Today the compLexity Academy will be taking on ROOT Gaming in week 4 of the ESEA. After last week’s loss to LighT eSports, the Academy has been training hard looking forward to this match. Obviously ROOT is one of the better known teams in the ESEA, however that makes The Academy all the more determined to bring home a win.
Tonight’s lineups are:
Fuzzy vs ROOTViBE
SniXSniPe vs ROOTslush
Kyo vs ROOTMajor
Sasquatch vs ROOTFitzy
While most ESEA matches are played in private, both teams agreed to have the new Academy commentator Samsc2 stream the match. To watch the match, tune into the stream at 8:00pm EST.
Last night the compLexity Academy lost its first match in the ESEA bringing its record to 2-1. After a strong initial showing versus Team Nightmares and FlowSoft Gaming, it was LighT eSports that was able to give The Academy its first loss.
While this is a hard hit to The Academy, our boys are no stranger to adversity. They see this loss as an opportunity to improve on the weaker aspects of their game. Look for a newly focused Academy as they take on ROOT Gaming next week.
The compLexity Academy is proud to announce that its very own Sam “Firezerg” Prowse has been invited to play in the ESWC North American Finals. Held in Seattle at PAX Prime, the winner of the ESWC North American Finals will receive an all expenses paid trip to the ESWC Grand Finals in Paris, France.
It won’t be an easy road to the Grand Finals however. The competition is fearce and every player at PAX is hungry to represent North America in Paris. Firezerg’s competition includes:
Suppy
IdrA
Hawk
RaNgeD
KawaiiRice
In the first round Firezerg will be taking on the #1 seed Suppy.
The tournament kicks off tomorrow August 31st and will conclude on the following day. There hasn’t been any announcement regarding a stream, however if you happen to be at PAX Prime stop by the GameCom booth and you can watch the matches live. If you are at PAX let Firezerg know you’re rooting for him, or if you can’t make it out to the convention contact him via Twitter @FireZergSC2
Without a doubt one of the strongest players in The compLexity Academy is our Zerg player Fuzzy. In the opening games for both the ESEA and IPTL, Fuzzy took on all comers and didn’t drop a map. Thanks to this stellar performance plus his previous track record, we are proud to announce that Fuzzy will be spending some time in the compLexity Gamma Gamers House.
compLexity Academy commissioner Michael “Twixz” Shane sat down with Fuzzy to talk about the move.
What are you most looking forward to about moving into the team house?
The major things that I’m looking forward to is having a stable internet connection (Canadian internet sucks) and most of all the environment that a team house provides. Whenever I go to a internet cafe to do a day of practice I find that I’m able to mass a lot more games in the same span of time and being at a team house is like being at a 24/7 lan cafe. ^_^
Who are you most excited to have as an everyday practice partner in the team house?
I am excited to play with everyone at the team house. I have been needing good Terran/Protoss practice for a very long time so I’m looking forward to playing vs QXC, Trimaster and Minigun. I’m also looking to improve my ZvZ so having regular practice vs Goswser will also help me. š
Have you ever lived in United States for an extended period of time?
I was born in Russia and lived there until I was 5 years old, at that point my family moved to Canada and I haven’t lived anywhere else since then I have been over to USA for vacations/StarCraft tournaments but never for a extended period of time.
What are your goals while living in the team house?
I am hoping that with the team house environment I can break out in the scene and improve myself to a point where I can consistently get far in tournaments like MLG, IPL and NASL. I will be playing a minimum of 8 hours per day at the team house and will be doing Playhem tournaments daily. I will also be aiming for GM on the Korean server (haven’t played on it due to Canadian internet).
Can you sum up the feeling you had when you found out that you where chosen to move into the team house?
I am extremely happy that i was chosen to move in, i believe that this is what I need to be able to break out into the sc2 scene. I look forward to the environment that a team house presents as well as playing on a amazing computer with non-Canadien internet xD.
