A little write-up after GSTL2... >_<

There were just a few occasions where I’ve felt so hyped, so happy, so touched at the same time as I was on the final day of GSTL2 2011. SlayerS won! It had been an epic, fantastic day, like a fairy tale became true. But it was no miracle, they made it happen. They fought for it. Together.

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The final of GSTL March 2011 was the climax of a long story.

When Lim Yo Hwan – SlayerS_’BoxeR’, the Emperor who was no longer in his prime but only surrounded by his past glory, claimed that he would create a new clan, “SlayerS”, not many people expected much from it. “SlayerS” had been a part of Boxer’s ID for a long time. Now this only felt like he was just writing a fairy tale of his own dream.

Silently, he started it up, with the help of his beloved one, “Jessica” Kim Ga Yeon, who despite being a famous actress, always gave her everything to help her love focus on living his dream.

Silently, he looked for new talents and took them in. Not-so-successful “Code B” players whose names and faces were still unknown to most, but had what Boxer saw as potential and personality. Amongst them there would be MMA, Alicia, Ryung, Ganzi, Min, Cella… as we know to day. People looked at them with kind smiles, wishing luck to the “clan-and-soon-to-be-team”.

And silently, he trained them. He looked for sponsors. He nurtured the “kids”. Taught them to realize their own colours. Led them with pride and passion for E-sports.

Boxer also had to fight himself. Competing with the rising stars of Starcraft 2 was not easy, especially at his age, even if he was the legendary Emperor. Sometimes people even found it painful watching him play, but he would never quit. He gave it his best, got into code S. Meanwhile some of his children took the first step by getting into code A.

The SlayerS clan had become a team. They also acquired the right to compete in the first Global Starcraft Team League. Sadly, they were not strong enough to win the first round.


The second season of 2011 leagues began with the GSL individual league. Boxer fell down to code A. It was a disaster to all the fans of Starcraft. Even Zenio, who took out the Emperor in order to remain in code S felt terrible after his win. The legend had been playing for over ten years. The last time he lifted a trophy seemed so far away. “The Emperor is no more” – people cried. However, the next day, SlayerS_Alicia defeated the most feared Terran player in the world – IMMVP – to get into code S. Throughout that season, SlayerS players also had proved themselves to be quite potential. But they were still looked down upon.

They were still “insignificant” the day the second GSTL started. The crowd’s favorite underdog.


And then, the “miracle” happened.

First round, SlayerS defeated the veteran team oGs, even the currently assumed strongest player in the world, the first two-time GSL champion oGsMC.
Second round, they slashed through the solid team Startale, taking out last season’s runner-up, a.k.a the former Starcraft:Broodwar legend, “God of War” July.
Thus, the SlayerS ended up in the final, where they played brilliantly against the power house IM, taking out both the favorite rising star LosirA and one of the 3 top players, GSL2 champion IMNesTeA. And to top it off, they finished the series by defeating the beastly GSL4 champion IMMVP in his best match-up, TvT, where he hadn’t lost a single game in the GSL since it started.

From the first game played by SlayerS_Min to the last ace match against MVP by SlayerS_MMA, the SlayerS delivered all breath-taking games and caused numerous upsets. MMA rose up as a new star having defeated 3 legends in less than one week: MC, July, MVP, and was even dubbed the “Legend Killer”. Alicia confirmed himself to be a scary code S player next season with a straight 3-kill against the powerful IM team. Ryung showcased an incredible TvT play, while the totally unknown Min received much love for his fantastically entertaining performance as Zerg.

None of them had ever won a title. None of them had got any significant achievement. Not all of them were even in the major individual leagues. Yet they were so fascinating. Boxer didn’t play. He was suppressing his desire to play the whole time and just watched his hidden gems finally shine. His passion paid off. The Emperor’s children made him proud.

The last minute before MVP called “GG”, even the ever hyper casting Archon, Tastosis, held their breaths and stayed silent watching every intense second of the decisive match. Then the whole world just exploded. SlayerS. SlayerS. It was the most fantastic moment, it was the most glorious scene. Guys lost their liquibets, they couldn’t care less. In front of their eyes, Emperor Boxer was lifting a trophy once again, even though it was not “his”, but “theirs”. The Emperor had returned, or more exactly, had made people realize that he was always their for the kingdom he reigned: E-sports. An Emperor who didn’t conquer but nurtured, not with power but with knowledge, passion and love. Once again, people bowed before him and his minions, shouting out their names in awe and delight. Guys in North America woke everyone up. Guys in Europe freaked their schoolmates and colleagues out. Guys in Asia refused to sleep. They kept cheering, because no words were enough to express the joy. For the heroes!!!

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Still, beside the Emperor’s reclaimed glory and the impressive new stars, there was another story which made the day twice as epic.

The first day of GSTL2, when the team SlayerS first came out on stage, many foreigner fans were both surprised and extremely delighted to see a familiar face they loved. That was SlayerS_Cella.

Amongst the Korean players, Cella opened up to the foreign scene the most. He streams for foreign fans. He was never afraid to spoke the English that was cuter than anyone’s provided they were not NaDa. To many foreign fans, Cella was a buddy. A nice, kind, cute, funny, amazing friend. They watched him do hilarious things. They knew his daily routines. They saw him broken on the stream when his former clan Werra had to disband due to a scandal. Cella and the fans shared joy and sadness, anger and hamburgers. Fans talked in Cella’s language, made Cella jokes, watched Cella play and encourage him to reach his goals while enjoying his stream. The carefree, adorable Cella that everyone loved was eventually recruited into the SlayerS clan. He had been working hard while continuing to entertain his fans. Everyone cheered him on, knowing that he had a long way to go.

And then, just a short time before GSTL2 started, Boxer asked Cella to become the team’s coach, to improve their relationship with the foreign scene. The Emperor had made a golden decision.

Cella genuinely tried his best to fulfill his role as a coach. He analyzed and exchanged strategies, he set up practice schedules, even let them play on NA server to prepare for the new patch. He helped motivate the team and during matches, it was also him who decided which player to be sent out. Cella did it excellently. Behind the victories of Alicia, MMA, Ryung, Min…, was a dedicated Cella sitting on the bench, jotting down nonstop in his “Holy Check” notes. Before the fans’ amazed eyes, he was like a conductor, keeping the team perfectly in sync to seize victory after victory.

It was that same Cella who was lost without a team not too long ago. That same Cella who sang Celine Dion and Lady Gaga on his stream, who streamed with a shoe on his head and streamed while snoring. That same Cella who always tried his best to qualify for the GSL again, who trolled the ladder with epic builds, who acted like a drone and then an Overlord, who gave eating tutorials, who meowed and wallad and owned a fan-donated fund just for him to buy hamburgers.

That same Cella was being thrown in the air by his teammates to show their gratitude for everything he had done, awarded the title of “Best coach” of GSTL, and would thus become the coach of the Korean Team for their upcoming showdown against the World Team in GSL World Champion. Ironically, the World Team should be prepared that some “foreign” fans would be rooting for the Korean Team instead, because of Cella!

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At that ecstatic moment of victory on the stage, the smiles of Boxer, Cella and the whole SlayerS team were brighter than anything. Not only the Emperor and Cella, but surely everyone in the team also had their own Cinderella stories. Those untold fairy tales were shining on their faces, and on Kim Ga Yeon’s face among the audiences. They all deserved this happiness.

But it was not a "happy ending".
This was just the beginning.