed by many low-ground and high-ground areas, the third is also easily secured with collapsible rocks making it easier to defend. Despite this, game 3 started cheesy with a hint of non-standard. Stats went for a proxy stargate, pumped out two oracles, harassed with them while making a void ray and marched into Gumiho’s delayed natural with the intent to end the game then and now. Losing over 20 SCV’s and with his front door knocked down, Gumi was able to defend with the skin of his teeth. Retaking his natural while pumping out units, he was able to counter push to the win with marines, medivacs and 2 tanks. He even constructed a bunker at the bottom of the protoss’ natural expansions ramp, with the firm intent to hold his ground or die trying.


Watch Gumiho’s amazing comeback here!

One of the good maps that came out of LotV, Proxima station has an inbase natural and a potential gold base 4th. Needless to say, standard macro is the norm here. This game was slightly more straightforward, Stats went for stargate opener with oracle harass with the goal to go phoenix/adept. Meanwhile, Gumiho went for cloaked banshee. Without a proper way to detect the cloak tech, Stats lost exactly 23 SCV’s and found himself in the economic gutter. By simply pumping out units, our Terran player was able to push his lead and force his way into his opponent’s third after the second try. Without a proper way to defend his third and without an army, Stats GG’ed out. Granting Gumiho the win 3-1.


Watch the full VOD here!

Having played his own aggressive style and triumphed over the GSL Champ, Gumiho surprised many, but we always believed…

Two days later, Gumiho now had to face the smiling assassin herO. Once again, Gumiho was the underdog, despite an amazing performance vs Stats, his opponent has always been a consistently good player, despite the fact that his last major win was in 2015 with SSL Season 3.

The first game was played on Abyssal Reef. With the interesting setting of being an underwater map causing expired units to simply float up. This map has many paths and many potential flank routes. herO started off with the now common stargate opener, building double oracle, then transitioned into blink stalkers. Gumiho was able to scout it with a reaper and set himself up into a defensive position, widow mines covering the mineral line, a viking flying around and a squad of marines roaming in between his natural and his main base kept him safe. Gumiho decided to go for a very powerful 3 siege tank/marine +1 timing attack. With a cleverly placed stasis ward, herO was able to catch more than half of Gumi’s marines and jumped on the weakened army, destroying it while taking little losses. With his timing broken, our Terran tried to transition into a macro game, but herO kept harassing and engaging until he lost his third and then the game.

The second game was played on Newkirk Precinct, the map with a short air distance, an oldie but a goodie. Opting for the same opener as game 1, herO went oracle opener, but this time transitioned it into phoenix/adept. Once again, Gumiho decided not to take a third and went for a 4 liberator/widow mine timing. The Protoss player was able to defend with an overwhelming number of adepts and phoenix. While defending Gumi’s attempts at drops with phoenix, taking a fourth and continuing to produce adepts, herO was able to brute force his way into a victory, pushing Gumiho out of his third base and into his natural.

Played on the shining map of Echo LE, the third game started off the same from herO’s side. Oracles scouted and harassed while adepts and phoenix were being massed back home. Yet this time Gumiho played differently. He actually went for a third while pressuring herO’s third with some marines and widow mines. After getting pushed back, he defended wave after wave of phoenix adepts, while producing a massive amount of MMM with liberators. With no AOE and losing his fourth, herO was forced out of the game by Gumiho’s overwhelming bio army.

In game four, played on the four player map Cactus Valley, herO actually didn’t go for phoenix/adepts. He went nexus first and then went for a colossus based army. Gumiho went for a pressure build with tanks resembling the build in game 1. herO was able to defend it and slowly transitioned to making disruptors. After successfully defending his third, Gumi pushed back with liberators and marine/marauders. Slowly but surely, Gumiho was able to take advantageous positions and force herO to take unfavorable fights, eking out the win.

Tied up with 2 wins and 2 losses, the last game was played on Proxima Station.
In the same flavor as the first couple of games, herO, starting in the north, went for a stargate opener making oracles to harass his opponents worker line. Gumiho was able to defend it quite easily while he went for another pressure build. Pumping out marines like there was no tomorrow, he walked across the map and sat in front of herO’s third, waiting for his reinforcing medivacs. The Protoss was able to sniff out the pressure build, since he opted to build void rays instead of phoenix. Just as the medivacs arrived, Gumiho stimmed in, but herO pushed it back with force fields, photon overcharges, and the void rays sniping a full medivac. Gumiho fell back and went into macro mode. Building up a fleet of liberators while herO built colossi, they battled back and forth trading units and map control. Despite getting slowly pushed back by liberator zones, herO was able to tech up to tempest and pick them off one by one with oracle revelation. Even with a wonderful arc around herO’s fourth, the protoss death fleet was too much for Gumiho who lost all his liberators and about half of his ground army. Trying to stall with drops at his opponents 5th and main, his efforts were not enough. The ROOT Protoss defended enough that he was able to walk into the Terran’s territory and kill everything. Forcing the GG and taking the series 3-2.


