How to make an eSports-Mojito: one part Valor, one part CSL-finals and a Flash of Jaedong on top

Yes, that is the perfect eSports cocktail - if one wants to use fresh ingredients, that is. Why is that so? Well, because the Valor Tournament and the Collegiate Starleague are two opposite sides of the same coin, and together they create a New Blend of Starcraft. These events merge foreign and Korean progaming in a fresh way, which - together with the most recent gems from GomTV - give us plenty of reasons to have a drink

As readers of Starfeeder are very much aware, the Valor Tournament is a very exciting thing - sponsored as it is by not only GomTV and other recognisable gaming brands, but by Nich 'Tasteless' Plott and Daniel 'SuperDanielMan' Lee themselves. Bringing the best of foreign Starcraft together but under a Korean banner, this event event bridges the gap between the Holy Land and Mordor (that would the entire non-Korean world) in an entirely new way. Also, we have been promised that Tossgirl will indeed bless Valor in a way that only she can. Can't be bad.

The Collegiate Starleague recently concluded its first season, where UC Berkeley and University of Texas pitted their best players against each other, all commentated by one of the foremost Starcraft-scholars of SC2GG.com - Cholera. Eventhough the skill level of these gamers is not that of progamers we have never the less been given heaps of enjoyable and unorthodox games, which I have personally enjoyed very much. The reason why the CSL is similar yet different to the Valor Tournament is because of its aspirations: this is the first and, in my view, very promising attempt at organising Starcraft-competions according to the established model of college sports. By applying an existing structure to a new phenomenon, eSports, and borrowing bits of the Proleague-format, the CSL is likely to be the beginning of something big - bridging the Gap from the other side, by bringing Korea to Mordor instead of the other way around

That is the basis for my latest article over at Polygon reVue.com, which I hope will offer an example of how eSports is a globalising phenomenon, where national borders stand less and less in the way of the ideas and visions of inspired minds. True, the world is in a crippling state of credit crunch and we hear rumours of cancelled leagues and events - yet grass root-based movements continue to thrive and expand. This is the New Blend, my friends.



Also, in the same article I have featured the games from the CSL-finals and the best recent showdowns from GomTV. It's a Flash of Jaedong with a touch of Nada and an absolute diamond sprinke of Backho vs Piano... GGs all around!

www.polygonrevue.com