EPT
If you are a regular of the SC2 section of TeamLiquid you have probably seen me around, posting quite a lot in the last few years, altought I have what you way more than you have watch me.
Sadly I have written this blog to say my (partial) farewell to this amazing community and to Starcraft 2.
I will forever remember the first time I saw a Starcraft 2 game, years of getting own at BW by a friend made me avoid SC2 for a long time, but some days while watching replay of old Street Fighter evo replay, the wonderful series of one and zeros dedicated to grab my attention known as the youtube algorithm found the perfect thing for me : the 2013 WCS season 2 final replay from Cologne Germany. Since this fateful day of early winter 2013, I have watch Starcraft probably around 6 days a week every week.
Sc2 was a revelation to me, as someone who always loved RTS but only played solo, I couldn't fathom what was going on, how both eclectic and smooth everything was, I watched classic like Scarlett-Bomber (my two first favorite), Maru-Dear, sOs-Jaedong, essentially passing all my Christmas break injecting Starcraft history into my vein.
It was also during that time that I discovered my first Starcraft community, not TL, not the Blizzard forum, not even reddit, but in fact Against All Authority website, a french team that was already way past his prime and was barely into sc2 (although they did have a young DNS I think, and Aeromi was posting there!).
It took month for me to actually got to playing Starcraft, as the PTSD of BW was still there, but then I took the leap and boy was it worth it. I started in the bottom of Bronze league, losing my first 15-20 games but it didn't matter, in a single season I went all the way up to gold playing hundreds of games and having the best of time. It was the first time I truly got into a multiplayer game since the COD days and it gradually became the only game I played (fun fact the friend that used to stomp me in BW doesn't want to play SC2 with me anymore cause I'm to good
)My progressively more intimate relation with Starcraft made me enter in collision with what would become something just as important to me that Starcraft was, Team Liquid. I am pretty sure I have pass more time reading, talking, browsing, on this website than doing anything else in my life for the last 5 year. It was the first online community I was part of and maybe the last one as I can't imagine another being as amazing as this one. It's witty, argumentative, talented, dynamic and always ready to surprise you. The first thing I do in the morning is opening TL and the last thing I do at night is closing it, I've been on TL, in the bed, in the bath, eating, walking, I've read TL in France, in Perou, in Italy and in the US it's my ever present companion.
Despite all the wonderful things TL and Starcraft gave me, I now found myself needing to let them go, it's not cause I don't love Starcraft anymore, I love it just as much as before, but even I have to realize that watching my 32th game of the day at 4 pm on a Wednesday, or refreshing TL 80 time in an hour aren't great way to spend my time.
In a few weeks I'll be going back to college to continue my master, my first try was, let say, not great. I got some good grade (perfect one actually, all the praise go to social science non-coercive grading system) but I knew that I wasn't doing enough to do what I wanted, make an actual good master, or if I'm being really full of myself: understand a bloody thing. Doing so I want to focus all my energy to it, and that include cutting down on the thing I love the most.
It's something I have planned for a good while, my GOAT contest was part of it, I wanted to give back something to TL and Starcraft, contributing in a small way to the scene. (Of course there was no better gift than giving everyone than the possibility to be grace by pages and pages and pages of my rambling). It was a way to animate the TL forum and personally revisit Starcraft 2 history before I took a step back, watching all the game I had missed, learning of player I had only vaguely heard before my time.
You will still see me around, as I wouldn't miss GSLvsTW or Blizzcon for the world, and Dreamhack Montreal is a must go for me, but I won't be watching your every words like I once did... at least not for now. I hope there's a time when I can comeback here with a more healthy life situation and find all of you still there.
But for now this is a small farewell.
PS for everyone else who have no idea who the hell I am or don't care here's a little something to reward your patience:
+ Show Spoiler +
(Gotta get those stars)
