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“Scan the island! Scan the island!” is what flooded his screen as he climbed his way to the top of the North American ladder at the start of this year. The lines of text never seemed to hinder his play and the fan interaction quickly made him a fan favorite. And that's when I was first introduced to the Bandanna Terran. FXO.QXC’s stream was damn entertaining, not only for the fan interaction, but because of how good he is.
But that seemed to be forgotten for the next few months, as QXC went to Spain to study abroad. He was out of practice and those who hadn’t heard of him didn’t think he was anything special. So while he posted lackluster results in NASL and a few other tournaments, he still showed that famous aggressive style as he tore through a TL Open to qualify for TSL3 and even beat MVP.Genius in the first round. The skill was still there, his fans knew this. He just needed to be in practice.
And then school was done, he returned to the States and was able to focus on his play once again. But his stay would be short, as FXO had big plans: Korea. Before he left for South Korea, QXC quietly made a splash at MLG Columbus. His two losses came against Mouz.Thorzain and Dignitas.Select, both close series ending 2-1.
With FXO now in Korea for GSTL and Code A qualifiers, QXC finally had his chance on the biggest stage in the world. As he and the rest of FXO entered the qualifiers, all eyes were on QXC and he started making his way through the stacked bracket. I remember hitting F5 many times on the TL Code A Qualifier thread and checking twitter for updates from FXOBoss, Artosis, and FXOWolf. It started off well, as he won his first two matches, putting him two rounds away from qualifying for Code A. And then he met DRG. The Bandanna Terran fought valiantly against the Korean Zerg monster. Unfortunately he fell in a 68 minute long game 2. But this showed that John Lennon, err QXC, could compete with the best players in the world.
As GSTL became his focus, things started out pretty rough in his first game. He fell to DT’s and anyone who knows one thing about QXC is that he hates losing. But the next time out, he wouldn’t pick up his first win in the Gom Studio. A week later, matched up against GuMiho, QXC prevented the all kill and picked up his first win in the GSTL. A little bit of relief had to come over QXC after that win. Sadly he would lose to Choya in the next match, but he now had that win under his belt.
The day before FXO vs IM, I recall Wolf saying how much QXC has been practicing for his upcoming match, as he was chosen to start against IM. I was confident QXC could take out IMhorror in this match up. I’ve always thought that a QXC that was in “game shape” he could take a game off anyone. And I think what we were about to see proved this sentiment.
I thought about how amazing it would be to see QXC pull an all kill, but also thought about how far fetched this idea was. So I just hoped to see him win his first game. And I got that. His play was very solid. Anytime a Terran expands quicker than a Zerg and constantly stay ahead in supply, he is playing very well. That's just what QXC did. He never put himself into too much danger and slowly pushed his way up to the opponents base, fending off waves of Muta/Ling/Bling. Horror called GG and QXC had FXO up 1-0.
As it approached 3:00 AM here on the West Coast, IM sent out BBi. It seemed right at that point IM may be underestimating how good QXC is. The unknown Protoss didn’t prove to be too much to handle for our American hero. He held BBi on two bases for so long as he massed up his bio army. QXC was constantly ahead, just like game one. He held off waves of attacks and then we saw our favorite late game reaper play. As his nine reapers took down a Protoss expansion, the GG was inevitable. FXO quickly found themselves up 2-0 against the heavily favored IM
Now it was not uncommon for teams to send out one of two unknown players in the GSTL at first. Especially when the are a huge favorite. After two games of very solid and safe play from QXC, many expected a more known player to be matched against him. But IM felt very confident and put out another unknown in the Terran player dreamertt. And QXC made them pay for it. Once again, QXC just outclassed the IM player. Solid play with devastating pushes led to another GG.
QXC had FXO up 3-0. No one saw this coming. Even myself, a huge FXO and QXC fanboy, didn’t think I would be sitting at the computer watching QXC be on the verge of winning a Jedi robe. But with IM against the ropes, they would turn to the big guns. IMNestea got up, but then deferred to IMMvp in some GSTL theatrics. No longer would QXC face the unknown IM players. He was now matched up against a two-time GSL champion and arguably the best Terran in the world. And don’t forget the pressure of an all kill now weighed on QXC as well.
