oGsMC is Finally Back and Wins Home Story Cup (HSC)

Protoss President, oGsMC is finally back in form by winning one of Europes finest tournament, Home Story Cup (HSC), the first SC2 tournament in 2012. The Boss Toss or Kratoss Protoss has finally been out from his multi months slump which landed himself out of Global Starcraft League (GSL), Koreans most prestigious SC2 tournament. Having clawed himself back into Code S, MC's play is looking stronger and fiercer than ever. Having achieved a third place in the previous Home Storey Cup behind Huk and Naniwa, MC once again is seeking his first championship since his slump. His hunger and thirst for a win here has never been higher from his multi months slump.

Finally, oGsMC manage to claim yet another championship. Home Story Cup is a very prestigious SC2 tournament hosted by Dennis Gehlen, or more oftenly known as Take by the community at his very own apartment. Players and contestants will enjoy a never seen before casual surroundings and fun atmosphere. However, HSC has often been lauded for one of the most competitive scene due to its high profile Korean invitees facing the very best the Westerners has to offer. 7 Koreans were invited into this HSC alongside 25 other international high ranking players such as Stephano, Thorzain, Socke, Nerchio, Dimago and others. Leading the Korean onslaughts were 2 time GSL champion and the eventual HSC winner oGsMC, multiple GSL 2nd placer, MarineKingPrime, Violet, Liquid's very own Hero, upcoming Startale Star Sound, EG's new acquisition JYP and Protoss player Real.

In the end, the 6 of the final 8 players were Koreans. This
shows the Korean domination in HSC and international scene once again. Dimaga and Nerchio were the two only foreigners manage to claim their spots in the top 8. Nerchio was ripped apart by oGsMC in a straight 3 set wins. Nerchio seems to be playing at his worse when being faced against the Protoss president. Nerchio was completely dominated by MC. However, Nerchio is a much better player than what he has shown as he manage to knock out to PvZ player, LiquidHero claiming himself a top 8 spot. Nerchios nerve seems to be getting ahead of him facing against one of the best player in the world. Dimaga won the first game against JYP through a long 50 minutes game of endurance. However, JYP proved his worthiness in Evil Geniuses acquisition by winning the next 3 straight games.  

In the round of 4, MC has to face JYP another GSL Code S player. Through history, PvP is probably MC's weakest and most random matchup during his international events as he has been knocked out multiple times by other Protoss players such as Huk. The semifinals were very hard fought by both of these Code Sers. In the very end, MC manage to claim a victory by the slightest margin. In the finals, MC is being faced with upcoming Startale Terran Star, Sound. Sound has been regarded as one of the strongest Terran player from team ST and even above Bomber by some players. MC proved that why he is the best Protoss in the world now by taking up 4 straight sets without dropping a single map against the Terran. Thus, MC claimed the first Starcraft 2 tournament in 2012. This marks a perfect start for the Protoss President. We will definitely see MC perform better in the coming GSL matches. Finally MC is lusting for his third GSL Championship having won the last one nearly a year ago.

The Protoss President is finally back with more solid plays, crazier micros and superb decision making skills. Let's pray for a Protoss GSL champion once again that is currently dominated by Terrans. Congratulations to oGsMC for winning Home Story Cup (HSC). MC is $7,500 richer.

EGIdra in GSL Code S January 2012 and Bonus Video

The Gracken is back in Korea. EGIdra currently residing within the Slayers House is doing some intensive training with teammates from team Evil Geniuses such as Puma, Huk, recent EG addition JYP as well as having top Starcraft 2 players to train with such as Boxer, Champion MMA, Ganzi and the list goes on. Idra was awarded a code S in GSL January 2012 from the cooperation between the Korean Global Star League (GSL) and international Gaming company Major Gaming League (MLG).

We will once again see the Gracken try out his luck at the most prestigious Starcraft 2 tournament in the world faced against the best SC2 has to offer. Since the announcement of the group allocation for GSL January, Idra's fans around the world is getting crazy. EGIdra is being placed within the same group as the two Champions of GSL, IMNestea and IMMvP while the final player being a Zerg player from team FXO, Lucky. This will be Idra's toughest test ever having to face both the champions since returning to Korea.

