The Month in Headlines: January 2013

Cold, snow and cosplay - this was on the non-eSports side of Katowice during January 18-21 while on the other there were upsets. More than one.

When the groups for IEM Katowice were announced, in most people's heads the tournament was over before it began. "Protoss of the Year" PartinG would finally travel to Europe to steal some money and bring even more esteem to SK Telecom T1. There were few foreigners as well as what we call "lower tier Koreans" to spice up the mix but overall Parting VS The Rest (or rather VS "those OP zergs") seemed to be the general theme.

It all came down crumbling shortly after the tournament began. Zergs lost (and blamed it on the patch). A foreigner became sick nerd baller. PartinG faced a 3-0 elimination. And First took his first first place during his first European visit. In short: just another day at the IEM!

A few days later, another Korean powerhouse flew to Europe to drop knowledge onto, well, other Korean powerhouses. For Life - voted player of the year by the majority of the media - this was the first grand final challenge of 2013 and a personal test to see if his momentum from 2012 did not suddenly disappear with the coming of January.

Fans of the youngster were delighted to see that not only has the Ultimate Champion not lost form but has somehow improved even more. The 3-1 powerstomp of MarineKing was only followed by a classic, word-shattering comeback from being down 0-3 to winning the championship. Considering how similar was the Iron Squid triumph to other ones of Life such as GSL 4 or MLG Fall, one might speculate that Life does that on purpose, although he should've been taught that playing with your food is bad mannered.

Exactly one round after EG-TL's unfortunate Proleague debut against KT (a face-off that gave birth to this picture), the joint roster went on to play Flash and company once again.

Only, the would wish it had been "and company". In the third match of round two, Flash came, saw and conquered like the famous ruler from history, shattering all EG-TL intents for a healthy start. Although the foreign brand fought well in this round as well as the previous (including taking an all-kill of their own), the message from the God was powerful and clear: do what you please with other teams but KT is a land forbidden.

The CSL/Azubu partnership established in September 2012 came out with a lucrative offer for passionate eSports fans in North America: four scholarships of $4,000 each are to be awarded on March 5th to the best applicant in each category, namely "Outstanding Player", "Community Service", "Leadership" and "Outstanding Academics".

By covering talents or skills so different from each other, Azubu and LCS seem to be on the right track towards finding and funding who could be the next big persona in eSports. Not only mastery on the digital battlefield is seeked - as visible by the names of categories - but also team work, selflessness and/or the desire to pursue high grades in spite of active community service.

Ten more days still remain until the deadline on February 15th, followed by interviews with the applicants on February 20th and the awarding of the scholarships on March 5th.

I can only imagine how many people were left mad after this HotS patch, especially when parallels with current WoL meta were inevitable made.

The removal of Siege Tech shook most players, even terran ones, as they felt the core concept of the unit was violated. Since 1998, the Siege Tank was what we know it to be: a powerful unit that grows even more stronger after a fragile timing window without its siege mode is over and which window an opponent can use to punish the terran for going for said Siege Tanks. In fans eyes, this was the equivalent of zerglings being born with speed or dragoons with range. It just sounded wrong.

In the protoss department, the removal of the vortex was met with equally loud disapproval. Despite the protoss arsenal growing way more diverse as compared to WoL, the elimination of such a core PvZ spell could not have come more untimely, considering the multiple discussions of the "brokenness" of the match-up. And while wise men would remind the community that "just wait and see" is always a good strategy in eSports, such an advice is always cursed to echo into nothing.

Oddly, Stephano's first Proleague match was anticipated way more than his GSL debut (or at least this is what our metrics showed) and even more oddly, it was much more the story of a simple "gl hf" that could've brought on a match loss had it not been for his opponent's empathy.

By the power of not giving a **** and good play, Stephano did triumph after all, becoming if not the first player to win a Proleague match in seven years, then the first to win more than one game on more than one occassion. With his Code S adventures now over and with focus shifted onto Proleague, great hopes are put onto the Frenchman as he has yet the hard task of aiding his team get out of the rankings bog.

If Quantic's disbandment in December did not sound a loud enough alarm scaring a big slice of the eSports audience, the closing of the Complexity house certainly aided in that regard.

