After not being a multi-gaming organization for several years, today Project EVERSIO is proud to announce a new gaming division: StarCraft 2!

Benjamin ‘ArChon’ Bugeja will be our flag-bearer for this new venture. A programmer by profession, and a Protoss player by passion, Benjamin will be looking to create a team around him in order to help each other develop in the game. ArChon is currently in Diamond League, and is competing to reach his previous heights in Master League, and beyond. You can also follow Benjamin's frequent stream over at twitch.tv/4rchon

One could say that StarCraft, a sci-fi real time strategy game developed by Blizzard, is the original eSport, having been a Government-sanction sporting phenomenon in South Korea in the early 2000s. More recently, StarCraft 2 spearheaded the entrance of eSports into mainstream media following its release in 2010. Although the likes of League of Legends, Dota 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have taken over as the premier eSport titles in the international scene, StarCraft still remains a vital part of the ecosystem, and Blizzard’s WCS, GSL, SSL and the other independent events such as IEM, DreamHack and WESG amongst others still produce top notch entertainment from the ridiculously skilled competitors.

This is not EVERSIO’s first fray into the battlegrounds of Aiur. EVERSIO had fielded a six-man StarCraft 2 team back in 2011, a whopping six years ago, so it's a great feeling to be getting back. This time however, we have a seven year old title, so reinvigorating the local scene will definitely be a challenge. Eitherway, we believe in the passion that our players have for the game, and the perseverance that breeds success.

Interview with Benjamin 'ArChon' Bugeja

Let's start with introductions!
Hi! I'm Benjamin Bugeja, 21 years old, and I'm from Zejtun.

Your nickname is self-explanatory for SC fans, but how did you come about choosing it?
It's been a while since when I picked this nickname. I remember that I hated my previous nicknames and I wanted something that people could chant when I'm winning :)
I've been playing StarCraft as long as I can remember, so I thought I would pick the unit I thought sounded the coolest, changed the capitilisation to make it look like the pros' and ended up with ArChon.

What do you do in real life?
I'm currently a programmer, taking a one year break from uni. I'm very interested in AI and how it can be applied to competitive games, so I'm hoping to pursue that in the future. Other than that, when I'm not watching or playing StarCraft, I'm either gnawing my teeth on Dark Souls, or trying to make time for the latest Witcher installment.

What are the video-games that have made their mark on your gaming habits?
I've always been a huge fan of both strategy games and first person shooters. The Blizzard RTSes (WarCraft II, III, StarCraft: Brood War) have had a large influence on me. I used to spend hours trying to beat their campaigns until I was finally introduced to competitive multiplayer. I also have very fond memories of myself playing Rise of Nations and C&C: Generals among many others. In terms of first person shooters, I've sunk a lot of hours in Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare II, but recently, other than a brief stint in Titanfall 2, I can't say I've been playing too many multiplayer first person shooters.

What inspired you to play SC2 of all games? And eventually to stick with it – it is known to be possibly the hardest competitive game out there, and also the most unforgiving.
That's exactly why I stuck with it! There's something especially satisfying about going head to head against another human being, and knowing that winning and losing depends solely on your performance. You can learn a lot about yourself from losing a game in which you're the only one to blame.

I used to play a lot of Brood War, but never made an effort to be competitive. Around 2007, StarCraft II was announced, and it was at that time that I started to follow the StarCraft eSports scene more closely, albeit mostly through live text reports rather than streams. South Korean progamers were unmatched in skill. To me they were legends. The Korean hype trailers represented them as serious entertainers on the level of MMA fighters. I wanted to be them.

I chose StarCraft 2 over Brood War because StarCraft 2 became a global eSport rather than a strictly Korean one, so the pro-scene was much more accessible.

Have you played other competitive games in the past?
I've never really played any other game competitively. Practicing in other games felt more like a chore. It never felt like I was having as much fun practicing in other games as I do in StarCraft.

StarCraft paved the way for eSports as we know it, yet few other games have replicated its success. What other strategy games do you enjoy, and why do you think SC remains king?
As I mentioned before I've really enjoyed the Blizzard RTSes, as well as C&C: Generals, and Rise of Nations. I think there are some interesting concepts to be learned from games such as Company of Heroes, Ground Control II, and Dawn of War II, especially with regards to cover systems and terrain. Even so, I can't think of an RTS which reaches the level of polish Blizzard put into StarCraft II. That said, the last RTS I played which wasn't StarCraft was Grey Goo back in 2015, so take this with a pinch of salt.

