Harstem Talks: Saudi Money in StarCraft, and KR vs EU, "Serral is an outlier, overall KR is better"

[@Kemachi64]

Good video baby face

[@Akano83]

Can confirm saw historian irl

[@CecilRegardes]

I am a random American who plays Starcraft at night with his married buddies at a Platinum level (and definitely no higher). We still have a blast after all these years. I love watching Harstem. He is hilariously cocky as a fun act, but, when genuine, he is a serious professional with real humility.

[@bt920]

I would love to play with you guys!

[@Donpovich]

@@bt920 ikr lol. I would def help them get outa plat .

[@spokoman23]

Used to be in US, but now EU. At that stage of your life... Diamond 3 is possible, believe you me!

[@Donpovich]

@@spokoman23 agreed

[@slavicsoup7762]

Will never ever get tired of 4v4 no matter how cheesy it is or however r many times one of my relatives in the group throws the game. So enjoyable.

[@robertof.8174]

Harstem is such a smart guy. It is nice to hear his opinions about different themes related to RTS. He is also humble, he doesn't comment on things he doesn't know about. That is a lot of self-awareness! Kudos for his channel and hard work there, we really enjoy it and admire his dedication! Kudos to you also, you have good interviews question and great figures in your channel, I subscribed!

[@BlackSparki]

Harstem simply keeps it real, gotta love this guy, not to mention his (and Lambos) live commentary on high profile games, best there is.

[@uberpansy77]

I feel like whenever he speaks the force conveys the added responsibility as a representative of the sport. Nothing he says (unless in the particular vein of satire) detracts or misrepresents the player narrative. If there is a canonical voice to be heard presenting the scene at large it is Harstem. It sounds like a high bar for a self-proclaimed goofus, but it’s his reductive viewpoints which tread clear of inference, that I think makes him uniquely suited as an ambassador.

[@rodrigoff7456]

Smart of you to snatch this interview early in the year of Harstem, before he becomes too famous and powerful!

[@LadyMorrigan]

Every year is the year of harstem 😤

[@richardkiefer4748]

I am flabbergasted that they recreated Harstem's lighting settings from his studio so accurately. Could be in front of a greenscreen and he is just at home, haha.

[@idde4345]

'The Saudis are just throwing money at it, without really having an idea of what they're doing.' Damn, gotta appreciate Harstems absolutely honest bluntness lol. Even when honest might not be smartest thing to be.

[@fkoper]

You'll get the same type of refreshing honesty from any Dutchy. Is it really bluntness if it's meant as constructive criticism?

[@idde4345]

@@fkoper well, I am Dutch as well. And I know plenty of other Dutch people who wouldn't just outright say: yeah, the people who are pouring millions of dollars into the sport I play? They don't really know what they're doing. I'd say definitely say that's more on the blunt side of things lol. And I'm completely here for it.

[@mistervanderveer]

Its been coined as sportswashing, but secretly I think one of the Saudi princes has a love for Starcraft and wants to keep the scene alive.

[@fkoper]

@@idde4345 True, could be more refined. Just think it's more common in the Dutch community and/or culture than it would be outside of said community

[@fkoper]

@@mistervanderveer Haha very positive vibe. Perhaps they can sponsor more SCII tournaments instead?

[@WhitefoxSpace]

Since my friend linked an IODIS video two years ago Ive watched a ton of Harstem's videos. He was a massive breath of fresh air in the YT scene- very grateful for his consistency, he always brightens a day

[@AndrewSternkern]

13:25 This is one of the reasons Harstem is so likeable. There is no struggle for viewer/sub count with him.

[@124horst]

gotta give props to Harstem for not overhyping the saudis influence in the sc2 scene

[@Vyleea]

I'll never get over Harstem's lustrous lips. Whenever I see his face I just can't stop staring at it, lol.

[@StarcraftHistorian]

He’s a married man, calm yourself buddy 😆

[@erig6596]

When you mention it ... crap.

[@Vyleea]

@@erig6596 Ikr, you cannot unsee it.

