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Playing StarCraft 2 competitively has become an art of deceptive warfare. Intelligence is key in gaining the advantage and most StarCraft 2 veterans use the tried-and-tested tactic of sending a worker drone, SCV etc. to scout for early game information. With this, players adjust accordingly to the enemy’s tactics and remain one step ahead.

Jeffrey “Sjow” Brusi – The Blind Terran

But for this StarCraft 2 player, there is a certain leverage and freedom in remaining in the dark. With limited vision, this “Blind Terran” can still deliver the big victory. As a matter of fact, Jeffrey “Sjow” Brusi, the IEM European Champion 2011, insists that the early game scouting technique is not really needed and he explains why.

Sjow and the members of Team Dignitas are once again, pro-gamers of Razer, and they have expressed their willingness to deliver high quality games and in-game knowledge by providing us with this On Target Feature. The Blind Terran tells us the dynamics of his gaming philosophy and how foregoing early game scouting can be used to your advantage.

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Sjow: “Greetings gamers of Razer! Let me start off by saying that scouting is indeed essential for winning big games in StarCraft 2. The obvious reason to scout is to gain the right information and react properly to what your opponent is doing. Not only will you see what strategy your enemy is doing, but you will also learn his base/army position. Knowing where the enemy is and how he moves will help you decide how you move your own army. For example, you play Zerg and you have two expansions.

Sjow: One expansion is far away from your natural expansion and your main. You see a Terran army move out towards your remote expansion and you realize you can’t protect it. Also you realize he moved almost his entire force to kill your expansion. You then get the opportunity to make a counterattack and put the situation in your favor.

Sjow believes that SCV’s should do what they do best: MINE

Sjow: “But that is a middle to end game scenario. I firmly believe that scouting at the early stages of the game is not a viable tactic to use. I have been criticized for using this technique and most say that the games I have lost are due to the fact that I did not send an SCV during the early phase of the games. Let me tell you right now that those games ended in defeat not because I lacked the early game vision, but plainly because I did not play good on that game. Some macro or micro mistakes may have caused this but rarely do things get out of hand because of the lack of early game scouting. What is my basis for this?”

Sjow: “Let’s say you’re battling against the Protoss and you send the standard 13 SCV scout. Once you reach his base you will be able to see his chronoboost count, how many gases he has and his Gateway, Cybernetics Core and his Pylon positions before he gets a stalker and end your SCV scouting.”

No early scout = more resources = more troops to own with

Sjow: “What can we actually get with this information? Maybe you can predict that he’s chronoboosting gateways to do an early pressure with zealots and stalkers. But even so you can still handle with the right micro so such information is useless. Especially on big maps with long rush distance it’s not a problem and can only be bothersome in the future.”

Sjow: “Even in Terran Vs. Terran or Terran Vs. Zerg scenarios, the intelligence you’ll be getting from early game scouting is the same as scouting later on with a marine. All of these are manageable with great micro skills.”

That probe should have been getting precious resources

Sjow: “Let’s say you’re still adamant in scouting early game. You get lucky and see his base with only 1 try and spot he has no Gateways, you can adjust accordingly knowing he is opting for a fast expansion strategy. But in a 4 player map, you only have 33% chance on spotting him and another 66% of not spotting the enemy on your first try. Scouting would have been in vain and it would’ve been better if your SCV was mining those extra minerals.”

Sjow: “Let’s say you still want to scout and the map is now a 2 player map. Scouting will help you by knowing how to react to his “cheese”. It might give you a few extra seconds but this little time is actually huge and gives you time to plan out how to deal with it. But if you’re confident in your micro skills like I am, you can manage these cheese tactics with ease.”

No need to scout. Great Micro helps your base survive harassments

Sjow: “So my conclusion this: The only reason to scout early is to be able to handle cheese. Such things are manageable even without scouting given you have good micro. To compensate for not scouting with my SCV, I instead opt for regularly scouting with my Marines or Hellions which basically doesn’t cost you any extra resources. I believe that such techniques should be practiced by more players.”

Sjow: “If you’re not a beginner and have good game sense and micro/macro skills, then I advise you to forego the early game scout and focus on mustering minerals and forces. Trust me, I’ve won games and championships this way. There is absolutely no reason for you not to gain the same benefits of this Blind Terran strategy.”

Who is harassing who now?

