A decade of Starcraft 2: 2012 The Capital

Aftera first GSL that saw old palls Genius and DRG screw around for a bit, GSL season 2 started the year in earnest.

Group A reunited the last two GOMTV champions, but neither jjakji (1.) nor DRG (2.) got passed TaeJa and TheStC setting the stage for a GSL that would be full of upset, with 7 of the reigning tops 8 failing to make it back.
Coming out of a victory at IEM Kiev as well as top four in IPL4 and IEM WC , MMA was the next favorite in line and arguably the best player in the world. His subsequent elimination in the round of 32 was a shock and the way it happened only made it worst. Against Squirtle (3.) and especially Leenock,(4.) MMA looked clearly like the worst player, failing flat after having been so clutch for so long. It marked an abrupt end to MMA momentum, a last run at Iron Squid in France would give the illusion that he still had it, but internal problems in Slayers as well as an inability to adapt to a new meta unfavorable for terran would derail his career, falling out of code S soon after and not having any real results for the rest of WOL. It got so bad he went as far as refusing invitation to tournaments because he said he could not play at a reasonable level. (5.) MMA descent into hell was all to public, his fans and detractors treated it as a soap opera, compounding rumors, vague news, and bad tournaments results into a steaming story of ambition, jealousy and betrayal completed with an evil witch, a naive husband and the hero of the people driven away. (6.) (7.) Some of it was probably true, some (most) certainly was not, but it does not really matter. In any case GSL 2 was MMA last run before his debacle became Starcraft 2 favorite gossip saga. No player had encapsulated the love of the crowd quite like MMA and that also meant no one demise gave the fans more delight.




MMA fall was concurrent with his rival Mvp rise back to the top. Some average results in the first few months of 2012 as well as his inability to win Blizzard Cup at the end of 2011 were making people bring out the ominous “s” word and for the first time he was not a favorite coming into GSL season 2. While the gravity of the situation would only come to light later, GSL 2 also marked an intensification of the discussion around Mvp wrists and back injury, slowing him down and cutting his practice time.(8.) Mvp nevertheless made his way to the playoff, although not without a few scratches along the way, only inching pass Leenock in the last match of the round of 16.(9) Going against the Swedish hope NaNiwa in the quarter, the King of Wings was predicted to lose,(10.) a lost against HerO in the previous round having only reinforced the idea that tvp was his worst match up. Perhaps accepting his status as the underdog, Mvp went for three quick pushes, including two (successful) one base all in, handily win the series three to one,(11.) while the rest of the round of 8 saw protoss prevail at every turn, SuperNova and TaeJa falling 3-0 to the men from Aiur. Mvp cheesy victory against Naniwa was not enough to give the TL staff confidence when it came to the semifinal against PartinG,(12.) the Startale protoss having beaten a quartet of Korea best terrans with precise control of his late game army. Watching Mvp cheese Parting out of the tournament to reach his 5th GSL finals was a new look for the IM star.(13.) After being the top dog for so long, it was perplexing to have him get to the final as the most aggressive player since Inca. In a season where the protoss representatives seemed unbeatable, Mvp was showing the power of sound preparation mixed with superior experience used to put pressure on his opponent until they crumble. It is a lesson that would be imitated half a decade later by a youngling then it first code S, but that would not stop getting overlook by most.

In the final, Mvp went against Startale other great protoss, Squirtle. Coming back of an impressive IPL4 performance, Squirtle run to the GSL final was one of the greatest ever seen, he went 4-0 in his up-and-down matches then proceeded to go 14 and 1 against MMA, Leenock,(14.) Oz,(15.) Maru,(15.) TaeJa(16.) and HerO.(17) Squirtle performance was enough to infatuate the Starcraft community that predicted him to walk the royal road.(18.) He was deemed to be better, more complete, more akin to the modern way to play Starcraft and overall just slightly too good to fall to Mvp scheme. Although the series was expected to be great, champions were a commodity quickly replaced and it seemed to be Mvp time.

At the start of the series,(19.) it looked like everyone doubting Mvp run after he dismantled of two of the best tvp players were just refusing to see the truth in front of their eyes. He dominated the first three games, brining builds after builds to a Squirtle that seemed to have no plan other than doing the most standard opening. With four tournament points, it looked like the news of Mvp death were greatly exaggerated. The next few games though, would start to show the cracks in his armor. With the state of Mvp wrists, the TL writers had predicted that the longer the series stretched out, the worst it would get for the veteran and as such Squirtle started to slowly chip at Mvp lead. He won the next three maps in long, stretch out, macro games including one of Starcraft most famous game where Mvp busted out an unexpected mass BC-Ghost build on Metropolis building the tension for an eternity only to be swiftly brought down, but the flashy light of the last 20 second of that game hide Squirtle true prowess. At two maps to three, down 100 supplies to the Terran 150 and with his third ravaged at the 16 minutes mark, the match seemed like a done deal. Instead of risking his advantage, Mvp chose to play it safe and set up a containment of Squirtle with bunkers and tanks anchoring down his position in front of the protoss natural forcing Squirtle deep into his base. In response, Squirtle managed to sneak out a new third unbeknown to his opponent and kept the terran just far enough from his natural nexus with some juicy storms, refusing the full fight. Before long, zealots where barging into Mvp base from a proxy pylon and Squirtle had turned the game on its head. The IM player found himself sitting in a no-man’s land, unable to reinforce or go back he begrudgingly tried to move forward too late and got completely wipe.




With Mvp bag of intricate builds seemingly empty and after having just let victory slip through his fingers, he resorted to the simplest of build, a proxy 2 rax marine rush, the first build everyone learns in Starcraft. It was neither complex nor unexpected, Mvp just sent Squirtle the simplest of message, do not mess up and you win 40 000 bucks. I could go on and on about Mvp strategical genius or analyze the movement of his marines, but the simple truth is that in that ultimate game, Squirtle got into a seemingly unlosable position, screwed up, felt down to a contested position, then screwed up again. Mvp fourth GSL trophy had a very peculiar flavor, Mvp had won his other trophies by outplaying even the best of the best, but in that crucial last game against Squirtle he undoubtedly should have lost. They could play those opening 100 time on the ladder and Squirtle probably would not lose a single one, but even if Squirtle may have been the better player, he was not a champion.

Tournament winners can be created in endless number, but genuinely great champions need specials conjecture to emerge. MMA had it, he had the slow rise mimicking the game own journey, he had the look and the stage presence, he had the right opponents at the right time, but he was not able to hold on to it and it would take a long drought for his story to come back full circle. Mvp was the one that could, he too had the right timing, the right stage, the right story intertwining personal challenge and in-game excellence, but he is the one that manage to endure, to trick to odds when it became time for him to fade away.

At the start of 2012, MLG announced that their yearly circuit would incorporate two kind of tournaments, the “Championship”, classical MLG with qualifiers beforehand, and the “Arena”, smaller pay-per-view events taking place offline, but without a crowd.(20.) This format was Starcraft 2 bulimia at its finest, the “arena” and “championship” label pointed to a hierarchy, but in reality Arena events were pretty much just as hard as Championship, while they only had 32 players, that pretty much only meant eliminating the early round of the open bracket and jumping right into the group stage. However, all that Starcraft only meant more opportunities for thrilling games and surprising rivalries.

