BlizzCon 2008 features one of the most anticipated tournaments that people outside of the Korea look forward to feasting their eyes upon - the BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational - where the top players from around the world and professional gamers from Korea are brought together to compete on stage right in front of the BlizzCon audience! This is one among very few opportunities people outside of Korea can experience what it is like to see these E-sport celebrities play against each other in person.
BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational Tournament Round 1:
Savior vs Cloud
Xellos vs fOrGG
Yellow vs IdrA
Nada vs Jangbi
BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational Players:
1. sAviOr
Race: Zerg
Name: Ma Jae Yoon
Country: South Korea
Team: CJ Entus
1st - 2007 BlizzCon Invitational
2nd - 2007 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational
3rd - 2007 WCG Korea Finals
2nd - 2007 Shinhan Bank OnGameNet Masters
1st - 2006-2007 3rd ShinHan Bank OnGameNet StarLeague
2nd - 2006-2007 GOMTV MBCGame StarLeague Season 1
1st - 2006 Pringles MBCGame StarLeague Season 2
1st - 2006 Pringles MBCGame StarLeague Season 1
2nd - 2005-2006 CYON MBCGame StarLeague
1st - 2005 UZOO MBCGame StarLeague
1v1 Record:
All: 166-112 (59.71%)
vT: 69-55 (55.65%)
vZ: 39-30 (56.52%)
vP: 58-27 (68.24%)
Ma Jae Yoon, aka. Savior, gave Zerg players another hero to look up to as he reigned supreme in 2006, winning three MSLs and one OSL. He is known as "The Maestro" for his great play, timing and game sense. He claimed his spot in BlizzCon history as the winner of the 2007 Invitational. However, in early 2007, Bisu managed to knock Savior off his pedestal and Savior started to fall into a slump throughout the year. Savior still holds on to 24th place in the KeSPA rankings for October 2008 and has a lot of experience to back him up. His round 1 game in the 2008 BlizzCon Invitational Tournament is against Cloud, a protoss player from Italy, and Savior's best matchup is ZvP. Although Cloud is a good player in his own right, Savior will have a huge advantage over him.
2. YellOw
Race: Zerg
Name: Hong Jin Ho
Country: South Korea
Team: KTF MagicNs
2nd - 2006 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational
3rd - 2006 1st ShinHan Bank OnGameNet StarLeague
1st - 2005 BlizzCon Invitational
2nd - 2003 2nd TGSambo (TriGem) MBCGame Starleague
2nd - 2003 Olympus OnGameNet Starleague
1st - 2003 GhemTV FindAll Challenger Open Starleague
3rd - 2002-2003 Panasonic OnGameNet Starleague
3rd - 2002 SKY OnGameNet Starleague
2nd - 2002 Reebok KPGA Tour 2nd League
2nd - 2002 KPGA Tour 1st League
2nd - 2001-2002 KPGA Winners Championship
2nd - 2001 Coca-Cola OnGameNet Starleague
1v1 Record:
All: 221-175 (55.81%)
vT: 99-89 (52.66%)
vZ: 67-51 (56.78%)
vP: 55-35 (61.11%)
Hong Jin Ho, aka. Yellow (not to be confused with YellOw[ArnC]), is a familiar face to people who have been following e-sports since 2001. He has proved himself as one of the great StarCraft classic players with his aggressive gameplay and his rivalry with Boxer in 2002-2003. Unfortunately, he has been in a slump since 2004 and dropped out of KeSPA rankings after February 2007 when YellOw[ArnC] started taking over as the better Yellow. Hong Jin Ho became known as "Special Events King" since he was able to win special event tournaments such as the 2005 BlizzCon Invitational but was not as successful in the Starleagues. Yellow's first round in the 2008 BlizzCon Invitational Tournament is against Idra, a Terran player from the US. Similar to Savior's situation, Yellow has a huge experience advantage over Idra.