Remember, no early game scouting gives you:

+ Extra Minerals (faster tech, bigger army size early-mid game, mid game, late game)

+ Easier to handle early-mid game pressure due to bigger army size)

+ Learning to stay calm in pressured situation (due to last second spotting of cheese)

Only pursue this strategy if you have:

• Good Game Sense
• Not a beginner
• Great macro and micro skills

The past week, we may have noticed silence in the e-Sports world, a sense of stillness in the air. However, most of us know that this eerie absence of action is the calm before the storm. The Intel Extreme Masters World Championships is just around the corner and as soon as the sun rises in Hannover, Germany, expect explosive action from start to finish. The world’s best will be congregating, egos will clash, skills will be tested and the gaming community can expect to see tactics and action they have never seen before.

As we await the opening of the IEM World Championships, we ask the insights and predictions of the PM of the Intel Extreme Masters. Enter Michal “Carmac” Bicharz. Having visited more than a dozen of e-sports events(WCG, EPS, ESWC, IEM), his exposure has given him in-depth knowledge about the industry. He is also known for his comedic alter-egos (Uszat and Sasha) which he uses to add a refreshing zest to the highly competitive e-sports scene. Despite this, there is no doubting his passion for e-sports and his devotion to improving the quality and community of gamers all around the globe.

We sat down with Michal “Carmac” Bicharz to talk for his IEM World Championship predictions, the games of e-sports and his future plans for the IEM.

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Razer: Greetings Michal “Carmac” Bicharz. We appreciate you taking some time off despite your hectic schedule in preparing the IEM World Championship 2011.

Razer: Some of the world’s best will be at Hannover this March. How excited are you?

Carmac: You cannot describe how excited I am. I am also quadruple heart-broken. I am a major fan of all three games and I find all three competitions extremely interesting. But not only am I unable to follow all three as closely as I would like, but I also have to work during the event, so it is theoretically possible that I will not see a single game!

SC2: The IEM Euro Champi0n and the GamesCom Champion will battle it out

Razer: What are your predictions for the SC2 division in the IEM?

Carmac: I personally see Greg Fields as the favorite to win the entire event. He has got the composure needed to win major titles and he has a ton of experience taken from Korea and playing with the best there. I would be shocked not to see him in the semi final at least. As for the rest, it is really a very, very even playing field. If I were to predict a surprise in the event, I will predict that one of the Continental Champions not to go far. I will not say which one, though.

Razer: What are your predictions for the CS division in the IEM?

Carmac: The Counter-Strike event is probably one of the most contested events that I remember. We have at least five teams there that have everything it takes to win the title: mTw, FX, Fnatic, SK, Na’Vi, and several others that have the power and the potential to cause a major stir – for example the 2008 Intel Extreme Masters season runners up from Korea or our American Champions from Brazil, or Team EG who ended up 4th last season. I predict more drama than you can ever imagine for the CS tournament. It will be nothing short of epic, starting in the group stage already!

Razer: Which CS teams do you think will meet at the finals? Which team do you think will win?

Carmac: I most certainly hope that Frag eXecutors will be in the final – I had a front row seat back in 2004-2005 when they were unknown but rising and I would like to see them win one more major trophy. I am Polish as well as those guys, so I am obviously biased – but that team has everything needed to win an event like this. Whichever other team it is in the final – I really do not care. If you’re in the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship final, then you’ve gone a very long way and you obviously deserve it more than anyone else.

Razer: In terms of Counter-Strike, who do you think is the best player right now (attending the IEM)?

Carmac: It is really difficult to say, especially that I do not have time to watch all the matches. But I am personally very impressed by cArn, not just as a player but as a team leader. I also like what a role change in the team did for TaZ – he no longer is the strat caller and he has really stepped up, it seems.

The IEM European Quake Champion will now fight the world’s best Quake Duellers

Razer: What are your predictions for the Quake division in the IEM?

Carmac: As I said, quadruple heart-broken. The QL event is probably the toughest one in the history of the game if you ask me. We have got all of the old ‘gods’, every single one of them with championship credentials, and we have a very strong group of ‘outsiders’ that could easily pick up the gauntlet and challenge them. Cooller, Av3k, Cypher, rapha – those four are everyone’s bets to be in the semi finals like last year, but what about strenx, k1llsen, DaHanG, spart1e, or even czm? The only thing I can say is that I hope Dandaking pulls a Cinderella story. That would make the event epic!

Razer: Who do you think will meet at the finals? Who do you think will win?

