EPTAt the beginning of beta, I had been playing SC1 consistently on ICCup for nearly two years. I had high hopes and dreams to become a top foreigner. When SC2 beta came out, I was B- level on ICCup and was hoping I could play hardcore in beta and get a head start into competitive play. I wanted to compete at the highest level and become the best.
Beta came around, and I was lucky enough to have a cousin let me use his Blizzcon (2008 or 2009? I forget) beta key until the first wave of friend invites, when he gave me my own account. The first two months or so of beta I played a lot. I really enjoyed the game, but I made no real effort to learn how to play "well". I hovered just outside the top 8 of Platinum Division 6 for the first phase of beta, basically just making marines and marauders in tvp/tvz and tanks/vikings in tvt. I never did well in any tournaments, and eventually in May or so the game got boring for me. I played really sporadically until release.
On release day, I was super excited. I really wanted to try out the campaign and get back in to playing seriously for good. The night of release I played the first three missions of the campaign... and basically quit again, for another couple months. I wasted a bunch of time playing HoN and other random games. I didn't play seriously until October.
In October 2010, I attended IEM New York as a spectator. This, coupled with monthly LAN tournaments beginning in my area inspired me to play again. I won the first one with extremely little practice. I got back in shape and began playing seriously. At the end of October/early November, I first placed on Blizzard's top 200 in NA. At the end of November, I joined VT Gaming thanks to a connection from Brood War with Whiplash, who thought I had potential. I thank them for giving me (fairly unknown) a start in the professional gaming world.
Over the next four months, I played a lot of ladder and open tournaments. My school grades went down a bit (later remedied in the last quarter) and I was extremely motivated to succeed in SC2. My first real live event was MLG Dallas 2011 - I was super pumped and had a fantastic time. I did decent for where I was at the time, taking out Sheth and Fenix before losing one round before the championship bracket. This was where I truly felt like I was living the dream... finally competing as a professional player. I really never thought it would actually happen. I always dreamed of it, but I always had the mindset that I was playing for fun first and improvement second. Improvement in SC2 came so naturally to me... I rarely had to put in effort I didn't want to to improve. I loved my team and the environment, so I was motivated to play hard. This continued until MLG Columbus, which I ended up with basically the same result as Dallas (after getting screwed over by MLG staff). Going to MLG is where I truly feel at home and doing what I love... it's a great time and I can't wait for this weekend at Anaheim. (feel free to say hi to me, everyone!
ItsGosu eSports shirt w/ Pokebunny on it <3)After MLG Columbus, VT Gaming formed Team Reign and did not do a very good job communicating to the players about their future. Regardless, I felt my goals were not quite the same as those of VT/Reign so I left the team. I wanted a team that would reward me for my accomplishments appropriately without pressuring me into doing more than I wanted to. ItsGosu has been a great team for me so far - many amazing practice partners, great management and team atmosphere, and good support for their players. I feel the team fits me better than the direction VT/Reign was going. I loved VT Gaming while I was there and wish them the best of luck.
This summer I planned to play essentially full time and see how far I'd get. I was sidetracked for a bit until the last week or so (I still practiced a lot, just not as much as I'd like) until I began to really focus on training for MLG. I have a very supporting/awesome team and girlfriend, both of which I expect to be with a long time
.I know some people may not regard me all that highly in terms of the progaming world, but I feel I've surprised myself with how far I've gotten, and it has motivated me to keep getting better and surprising myself more. I love StarCraft and will always play it for the love of the game, and I love competition as well. I want to do as well as I can with the time and resources I have, because I love StarCraft.
Some things I've learned about progaming (or rather, semipro gaming - whatever you consider me. ^^) that people may not see on the surface...
- It's a bigger time commitment than it looks on the surface. In the foreign scene, you can't really just do the same as Koreans and just expect to get somewhere with mass practice. If you want to be sustainable/get any significant money without winning huge tournaments or going to Korea, streaming, coaching, and networking are all essential. You have to make time for all these things while still continuing to practice hard. The difference in the level of commitment between a top ladder player and an actual progamer who you see in tournaments is quite large. They do many other things on top of actual playing, as you can see especially in EG players (incontrol, idra etc.)
- If you want to be a progamer, keep this in mind: always play for FUN. You will never succeed long term in this game if you do not love it and enjoy it. There will be times when you have to sacrifice doing boring things you don't want to improve yourself, but do those things because you love the game and competition. No one is forcing you to keep going - do it for yourself. Always remember this.
- I hear a lot of top ladder players/people who think they are good say things like "I'm just as good as these known pro players... I just can't get noticed." It takes a while to get noticed. You do not get noticed right away. Stream on TL (especially stream your play in open tournaments, because if you do well people will watch you, and you'll show up on the sidebar even if unfeatured). PLAY open tournaments for the love of god. If you can consistently take out top players (even if you don't win) you should ALWAYS be trying to find opportunities to prove yourself. Don't be afraid to ask people on decent teams how you can get involved. I remember months before he got big, I played Spanishiwa a couple times on ladder and he kept asking me how to get on a team. I told him basically what I'm telling you now, and he's huge now.
Anyway, this was mostly just a self-reflection on my time in competitive SC2. I am not done by any means, look out for me in the near and far future as I try to attain all my goals. I really want to go to Korea at some point just to experience it... My girlfriend is Korean and older than me so this will hopefully become more logistically possible in the future. I'm really excited for the future - I enjoy my life and StarCraft a lot right now, so the sky is the limit
Feel free to ask me about anything you want that I didn't cover or even things that I did cover. About SC2, my life, my experiences.. anything really. Shoutout to all the communities/people that have helped me along the way.. The Amazon Basin crew (Gillias, I'll never forget you), Team Sal/mG from my broodwar days, VT Gaming (Frank, you did well ^^), Its Gosu eSports, and of course the TeamLiquid community - I never would have gotten this far without you guys. I love StarCraft and I plan to stick around for many years to come.
<3
- Nick / Pokebunny
