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EGThorzain's victory against STX Soul last night represented an interesting moment in Starcraft's history - Thorzain was the first foreigner to win a game in the Starcraft Pro League in seven whole years - ClouD_vs_Legionnaire, the last time a foreigner won a match was in 2005. Seven years is a long time, and to add some perspective, here's seven things from seven years ago, the last time a foreigner brought home a W in Pro League.
1. SKMC was about to turn 14 years old.
![[image loading]](http://e.thumbs.redditmedia.com/M7gT5T74RkhPdKwd.jpg)
We were several years away from his first starcraft appearance, with Liquipedia having his first victory being 5 years later on Metolopolis against Naama. His swagger as a 14 year old was undoubtedly on a similar level to today- his dancing ability, however, would reach new heights as time went on:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wyB6f.gif)
EDIT: Silly me, I overlooked MC's small Brood War Career. Looks like his first matches were two losses to Bisu in WCG 2008.
2. Nada faced Yellow in the Blizzcon invitational.
Ah, the days of the old - players invited included Mondragon, Legionnaire, Testie, Assem, Nada, Nal-Ra, Yellow, and Reach.
3. The Xbox360 had just been officially announced on MTV, hosted by Elijah Wood.
The glorious counterpart to the original Xbox was announced just before E3, with the Playstation 3 being announced several days later in a pre-E3 press conference.
4. We were only on Call of Duty 2.
Who could ever imagine that this installment of a franchise was viewed as a "launch game" for the new Xbox released later that year? Soon enough, it would seem, every 12 year old would use this game to experience the online world around them for the first time - they would learn how to make friends, how to properly communicate, and proper small stalk strategies like, "How is your mother doing?"
5. Guitar Hero was released.
Soon enough, the clacky trend would sweep across the nation, leaving many of us in awe of our friends being able to flawlessly tap out amazing riffs, causing us to simply pass the controller onward to the next person on the couch to avoid further embarrassment.
6. The Office was in its first season on NBC.
I'll be honest, I've watched and re-watched this series a couple times since its release, and it seems like forever ago I released I had a man crush on Jim Halpert.
7. Team Liquid consisted only of Liquid'Nazgul, Meat, Spy, Drone, Frost, Ninja, Oaral, Crystal, Daaman, Venice, Raszi, and Satanik.
Oh, how so much can change on a team in so little time. From Brood War clan to international Starcraft 2 powerhouse, Liquid was essentially still in its infancy seven years ago. Liquid'Nony, the player on the roster with the most seniority currently, wouldn't be signed to the team until three years later in 2008.
So congratulations to Thorzain, Team'Liquid and Evil Geniuses for breaking the streak of seven years. Without a doubt, these two teams will make sure there isn't another seven year break between foreigner victories in Pro League. Foreigners hwaiting~!
 
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Didn't he get an all kill ?
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No, that's not how Proleague works.
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No all kills in pro league format 
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It sure is a nice achievement, but what taints it all a bit is the fact that 1. it's a different game 2. foreigners (and non-kespa players) had a 2-year head start.
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On December 30 2012 08:27 Harrad wrote:
It sure is a nice achievement, but what taints it all a bit is the fact that 1. it's a different game 2. foreigners (and non-kespa players) had a 2-year head start.
2 year head start to do what exactly? Practice mechanically? Except their Brood War counterparts are far better than them mechanically anyway. To learn strategies? Brood war players are adept enough at RTS's to be able to pick those up pretty quickly.
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On December 30 2012 08:30 kollin wrote:Show nested quote +On December 30 2012 08:27 Harrad wrote:
It sure is a nice achievement, but what taints it all a bit is the fact that 1. it's a different game 2. foreigners (and non-kespa players) had a 2-year head start. 2 year head start to do what exactly? Practice mechanically? Except their Brood War counterparts are far better than them mechanically anyway. To learn strategies? Brood war players are adept enough at RTS's to be able to pick those up pretty quickly.
Indeed, they caught up very quickly. But I can't help but think that they would be quite a bit better had they played since release. The metagame would have developed quicker and perhaps differently, so its possible sc2 would look different today had the kespa teams been around earlier.
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MC won a BW Game vs EffOrt on HBR in 2009 (as  IrOn). But Yeah, the xbox announcement made me feel old.
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Shit, reading this thread makes me feel really old. But I am over joyed hearing about thorzain, way awesome.
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United States10328 Posts
On December 30 2012 08:16 Hilo wrote:
Didn't he get an all kill ?
He got an all-kill in the Lifezone KPGA Team League Update vs. Toona SG:
Game 1 ssm~Silver on Enter The Dragon
Game 2 Ogogo[inca] on Dark Sauron
Game 3 T.3)Friend on Jim Raynor's Memory
Game 4 Nal_Rock on Plains to Hills
edit: lol, he used DTs the first two PvZs to great effect
also, click the link! It's a very old Waxangel BR (when he wasn't quite as jaded  )
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It's cute, but the skill gap in SC2 vs BW in terms of Koreans vs foreigners is not even comparable, it's a pretty watered-down accomplishment. It won't be the last victory by a foreigner either.
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Whoaaa...yeah these things really make you feel old and put things into perspective, don't they? >__<
Wow.
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Hey pretty interesting read man, thanks for posting it up. Enjoyed it.
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United States1225 Posts
Also, people starting college this year had just started middle school at the time. Crazy to think about that time difference.
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On December 30 2012 16:54 peanutsfan1995 wrote:
Also, people starting college this year had just started middle school at the time. Crazy to think about that time difference.
*mind-blown sound effect* holy crap. Wow.
Time goes by so, so fast... Some professor once messed around with integrals and age, and basically concluded that by the age of 18-20ish, half of your life as you "feel" or experience it has already gone by. That's actually kind of sobering.
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Man I forgot Satanik was on Liquid... this just makes me feel old.
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Halo 2 is the game that build xbox live and revolutionist console online gaming, not call of duty 2, thats just the series that became more casual as time went on and ended up with the bigger player base.
Other than that (and that you forgot the suicide toss's amazing proleague career initially), really nice writeup. Lets hope it's not gonna be another 7 years till the next W...
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Haha, I was 8 years old. The last win has half a lifetime ago for me.
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EPT