Kicking the season off, MLG Winter Arena had both NesTea and Mvp, but it became bizarro land when DeMusliM and Ret(21.) send them to the lower bracket to die. It would be much of the same for Leenock(22.) as NaNiwa took his revenge from Providence, and for MC losing to the best player you always forgot existed, GanZi. With all those upsets the path should have been cleared for soon-to-be GSL champion DRG who recuperated from an early loss against the still blossoming Parting(22.) to make it to the final from the loser side, but the Winter Arena was undoubtedly the tournament of MarineKing. The absence of a crowd seemed to have lifted a weight of the shoulders of the famously nervous player, he strolled to the grand final from the winner side, losing only 2 maps until his meeting with DRG. It looked for a second like MKP kong line would endure. As stubborn as ever in his first best of three loss, he refused to deviate from his bunker rushes and heavy bio compositions, but for once his stubbornness paid off and he rallied in the second set to win his first trophy.(23.)

With their performance, both finalists got an invitation for the Winter Championship at Columbus where the results were eerily similar. HuK(24.) and Naniwa(25.) being the two best foreign players, IdrA disappointing,(26.) Parting getting top 6,(27.) Violet eliminating GanZi(28.) and almost the same top 8 swapping Oz with Heart.

Of course, that meant a grand final with MKP and DRG. Once again, the latter came from the loser bracket, this time after a loss to MarineKing himself. MKP stuck to his guns and was again rewarded handsomely,(29.) but though he dominated much of the final, his very active bio plays mixed very well with DRG willingness to go for the ling-bane-muta macro game, stirring a packed crowd. After MKP got the holy grail of terran, aka close spawn on Metalopolis on tournament point, the Kong was finally looking like a King. DRG would not be denied for long thought. At the Spring Arena no1, he bounced back from a shaky group stage to make his way to the final. There he took his revenge against MKP in a full 7 maps series earning his own MLG silverware.(30.) At this point DongraeGu and MarineKing had developed one of the deeper rivalries of WOL with three straight MLG finals. Although they had both always been more focused on battling inner demons than each other, their clashing style made for some of the most awaited matches.

Ranked no1 and 2 coming into the Spring Championship, it was looking to be another fight at the summit and they more than did their part in the first two days, topping their groups before reuniting for a winner final after victory over EG co-stars Stephano and PuMa. (This also marked the last notable placement of PuMa who would retire soon after). The MVP player got the big end of the stick, but this time MKP was unable to set up the grand final rematch, falling to a very surprising Alicia to finish up 3rd as his nemesis easily dispatched of the protoss in the grand finale.(31.) They were all tied up two apiece.


At the apex of their career, MKP and DRG were undoubtedly among the absolute best in the world, but despite their effort to keep the public attention, they were haunted by a vision of their future. The MLG Spring Championship was the first time Kespa players flew to an American event. Akin to the way it had welcomed Korean players into MLG Columbus a year prior, MLG had signed an exclusivity deal with Kespa ensuring their participation and were once again ready to make their newfound guesses the stars of the show. It is a moment that is well engrave in everyone memory, Clutch calling out one by one on stage each of the eight players chosen to represent the Kespa teams under the roaring cheers of the crowd.(32.) The elephants were finally in the room and all eyes were on them.



The Starcraft community, and online communities in general, has a tendency to see its history as more than what it really is, sometime leading up to things like decrying the “lack of respect for the integral part of Starcraft in esport history”, perhaps not grasping well enough that it’s basically the same as complaining about the lack of respect for the historical value of American Idol among The Voice enthusiasts, or using term like “Greatest of all time” for what is really “Greatest of the last 9 or so years”. (I off course, a fair and wise individual would never dare to partake in this grotesque magnification of history). That tendency manifested in full force for the 8 young adults landing in Anaheim, they were “legendary” players, not because their status was particularly different than the ESF stars, but because for most people watching them line up on stage, they had only ever existed as mythical figures. Talked about for two and a half years, they evoked vivid image of Brood War being “South Korea national sport”, of endless practice and mastery above every level. A close look at BW would have proven that it was not particularly different from SC2 more popular in Korea and a bit harsher with practice maybe, but fundamentally the same thing, but no one was interested in that and MLG and Kespa knew it full well.

More careless organizers would probably have put try to boost their event by putting them in the open bracket, where their lack of experience would have unequivocally led them to get crushed in the early rounds, but instead MLG made a separated tournament just between them, where Flash would triumph to the great joy of everyone. One could point out to the more than average level of play showcased by all, but it did not really matter. It was not as much a tournament, as a declaration of the opening of a new era of Starcraft 2. The introduction of the Kespa stars to the world was the last piece to the SC2 competitive ecosystem. Now that everyone was here, competition could start for real.


As for MKP and DRG, tied two a piece, their rivalry never got closure. Scheduling issues prevented DRG from playing in another MLG for almost two years while despite having some moderate success at home, MKP failed to have any other memorable results across the sea. In the last four years of their concurrent professional career, they did not even play a single map against each other, as their career took parallel tracks. In due time, both MarineKing and DRG would have the unenvious role of representing a dying breed of ESF players getting mediocre-to-good results in GSL and trying their best to carry their team to perpetually meaningless results in Proleague. DRG and MKP rivalry was in some way a victim of its time, drowned by the ambient noise and fanfare of various other tournaments, it never got the recognition it could have gotten a year prior and got cut short with the Kespa and WCS switch relegating them to the background, but it is also an example of the opportunities of the times. Both players used MLG to create a special bound with foreign fans, one that still hold to this day and used it to give some luster to careers marked by more than their fair share of disappointment. Their story never got a proper ending, but I believe MKP was the one who benefited the most of it. Without MLG plethora of event, MarineKing Prime everlasting struggles in GSL would have amounted to nothing. MKP MLG victories maybe are not quite enough to have him introduced into the Starcraft pantheon, nor is it to lift the feeling he squandered some of his potential, but it gave him an appropriate compensation for his effort and a place in Starcraft history. A scene that gave out an enormous amount of trophy could spare some for MKP troubles.

April marked the return of the IGN Proleague. Going from one gambling city to the next, they set foot at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, transforming the casino into a giant gaming arena the time of an extended weekend. Many fan favorites came to IPL4, including enough Koreans to fill two code S, it was a giant celebration of Starcraft even having the GSTL final between Prime and Startale as a side show. Nevertheless, in the middle of this who’s who, it is two of the few nobodies that would emerge.



The first revelation of the tournament came in its earliest moment. In round one of the open brackets a young Canadian zerg named Scarlett, someone who absolutely none had ever heard off, beat Prime Bumblebee (aka Terius/Quiet),(33.) someone who pretty much no one had ever heard off, but Korean. She followed her debut match with a win over fellow Canadian DdoRo, which started out a series of 27 straight victory over NA players (she also would not lose an offline match to a North American for the first 2 years of her career) then almost upset code S regular Oz. Her run would come to an end in the lower bracket at the hands of Golden, well short of getting into the money, but nevertheless created a shockwave among the community. She even overshadowed the similarly spectacular run of the 16 years old American Illusion. Starcraft has never been kind to newcomers, but occasionally the stars align for someone to burst into the scene and perhaps no one had a rise as quick as Scarlett.