[@GhostRareCollector]

it‘s some pair of ulta rare lips, calm down m9

[@scientistforscience]

A few years ago I watched Harstem casting a B stream, his commentary was so enlightening. He is definitely my favorite analyst.

[@pablovirus]

Harstem's funny videos always add a nice touch to my day, either at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I hope he gets where he wants to be both in competitive play and as a content creator.

[@Harrison-x2o]

honor guide me!!! yes chieften. TC was an iconic wc3 hero for sure :D

[@serhiy_serhiy]

He is still

[@Stupidassho]

Maybe a personal nitpick but I think the question cadence or inflections and follow ups could use refinement. Cheers, thanks for the interview

[@StarcraftHistorian]

Totally agree, I have a lot to learn and sharpen up!

[@DomenG33K]

@@StarcraftHistorian To me it seemed you started of a little bit stronger with the first few question. And later on you kinda lost your rhythm...

[@Striver-fx6kr]

Ok, Harstem just admitted it. Terran = IMBA

[@faikerdogan2802]

😂😂😂

[@OnigoroshiZero]

Terran is auto-win if the player is even remotely close to a Zerg or Protoss.

[@bigtruck1838]

I mean they are lol

[@edd8914]

EMP is cracked

[@Sidecutt3]

That's not what he said

[@ikbenlars]

It's still the year of Harstem and that will never change! We Proud!

[@abysmalpea9312]

7:56 lol at that eyebrow raise

[@Paddythelaad]

man, I love the Starcraft 2 community, I played a bunch of sc2 teamgames

[@rickycassidy2429]

What an excellent interview. Kudos to Harstem ... such humility. A really nice inside view from enjoying Harstem's content. He's still funny as f*ck lol

[@hermisid]

Captain is the best, last 55 years me and my grandmother are following his road to rank one. He is the best!

[@yungcraka6476]

Bro what lmao

[@mihairo83]

🤣

[@Mystery_Meat]

Harstem is one of my favorite content creators, great dude and so witty!

[@Fanaro]

14:00 Seriously saying that something is funny is indeed very funny.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

Oh captain my captain

[@dizastro5437]

I played WC on the PlayStation. Immediately hooked. SC was the natural progression.

[@alderweghier3935]

one the playstation? didnt even know there was a PS version, but its not that surprising considering starcraft had a N64 version too

[@josearmandogomezrocabado537]

13:52 that is why your channel is so awesome, its just so real.

[@mixitra8320]

Goals for streaming and KZbin - I hope Harstem enjoys them as much as I do. The game shows, the casts, the random cheeses, all of it is top level certified S rank grandmaster stuff.

[@Evarakeus]

I wonder how he'd feel about going the BW route with Ghosts/Raven by swapping IM/EMP between them (similar to Lockdown/EMP in BW). I feel attaching such a strong spell to the Raven would both make it see a lot more use and make it easier to defend against (more expensive and bigger units, without an auto-attack) while inversely attaching Interference Matrix to a caster that's actually vulnerable to the units it's used against (mainly tanks).

[@morgwai667]

the post-credits scene 😂😂😂

[@alexs.2069]

Harstem being on point about Serral and basically predicting his 2024 iem win

[@sitoconfuzee8381]

Much love for Harstem

[@stormssc]

I hoped for more questions about Saudi money.

[@TheJohtaja]

Eh, seemed like quite a concise but comprehensive put down of the situation.

[@kingsgambit7098]

I would like to see structure be introduced into the army composition of rts games. This is happening to an extent with marines in SC2, but in general, the Canon fodder should be the majority of one's composition. The rest should be expensive supporting units. This also revolves around the idea of population. The more canon fodder, the bigger the army. It just goes well with multi front attacks and bigger maps. You can still build whatever composition you want, but the standard would be the more practical way to play. Those who prefer to gamble with a timed all-in would still have their fun.

[@tyrellwreleck4226]

I played ladder in all region. Got 5k in America, 4.7k in Europe, 4.6k in Korea. Korea has very aggressive players and very creative openings.

