EPTI'm a little overwhelmed with StarCraft feelings right now. Here I go.
Honestly, even having watched a bit of ASL earlier in the year, I found the resurgence of Korean Brood War more of a quaint novelty than anything at first. This was the game that started it all for me and esports, sure, but this past year Overwatch was suddenly the new cool kid at the party. Exciting StarCraft II things were happening in the re-energized WCS Circuit. Smash Melee was finally getting the mainstream recognition it's been hoping for since the early 2000s. The International 6 had a $20 million prize pool.
At the recent BlizzCon, I was spellbound by ByuN and starry-eyed with the incredible possibilities of the StarCraft II DeepMind AI. I took a photo with Jaedong, but it felt a bit distant and awkward given his recent retirement announcement. All in all, it felt like the old days were done.
Then, recently, I heard on the internet from a reputable source that I was a FOOL if I wasn't watching the new ASL Brood War season. I poked around and found the KT GiGA Legends Match, which I'd somehow missed from a couple weeks ago. Stork, Bisu, Flash and ... Jaedong? My heart skipped a beat.
There they were, the four at the very top of the scene - well, the world - when I was first swallowed up by the glory of Korean pro StarCraft during a summer college study-abroad in Seoul, 2008. Stork and Jaedong started out on Python. Tasteless and Artosis were weaving a tale deeper and more human than supply counts and production tabs could tell (and talking about panda bear guy, to boot).
Jaedong's mutalisks hatched. Suddenly I was yanked back to that one fateful summer moment in 2008 when I first saw Jaedong's mutalisk micro while seated in the small crowd of a TV studio in Seoul - the moment where everything else fell away and I realized that competitive StarCraft could be ... was ... art. I hadn't known up to then what I wanted to do with my life. That instant lit the fuse for an explosion that gave me my destiny.
After I finished the VOD, I knew what I had to do. With trembling, icy cold hands, I pulled out a cardboard tube that had survived the decimation of my possessions when I moved across the country in my car 6 months ago. In it was a poster that had traveled with me across the world and then across the US twice over the past 8 years. It's now on my wall after years of dormancy.
![[image loading]](https://scontent.fbed1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/15384529_10103305816578871_1137465355040242021_o.jpg)
Stolen from a wall outside a Korean auditorium which held the finals for the GOMTV TG Sambo-Intel Classic Season 1.
2016 had its ups and downs, and the outlook for 2017 is in some ways a little perturbing. But I'll remember 2016 as a year of miracles, too. I landed a full-time job in esports. I was welcomed back with open arms by friends I hadn't seen in in 6+ years. And somehow, against all odds, I was blessed with the chance to revisit the flash of electrifying joy that so indelibly shaped my life long ago.
Let's go, esports. Time to take over the world.
Love,
PeanutSC
