HomeStoryCup III - Preview Text by Waxangel Graphics by Disciple



The Biggest Little Lan





The benevolent patron, TaKe. Take a minute, close your eyes and drift off into a blissful memory. The extraordinary LAN that defined the experience for you, the one that still holds a special place in your heart. Now, focusing on that special memory, imagine the the feint murmur of casters growing louder in your ear, turning into the shrieks of excitement. You hear player names: Idra, Huk, White-Ra. As things become more clear, you realize that 35 of the best players in the world have all wandered into your LAN. Open your eyes. They're here.



It may sound like just a faint dream, but Take is turning that dream into reality. We're not kidding; the wealthy aristocrat Take actually invited 35 Starcraft 2 progamers to his apartment (



Here's the rundown:



Duration

June 23rd - 26th



Prize Pool

5,000 Euros



Player List

+ Show Spoiler [Players] +

Group A:

Jinro

MoMaN

NightEnD

SaSe



Group B:

ThorZaIN

HayprO

ToD

HasuObs



Group C:

IdrA

Grubby

Delphi

ClouD



Group D:

Ret

Jimpo

Socke

Adelscott



Group E:

Merciless Korean Prize Money Monster MC

Tyler

XlorD

DeMusliM



Group F:

HuK

Stephano

Naama

iNSoLeNCE



Group G:

NaNiwa

Bischu

DIMAGA

Tarson



Group H:

DarKFoRcE

Machine

White-Ra

GoOdy Group A:Group B:Group C:Group D:Group E:Group F:Group G:Group H:

Format



Group Stage - 8x four player groups, top two players from each group advance to the next round. All matches are best of three.



Double Elimination Tournament - The top sixteen players compete in a double elimination tournament. All matches are best of three, the winners' finals and losers' finals are best of five, and the grand finals is a best of seven.



Resources : Homepage (German) - Official TeamLiquid Thread - HD Stream Order June 23rd - 26th5,000 EurosGroup Stage - 8x four player groups, top two players from each group advance to the next round. All matches are best of three.Double Elimination Tournament - The top sixteen players compete in a double elimination tournament. All matches are best of three, the winners' finals and losers' finals are best of five, and the grand finals is a best of seven.



Or as some might call it - DreamHack II : Some dude's apartment.



Since TL's very own It may sound like just a faint dream, but Take is turning that dream into reality. We're not kidding; the wealthy aristocrat Take actually invited 35 Starcraft 2 progamers to his apartment ( Video (German) for a giant four day LAN tournament (and when we say LAN, we mean they'll have an equal disadvantage if Battle.net wants to act up). Yes, we're jealous. Luckily, Take realizes that many of us would kill (and more) for the kind of opportunity he's getting, so he decided to stream it for all of us to avoid an angry riot.Here's the rundown:Or as some might call it - DreamHack II : Some dude's apartment.Since TL's very own Zatic will be there to harass progamers and get them drunk bring us on-the-ground coverage, what's left for us to do here? I'm not going to take you through group previews, player profiles, and all that stuff. 90% of the players were at DreamHack, and I don't think they changed too much in the last three days. So TL's





Can Huk Repeat?



Some may say that winning Dreamhack propelled Huk into #1 non-Korean spot, but I beg to differ. The guy has spent more than half his career in Korea at this point. So when I think about Huk and his accomplishments at Dreamhack, I'm not thinking of him as some protector of foreign pride - He's another Korean come to show the world what's up.



And when you consider the performances of Koreans in foreign tournaments so far, I'd be surprised if Huk finished outside of the top four. Two big tournaments wins and advancement to the next round of Code-S? This could easily become Huk's best two weeks as a progamer.





Will MC continue to increase Korea's national wealth?



As long as we're speaking of Koreans, how about the scariest one of them all? Let it be known that MC has only been eliminated from an international tournament by a non-Korean ONCE (Thorzain in TSL3). Basically, if a fellow Korean doesn't knock him out, he wins the tournament.



Now, all due respect to the remaining Koreans Jinro and Huk, but MC's gotta be pretty damn relieved that Bomber, July, and Moon decided to skip this cup. So while I like Huk's chances to win this tournament, I like MC's even more.





Who is the best foreigner?



The obvious question, now that I've dismissed all your claims about HuK being a foreigner (I'm not even going to argue about it). Well, damn, this is a hard one! I thought it was Thorzain for a while, but two early stage knockouts from Shoutcraft invitational and DreamHack hurt his cause. How about Naniwa, with his consistently solid play and high tournament finishes? Or maybe it's someone not even in the cup, an online monster like Nerchio who has yet to reveal himself in larger competitions.