If Scarlett story ended before the group stage, it is where the one of our second nobody begin. Fnatic aLive skipped the open bracket by winning the online qualifiers, a feat that earned him a respectable place right smack in the middle of the TL power rank before the tournament. He made it to the championship bracket where he would be the odd man out alongside fan favorites MMA, NesTea, Stephano, Bomber, MKP and Polt, aLive would beat them all, walking to the final with relative ease. Meanwhile, the other underdog Squirtle captured everyone heart with a lower bracket run for the ages and in the grand finale he defied the odds against the terran, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 win to reset the bracket,(34.) but 43 games deep into his weekend, his magic finally abandoned him and aLive crushed him 3-0 under 25 minutes in the final bo5,(35.) taking home forty thousand US dollars.


Nine years later, one could look Scarlett(35.) and aLive(36.) Liquipedia results page and assume they have had similar success. They were perpetually good players who have highlighted their career with flashes of brilliance, a NorthCon final here, a + Show Spoiler + there, an IEM win here, a Katowice round of four there. Yet the trajectory of Scarlett and aLive career could not be more different. Scarlett showing at IPL4 made her an overnight sensation as she confirmed her potential with subsequent success for the rest of the year and became one of Starcraft 2 most recognizable personality. Multiple major newspapers published the profile of esport most successful women,(36.) a title she would hang on to for at least the next decade(37.) and that, for most her career, she would combine with being the best or second best North American and (at time) best foreigner. It is my own, and perhaps nationally biased, opinion that no player did has much for Starcraft 2 diffusion among the grand public as Scarlett. Ask around to your friends who do not follow SC2 and there is a good chance Scarlett will be among the few players they know of. While her interviews were hardly riveting in her younger years, she compensated by a playstyle combining active macro-games and aggressive and ingenious cheeses that, especially in HOTS, produced some of Starcraft most memorable moments.

aLive is the complete opposite. Most famously known in the form of a decade long meme about how no one can remember who he is or what he looks like, he was at best a hipster pick for hardcore fans to show the dept of their knowledge. aLive became the face of the faceless, in some sense it is a bit unfair, he is hardly a one hit wonder the likes of Seed or Spear, yet he suffered for their faults. Perhaps it is because aLive won the tournament everyone was looking forward too, a showdown in Las Vegas that by all account should have been special. Every tournament needs a winner, and aLive was just that one more inevitable Korean champion, not more or less than the rest of the habitual elements of the Starcraft 2 tournaments that were being churned out by the dozens. In a context of manufactured tournament all following the same beats, fans were looking for the extraordinary, the unexpected, something a young Canadian woman having a decent run in an open bracket could provide, but that aLive simply could not.

Liquid HerO had ended 2011 as one of the most remarkable players in the world. The story of the TL ace conquest of his fears had struck a chord among foreign fans that were happy to follow the ups and down of someone playing with his heart on his sleeves. HerO repaid his team confidence in full, leading TL to its first big championship in the NASL Team League with a dominant 3-0 in the ace-match against ThorZaIN.(37) After a year underperforming in GSL, he also managed to qualify in his first ever code S in season 2 by besting JYP(38.) and GanZi.(39) There he met expectations, beating Curious twice,(40.) then Leenock(41) and Mvp himself(42.) to get a round of 8 on the first try. His dismantling of SuperNova in the quarter final using a templar archive centric style (43.) only heighten the excitement. In the end Squirtle denied him a rematch against Mvp,(44.) but it seemed it was only a matter of time until HerO reached the highest of highs, especially with Protoss on the rise everywhere.

The same GSL where HerO got his semi-final, TeamLiquid announce they were adding a new Korean player to their roaster, Slayers TaeJa was swayed by the Dutch team,(45.) adding to the talks of internal problems within Boxer crew. The addition of another top Korean to TL could have helped relieved HerO from some stress by providing him some well needed support on a struggling team, but TaeJa quickly prove that his destiny was not playing second fiddle. TaeJa debut with TL could hardly have been better, he eliminated the last two GSL champions of the round of 32,(46.), (47.) then took out MKP(48.) and TheStC(49.) in the next round before falling to Squirtle like his new comrade.(50.)

On one side an emotional player relying on crisp execution and on the other a fairly awkward happy-go-lucky guy thriving when the game went outside of the standard path. TaeJa and HerO first head to head would go the way of the protoss, taking the set at Dreamhack Summer,(51.) but then we entered a period that would come to be called the first “Summer of TaeJa”. Winning Asus ROG (52.) and an MLG Arena, the Liquid Terran also firmly took the place of TL ace in team competitions, scoring a mind boggling 23-3 record in the IPL team arena season 3, carrying the team to a second place finish and beating his old Slayers team along the way. (53.) HerO himself would not even score 50% and got relegated to the back of the truck with the rest of the team.

TaeJa was not only good, he was fun. He found win from improbable position, never seemed down on himself, always made a set competitive and overall was simply a threat to watch. In the end, he did not quite manage a perfect end to his summer, winning Dreamhack Valencia,(54.) but failing in the semi-finals of MLG Summer(55.) and GSL season 4, but it is when the cold wind seemed to chill TaeJa fire, that TL double headed dragon showed its true value. HerO, now “Liquid-HerO” because of the sudden rise of CJ-herO, handily won the fourth (and last) edition of NASL,(56.) giving brood lord-infestor a good beating along the way as well as punching his ticket for the WCS world final with a third place in the Asia tournament and topping it all off with his second win at Dreamhack Winter where the Liquid brothers completely dominated a lineup nearly empty of Korean for a date in the final.(57.)

Once the flagship for foreign players, TL is one of the few teams that transitioned smoothly into a team dominated by Koreans, their dynamic duo would bring them many, many, more trophies in the coming years, but being the bane of foreigners while never learning a world of English would never prevent them from being some of the most popular players in the West.

A few months ago, Korean youtuber “jinjin” released an interview with ClouD.(58.) Now in his mid-30, the 2004 proleague MVP turned owner and manager of a mid-size restaurant in Seoul, reminisces about his days as a professional player, talk about a decade of working to maintain his business afloat, and share thoughts about what could have been and the state of esport in his days and in the future. What comes out is a very peculiar look at esport, on one side he remembers fondly his time in the spotlight and the game itself, but on the other side we cannot avoid sensing a hint of bitterness. As a fairly good player in the early days of BW, Cloud retired with barely a penny to his name. His youth was passed doing what he loved, first playing than coaching, he nonetheless emerged with no money and no degree and as he is now tasked with navigating his restaurant through the corona virus epidemic, he has a certain envy about the current generation of pro gamers, those few who will retire with lifetime savings in their bank account, even expressing regrets to not have left BW sooner. It is an all too rare look at the life an ex pro-gamer can expect. That is not to say it is all doom and gloom of course, Starcraft 1 and 2 gave plenty of people an opportunity to change their life. It gave a chance to MC to give his struggling mother a home,(59.) made sOs into the pride of his small town (60.) and lifted FruitDealer out of poverty,(61.) but for many other professionals, Starcraft was just a blip before entering the real world and retirement could be a brutal awakening.


The success of Starcraft 2 between 2010 and 2012 hid that fact to most. We were heading toward unimpeded success, and no one gave much consideration that after just two years, there were already dozens of players hanging their mouse. This phenomenon was only heightened in Korea, where the already overcrowded scene was about to get stormed by almost a hundred professional players courtesy of Kespa. The unrelentless array of tournaments and constant talk of Korean domination hid a feeble support infrastructure back home, with many players always on the brink of getting cut from their team, and as such expelled from their home.

