Spanishiwa
From Liquipedia Starcraft 2 Wiki
 Spanishiwa [help]
[edit]
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| Player Information | |
| Name: | Michael Yabut |
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| Birth: | September 4, 1993 |
| Country: |  United States
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| Race: | Zerg |
| Team: | Soviet Gaming |
| Alternate IDs: | vileSpanshwa |
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| History | |
N/A - 2012-05-04
2012-05-04 - 2012-12-04
2012-12-07 - Present
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Michael "Spanishiwa" Yabut is an American Zerg player, who current plays for Soviet Gaming.
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[edit] Biography
Though originating from California, Michael moved "about 11 times" before beginning at UC Davis in autumn 2011. His ID Spanishiwa is a portmanteau of "Spanish" and "konnichiwa", the Japanese word for "hello". He chose this because when at a young age living in Japan, he chose to take Spanish instead as his second language.[1] Spanishiwa is unusual among StarCraft II professionals in that he had not played any RTS games competitively pre-Beta, instead having mainly played chess. This he mainly attributes to his age. Instead, Michael came across StarCraft II during Patch 9. Originally a Protoss player, he switched to Zerg when,during the Beta, Overseers were given a 'drop Infested Terrans' spell.
He made his first MLG Appearance at Anaheim in 2011, competing in the open bracket.[2]
Spanishiwa was part of Team Vile up to May 5th, 2012, when the entire StarCraft II team roster was acquired by Quantic Gaming.[3] After Quantic Gaming disbanded on the 4th of December; a few days later, on the 7th of December, he returned to his old team, Soviet Gaming, where he would seek to rekindle his interest in the game.[4]
[edit] Wings of Liberty
While Spanishiwa hasn't won any major tournaments, he has enjoyed success in many smaller events such as the SC Reddit Opens, online King of the Hill tournaments and showmatches. perhaps, During MLG Dallas 2011 he briefly rose to #1 on the North American server (given that his competitors were all at the event). As of September 2011, he is a top-100 NA player.
[edit] MLG
Spanishiwa made his first MLG Appearance in 2011's Anaheim venue. He was knocked out of the Open Winner's Bracket in the second round by Syck, and the losers bracket in the third round by FireZerg. A showing at the next MLG, 2011's Raleigh, yielded stronger results. While again dropping the first round of the Open Winner's Bracket, Michael went on a 13-2 run overcoming names like giX, Spades, and IefNaij through seven rounds and seven hours of play, before eventually falling 1-2 to DeMusliM.
At MLG Providence, Spanishiwa again made a strong showing. In the Open Bracket he advanced to Round 5, defeating other known players such as Painuser (2-0) and KawaiiRice (2-0) convincingly before losing to TLO 1-2. Thereafter, he defeated theognis (2-0) in the final round of the Lower Bracket. Arriving finally in the Championship Bracket, however, he faced teammate vileIllusion, losing to finish in the top 32.
[edit] Playstyle
Much of the Michael's popularity has been drawn from an unusual and creative playstyle, putting less competitive-minded online players at a disadvantage. Spanishiwa has earned notoriety for using 'Evo-Chamber Time-Bombs' in prize-money matches and frequent use of Nydus Networks, as well as focusing on Drops in a ZvP match-ups.
Spanishiwa is best known for his No Gas Fast Expand build that he named the "Ice Fisher build", better known as "The Spanishiwa Build", which focuses on using most larva on only drones and defending with Spine Crawlers and Queens, delaying the purchase of mining of vespene gas significantly. [5]
[edit] Trivia
- Holds an immensely popular stream
- In GrandMaster league
- Known for his entertaining play style
- Played some Brood War Custom Games on a map named Diplomacy 7.7 with a clan called 'Soviet'.[6]
[edit] Achievements
[edit] Tournaments In WoL
| Date | Event | Result |
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| 2012-05-18 | UC Davis Spring 2012 Open Tournament |   Spanishiwa 0 : 2  State
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| 2011-09-24 | HWG's StarCraft II Open LAN Tournament |  Spanishiwa 0 : 3 State
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| 2011-08-14 | WellPlayed.org Sunday Night Fights #3 | Spanishiwa 0 : 3  SjoW
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| 2011-08-07 | WellPlayed.org Sunday Night Fights #2 |  Spanishiwa 3 : 2 Sheth
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| 2011-07-24 | WellPlayed.org Sunday Night Fights #1 | Spanishiwa 3 : 1 SLush
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[edit] WoL Matches
- In a BO7 showmatch series against Liquid's TLO in May 2011 casted by Husky he took out his opponent 4:0. Both players agreed to play all 7 games, however, and TLO later managed to win two, bringing the final score to 5:2.
[edit] Interviews
[edit] 2011
- 2011-08-28 | Laydown Interview with Spanishiwa by HuskyStarcraft
- 2011-05-03 | Co-Cast and Interview by MatronStarcraft
- 2011-04-19 | Spanishiwa's AskMeAnything by Reddit
[edit] References
- ↑ 12 Weeks with the Pros - MLG Prep with Spanishiwa
- ↑ Full competitor list on TL Forum
- ↑ Quantic Gaming absorbs Vile Gaming roster
- ↑ Acid (2012-12-07). "(temporary?)Return of a Comrade". sovietgaming.com. Retrieved 2013-03-19.
- ↑ {G/D} Spanishiwa's No Gas FE ZvX
- ↑ Spanishiwa on Hotkeyit
