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As you may or may not know, I retired from Starcraft around September last year to work full time on my board game, Aeon’s End. I’ve followed the starcraft scene on and off since then and have been playing zerg a bit for fun on NA trying to get gm. I saw the announcement about the wcs ladder competition and spontaneously decided I would give it a try about a week ago. I played a lot of LoTV in the beta and was pretty familiar with all the changes since then because I’d been playing zerg the last few months. Since it’d been a long time since I played Terran, I gave this competition as much respect as I could. I took a few days off from working and scheduled out everyday to play ~6-8 hours with enough breaks to maintain my condition until the very end. I knew it’d be tough and I wasn’t sure if I’d make it, but I saw it as a fun challenge and a nice diversion from my current work. One thing to note is that ladder competitions are not a pure competition of skill. While the best players can usually waltz through these, the majority of players have to consistently play near their best for several days of intense playing in a row. Since I have a flexible work schedule, I was able to accommodate the competition and devote as much time as was necessary which definitely gave me an edge over some players who are just as good or even a little better than I am were we to play a BoX series.
I’m no stranger to ladder competitions, nor am I a stranger to the type of stress that they tend to generate. One of my rage gifs was a direct result of playing far too much and becoming far too desperate trying to qualify for a ladder competition. The first few days were pretty rough as I lost to a lot of players that I never had trouble against in the past. With each day I got a little bit better. I thought about my games after I finished and spent a lot of time just relaxing to prepare for the next session. This was a sort of proving ground for me. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of my skill remained. Because I had to learn so much day to day as I got up to date with playstyles and the current meta, I had to put in a lot of games in a short period of time. I made substantial progress in the week that I played Terran, but it definitely left a mark on my condition that I’ll need some days to recover from before I feel back to normal. As the final day loomed I was definitely feeling the stress of playing so much.
I hoped I could stop laddering early on the final day but a few losses kept me in the danger zone up until the last minute. My goal was to stay around rank 10 to avoid hitting the koreans sitting at the top of the ladder. As the final day went on, I realized that was probably not going to be possible. Around 30 minutes before the competition ended I was sitting at about rank 15 with barely any points over the next player. A loss against Drunkenboi left me on the cusp of being knocked out. I immediately queued up again and hit ‘Kel’, a masters zerg. After carelessly losing several reapers to a ling flood, I scouted a ling ravager allin incoming. Although I had a tank out and two bunkers, I had poor control and position on my units. Maybe the early reaper loss was too much, maybe the event was affecting my concentration. Either way, as my scvs all evaporated, I braced myself for the incoming point loss. I could tell this was going to be a big loss. Whenever you play a no-name on the ladder, there’s a good chance that winning will be a few points and losing will mean a lot of lost points. I quickly checked the defeat screen and saw a whopping -20 points putting me at rank 17 with about 20 minutes to go.
So I queued up again. If I got lucky, I could play two quick games and make back the 20 points to scoot back into the top 16. That wasn’t how this story ends though. I didn’t get the easy opponent I hoped for. I tabbed back into the loading screen to see my opponent was none other than Polt himself. Up to this point in the ladder competition, had done nothing but thrash me in every single game. We hadn’t had a single close game yet.
With time against me, I went for a 1 base aggressive reaper hellion banshee style. I caught his reaper early on and was able to convert it into some scv kills. My banshee picked up a few more scvs, but I had lost too many units harassing him. His tanks, marines, raven, vikings and a banshee marched across the map to my base. In response, I sent another banshee around the outside of the map. When his units had just crossed the watch tower on Ruins of Seras, I sent the banshee into his base and picked up free scv after scv. With cross spawns, his army had a long way to go home to defend that banshee so he pressed on. As his army moved into my natural, I pulled scvs and brought everything into a concave. At first, I thought he would break through and I’d lose the ensuing base trade. One thing about playing Polt is even when you’re ahead and things look brightest, slipping up for an instant can mean immediate loss. With more reinforcements coming in from my main, I barely shoved off his attack. With the banshee rampaging uncontested in his main and his push shattered, the game was over.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jY9E7lC.png)
I fist pumped. I shouted. I hoped I didn’t wake my gf up. I was so excited that I had been strong under the final pressure. I knew I’d get a lot of points for that game. That one game was the only chance I had to make it in. If I lost it was over. Even by winning, I wasn’t sure I’d make it in. +23 pushed me back into 16th place and with only 5 minutes left, I felt safe.