The catalyst of the anxiety of the Korean players about their future would be Choi “CranK” Jae Won. An ex-SKT backbencher that already did his military service, he got picked up by Slayers but would not stay long and by mid-2012, he was a team less code A player streaming on Twitch to make ends meet, desperate to find a foreign team. Then intervene a friendly reddit poster, proposing the idea of sponsoring Crank to MLG Raleigh so he could show his skills to the world.(62.) The post travelled all the way to John and Genna Bain ears who announced they would personally sponsor Crank to MLG, even getting a good Samaritan to give up his ticket to the already sold-out convention.

It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for Crank and he took it, finishing in 9-12 place in the event, by far his best result yet.(63.) His point was made, give him an opportunity to shine oversea and he would deliver. It could have been it; Crank would have been pick up by a team, played in a bunch of tournaments and someday unceremoniously dropped, life as usual. But MLG Raleigh was not just a turning point in Crank life because of his performances, it was also his chance to meet his benefactors. Stuck in the US after their flight got cancelled, him and his ex/future teammate Ryung ended up crashing at the Bain residence and from this unlikely chain of events, the plans would be drawn for an esport revolution.


On September 26, Genna Bain presented her vision of Starcraft to the world with the creation of Axiom Esports.(64.) At first sponsored mainly by her husband and co-owner successful YouTube career, the idea was to prove second tier Koreans all too often overlook could achieved excellence, both in-game and as the marketing platform teams needed them to be, if given the chance to practice full time with a decent salary and play around the world without the constant fear of getting cut and falling into oblivion or the soul crushing treatment of Kespa teams.

Still the team only player, Crank continued his excellent momentum at LoneStarClash in Texas, ending in 3rd place.(65.) Like MLG Raleigh it would be marked by a key meeting, this time with tournament volunteer Olimoley who would soon join the team as the manager in Korea(66.) further implementing the groundwork for a fully fledge lineup in time for GSTL 2013. Ryung would be the logical addition to the team after the implosion of Slayers and just like Crank it seemed to have fed his drive, losing in a hotly contested series against the forces of evil in the GSL semi-final. The lineup would be completed with the addition of Mia, Heart and finally Alicia who at the time was literally begging for team to pick him up even for no salary.






In the next installments of this project, we will come to cross path with Axiom success and failures, but suffice to say it is outside of the game that its true impact would rest. TB and Genna endless dedication to their players and SC2 well being created a real home. Not just a place to sleep and practice, but a place to live, make friends and try as hard as you can, a place one would only quit on their own term. In short, they made sure a Starcraft 2 career was not something one would come to regret later in life. They certainly did not manage to save everyone along the way, the Kespa transition and the slow decadence of the ESF league system would bring its fair share of early retirement and crushed dream, but Axiom was never coy about landing a hand or a bed to those needing it. In some way TB, Crank, Genna and the rest were ahead of their time, even when most were still dreaming of an industry that would rack up millions, they stayed lucid about what was happening in front of their eyes. While Axiom eventually disbanded in 2015, its vision endured, in the work of Olimoley with her cup(67.) as well as with Chivo and now TL, with Crank streaming career helping bridge the gap between the Korean and foreign community, with Scarlett and NoRegret “Unity House” project,(68.) or generally with all those around the world, team owners, community organizers, admins and the like dedicated to making it work for everyone just a little while longer.

Kespa transition into the Starcraft 2 scene was nothing if not controversial. Disputes between Blizzard and the Korean Esport Association were already well underway before SC2 came out. Licensing and broadcasting rights were at the center of the disagreement with both Kespa and Blizzard wanting to charge broadcaster fees, Kespa took side with OGN (OSL) and MBCGAME (MSL) while Blizzard maintained better relations with GOMTV. (69.) The legal process and negotiation are too complex to go into details here, but suffice to say relations between Kespa, GOMTV and Blizzard were less than ideal. It was as such perhaps not entirely surprising to see Kespa being largely unresponsive to Blizzard invitation to transition to SC2. In retaliation the Californian company took the decision to give all their games broadcasting rights entirely to GOMTV. It is undeniable that this move hurt BW a lot as the other broadcasters now had to deal with GOMTV for the rights of diffusion, taking a toll on BW economic viability. Even if we could argue in great lengths about this particular decision influence on the choice of Kespa to switch to SC2 and regain the blessing of Blizzard against other factors like the BW match fixing scandal or simply the undeniable success of SC2, the fact is that Kespa would eventually reconcile with Blizzard(70.) and transition all their players and affiliated broadcasters to SC2.(71)

In response to the rumor of the transfer from BW to SC2 and the negotiation between Blizzard and Kespa to give diffusion rights back to the latter broadcasters, the “e-Sports Federation” was founded.(72.) Encapsulating every Korean teams except for Slayers, it sought to create a common front in the negotiation with Blizzard to protect their interest and long-term viability, aligning with GOMTV. It would not be long for tensions to erupt between the two party to secure a monopolistic grasp on SC2, Kespa citing an overbooked schedule refused to partake in GSL and GOMTV and ESF retaliated by menacing to withdraw their player from the first season of the OSL.(72.) With the intervention of Blizzard behind the curtain, both would back down just before it was too late, with Kespa agreeing to partake in GSL5 and ESF accepting at the last second to keep their players in the OSL, both deciding the risk was not worth it. (73.)


To ease out the tensions, GOMTV and ESF agreed to give two code S seeds to Kespa, one to Team 8 Jaedong and one to the SKT protoss Rain (aka By.Sun) in GSL season 4.(74.) With only those two, it seemed like the confrontation between Kespa and ESF that was already taking place in OSLand the Blizzard run WCS would not happen in GSL just yet. An early exit by JD seemed to confirm the idea,(75.) but then it became clear GOMTV had just let a wolf loose in the sheepfold. Rain managed to beat both DRG and MKP in his OSL group, then 4-0 ByuN(76.) to get out of his GSL group only to easily dispatch of Polt(77.) and TaeJa(78.) in the round of 16. Already having flex his TvP muscles, he showed that his PvP was even better, going a combine 6-1 against PartinG(79.) and HerO to set up semi-final appearances in both OSL and GSL as everyone suddenly realized someone who started to play the game six months ago could walk a double royal road. But Rain was not the only potential royal roader around, ESF found themselves with an unexpected ace in their hands in the form of 15 years old Startale Life, the latest Starcraft prodigy who confirmed his surprising TSL 4 run by qualifying for his first code S. The youngster made his way to the playoff on the back of his stellar lings control and was looking poised to go all the way as he rolled over MKP in the quarter-final(80.) to meet with one of the hottest commodities around in the form of Liquid own TaeJa. Even if Rain had managed to contain TaeJa momentum in the group stage, victory over Mvp, DRG and Polt had earned him a confrontation against ZvT specialist Leenock who brought the final form of the brood lord-infestor, but still felt short in a great series,(81) the liquid aquisition looked prime to stop Life dead in his tracks.

On the other side of the bracket, Rain got his work cut out for him, drawing Mvp. Mvp run in GSL 4 had been far from timid, his loss against TaeJa in the opening group stage had been followed with a string of solid victories topped by a dominating performance against Symbol in the round of 8.(82.) Nontheless, while no one was ready to count the IM terran out at this point, Rain looked imperial in his dual run, his new brand of ultra-defensive protoss play seemingly being the key everyone else was missing and after he reversed swept Last in the OSL penultimate match the day before to put his TvP series win rate at 94%,(83.) the greatest Starcraft 2 player up to this point was once again deemed the underdog. Now in a semi-final match that seemed to put ESF against Kespa, past against future.(84.)

