V
All good things must come to an end,
And so the Bonjwas went,
The ending of a peace in which
Some seven years were spent.
With Savior the regnant king,
His 5 hatch hydra build
Would roflstomp the big and small -
All players, noob and skilled.
But then arose a brand new soul
With fire in his eyes,
A soul that engineered the change
Whence Protoss come to rise.
The Bisu build, corsairs, DT's
Destroyed the Savior build
This upstart toss had found the way
To see the Bonjwa killed.
Paraded as the newest king,
But nay, twas not his fate,
For Bisu fell into a slump
In mid-2008.
And so, no player gained control,
No Bonjwa came to be,
No race could beat the other two
As far as we could see.
And though his play was not unmatched
The surge was far from done
His 80 percent winrate gave
The Proleague to T1.
VI
Far on the horizon where
No Brood War pro has gone
Emerged a new child of the hand
From which SC had spawned,
StarCraft II, split into three
Was carried to the light
A tale of rebels and redemption,
Rivals to unite.
Though it was far from completion
Our euphoria grew
As our experience with old Brood War
Would begin anew.
Though the path was rough, delayed three years
The game endured,
But that is not our story yet, the time is...
Premature.
VII
Although it was eleven years
There were still elements to learn
New tips and tricks that led to turn
The tide of many games.
Like Boxer, Terran pioneer
Who learned to use his Valkyries
To turn the tide of TvZ
And set Zerg air aflame.
Or Jaedong's queens, or Bisu's scouts
Two units brought back from the dead
And brought, by masters, to the head
Of armies yet unseen.
There was a lull in all the heat
Return to old stability
A peace led by the trinity
Not Bonjwas, yet supreme.
As Jaedong, Zerg was number one
With Flash the terran close behind
And Bisu, vet'ran, left confined
(Or so the Power Rank defined)
To third best in the line.
And for a few months silence ruled
A peace - quite tenuous - but a peace
Where chaos and disorder ceased
But this was to decline.
Soon, Bisu fell into a slump
And other hopefuls took his place
The PR saw more than one face
Claim third was now his own.
And soon began a new contest
With Flash and Jaedong's violent clash
But none could beat this brand new Flash
who now would rule alone.
VIII
Now here is when the game was born
That brought a second wind,
When StarCraft II was introduced...
To veterans' chagrin.
The pros would stay with their career
In Brood War lay their life
The sentiments of their supporters
Filled the air with strife.
So many old elitists came
To whine about the newer game
Its huge unreasonable fame
Its battles relatively tame
Its stupid upgrades - neosteel frame?
"A-move to win!" they would proclaim
And MBS made them exclaim
Profanities in Boxer's name
For this piss-poor computer game...
I still think all the ones who flame
Should hang their sorry heads in shame.
But I digress, for this is not
A story of the new,
But rather how old Brood War was
Cut down by StarCraft II.
For there were few newcomers to
The Brood War playing field
And while the game was still intact
Its final fate was sealed.
The twelve teams were cut down to eight
New scandals made old players irate
The game was rigged? No way, but wait-
(Although on this I'm not au fait)
They unearthed Savior and his mates
All bribed to lose - could this negate
The game's integrity of late
But yet the game would not abate.
But soon there came a time when all
The pros began to move
The time was right to switch their game
In StarCraft II improve.
Soon Jaedong made his plans to leave
And others soon would follow
For avid fans of BW games
This truth was hard to swallow.
The final final came to be
A glorious StarCraft PvT
Without Flash, but with Fantasy!
Against the ven'rable jangbi
And that day they made history
With games worth watching frequently
A caliber of quality
Approaching true infinity
Whence nerds lost their virginities
Whence arms grew back on amputees
Whence stars aligned in harmony
Whence naught gave birth to galaxies
Whence someone won Monopoly
Whence everything, in unity
Joined with itself and ceased to be
And all that's left is empty seas
Of what was once vitality
Of what led to this PvT
That ended Brood War finally
Bright end to our society.
Just kidding, jangbi used DT's.
IX
Though left abandoned by the pros
Some chose to stay by Brood War's side
To play their cherished game with pride
And live life on their own,
And as the fragments joined as one
A light was born, though small at first
And soon decay was but reversed
And Brood War but rethroned,
And soon TL, its wings spread wide
Saw opportunity to grow
The Brood War scene, relight its glow
To make this great game thrive,
And now Team Liquid leads the way
Ensuring Brood War never falls
To carry on, in spite of all
And keep the flame alive.