At around 4:00 AM the match started. QXC vs MVP, the alphabet soup battle as Tastosis said. Could QXC do it? Would he become the first foreigner to all kill a Korean SC2 team? We didn’t have to wait too long to find out. The patented QXC aggression truly shined in this game. His hellion harass was just the start. Then the banshee flew in, doing damage before it even had to cloak. And another banshee flew in. MVP had no detection other than scans. Was this really happening? Is this real life? Tastosis started counting down the amount of SCV’s MVP had. The game was over. QXC had killed every SCV. MVP had nothing. QXC did it. Not only did FXO get their first win in the GSTL, which was an amazing feat in itself, but QXC had just all killed IM, the first GSTL champions. The team with a total of 4 GSL champions had fallen at the hands of FXO.QXC.
It was a beautiful sight. I sat in amazement as I watched my favorite player throw his bandanna into the crowd as his final ceremony. Not only was this a huge moment for QXC and FXO, but also a huge moment for foreigners. Finally the chants of USA! USA! USA! in the LR thread’s were legit. Say what you want about IM’s lineup decisions, but the truth is those unknown guys are still professional sc2 players in Korea. The eat, sleep and breath SC2 and practice with the best in the world. They certainly weren’t any slouches. QXC won with very solid play and smart aggression.
I also find it rather fitting that just hours before QXC’s all kill, Captain America hit theaters. Gom had been airing its trailer in studio too. As this classic American hero hit the silver screen, another one came to our computer screen. QXC may have earned his jedi robe from FXO, but he also became Captain America of the SC2 world in my eyes.
I just want to say a quick thank you to QXC for giving us some amazing games last night and to FXOBoss for getting FXO to Korea and giving QXC and the rest of your players this amazing opportunity. It started off bumpy, but there is no doubt you guys are much better because of this. I couldn’t imagine a better way to end your time in the GSTL.
 
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Great write-up, mirrored my thoughts exactly 
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New Zealand41 Posts
Great blog. I as well, stared in awe last night as qxc took the series. Truly a great moment.
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Heck yeah it was. It seems like it has been overshadowed by all of the other news...this first foreign all-kill in a Korean SC2 tourney is a big occasion. I think. QXC was on fire last night.
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I am severely disappointed by this blog, I was expecting an epic marvel comics/FXO cross over.
Quick, anybody reading this make it come true!
I want MVP to be red skull!
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On July 23 2011 19:01 Gamegene wrote:
I am severely disappointed by this blog, I was expecting an epic marvel comics/FXO cross over.
Quick, anybody reading this make it come true!
I want MVP to be red skull!
Haha that would be awesome. I'm not too familiar with Captain America so I can't really pull that off. I just thought of the Captain America thing as I was wrapping this up.
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On July 23 2011 19:01 Gamegene wrote:
I am severely disappointed by this blog, I was expecting an epic marvel comics/FXO cross over.
Quick, anybody reading this make it come true!
I want MVP to be red skull!
That would be awesome, but who would NesTea be? Baron Zemo? Crossbones? Ultima? Modok?
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Just think how scary FXO would be, if they had more time in Korea.
Last night was epic though. With the way BBoongBBoong.Prime played against oGsTOP on Bel`Shir, I knew Qxc was going to win game 1 (BBoongBBoong seemed to have ESP for what TOP wanted to do, showing an insane amount of practice on that map). I really didn't expect him to go for the all-kill. BBi is IM's player/coach I believe, so that made some sense, but Qxc was clearly showing he was in top form.
Why IM wouldn't respect that, being down 0-2, I don't know. Losira & Nestea not playing made a lot of sense, but they had a several solid choices in Happy & YongWa that they should have gone with, players that could win 4 games if needed. But, man, Qxc way outplayed Dreamer there. Going so far as to get his 2nd orbital kill with Blue Flame Helions in 2 weeks.