3. NaDa
Race: Terran
Name: Lee Yun Yeol
Country: South Korea
Team: WeMade FOX
1st - 2007 Shinhan Bank OnGameNet Masters
2nd - 2006-2007 3rd ShinHan Bank OnGameNet StarLeague
1st - 2006 2nd ShinHan Bank OnGameNet StarLeague
3rd - 2005 BlizzCon Invitational
1st - 2004-2005 IOPS Ongamenet Starleague
2nd - 2004 You Are the Golf King MBCGame StarLeague
3rd - 2004 KT-KTF Premier League
2nd - 2004 HanaFOS CEN Game MBCGame Starleague
1st - 2004 KT-KTF Premiere League Championship
3rd - 2003 2nd TGSambo (TriGem) MBCGame Starleague
2nd - 2003 Stout MBCGame Starleague
2nd - 2003 GhemTV FindAll Challenger Open Starleague
1st - 2003 1st GhemTV StarLeague
1st - 2002-2003 Panasonic OnGameNet Starleague
1st - 2002 Baskin Robbins KPGA Tour 4th League
1st - 2002 Pepsi Twist KPGA Tour 3rd League
1st - 2002 Reebok KPGA Tour 2nd League
3rd - 2002 1st GhemTV StarLeague
1v1 Record:
All: 356-239 (59.83%)
vT: 109-84 (56.48%)
vZ: 142-81 (63.68%)
vP: 104-74 (58.43%)
Lee Yun Yeol, aka. Nada, is the most consistent players among the tournament roster with his winnings spanning from 2002 to 2007. He is also one of the old school classic players but he is still going strong as rank 15 in the October 2008 Kespa rankings. He reached the highest KeSPA score of any player before it was re-scaled. He is known for his excellent micro, macro and strategy, thus his nickname, "Genius Terran". He got 3rd place in the 2005 BlizzCon Invitational. He plays Jangbi, a Korean Protoss player, for the 2008 BlizzCon Invitational. Although Jangbi hasn't been around as long as Nada has, Jangbi has beaten Nada two out of three times - once in the Shinhan08 Proleague on Othello and once out of two games in EVER2008 OSL on Andromeda. As much as I'd hate to think pessimistically of a familiar face, Jangbi is stronger these days and may have a good chance beating Nada. This will probably be a close game though.
4. XellOs
Race: Terran
Name: Seo Ji Hoon
Country: South Korea
Team: CJ Entus
1st - 2005 WCG Progamer Seed Selection
3rd - 2005 EVER OnGameNet StarLeague
1st - 2004 World Cyber Games
3rd - 2004 You Are the Golf King MBCGame StarLeague
1st - 2003 3rd OnGameNet Challenge League
1st - 2003 Olympus OnGameNet Starleague
1st - 2002 2nd OnGameNet Challenge League
1v1 Record:
All: 241-178 (57.52%)
vT: 81-57 (58.70%)
vZ: 101-68 (59.76%)
vP: 59-53 (52.68%)
Speaking of familiar faces, Seo Ji Hoon, aka. Xellos, is another classic player who has been around since 2002 and peaked at 2003. He is known as "Perfect Terran" for his standard and safe play and his excellent TvT. He gained worldwide recognition after winning World Cyber Games in 2004 and although he fell into a slump, he continued to do relatively well. He only dropped out of the KeSPA top 30 recently, after August 2008. He will be playing fOrGG, a Korean Terran player, in the first round of the 2008 BlizzCon Invitational. This will be another close match as although Xellos is great with TvT, fOrGG has been doing well more recently.
5. fOrGG
Race: Terran
Name: Park Ji Soo
Country: South Korea
Team: Lecaf Oz
1st - 2008 Arena MBCGame Starleague
1v1 Record:
All: 69-51 (57.50%)
vT: 26-28 (48.15%)
vZ: 18-8 (69.23%)
vP: 25-15 (62.50%)
Park Ji Soo, aka. fOrGG, is a relatively new face to e-sports having only started playing the Proleagues late 2006. In 2008, he started showing up on people's radars as he proved his worth against great players in his games against Kal, Flash, Jaedong, and Bisu among others. His claim to fame is his win in the 2008 Arena MBCGame Starleague. He is currently in 5th place in the October 2008 KeSPA rankings. As stated earlier, he will be playing Xellos in the first round. It is a case of old versus new. Even though Xellos has been around longer, fOrGG's recent strong performance shows that he has a good chance of defeating the Perfect Terran. It will be down to who has the better TvT. This should be a game to watch.
