Becoming a pro, and thanks Kennegit!

On February 14 2012 13:17 Bagration wrote:
Remember, it does not matter if you are in GrandMaster's League on the Korean Server when you are in the D- league in high school.

On February 14 2012 13:26 neSix wrote:
I won't comment on whether or not I agree with your decisions, but I will add a few points for you to consider:

There is a pretty famous post that was made on TL years ago by a young man of the name Kolll. He posted about how he'd become A in BW after only a year of practice (which, in case you didn't play BW is absolutely incredible... think the equivalent of being Grandmaster on SEA server after 3 months of playing to give you a ballpark). Most of the users on TL ripped him apart for "making it up" until he really made a name for himself in the international scene. Kolll's story is an exception... a very rare exception. But it is proof nevertheless that with lots of talent and hard work, anything is possible.

I also think it's worth noting that being intelligent means more than just getting good grades. Just because you're on honor roll doesn't mean you are too smart to make bad decisions. Be very careful with how you spend your time as it will undoubtedly shape the person you will become in the future.

On February 14 2012 13:11 seRapH wrote:
I don't like to be harsh, but the simple truth is that you're not going to become a progamer. You won't ever make it to korea. In all likelihood you won't even be a relevant name in the foreign scene. The skill gap between you and the pros is much wider than you think, and no amount of practice will get you there. It may seem unreal, but better players than you have tried. People who were smarter than you, who practiced more, who had more support and who were more talented have tried and failed. They fell back on their schooling and concentrated on their studies. You're not going to do better.

If you really want to be a presence in the starcraft community, this website is a great place to start. You don't have to be good at the game, you can just be entertaining, or learn to program and make something useful for us, or if you're an artist draw something. But please don't waste your life chasing an impossible dream. If you're telling the truth about your grades then that's great, keep it up, but don't see starcraft as anything more than a hobby. That's not to say you shouldn't keep trying to improve, of course, but remember that it's secondary.

On February 14 2012 12:58 Frostfire wrote:
Things I lied about (honestly)

On February 14 2012 13:40 seRapH wrote:
You're obviously dead set on this and nothing I say will sway you, but you need to understand the main cost isn't the effort you have to put in, it's the time you're trading away that you could be spending with your friends, making memories that'll last your lifetime. It's time that you could be spending being with your family, enjoying your world, and just being a kid. Because this is time that isn't coming back. When you spend 8+ hours a day practicing for something that very well may never happen, it's a very, very big risk, and now I can only hope you don't regret it in a few years.

The story above about Kolll is missing a few parts. The first being that Kolll was a really high level War3 player before coming to broodwar, and then he soared to B- in a matter of months. Despite a 4th place finish in WCG, losing only to koreans, Kolll could barely compete in TSL2, getting knocked out in the Ro16. And this kid was considered a prodigy. Now Kolll's practically disappeared off the face of the earth.

On February 14 2012 13:11 seRapH wrote:
...The skill gap between you and the pros is much wider than you think, and no amount of practice will get you there...

On February 14 2012 13:44 Pokebunny wrote:

kolll is still playing bw

Best advice I can give is play for fun. If you find yourself consistently raging and wanting to quit before even getting close to GM it's probably not for you. People are SC2 pros for the love of the game, most of them - a true love for competition. If you're looking for efame or money its one of the most unrewarding things there is.

On February 14 2012 13:52 shizaep wrote:
Anybody else feel another post coming up in a couple of weeks: "I lied about everything in my last blog and was trying to get people to say nice things to me."

No, I'm just kidding. Don't take it the wrong way.

On a serious note, I'll say that I am doubtful at best that you will ever have any success at SC2. Unless you devote yourself completely to the game, you'll never have any tournament success. If you think you can be the next HuK, you should think again. There are a handful of people who are the best at the game and they have left school, family to get there, pretty much dedicating their whole lives to it. There are a lot of progamers in Korea but the reality is that none of them will ever find any success. They have no job, no education, barely a social life and grim prospects of the future. They believe they are following their dreams but 5 years later they will come to the realization that they just wasted their youth playing the game that they grew to hate. I probably sound pretty depressing right now but I'm just trying to make you realize that real-life progaming is far from what glamorous TL biographies of the best players make it out to be. My 2 cents: play casually, maybe get to masters or something but do not sink your life into this. You'll be sorry later. Do something productive on your other time.