Still, that game against MVP. When Qxc threw down that bunker, you *knew* what made him so scary from Beta until he went to Spain was about to come out. MVP didn't know what was coming for him. Blue-flame Helion drop into multiple Banshees into expand into reactor Helions. It was a clinic of brilliantly timed aggression against an expand build.
And, Qxc caps it off with throwing his Bandana into the crowd. That was so awesome.
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On July 23 2011 19:17 Taf the Ghost wrote:
Just think how scary FXO would be, if they had more time in Korea.
Last night was epic though. With the way BBoongBBoong.Prime played against oGsTOP on Bel`Shir, I knew Qxc was going to win game 1 (BBoongBBoong seemed to have ESP for what TOP wanted to do, showing an insane amount of practice on that map). I really didn't expect him to go for the all-kill. BBi is IM's player/coach I believe, so that made some sense, but Qxc was clearly showing he was in top form.
Why IM wouldn't respect that, being down 0-2, I don't know. Losira & Nestea not playing made a lot of sense, but they had a several solid choices in Happy & YongWa that they should have gone with, players that could win 4 games if needed. But, man, Qxc way outplayed Dreamer there. Going so far as to get his 2nd orbital kill with Blue Flame Helions in 2 weeks.
Still, that game against MVP. When Qxc threw down that bunker, you *knew* what made him so scary from Beta until he went to Spain was about to come out. MVP didn't know what was coming for him. Blue-flame Helion drop into multiple Banshees into expand into reactor Helions. It was a clinic of brilliantly timed aggression against an expand build.
And, Qxc caps it off with throwing his Bandana into the crowd. That was so awesome.
It was amazing. Is QXC the American hope for the future? I don't know, but this is awesome:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/5bk5M.gif)
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Did anyone else traded QXC off of their team in the previous round to the all kill??? no??? was I the only one?... As I watched him slay each and every IM player, I could not help my mixed feelings.... by the end, I was happy for qxc, but I also wanted to cut my balls off for taking him out of the team... Anyhow, great games QXC hope to see much more of that kick-assery in the future!
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On July 23 2011 19:45 dalo_bank wrote:
Did anyone else traded QXC off of their team in the previous round to the all kill??? no??? was I the only one?... As I watched him slay each and every IM player, I could not help my mixed feelings.... by the end, I was happy for qxc, but I also wanted to cut my balls off for taking him out of the team... Anyhow, great games QXC hope to see much more of that kick-assery in the future!
A few others commented in the LR about doing it.
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On July 23 2011 19:45 dalo_bank wrote:
Did anyone else traded QXC off of their team in the previous round to the all kill??? no??? was I the only one?... As I watched him slay each and every IM player, I could not help my mixed feelings.... by the end, I was happy for qxc, but I also wanted to cut my balls off for taking him out of the team... Anyhow, great games QXC hope to see much more of that kick-assery in the future!
I did that too,and now I'm really depressed T.T
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This series was so entertaining. Watching him rodeo in the booth after the first game, and kamehameha the crowd after the 4th... So much love! <3
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On July 23 2011 20:21 Dox wrote:
This series was so entertaining. Watching him rodeo in the booth after the first game, and kamehameha the crowd after the 4th... So much love! <3
think the kamehameha was after 3! could be wrong though! but have to agree, so entertaining and epic! grats to qxc x1000
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good read
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Is someone able to gif all his ceremonies? Pretty please?
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I'm not sure if you guys realize this, but FXO is out of this GSTL completely. With a 1-4 record and no more future matches, it's almost impossible for them to advance to the main tourney, while IM, though undoubtedly giving away practically free wins to FXO, still has a good shot at scoring high in the group stages.
I haven't watched the three no-names play, but if they're decent to any respect and possibly to be used in future matches, I honestly say that this may have been a good decision for testing out their nerves, even with the all-kill. Well, we'll just see how the teams plays out when the group matches are over.
Also to note that fOu recently merged with FXO, so technically, I guess on some level, FXO's still in the tournament...? Haha.
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EPT
