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Brood War![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/userfiles/17318.jpg?1254589689) Gather 'round children while uncle Chef rambles to himself
Recollections
For most of Brood War's life as professionally played game, there were always more VODs than anyone could reasonably watch. Proleague had several matches a week, MSL and OSL were going, and at one point, even GOM (which had formerly just sponsored) had its own Brood War league running at the same time. Occasionally there were Super Fights other showmatches. All the time there were variety shows of every colour for Brood War, of which Star Infinity Challenge and B.Net Attack were especially loved outside Korea. We even got reality T.V. shows in the form of Hyungjoon Becomes a Progamer and Nal_Ra's Old Boy. It was a lot of Brood War, and to a lot of people interested in this niche entertainment, it made it seem invincible and bigger than life.
When everything pro Brood War related disappeared, that's what was on my mind a lot. It is exactly because pro Brood War had so much content I'd never seen that I kept watching it, even after the Last OSL Ever ended. Of course, I watched Sonic's league as well, but I haven't been that devoted to it. Since the last OSL ended I have watched the whole of the original KPGA tours, the 2003 Proleague season (featuring frequent appearances of Elky and Grrrr... actually winning), every OSL and MSL final, a lot of Star Infinity Challenge, and a bunch of others. Currently I'm watching 2008-09 Proleague and 2005 Proleague, which feature some of the same maps.
Misgivings
I don't mean to imply that since the day OSL ended I've been watching BW VODs every day. Especially on the heels of the end, there were a lot of times where I would be enjoying it a lot and then I'd start thinking "why did this ever end?" and I'd think about all those things above, and then I'd think about how it actually did end, and I'd suddenly realise I was hardly watching the game anymore and it was time to take a break.
I have a lot of bitter feelings towards what Blizzard became. I have a lot of bitter feelings when I see Savior's face in old VODs. I have a lot of bitter feelings towards a community which at large gobbled up games they admitted were inferior, but were 'the future of eSports' and who told lies until they became the truth. If I think about those things and start on that path, I stop enjoying the VOD.
Sometimes that unbearable feeling requiring a break didn't come from thinking about how BW ended. There were a lot of times when the nostalgia was too overwhelming, when watching things as a retrospective without intellectually analysing the game at hand was killing it for me. I'd start thinking that it was becoming impossible to enjoy old games because they represented a stagnation in the development of the game. As historical changes in what standard play was they were interesting, but it made me yearn to know what was going to come next in pro BW, in 2013 and beyond. It would lose its magic for me and I'd have to stop again.
An Attitude Change
About a month or two ago I started watching the last MSL that was ever played. That is, the one that never got sponsored and ended after the survivor tournament. For some reason I had a revelation when I was watching that, which took all the negative feelings I'd had completely out of the picture. I started getting into the habit of watching a few games in the morning with breakfast and tea before I started work, and it was really relaxing. If you don't know, when they do the out of studio VODs for the qualifiers, they tend to jump into the middle of games and you end up seeing around 5 or 6 games in an hour. That ended up being a perfect format for me, but when it changed to the studio group stages it didn't lose me. I had an epiphany about one of the real, deep reasons I love Brood War and why I was never able to appreciate a lot of other games as esports.
Watching Brood War is an intellectual distraction. The glammer and glitz of the pro-scene might get you into it at first, the emotions of the players are a huge part of the attachment you build for it, and the storylines are cool and those things are all the part you describe to outsiders when you're making a case of Brood War as an eSport. But if you've played this game since the beginning, if you've followed the proscene for years, if you watch replays and you really love the game itself, there's something maybe more important than all of those things which aren't really particular to Brood War. The thing that Brood War has for the informed spectator is the game itself.
When you think about the emotions of the players, you know it's in the past. It's the same for the glammer and the storylines. There's a certain point where that starts to make you feel sick if you really miss it. What doesn't expire, even with old VODs, is that each game is a puzzle. Before BW was gone, whenever I watched it was always the most natural thing to think about what this player should do next to win, how this player should react to this to come out of this, and seeing if that is what the player really tries to do, or if they surprise you with a more ingenious solution. When I think about these things, suddenly all those superficial aspects above are out of my head, and I'm actually enjoying the game as if it were played today. It gets my brain going, I feel good, and it stops being a nostalgia trip (of which there is only so much I can handle).