However, I am just an online identity that you will never meet. There's no reason for you to listen to me. It's your life.

On February 14 2012 14:05 dGHaiL wrote:
Hey Frostfire,

Starcraft 2 was the first RTS game I'd ever played seriously. Sure, I'd played Brood War as a kid, but I really just messed around against the AI and used cheat codes. I had never ACTUALLY played against an online opponent. I also played a little Warcraft 3, but I did the exact same thing.

My point is: SC2 was the first RTS game I picked up and said to myself: I'm going to be good.

I started playing in March of last year, starting in bronze as terran. I bumped up to gold after a day or two, and then switched to zerg and fell to silver. After another week, I was back up to platinum. I spent the summer with the Navy and was unable to play, so I put SC2 back on the shelf. When I got to school in September, I had more time on my hands and began to play again. After a month I had worked my way up to a promotion to masters with the beginning of season 4. I was ecstatic.

My point is, you don't have to be dedicated to Starcraft to improve relative to the people around you. I'm going to toot my own horn and say I was a highly ranked Feral Druid in WoW, back when the level cap was 60. (Vanilla WoW, yeah). I've always been good at video games, and I played a LOT of chess in high school. I don't play much Starcraft since I don't have the time or a good computer at school, but somehow I placed into masters. If you believe in yourself, I think you can do it.

If you want a practice partner, I used to go by Foe 558 on NA, but now I play under WoLveRine.321. (Opened a random account and now play mostly terran). I'd love to play with you sometime if you want a practice partner of any race. My P is probably only Low diamond level, but it could still be useful.

Keep your grades up, though, but otherwise man I say go for it!

glhf

On February 14 2012 14:15 dGHaiL wrote:
If you want to be a professional athlete of any kind, starting at a very young age is almost always required.

I played tennis from the age of about 9, but I know I'll never be a professional because I didn't start when I was three. I'll settle for playing in college.

Its also worth noting that yeah, he's platinum, but he's also only 14. Maybe he won't be PRO in Starcraft 2, but HoTS will change things, and there will be other RTS games that come out. I wonder what some of the pros would say if you asked them what age they were when they decided to go pro?

You can't really be playing competitive starcraft at 5 years old like you can be playing tennis or basketball.

I'm not trying to push this kid down a bad road - merely trying to point out the differences.

On February 14 2012 14:26 krndandaman wrote:
lol only 14 is not a big issue. guess how old Flash was when he won his first individual title? and he made a promise to become a progamer and win a title within 1 year. alot of progamers get good really quick and spend insane hours practicing.

On February 14 2012 14:31 dGHaiL wrote:


Flash was 15. And this kid isn't saying he's going to win GSL. He's saying he's going to go pro. Comparing him to Flash, one of THE BEST Starcraft players ever, is like comparing Rafael Nadal to Jack Socke. Rafael was 18 when he won his first major title. Socke is 18 now, and hasn't won a title. But he has the potential to be very good if he goes professional and keeps training. Should he quit because he isn't the best pro on the tour?

Let the kid have a dream!

On February 14 2012 15:06 krndandaman wrote:
inachievable dream.

On February 14 2012 13:11 seRapH wrote:
I don't like to be harsh, but the simple truth is that you're not going to become a progamer. You won't ever make it to korea. In all likelihood you won't even be a relevant name in the foreign scene. The skill gap between you and the pros is much wider than you think, and no amount of practice will get you there. It may seem unreal, but better players than you have tried. People who were smarter than you, who practiced more, who had more support and who were more talented have tried and failed. They fell back on their schooling and concentrated on their studies. You're not going to do better.