Carmac: I honestly have no idea. I could give you a valid prediction after the group stage ends, but before that I do not know. I see five names in the list of participants that could end up going home with the gold medal, and almost all of those are equally rated. We will just have to wait and see.

Razer: Who do you think is the best Quake Live player of Asia? Of Europe? Of the World?

Carmac: The best player in Asia is uNleashed from Japan, unless you count Jibo who is Chinese and lives in Moscow, or proZaC who is Swedish but lives in Japan. The best European? Based on recent results, I would say Cooller, but that answer can be different after every event. The world’s best player? I will tell you on Saturday evening.

What can possibly topple the biggest e-sports RTS in the world?

Razer: SC2 has seen a meteoric rise over the past few months. Do you see any other RTS games matching the dominant e-Sports RTS?

Carmac: No, honestly, I don’t see it. StarCraft II is an amazing game which has everything in order to be the dominant game in RTS for years to come. Please do keep in mind that all major RTS esports have come from Blizzard, and no other RTS game came close to the success of StarCraft or WarCraft III. I do not see anyone creating an RTS game that could challenge early beta level Blizzard games, let alone the released versions.

Razer: Quake and CS are the premiere FPS games used in tournaments but one can say that they are pretty old. What new FPS games do you think has the potential to earn international acclaim and be a staple competitive e-sport game?

Carmac: I don’t see any game which could do that at the moment. I guess it would have to be a game which takes over the CS and Source communities and provides a modern replacement for CS 1.6, but I do not see it right now. Perhaps one game could prove me wrong, but that game would need to have blooming leagues, pro teams and coverage websites that do not rely on the current eports infrastructure. If a game proves itself outside of the current system, it means that it will be a massive esports title.

One of these spectators may be the next e-Sports star

Razer: Having been to a lot of E-sports even of late, have you seen any promising/upcoming stars?

Carmac: StarCraft II will produce dozens of major stars. Counter-Strike keeps producing talent and I am surprised so few teams are able to pick up players and build great lineups. Fnatic has been changing their roster for a very long time and stayed at the top – that just proves that there are enough fringe players out there to build a team close to Fnatic’s strength. For some reason it is hard for organisations to do. I do not expect any sudden rise to fame in Quake Live, though. That game definitely needs a major injection of fresh blood.

Razer: In the controversial finals of Quake Live in the IEM European Championships, what were the factors you took into consideration when you made the decision?

Carmac: I did not make the decision. The referees did. All I did was gather the right people in the right place, collected the facts and made sure that I can honestly say that nothing was overlooked. The factors that the referees used were: the rulebook. There is no rule in the book that stipulates a game replay due to lag, but there is one where there’s a disconnect. The referees simply followed the rulebook, that was it.

Razer: What are your future plans for the IEM? What is your vision with regard to the future of e-sports?

Carmac: We want to be more ambitious with how we do things next season. For this World Championship we are broadcasting on a countless number of channels, with 7 or 8 languages. I think that is simply phenomenal. I could talk for hours about possible improvements and plans for events in the next season, but I will just say that we would like to keep making the events a joy to play and a joy to watch for people. There will definitely be some changes to the structure of our online season, that is certain.

Don’t miss the action as the Extreme Masters World Championships is now live! Get the latest news and watch it live at the ESL Website.

We hope everyone had their fill of burgers and booth models at the Intel Extreme Masters at CeBIT this year. It was a 5 day stretch full of emotion and perseverance; with players doing so much shouting you’d think that gaming is torture.

The only agony that came with this year’s Intel Extreme Masters was being so close to taking the crown in most of the competitions. After the dust has settled, Team Razer did not play too badly this time around as they pushed themselves and the competition to the limit while bagging over $25,000 in cash prize.

In the Counter Strike games, we had Mousesports and WeMade FOX coming in at 5th/6th and MYM at 9th/10th place. Team Dignitas fared better at World of Warcraft, coming in second only to Team EG in a hard fought finals match on Thursday.

Quake was much more fiercely contested with 3 of our guys, Cooller, Av3k and Cypher filling up half of the playoff spots.  All of them made it to the semi-finals, clinching the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place consecutively.

So there you have it, a round-up of the Intel Extreme Masters in Hannover. Congratulations to all the winners and participants of the IEM.

GG!

Moon and his guys from WeMade FOX make an appearance to promote Avalon Heroes

Cooller handles his prize

The 3 winners of Quake Live

Good Game!