The Last BW OSL Ever Anniversary
You may have been aware that August 4th was a year from the day Jangbi beat Fantasy in the last OSL. A month before that I had finished watching (many rewatched from years past) all of the OSL finals. I had wanted to write something specifically for the anniversary, and I wrote a few drafts but none of it felt right. At some point, I came to the conclusion that it was because this feeling was so important to me, it wasn't something I was okay with sharing. Dramatic or not, I thought that this one is mine alone, so I spared its dignity of being analysed by others. I'm sure a lot of other people were thinking about it too.
The reason I include this section, or why I write any of this, is just to say that I really love this game. I loved watching it taken past its limit and I love playing it at my own level. It's a real feeling that can't be taken away from me, even by the flippant nature of eSports and gaming culture.
Onward
There's enough pro BW to last me for ages. As long as its hosted somewhere and as long as I still enjoy it, I'll keep watching it. Right now it is part of my morning ritual and one day maybe it can really come back—though I'm not holding my breath. I've wanted to write something about this for a long time, and maybe it's not quite what I wanted to say, but it's a blog and that's what your old pal Uncle Chef has been doing.
+ Show Spoiler +Forgive me for writing that's even worse than it was before, it's been a really long time since I wrote something of this nature.
 
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Bisutopia19397 Posts
I can't add anything more then that I feel the same way you do about the game. But its really nice hearing from you. Thanks for this.
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Brood War blog, insta 5/5!!1
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doubleupgradeobbies!
Australia1361 Posts
Agreed 100%, the resentment at how it all ended so unnecessarily, and in such a forced manner, is something that now colours my enjoyment of bw vods, and makes it a bittersweet experience at best.
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TLADT24920 Posts
I don't see much BW blogs on TL anymore so this is an auto 5/5 from me. I played BW back in 2001 with some friends when I was introduced to it and moved onto team games, fastest possible map ever, BGH and against AI when they moved on. What I always found amazing about BW was how I kept being drawn to it. I would play the game, get busy and forget about it and then lo and behold, a year or two later, I find myself installing it again and playing again then rinse and repeat. I'm not sure what specifically about the game I loved, but who can say no to scouts? Units are amazing!
As for the pro scene, I was informed of it way back in 2001 but I wasn't as tech savvy at the time(TL probably didn't exist at the time) so I never got around to finding more details and eventually, time passed and here we are. Makes me sad that I never got to see BW during its prime but at least vods are still available and we have a good BW community  In general, I see what you're saying and agree. Still lots of BW and who knows, Sonic's league is going strong and might even propel BW back up
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Nice writing Chef, as always really great 5/5.
And beautiful emotion.
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Great read Chef <3
And damn, the last OSL was already over a year ago, can't believe that.
BW4LYFE
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Cool blog. Hey Chef, since you finished all the OSLs, which one would you recommend I watch(I've seen all of em after mid 2010 personally mind you)?
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People always seem to mention "how badly BW ended", because of the match fixing and sponsorship issues.
I have never viewed it like that.
For me, it was a non stop ride on the OSL championship train. From 2008 to the very last tving osl, Stork, July, Flash all winning in 2008. To the tyrant's reign in 2009. Fantasy's first championship in 2010. Effort's amazing battle against Flash in 2010 and his first championship.
But it was the final two OSLs that would prove to be the best, and forever be etched in my memory.
Jangbi's storyline in the Jin Air OSL is the stuff of legends. Coming back from abysmal proleague performances, fighting through the wildcard to earn a spot in the ODT. Making it to the final brackets, and removing Flash from the tournament in one of the greatest series in BW history ever. To finally fulfilling the legend of the fall to become OSL champion.
He returned the next season as a repeat championship, playing a dominating protoss style we havent seen in ages. Carriers. Storms. The quintessential definition of what it means to be protoss. And especially Jangbi vs Zero, the greatest PvZ series ever.
