Starcraft 2 pros miss WCS to watch TI3

White-ra already mixing dem cocktails. No f**ks were given that day. Photo by ESL

As it turns out, the hype around the biggest eSport event in the world has spread to affect players and fans outside the Dota 2 scene. More particularly, several team managers and owners have hinted that the cream of the crop in StarCraft 2 will also be tuning to TI 3 instead of playing their matches in the World Championship Series. It’s been said that prolific names like Naniwa, Stephano, MC and MMA have already canceled their flights to the ESL offices in Germany and will just stay at home with cold beer and soju and watch heads fall at Benaroya Hall. Sources additionally told us that reigning WCS Europe champion Mvp purposefully lost his matches last night so that he can have the rest of the week off without having to plan strategies and bullshit like that.
One would think that such an ebb of players is disastrous for Blizzard and their WCS but spokesmen for the company seem to actually indulge the situation, saying that by having contenders for about two and a half matches, the heavy stacking of content in the weekend of August 10-11 will be conveniently avoided. A concurrent viewership of ten will furthermore smooth the experience by ensuring there isn’t a millisecond of lag.

                                                                        sharky on a boat

We all saw how Invasion-MUFC performed in the group stage and people are definitely not pleased considering their spot for TI3 could have been given to a more worthy a team. Their no-win performance is a huge disappointment especially to their fan who told us all about his unwavering support for the Malaysian team. "I have $200 riding on them and if they win TI3, I will have $8,000. Go big or go home YOLO".
We received reports yesterday that Sharky, MUFC's sixth player and also gaming house squatter, has left Malaysia and is currently making his way to Benaroya Hall. We are not sure about Sharky's intention behind this move but he seemed motivated and confident when he told us that his presence in Seattle will lead to MUFC winning the championship.
Oh yeah, because Sharky is on the no-fly list, he is currently heading to Seattle in a yacht and he is expected to arrive next year. Sharky #boattoti4

2. Breaking the record for the longest game in competitive Dota 2 history

                                                                      Black: Soon....

In many interviews conducted with Black^ prior to The International 3, the German star carry has mentioned over and over how Burning of team DK is his idol. In a way, both players resemble each other in their ability to farm and for Black^ there is no other option than to say hi to his idol by beating him down with a stick, figuratively.
Our correspondent at Seattle informed us that Black^ and Mousesports intend to play DK in the main event of The International 3 to break the record for the longest game in the history of competitive Dota 2. Although according to our analysts the battle will most likely last thirty minutes, Black^ informed us that the game will definitely go longer than three hours and Mouz's game-plan is to delay DK's push as long as possible until Black^ overtakes Burning by one creep.
Random lightning bolts and inferno lava pits are to be expected from the game and the fans could not be more excited for it to happen. We asked a guy near Benaroya Hall about his expectations for the match-up and he said, "Who the hell are Black and Burning?".

Massive communication breakdown in allstars

That sounds like it has got more urgency

 If you are not a complete noob in Dota 2 you know that communication is a vital component in winning a game. When Valve announced the allstars team for The International last week, we were at disbelief that they placed Chinese players alongside western players in a team. How will they communicate? How will they know when to initiate? Many professional players told us that great players will have natural chemistry but is that sufficient? We are pretty sure "nice ah" isn't enough.

This is where Valve's genius idea of the useless chatwheel comes into use. With an auto-translate function and a selection of up to eight commands to choose from including "Stun now!", "Get back!", and "Missing", your favourite allstars are sure to have no problems pulling off the worst initiations you have ever seen. To top it off, the chatwheel could even be customized to swear at sub-par teammates for playing well.

Well Played! Valve.

Imagine The International

   
    

While many of you are already joining us on Twitter, we just want to take a second and tell you about other ways you can follow The International.

On Flickr, you will see high quality, beautiful images covering all aspects of the event.

In that collection you will find the lead image for this blog post. It perfectly captures the moment when LGD and Dignitas flipped a coin to start their playoff for the last spot in Group A’s upper bracket. While we track the coin, the two team captains smile and look directly at each other. They know their fate isn’t decided by a coin flip but by their performance in the game.

If you prefer your images a maybe little more grainy but a little more timely, make sure to follow our Instagram feed. There you will see images the second they happen.

All of this is recapped and talked about on Twitter and our News blog. But we wanted to remind you of the visual options because sometimes you don’t need words, you just need an image to tell you everything that just happened.

The Road To Benaroya Hall

   

Group Stage ended the same way it began, a playoff.

The playoff today between LGD and Dignitas decided who moved into the upper bracket and who fell into the lower. It was one game, winner take all.

With LGD’s win and Dignitas’s loss, this means, as with all members of the lower bracket – Dignitas is now in the land of single elimination matches. Lose a match and you are gone from the Tournament.

LGD gets the safety of the upper bracket. Lose one here and you go down to the lower bracket where you are one loss away from being eliminated but you are still in it. Last year, IG came charging back out of the lower bracket to win it all – so no one is out of it until they are eliminated.

We also finished our earlier one-v-one matches and this Thursday you will be able to see the final – Mushi vs iceiceice.

Compendium owners playing in the International Fantasy Challenge have a few days to mull over their choices. You have until noon Wednesday to lock in your picks.

Our coverage will begin again Wednesday morning around 11am from Benaroya Hall. Until then, so we don’t grow apart… maybe we should keep in touch, join us over on Twitter for a few days of behind the scenes coverage and let’s talk fantasy teams.

Make sure to join us Wednesday.

There is something magical about the main stage at Benaroya Hall. It transforms the tournament from quiet conference rooms with just a referee observer, to an electric atmosphere with thousands of screaming fans and hundreds of thousands of viewers. It can change a team, energize them, give them new life. It is still everyone’s tournament to win.

Two Times?

       

        

They know there is a target on their back, but they are confident.
Maybe it is nerves or maybe it really is just proof of how tough the competition has gotten but they have not started this International playing as champions.
When asked what they would like to do this International – the answer is quick – be the first two time International champs.
It isn’t too late, they have pulled it together enough to get into the upper brackets. From there, they can launch their assault on winning it all.
The answer was equally quick when ChuaN was asked what he did with his prize money from last year – He gave half of it to his mom.
They can choose their reasons why this year, first two time champs or so ChuaN’s mom can get the other half of the prize money, but either way you can’t count IG out.