Going into his semi-final match with his back and wrists not getting better, Mvp himslef was still exuding confidence, stating he would be all too happy to school the protoss.



Mvp had his eye on his fifth GSL trophy and was determined to leave no room for anyone else and in twist everyone should have seen coming, Mvp did it again. Down 2-1 against Rain, he came back to win 3-2 and clutch his 6th GSL final.(85.) Once again, he recognized his limitations and kept the game outside of Rain comfort zone, choosing to end the games early with various two or three base timing.

Mvp dispatched of a royal roader contender only to find another. Life dismantled TaeJa in other semi-final(86.) and at just 15 years old, barely a month older than Flash when he won his first championship, he entered the GSL final with all the momentum in the world. It was the ESF dream match-up, the greatest player in the game going for his 5th GSL, with a trophy tailor-made for the occasion and against a prodigy like no other, who’s high-octane hyperaggressive ling heavy style made for one of the most electric players to watch. It was the strongest argument one could made that the ESF environment could foster talent on par with any Kespa system.

Brood lord-infestor was already starting to get played, but the Startale prodigy GSL 4 run was first and foremost the result of a new counter-attack centric style. While other player like Leenock oscillated between mid-game roach-hydra push and slow and defensive play, Life was one of the first to return the adage “The best defense is offense”. Lings backstab and run-by are now very standard and it is common for protoss and terran players to anticipate them well in advance and to defend a dozen of them in a game, but back in 2012 the common practice was still to put all the effort into defending the border of the creep. zerg players tried to keep the terran and protoss armies as far away from their bases as they could, but Life proved that you could “easily” pin down an opponent with minimal investment or punish pushes that needed heavy micro by diverting the player attention with just a few lings and banes.

Between a speed he could not keep up with and an unfavorable late game balance, Mvp was caught between a rock and a hard place, but true to his usual resourcefulness came out with a sound game plan.(87.) His mech play did not make for the most exciting of games, but like against Squirtle it put the pressure on Life, ironically by forcing him into a calm standard game. Mvp airtight defense and blue flame hellions harass was hardly a winning decision against most zerg, leading the door wide open for the bugs deadliest composition in the late game, but multiple time an impatient Life was unable to identify his position and drag Mvp into the deep water, instead probing for weakness in the Terran defensive setup. After winning three maps in a row mid-series, it seemed like Mvp fifth GSL was a just moment away and even Artosis boldly stated that Life was done.

If I could change any moment of Starcraft history, this would be it. If only Mvp could have hidden the timing of his starport in game7, or gotten just one more juicy shot with his blue flame hellions, maybe everything could have been different, maybe Life never reaches the highs he did then bring us all down with him… It probably would not have matter in the end, if it was not Life, it would have been someone else, but it is nice to imagine for a second a world where Mvp received his precious G5L trophy before retiring while Life faded into the background as just one more victim of Mvp. Just one last miracle.

But that word was not to be, Life turned it around, finally finding some holes in Mvp defense in game 6 then forcing a bad overextension in the ultimate showdown. We had our first royal roader. 15 years old Life was universally hailed as the most talented person to have ever touch Starcraft 2 and took the torch as the one to guide ESF and GOMTV legacy into the future.





As for Mvp and the rest of the WOL old guard, GSL 4 was the end of their era. The following weeks saw Rain reduce DRG to tears at the OSL final,(88.) Slayers disbanded in agonizing fashion, MC and NesTea got kicked out of the GSL by Kespa representative RorO(89.) and Bbyong,(90.) and eventually even the King of Wings would fall out of the GSL, having the honor of being one of the first to get overwhelmed by soO’s roaches.(91) None of the dozens of pre-GSL4 champions would ever win another trophy in Korea.

+ Show Spoiler +

There is nothing better than a team league to create a team identity. Individual performances get mixed with off-game interactions and reflect on each other’s to create a coherent tapestry in the eyes of the fans. Slayers was the team of champions and in the end of overbearing ego, SKT was a black box always developing new talents, TL is a team defined by unwavering loyalty and good manners, JinAir was all about mad geniuses creating the best build and surprising their opponent and Alpha X are an unlikely bunch of underdogs that manage to always create opportunities where there seems to be none. And what about two-time GSTL champions FXO? What is their team identity? Well, if you ask me, FXO were simply the most lovable team in Starcraft. They were the ray of sunshine whose victories could put a smile on anyone face.


The revamp 2012 FXO was born with the acquisition of the Korean clan For our Utopia. This move happened following their first ever GSTL outing in 2011, when they became the first foreign team to play in a Korean team league.(92.) FXO results were predictable, getting crushed by everyone, until the bandana hero arrived. In the last match of the season, in a move of futile joy, qxc all killed IM and top it off with a victory over Mvp.(93.) The match was an instant classic, it was nonetheless not enough to convince anyone to keep going with the foreign team GSTL experience and the 2012 squad was almost purely FOU players. Coached by Choya their core was mainly due their leading duo of Leenock and GuMiho helped by an unbelievably precious Tear (now known as Hurricane), and can you think of three people more worthy of success?

The new FXO did not manage to win their first GSTL, getting denied by Prime in the semi-final, the same Prime team that would go on to win in Las Vegas after the most controversial admin decision since the MSL final power outage.(94.) Oz, the only FOU castaway, would then leave to join Fnatic, but the team rallied for the rest of the year. They could not shake TSL in the first match of season 2, but Tears came out of nowhere to eliminated Curious,(95.) Squirtle(96.) and PartinG(97.) to close out a complicated win vs Startale then Leenock stepped in as the ace and got his well-earned revenge against jjakji(98.) to beat NSH to the playoff. In the playoff, they first met MVP where a trio of KeeN, finale and TAiLS put them at a 4-2 deficit, Lennock once again came out and tied up the score for a final game vs DRG. It was a nail baiting zvz where we had great fungals (really!) when Leenock did a burrow infestor attack, splitting three infestors around DRG army, he managed to chain fungal his opponent own infestors, un-burrowing them once at the time. On the back of this move, the FXO ace prevailed, denning DRG a final in his native Busan.(99.)

And then, in the grand final came Slayers. A rebuilt team after the departure of TaeJa and GanZi, they regrouped before the final and were looking like the favorites. The first match against MMA, pitted one of the most charismatic and popular players ever against good old Gumiho. What followed is arguably the best tvt match of all WOL, with the forever charming Gumiho coming out on top.(100.) With their star gone, Slayers could not muster any kind of resistance as Gumiho got an easy all kill rolling over Min, CoCa, Ryung and Puzzle. The team that was chosen as the least likely to win at the start of the season was triumphant and many hugs were had.(101.)