6. JangBi
Race: Protoss
Name: Huh Young Moo
Country: South Korea
Team: Samsung KHAN
Participant of the 2008 MBC Starleague
1v1 Record:
All: 52-42 (55.32%)
vT: 21-13 (61.76%)
vZ: 17-12 (58.62%)
vP: 14-17 (45.16%)
Huh Young Moo, aka. JangBi, is another newcomer to the e-sports scene. He has been playing in the leagues since 2007. Although he has not won any major leagues, he is recently showing some promise. He is currently in 12th place in the October 2008 KeSPA rankings. He will be playing against Nada in the first round of the Invitational. Will his PvT be enough? He has beaten Nada before and he has beaten the likes of Midas, Iris and Xellos. This will be a tough game for him but he has the potential to win.
7. IdrA
Race: Terran
Name: Greg Fields
Country: USA
Team: CJ Entus
Participant in the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational
Greg Fields, aka. IdrA, is a US player who become a brand new recruit for CJ Entus. His edge is that he has been practicing a lot against the Korean progamers lately. However, he lost to Nony and G5 in his recent games in the WCG 2008 US Finals. He will be an underdog going against Yellow in the first round.
8. ClouD
Race: Protoss
Name: Carlo Giannacco
Country: Italy
Team: Templars of Twilight
2nd - 2008 Spirit Tournament
Carlo Giannacco, aka. ClouD (not to be confused with Cha Jae Wook, ClouD from OGN SPARKYS), is replacing Strelok, who couldn't go to BlizzCon due to Visa problems. ClouD is in good shape having recently won WCG Italy 2008. In the 2008 Spirit Tournament, he got 2nd to Nony. However, he is going against Savior in the first round of the Invitational. He is very solid as a non-Korean player but it will be extremely tough for him to defeat The Maestro.
BlizzCon StarCraft Invitational Maps:
- Andromeda - This map is a 128x128 four player map on Space Platform Tileset. This map is pretty balanced but it tilts a little bit for the following matchups: T > Z, Z > P, and P > T. Bases are at the four corners surrounded by higher ground with a protected expo up a ramp. There is wide open space in the middle.
- Athena - This map is a 128x128 three player map on Jungle World Tileset. There haven't been many games on this map but it seems to favor Terrans. Bases are on higher ground with a ramp leading to a lower ground expansion. There are three small patches of expos in the middle area.
- Blue Storm - This map is a 128x96 two player map on Twilight Tileset. This map is mostly balanced, however, Zergs seem to do better than Terrans on this map. This is one of the more popular maps. Bases are diagonal from each other with terrain protecting the expos.
- Colosseum - This map is a 128x128 four player map on Desert Tileset. There seems to be an edge for Terrans on this map, especially in TvZ. Bases are on four corners of the map on lower gorund with ramps leading to higher ground for expos - one ramp protected for one expo and another ramp leaving another expansion more vulnerable as it leads to the middle area.
- Othello - This is a 128x128 four player map on Twilight tileset which seems to give slight preference for the following matchups: T > Z, Z > P, T > P. Protoss players seem to lose out more. Bases are on higher ground with ramps leading to lower ground expos. More expos are in the middle wide open area.
- Troy - This is a 128x128 four player map on Desert tileset. Few games have been played on this. It gives a slight preference for the following matchups: T > Z, P > Z, P > T. Protoss players seem to do well on these. Bases are on four corners on higher ground, connected to expos that are raised from the middle area by a huge ramp.
- Wuthering Heights - This map is a 128x128 four player map on Twilight tileset. There seems to be a preference for Terrans on this map, especially for TvT. Bases are on four corners. The terrain is mostly flat with some walls protecting the base and expo.
Map choices are determined by having each player eliminate two maps prior to each map and select a map they wish to play on.
Resources:
http://www.blizzard.com/blizzcon/tournaments/starcraft.xml
http://www.teamliquid.net/tlpd/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_professional_competition
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