Jeff Kim give us the usual review of this weekend's MLG event; in this case, MLG Anaheim.

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Quick props to MLG and TeamLiquid for all pictures in the following article, thank you. As we wrap up yet another MLG event, both here at Cadred and in Anaheim, California, the future looks bright and the e-sports scene feels solid again, something we've not felt since the release of Starcraft 2 and the angsty transition from Brood War. Let's jump right into the fray. Per usual, the event was very clean and organized. Players went to their seats and played their games. Pool play wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed, but it was indeed a spectacle to see the top players from around the world yet again face off against each other in a battle royale. As promised, MLG Anaheim was indeed the largest MLG event in history spectator-wise; we'll see what Sundance says about the viewers.

No blue or red lights this time; this was a Pro Circuit event, so the Arena lights were absent and the spotlights were seen all around the venue, focusing on players as they prowled the stage to take their spot in the soundproof boothes, ready to launch an attack at the opponent and come out victor. The actual event itself was nothing short of the usual MLG standard -- clean, sanitary, enough chairs (thankfully) and a pepped up crowd, contrary to a few of last years' crowds that seemed less than excited, despite having enough excitement to actually attend the event itself.

The Starcraft 2 crowd, seemingly just as immense as the League of Legends crowd this MLG.
The casters seemed more professional this time around. djWHEAT plugged a few mainstream products which sponsored this MLG, making it appear as though I was watching just a regular sports show, much like the NFL, NBA or a game of football for you European folk across the pond. MrBitter was solid as usual, nothing extraordinary but nothing to harp on as he did a great job all weekend. Apollo and TotalBiscuit brought some Euro swag to the stage, complimenting each other's accent regularly and poking some fun at it while casting the games they did. Husky chimed in as usual complimenting on forcefields and sentries very often. Tastosis as usual stole the show with their synched "OH MY GOD" routines along with screaming at the top of their lungs when a huge fungal landed. Axeltoss did his thing, coming in as a new caster and didn't disappoint -- no complaints, great job by him.

djWHEAT and Slasher anxiously watching the big screen.
Rob Simpson from Blizzard was a really nice compliment to Husky, and he's gotten loads better since last year when he was repeating the same phrases 15 times over in one match. Robin and Jorosar were a nice change of pace, showcasing what unknown shoutcasters can really do, and although not at the top of the list for this event, they definitely need to be noted as upcoming casters and are definitely professional enough to come back and do it once again.

Kibbels and Gwin were a great pair during the later half of Saturday, casting some random pool play games and having the chance to witness some wicked baneling busts. Overall a lovely job by everyone involved casting, no complaints aside from the going off on a random tangent every now and then while the game commences -- not too annoying but it could happen less at an event of this level. Smix and Hwanni also did an amazing job translating and deserve a gold star for their efforts all weekend.

The KeSPA players were amazing to watch, showing the newcomers to the Starcraft 2 scene what the game is like when old-schoolers play. Their micro and macro skills seemed to be right on par with pro SC2 players, and they've not actually practiced but about 6 months give or take a few, each. Yet again Flash stunned the crowd with an 8-0 sweep taking out the other seven players, and winning his first SC2 tournament at an MLG event that he's participated in. No use spending time reviewing the KeSPA event twice -- if you want the full story, check it out HERE.

The best Zerg player in the world, DongRaeGu.
The first day of the event on Friday seemed to be a bit bland for "the biggest e-sports event in MLG history," although not too bad. Nothing really amazing broke out, and it was entertaining to watch -- maybe some more showcasing on the Heart of the Swarm expansion with some actual pro players playing in-game with casters would have been cool, but all I saw was developers playing against each other with a pre-casted game; not really the best approach to the new game in my eyes, but a respectable attempt and nothing to really harp on overall.

Saturday was jam-packed with action from the minute the stream kicked off -- there's just too much to explain but the game that took the cake for me was Stephano against MKP, Game 3 -- I think many of you that were watching would agree this was easily one of the best games in the entire tournament, next to SaSe vs. socke's blind-counter dark templar PvP. The game between Stephano and MKP was absolutely insane, switching back and forth between each player and having the supply go up and down like an elevator. Dropping down to 50 supply from 170, then coming back up to 150 and sniping Stephano's bases near the 20 minute mark proved to be the ultimate comeback, one could even say a ressurection of BoxeR's famed comebacks back in the day, BoxeR being known as the man that never GG'd out of a game until absolute defeat. MKP eventually overcame Stephano with drops and sniping of important tech structures, forcing a 2-1 victory to move onto Championship Sunday at the top of his group.


The massive fungal that went down; the best of the entire tournament.