The now reigning champion started the last season of the year with another stelar performance by Tears, who took out aLive,(102.) ByuL(103.) and his ex-teammate Oz(104.) to beat Fnatic. Their second match was harder as Choya made the surprising decision not to send out Leenock as the TSL roach boys RagnaroK and Symbol stole first place.(105.) Leenock came back just in time to beat Prime, putting 4 straight points on the board down 4-1,(106.) but not before Tears had done the crucial job of stopping Creator rampage.(107.) In the semi-final they met Startale, the favorite of the tournament, and arguably the most talented 5-man roster we have eveer seen in all SC2 (Bomber, Curious, Life, PartinG, Squirtle). The Startale coached looked to close the deal early by sending Life but it was instead Gumiho who took the first point, outpacing Life with drops and multiprong aggression until even the youngster was not able to keep up.(108.) ST then sent out their second ace in Parting, but once again Gumi was too fast for the Startale player in the mid and late game and eliminated the two best players in the world.(109.) After a job well done, he felt to Curious and Lucky traded out some series to set up Leenock in the best position possible, a final match between Squirtle where he allowed his roach-muta composition to shine to clinch the upset.(110.)

In the finals, they faced MVP who had just humiliated Slayers on the “Eve” of their disbanding. After some back and forth between secondary characters, Tears once again proved he was FXO most valuable asset, taking out DRG and tying it at 2-2.(111.) After that the Gumi-bear came out to do his things. He easily grinded Monster out, then reaper rushed Keen to set up match point against the lord of evil himself. Since there’s (sometime) justice in this world, Sniper looked rather hopeless and did his best soO impression running roaches into Gumiho mech meat grinder as babies across the world giggled in glee.(112.) Just like that Choya crew were back-to-back champions, not even needing Leenock in the final.


The triumph of FXO, was, in a strange coincidence (or more likely not), scheduled at the same time as the opening day of the 2012-13 Proleague, the first all SC2 season. The two rival companies competing for viewership and add spaces. If you tuned in to the Kespa channel as a warmup to the GSTL final, you could watch the foreign super-team of EG-Liquid getting completely rolled over by KT, just like the FXO of old. The subsequent SKT-STX Soul match was in direct clash with GOMTV broadcast and much more worthy of attention. At the same time TheBest and Vampire (Super) were debuting the GSTL final, Bisu and Dear were starting their own confrontation,(113.) Tear had to compete with a surprisingly great Sacsri vs Last match(114.) as well as one of the most anticipated duels in all Kespa SC2 in the form of Rain vs INnoVation.(115.) And at around 3AM EST, when Gumiho was schooling the GSL champion, Trap and Rain were squaring off in the ace match.(116.) It is hard to tell where the eyes of the fans were drawn, for what it’s worth SKT-STX match got almost twice as many TL posts, but the studio audience for SPL seemed somewhat smaller. Did it matter? Well for GOMTV, Kespa and SPOTV it probably mattered a lot as they fought to ensure the financial viability of their future, but Gumiho, Tears, Lucky, Leenock and the rest, did not seem to care in the sightless, they were just a bunch of friends playing videogames togethers and they did it mighty fine.

At the start of 2012, Blizzard announced the creation of the World Championship Series of Starcraft, the company first big venture into organizing esport with a long-term mindset.(117.) While it would soon become the norm, a direct implication of a game publisher in the production of their own esport content was relatively new at the time. As such, Blizzard approach was somewhat cautious, WCS was not to be the federating institution around which the scene revolved, but an event running in parallel and in collaboration with the rest of the scene.



The 2012 version of the World Championship Series (WCS) invite an interesting paradox. Like the title indicate, the point of a World Championship is meant to, of course, crown a world champion, yet the Shanghai final is arguably the least remarkable part of the whole affair. Instead, it is the regional, national, and continental tournament, especially outside of Korea, that would create all its charm and make it one the year most memorable episode. There were dozens and dozens of qualifiers leading to national championships which themselves led to continental cup and then to the world championship. The system managed to showcase new talents both in and out of the game, and while the result was hardly surprising, the journey was unequivocally more than the destination. At a time when tournaments started to feel similar, WCS was a breath of fresh air.
At the regional level, the 2012 WCS was marked by an expressed desire to reinforce the pillars of the scene at the grassroot level, associating with local organizations to integrate and promote them. In most country there were multiple ways to qualify for the nationals, your local city lan had a spot, so too did the online cups from your country, or the already running regional championship. The goal was less to create a coherent qualifying process than to give everyone a chance be a part of the experience.



It is hard to really compile or rank the different national tournaments, personally the French championship hold dear to my heart,(118.) but following the different national qualifiers and finals really created the WCG vibe that had been missing to Starcraft 2. The passion of the crowds and organizers as well as the hearth and determination from hopeful players having a one in a lifetime opportunity created some of the best competitions to follow. What would have been an obscure match between JeaL and StarEagle became an epic showdown to carry Italy hopes,(119.) MaNa and Nerchio fought in a clash of style both in and out of the game in Poland,(120.) Scarlett wrapped herself in the Canadian flag for the first time(121.) and ThorZaIN stood victorious for the second time in the Annexet Globe.(122.)


Despite uneven levels of competitions and mostly predictable result, the continental finals were also wholly endearing. On the North American side, the biggest losers were the already struggling IdrA and HuK, the first finishing fourth in the US event (behind ViBE, Insur and daisuki), then managing to save some of his pride with a third place in the continental final while the latter finished at the bottom of the top 10 in both. The biggest winner were Major(SpeCial), who confirmed his place among the greats in North American with a fourth place, Vibe, because he was a patch zerg, and of course Scarlett, who was head and shoulders above everyone else ending her NA run with a 24-2 overall record.(123.)
In South America and Oceania things played like expected, but it was none the less a great opportunity for all to have an inside look on these rarely observed scenes. In a battle between BW veterans, KiLLeR took out Fenix in South America(124.) and in Oceania mOOnGLaDe easily protected his throne.(125.)


The Europe continental finals were undeniably the most interesting one and clearly having the highest level of competition, barring Korea/Asia of course (While we are on the subject, won respectively by Creator and Rain). Taking place in a packed Erickson Globe in Stockolm, the tournament would not as much see upsets as it managed to offer matchup that were legitimately a tossup and the high number of countries involved served to avoid having too many national-continental rematches. If Stephano delivered , it was not the same for other of the on-paper favorite as Mana got took out by Bly and SortOf, the latter also out-playing Nerchio in zvz, who then got the axe from Grubby. In the meanwhile, the oldest of old school player, LoWeLy somehow (well it is a figure of speech I think you can imagine how a 2012 zerg did it) managed a 4th place finish. The top 3 was the one and only Stephano with two Spaniards, VortiX and LucifroN. The Dùran brothers reunited for a fratricide loser final, of the two there were no denying Lucifron was the most appreciated while Vortix tended for some reason to be deemed even more of a BL-infestor abuser than the rest of his European peers. Nonetheless, the cadet took his revenge from the national championship to punch his ticket for a chance at Stephano European crown.(126.) He would do admirably well, resetting the bracket before falling to the Frenchman. The pride of O’gaming confirmed his status as best foreigner and looked to defend Europe pride in China.(127.)



As a small-scale prototype of things to come, the first year of 2012 proved the attract national and local competitions had and that more people than perhaps were keen to admit were happy to give up on the highest level of competition to have a more memorable spectacle. The sight of brotherly rivalry and Stephano waving the Bleu-Blanc-Rouge high and proud in front of a packed arena was more than welcomed by most, just like the ephemeral illusion that a North American tournament was a notable competition. The philosophical and speculative debate about region locking and the merit and demerit of the 2012 format compared to the one to come would animate the Starcraft community for years, but in 2012, with the mirage of a booming Korean scene still somewhat intact and a very non-intrusive approach there were little backlash against it.

