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It's not often I get to watch a player improve quite like Chris has over the past year, after some games tonight I got all inspired to go on a writing spree and share a story that I think people may find interesting about this upcoming Terran player!
When I first saw this guy in November 2010(or so) at a local lan he was a simple, nothing special mid masters zerg player, (maybe even low masters I don't even remember) who was screwing around playing multiple races and didn't seem like much of anything. He had just recently joined a new team I believe, Revoki gaming which had a bunch of mid tier players. (eventually all the good Rev players left for sponsored teams and poor Rev died but that's another story for another day lol)
There are always thousands of virtually unknown players who plod through mid/high masters ranks on average mid tier American teams, never making a name for themselves, never really standing out ever and then they just fade away. I experience this because I play at around a high masters/gm level in NA and see many people come and go. (I sort of remain same skill level and get to watch people pass me or crash and burn while I stay same old same old, but this is also another story for another day) Every now and then things seem to fall into place for particular players though, I've observed it online often, but my story watching Illusion runs a little deeper than the usual jump to stardom I might watch online. Little did I know when first seeing him play that Illusion could do it. After watching him 3-0 demuslim convincingly tonight to qualify for IEM Sau Paulo, I felt a sort of circle had completed in a story that I could share...
I didn't think much of Illusion at first, he continued coming to lans, always placing fairly high, he switched to main terran I believe sometime shortly after I first saw him over the fall/winter of last year. It wasn't until a lan in May 2011 that I actually felt something, felt like he could have some serious potential.
I had played vs him before a few times at lans, always winning pretty easily. Something quite different happened during a day of a lan in May 2011 though. It was quite odd actually and I never really talked about it, only a few people know this story. We both played each other in the morning for an online tournament totally unrelated to the LAN (it was some qualifier for some other IEM event or something) and I won 2-0 over illusion there in pretty easy wins. Didn't really think much of it at all) Besides I'm "supposed" to beat totally unknown random 15 year olds...5 or 6 hours later we met again in the semifinals of the lan and he won 3-1 I believe in a bo5, with some quite different play vs my quite similar play.
I was actually too pissed at the time of losing at that time to really realize that he had analyzed the replays of our morning games from the online event and simply adjusted perfectly vs my style, all in a very short timespan. He went on to defeat a high masters zerg player in the finals of that lan that day, but I remember leaving the place wondering if I had actually played poorly in the semifinals, or if this illusion guy actually had quite a bit more depth to his play than I ever thought. I didn't feel like I played any worse than I had in the morning and yet in the late afternoon I was taken out in a bo5 by the same player. I saved the replays of all games we played that day (I think we played each other 8 or 9 times) and watched them later that night. The difference of play in morning/afternoon was pretty remarkable. Simple adjustments were made but they were perfect and perfectly executed.
Now most players can make adjustments given replays and time. But for most average players they need to practice the adjustment many times before executing it. Top tier players will usually grind out games and be able to fall into adjustments as needed. Something Illusion did that day was adjust literally on the fly, something that I did not expect at all and definitely not something I typically see from a player so young. I know and have played against other young players, (pokebunny for example) although he has QUITE a bit more RTS background than illusion. Illusion comes from next to nothing before sc2, (casual CS player?)
Anyway shortly after that lan event in May Illusion traveled to NYC to compete in a WCG event. I remember watching this event and his games because at that time I had taken a bit of extra interest in him. I forget who he lost to deep in the tournament (perhaps pokebunny?) where he was literally SUPER far ahead the entire game and then suicides an entire army into a tank line and had some really bad decision making in general from what I observed. I remember getting annoyed watching, myself being a more experienced RTS player I could actually see things in his play that if he improved he could be so much better. I told him he should practice mech/positional based builds more (I still tell him this) but his strengths were always in micro/harass builds which actually suits terran perfectly in SC2. One of the reasons I think I'm not as successful playing terran in sc2 is its better for unpredictable/harass/aggression, all things Illusion does well. I'm aggressive but I prefer to play a more structured/practiced style where I need to practice builds 50 times before I would ever consider using them in a tournament.
2011 summer went on, I forgot exactly when he joined Vile(June?) but I remember thinking that was a perfect fit for him. I knew many Vile players (still do) and thought it would only benefit him. It sure as hell did...
Can't remember exactly his specific mlg results before Providence. I remember he had difficult brackets but did well. He had to play his teammate Spanishiwa round 1 I think in Raleigh. He ended up making it to losers round 7 or 8 where he lost to a solid NA protoss player, rsvp. He was another MLG as well, maybe one of the earlier ones (Columbus? Anaheim?)
Providence was his first real big splash and I actually watched most of his games. Somebody I enjoy following fairly closely as well is Kawaiirice. Illusion and Kawaii played each other in Providence which I remember hating hardcore. (Lose-Lose!) It was funny because I'm pretty sure they both asked me how each other played (I know illusion did) and I lied, I told Illusion that kawaii played mech style lol... T_T
I <3 both kids BUT Kawaii was still > Illusion due to broodwar background, plus I owe Kawaii for trying to help my god awful broodwar tvz...so I help out wherever possible including feeding bullshit info to his opponents at mlgs. but this is another story for another day.
Despite these shenanigans Illusion ended up winning and went on to take out Sheth and play amazing sick series vs TLO/Haypro and others. When he was playing vs Sheth/Haypro so many people were like "Who the fuck is this kid? Is he good? Why have I never heard of him?" I just remember standing there thinking, am I really watching this guy tearing through MLG bracket? A year ago at the same time he was getting roflstomped by a random mid masters protoss in a PvZ in a lan in a random backyard lan center....now random guys are asking me who the hell this gosu as fuk kid is.
Was kind of surreal to me. I think it's been surreal to him too. As most players rises they don't ever really expect it, it sort of just happens as they keep improving and getting better. I spend many mornings browsing TL blog section reading about how billy bob the gold leaguer is going pro. Meanwhile I'm actually watching it happen.... This is how it actually happens folks. Hours and hours of hardwork, months of practice and dedication. That's why watching high level bw/sc2 never gets old to me. Just thinking about how hard that person is working to get to where they are...pretty mind boggling.
There's more to be told and I'm sure some of my facts might be wrong but it's been fun to watch this player from my perspective!
People watch top players and leagues like ESL/IPL/NASL/GSL and you see the games, but the stories of how they rise don't always get told. I've always had huge respect for top players in bw/sc2 because I know how much work it requires, you have to want it more than anything else really and dedicate yourself so hard to get to the level you see players at. When it pays off...it's really quite amazing, especially considering how difficult it is for new players to break out. You have to navigate a labyrinth of koreans and the 2-3 dozen already established pros who get invited to the same top tier events, it's actually quite a bit harder for new players to break in, once there I suppose it's easy to stay. But everyone's earned it at one point or another.
gL @ IEM Illusion you just qualified for a major international event...I think all of DC area supports you 100% I know I do, >_>; !~!~
