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Korea (South)1740 Posts
I thought this would be a good read, partly because it shows that the sandlot IS actually a community-building event, and partly because it's just fun to read, period.
All possible misreadings are due to my rushed and bad translation.
The captain of PGR btw is Hangzri, a well established member of the Korean sc community and a good guy all around.
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It would not be far from the truth to say I am writing this diary because of Midian. Thx, Midian
1. Beginning
At first I didn't even know what this tourney was... I learned little by little by talking with Brett Dixon via MSN. Although I agreed to participate... I was at a loss so I began to watch replays of foreign players (there has been many changes).
I heard that FF and YG would participate, and I wanted to contact them. Pocari, the FF captain, was not easy to reach... but the captain of YG, kkong[yg], searched me out instead. Our meeting was not for underhanded reasons... but to analyze players together and prepare for the draft.
We discussed having to select Korean players... who is under and overrated... who is what kind of play style... the maps are all zerg maps... and through such honest (?) discussion we began to feel increasing interest in this tournament.
2. Draft
The day of the draft. Because I had been away from the scene for a long time, I received alot of help from kkong. Because the tourney as a whole progressed so suddenly, I opened up Excel during the draft, hurriedly writing things down and struggling to keep up with understanding the English.
8 teams, PGR is the 5th seed, YG is the 7th seed, 8th is FF.
We were completely screwed... the plans to pick the best players with YGClan was ruined, and players we had targetted (Kosiro, Tempest being key cases... but Kosiro...) were taken ahead of us.
However!!
I never imagined that Nal_keke, who I was planning on taking even if I had the first pick, would still be on the board!!
I quickly picked keke, then Polaris... then siz)o.ov... and later our favorite mascot (?) Midian.
Afterwards there weren't many players I was familiar with so with the advice of others I barely finished the draft. Of course I had heard of Kaaz before but did not know him very well.
I felt very gratified looking at our team's lineup, especially upon hearing that many foreign communities believed that we had drafted the best. ^^
kkong and I analyzed the teams, and judged that FF was the weakest team among the korean sites, having picked tosses despite zerg maps (at least in the progaming world)... as well as the female gamer Active. (I felt bad, but eventually I told Pocari as well, haha) We also judged that TL and Reps were our toughest competition.
And... most importantly, we hoped that YG and PGR would end up in separate divisons.
3. Meet the Players
While Blizzard provided email and msn information, etc., because of the WCG season, and because of time differences, it was immensely difficult to meet our players.
The first player I met was the aforementioned Midian. Afterwards I met Kaaz, Fayth, and Idra, and I barely contacted Polaris and keke two days before the first match. Siz)o.ov I finally contacted the day of the match.
What to do after meeting players? Obviously to judge their skill level. I'm not sure what other communities did, but YG and PGR really put great attention to our players. We squeezed time together to bring players online, get the best practice partners (again I received kkong's endless help in this. I promised to buy a meal. Haha) to give them the best possible practice.
When I drafted, I thought that in general foreign users would not be a match for Korean users, but when I saw Midian's play, I was in for a shock. In other words...
It was a "conceptual flipping"
This is not a term to be applied lightly, but... despite a low APM, and sometimes sloppy micro, this player has drone production like Oversky, has the ability to manage a long-term game, and has a knack for unit placement, timing, tech, and upgrades.
In truth, YG also wanted Midian, but they went with another player and gave us Midian, and now they are very envious (of course YG is still a very strong team).
Midian's opponent Fayth also showed a good game by patiently dealing with a bad early disadvantage, and I was also very satisfied watching Kaaz's high level of play.
But I was most satisfied by... their attitude.
I chatted regularly in 2001, 2002, and 2003 with foreign gamers, and was often turned off by their "I'm the best" attitude. (of course Korean gamers are the same way... if there's a difference at all Korean gamers still have an idea of their place) So I was afraid that I would have a hard time getting an idea of their skill level if their attitude was "I'm the best" without knowing their limitations. Furthermore, there were various rumours that players think team captains are idiots, so I was quite worried.
However, Midian answered whatever question I had, chatting in Korean at times, and even agreed to an interview. He helped me to meet other gamers, and became a good friend who would contact me by MSN whenever new developments occurred.