We look forward to hearing from you and watching you play every day on the complexity House stream! Is there anything you would like to say to anyone before you make the journey to the United States?
I am thankful for my family’s support in my decision to move to the team house in Texas. I would also like to thank David + Shawn (Stoicregret + Nuvo) they have traveled to events like MLG and supported me for a long time, David helped me with strategy letting me get to the level I’m at right now. Last but not least I would like to thank Twixz (coL.Acad manager) for helping me throughout the time that I joined The Academy and up to now for all the promotion he does for not just me but the whole academy. I am very thankful that a team like compLexity exists and is willing to invest so much into players that are less known, not only giving players a chance for an all paid trip to MLGs but for hosting a Team house and allowing us to live in such a positive environment.
Let’s start off with an introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself Sam, how long have you been involved in eSports and StarCraft2? What do you like to do outside of StarCraft activities/hobbies etc.
I’m an 8 year military veteran, culinary chef, and video game shout-caster. I’ve been involved with eSports for only about 4-5 months with my casting and streaming, but I’ve been casting for over a year now. Outside of StarCraft I usually love to watch movies and continue to try out new and interesting recipes. I’ve even been hosting my own cooking show on my stream which is a lot of fun!
You are now going to be the official compLexity Academy caster, how do you feel taking on this role?
This is an amazing offer to be able to work with a big team on a more constant basis! I really think it’s going to be able to push my career to an all time high and hopefully I’ll be able to grow my skills as a shout-caster.
What would you say are some of you casting strengths? Where are some areas you are looking to improve?
My casting strengths are my ability to talk on an almost constant rate haha and engaging the chat while not taking away too much from the cast itself. I feel I’m fairly good at the play by play style of casting but I could use an analytical side mixed in.
We are very excited to offer this opportunity to you! Is there anyone out there you would like to thank, or give a shout out too?
I would like to thank all the teams that have let me cast their games up until now. I’d also like to give a special thank you to my friends Pascal and Kevin!
The past few days have been pretty busy for The compLexity Academy. Two nights ago the team played its opening match in the ESEA versus Team Nightmares. We are happy to report that The Academy Nightmares. With a final score of 3-1, our players in The Academy started off the season on the right foot.
We are extremely proud of our boy’s results and hope that they can carry this momentum into next weeks matches. They’ll be taking on FlowSoft Gaming in the ESEA.
Tonight at 8:00PM EST the compLexity Academy will be taking on the team Nightmares in the ESEA. Last season Nightmares ended up tied for 5/6th place. They are a strong team and will be coming at The Academy with everything they have. That being said, we are extremely confident with our line up of players tonight. They have been training hard throughout the off-season and are eager to make an impact on the league.
For tonight’s match The compLexity Academy will be fielding:
(Zerg) goswser #1
(Zerg) fuzzy #2
(Zerg) PartSasquatch #3
(Protoss) vGEroSennin #4
Nightmares will be using:
(Protoss) Bones535 #1
(Zerg) Kuyzz #2
(Zerg) rhinomeister #3
(Terran) scdKorlith #4
Last season The Academy lost to Nightmares with a score of 3-2. Keeping that loss in mind, The Academy is determined to get revenge and to start out this ESEA season as strong as possible.
Currently the prize pools and additional scheduling have yet to be announced. What is known, however, is that the top four teams from the Amateur division will be placed into the Contender Division (where the main compLexity squad is seeded) next season.
The league will follow the standard best-of-9 all-kill format. For those who are unfamiliar, this is the same format the GSTL uses. Basically each team fields at least five players. Each team blindly picks one starting player. The winner stays, while the losing team gets to pick the next player as well as what map they will play on.
As of right now there is no information on whether or not the Amateur bracket games will be streamed. As the first match grows closer expect to see a post detailing each team’s roster as well as stream information is available.
Today compLexity Gaming and the compLexity Academy are pleased to announce the debut episode of a new series called “Academy Stories,” designed to showcase some of North America’s developing StarCraft 2 talent.
