ESFI World

Progress has never been a bargain. You have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter and says, 'All right, you can have a telephone but you lose privacy and the charm of distance. Madam, you may vote but at a price. You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff or your petticoat. Mister, you may conquer the air but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline.'

Henry Drummond, Inherit the Wind

There's been a lot of movement in the StarCraft 2 scene lately. Everywhere I look it seems another foreign team has picked up a Korean player. Even smaller teams such as Team ReIGN, It's Gosu, and Infinity Seven have gotten in on the action, making use of Korean talent to give their up-and-coming players instant exposure and a stronger pool of practice partners.

Recently, the granddaddy of foreign acquisitions became official: oGsMC left the team that had been his home since StarCraft 2's release for Germany's SK Gaming, who had been without a stable StarCraft 2 team for months. As a fellow Protoss player and long-time fan of MC, I was shocked. My jaw hung open. Suddenly, SK's orignal deal with oGs and the friendly relationship between MC and SK's manager Reis made perfect sense. I spent a couple nights thinking about the devious ways in which this deal might have been reached. Maybe MC and Reis met in a dark alley in downtown Seoul, plotting MC's lucrative transfer to SK behind oGs's back. But probably not.

Initially, I wanted to write something analyzing SK's brilliance. After signing just one player, they had rocketed from near-irrelevance to, I would argue, one of the top contenders in the international scene. There are many Korean players on foreign teams, but only one is a two-time GSL champion. I don't think a single player has ever altered the balance of the power in the foreign scene so dramatically. MC dominated HomeStory Cup 4, and now he puts everyone in danger of seeing an SK jersey on the podium of every foreign tournament he enters.

We don't know exactly why MC left oGs, but it isn't hard to guess. He now has a salary, guaranteed travel expenses, and he's competing against a notably weaker field of players. When Koreans started winning MLG after MLG, we joked that they were taking all our money. Now that sentiment seems to be MC's business plan.

I had also planned to talk about MC's relationship to oGs and how its conclusion might influence other Korean players. I then realized, however, that any influence MC's decision might have had is trivial when you consider the broader picture. MC is merely the most visible symptom of a trend we've seen growing for the last few months, and which will continue to grow in the months to come -- namely, the exodus of Korean players to foreign teams.

Think of the number of foreign teams with Korean players: Liquid, EG, It's Gosu, eSahara, Vile, Infinity Seven, Reign, Dignitas, and Fnatic. Liquid and EG have two Koreans, while eSahara recently added a third. Then there are teams like Quantic and Complexity who do not have Korean players on their teams per se, but who have partnered with Korean teams to gain practice space. There's also Fnatic, who just acquired WarCraft 3 superstar Moon. Finally we have FXO, perhaps the most extreme example, but more on them in a bit.

To any regular fan of StarCraft, this trend might seem like the herald of the arrival of the foreign scene: we've finally gained the recognition of the Korean players, who in turn provide our teams with the kind of skill necessary to compete for the most prestigious StarCraft 2 championships. This is the kind of progress the community has always hoped for. But what price have we paid for this progress? We know who the winners are, but who are the losers?

The answer, which should come as a shock to no one, is foreign players. Specifically, up-and-coming and prospective players. The community has always been quick to praise a savvy business move, especially when it directly benefits the community, and there is no business move more savvy or community-oriented than hiring a Korean player. Not only does a Korean player make your team stronger and more exciting to watch, it legitimizes the foreign scene as a whole. As a spectator, I feel that my enthusiasm hasn't gone to waste. I feel excited about the future of StarCraft 2. The last big foreigner acquisition was probably HuK, back in August. Since then, the most exciting announcements - those that got their own team-sponsored hype-campaigns - have been for Koreans.

Even proven foreigners are affected. All money currently spent on acquiring Korean stars is money that isn't spent developing or scouting foreign talent or put toward paying the contract of someone who might have deserved it. A player who might have been able to justify a position in a team house before the Korean influx is going to have a hard time justifying it after. For example, EG recently signed former TSL player JYP, and so you might have been sad to hear rumors that Axslav and StrifeCro were cut. But were you surprised?

Ex-TSL player JYP recently signed with EG (Photo: Fragster.de)

We're seeing a fundamental shift in the role of foreign players. Realistically, there aren't many foreigners who can depend on their results alone. The ones who can are already in Korea. This means that everyone else must rely on intangibles like personality, media presence, et cetera, which also explains why teams seem willing to hire female players who have always relied on those intangibles. Unfortunately, this puts foreigners in a Catch-22 situation: they need results to earn a spot in a team house, but without a team house they lack the ability to earn results. Even Stephano, who would seem to be the obvious exception to this rule, has made almost all of his money outside of Korea. His success within Korea is almost non-existent. 

I'm not, however, suggesting that Koreans are intrinsically more skilled than foreign players. Players outside of Korea can compete, and have competed, with the very best players inside Korea. The difference is that Koreans have the resources. For a while foreigners had a financial advantage, but it has since been squandered on partnership deals and player acquisitions. When faced with a choice between an up-and-coming foreign player and an up-and-coming Korean player, foreign teams will always prefer the Korean player. Why? Because, logistical concerns aside, it's the savvier business move.

If we want a glimpse into the future of StarCraft 2 —the dystopian, apocalyptic version, anyway—we need not look any further than FXO. Eight months ago they were the plucky foreign underdogs of the GSTL. Today, it's easy to forget they have a foreign roster at all. FXOBoSs recently blogged about the risks and rewards of acquiring the former fOu team and how well that decision has turned out for the FXO brand. The Korean members of FXO are notably happier. FXO and its management are happier. But what about the foreign players FXO didn't hire?

For now, the foreign scene is in a strange place.

On the surface things won't change much. If anything, the foreign scene will only see more exciting tournaments and greater exposure for the players who are already established. We've gotten exactly what we wanted, but it's important to understand that progress is not without cost. There will always be foreign players, but they're going to have a harder time competing on their own. Because of the globalization of the Korean scene, it's not impossible that we're heading toward a future where foreign teams utilize Korean practice environments to train a roster of Korean players. The only questions left to ask are: when does a "foreign team with Korean players" become a "Korean team based outside of Korea?" How long until Korean players become honorary foreigners? Does the Korean scene matter anymore? Does it even matter to Koreans?

I guess we'll have to ask SK.MC. 

John King

John King is a reporter and columnist for ESFI World. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnKing4581.   » Profile   » Twitter

MC photos: SK Gaming