The ever-haunting issue of simply not having enough money was pointed out as the reason for the project's end but thinking backwards towards the ideology of the house and its downfall makes it all the more logical: producing the planned media content and gaining exposure never happened, leaving the house without dedicated funding. Although Complexity founder Jason Lake acknowledged the benefits the house brought the team, he was convinced that it would be wiser to spend Col's money elsewhere, until the team signs a few more top tier players at least.

Falling Battlecruisers, Zerg swarms, air battles, Vikings landing to fight Ultras (?!) and one feisty Queen of Blades - the first cinematic we see from Heart of the Swarm was more than enough that spark numerous conversations. The talks about balance were temporarily forgotten, players' falls and triumph did not matter for the span of a day or two. A breathtaking CGI countdown was started, the last remaining days till March 12th now ticking with legibility.

Stephano was not the only foreigner trying his luck in the high echelons of Korean competition, HuK too made a return after many months off all radars. At that point, his fanbase was as excited as it was restless.

With good reason, as HuK's fall was as quick as his rise through the up/down matches. The strength of his group, although certainly a factor, was but one of HuK's misfortunes, the others including shaky executions of his all ins and overly strong preferance to two base plays, something neither Sniper, nor Gumiho found particularly challenging. Facing a possible Code A Ro48 elimination, HuK must undergo a major playstyle revamp or he risks his tournament life ended by KHAN's Shine.

After a year's pause, a good old GosuGamers tradition returned to acknowledge the most excelling and exciting personalities, teams and stories for 2012 in the world of StarCraft 2. In the haze of the post New Year celebration, the surprisingly sober SC2 GosuCrew conveined to give away prizes in nine categories.

A month is passed now but award ceremonies are always fun to relive, not to mention the inevitable verbal jabs of objection towards the "unjustified" nominees and winners.

Before we packed suitcases for IEM Katowice, we got hold of bearer of infamous victorious smirks and Poland's finest zerg, Acer Nerchio. We talk 2012, his "unwritten" rivalry with Stephano, IEM Katowice, is Parting's PvZ beatable, Heart of the Swarm, GSL and quite a lot more, discovering in the process how a player of his status quo has such surprisingly modest expectations of 2013.

• "There might be some rivalry for the best foreigner title between us but until now Stephano has been easily beating me in that regard. Nevertheless, I don't feel like this is necessary a problem because I don't feel the need to be the best foreigner as long as I am at the top and I can compete with him. I will still consider him as any other opponent I have to face."

With the welcoming of charming caster Cyniko to our family, a birth was given to a new GosuGamers project: the wittily named Cyniko's Strategy Corner, a column that aims to provide insights on the meta game on a regular basis and diversify our otherwise strictly eSports content.

In his GG.net debut, Cyniko examines two style of playing PvZ coming from the minds of prominent protoss representatives: MC and his five base skytoss and Socke with his ground-heavy aggression, both of them extremely potent and well fitting different toss playstyles. It's an article you don't want to miss if you struggle in the match-up, belive you me.

Photos, videos, replays, impressions worded in text - our comprehensive recap of IEM Katowice, an event that took our breath away, has it all. Those of our readers who missed the event will be able to experience the emotions we saw with our own eyes during the three days we spent in Poland while the others...

Well, the others will just warmly remember!

This month's article from our columnist Procyonlotor visits a topic that has been circling around the eSports scene for a while now: do players need to win in order to make a living.

What makes working as progamer so different from having a "real life" job? What is the role of sponsorship for players and how important is having a vivid personality? What role did Twitch, YouTube and other similar platforms play in defining how a gamer earns his/her living? Procyonlotor goes through all these probles in attempt to pinpoint the correct way of prospering as a progamer.

• "This is one concern that enters into a different conversation: the proof that showmanship is becoming an increasingly needed skill for ambitious progamers. In such a highly competitive environment, it is not enough (especially if you want fame) to be a great player or even to win. You have to bring with you some extraordinary element that will keep the fans enthralled. The power of dazzling play is unable to compete with the power of dazzling personality - unless of course your style of play is a direct expression (as in TLO, WhiteRa and MC) of your personality. "