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Jeff Kim give us the usual review of this weekend's MLG event; in this case, MLG Anaheim.

This column is the sole opinion of the author and does not represent the opinion of Heaven Media Ltd or the opinion of any affiliates.

Rain against JYP was also an intense set, JYP making hidden bases all over the map and relying on storms, while Rain elected to go sneaky ghost and counter it with EMPs, and that he did, landing immense EMPs on JYP's army after having his 120 supply bio army melt to storms in about 5 seconds. Rain came out on top 2-0 over JYP, but the matches in reality seemed a lot closer than the score reads.

On Sunday, Game 3 between Polt and Oz was quite sick as well, having a generous amount of back-and-forth switches between each player and a lot of micro -- can't have enough micro. Game 2 had some nice feedbacks from Oz onto Polt's medivacs that were going to drop in his main, and Polt countered by dropping quickly and targeting the HT's, which were instantly melted.

The King of Terran right now, MarineKingPrime.
I've got to say, viOLet is one of my favorites and we've stuck close to him ever since he started his Starcraft 2 career and exploded in popularity, but COME ON MAN, what were those performances this weekend?! Although it may be that he's focusing on the GSL Code S matches coming up he's been seeded into and saw Anaheim as an unimportant tournament to perform well in, but he looked way off key this weekend, losing nearly every game and only taking one Bo3 in favor of himself, falling to SaSe early this morning/late Saturday night, causing him to be knocked out from the tournament. Not sure if the nerves got to him on LAN or if he's got something else going on, but hopefully next tournament he performs well; we all know he's got the capability to do so, and I highly doubt he's a flash in the pan, considering the results he's shown already in his young career as a pro gamer. I'll be anxious to see how well he performs next tournament; we still love him, though.

The Winners'/Losers' bracket finals proved to the viewers that the level of play at MLG tournaments is exceptional. Every single game from Alicia vs. PuMa to Stephano vs. SaSe to DRG vs. MKP was wonderful, the casters having minimal hiccups throughout the entire bout. Smix did a lovely job once again interpreting the Korean players during the interviews as Clutch interviewed them with crowd questions, and things seemed to be flowing quite well going into the Grand Finals.

Your MLG Anaheim 2012 Champion, DongRaeGu.
The Grand Finals was more of a showcase of how well DRG could play rather than a close fight; personally, I believe a DRG vs. MKP finals would have been a lot more entertaining to watch, but Alicia earned his place by defeating MKP 2-0 and therefore deserves to face the King of Zerg. With immense macro ability from DRG, Alicia fell to the king and was forced to GG out of games quicker than he could enter them. In the end, DongRaeGu of Team MVP came out victorious, solidifying his title as the world's best Zerg player (arguably to date) for Starcraft 2. His six pool attempt in Game 4 was epic, and the raw micro he showed along with peaking at over 650apm was a spectacle to watch from such a phenomenal player. Quite a feat, coming from someone that was totally unknown just under a year ago; now, he's the biggest superstar in the Starcraft 2 scene and pushing e-sports forward by showing everyone that questions his skill.

Sundance freestyling to Still D.R.E. (I think...)
The event itself lived up to its standards. Although not the biggest e-sports event we've seen in the last decade, it certainly ranks up there no doubt. A lot of people fail to appreciate the effort that goes into making these events what they are, and they harp on Sundance for his past actions as a premise to knock the event's credibility down a notch -- not something an intelligent person would do. It's still not perfect and with the partnership with CBSi I could expect a bit higher production quality, but overall the promise was made to entertain the viewer throughout the weekend and it succeeded in that. It's easily one of the most historic if not the most historic Starcraft 2 event to occur, as it is the transition signal for the Brood War players, and that has to be taken into account. Small glitches, delays and stream mishaps were present, but nothing too major. Sundance lives up to his promise and keeps his word by delivering an awesome event once again. I said in my last review MLG had to step up the hype, and if the crowd's loud enough to make the League of Legends fans mad on Reddit, it's safe to say the hype was delivered. I'll be generous and squeeze in an A- rating for this event. Let's look forward to the next one.

MLG Anaheim: 92/100

Pros:
-atmosphere
-KeSPA players
-storylines
-DRG/MKP rivalry
-Day[9] guest appearance/casting of HotS
-HotS preview
-Dustin Browder appearance
-new casters making their mark
-transition for e-sports/gaming
-"Heavy, heavy damage!" -MrBitter


Cons:
-stream was a bit more laggy this time than last
-at this level, we need better overlays that look cooler
-crowd shots get boring; do replay analysis during the breaks
-casters went a bit over the top yelling at times
-lack of Rob Simpson using "Terrible, terrible damage!" during
casts -Slasher's hair



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