PSISTORM at Dreamhack Austin: Day 0

Articles, News, Tournaments

DreamHack_Austin_2017-RBG-onBlack

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.

STREAM:

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.

Untitled-1 copy

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.

JD “Archnog” Sanzone becomes shareowner of PSISTORM Gaming

News

We are glad to announce that long time supporter of the team JD “Archnog” Sanzone now officially owns shares of PSISTORM Gaming, a privately owned LLC. He joins KJ “Freeedom” Garcia, and Damen “FilthyRake” Knight in the ownership of the company.

“I’m really happy to be here, I’ve always been a big fan of FilthRake”, said Archnog.

“I’m glad to have a fan of mine have more chances to interact with my awesomeness”, said FilthyRake.

“But in all seriousness, it’s with great excitement that I join the PSISTORM team. I’ve long admired the passion and commitment that both Karl and Damen have for the team. It’s very special when management shares and exhibits common values and vision. It makes joining the team feel like coming home”, said Archnog.

“As a long-time supporter of the team, JD comes in as a natural fit for ownership. Shares at this point in time for our company is not just about the financial investment. We can be selective to only those we want that we like working with, respect and trust, and that is JD.”, said Freeedom.

As a shareholder, JD will be involved in player, event and team decisions effective immediately.

Silky is promoted to the Pro team

Articles, News

psistorm embossed

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

____________________________________________________________________________________________

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.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

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!

GuMiho qualifies to GSL Super Tournament

News

Early in the morning for us NA folks, GuMiho played in the AfreecaTV Super Tournament qualifiers, also known as the GSL Super Tournament. Beating NoRegreT, Patience to make it to the finals, he fell to the formidable TY 1-2. Facing off against Patience once again, he was able to best him and make it to the group stage.

The group stage will be played the 6th of April 2017, we will be sure to cheer for him then!

GSL Super tourney 2017 Gumiho

Image taken from here.

PSISTORM Cup #5 – April 22

Articles, News, Tournaments

register-button-png-21

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)

register-button-png-21

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…

Gauntlet is now our broadcasting partner

News

PSISTORM Gaming is now in partnership with GauntletSC2, a long time broadcaster and tournament organizer in North America.

“We were the first to use Gauntlet as a contracted production team for our PSISTORMCup 4 tournament and they’ve proven to be the best out there for this scene. Jeremy and Bobby are tremendous. Their talent speaks for itself, and we knew the potential. It was long time coming, I’m happy that their owner Colton has agreed with Damen Knight and I. Gauntlet is now officially our broadcasting partner, with mutually beneficial financial and creative agreements”, said KJ “Freeedom”, team owner.

“In my opinion, Gauntlet has hands-down the best production in the scene. Working more closely with them will allow both of us to produce top-notch content, and allow us to support some of our best content creators”, co-owner Damen Knight adds.

Colton Sanford, creator/sponsor of Gauntlet on the deal: “GauntletSC2 is honored and privileged to be partnered with PSISTORM Gaming. PSISTORM has an incredible reputation within the StarCraft II community, and we are beyond ecstatic to be their official broadcast partner!”

GuMiho advances to Round 2 of SSL Season 1 Qualifier

News, Tournaments

[show_posts filter=”news”]A couple moments ago, GuMiho was able to advance to Round 2 of the StarCraft II StarLeague Season 1: Qualifier aka the SSL. He started by beating a Protoss named 젤리젤리 2-0, then Forte (or SalvatioN) 2-0, but lost against Stats 0-2 in the finals. Knocked down to the losers round, he faced Rogue who he was able to beat in a close 2-1 victory.

gumiho SSL quali

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Next up, he will play in another tough group in round 2 the 8th of March. This group features herO, Zest and Dark and he will face off against herO in the first match. It will be tough, but GuMiho has triumph in tough groups before. Just like at IEM Katowice, we hope he can top his group and advance in first place!

asddddd

 

 

 

 

 
Source of images