Between 2011 and 2014, StarCraft was by far and wide seen to be the most prominent eSports title out there, but has since been overtaken by the likes of Dota 2, LoL and CS:GO. Why do you think this has happened?
In terms of marketing, I believe Blizzard left too much of it in the hands of the community as opposed to what feels like Riot's constant flow of cash into LoL. Meanwhile, Valve does an excellent job in including community generated content to maintain player interest in the game. Even when Blizzard started to pay more attention to marketing, WCS itself stepped on a lot of toes with its introduction, and some decisions with regards to region-locking were rather controversial. KeSPA restricting their star players to Brood War until 2012 didn't help either. 

In terms of gameplay, there were a couple of times when Blizzard let the metagame become very stale in their neglect of some design issues, which definitely pushed a fraction of the fan-base away. More specifically I'm referring to things such as the Broodlord/Infestor era and the Swarmhost era. It was very disheartening as a player to face these compositions. Fortunately Blizzard has taken a more active approach since the latest expansion.

As for the game itself, the 1v1 aspect is very demanding and requires constant attention. Except for a few seconds at the start of each game, there is almost no down-time throughout the whole match, as opposed to MOBAs or competitive shooters. As a streamer, it's very frustrating for your viewer if you can only communicate every 10-20 minutes.

How has Legacy of the Void changed the game? Has it been for the better?
The biggest change in Legacy of the Void has been the increased number of starting workers from 6 to 12. In addition, half the mineral fields in each mineral line have half the amount of minerals. These two changes together mean that the game has become extremely fast paced. It also meant that the early game build orders had to be remapped as well as having to rediscover expansion and scout timings due to the accelerated start. Once again Protoss warp-ins were the cause of much discussion as Blizzard decided to reduce warp-in speeds near pylons which do not have a warp-gate or a Nexus in their power field.

I think the changes were generally positive. Definitely in the right direction. I certainly prefer the new starting number of probes - all-ins are easier to scout and hold with more workers which means there are a lot fewer build order wins.

You play Protoss, an in-game race famous for being able to be played both for the long-haul (the colossus death balls), or on the other end of the spectrum: super cheesy. What is your style?
Most Protoss builds are very timing based, taking advantage of very specific power spikes and timing windows, which lends to their reputation of being all-innish or cheesy. I like to stay active on the map and keep my opponent on his toes, probing for weak points, then striking in many places at once in the hopes of overloading my opponent's attention. That is, until I realise I'm floating 2000 minerals :P

What is your primary go-to build?
My favourite build right now is in the PvZ match-up. It's a build popularized at the end of last year by Zest. He opens with a 1 gate expand into double Archon drop, with the Archons being merged from Dark Templar. He uses the two Archons and the Warp Prism to harass and scout. My favourite transition, depending on the damage, is going for a Blink Stalker timing attack right before the Zerg gets a chance to have Hydralisks on the map, to try and finish off the game.
 

Favourite international Protoss, Zerg and Terran player?
Protoss: Stats
Zerg: Dark
Terran: Byun

How would you convince a person to be interested in StarCraft? Any particular game you'd recommend to watch?
It's like playing chess, poker, and the piano at the same time. If I had to pick a particular set, I would say the final set between Sjow vs Life in the Ro8 of Dreamhack Summer back in 2013 (https://youtu.be/0PABJj4_Xt4?t=2659) is a good introduction.

What has your competitive experience been like in SC2? Played in any international teams? Participated in any international tournament?
When playing competitively I've consistently placed in the top 2% of the ladder (Master League). I've almost always been involved in a clan in some form or another. Last tournament I participated in was the Alpha SC2 Season 6 EU Amateur team league, which my clan won! (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/User:Mraptor/Horizon).
 

What about the local SC2 scene?
I used to host local tournaments for StarCraft 2 a while back to hopefully try to get more people interested in the game. I hosted about 15 online tournaments, but eventually school and life got in the way and I had to stop.
 

Do you have any ambitions in streaming? Any schedule that you normally stick to?
I currently stream ~1 hour a day during week-days and 3+ hours during week-ends. I like to think that my stream has good music, but I'm hoping to start commentating my games eventually to turn it into a more interactive stream.
 

What are your aspirations going forward in StarCraft?
My main goal is to show people how beautiful this game can be. My second goal is to reach the Grandmaster league. I'm not sure which is the hardest.
 

Anything else you feel you'd like to express on the topic of your involvement in StarCraft and eSports?
As dramatic as it may sound, few things equal the passion I have for this game, as anyone who knows me even just a bit can tell you. I hope I can represent my country abroad in the near future and put this passion to good use :)
 

Any shoutouts?
Shoutout to: my previous clan, Horizon, where I met many wonderful people and practice partners; the /r/starcraft and /r/allthingsprotoss subreddits; teamliquid.net; and finally, hi mom, I'm on the internet!