I don’t think I did anything for those 5 minutes as I refreshed the gm ladder, watching and waiting. I knew people right outside the top 16 were still playing and there was a chance one of them would finish and knock me out. As midnight strolled on in, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw I had made it. A few minutes later, the official screenshot was posted:
For the tournament that I qualified for, I’ll be playing against Hydra first round which is less than ideal, but this all started as a test against myself. With so little practice, I didn’t really know what to expect. Just making it is a huge win. I wanted to know how well I could play. I needed to know if I could play under pressure and make use of the lessons I’ve learned about stress and mental management since retiring. I found out. I’m not as good as I hoped, but I made it in all the same.
I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now. This was a fun jaunt back into a world that’s been my home for so many years. I’ll play my best against Hydra and the rest of the wcs tournament qualifier, but when it’s done for me, I’ll be slinking back into the shadows to finish my board game, Aeon’s End.
Overall, this was a really fun experience. Fighting against old friends and enemies for something was an incredibly positive experience. The tension and stakes were so high and it felt like a substantial part of the community rallied around the event as well. I can only hope this is the first of many great new initiatives for Starcraft’s future.
Attached is the replay vs Kel here: and vs Polt here:
 
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Following the ladder competition was a lot of fun as a fan. The added story of beating Polt to secure your top 16 finish makes it even better, nicely done! gl vs Hydra
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France12796 Posts
Amazing storyline! Congrats for your win vs Polt and for this week hard work  . Having Polt as the final boss, the man you never beat this week, as your only hope of qualifying, and managing to beat him in spite of the stress, is quite a feat, very clutch!
Gghf vs Hydra, maybe subscribe to Polt's stream to watch his games against him in order to prepare :o
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Love your blogs in general and this was no exception. It's great to see you competing again, even if its only temporary. Also great to hear that you've learned lessons since retiring and could apply them at the important times.
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This was a fascinating look into the mindset and methods of someone at the top tier in NA who isn't in a pro team environment. I feel like there's been an explosion of media that chronicles the lives of players in team houses with coaches, analysts, etc., but there's not much out there about people like you who can make it to top 16 without those resources. This seems to be a kind of story that this new competition format is trying to encourage - the idea that anyone can make it into WCS Challenger and have a shot at the big leagues with enough skill, even if they don't have a jersey or live in a tricked-out team house. It's a very American Dream bootstrappy sort of idea.
I also really liked the way you described your preparations in terms of your attitude, time management, etc. I think players with less experience could skip over these elements in favor of just grinding, and it seems really useful to have someone as experienced and well known as you talking about how important this is.
Thanks for posting! GL in challenger.
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To this day one of my favorite sc2 memories is from Assembly Winter '11. I'd watched your stream a bit but being able to stand behind you while you practiced and warmed up was pretty intense :D
Glad to hear you were able to get some fun and excitement out of sc2. Good read!
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I was on the edge of my seat just reading!! Way to go qxc ...
soon more people will have probably heard of you
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Great read. Really enjoyed it.
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congratulations qxc. I look forward to watching your games!
Also, good luck with your board game. I embarked on a similar endeavor not too long ago but got sidetracked after struggling to find a suitable artist. If you're ever looking for some beta testers, don't hesitate to shoot me a PM!
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that got my heartrate to 180 :D good post
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great post and congratulations on the qualification, however you eliminated scarlett TT
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"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
If I make it through the wcs tournament and get a spot at katowice, I will seriously prepare for it. As soon as my run in this tournament ends, I will be fading back into the shadows as I have too many obligations at the moment to do otherwise.
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
Well Major did the same in EU. Zanster is 17th and is taking his spot.
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This was a really exciting read actually, you can tell how tense it was. Maybe this WCS format does have some good things in it
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
someone in NA missed his chance to be better than a retired progamer. which is quite a story in itself.
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
Yeah, if QXC managed to get top16 and free 400$ then good job to him :D
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Great blog. Kinda makes me want to hear Scarlett's story now.
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Thanks for writing this up. Any idea when/if we will get a chance to play your board game?
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Good luck on your road to relevancy mate!
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
Meh, half the people in the top 16 are already qualified for WCS, so you could go be angry at them too for taking up people's spots in this tournament
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Nice write up and nice achievement. I hate you now for costing Scarlett her spot though, I'll forgive you if you tear up Hydra. :p
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Great read, I can't imagine how that must have felt, really awesome!
Congrats QXC and even as a Scarlett fan I'm really happy for you. Hopefully you can do well in the tournament, because I'm not quite willing to let you go back into retirement just like that  .
Anyway, I'm happy the ladder competition had such a positive impact on the scene. I hope your board game will be great and maybe we'll see more of you after you fnished it.
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Nice post, intense write-up
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Good article, gratz on making it!