In addition, he as well as Kaaz and Idra helped in analyzing other foreign gamers, helping with setting lineups and other strategic decisions.
Furthermore, he was always positive about practicing, and everytime a game was finished he was always modest about his skills, accepting criticism of what he had done in the game. (Modesty... this is a rare commodity among foreign gosus)
Of course, this was all because of the players' characters and not my own ;; I was simply thankful.
In this way, I hoped to increase their confidence and prepared for week one.
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^---- agreed, very nice read
i like how seriusly you took this tournament, and good luck with PGR through the rest of the sandlot ^_^
edit - xellos fighting ^_^
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Thank you man, he look like a nice and modest guy.
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nice read. i love people like him. <3
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I was hoping he'd share what he thought about the Kosiro debacle for TL
Also I couldn't but keep thinking "testie" when he would talk about cocky foreigners
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is awesome32251 Posts
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Very nice read, thx Uhjoo.
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nice read, thanx for traslation this interesting ;d
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Hi I am Hangzri My nick means "always happy" in Korean. (Not actually happy all the time )
Thx for your compliments and interests.
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Holy shit!!! @#!$$%$^546546 The captain of pgr has left a comment!!!2@!1
Congrats on your first win! Midian was awesome
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I think lots of foreigners are modest now. Confidence + respect
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would been very funny if pgr21 took testie instead midian ;p then they might had totally different view for non-korean players. ( no offens to testie, now i understand you and ur style ;] )
Anyways pgr21 seems like really family/friendly website among with not so many people. this sandlot brought sooo nice relationship between korean players and non-korean players I'm so glad to be in such an event like this although i was busy with new semester.
Hope Blizzard consider to take 2 winner team from each groups and more interesting !! gl to all !
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thedeadhaji
39473 Posts
On September 24 2006 13:29 Noun wrote:Holy shit!!! @#!$$%$^546546 The captain of pgr has left a comment!!!2@!1 Congrats on your first win! Midian was awesome
ditto ^^
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Belgium6733 Posts
Hey this is really cool
Congratz pgr!
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United States20661 Posts
On September 24 2006 13:24 Hangzri wrote:Hi I am Hangzri My nick means "always happy" in Korean. (Not actually happy all the time ) Thx for your compliments and interests.
Hello Hangzri.
Congratulations on your win ^^
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#3 one game for 1st and 2nd
one for 3rd and 4th would be great
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
nice indeed Hangrzi seems really really cool!
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Sweden33719 Posts
On September 24 2006 12:49 racebannon wrote: I was hoping he'd share what he thought about the Kosiro debacle for TL
Also I couldn't but keep thinking "testie" when he would talk about cocky foreigners Hehe, I'm envious of testie's awesome confidence
Seriously, that's probably one of his greatest assets as a player, I somehow can't imagine testie being nervous about losing
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On September 24 2006 13:24 Hangzri wrote: My nick means "always happy" in Korean.
This gives me an idea...
You know what. We can introduce Eri to Hangzri and they can be BFF!
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Osaka26985 Posts
On September 24 2006 13:24 Hangzri wrote:Hi I am Hangzri My nick means "always happy" in Korean. (Not actually happy all the time ) Thx for your compliments and interests.
For me, the best part about this tournament has been the ability to meet other webmasters involved in starcraft. Hangzi has easily been the best mannered, most helpful, and fun to talk to. I hope this tournament can start a closer relationship between pgr and TL, because we are basically the same site, just with different languages.
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What a heartwarming read after the Kosiro scandal. =)
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United States5262 Posts
Good read.
Wait uhjoo, are you XellOs[Pluto]??? I don't get it.
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Hangzri is indeed very awesome in general.
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is awesome32251 Posts
nono uhjoo = Xellos
Xellos[Pluto] is a movie maker i think
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Thanks for the translation, enjoyed it. Pretty cool to hear about the hard work and the cooperation between the korean sites to learn more about the foreign players
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Sweden33719 Posts
On September 24 2006 16:31 Manifesto7 wrote: [removed quote within quote]
For me, the best part about this tournament has been the ability to meet other webmasters involved in starcraft. Hangzi has easily been the best mannered, most helpful, and fun to talk to. I hope this tournament can start a closer relationship between pgr and TL, because we are basically the same site, just with different languages. And, from what I'm told, PGR21 is a bit more strict on BM
Nice diary btw, thanks for translating.