Watch the full VOD right here!

With his run ending in the quarterfinals, Gumiho took home ₩ 1,000,000 and 450 WCS points. Even with a loss relatively soon, we are still impressed with his performance. So far, he has had his busiest year since 2015 with the amount of tournaments played in and results. He currently stands at #14 with 1750 WCS Points. At his current rate, he has a decent chance to make it to BlizzCon. With 3 KR tournaments and 1 Global event left to gather up points, we hope he is able to hammer out wins and qualify to the most important event of the year. We continue to support him and we hope you will too!

Don’t forget to give Gumiho a follow

While you’re at it, give the writer a follow!

PSISTORM Cup #5 – April 22

Articles, News, Tournaments

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Some of you may remember our previous announcement about the 5th iteration of our tournament, it was going to be our biggest and most impressive event yet. Fusing KJ’s love for StarCraft and cars, sponsorship by Dell and Alienware, topped off with an amazing venue, it was set to be an amazing event.

Unfortunately, we had some problems. As some of you might have read, it was unexpectedly cancelled when general manager of the mall vetoe’d the event. Even with prior approval from her boss and all parties involved in the planning of the event.

We quickly scrambled to find another venue, and our friends at The Cave were accommodating enough to host us once again for another tournament!

So here we are with all the details you need to know:

Date: 22 April 2017
Time: Starts at 11am EST
Venue: The Cave Fairfax, 10621 Braddock Rd, Ste B, Fairfax, Virginia
Format: Group Stage in Swiss style bo3, Top 8 advance to the single-elimination playoffs bracket, finals are Bo5
Entry: $20 sign up, $30 at the door, $10 spectator pass.
PrizePool: $1,000+ USD (500+$ 1st, 300+$ 2nd, 100+$ 3rd-4th)

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The games will be streamed on the GauntletSC2 twitch, make sure to catch it then! https://www.twitch.tv/gauntletsc2

We did end up losing sponsors with the lost of the big venue, so the prize-pool has been reduced to 1,000$ USD. Depending on sign-ups and other things, it is possible that it will increase, thank you for our understanding.

As with all of our Cups, the event will be casted by none other than our PSISTORM pro-team with appearances by some of the signed up players, members of the StarCraft Community and more!

 

Now here is a little added bonus, it is possible we will be adding SSBM to the gamelist! That means a play area for SSBM possibly complimented with a prizepool! Details are to come, but we are excited about what this will entail…

Day 4 of IEM Katowice – Mixed emotions

Articles, News, Tournaments

On the second day of the group stage, all of our members were set to play. TRUE and PiLiPiLi played in Group C, the so-called easiest group, while the towel-terran Gumiho played in Group D, the group of Death.

In the wee hours of the morning in North America, PiLiPiLi played against his fellow teammate TRUE. Knowing him well, he was able to fend off his aggressive style and won the series 2-1. With the teamkill out of the way, he played Zest, quickly getting dispatched 0-2. In perhaps the most heartbreaking series of the group stage, he found himself in a tie-breaking situation being 1-1 against HomeStoryCup champion Patience. Trying to end the game quickly with an immortal sentry based push, he ended up losing his entire army, yet was able to force his opponent to lose workers in the defense. Sensing no way to win, he left the game, despite his economic advantage. This decision was considered highly controversial and not the best move, you can judge for yourself in this video. Despite a clean 2-0 versus the Polish Zerg Nerchio, PiLi couldn’t recreate his success against Serral losing 0-2. With those games done, he finished 2-3 in series and just short of advancing, finishing in 5th place.

TRUE’s was even more heartbreaking. The WCS Circuit Champion started off by losing to PiLi, but brought it back with a solid 2-0 against another Protoss Patience. Next up against Nerchio, it started out with a 1-0 lead on Belshir, but he couldn’t eek out a win on the next two maps, losing the series 1-2. Everything went downhill after that series. Playing versus Serral, he looked outclassed losing 0-2 followed by a quick 0-2 against the one and only Zest. This meant he was eliminated from advancing going 1-4 in series and 4-8 in maps.