[@ellipsoidi]

"but it is your livelyhood though?" "Funni"

[@macedindu829]

IMO, Harstem nailed it: the annoying thing about Terran is they have roughly a billion viable options vZ and vP.

[@crescentmoon2806]

The year of Harstem is here

[@seekthedragonout]

This was suprisingly interesting and also casually fun.

[@treesie9760]

For the question of what could the dev's do to make a great rts game. I always think of a game mode, that is kind of a mesh up between rts and moba. For exemple really enjoy watching archon matches. Then you could have one person respnsible for macro and sending out units and the others having a hero and a certin amount of units/minons to control. I think that could create a really fun and interactiv format with lots of differet strategies.

[@EnemyN666]

"Maybe these people also win though" 😂🤣😂🤣

[@StarcraftHistorian]

Funniest moment in the video for sure

[@mihairo83]

Yeah... nothing hypes you more than winning. 😊

[@kostyantynhoncharov493]

Great interview, good questions ^^ But do you mind dropping "so" before almost every question ? It would give more flow if you could find some synonymous words imo. Regards

[@StarcraftHistorian]

Always learning and working on this craft, totally agree that would be a point of improvement 😊

[@kostyantynhoncharov493]

@@StarcraftHistorian i don't mean no disrespect, i like what you do !! thnx

[@thiccbutt1835]

thats very nit-picky, i think you did a great job at maneuvering this interview, but sure thing always room to improve anywhere! @@StarcraftHistorian

[@TommyEngdahl]

In short. If Harstem starts playing Stormigare it is fun. I respect his ideas of playing and IMBA is a good and fun metric. I seldom laugh as much as when Harstem goes Ironic and even more when he goes Sarcastic. Always with warmth, i think 😂

[@b0lt191]

"a sleeper cell of RTS terrorists just waiting to blow stuff up", and this time it's not the Saudis!

[@AntiDoctor-cx2jd]

I actually think that the variety of terran strengths holds them back. The players get side tracked by different options. Like there are about 5 different terran hard counters to the entire protoss race. how many terran units can 1-shot a zerg unit? How many zerg units can 1-shot a terran unit?

[@keizan5132]

What about Reynor and the recent DH Atlanta champion Clem? Sure, Clem underperformed offline for years until he got the grip on it but, at his online level (or lately offline level), he can really get nearly unstoppable if he gets in the zone and Serral isn't in Katowice 2022-24 form.

[@Decon89]

Ty for another great interview. Have to ask; the "historian" thing - inspired by thorin, the selfproclaimed esport historian? :) All good, just wondering

[@StarcraftHistorian]

He’s not the reason I chose the Historian moniker, but he is absolutely the reason I didn’t choose Esports Historian. Funny that you would mention him, you could might maybe possibly be seeing his face on my channel soonish 👀

[@Decon89]

@@StarcraftHistorian interesting! This id just as important work as Thorin's interviews with pros.

[@ProuvaireJean]

Thorin? The "I AM ESPORTS! Begone, peon" guy?

[@r0flgal0re]

​@@ProuvaireJean I know him as the guy that insults young LoL players online right after they lost an important match.

[@maryjonzezulon3092]

Ohh, this guy Harstem,. After so many humiliation in ZvP games, on ladder, i feel that i really like this Protoss ;) Such a nice guy.

[@untossablesalad4423]

Loved the interview! I would like to know the opinions of some high tier players as to what innovation they’d like to see Stormgate make to really create the “next-gen” of RTS

[@Quixote3]

The humble Captain. ❤

[@joserodriguez537]

Man I love Harstem

[@StarcraftDr]

Great stuff

[@aa-ron2243]

thanks for the content.

[@proddreamatnight]

Year of Harstem!

[@viresinnumeris7755]

Dota on WCIII miss those days 😭😭😭

[@edd8914]

I think Harstem is right, the social element could be better in RTS. Team games are a lot of fun.