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On September 24 2006 16:53 jkillashark wrote: Good read.
Wait uhjoo, are you XellOs[Pluto]??? I don't get it.
Boy, are you gonna be shocked when you figure it out :}
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The clan tag is Xellos_ that's all I know
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Where is XellOs_PlutO anyway??
he promised us to make a highlight video of 2006 starleague
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Korea (South)11558 Posts
uhjoo is indeed XellOs. He started posting around WCG 2004, when a foreigner introduced him to TL. Since then, his English has grown increasingly better.
Congrats Hangzri on your victory, and only BM players have that "I'm gosu" attitude. However, there are many others, who do not!
We are very friendly (well... most of us...)
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
On September 24 2006 17:32 CaucasianAsian wrote:uhjoo is indeed XellOs. He started posting around WCG 2004, when a foreigner introduced him to TL. Since then, his English has grown increasingly better. Congrats Hangzri on your victory, and only BM players have that "I'm gosu" attitude. However, there are many others, who do not! We are very friendly (well... most of us...)
wtf seriously uhjoo is 서지훈 선수?? - 0-;; , like the one in progame team CJ??? :O WTF didnt know that? - _-
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JAMIE FIGHTING!! Chills out with fans and watches a shitload of reps on west to "practice" for the sandlot and STILL kicks the crap out of sea.pie.
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uhjoo is the progamer xellos?? winner of wcg xellos???
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Korea (South)1740 Posts
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you people are so gullible...
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dude even ask all the ppl that went to BWI in korea;o They all met him, and can confirm he is indeed *the* xellos;o
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
godamnit. who the fuck started this shit then..lol.
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United States5262 Posts
Sweet. XellOs is my favorite player anyways. Now I get to chill with him on TL.
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In the WWI the video with all the players talking at the table, uhjoo was there right? Then he is definately not xellos lol. Everyones so gullible!
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Xellos can't speak English.
I'll leave the rest up to all of you to decide.
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thedeadhaji
39473 Posts
On September 24 2006 18:08 Boyle wrote: In the WWI the video with all the players talking at the table, uhjoo was there right? Then he is definately not xellos lol. Everyones so gullible!
On September 24 2006 18:09 pubbanana wrote: Xellos can't speak English.
I'll leave the rest up to all of you to decide.
lol GGs ^^
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you guys suck
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ah that was really cool =O
sounds like midian did a good job repping the nonkorean community
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United States5262 Posts
Dang it uhjoo is not XellOs. I checked his posts.
Though he does have a closer relationship with XellOs than we'll ever get.
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Braavos36362 Posts
not closer than XellOs' right hand
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United States5262 Posts
On September 24 2006 19:42 Hot_Bid wrote: not closer than XellOs' right hand
Could Hot_Bid be talking about XellOs and his love for...
DDR?????????????
If you're not, Hot_Bid you are a sick sick man. Everybody knows that the DDR Terran loves to play Dance Dance Revolution!
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On September 24 2006 20:25 jkillashark wrote: [removed quote within quote]Could Hot_Bid be talking about XellOs and his love for... DDR????????????? If you're not, Hot_Bid you are a sick sick man. Everybody knows that the DDR Terran loves to play Dance Dance Revolution!
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MURICA15980 Posts
On September 24 2006 17:56 uhjoo wrote: here we go again WIN ONE MORE WCG FOR ME, UHJOO!
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Nice read Midian rocks ~!
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Awesome read, <3 hangzri!
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On September 24 2006 12:31 uhjoo wrote: I thought this would be a good read
it was a good read
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"despite midian's low apm" haha
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Sweden33719 Posts
On September 25 2006 03:26 zulu_nation8 wrote: "despite midian's low apm" haha Yeah, since when is 250-300 low!? Stop making me feel slow!
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yea i was thinking about that too. maybe hes used to 400-500 apm players
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Thx a lot for the translation, and gz to Hangzri for the post^^
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if your can provied the rep that midian vs pea to us,you should be the best Captain
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