Finally, I would be remiss not the talk about the actual world championship. The finals in Shanghai were hardly great. As most Chinese tournaments in the early 2010, it was plagued with technical problems, the crowd was not exactly massive and it was composed almost purely of zergs and protosses at a time when pvz was, to be blunt, hot garbage. On the plus side, Idra would score his last notable result, put in a group with Stephano, HerO and RorO he topped the group leading to a disappointing early exit of the European champion. Apart from that, in a turn of event very much telling of the tournament, the highlight of the playoff brackets came when the American Suppy rightfully blind counter PartinG Soul Train five games in a row and still loss. In the meanwhile, Rain botched a four-gates defense against Creator and we got ourselves a Korean PvP world final. Parting won 4-2 in a bo7 series that clocked under an hour break included, to earn his place atop the Blizzcon grand hall.

Also guess who was the best foreigner in the end? That’s right, Sen did it again! Completely forgotten by everyone he weaseled his way to a second world championship third place match, upsetting Curious and HerO on the way there, though Rain proved to be far superior and took the bronze.

In the coming years Parting would come to be called the 2012 world champion, but this edition can hardly be called a “real” world championship. It was on the weaker side of tournament and Parting run (Socke, Illusion, Scarlett, Suppy, Sen, Creator) likely would not have been enough to win any other major trophy. That is not to say that Parting does not deserve his title, his string of results at the end of 2012 is unquestionably impressive, although Life resume may overshadow him. The point is that by the end, the 2012 WCS format ended up only giving us more of the same but in a lighter version. The last two and a half years had proven time and again that foreigners were no match for Koreans and the WCS global final brought little to nothing to this conversation while also lacking many champions from the land of the morning calm.

Nevertheless, even with the uneven level of competition and my own hatred of late WOL pvp and zvp, I begrudgingly cannot deny I am a little moved rewatching a teary eye Parting waving the South Korean flag.(128.)

There are many ways a tournament can impregnate itself in our collective memory, it can be by having great games and memorable story lines, by having the best players in the world giving it their all or by inscribing itself in a bigger grand narrative. But there is another way a tournament can left its mark, with its flair. By being different enough from everything else that a single glance is enough to recognized it. In SC2 there are two of these oddities, one is the irreplaceable HomeStory Cup and the other is none other than the Iron Squid.
A deep-sea creature is hardly something that come to mind when thinking about Starcraft, yet it is the theme French organizers Pomf et Thud chose as the theme of their flagship event.(129.) Of the two editions, I decided to talk about the second one, coming closer to the slightly megalomaniac vision of its creators.


We have rarely seen in SC2 such a mixture of passion for the game collides with a genuine artistic, or at least marketing, vision. But before we plunge too deep into the production side of things, let us look at the actual Starcraft being played, as the early rounds were online the production was a bit less peculiar anyway. For the most part it was business as usual, but with a few twists thrown in. One of the main rivalries of late 2012 continued as Life inched out Leenock to go to the round of 8,(130.) where to the surprise of everyone he did not meet Mvp, but instead goswer(131.) who was having the run of his career but would not resist Life aggression.(132.) The tournament also marked the last great run of NesTea as he eliminated the WCS World champion(133.) and the North American champion to be the only player to return to France.(134.)

+ Show Spoiler +

So anyway, back to the tournament, Life and Nestea were joined by MarineKing who got to flex his tvp muscles and DRG who became the last player in history to “upset” Creator(135.) before running over Stephano.(136.)


For the grand finale at the Paris center of congress, all the French duo ideas culminated and that reflected in three facets. First, a refusal to give the traditional English broadcast the center stage, second a strong dedication to the very peculiar atmosphere and finally a strong emphasis on music.

The first is quite simple, in an environment where the “international”, or more accurately English broadcast dominate every live broadcast rendering a Dreamhack at Stockolm and an IEM at Sao Paulo eerily similar, the Frenchman decided that they would be front and center, treating the English team as distinguished guess, but guess none the less. It seems like an evidence to organize your event for and foremost for the people live in front of you and it is an easy way to give flavor to your tournament, but I am always surprised how often it is forgotten.

The second element is of course the visual identity. The tournament oozed of style. Everything from the observer UI, to the trophy, the stage and the caster lounge was meant to transport viewers to a drastically different atmosphere than the usual esport show, the rusty décor being reminiscent of the Nautilus of captain Nemo mixed with some Lovecraftian influence. While we can certainly say that the main stage pale in comparison to what we can see these days at Lol World final or in more traditional big budget music show, it proves that a little ingenuity and a lot of passion can go a long way to create a distinct look that will stay in people mind.

Lastly, the thing tying it all together was the music. A source of personal displeasure, in the first half of the 2010 esport organization across the world had seemingly made a conscious choice to band together to make sure their music was a bland and unpalatable as possible. Dubstep and songs entirely composed of “Whub-Whub” sounds could play on a loop for hours on end. In this context, Iron Squid partnership with Uchronia shined like a beacon in the night. Each of participant had their own tailor-made musical theme bringing out their play style and personality. At the live final, the attention to music translated into a live orchestra to open the show in probably the tournament most memorable sequence,(137.) as well as rock band for between the game entertainment.



Once the musical instrument quieted down and the masters of ceremonies were introduced, the player took their places. In the first series Life looked in full of control against MKP,(138.) while in the other semi-final Nestea mustered an impressive challenge for DRG, taking him to the brink of defeat.(139.) As a reward for his good work, he got the chance to recreate his career best moment, trashing MKP in the bronze match.(140.)

The final between Life and DRG(141.) was a great opportunity for the Mvp ace. DRG had been hailed as the heir of Nestea and Jaedong, the best the zerg race had to offer, then Life sprung up and cut the ground from under his feet. After an arduous back half of 2012 and a year removed from his heartbreaking Blizzard Cup defeat at the hands of MMA, he was finding himself with an unlikely chance to regain his place atop the Starcraft world. For Life, undoubtedly the world best player and winner of the Blizzard Cup 2012,(142.) it was another demonstration of his mastery, but also a zvz test after a 4-0 at the hands of Soulkey in GSL 4 and losses vs Leenock and Snute at IPL5 had hinted to potential weaknesses in mirror matches.

The man from Busan came in swinging and took the first 3 maps, looking to give Life his first loss in an offline final. But life finds a way, he regained his footing and tied it back at three apiece. DRG found himself on the opposite side of a familiar scenario, in game 7 of the grand finale needing to stop the reverse sweep of his opponent. Fate would not be so kind as to let him close the circle, he could not find the critical damage with his ling-bane all-in and Life clinched the reverse sweep, won his fourth event in the span of 3 months, and became the fastest player to achieve a triple crown. In the city of Light, shined Starcraft brightest son, on the dawn of his 16 birthday Life had once again defeated the best in the world and looked prime to take the fight to Kespa and anyone else crazy enough to challenge him in the next phase of SC2.

Before entering SC2 second phase, there was still time for a send-off to Wings of Liberty, both to its players and its traditions.

Like Blizzcon 2011, IPL 5 was home to the GSL final, but now also the semi-finals. The season 5 GSL top 4 was all brand new composed of HyuN, winner of 14 consecutive best of 9 at IPL fight club, INnoVation/Bogus, the Kespa embodiment looking to confirm the organization supremacy in GOMTV most prized tournament, Ryung, who had been rescued from Slayers implosion by Axiom and was the fan favorite looking to triumph in front of his team owners, and finally some scrawny looking guy named Sniper or something.