If you really want to be a presence in the starcraft community, this website is a great place to start. You don't have to be good at the game, you can just be entertaining, or learn to program and make something useful for us, or if you're an artist draw something. But please don't waste your life chasing an impossible dream. If you're telling the truth about your grades then that's great, keep it up, but don't see starcraft as anything more than a hobby. That's not to say you shouldn't keep trying to improve, of course, but remember that it's secondary.

On February 14 2012 18:49 c_kAelle wrote:
do you also play on Korea/Taiwan?

On February 14 2012 13:40 seRapH wrote:
You're obviously dead set on this and nothing I say will sway you, but you need to understand the main cost isn't the effort you have to put in, it's the time you're trading away that you could be spending with your friends, making memories that'll last your lifetime. It's time that you could be spending being with your family, enjoying your world, and just being a kid. Because this is time that isn't coming back. When you spend 8+ hours a day practicing for something that very well may never happen, it's a very, very big risk, and now I can only hope you don't regret it in a few years.

The story above about Kolll is missing a few parts. The first being that Kolll was a really high level War3 player before coming to broodwar, and then he soared to B- in a matter of months. Despite a 4th place finish in WCG, losing only to koreans, Kolll could barely compete in TSL2, getting knocked out in the Ro16. And this kid was considered a prodigy. Now Kolll's practically disappeared off the face of the earth.

On February 14 2012 12:58 Frostfire wrote:
I had all Ds (I know, I lied, I admit) and then I put a ton of effort into getting my grades back up. When I posted that, i had 2 weeks until the quarter ended. By the time it ended, I had 6 A's and a B.

On January 25 2012 23:03 IdrA wrote:

how do you think i got that chance to develop? i ignored school and didnt have a social life for 2 years in order to win a tournament and move to korea at 18 to sit in a house and play starcraft1 with 0 return for another 3 years

most a team pros dont make salaries in korea. none of the b teamers do, the bottom of the barrel doesnt get to live in the house, they just get the priviledge of playing with the team if theyre good enough for people to want to practice with them. you have to sacrifice pretty much everything while you're on your way up. koreans are better because hundreds of them are willing to do it, a handful of nonkoreans are.

On February 15 2012 01:04 Hawk wrote:
Focus on school and rounding out other interests instead of pursing a stupid pipe dream. You've been playing starcraft since you were 8, you're now in high school and just cracked plat recently and may or may not be in diamond next season. You're statistically about as good as my friend who played starcraft for the first time six months ago, and he is average at best.

People who go pro in things do so when they're already good. You like the game, are not good, and have decided you want to be pro, as if that will have any major impact on achieving your goal. Lots of people hit masters and gm with a lot less practice time and hours than you.

On February 14 2012 19:17 Azera wrote:
Mind sharing your schedule with me?
Student here as well :D

On February 15 2012 11:30 liberal wrote:
If you are really expecting to go from gold to pro, you are in for some serious disappointment in life. I don't even take this game seriously and I placed masters my first season. You don't have the talent necessary. Sorry, it's the harsh truth.

On February 14 2012 13:31 Frostfire wrote:


Thanks for your input! Yes, I played BW at around 8 years old (D- on iccup lol)

On February 16 2012 15:25 Jedclark wrote:


Holy shit, you lie so much. You made a blog like, not long ago about how you just played BW. Why would you even lie about being in Plat?

But to everyone putting him down, if he wants this badly enough he will do it. If you tell every budding pro-gamer not to do it, what scene will there be in the future?

On February 16 2012 13:22 Fallians wrote:
I think I remember you just doing a 6pool with drones against me and then freaking out cause you beat a plat (you were gold). If all you do is cheese then you really shouldn't be in diamond...

On February 16 2012 16:57 Frostfire wrote:
I could lol, I do play BW as well. I don't see that part that makes me a liar bro.

On February 16 2012 17:03 Immaterial wrote:


In this blog you say D- iccup at age 8 whereas your other blog talks about defeating the A.I. at age 7. You said that shortly afterwards you lost everything because your computer died and your disc was long gone. Beyond that its kind of strange that your BW is scary blog seems to imply that you had just bought the game for the first time and had never played it before. Just a little strange is all.