The first episode features Michael “Goswser” Dobler, a player who joined the Academy in July, 2011 and officially signed with compLexity on November 15, 2011 (receiving a new Origin PC computer for his promotion).
The compLexity Academy is proud to announce that it has added three new players to it’s roster. Choosen from numerous applicants, these three players were the most qualified and passionate about StarCraft II and eSports. Congratulations to Michael āSniXSniPeā Niven, Kyo, and Jerred “UNCjer” Miklowcic.
To help introduce these new members, Academy commissioner Michael “Twixz” Shane gave them a short interview.
Michael āSniXSniPeā Niven application video:
First off congratulations on joining the Academy, tell us a little bit about your SC2 background.
Hello everyone, I am SniXSniPe a Terran player (formerly random), and I actively participate in the CSL League for the University of Houston. I also spend my time playing off-race every now and then, but for the most part for any matches/tournaments that I partake in I stick with Terran. As for why I decided to main Terran, well, even though I did not really play BW much besides customs such as Money Maps/UMS games, I still watched a bit of the old school Boxer/NaDa/Flash progames that were going on back in the day. Players like them inspired me to love Terran and ultimately go with this race. Another reason is that I feel like Terran is the only race that has that perfecting Starcraft RTS play style to them— decision making, build order planning and countering, precise unit control, and so forth.
What are some of your major goals with SC2?
Overall, to become a much better player. Being able to hit GM on the KR server would be nice, because that would certainly indicate you can compete at the highest level (or near there). This of course, would lead to tournament success, which would be priority #1 for any aspiring player. I also would love to see success, simply so I can maybe inspire younger players/other players so that the US would stop being hating on for being “weak” :P.
Besides that, I would love to one day beat some of those guys I looked up to back in the day, Boxer, NaDa, Yellow ( :(), Flash, Jaedong, Moon, Grubby, Sky (I personally loved WC3 more than BW, don’t hate!).
Now that you are in the Academy what are you expectations for yourself and the Academy program?
Well, I expect myself to get better for starters, and I feel that joining the Academy is one of the best methods available for determining this. These MLG qualifiers where compLexity sends out a player to MLG is a good way for showing me whether I am ready or not to compete— if I fail to win/qualify then I am not ready, if I do win, then I should be prepared to do well or at least make great progress. Either way, this will also help me see how I am improving, and also obtain some invaluable practice partners for each race.
Any shoutouts, where can we find you?
I do have all three, but I really don’t use twitter much (in fact, I mostly only use it to watch GSL :D). If you are still interested, you can find me @ www.twitter.com/snixsnipe.
Lastly, I do have a youtube channel where I upload plenty of videos. I use to actually make tutorial videos for Terran (mostly), though I have a couple of other kinds of videos from casting to videos from MLG. If you’d like to take a look/subscribe then check it out at: www.youtube.com/snixsnipe
I haven’t made many tutorial videos lately, but that could change if people actively watched/were genuienly interested. Personally, I don’t like people paying for coaching (though it might be a better way to improve perhaps) and wanted to simply make instructional videos so people could actually learn for free.
First off congratulations on joining the Academy, tell us a little bit about your SC2 background.
Thanks a lot! Well, in the beginning I didn’t actually play the SC2 Beta as I was Seeled to Brood War. I was actually one of those “SC2 is not going to be popular at all” kind of people. However, after picking it up and seeing the scene explode, especially with the GSL, I fully transitioned over to SC2. To be honest, I was a bit of a Slowpoke in the scene until about 3 months after release. I found a few practice partners such as Titan and NGry and played as much as I could before I went off to college, barely missing the first top 200 blogs. Eventually I joined Think Quick(tQ) with some known players such as Sungpa, Mewtwo, State and from there I moved over to Convergence Gaming with Fitzy, Puck, Yata, Sasquatch and a few others. Even after these terams dissolved all of these guys have helped me along the way and when the chance to join the coL Academy came up I immediately took it.
