The sun rises, Koreans dominate but Aussie accents ring out at Blizzcon

In the world of Starcraft, an eSport that has been played professionally since 2002, anyone from outside the relatively small country of South Korea is dubbed a ‘foreigner’.

It was amazing, then, to see two young Australians commentating the biggest Starcraft 2 tournament, Blizzcon, together as over 100,000 people watched Korean after Korean duke it out for the title of world champion of this devilish and notorious strategy game.

Devilish because it’s so bloody hard. Notorious because it’s been around so long, and is one of the granddaddies of the eSports scene.

As I watched Rogue and Hydra, two South Korean Starcraft 2 pros, duke it out, it was surreal but fantastic to hear the Australian accents of Andrew ‘mOOnGLaDe’ Pender and the dreadlocked Leigh ‘Maynarde’ Mandalov issuing out around what was an impressively packed arena in Anaheim, USA.

Yes, I’ll run that by you again in case you haven’t caught up yet.

Two Aussies, Pender and Mandalov, commentating a professional strategy game competition (akin to Age of Empires on steroids, on speed), in the USA, at the showpiece event of the game’s developer, Blizzard. Over 120,000 were watching online, many more on alternative language streams, and in front of a packed house live at the venue.

Weird? Perhaps. But this is eSports. This is what the kids are doing these days.

And although our Aussie ambassadors didn’t get to call it, the final of the tournament was something truly special.

The Rogue vs Hydra game I watched my countrymen call was comparatively insignificant. It was Argentina vs Ireland from the Rugby World Cup just gone – in retrospect two also-rans duking it out for an ill-fated shot at the title.

Hydra played the anti-hero – brave, but foolish, and too often running into the trap of the villain, Rogue, who was ruthless and efficient in deflecting Hydra’s attacks.

The packed crowd for Starcraft II at Blizzcon (Photo: Blizzard Entertainment)

In Starcraft 2 parlance, Hydra is what you would call a ‘cheesy’ player. Basically, that means he uses non-optimal play that relies on the element of surprise and a bit of luck to succeed. A strategic roll of the dice is his greatest weapon, both in the game and in the mind, and it makes players like him a caster’s (read commentator’s) dream.

Mandalov couldn’t have been more excited when in Game 1 of the best-of-five-game series, Hydra made the decision to go all in with a strategy. This meant there was no retreat. No surrender. Just one attack, where players with less cajones, or more skill, depending on who you ask, would have just taken their medicine and tried to make the game go longer.

The one attack worked. He busted the front of his opponent’s base, crashing through with the least subtle of tactics – brute force. Rogue had units in the air. Hydra’s units couldn’t shoot up by virtue of game design. But it didn’t matter – his roaches were like an army of Ma’a Nonus; too big, too strong, too fast. They destroyed everything in their path, despite the hastily-arranged defences, and the game was won.

Good game, the traditional exit call of a defeated player, was called.

Neither player made it to the final, but Mandolov’s inspired monologue in calling the victory, Australian accent echoing through the arena, made it feel like the most important moment of the world.

Next to him, the understated Pender, an Aussie master of the Zerg race, which both Hydra and Rogue also play, broke down every little detail, every how and why, of the game just gone.

Fast forward to the final; this time a best of seven, between a player called Life and a veritable slot machine of a man in sOs took to the stage.

Life; a mechanical beast with a mean streak WWE commentators would gush about, playing Zerg.

sOs; the guy absolutely no one can figure out, playing Protoss. He’s played thousands of matches, hundreds of them televised, and no player is any the wiser.

Both are more Hydra than Rogue – these are two players who like to cheese. There’s no immovable object, just two unstoppable forces colliding. But what they share with Rogue is precise control and ability to seamlessly handle both economic management and precision clicking that makes Starcraft 2 so torridly difficult.

Both are former WCS finals champions. It was fitting that these two, in the final competitive match played under the current design of the game (the expansion is imminent, and will change everything) got to fight for the crown of the best of their era.

This time, no Australians are at the casting desk. Only the game’s favourite casting duo from America, Tasteless and Artosis.

These two would have the pleasure of calling one of the greatest Starcraft 2 finals ever played. A best of seven that went down to the final game.

It became a best of one.

The fact that sOs led 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 became irrelevant at 3-3. All the cheese that went before melted away, and there was only time for one final serve.

In the notoriously dire Twitch live stream chat there were calls of match-fixing, and complaints about sponsored replays.

What these actually were is a sign of the development of eSports. Momentum swings. People play good games and bad games. Brands get involved to sponsor a product being watched by over a hundred thousand people.

Signs of progress, not selling out.

The final moved on, and Game 7 didn’t disappoint. Just as there are moments of breath-sappingly gutsy moves in any sport, Starcraft 2 delivered.

Two of the most infamous cheeses met head on in the final. A Protoss cannon rush, aimed at punishing a resource-greedy Zerg, met a baneling bust, the ultimate break-down-the-front-door manoeuvre in the game.

And when sOs arrived at the base of Life (sounds like a good movie title, doesn’t it?) he had no choice but to build up his front door as strong as he could.

Life knocked it down, and ran amok for a while, but couldn’t quite penetrate the second door sOs had built.

He came knocking again, and again he busted it down, but this time there was a little more than just scraps left. A few troops and buildings survived.

Life tried to knock the door down one last time, but this time it held. From there, although there were still minutes to be played out, the game was over.

sOs had held off the cheese. He had won the final. He was the Starcraft 2 World Championship Series winner, and world champion.

The impressive Starcraft II Stage at Blizzcon (Photo: Blizzard Entertainment)

After two weekends of competition. Flights from Australia, Korea, and all over the world for the fans, casters and players, the world had a Starcraft 2 champion.

Ded gaem? Alive gaem? It doesn’t really matter.

Good game, well played.