EPTI'm a long time gamer of almost 10 years, but I am very streaky. I would play a lot in one sitting, but then take a long break from StarCraft due to other obligations (school, girlfriend & friends, other interests) and also I've been struggling to fight off wrist problems for awhile now. It's not too bad now after doing some wrist stretches and timely breaks in my condensed sessions of Brood war.
What you see is what you get in my WandS Iccup account history. Those are exactly the amount of games I played in the last 5 years, but I admit I also have a guilty pleasure to go on East to play 3 vs 3 Big Game Hunters games with my friends or strangers once in awhile too. Those were my roots - the first 5 years of playing Brood war were BGH team games or UMS games and also watching professional Star Craft until my friends started to quit StarCraft, then I turned to Iccup 1on1 ladder.
I've always categorized myself as C+ but as of late with maturity and different mindset/outlook on my enjoyment of StarCraft I feel I surpassed C+ in the last month of playing at Iccup, ASL, tournaments, and Fish server. What I mean by mindset is that I use to be content in just playing games casually with no aim to improve. But not until now maybe due to aging - I feel content in improving and learning more about the game and I feel a big difference in my skills as of late. This different outlook started in the start of March of this year when my girlfriend (GF) was going home to see family. My GF also had a huge impact on how much StarCraft I could play due to her living here and sharing the same bedroom. She would be really bothered by the massive amount of clicking that would go on so I respected that and tried to play when she was not here. It is not easy to find that time because of school etc. and get to have your room to yourself. So when my GF went home to see family I was ecstatic to have some freedom and do what I love - StarCraft. With Easter and also my GF having training for her work in another location - that gave me more alone time.
My approach to the game was a lot different, instead of disregarding my losses what I did in the past, I actually focused on my errors and tried to correct them in my play. Also I was a very impatient player in the past who wanted to end the game as fast as possible. Finally learning the repercussions in being impatient - I learned to understand the flow of the game a lot better. Bathroom breaks was me also bringing my netbook to go over some replays (yes I know that's a bit obsessive). This new mindset brought new joys for me in the appreciation of the game and the will to improve. I also wanted to be more involved in the community due to my lurkerness for so long in the past, so I joined the dM team, I also participated in the vTv Tour which I had an early exit but it was a lot of fun and ISL qualifiers (unfortunately I was disqualified because of my stupidity of me being confused with the CET and CEST time slots).
You could call it perfect timing because late March was when they announced the NoisE ASL League and I wanted to pounce on this opportunity to be involved in events. I was glamorized by many things - having a blast competing against excellent foreigners in a set format, the prize purse due to me being a poor student, and my 5 seconds of fame. So that's when I signed up for Fish server for the first time to practice a lot for this event. I accumulated over 300 games in a month over there. Also I learned a vast amount in the ladder stage of ASL, the biggest thing I learned in ASL was the new maps since all I played was Fighting Spirit at Fish server. In total with both Iccup and Fish - I played around 500 games in a month.
People raised a lot of good questions, like "there's a lot of players who easily attain C/C+ but do not want to go further". To answer that for my situation, as I explained above at the start of the ASL ladder stage I felt I was still in the C/C+ range, but not until during and after that stage I felt above C+ with a new mindset. And now I understand you could argue that this is a league strictly for players who are at a roadblock at C level and who do not have the agenda to improve and surpass the C+ level during the span of the league. So that's where I turn to the staff and I will respect their decision if they want me to walk away and leave the tournament. But to be honest I don't think I am the most skilled player in the field right now. Players also are in the same boat as me and are improving fast and breaking skill ceilings. And after discovering that players were off-racing and not trying in order to surprise people in the later stages, I now realize I am probably not a favorite to win this league. Personally - I gave it my all in every game. And the only reason I was able to get the #1 spot is because I put in the most time to play the most games and not because of my skill.
So lastly I apologize if my criteria was not eligible for the league and I took away any enjoyment out of people as a result of it. If you have any further questions - I'd love to answer them so shoot away.
- WandS