[@yungcraka6476]

The reason I play SC2 (this is me personally of course) is honestly because it's NOT a team game (not the 1v1 ladder which I exclusively play). Every single team game I've ever played I get matched with retards who've seemingly never touched a keyboard and mouse in their lives up until that exact moment, while every single player on the other team is some sort of grandmaster. This is actually why I love SC2 so much, it's just me and you. Nobody is there to fuck it up for me

[@jacoballey21]

I'd say Serral, Clem, and MaxPax are HUGE outliers. And i aknowledge they are the best in their respective races on aligulac. But overall KR has a higher skill base.

[@fjoiewafno]

Serral has won many premier events. Clem and Max pax have not done that although are playing very high level, I don't think they've proven themselves to be comparable to Serral yet

[@LuckyGnom]

Players that don't play LAN tournaments are irrelevant. You can win 20 random online tournaments and then another guy will win IEM and nobody will care about that online hero.

[@AudreyandmeAu]

Is the balance council meeting again?

[@GSteel-rh9iu]

The Captain does The Netherlands proud.

[@jamesmears7552]

Such a fan of Harstem

[@vladmatei1958]

Very nice and interesting interview. However, one can see Harstem between question thinking: "I have 700 apm and I receive questions at 10 apm"

[@K3rriganZerg]

"Cannon rushing is good, I love this" True statement of a dirty toss player 😂 haha

[@nrf82]

Harstem is a legend

[@spokoman23]

Harstem, while I appreciate his honesty the fact is that right now the number 1 Z, P and T in world rankings are: Serral, Max Pax and Clem.

[@Bradgilliswhammyman]

Harstem is very very good but I don't see him beating those players in a tournament.

[@dustincintron1682]

Great vid!

[@1389Chopin]

Great vid and questions - Microsoft please listen and hire harstem as a consultant - he has good ideas. Its such a good game - lean into it

[@niquil7800]

Good stuff bro

[@Lightwait321]

Yes! Co-op improvements!!!

[@evelic]

Conclusion: as long as it is fun.

[@wotwot6868]

One thing no one has talked about is the fact that Europe does not have a month/s long tournament. They all just play each other in a weekend tournament.

[@displacedicon7643]

Why is this of interest? (Genuine question).

[@thorwaldjohanson2526]

Kinda curious too

[@bongkem2723]

hmmm without Serral there are still Reynor, Maxpax, Clem those who make Serral look human again :))

[@kjbodyperformance]

Maxpax seldom takes series off of serral but yes, they do win against him, however, none of them come close to amount of wins as serral, not even combined.

[@mihairo83]

Reynor is currently struggling to find his pace again, unfortunately and MaxPax doesn't play offline events idk why. So when it comes to major events, right now only Serral has real chances of going all the way. Clem is really great, but I think for now is hard to see him defeat Maru, Cure, Dark and all the other Korean legends.

[@alicrastd3095]

The Captain has the funniest videos.

[@lg6707]

Harstem really is ia teenage Bart Simpson

[@dogfoot1874]

16:58 Terran

[@sc2youtube744]

This dude harstem is so serious in interviews he almost seems pissed off, especially when compared to his youtube

[@ezlyfe1069]

i have been saying this forever. protoss no longer has diversity of strategy. Give them buffs, add a unit. The other races will learn to adapt. Its like someone saying super battery is OP but they are headbutting into it or not focus firing it. There is always a way around it.

[@AntiDoctor-cx2jd]

There is a korean player that makes protoss viable at a high level, so I guess I agree that KR is better overall. Also I think dark is the actual best skilled unit controller. If he would just stop trying to have fun and be boring like Serral, I think he would get more wins.

[@haytionette]

Harstem is the dutch Chael Sonnen.

[@johnhyon8519]

dang, im now 26min behind on my day.

[@Leikjarinn]

TALK TO DAY9

[@alexelectricx]

Uploading content is easy AF for streamers like Harstem. They just have to upload the VOD of their stream with minimal editing.

[@petervandervennet7653]

I don't think he does the EU young guard like Raynor, Clem and Maxpax justice by sayiing it's only about Serral against KR. I think any of these can go against the best of KR. I do agree the 2n tier player pool in KR is bigger.

