This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

　　On the heels of two World Championship Series North America Challenger League qualifiers that were largely considered to be failures by the StarCraft community, Ben 'MrBitter' Nichol was interviewed on ESGN TV by Dan 'Frodan' Chou this afternoon.

　　When the topic of the qualifiers came up, a lamentful Nichol's reflected on the issues from the two events, noting, "There was a time when I would have said, perhaps even I did say on video somewhere, that NASL can do it better. Right? We've got a great team of people, the best team of people in the world, and that we run a better, tighter show than anyone else. We all wanted to see the best StarCraft show possible, and, I think, there were times where we put on the best StarCraft show possible."

　　Chou cooly responded with the obvious question, "And you're saying that's changed now?"

　　Nichol's continued, "It's a different team, man. It's a different group of guys. The guys I got in there now, you know I love them. They're working hard, and they're learning fast. Some of the key players that were helping us execute at the level we were once before are no longer part of the organization."

　　In North America, StarCraft's most wounded region, the room for error is minimal, and the World Championship Series and its organizer are starting the year with a limp. Across the pond the Electronic Sports League managed to run a European WCS Challenger League qualifier with no major snafus and furthered widened the gap between public perception of their brand and that of their contemporaries here in America.

　　NASL will host a make up Ladder Wild Card qualifier on Monday, January 13th to replace the canceled event from yesterday. The rules have been updated to note that players can now participate if they have 200 ladder games between season five and six. Registration for the qualifier begins on January 8th at 5PM PST and will close on January 12th at 12PM PST.

　　Image Credit: ESGNTV.com