With Group C concluded, neither of our players were able to advance.
Group C standings

 

 

 

 

 

Right after, Gumiho played in the famous Group of D of Death. The Towel Terran first started off with a close series versus the BlizzCon finalist Dark. Despite winning game 1 and a very close game 2, the surprising bio style didn’t work against the Zerg in game, losing him the series 1-2. Not wanting to just roll over and die, Gumiho seemed to peak in performance, quickly beating the dutch Terran Uthermal 2-0, dispatching the german Protoss Showtime in a close 2-1-1, forcing a draw on the second map and defeating the IEM gyeonggi champion Innovation 2-1. His final obstacle in the group was the polish Protoss MaNa. He ended up losing the first game on Abyssal Reef, on the following map, Gumiho redoubled his efforts and knocked over his opponent, which he did once again on the next map. Having won all but one of his matches, GumiGod stood at the top of his group with a 9-5 map record.

gumiho group d

 

 

 

 

 

Not only does first place in the group of death grant a newfound respect, but it also seeds him directly into the quarterfinals of the bracket stage. With the draw completed, he will have to defeat the winner of Zest and TY to advance further into the bracket.
 

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We look forward to see what he can do!

From Russia with love: Strange

Articles, News

PSISTORM Gaming has signed Russian Protoss player Alexey “Strange” Solyakov.  We recently saw him in action vs Polt in WCS Spring Circuit:

According to Aligulac, he’s ranked number 1 Russian player, and 70th in the world.

“I heard of PSISTORM from PengWin, I think that all guys in PSISTORM are as friendly and cool as him so I think that it will be easier for me to practice more and become better in starcraft”, said Alexey.

Follow him on twitter at @psiStrange.

EndOfLine

Getting To Know: EndOfLine

Articles

Getting to Know: EndOfLine
By Caitlyn Underwood

 

How, why, and when did you get into gaming?

I have always been into gaming. Games have always been there for me, either as a mental escape from my daily grind or a way to vent. On long road trips I played the original Pokemon Red and Tetris. At home, I played computer games and console games. Some of the first games that grabbed my attention were: Warcraft 1, Diablo 1, Super Mario World, F-Zero, Contra III: The Alien Wars, 007: Golden Eye, Perfect Dark, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II, Streets of Rage 1 and 2, Donkey Kong 1 and 2, Fallout 1, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tribes 2, Warcraft 2, Command and Conquer.

What drew you to Starcraft?

I have always enjoyed Starcraft. I started playing before Brood War (BW), “Vanilla” Starcraft; really only playing the story mode and loving the lore. I didn’t play multiplayer until BW. It was one of those games that was really hard to play and still had so many competitors. I loved it. I especially loved big game hunter games, as well as top vs. bottom games.

I followed the BW scene but was honestly more of a filthy casual at the time. Martial arts, especially Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and MMA, were my main focus all throughout college. However, one day I was training for a major Jiu-jitsu tournament and tore my right hamstring clean through, ending my martial arts career. I could still exercise, but needed a competitive vent. I played sports my entire life, and the only game that was competitive enough to satisfy my needs was Starcraft 2!

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What got you into the pro scene?

When I was still injured I threw myself into Starcraft, thirsty for as many builds and styles as possible. Fortunately for me, “12 Weeks with the Pros” came out! Thank you, Mr. Bitter! Here I started following guys like Catz, Sheth, Vibe, Idra, incontrol, and Ret. Then I started listening to State of the Game and started watching season 1 of the North American Star League.

From this point I quickly was able to get out of Silver League and eventually got to Master League. Awesome! However, this was not enough. I wanted to play with and against the best. I started grinding Ladder for hours, creating and throwing out builds until I felt I had a good understanding of the game.

One day I watched a player called Spanishiwa coach Mr Bitter with a crazy build that he called the “Ice Fisher” (Why? Don’t know!) The build was a very well put together gasless build that he used vs. everyone! I thought it was a very graceful and pretty way to approach Starcraft; being very safe and having a explosive mid game. Spanishiwa became my first coach in Starcraft. From there I became obsessed with the pro scene!

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What do you do when you’re not playing and practicing Starcraft?

I work as a brewer in a local craft brewery. I am a master level fitness trainer. I work out, read, play board games and console games, home brew beer, watch bad movies, and eat lots of food with my wife and friends.

