NASL format released: Open Qualifier/Seed System

From reddit:

We know a lot of people have been wondering what the exact format of the North American Star League is. Well, we’re not going to keep you waiting any longer.

http://nasl.tv/Images/graphLarge.jpg

Getting to the Grand Finals First off, we invited fifty of the world’s best players. They will be divided into five groups of ten players each. Each player will play every other player in his division once per season in a best of three format for a total of nine weeks. After nine weeks, the top two in each division, determined by their win-loss record will advance directly to the Grand Finals.

TSL Bracket Released!

PREPARE FOR GLORY

Source: Team Liquid

ROOT Gaming's New Recruit: 'Princess'

ROOT Gaming

A potential source of more ESPORTS drama, ROOT Gaming's latest addition to it's lineup is already causing quite a stir; both on the ladder and in the community.

Known as GosI[Terran] in Broodwar, Juan 'Princess' Tena has already reached the top of the North American ladder with only 3 weeks of playing Starcraft 2. Coming from his background in Broodwar? It's not really that surprising, as he was ranked A on ICCup and was a online practice partner for Hite Sparkyz. 

However, the community is currently abuzz over ROOT's newest member's background, as GosI/Princess has quite the reputation as a map hacker and clan jumper. 

Improve Your Game: General Starcraft 2 Tips

If you're looking for ways to improve your game in Starcraft 2, you're in luck. I stumbled upon a list of useful tips to help you do just that. 

For more information head on to Team Liquid for the strategy discussion.

 

General Starcraft 2 Tips

• Playing with HP Bars makes micro way easier.
• Hitting Ctrl+F1 instantly selects all Idle Workers.
• You can hold down a hotkey instead of pressing it over and over (IE: Hold down F and click everywhere you want multiple fungal growths with multiple Infestors). This stands true for practically everything, across every race.
• You can add new units to an existing control group by holding Shift and setting them to the group you want.
• Transferring some harvesters to a new expansion is better for your economy than simply saturating from scratch.
• MULEs can be spotted dropping by everybody, even in fog of war.

A piece of Starcraft history: Footage of Artosis, Day9 and Tasteless at WCG USA 2005

WCG 2005

Though twitter is abuzz with news from the Intel Extreme Masters tournament, given the limited time I have (ugh IRL), I thought I'd feature this instead. 

This video was posted this morning (GMT+8) on reddit, and contains footage of Artosis, Day9, and Tasteless at WCG back in 2005.

Here we get a rare chance to look into the past, to see some of the icons of the current Starcraft 2 scene during their Broodwar days. 

If you've seen Day9 Daily #100, you should know that a lot of amazing things happened during this WCG; things that would help shape the Starcraft scene into what it is today. 

Mad props to BrianJKim for the video. More information and the actual video after the jump.

A tournament to rival the GSL? FXOpen e-Sports Announcements

FXOpen e-Sports

FXOBoss of FXOpen e-Sports has released some information on what could be the biggest Starcraft 2 tournament to date.

In a recent post on Team Liquid,  FXOBoss has made a list of announcements with regards to the team's next steps, and most notable of which is the mention of a Kuala Lumpur-based tourney whose prize money "will be that of GSL or higher". 

While not much information has been given at this time, it has been noted that sponsorships have been secured, and the tournament is basically a go. As mentioned in the post, they are currently looking at  a October-November schedule for the tournament. 

For additional information, read the rest of the entry on Team Liquid.

Note: I'm from SEA, and this totally went underneath my radar. Please don't revoke my Starcraft 2 fan license.