GSL Spoiler Policy

Some people are blessed with the longitude or the lifestyle to be able to watch GSL games live, but not all of us are so fortunate. Thankfully GomTV is extremely quick about posting VODs. If you follow the tournament with VODs, however, you may fall behind sometimes. Having been there, I know how obnoxious it is to have a result spoiled. So here's how spoilers will be handled here:

No match results, direct or implied, in post titles - Posts with recaps of games will have titles like "GSL 3 Semifinals Day 1" instead of "oGsPlayer1 vs Player2Prime", so if you have an RSS reader showing you titles only, you won't be spoiled.

Direct spoilers on game recaps concealed using javascript - For game recaps, the players involved will be listed as well as a rating for the game, but the result will be hidden. If you don't have time to watch every game, you can use the ratings to find the best games to watch. Here's an example of how these work:

Click to learn Foxer's counter to banelings

MARINES

However, if you are behind on your VOD viewing, please be aware that there will usually be implied spoilers for previous rounds. If you see that the TSLPlayer3 is matched against ZeNEXPlayer4 in the round of 32, they obviously won their round of 64 matches. Don't view the recap of a round if you want to remain spoiler-free for the previous round, and be careful with RSS readers that display post content.

For other GSL posts, assume spoilers unless otherwise indicated - Hopefully it's obvious that, say, an update on points standings would have spoilers in it. GSL posts that are spoiler-free will have "(no spoilers)" in the title.

For non-GSL posts, any GSL spoilers will be concealed with Javascript - Right now there's not a lot of non-GSL coverage, but if there's a post about, say, MLG you can read it without worrying about being spoiled for the GSL. Anything that might spoil GSL results will be concealed using the same click-to-view system used in game recaps.

About This Site

Like it says up at the top, SC2 Spectator is a place to find out about pro Starcraft 2 competition. Right now that basically means the GSL. Yes, there are tons of events in the foreign community, but for now at least they are quick tournaments and easy to find information about. The GSL, on the other hand, has the highest quality of play and the most matches, but very little English language coverage.

Now, if you're a hardcore fan who reads TeamLiquid every day, you're probably wondering what I can tell you that you don't find out already from the forums there. The answer is, probably nothing. But for the people out there who don't have the time to comb through forums, you can come here to find out how the tournament is going, which matches are worth watching, and so forth.

As for me, Talion, I'll make a shocking admission: I don't play SC2. Oh, I have the game and I've beaten the single player, but I don't play on the ladder. I've been watching top level SC2 games since the beta started, so when I play myself it's a frustrating experience as I struggle through what great players do effortlessly.

But the truth is, SC2 is fun to watch even if you don't play it. This is true of "real" sports, and it's true of e-sports as well. So I may not be able to play the game, but I have watched as much as almost anyone. Back in February 2008, someone sent me a link to the GomTV Starcraft Invitational, the first Korean Broodwar tournament to be casted in English by a guy calling himself Tasteless. I hadn't played Starcraft since 1999, but I gave it a try. Watching Flash come back to win against sAviOr, I was hooked. I never made the jump to watching games without English commentary, but I watched every game in the GSI and the three seasons of the GomTV Classic. Now that SC2 is here, I've watched every game of the GSL tournaments. So while you should definitely take what I say about strategy with more than a few grains of salt, hopefully I've learned a thing or two after watching so many games.

If you have any questions or comments, you can email me at sc2spectator@gmail.com

Under Construction

You could probably consider this blog to be in “beta” until the end of GSL 2.  Bear with me while I figure out the best format for everything.