What games do you love other than Starcraft?

Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2, Streets of Rage 2, Fallout 3, Diablo 1 and 2, Mario 64, Mario Kart 8, the new Super Smash Bros., and Overwatch!

Do you read much? What are your favorite books?

Yes I do! Shogun, the Belgariad series by David Eddings, and the Vorkostigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold .

What are your favorite kinds of movies?

I love bad 80s movies, over the top action movies, martial art flicks, and anime!

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Do you listen to music when you play Starcraft?

Depends on my mood, and on if I’m streaming or having fun, or if I’m in try-hard mode!

I listen to old school metal like Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Judas Priest. Sometimes old video game soundtracks: Donkey Kong Country, Tribes 2, Vigilante 8, Perfect Dark, Streets of Rage, etc.

What do you do to relax after a long day of practice?

I do cardio, lift weights, eat food, play crappy games with friends, and play Overwatch!

So you like to homebrew, what are your favorite styles?”

There are beer making tournaments: very competitive, like Starcraft tournaments! I love making IPAs and stouts, but I always make beer based on what tournament I’m competing in!

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What words of wisdom do you have for any aspiring pro gamers out there?

Get a smurf account where the win/loss record means nothing to you. Grind and work on your macro builds without caring about winning, just improving your macro. Then work out before you play, to allow your brain to better retain the learned information. Lastly, grind, grind and grind! 1,000 games per season. Eventually you will play all Grandmasters. Say hello to me next time we play!

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Lastly, how long have you been growing that fantastic beard?

A full year. Trim it down professionally once a month to get it to look thicker and less creepy; it takes 3 months to get out of that awkward “stalker look” phase. . . Then acquire beard oil and a beard brush. I believe in all you future beard growers!

TRUE’s Journey to be a WCS Champion

Articles, News, Tournaments

TRUE

Bang Tae Soo (방태수) or TRUE as most will know him has finally achieved his dream of becoming a StarCraft Champion. After winning WCS Circuit Summer in Montreal in dominating fashion. TRUE dropped 2 maps across the whole tournament en route to his first ever championship.
TRUE finally received his visa meaning his only chance to make it to Blizzcon for the WCS Global playoffs was to win the remaining WCS Circuit event which gave a direct seed to the WCS finals.
TRUE had already qualified for the hardest tournament in SCII, GSL Code S after defeating CJ Entus Bunny 3-2 in Code A. Upon receiving his visa TRUE dropped out of the tournament to participate in the global circuit.

WCS Summer

Heading into the tournament I thought TRUE had a good shot at winning and completing the Cinderella story, however he was by no means a favourite by the public or experts. The Korean Zerg also had the misfortune of drawing Snute. The Norwegian had just recently taken the top spot has the highest earning SC2 foreigner and was seen as one of the best players in the global circuit.
As it turned out Snute had the misfortune of drawing TRUE as the Korean triumphed 3-0 in a relatively easy and quick series. Eliminating Snute from the tournament. This result caught the attention of spectators and analysts alike. This was a show of strength from TRUE not many saw coming.

Following his defeat of Snute he drew Harstem. The Dutch Protoss player who had recently won Homestory cup early this year, a tournament where TRUE was eliminated in the RO8 by Scarlett. Another hard draw for TRUE with predictions being split by the analysts before the game. TRUE dispatched with Harstem in another easy series 3-0. This result in isolation is impressive but when preceded by his victory against Snute is hard to believe. This started the narrative that maybe TRUE was going to roll straight through the tournament.

TRUE’s next opponent was Welmu who knocked out ROOT’s Hydra, a former WCS champion to reach the RO8. The Fin had already reached expectations by reaching this stage, but with a victory over a Korean Zerg in the round before he showed some promise for this matchup. However, that was cut very short as he was defeated 3-0. Granting TRUE had a 9-0 record on route to the semi-finals.
In the semi-finals TRUE ran into his first Terran, HeRoMaRinE who had powered his way to the finals despite being a heavy underdog, beating Showtime and Major and MarineLorD previously. The German was the first player to take a game away from TRUE before falling 3-1 again winning in convincing fashion with his signature mass queen ling bane style.