What are some of your major goals with SC2?
Realistically, I’d love to be able to make it deep into an MLG bracket or have a nice breakout tournament but it’s like fighting through Muk in these tournaments. There are just so many other good players. With that said, the biggest goal I have set for myself with SC2 is to be able, by whatever means, to interact in the scene as a career.
Now that you are in the Academy what are you expectations for yourself and the Academy program?
I currently feel as if I’m still a Bellsprout, so if I continue to grow as a player it wouldn’t be too Farfetch’d to see myself graduating from the Academy program. Even though I attend college full time I’m still able to compete with some good players. I think if I continue to analyze the game correctly I can continue to move forward in the scene. Hopefully that doesn’t Jynx me though!
Any shoutouts, where can we find you?
Thanks to all the people who practice with me.
Thanks to the people support me it really means a lot; and similarly, thanks again to Complexity and their sponsors for this amazing opportunity.
First off congratulations on joining the Academy, tell us a little bit about your SC2 background.
Thanks!Ā Iām super psyched to be a part of the Academy.Ā ^_^
My handle is UNCjer and I started playing SC2 in November of 2010 when my friend bought me the game so that Iād practice with him.Ā xD
Back then I was a WC3 Orc player so I was very micro oriented and didnāt really know many of the mechanics of SC2.Ā I placed into silver league on my first day playing the game, but I became so obsessed with laddering that I got up to platinum by the end of that day.Ā In about 2 weeks I was up into diamond league and then I made it into master league in February 2011 right after the patch was released.Ā I love laddering and Iāve now played against and beaten a lot of the top players on the ladder.
As for events, I am a huge fan of the Collegiate Starleague and I played for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hillās SC2 team last year in the CSL.Ā I ended up at 17 wins and 4 losses with the longest active 1v1 winning streak in the CSL.Ā I then played in the āCSL All-Starā invitational tournament in Orlando, Florida with qxc, Spanishiwa, KawaiiRice, Ostojiy, and HelloKitty.Ā I think that was the most fun live event Iāve played in so far and also my first event in which Iāve played on a stage in front of a crowd (and cast by Day9).
Iāve also participated in many local lans and one MLG open bracket so far.
What are some of your major goals with SC2?
My dream/goal in life is to have a career in eSports, preferably as a professional eSports athlete, so I guess thatās my main objective or goal relating to StarCraft 2.Ā I realize that this goal will require a lot of commitment/dedication, but I have the skills, love of the game, and competitive spirit which can propel me to achieve my dream.
Some smaller goals of mine are to make grandmaster league in the coming months, get deep into an MLG tournament through the open bracket, and to keep improving as much as possible.Ā Iām going to MLG Raleigh in August so hopefully I can show some good games there and take out some big name players in the process.Ā š
Now that you are in the Academy what are your expectations for yourself and the Academy program?
I feel like the Academy is going to be a huge help to me as a player.Ā My main problem previously was neither time commitment nor devotion to the game, but finding high level consistent practice partners.Ā The guys in the Academy are all extremely good players and I canāt wait to set up a practice schedule in order to get ready for upcoming tournaments and leagues.
I guess my expectations for myself are that I will provide great practice for the other members of the Academy and I also expect them to provide practice and criticism to me so that we can all improve our play as much as possible.
Iām also really looking forward to upcoming show matches, tournaments, and team leagues we will do as members of the Academy.Ā Our roster is super solid so I think we can do extremely well as a team.
Any shoutouts, where can we find you (twitter, facebook, youtube, etc…)?
Iād like to thank my friend Chris Allen for getting me into SC2, shout out to my gf Ashley (our six month anniversary is in a few days), and shout out to all of my fans and supporters at UNC and elsewhere that have gotten me this far in my career!
Rocker 2-0
Fuzzy
Knight 1-2
Let’s start off with an introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself Sam, how long have you been involved in eSports and StarCraft2? What do you like to do outside of StarCraft activities/hobbies etc.