Idra's best placing before leaving Korea was during the early release of SC2. Being placed into the Semifinals and then being knocked out by Swedish player LiquidJinro. This was during the days where Terran players can just build 2 Bunkers below the Zerg's ramp to fully wall off the ramp. This is why we see some tournament version of the maps today with a neutral Supply Depot below the ramp. I can still remember the final game where Idra 6 Pooled Jinro with Drones and nearly grab a win. However, Idra can blame his luck back then as a Marine managed to sneaked into a Bunker with 5 hp. This is a Drone
hit away and a GG from Idra soon followed. Idra then left Korea hoping to secure some championships in the international scene. However, things do not go his way as Koreans started to invade the international championships and winning one after another. The Koreans took our money, girls and babies away from us. (Lol this is exaggerating but you know what I mean)

Idra has not been performing well in MLGs as has always been knocked out by top players such as oGsMC.
However, the Gracken finally manage to secure a win under his belt in Intel Extreme Masters (IEM) Guangzhou. It seems that Idra is back in form and has been showing tremendous improvement as seen from his gameplays as well his manner (GG or not GG).

Idra is not the top when it comes to GG after losing a match. Always a fast leaver (remember the game when Huk hallucinated a bunch of Void Rays and Idra quits the game and the match between SlayersMMA where MMA shelled his own Command Centre without notice and Idra proceeded GG and leave the game while being a very good and ahead situation. Day9 goes without a word for a minute there during MLG). Idra's actions and habit makes him a very notorious personality in Korea. Not many Korean gamers likes the Gracken very much and we have seen a lot of rivals around. Anyone still remembers a match between Idra and TossGirl during the Brood War days where TossGirl was left crying in tears after losing to infamous Idra? After reading an article and interview of TossGirl regarding the matter, TossGirl was left in tears due to her pride of fighting for her home country. Did Idra said some bad things to her? Who knows.

Bad Boy EGIdra was notorious during the early days of SC2, where he will state how bad his opponent was during his online game matches in Korea. This is how the Gracken has accumulated so many rivals in Korea. Not to forget, Idra is well known for voicing himself regarding the imbalance of the game itself. This may or may not be a good thing. It is good to hear opinions from professional gamers but sometimes if you do something overboard this can seriously affect your gameplayers. For example, if you deemed a race or a specific strategy broken it can affects you mentally.

It seems that Bad boy Idra has finally manner up. We see GG in every game he lose currently. It feels that the infamous Idra has turned into a Good Boy Idra finally. However, fans continue to cheer for Idra, who will always be a champion in the hearts of many whether he GGs or not.

This will be EGIdra's greatest test after returning to Code S GSL January. This will definitely be one of the toughest matches that Idra has to overcome. Both IMMvP and IMNestea are the best their race has to offer. We know how good Nestea's ZvZ is (Near undefeated for your information) and how solid the Game Genie Terran can be. Will Idra make it pass the Round of 32? Only two players will advance within the toughest group perceived by many. Let's pray for the return of the Gracken.

As a bonus for you, this video shows EGIdra being Idra. Enjoy.

The Gods of Starcraft 2 - Part 2 IMMvP

The most accomplished player to date since the release of Starcraft 2 will definitely go to another legend from clan Incredible Miracles (IM), MvP. Jeong Jong Hyeon (IMMvP)'s gold medals is an envy to every other professional SC2 gamers out there. Having won 3 GSLs, World Cyber Games, MLG, a silver GSL medal and having the highest price earnings to date which stood at $255, 790 easily makes MVP the best Starcraft 2 player to date. The Terran God, has proved himself over and over again by winning tournament after tournament from the Korean Global Starcraft League (GSL) to International tournaments such as the Major Gaming League (MLG).

Nicknamed the Game Genie Terran, MVP comes from a Broodwar background. Although not the most accomplish and impressive gamer during his previous gaming career, when compared to the S Class players such as Jaedong, Flash and Bisu, MVP has shown his hunger for success and victory. His Brood War background has set to be a very important factory in his success in SC2. His total record during the Brood War days was only 39.47% or 30-46. This is probably a joke for many. However, Brood War is considered one of the hardest online game has to offered during it's days due to the game's mechanics unlike SC2. For example, gamers can only set 12 units in a hotkey and workers can't be rallied to mineral lines. Thus, every action has to be taken with care and precision. Not to mention keeping up with your macro while microing during multiple engagement fronts. This require a player to have insane amount of apm to play the game at the highest competitive stage.  

Known for his strong macro style and mechanics, no other Starcraft 2 player can emulate the legend in
terms of consistency. Always the favourite to win any tournament he enters, MVP never fails to satisfy the lust of his fans by pulling wins after wins against some of the best players around the world, including oGsMC, IMNestea, DongRaeGu, Polt and the list never ends.Although MVP does not always provide the most entertaining games in the world, the legend will definitely satisfy the fans by overwhelming and overpowering his opponents through solid plays and macro style.