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On February 13 2016 22:44 Fishriot wrote:
Thanks for writing this up. Any idea when/if we will get a chance to play your board game?
We're currently doing beta testing. As for actual release, that will be toward the end of this year. Once the game is funded, it takes several months to get everything printed, proofed and available for purchase etc...
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United Kingdom20285 Posts
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
If qxc can come back out of nowhere and take over them for a tournament spot and potential prize money, it's on them to get better!
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awesome post, was fun reading it (:
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Damn.. look at those stats 130 wins, 15 losses. Hydra must get bored on NA.
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United Kingdom20285 Posts
On February 14 2016 15:36 rednusa wrote:
Damn.. look at those stats 130 wins, 15 losses. Hydra must get bored on NA.
Yeah, Nios.kr says he's lost 17 of the last 165 ladder games, close to legit 90% ratio after that many games o.0
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Man, stories like this are why I'm glad Blizzard is making real efforts to make ladder relevant.
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On February 14 2016 19:24 KrazyTrumpet wrote:
Man, stories like this are why I'm glad Blizzard is making real efforts to make ladder relevant.
Hopefully it brought in a few more viewers to those that streamed too.
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It's always cool to check some stuff from QXC - he's been always such a Terran-Believer.
Btw: Hydra's b-net record is insane!
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130-15 Hydra.
Yeah I see WCS 2016 now. What a "Armutszeugnis". Translates 1:1 to "poverty certificate".
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I was actually watching that last game on Polt's stream - that was quite a turnaround! Nicely done.
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France12796 Posts
On February 15 2016 07:08 boxerfred wrote:
130-15 Hydra.
Yeah I see WCS 2016 now. What a "Armutszeugnis". Translates 1:1 to "poverty certificate".
Hydra would get bodied on EU tho
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On February 15 2016 07:46 Poopi wrote:Show nested quote +On February 15 2016 07:08 boxerfred wrote:
130-15 Hydra.
Yeah I see WCS 2016 now. What a "Armutszeugnis". Translates 1:1 to "poverty certificate". Hydra would get bodied on EU tho
I don't think so if we assume most Korean pro gamers are better than most international players. Yes, I don't follow the scene closely and Hydra may have worse win rate on EU but I doubt he'll have major problems.
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A++++ blog
With all the bad news this was a breath of clean crisp mountain air in a meadow with crystal clear streams
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So that's how close it was. As a massive Scarlett fan, I am honor bound to hate you now.
But man, reading this gave me serious nerd chills. I wish I had read this before the playoffs so I could have rooted for you. Always enjoyed watching you play, since all the way back in 2010. Hope to see you in action again soon, and thanks for this excellent writeup!!!
And GL with Aeon's End man, I'm now signed up as a fan on BGG
GG!!
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Congrats on qualifying qxc! The passion lives!
Now if only you could win the whole tournament, defying all odds, and forcing you to seriously reconsider your retirement  .
Hey, it could happen. E sports fan fiction anybody?
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I think Scarlett has a few well selected words for Polt for losing that game.
(gratz qxc)
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Congrats QXC, best of luck vs. Hydra, that was really close haha can't believe u made it by 4 points, GJ gl hf bro.
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I know full time isn't in the books for you, but are you going to at least practice for the tournament? I would be sad if your games were a blowout =(. Anyway, awesome story and grats on making it!
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On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering?
Even if qxc wasn't going to play his Challenger games, and I hate to be too gruff, but whoever didn't get the top 16 against him doesn't deserve to be in WCS anyway. It's a competition.
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On February 21 2016 01:16 Nuclease wrote:Show nested quote +On February 13 2016 19:26 cutler wrote:
"I’m still retired. I’m not coming back to play full time right now."
So someone in NA missed his chance and you dont care about that WCS spot and simply enjoyed laddering? Even if qxc wasn't going to play his Challenger games, and I hate to be too gruff, but whoever didn't get the top 16 against him doesn't deserve to be in WCS anyway. It's a competition.
Yeah, as it hurts to say it, if Scarlett (she was 17th) isn't capable of placing above a retired qxc on the ladder, then probably no point to send her to the WCS.
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This is an awesome write up. Congratulations man!
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Congrats man, that was an epic story. Also the game vs Polt was amazing, thanks for sharing.
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On February 18 2016 04:36 mothergoose729 wrote:Congrats on qualifying qxc! The passion lives! Now if only you could win the whole tournament, defying all odds, and forcing you to seriously reconsider your retirement . Hey, it could happen. E sports fan fiction anybody?
Reminds me of a certain all kill of IM by a certain player.
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Nice read and congrats, qxc. The original USA Terran beast still has it
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EPT
