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3861 Posts
DISCLAIMER: There are spoilers from Proleague on 22 Sept
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If you guys know me or have talked to me at an event before, you would know that I am an avid BW enthusiast, possibly elitist, if you will. I remember playing this game against my floor mates in 1999 via dial-up at my university dorms and watching games on TV in 2004. I remember watching BW live when they still had the studio at COEX mall and attending several Proleague/OSL/MSL Finals while being among thousands (sometimes tens of thousands!) of screaming fans.
I'm pretty sure I had more, must have misplaced them. Sadface.
Last night, I watched the last casted Broodwar Proleague Final EVER.
Thanks to Slog, I got some great seats.
The crowd was meager, at best.
But still, dedicated fans came out to the 3rd floor convention hall at COEX to watch their teams and favorite players on stages. The fanclubs with their mascots and cheerleaders and drums were present, still furiously waving their thundersticks and chanting names. It was a BO3 for Broodwar, followed by a BO3 in SC2. I planned to only watch the first half and then cry myself home (Ok, maybe not literally but you know what I mean).
Oh, the coveted trophy!
Oh, speaking of Mascots...
But I digress. The two teams lined up,
Samsung KHAN vs CJ Entus
exchanged some friendly banter, then went to their respective sides as the games began. A wave of nostalgia came over me as I once again heard the familiar sounds of the starting screen and the beeping of the countdown. 3. 2. 1.
Shine vs Snow in the 2nd game, with the casters/commentators from MBC Game below the screen.
Unfortunately, CJ won both of their games, robbing me of a third casted BW game. I was all ready to leave when all of a sudden I was told that Stork was going to be playing SC2 for the next match. Stork was the first player I ever officially translated for, back in 2007 at a WCG. Because of that, he holds a special place in my heart, so I felt that I needed to stay and watch him play. Soon, Roro came up on the stage for the second game and then for the third line up, it was Jangbi vs Effort.
My Broodwar boys playing SC2?? Something strange and bittersweet about this.
I felt confused and conflicted. In hopes to get me to open up some more to SC2, Doa sat next to me the whole time, giving me play by plays and explaining SC2 units in terms of BW units. "See, this is basically like a corsair opening..."
Then it was all over.
All in all, I know that I will never love SC2 as much as I loved BW. But it's a new era and I understand that. BW had it's run and now it's time for another game to rise. It's the game that will make eSports even greater and it's just the beginning.
Still, Broodwar will always live on in my memories, pictures and VODs....
Long live Broodwar.
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I still have that SKT1 shirt you sent me once to remember BW by, thanks again
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broodwar pls
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Broodwar is like that first awesome lover you'll never forgot.
Long live BW. <33
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goodbye broodwar you will always be remembered in my nerd heart.
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Thank you lilsusie! great blog... Long live Brood War. ♥
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RIP Professional Broodwar ;_;, you will be missed. It'll never truly die though. Not in our hearts.
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NeverGG
United Kingdom5399 Posts
I don't think I'll ever forget all the amazing, unique memories working in the Korean BW scene provided me with <3
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Wish I knew about Starcraft before Wings of Liberty
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ALLEYCAT BLUES49484 Posts
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For me seeing CJ win was a very bittersweet feeling. I got into BW pretty late in the end of 2010 when Sc2 was already released, and I only started cheering for CJ mid way past the 10-11 proleague season. Our boys had gone through some tough times. The match fixing left both CJ and Hite with less players, and when they decided to merge and reform, it kindof to me reflected the stage that BW was at that time, beaten up from that scandal, but still alive and still trying to make a comeback. Even when August 2011 came around, I still had faith that BW would at least have another good 2 years. It's sad that I'll never see a BW game live, but I'm thankful that I got to experience the last 2 years of BW.
But seeing Horang2 turn that almost one-sided TvP around, and not give up even down to his last remaining expansions, it told me that CJ still maintains that attitude of never giving up. Horang2 could have gg'd anytime, but I think Horang2 wanted to savor that last game of his, even if it meant him losing. And when I saw Snow put down that robotics facility, I knew that the last BW game would at least be good. Snow's reavers was what made me a CJ fan, watching him harass vs JD during that MSL. Shine didn't give out too much of a fight though.
In the final game, EffOrt vs Jangbi, I already knew that EffOrt was going to win. EffOrt is a pretty smart player in general, and really knows how to figure things out. I just hope that Hydra is able to catch up sometime soon. And BByong man, that guy has a special place in my heart too just because of his teamliquid shoutout. I wish we could've seen his BW play more instead of just his awesome dream league runs. Rush as well, with his baller games vs Mini, which might've inspired a rivalry had BW stayed on. I'm glad that rookies like hero[join] are shining in SC2, and are having their moments. I really hope that Leta is able to show something entertaining soon though, and become the miracle boy that he is...
And I guess imbatoss or someone will probably say something like BW isn't dead really soon or something like that. Yeah ofc it's not dead. But these are the pros that I learnt BW alongside. This is the game that I spent watching through some of my toughest times at uni. To pretend that these pros don't exist anymore is like an insult to BW itself imo. They shaped the game as you know it, and the strats that you are playing now are the ones that they made, refined, and practiced over and over again for that one televised game. I would daresay that most of us would not even be playing BW if it weren't for the Korean scene.
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I couldn't bring myself to go to this one. For me it really ended with KT vs SKT1, better to go out with a bang than a whimper.
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5003 Posts
For the last year or so everytime there's been a big BW finals I keep telling to myself that "Man, I guess this is the last..." and then every time it marks the end of my "childhood"...
This one was no exception. I actually woke up randomly at 4 AM and then i saw it was on and so I watched the BW games :p
So jealous you got to go to a live event, especially something like this T_T
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Great blog. I've missed the BW casts you and tasteless put on with all the awkward progamer interviews .
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Sad to see my childhood curiousity turned obsession end. It almost feels like my brain refuses to acknowledge that there isn't going to be any more pro BW. Heck, my feeling when reading all of this is "Well, maybe next season...", and I think that hurts the most.
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I kind of feel bad about not going now, I was in the area but in the end decided to just watch it at home. I didn't realise so many TLers were actually going...
@Scarecrow: dude you should have come to the last OSL, that was the real "end"
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Something just feels so depressing knowing i'll never see Bisu play an amazing BvZ, or a JvF korean pro starcraft was just the most amazing thing ever all my idols my hopes were from bw, Bisu being my biggest love, his looks his control with sairs his usage of Dts everything was so amazing. I'll never see leta mass wraiths and show up amazing control i'll never see flash demolish lurker lines with his split control, and bests never ending stream of units in a PvT. Theres soo much that i'm never gonna see again. Doesnt feel right...bw was my first computer game ever! Doesnt seem fair its ending even tho everyone still loves it
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51280 Posts
jelly of your press passes this is all i have =[
my heart sunk at jamsil that day. couldn't even get back up to cherish the terribleness that was the hybrid proleague, even though my favourite team won.
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