Why would even lie about being plat?

On February 16 2012 22:39 ayrsen wrote:
hahaha what is the point of lying on TL forums? and the point of this thread? you have 1396 league wins and youre still diamond. I think youre delusional

On February 16 2012 23:55 Sc2Corpse wrote:
Dude, do not listen to any of these people saying you will never reach your dreams, I am only a silver league with dreams of being a pro one day and ANYTHING is possible if you dedicate yourself to it and not give up, but DO NOT give up on your grades because if it doesn't happen atleast you will have a good education to fall back on, there are plenty of pros with College degrees for Example incontrol has a degree in English, so if he can do that AND could have became a pro, then you can too, Goodluck man and I hope you reach your dreams! <3

On February 16 2012 23:44 ExceeD_DreaM wrote:
No offense, but you are in middle school achieving straight A's, which cannot be really called an achievement.
Anyone with half a mind can get straight A's in middle school and its not so hard in highschool either. Most of all, it does not matter if you went to gold or plat in how many weeks... gold or plat is still very low skill level. As mentioned before, to become a pro gamer, you need some natural talent in it, and one way of proving it is if you really got to masters or GM level in a month or so. Does that seem improbable? progamers in korea do it with couple days of practise.

Also, what is a pro gamer in your opinion? I personally wouldn't consider anyone in foreign scene other than Idra or HuK (and anyone who has participated in GSL) a pro gamer. Yes, they can work their ass off, and play it as their career, but when you make a living out of this game, where future is uncertain and income depends on your skill level, it is pointless to dedicate your life to it.

It does seem like you are dedicated and you are probably a smart guy. The thing is, you can't do well in school with 30 min of homework when you get into highschool, and you will need to studyi think it i for half a day in university. As Idra said, you really have to give up everything to become a 'notable' progamer. and in my view, Idra is notable progamer

On February 15 2012 02:56 Frostfire wrote:


I am focusing in school, as I said, I have straight A+'s atm and am prioritizing school over everything else.
Up until season 3, I played maybe 2 hrs a week and only did 4s. In season 4, I played about an hour a day and was bronze. Season 5 I was Silver and went up to rank 1 platinum, and in my past 17 games I've gone 13-4. I WILL make diamond, and hopefully master by the end of s6. I do have a social life, as my best friends play sc and I spend family time with my dad by playing next to him, he plays WoW a lot. I'm in middle school. I cracked plat very recently and still have a 75% winrate. Focusing on starcraft and managing school has turned out to be quite easy, at least where I am right now, due to following a schedule.

On February 17 2012 01:38 Hawk wrote:


because you're in middle school and middle school is a joke.

Also, because of your age, you have no idea what 'a living' is. Machine, just like anyone else that isn't in the top 5%, isn't making anything of note at all.

On February 17 2012 02:01 Zaranth wrote:
The amount of BMing in here makes me sad. TT Say what you want to say, but you don't have to be mean about it. Glad to see Frostfire is keeping his spirits up.

Bullying/picking on someone - cut it out, everyone. Seriously.

On February 17 2012 02:42 Inkarnate wrote:
Kennigit is a cool guy and he is right.

In future years you will need to scale up your schoolwork time in order to maintain your grades. Also don't forget to have other hobbies. Sure you have a dream about going pro, but understand that nobody will take you seriously until you are 18+. Many tournaments won't let you enter, and no team will sign you to a contract that you need a parent to sign for you.

Yes going pro would be cool, but is it realistic for your current situation? No, but keep practicing and maybe it will be in the future.

On November 29 2011 08:01 Frostfire wrote:
Hello TL,

I just bought and installed Brood War, due to everyone saying it's such a great game and I'm missing out if I don't play it.

On February 17 2012 07:51 Jedclark wrote:


What did you say?

Also, lying about being Plat, when you're gold, is like saying you can run a 10 minute mile when you can run a 10:10 minute mile. Plat is still really, really bad.

On February 17 2012 08:01 dGHaiL wrote:


Ruh oh, busted man