To date MVP has a very respective 114-53 (68.26%) total collective record. This is easily one of the most solid player SC2 has to offer. Taking out teammate and rival IMNestea over and over again in the Korean GSL's has proven how fearsome this Terran God can be. MvP has knocked out Nestea countless times and it seems that Nestea has yet to be able to take out his team mate until this day. However, MVP does has a weakness. The answer to slaying a God lies in the hand of the Legend Killer, Slayers_MMA. MMA from the legendary Broodwar player and the Father of esports, SlayersBoxer is the only player out there that can take down the Goliath. During their previous engagement, MMA always triumph in the end when being pitted against IMMvP. Is it a curse or MMA has figured out MVP's playstyle and has MVP by his neck everytime they meet? Who knows.

IMMvP is probably the first player in Starcraft 2 gaming history to date that can carry the title Bonjwa. For those of you who are not familiar with this term, Bonjwa is a term used by the Koreans to title a player for his domination of an era. Broodwar legends such as Boxer, Nada, Jaedong and Flash has each been awarded this glory during their peaks. Although the game itself has only been officially released less than 18 months, IMMvP has shown the most impressive results to date. However, a longer period of time will be required to determine if MVP fits to carry the most prestigious title in SC history. If the Terran God repeats his success in 2011, MVP will truely be the first ever Bonjwa in Starcraft 2 history.

The Gods of Starcraft 2 - Part 1 IMnestea

Every game has their champions. Golf has Tiger Woods, Basketball has Michael Jordan, Warcraft 3 has Grubby and Legendary fifth race Moon. In Starcraft 2 we have MVP and Nestea. There is no denying the facts that IMMvP and IMNestea are currently the best players for their perspective race at this point of time. The God of Terran IMMvP or more commonly know as the Terran President in Korea and the legendary IMNestea or the Zerg President both holds more GSL championships than any other SC2 gamers out there. Both Mvp and Nestea holds 3 Gold medal trophies from GSL. This is no easy feet to even get into Code S as GSL is deemed the Mecca of the Starcraft universe. Koreans are always the leaders of this game since the early days of Broodwars with legendary names such as Boxer, Nada, Jaedong and Flash.

Both Nestea and MVP were professional gamers from the Brood War era. However, they did not accomplish anything more than just being a punching bag for the S Class players. Nestea was known as ZergBong from BroodWar only spots a measly 11-21 (34.38 % win rate) with minimal appearance. MVP on the other hand had a 30-46 (39.47) record during the days. These results were greatly inferior comparing to S class players such as Jaedong, Flash, Nada and Bisu with each spotting more than 60% win rates and going as high as 80% at some point during their peaks respectively.

IMNestea

Nestea first won his first major tournament in SC2 during the GSL 2 championship. This backs during the end of 2010 where SC2 is at its infancy period. This was following the first GSL that was won by another Zerg player Fruitdealer, which is well known for his rags to Starcraft 2 riches where he was once selling fruits by the street to meets end before picking up on SC2. During the early stages of release, Zerg was considered the weakest race among all as reapers were a nightmare to deal with and 4 Gates reigns supreme. However, Nestea proved to the world how to play the Swarm properly.

Nestea won his second championship after trashing Inca from team Old Generation Starcraft (OGS) with an easy 4-0 victory over his opponent in GSL May. Inca tried to use some form of DT plays during all the games but failed miserably trying. This is probably the most one sided GSL ever. The Professor won his third championship in GSL July with an undefeated 20-0 perfect winning record without losing a game throughout the tournament and 4-0 his teammate Losira in the finals. No SC2 players has perform such an impressive performance with such a long win streak.

There's some rumours going around why Nestea is so good. People claims that Nestea never miss an larva inject. This even holds when the game goes longer as Nestea is deemed never to miss an inject. Upon checking a random replay by Nestea, I am really surprise and have to confirm this rumour is indeed true to the community. Nestea nearly never miss an inject. During the Yellow series where Nestea was invited to give him some advice, Nestea told Yellow to never miss an inject and when the Queens mana goes over a certain point, you lose the game. This is the challenge Nestea threw at Yellow.

Nestea are those players who will do extremely well and winning GSL is an easy task if he was given time to prepare the match in advance. Nestea is much more of a thinker and creating new strategies as compared to MVP who is a solid player. We can look at this by his performance during MLG compared to GSLs. However, this is yet to be proven as Nestea has only attended only one MLG. Players are required to play multiple games during the 3 day period. In GSL players have the luxury of a week or two to prepare in advance. Nestea has created some famous builds such as the Spine Crawler rush against Forge Fast Expanding Protoss. If I am not mistaken this was during his match against San. Nestea revealed a mass Overseer strategy in his finals appearance against teammate Losira by performing multiple contaminate on his opponent's hatchery to deny tech. Nestea is also known for his 10 Overlod> Pool build against Fast expanding Protoss to sneak in Zerglings before the wall goes up.