Polt awaited TRUE in the finals after beating the North American hope Alex “Neeb” Sunderhaft 3-1. ZvT is TRUE’s worst matchup and Polt is an incredibly skilled player so heading into the final it seemed likely that we would see TRUE finally be tested by his fellow Korean. Polt played well throughout the series and was able to beat TRUE on Dasan Station after losing the opening map, Apotheosis. This series was a strong example of just how incredible TRUE’s multitasking is, with run byes being split from widow mines regularly. As well as constant drops and run byes, while macroing near perfect. After Dasan Station TRUE took the following 3 maps in strong fashion to complete the Cinderella story.

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TRUE’s Style

The most powerful part of TRUE’s play is his unique style, massing lings and banelings. Predominantly using Queens as his only anti-air. His use of ling counter attacks reminds viewers of the glory days of Lee “Life” Seung Hyun. TRUE’s often uses banelings with his run byes against terran as well as using overlords to drop banelings. TRUE’s ability to buy time with run byes and counter attacks is a key part of his play and allows him to produce new forces to defend a push. Often forcing players to commit more to the attack than they were planning as the counter attack deals crippling damage. This has potential to be a trap for TRUE, as we saw on Dasan Station, Polt’s only victory in the finals came off a two base all in. As TRUE was trying to counter attack he did not have enough defense to deal with the all in. If TRUE was aware the attack was all in, he could have mounted a stronger defense and not needed to counter attack. TRUE’s goal was to force the push to turn around or have to commit as TRUE deals damage at home, but the Polt’s intentions where to end the game with that push, which he did.

The competition outside of Korea are not fully acclimatised to TRUE’s different play style, and combined with his strong mechanics and multitasking he was able to dominate the foreigners. As time progresses and TRUE attends more tournaments his style will be more familiar to competitors and possibly less successful.

The Next Step

TRUE has secured himself a last minute trip to BlizzCon and should be looking to avoid the Korean Terrans for the best chance at progressing. The likes of TY and Byun would be favoured against TRUE. TRUE’s best shot is hoping for a weaker Protoss such as Patience or Dear as his opponent. Especially Patience, I see patience as a good matchup for TRUE, with his sloppy multitasking being compensated by strong macro. TRUE may be able to overwhelm the Afreeca Protoss with his powerful multitasking and strong style. However, Patience isn’t a shoe in for BlizzCon. Dark and Potentially Solar who will represent the Zergs from Korea would also be a good draw for TRUE, as he has strong ZvZ as we saw against Snute, as well as the matchups notoriously volatile nature.

I think its unlikely TRUE will be challenging to Zest, TY and Dark for the $200,000 1st prize, but he is certainly capable of pushing past the first round and with a kind draw could make a strong run.

Regardless of your feelings about the WCS system this year you should be grateful to have TRUE, an incredibly likable and fun character with the skill to challenge the top for our scene. TRUE streams regularly on www.twitch.tv/truesc2 if you want to learn his style or watch an entertaining high level Zerg you should check it out.

Follow me on twitter @stormfrontscII and check out my blog.

TRUE vs Bunny GSL match review

Articles

by Henry “Stormfront” Bowsher

TRUE vs Bunny Review

On day 1 of the GSL Code A we saw PSISTORM Gaming’s TRUE come back from 0-2 Deficit to beat CJ Entus Bunny in the BO5 for a place in GSL Code S. Now we will analyse how TRUE fell behind, and more importantly how he came back when the odds were firmly against him to be able to snatch a code S spot from Bunny.

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Coming into the match, the general consensus was that Bunny was the favourite. With his team being able to provide KESPA level practice more easily. I predicted a 3-2 victory from TRUE in my preview whilst TL predicted a 3-1 victory for Bunny and Artosis also siding with Bunny for a 3-2 win. TRUE has been vocal about his lack of confidence in ZvT both on his personal stream and it was mentioned in the cast that he was doubting his chances just before the match started.

On game 1 TRUE opened with a 1 base cheese, using overlord drop, ling bane to try and take an early lead in the series whilst Bunny opted for a reaper expand into reactor marines. Bunny was able to finish making his bunker, causing TRUE’s initial baneling attack to be ineffective and Bunny’s units to be safe. As a result, TRUE felt he needed to regroup and get another drop into Bunny’s main to recover, but the slow overlord was shut down by the additional marines. This meant the rush was over. TRUE attempted to transition into a standard game, but Bunny was able to push out with a 1 base hellbat, marine and medivac push. This push was too powerful for TRUE and he was forced to GG.