In any case, with none of the foreigners actually winning in the non-Korean tournaments, it seems like the best foreigner spot is up for grabs. While another Korean victory would continue the chaos, any foreigner who wins this tournament would have an extremely strong case to be declared the best amongst his brethren.





The Starcraft Pub - Video (German)



It turns out that there's an Irish pub (in Germany, go figure) in the same building as Take's apartment, so he's arranged a unique viewing experience for any fans who want to show up and watch the games. Obviously, he can't let everyone into the apartment itself, but he's worked out a deal where the games will be shown on TVs at the pub! As someone who's watched Starcraft at venues across multiple continents, I can tell you that this is really up there in awesomeness. So head on over to:



Limericks Irish Pub

Wiedenhofstr. 60

47798 Krefeld, Germany



That's not all. In a fortuitous turn for the fans, Take, for all his magnanimosity and love of e-Sports, lacks common sense. From what I gather, he is actively coaxing the gathered progamers to go hang out in the aforementioned pub to get a drink or nine after the games, and hang out with the fans. This is a terrible, terrible, wonderful idea.



Hopefully, the stories from HomeStoryCup III will be the stuff of Starcraft legend.





Drama



32 progamers are gonna be chilling together at some guy's apartment. What could possibly go right? For God's sake, Idra's there. By this point, who hasn't Idra pissed off, and who doesn't enjoy pissing Idra off? Imagine this scene:



After a particularly egregious loss to a cheese rush, Idra heads to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water. As he hunches over the sink, droplets of water falling off his face, he feels an arm coming to rest along his shoulders. Idra looks up. It's MC.



"Are you angry?"

Some may say that winning Dreamhack propelled Huk into #1 non-Korean spot, but I beg to differ. The guy has spent more than half his career in Korea at this point. So when I think about Huk and his accomplishments at Dreamhack, I'm not thinking of him as some protector of foreign pride - He's another Korean come to show the world what's up.And when you consider the performances of Koreans in foreign tournaments so far, I'd be surprised if Huk finished outside of the top four. Two big tournaments wins and advancement to the next round of Code-S? This could easily become Huk's best two weeks as a progamer.As long as we're speaking of Koreans, how about the scariest one of them all? Let it be known that MC has only been eliminated from an international tournament by a non-Korean ONCE (Thorzain in TSL3). Basically, if a fellow Korean doesn't knock him out, he wins the tournament.Now, all due respect to the remaining Koreans Jinro and Huk, but MC's gotta be pretty damn relieved that Bomber, July, and Moon decided to skip this cup. So while I like Huk's chances to win this tournament, I like MC's even more.The obvious question, now that I've dismissed all your claims about HuK being a foreigner (I'm not even going to argue about it). Well, damn, this is a hard one! I thought it was Thorzain for a while, but two early stage knockouts from Shoutcraft invitational and DreamHack hurt his cause. How about Naniwa, with his consistently solid play and high tournament finishes? Or maybe it's someone not even in the cup, an online monster like Nerchio who has yet to reveal himself in larger competitions.In any case, with none of the foreigners actually winning in the non-Korean tournaments, it seems like the best foreigner spot is up for grabs. While another Korean victory would continue the chaos, any foreigner who wins this tournament would have an extremely strong case to be declared the best amongst his brethren.It turns out that there's an Irish pub (in Germany, go figure) in the same building as Take's apartment, so he's arranged a unique viewing experience for any fans who want to show up and watch the games. Obviously, he can't let everyone into the apartment itself, but he's worked out a deal where the games will be shown on TVs at the pub! As someone who's watched Starcraft at venues across multiple continents, I can tell you that this is really up there in awesomeness. So head on over to:That's not all. In a fortuitous turn for the fans, Take, for all his magnanimosity and love of e-Sports, lacks common sense. From what I gather, he is actively coaxing the gathered progamers to go hang out in the aforementioned pub to get a drink or nine after the games, and hang out with the fans. This is a terrible, terrible, wonderful idea.Hopefully, the stories from HomeStoryCup III will be the stuff of Starcraft legend.32 progamers are gonna be chilling together at some guy's apartment. What could possibly go right? For God's sake, Idra's there. By this point, whoIdra pissed off, and who doesn'tpissing Idra off? Imagine this scene:



Anyway, I don't know enough German to really tell you any more. Take it away will be there tobring us on-the-ground coverage, what's left for us to do here? I'm not going to take you through group previews, player profiles, and all that stuff. 90% of the players were at DreamHack, and I don't think they changed too much in the last three days. So TL's Dreamhack Summer preview should suffice for figuring the players out and providing analysis (except the parts where we were wrong). Instead, I'm going to focus on some of the story lines that are unique to this tournament.Anyway, I don't know enough German to really tell you any more. Take it away Zatic , it's up to you! , it's up to you! Administrator Hey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?