EPTIt wasn't until my 8th grade I tried to play Brood War competitively. I continued to go on other community websites such as SC2 something.com (I forget, but they always played progame streams here. Owner was someone called ilovecats) where I met one of my good Terran friends, LuckyFool, and gosugamers.net. At first, I really sucked and I kept losing every game. My friends would always dt rush me or reaver rush me or do some 1 hatch lurker play and I would always lose. I would always scream, "GIVE ME A CHANCE!" and they would just laugh in my face. But I didn't give up. I continued to watch pro games, trying to learn from them and I started watching replays, which benefited me enormously. I learned build orders, standard timings, and with this knowledge, I started improving drastically, until I could beat my friends with ease. Soon, in my own little world, I came to be the best player on East. Then, I discovered Iccup.
Iccup was a new tool that I really found to be a great resource. Iccup was like a step back in time for me. I started losing to everybody much as I lost constantly to my friends. Everybody seemed so much better than me. It was such a struggle for me to get to D+. Within a month or two, I managed to accomplish that, because of some Terran friends like LuckyFool and others helping me out. It seemed only natural that my growth would continue, where about 3 months later, I joined team PaiN and I got all the way to C+, which is unfortunately the rank I am stuck at now.
Throughout this time, I've had so many Terran progamer idols, such as Boxer, NaDa, and iloveoov. I was even impressed my UpMagic's play. It amazed me to see that the hardest race could be played at this level. The number of creative strategies and the impressive macro styles that were shown by players truly inspired me to try my best in the game and improve. When a boy named By.Flash debuted in April 2007 and I saw his game vs Boxer on Python, I didn't expect much. At the time, I thought any new progamer trying to emerge into the scene were entering into a lost cause, because they had no chance against old progamers who were seasoned and blessed with experience. To my surprise, Flash did surprisingly well against Boxer. I was heavily impressed and marked a mental note to continue watching Flash in the future.
And boy.. did he surprise me. Not only did he manage to take off games against Bisu and Free, both considered two of the best Protosses at the time, but he also managed to get to the semi-finals for the first ever OSL that he ever tried in, a feat that was unfortunately criticized by netizens, because he cheesed many games to get to that point. In 2008, he managed to go to the Bacchus OSL Finals against Stork with his new innovative double armory build and he dominated Stork, winning his first ever OSL title. It was from then on that I considered Flash as my favorite Terran player. At such a young age, he displayed his prominence and skill by crafting a build for the Bacchus OSL vs Protoss and he showed that he could take games off top progamers. I could continue all day about the future achievements that Flash managed to accomplish, but it would all come down to the same thing: Flash was becoming one of the best progamers.
Today, September 11 2010, he has defeated Jaedong in the Korean Air S2 OSL Finals and he has obtained the Golden Mouse and consolidated his status as Bonjwa, a term saved only for the most dominant progamers and the ones who show the best play. To see him grace this list in such amazing fashion makes me happy beyond belief. Since I watched the progaming scene later, I essentially grew up with Flash. To be able to see him get to his peak now where he has won two individual leagues at the same time, has won PL overall leader in Season wins and MVP and won four titles is just absolutely unbelievable to me. This makes me so proud to be a Terran player and it inspires me to try just as hard as Flash. After trying so many times to get to B-, I thought of putting the game on the shelf and just continue watching the pro scene, but watching Flash's success has sparked a new fire into me. I will try to get to B- and beyond for the next season of Iccup. I can't believe that Flash has gotten to where he is now, at the peak of the progaming world. Congratulations Flash! You have deeply impressed so many players, Protoss and Zerg alike, with your dominance throughout this year.
And with that, I really strongly hope that Flash's success inspires other players as well. He's clearly shown us that one can truly get to the top through sheer perseverance, practice, and the right mindset.