This is what I choose to remember of BW and the final OSLs.
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I understand your sentiment but I was surprised at the lack of any threads/blogs about the last OSL's 1 year anniversary. Though I suppose each one of us has our own feelings about BW that we don't necessarily have to share.
Good read.
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This game's pretty good!
They should bring it to Blizzcon.
And everywhere else.
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17082 Posts
BW had a certain charm and soul that's very clearly missing in SC2.
Or I've always thought so, anyway.
Also, do you ever watch old games (2002ish era) of old pros and think to yourself "I could probably beat that progamer?" I think the average C/C+ player could be a pro back in 2002, simply because they didn't have strategies that were as fleshed out or the macro skills to get past the C ranks.
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What a great blog post chef. Sadly I'm still in the faze where my mind starts wandering to 'what went wrong' thoughts while watching pro-BW vods, idk I had to stop myself now from writing a long post about how bitter I am about how everything turned out, maybe I should have been more involved or something. It eats away at you...
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About the VOD part of your blog: I've always had the feeling about BW that it's pro games were strongly divided between 'pioneer period' and 'developed period'. I don't know when exactly that transition took place (my guess is Nada / Oov handspeed and macro revolution) but the feeling about old games was always either between 'those guys are so oldschool, they don't expand enough' and 'this is a textbook play, not much to add cause the game is so mapped'. Perhaps it's just because the modern pro-BW finally discovered builds versatile against anything opponents could throw on you, wheras stone-age progamers had to figure it out all by themselves and make creative responses more often.
Personally, I thought Bisu vs Savior MSL final was around the time of absolute BW ascendancy, purely because pretty much everyone worth watching was either still or already around. Also, there was that interesting change of generations in the game plus the whole PvZ revolution itself...
And somehow, best OSL finals were always Zerg comebacks: GGPlay vs Iris, Jaedong vs Fantasy and Effort vs Flash.
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I have a lot of bitter feelings towards a community which at large gobbled up games they admitted were inferior, but were 'the future of eSports' and who told lies until they became the truth. If I think about those things and start on that path, I stop enjoying the VOD.
These words really hit me hard. I couldn't accept that broodwar was ending and this community's shift in focus just seemed so abrupt. I got left behind 
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On August 29 2013 04:48 Empyrean wrote:
BW had a certain charm and soul that's very clearly missing in SC2.
Or I've always thought so, anyway.
Also, do you ever watch old games (2002ish era) of old pros and think to yourself "I could probably beat that progamer?" I think the average C/C+ player could be a pro back in 2002, simply because they didn't have strategies that were as fleshed out or the macro skills to get past the C ranks.
Yeah, that's a false positive. You look at the players and their seemingly odd openings and think they'd be around C+ish now. Truth is, the maps were simply completely different from that. Like entirely. Try to do a macro opening (any of them really) on a map like Lost Temple (might be possible), Jungle Story(lol) or Gorky Park (no way). Keep in mind, most had no LanLatency either. Replays were new (2002ish). Etc. pp.
You tend to underestimate the skill these guys had, both mechanical and strategical.
Obviously, the casuals are pretty good now, most basics are explained elsewhere, you have FPVODs and even FPStreams for anyone. But, I really think that a lot of oldschool players would be back on top rather easily due to their experience and their ability to adapt. A lot of post-Beta or post-SC2-announce players simply lack that. For now, see Arcneon, a lot stronger than just C+, or someone like Drone. They weren't even pro, but have no prob to keep up with the foreign elite.
Might be you got yourself an odd sample and try to generalize there.
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17082 Posts
Clearly given time (a few months?), the old pros would be able to adapt and would still be on top of the game. What I mean is that if a current C+ player who was around since 2002 were to magically be teleported back in time, I think they could make a very deep run in a tournament. I watch a lot of old replays and the macro is simply sub-par for what you would expect from pro or semi-pro players.
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Thanks.
This is just so god damn sad. I recognize a lot of what you write about.
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5/5!
Makes me wanna pull up some old MSL/OSL finals vods
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EPT