Nestea may be in a slump currently but there is no denying that Professor Nestea is the Zerg out there currently. No other Zergs came even close to this legendary Zerg player. Losira, the infamous Gracken Idra, Stephano, JulyZerg, DongRaegu, Leenock, Curious are not even close to what Nestea has accomplished.

With 3 Championships under his belt, Nestea will be looking for more gold medals in 2012 if he is able to dodge teammate MVP in Code S. MVP has knock Nestea out multiple times from contention and even during the World Championship during Blizzcon.

Nestea's tournament winnings to date is ranked no 2 in the world behind IMMvP at $ 229,840. This does not include any salaries or sponsors. Very impressive for being a professional gamer. It is reported that Brood War legends such as Jaedong / Flash earns around $300k to $500k per annum including sponsors etc.

Edit: The casting Archon Tasteless and Artosis is part to be blamed here. Artosis has hyped on Nestea that he managed to convinced nearly all of the SC2 community to think that Nestea is indeed a God. However, Nestea's recent slump has finally managed to awaken us from the Tastetosis spell that Nestea is only a mere mortal that can be taken down by we tiny humans.

Stay tuned for Part 2 with IMMvP

Undefeated PvT Proxy Robo 2 Immortal All in

This time I will be revealing a very strong and near undefeated build order that I am constantly use during my online game plays against Grandmaster Terrans. This build mainly revolves around setting a proxy Robotics Facility near enough the Terran's base while being out of his vision and tower sights. This is an all in build. Thus, if you are not into allins turn back now. But I have to make a note here, a lot of players are against all ins but I am perfectly fine with this. All ins are used to exploit a certain part of the game itself. You always see the professional gamers all in as this is also a part of the strategy.

Due to the metagame favouring towards a more heavy macro oriented builds in general, 1 Barracks into expansion is probably one of the most common builds on larger maps such as Tel'darim Altar, Antiga Shipyard, Shakuras Plateau and others. Thus, we can use this to our advantage in exploiting build order advantage. Let's take for example where going a 15 Nexus against Terran is very very risky and basically suicide against 1 Gas Terrans as you can just die to 1 basing play from Terrans such as Maruaders and Hellion pushes.

First of all let's take a look at this Immortal build. Immortals deal insane amount of damage to Bunkers. With 2-3 Force Fields you can break the Terran defense with ease. This build works perfectly when the Terran is going for a Gasless 1 Barracks Expo. Thus, we will be scouting at 9 food after Pylon. On maps such as Tel'darim Altar, Antiga Shipyard you can scout 2 locations and knowing perfectly if the Terran is grabbing his gas. As for the third spot, you Probe will see the expansion if he is expoing.

Thus, before we go for this build, always confirm the Terran is going Gasless.

Build Order
9 Pylon > Scout

10 >Chrono Boost Probes once
13 Gate
Chrono Probes
15 Gas
16 Pylon
18 Core
19 Gas
22 Stalker>Sentry
23 Proxy Pylon (Use your scouting Probe to build this and then a Robo)
2 more Gates (3 Total)
Robo done>Chrono Boost out 2 Immortals instantly
You can also put down a 4th Gateway after you have 2-3 Immortals
Proceed to bust the Terran base and watch him rage.

- Place your Stalker and Sentry at the ramp outside your expansion to deny any scouting SCVs.
- Your army mix should be 2 Immortals, 2-3 Sentries, 2-3 Stalkers, and 2-3 Zealots.
- Pull back your army once you lose your Zealots and go again after your next round of warpin
- Continue to Chrono Immortals from your Robo
- Be careful when the Terran chooses to pull his SCVs. Always kite back as SCVs are really good at tanking Immortals and Stalkers while he has his bio shooting at your army.
- Always micro  your army.
- When the Terran scans trying to know why do you grab such an early 2nd Gas, he will only sees the 3 Gate and thus thinking its a 3 Gate push heading his way.
- Against Terran that goes for 4 Barracks Marines after expanding, Warp in Stalkers and keep kiting.

I am near undefeated using this Proxy Robo 2 Immortal All in at the moment. It works perfectly from Bronze to Grandmasters level. Let me know what do you think.

Here's some replays.
Replays

Cheers.