Feel like showing some love for Team Razer? We have recently released the Razer Sphex “Team Edition” Desktop Skins that allows you to keep your mouse in control while allowing you to wear your hearts on your sleeve in support of our boys.

Zaccubus from Team Dignitas, one of Europe’s best Unreal Tournament and World in Conflict players, tells us why he has mad props for this version of the Sphex.

‘raz’, also known as Jonathan Baker is one of the scene’s most prolific and experienced Call of Duty 4 pro gamers, and his award winning COD team from Team Dignitas is considered and revered as one of the world’s best COD squads. Aged 20 and hailing from Cheshire in the UK, he gives his thoughts on the Razer Imperator.

Razer have been the leading company in gaming peripherals since they began in the late 1990s, they have released the new mouse called the Razer Imperator, below I’m going to categorise all the features of this mouse and explain the good and bad points within them to help people get a better understanding of the mouse from a gamers point of view.

This mouse sports the a shell similiar to the Razer Deathadder which we all know is very popular among ‘Palm’ players, this mouse is no different but enables gamers to have a downsized version of it, maybe this wasn’t Razer’s intention but from the looks of the mouse ergonomically it seems similar and from the looks you can tell this is a ‘Palm’ gaming mouse, there is the usual blue LED glow and logo on the top of the mouse, but the scroll wheel is slightly different, the scroll wheel is bolder and has grip within it and then the blue lights glow beside it, which In my opinion gives it a bulky look.

Now talking about the new buttoned features with this mouse, This is the first Razer mouse where comfort is priority, as in some cases I’ve had the problem also but the side buttons in some cases on mice are to far or to close, this is where Razer came up with a genius method of allowing movement of the side buttons, but without downgrading its overall sturdiness, as everyone knows how hardcore gamers (as myself) have occasionally used the side buttons a fair bit and it has caused them to break, Razer have fixed this problem with having sturdier buttons.

Personally I’d say from my opinion these take some time to get used to, as I’ve noticed that because of them being a fair bit more ridged they stick out a tiny bit more, but positioning the mouse correctly enables me to minimize that problem.

The weight of the mouse is fairly average, its not to heavy nor is it to light, it enables gamers to fluently move there hand around the mouse pad without much trouble at all, although once first purchasing the mouse, you may find that because of the Teflon pads having a slight tip to them you might need to just roughen the corners down with something so that it doesn’t create a gritty feeling like something is under your mouse.

Gripping the mouse is fairly straight forward it’s held like most palm gaming mice it enables fluent comfortable movement with both wrist and arm movements, as with most gamers it varies as I’m arm movement myself.

Precision with most laser mice is that the technology itself is to advanced that it becomes all complicated with DPI, HZ and tolling rate, this mouse simplifies this with two buttons, just below the mouse wheel, now before you go oh my god! Not another accidentally click DPI change and rage. This mouse because of its sturdiness of its buttons it becomes quite hard to accidentally it most light handled buttons which are on other gaming mice, as when accidentally switching the DPI whilst playing is fairly frustrating.

Overall this mouse is on par with the Razer Deathadder, and slightly resembling the MX518 but being slightly wider. The cost isn’t substantial and the quality of the product itself is worth the money, since I have had this mouse I have given my Razer DeathAdder to my brother, so it shows which I prefer.

Johnathan ‘raz’ Baker / Team Dignitas – COD Team

Razer Imperator Specifications

Product Features:

Contoured for comfort, the Razer Imperator delivers gaming-grade ergonomics that reduces strain during extended gameplay and provides added grip during aggressive mousing movements. The Razer Imperator also features Razer’s first adjustable side buttons to ensure customized positioning for a variety of hand sizes and gaming grips. In addition to its ergonomically-designed form factor, the Razer Imperator comes armed with the 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor for nothing less than pinpoint precision.

• Ergonomic right-handed design

• Adjustable side buttons

• 5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G laser sensor

• Razer Synapse on-board memory

• Up to 200 inches per second/ 50g acceleration

• Seven independently programmable Hyperesponse buttons

• 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response rate

• On-the-fly sensitivity adjustment

• Zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet

• Approximate size: 123(L) x 71(W) x 42(H)

Product page: http://www.razerzone.com/gaming-mice/razer-imperator

Price: US $79.99 via Razer Store ; Europe: €69.99 via Razer Store

Team Dignitas Website: http://www.team-dignitas.org