The Perfect eSports Cocktail: Valor, CSL & Flash of Jaedong

South Korea may be the Holy Land to all believers in Starcraft as the optimal eSport - but new places of worship are popping up all over the world, making this into a diverse religion indeed. What the hell am I babbling about, You may wonder? The Valor Tournament and the conclusion of the Collegiate Starleague, of course - with the best recent games from GomTV as extra flavour.

Starting off with the latest addition to the Starcraft-temple, we have the very interesting concept known as the Valor Tournament. This is the brainchild (may I say ‘broodling’) of Nich ‘Tasteless’ Plott and Daniel ‘SuperDanielMan’ Lee - in other words, the star-commentator duo of GomTV. Not only have they invested their own money into this project, they have also secured sponsorship and a broadcasting deal with their employer, Gom. The Valor-event will be covered and distributed in the best possible manner - commentated by Plott and Lee.

Why is this remarkable, one might ask, since there is already more professional Starcraft going on than what any single person can reasonably watch? The answer is simple: the Valor-tournament is one of the brightest examples yet of how Starcraft, foreign and Korean - amateur and pro, is starting to blend into one diverse movement. The scene has always been split, with Koreans being champions of the future and the rest of world running behind them trying to make fire by catching lightning like cavemen. Nowadays, this gap has begun to close.

The Valor Tournament is being played at iCCup between the 17th of April to the 8th of May, with $1000 in total prizes. All top foreigners are competing, Koreans being excluded for the sake of balance - though Idra is participating despite him having a progaming license. Starfeeder, personified by Lipton, at Gameriot is the official information gateway to the event, but for more information and random bursts of wisdom I recommend you to follow Tasteless and SuperDanielMan on Twitter, where profound stuff like this shows up:

The actual coverage of the Tournament will not begin until it has reached the final stages, but here there is a much welcome twist. A special showmatch will take place between none other than Strelok, a fearsome European Terran, and Tossgirl - the world’s only female progamer and a Terran-player as well. This will be a promotional event to kick off the the Valor finals, with Super-Tasteless commentaries to amplify the awesomeness. This is elite foreign Starcraft with a nice chunk of Korean icing on top, creating a cake that is the best out of two worlds but with a distinct taste of true progaming.

However, there is more pro-pastry to go around: the Collegiate Starleague, CSL, recently concluded its first season with impressive results. If you haven’t already, click here to read an interview with Mona ‘Hazelynut’ Zhang (pictured), commentator and spokesperson for CSL. Naturally, these players are not professional even by foreign standards, they are college students whose first priority is/should be the fulfilment of their degrees. However, that has not stopped them from building and organising a league that has truly professional aspirations.

For a deeper look into what the CSL is about, visit the official website here. In short, it’s based on the Korean Proleague-format, where instead of corporate sponsored teams people compete under the banners of their respective US colleges. In that sense, it’s no different than any other sports activity, except that it involves neither helmet or bat, but rather lightning-fast APM and Starcraft-keyboards (yes, indeed).

Recently, the CSL-finals were being played between UC Berkeley and University of Texas, all commentated by Cholera - one of the most renowned Starcraft-scholars on Youtube, and it was a truly enjoyable event. The skill level is obviously lower than what a consumer of Korean progaming is used to, but that does not at all mean that the games were any less intense. Rather, they were unorthodox, as we got to see things that should not happen at all happen very much indeed.

The next season of this inspiring event promises to be even more intense, possibly even expanding outside the borders of the USA. The Collegiate Starleague brings a Korean touch to the established mainstream activity of college sports, and it’s the first step of turning the hobby of many dispersed gamers into something more concrete. This is the opposite approach from Valor, which introduces foreign (semi-)professional Starcraft-players to the actual forecourt of the Korean progaming industry. Together, these events explore the same middle-ground from two different directions, leading to a New Blend of Starcraft.

CSL finals: UC Berkeley vs University of Texas

Having said that, a good cocktail consists of more than just alcohol and mixer - which is why I’m here presenting You with the latest and bestest from GomTV, fine spirits and immaculate garnish all in one:

Flash makes his first appearance in this season, as he was seeded into this stage due to his strong performance last time, and aims to prove that he is still The Ultimate Weapon, against Pure, yet another Protoss. The same can be said of Nada - can the Tornado Terran and Golden Mouse-winner knock down the young Zerg-player Falcon?

Flash vs Pure

Nada vs Falcon

Furthermore, we have none other than the Legend Killer, Jaedong - the most awe-inspiring Zerg player to this day, who also plays his first series for this season. He is up against a fairly new victim, Movie - a Protoss-player, who has the job of trying to take the unrivalled master down. Stranger things have happened, surely, and if so it would be the greatest upset…

Jaedong vs Movie

Lastly, I leave You with an absolute gem of a game. In the final and third game between Backho, a respected Protoss, and Piano/Oragn (Terran, and less famous) we get to see a match like none other. Set on the new map ‘Garden of God’, this is a unique experience, in a good way - You have never seen anything quite like it, and You never will again. This is a very high caliber-challenge for both players, with epic turnarounds and unpredictable twists and turns. Do not miss it for the world:

Backho vs Piano - a game like none other

What did You think of this article? Informative or more like watching paint dry? All feedback is appreciated, feel free to leave Your comments below

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Tagged as: csl, daniel lee, esports, GOMTV, hazelynut, iccup, jaedong, mona zhang, starcraft, tasteless