GGL Wire

The depths of the internet have got many a word written about the balance in Warcraft 3, but very few from people who understand the game as deeply as Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen. The Dutch Warcraft 3 superstar has written an article for esportsglobal.com about it, proving that playing a video game is only one of his talents.

The column called “Fickle balance” shows a very interesting perspective on several issues, in particular people’s attitudes towards perceived imbalances in the game. The piece is well worth a read. Here is a taste:

Which strategy is balanced and which is imbalanced? It seems there is an opinion for every grain of sand in the Sahara Desert and like the sand; they are blown away just as easily with every gust of wind. Indeed, I find that the balance in Warcraft III can be viewed just so: waves ripple through the community with a fresh wind every few weeks and completely shatter our previous suppositions. Those people that stick with their earlier conclusions find themselves outnumbered by the ones who ride the wave, unless their mind stays unchanged until the next wave when a strategy becomes imbalanced – for the second time.

Continued…

The transfer speculation around Yoan ”ToD” Merlo, one of the world’s best Warcraft 3 players, is now over. The French superstar joined the German team Mousesports today.

After ToD left Four Kings a couple of weeks ago, most of the top WC3 teams in the world were considering contracting the charismatic player. The problem was his price tag, since ToD is one of the most successful players in the world and the most popular European player in China. It is estimated that a player of his caliber can cost even up to $5,000 a  month, so only a few teams were in the frame to get him. Continued…

SK Gaming are the new champions of the Warcraft 3 Champions League after defeating Meet Your Makers in last weekend’s LAN finals in Cologne. SK have waited ten long seasons for this victory.

It is surprising that despite having had superstars like Fredrik “MaDFroG” Johansson or Yoan “ToD” Merlo on the roster, SK hadn’t won a WC3L LAN finals before. The team won the second season of the competition, but it took place online entirely.

History was against SK, along with the fact that the twelfth season of the WC3L was arguably the toughest so far. But it was also one of the strongest lineups SK has ever seen and clearly the strongest one this season. Continued…

One week after the dissolution of Fnatic’s Warcraft 3 team, only one of its players is still unemployed. Teams aspiring to qualify for the Warcraft 3 Champions League have torn apart Fnatic’s remains like piranhas.

The killing blow dealt to Fnatic came when Fnatic’s best players received offers from other teams. Robert “Rob” Abdrakhmanov and Mikhail “XyLigan” Ryabkov left for Gravitas Gaming and moved in with their team mates in Moscow. Juha-Matti “Satiini” Bäckström joined up with Mortal TeamWork.

The leave of the above players caught Kevin “RotterdaM” van der Kooi and Radoslav “DieSeL” Kolev unawares, but RotterdaM has already found a new home. The second best Dutch Warcraft 3 player will join with the Dutch team Serious Gaming. DieSeL is the one player still without a team. Continued…

June “Lyn” Park has won his second Warcraft 3 major within a month by beating Jang “Spirit Moon” JaeHo 4-0 in the grand final of the Make Games Colorful tournament in China. Does the Orc race have a new Emperor?

The MGC started with a unique round robin stage, followed with a double elimination playoff bracket. In spite of the presence of Manuel “Grubby” Schenkhuizen, Yoan “ToD” Merlo and Kim “SaSe” Hammar, it had four Korean and four Chinese players. Continued…