[@Supperrman]

lol

[@MKu64]

Not sure if you watched the latest Colosseum (7)... Raynor, who is a fantastic player, had no chance v Hero (just as an example).... then watch Serral, who wins the whole thing, ironically while Hero made less mistakes than when playing Raynor. Raynor is GREAT... but Serral is another level. It's just the truth.

[@Lightwait321]

Making money is very funny 13:31

[@shadowpriest2574]

Are the Koreans ahead by quite a margin if we take out Serral from the Europeans? Yes, but only because you take out the best player. Take out Maru and the Europeans and the Koreans are comparable again. Tho I agree that the "tier 2" players of Korea are better, but when it comes to the Tier 1 players, both Korea and EU has 3 top tier players (Serral, Clem, Reynor to Maru, Dark, Rogue)

[@dustincintron1682]

Well if you take out Maru you still got Dark Cure Hero and Solar. But yeah, the tier 2 Koreans are closer to being tier 1 than the tier 2 euros

[@thorwaldjohanson2526]

I think in the top 8 players, Europe and Koreans are very even, but in top 20, Korea has more players.

[@mihairo83]

If you mention Rogue, you must mention Zest. Also Cure, you can't let him unmentioned. For now, Korea is still way ahead, but maybe EU will close the distance in a few years. There are dozens of Korean top players, while in EU I think you can hardly mention 7-8.

[@AAkCN1]

love it

[@sunstruck9136]

how is serral an outlier when clem is n1 terran and serral is n1 zerg

[@babyflubber6405]

Harstem has aged!!!!

[@wotwot6868]

Other facts is how games are predominantly macro nowadays.. and how streaming has allowed more information sharing. Gone are the days when s0s can mastermind his way into winning all the 100k weekend tournaments and couple of blizzcon wins.

[@sandal9405]

good vid. Can`t disagreee with harstem on social part, trying to get people into sc and have fun with then is too hard.

[@Crenshaw41]

harstam has grey hair?

[@TheTykk]

Flaming lipps!

[@calebrobinson6406]

Saudi money is blood money

[@grahamgaming3]

I swear harstem is Pete Davidson's European little brother.

[@vexienroe]

Yall talk about attendance being surprised and kevin dong is there, where are you?

[@StarcraftHistorian]

This was filmed at Dreamhack Atlanta 2023

[@vexienroe]

@@StarcraftHistorian ah ok, it was just uploaded so i thought it was katowice or something but it was awhile ago, i guess editing and stuff can take a bit. Thanks for the content.

[@mEtil5656]

I think europe has like these 4 guys (Serral, Clem, Reynor and Maxpax, but not on offline ^^). These 4 guys are really good and have also been winning most of the international tournaments, and i feel like are on par, maybe even a little better than their korean colleagues. But then there is just such a huge gap, and while like the top ten is 4/10 europeans, the top 15 or top 20 is still like 5 or 6/20 europeans.

[@christophe5756]

Harstem is a master conversationalist in the English language and he can carry a conversation. Try to ask less ’yes or no’ questions, and try to form your questions so that your guest does most (the vast majority) of the talking. Having an off-camera interviewer talk for a minute straight while Harstem sits and looks off camera is just not a good look. I see the name of the show, and if you want to have an actual conversation with your guests, then you should also be on camera. Watch the video again and you’ll see what I mean.

[@mihairo83]

Exactly. It takes 2 people for having a real dialoge.

[@nickfeijoo7779]

Harstem rulez

[@fortheregm1249]

I'm sick of Blizzard nerfing Serral because of the Zerg.

[@mihairo83]

I think you need to edit that... You probably mean... sick of Blizzard nerfing zerg beacuse of Serral.

[@fortheregm1249]

@@mihairo83 :) you missed the joke

[@dogfoot1874]

Took him out

[@johnnymaximum3828]

Morbstem

[@Voidroamer]

terran is the reason i quit SC2 . I refuse to switch race, and i refuse to be a punching bag

[@FenixoA]

Osm