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Heading into game 2 it seemed likely that TRUE would fall back to a more standard game. Most expecting to see his infamous ling bane style, however once the two base spire was out it was clear that TRUE had something else in mind. Before TRUE’s spire was even finished he had placed double evolution chamber and roach warren down. It has to be said, Spire rushing followed by roach tech is not a strategy employed by many.

Bunny matched TRUE’s base count with both players on a 3 base economy, the emphasis was on the Zerg player to do damage or fall behind. TRUE only made five mutalisks, with only three making it to Bunny’s base. This muta rush failed in dealing any significant damage towards Bunny, leaving TRUE at an economic disadvantage and his own build path forcing him to transition into a roach ravager composition. Roach ravager on even bases vs upgraded bio wasn’t much of a fair fight, Bunny crushed TRUE’s army just as his first ultralisks popped. Despite the best efforts of the Ultras, TRUE had to GG once they eventually died.

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Heading into game 3 on King Sejong Station TRUE decided to go for a 3 base ling bane bust as Bunny moves out with a double medivac drop. The timing helps the PSISTORM gaming zerg to bust down the front door and force a lift on the natural base.

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After some time, Bunny is able to eventually retake his natural and rebuild the wall. Both players follow up with harass as TRUE baneling drops and Bunny pressures with medivac drops, both killing a similar amounts of workers. However, TRUE gained the overall worker lead.

TRUE follows with two additional baneling drops, amassing twenty-eight worker kills and checkmating Bunny. TRUE quickly follows up with another ling bane attacking which rolls over Bunny, GG is called and its 2-1 to Bunny with TRUE still having a long way to go.

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Game four was on Frost, with the players spawning in close horizontal locations, the game started as most ZvT’s do. The first real decision coming from Bunny as he decides to go for a 6 hellbat plus marine medivac push. TRUE was able to catch four of the hellions as they moved across the map before they could be transformed into hellbats. TRUE was able to make enough banelings and queens to hold the push with relative ease as Bunny made a number of small micro mistakes and the attack was cleaned up before a single drone could be killed. This left Bunny at a disadvantage going forward. Those kinds of attacks need to do damage to the zerg economy to be worthwhile.

Following the failed hellbat push momentum was firmly on TRUE’s side, he uses this momentum to go for another baneling bust. Cancelling the third base and breaking the depot wall outside the natural. TRUE doesn’t let up with the aggression as he prepares another baneling bust, this time breaking through with enough units and with SCV pulled off the line quickly followed by another GG from Bunny. This match made it 2-2 in the series where everything came down to the final map.

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The last game of the series is on Lerilak Crest, a four player map no longer on the ladder. The players spawn across from it each other, with the longest rush distance. TRUE again will be the aggressor this game and goes for an early lair. The early lair is to allow for his Nydus attack. As he places the nydus perfectly in the fog of war in Bunny’s base he is still unaware of the incoming attack. As the lings and Queens spill from the nydus, Bunny pulls his SCV’s to defend, as he does this his reactor starport finishes building two medivacs which save the marines and allow bunny to push back the attack and put TRUE behind.

TRUE follows up with yet another nydus attack, in the same location which is in full view of Bunny, he loads the nydus with queens at the beginning so they can transfuse the worm and allow the rest of the units to make it out. This time TRUE has banelings and lings, which allows him to punish the SCV pull and poor spread of bunny. The Zerg player is able to kill fifteen workers and give himself an eight worker lead. Following this attack bunny moves out to deny TRUE his third base.

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TRUE then researches baneling speed and goes for another set of overlord drops, this deals massive, potentially fatal, damage killing thirteen SCV’s and forces Bunny into an attack with his army outside TRUE’s third. Despite good pre splits TRUE’s ling banes overpower the army and force the retreat. At this point the game is strongly in the favour of TRUE, he pushes across the map massacring the workers until Bunny has seven workers. After considering his position for a few seconds he GGs. TRUE wins 3-2.

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TRUE’s play throughout the series changed massively as the games progressed, starting out with cheese isn’t crazy, but not something you necessarily expect to see. However, game two was very unlike TRUE. Normally TRUE sticks to ling bane before going into ultras, but in this game he rushes five mutalisks on two bases before teching into roach ravager. This is the complete opposite of TRUE’s playstyle. My opinion is TRUE’s lack of confidence in the matchup meant he played styles and builds which he normally wouldn’t play, and after they didn’t work for two games he reverted to what he knows best, his ling bane style. TRUE showed incredible mental fortitude being able to play from 0-2 down and still take the win.

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TRUE-ly an awesome comeback. (Sorry not sorry).