Firstly - we saw 4 of the 5 Nv guys qualify for the ACL Sydney Championship playoffs in the weeks leading up to the event. Everyone except YoonYJ was seeded directly into the group stages, as he was unable to attend a regional event due to recent surgery on his knee. This meant he'd be forced to compete in the open bracket alongside some of SEA's strongest players - including JazBas and Pokerface from Xeria Gaming, Techtron from Eve, Fenner, Jimdiddy, neKo and Dippa from Carnage - and SQL's ACL Gold Coast Open Bracket Champion - yang.
As Pinder, deth and I made our way to Melbourne airport in preparation for our flight to Sydney, deth wasted no time - securing one of the computer terminals at the airport so that he could watch some Korean Terran streams and keep his mind active. He explained how he intended to defeat iaguz in the championship playoffs, providing a glimpse into what would become an epic TvT series.
Once the three of us arrived in Sydney, we saw a familiar face waiting for us at a nearby gate - YoonYJ had just disembarked his flight from Canberra. (Sorry for the blurry photo! Walking whilst taking pictures is bad.)
The four of us headed over to Mascot to get some food and check in to our hotel. Unfortunately the camera flash ruined the photo, but we couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a picture of YoonYJ on High street.
After filling ourselves with kebabs and chips, we headed back to the hotel where we chilled out and discussed everyone's plans for the following two days. Things weren't going well for YoonYJ, who was suffering from a terrible flu/cough. Meanwhile, back at the Aus Gaming House - mOOnGLaDe & Rossi were practicing hard.
The four of us headed to our respective rooms for a big night of rest before what would be slated as the most competitive tournament in Australian history. The next morning, Pinder, deth and I arrived bright and early at the UNSW Roundhouse where things were about to kick off.
As of April 21st, 2012 - Nv became part of Team GAMECOM - sporting world class players across multiple games and genre. Cheekyduck was quick to interview YoonYJ about the implications of this partnership.
The open bracket had commenced, and the Xeria Zergs were looking fierce! By the end of the day, YoonYJ managed to land himself 4th in the open bracket, qualifying him for the championship playoffs alongside the 16 seeded participants. Meanwhile, mOOnGLaDe took first place in the Team GAMECOM in-house Street Fighter 4 tournament with Livibee by his side!
We wrapped up day 1 of ACL Sydney with one of the most anticipated games of the day - Xeria's Ace Zerg 'MaFia' up against our own Terran Stallion 'Rossi'. These guys have faced off in more tournaments than I can count, and this series did not disappoint! After the dust had settled, MaFia managed to edge out Rossi 2-1, where he later emerged as one of eight Zergs to reach the Championship bracket.
The next morning, our remaining players arrived bright and early to finish their playoffs. We can see Pinder, Myuu, TargA, Fourby, tgun, West and mOOnGLaDe below - all carefully deciding which maps to veto in their opening rounds.
One of Eve's star Zerg players - West - made an astonishing debut at the ACL Melbourne Regionals a few weeks beforehand where he dominated the event, taking first place after only losing one series to Dox. If everyone wasn't already wary of him before the Sydney nationals, they certainly were after he managed to beat both mOOnGLaDe AND GoSu's tgun in a best of three series! Unfortunately he wasn't as successful against the other players in his group, and wound up falling short of the Championship Bracket.
At the end of the day, only 1 of the GAMECOM Nv players managed to emerge from his group - with Zerg players making up 100% of the top 8. As we watched for hours as Banelings collided, Roaches were Fungal'ed and Mutalisks rained down devastation, one Zerg player emerged victorious with his second ACL National Championship in a row: mOOnGLaDe.
For more photos from the ACL Sydney event, be sure to check out our Facebook page or the Australian Cyber League Facebook page.
In other news, the entire team was invited to participate in the "Plunder Down Under Invitational" - a tournament designed to produce entertaining games by forcing players to play Random on some of the most ridiculous maps available. I had to play SlayerS`Cella, one of my beloved heroes in the first round, and in a surprising turn of events, it became a crazy series in which I emerged victorious, using a "Cloaked Cannon Rush" to beat him in a PvP on an island map in Game 1, and came back to win an epic TvT with less than a dozen workers against 70+ in game 3. Unfortunately the VOD's are no longer available, but you can find the replays here. I went on to face my good friend and teammate mOOnGLaDe in the semi finals, before he eliminated me and went on to take 2nd place. This was one of the most enjoyable and entertaining events I've ever participated in, and I look forward to more of them in the future!
The team is currently discussing and deciding exactly when we will be travelling to America to attend a live MLG event, as it's difficult to arrange a flexible timetable between 4 university students. Hopefully we'll have more news to share on this soon! In the meantime, we've also been contemplating spending some time in Korea when season 3 of the GSTL kicks off...
A month or so ago, myself and the team at ACL were proud to announce that we were working with Blizzard to present the Australian & Oceanic World Championship Series this year. Only two qualifiers have been played out so far, and we saw GAMECOM.Nv snatch up both seats without hesitation. Rossi and mOOnGLaDe will be participating in the Australian finals in August! And to celebrate this, they're also scheduled to play a Best of 7 showmatch at a LIVE Barcraft event in Sydney this weekend! Even though both players have already qualified for the Australian WCS event, there is pride and a wad of cash on the line, so expect to see both players put on one hell of a show. Thanks AusProLeague!
Last week we saw GAMECOM.Nv take the 9th and final spot in the Xeria Gaming Team League, an online event hosted by Benji with $600 cash up for grabs. We went up against SPR, Carnage and Eve in the open bracket before emerging victorious. Despite all of the guys sporting some terrifying level 60 Diablo 3 characters, it seems they've still got what it takes to bring it home in SC2!
Last but not least, we have the ACL Melbourne qualifiers coming up in the next few weeks. Once again, we'll see participants from around Australia gather around their regional venues to see who can earn the valuable points they need to reach the Championship Playoffs. But that's not all - winning an ACL Regional will also score you a WCS Australia seat! Expect to see everyone training harder than ever for these ones. Can mOOnGLaDe take his 3rd consecutive championship? He's walking around with one hell of a target on his back - there are a lot of people aiming to see him fall! We'll just have to wait and see!
By the end of the day, we plan to announce two more sponsors who will be coming on board. Be sure to keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter page for all the details! We were also intending on releasing a replay pack for each of the players after ACL Sydney, but unfortunately I've been relocated to Perth for a few months and no longer have access to my PC! We'll be sure to deliver an exceptionally large batch soon.
Thanks to everyone who supports the GAMECOM Nv players - all of us truly appreciate all of the love and respect they receive from their fans and the community. Soon, we'll unleash it upon the rest of the globe. Soon.