In the first series, Hyun scored his first, and last, victory against Innovation,(143.) Kespa would have to wait a bit longer for the GSL crown. On the opposite side, Ryung played the match of his life, taking Sniper to the 5th game as the fans roared for him and, of course, it was all for nothing, Sniper took a comfortable lead in the last game well before B-Lord were in play and carried it through. Ryung fought with desperation, seeing his dream crumble around him until he erupted. Repeating a single, but very evocative, word. IMBA. IMBA. IMBA.(144.)

Sniper was already probably the least popular player to ever play in a GSL semi-final, he was bland, barely known, and another Zerg in an overcrowded field. (He only got 5 votes from over 700 in the TL pool on who they wanted to see win from the top 8) After his altercation with Ryung he became outright hated. In a very tongue and cheek preview, the TL writers tried listing 10 reasons to convince people to tune-in to the final and were all too happy to pile on their newfound villain.



The zvz was surprisingly not terrible, and even rather good, with a back-and-forth series going all the way to the 7th game. Of course, in the end the newly crown Destroyer of Worlds, Dreams, and Fun became a GSL champion as the crowd went mild.(145.)

So, with GSL out of the way, we can refocus on the main IPL5 tournament scheduled to end the next day. The bracket saw plenty of upsets, among those YoDa took out Squirtle and DRG, TheStC went on the run of his life in the winner bracket, beating Sniper, Bomber and CranK and Snute eliminated Life of the tournament in one of his first oversea trip. On the winner side, the unfortunate forfeit of the mighty Axslav had robbed the crowd of the chance to see an American lift the trophy, but IPL had begrudgingly invited Leenock to fill in, who did just as well and made it unscratched to the last game. On the loser side, the last few rounds were strangely precursory of the North American Starcraft to come, with Bomber, Polt and viOLet squaring off for a shot at the Leenocktopus well before they became regular figure of the WCS circuit. For the first and arguably last time of his career, it would be Violet that would come out ahead of his rivals, setting up another zvz to the diespair of all.

Leenock subsequent victory(146.) was both reminiscing of his MLG Providence run and a good benchmark to see what had change in the year separating the two events. For the second time in a row, Leenock had won arguably the hardest tournament of the year, both time in America. For the second year in a row, it was just after an awfully close 4-3 defeat in the final of another tournament, MLG Dallas vs Life, whom he did beat at IPL5, and once again Leenock would miss his subsequent shot at winning Blizzard cup, losing to Life again. Nevertheless, I am ready to bet a fair amount that when thinking about Leenock career everyone mind goes to Providence rather than Las Vegas, and I am also ready to say that all that money I just won would not be able to convince you to watch the twelve maps of his roach-infestor duel with Violet.

IPL5 was the last time the subtle equilibrium of WOL between the different regions was mobilized into creating the very particular blend of competitive spectacle that made Wings Of liberty into the Esport success it was. It was almost overflowing with Starcraft, a 72 players tournament, a GSL top 4 and a Korea vs The World team competition side show, all crammed into a four-day event made for more Starcraft than was possible to safely enjoy. It also had that peculiar WOL blend of foreigners from around the globe and GSL Koreans thrown into the meatgrinder of a gigantic double elimination bracket. It had full control of the technical side of things, the production was slick, efficient, and made no effort trying to hide the buckets of money going into it. It had star casters, great players and a big, hyped, crowd, in short seemingly all the things leading to a great SC2 tournament. But IPL 5 also demonstrated the worst of 2012 Starcraft problems, its schedule clashed with WCG robbing the tournament of many foreign players, the Kespa representatives were absent from the event, choosing to respect the MLG deal, except for Innovation who got a special authorization, zergs dominated the event earning the wrath of the fans swiftly redirected on Blizzard, and the weekend had both Starcraft 2 and League of Legend, with viewership for the Riot moba being twice as big, launching the forums into disarray.(147.)

However, IPL5 biggest crime was being forgettable. In all my years following SC2, I do not remember anyone reminiscing about IPL5, not to praise it, not to loath it, not to make fun of it. Rediscovering it has been a strange experience, just like the last GSL of WOL, IPL5 seems slightly out of time. I think the hindsight of what is to come make me unable to dream about it. I can try to convince myself it was one of the toughest, biggest, and most lavish lan in SC2 history, yet I cannot shake the knowledge that it is all about to fall off a cliff. I know that top 10 finishers like Violet, Sleep, Sniper, BBoongBBoong, Creator, and TheSTC will barely be consider decent a few months later, I know full well that the amount of money invested into the production is completely unsustainable without Blizzard support and most of all I know that despite everyone best effort the tournament will be mostly forgotten to time getting blurred by the dozens of other tournaments going on.


On March 4, 2013, a week before HOTS release, IGN announced the cancelation of IPL6.(148.)

They would never organize another SC2 tournament.

I have pushed it back as much as I could, but no account of 2012 Starcraft could be complete without talking about its darkest creation, a meta game so bad the mere evocation of it is enough to send a shiver down our backs. Ok, maybe I am exaggerating a bit, but it is time to speak in depth about brood lord-infestor.

No meta game has defined a period as much as it defined late 2012-early 2013 Starcraft (although 2019 overall zerg bullshit come close). At first glance, what made BL-infestor era terrible is rather obvious, an impenetrable defensive style leading to a painfully slow dismembering of the opponent led to an impressive number of zerg mirror, a matchup that had generally been considered the worst since the start of Brood War. It led to boring matches and unbalanced race representation, but after all there has been plenty of imbalanced meta game in Starcraft 2, from GOMTVT, and all the way to proxy terran and swarm host-nydus, it is something else that made 2012 zerg heaven stood out. Some of the reasons are due to the nature of brood lord-infestor itself, first, as opposed to most composition considered overpowered, it seemed to only get stronger as time went on, every passing week was used to refine the composition, as the answer to every imaginable response to brood lord-infestor was in fact… more brood lords and infestors. Second, it was an impressively easy composition to use, while this is a general trend among unbalanced meta game, it is not always the case, for example 2015 baguette-style, while certainly extraordinarily strong still necessitate a fairly high level of execution to be viable. This second point led to not only good zerg player using it to dominate such as Symbol, HyuN, Leenock, Life or Stephano, but also to an impressive number of “patch-zerg” particularly in WCS where a lot of middling zerg triumphed over their equally unaccomplished peers with the help of the meta leading to such legend as JonnyREcco, Ziktomini, ViBE, MaFia or LoWeLy.

The second great downfall of the brood lord-infestor era, is the overall suckiness of the rest of the balance state at the time, pvp was still very much dominated by MC brand of one base play, zvz was just like every zvz before 2018, tvp was filled with SCV pull, tvt was…. inexistant, but of course the worst of the worst was pvz. Where an imbalanced macro build met with a rush so frustrating it is a surprise PartinG ever received a single GG. The “WonWontrain” or SoulTrain or more technically the immortals-sentries push was perhaps the only protoss build worthy of late 2012 Starcraft. Rivalling brood lord-infestor in its predictability, it cut games short, but made those couple of minutes looking at roaches headbutting forcefields feel like hours. The two builds made for a vicious circle, zerg late game strength pushing them to play purely defensive, while at the same time pushing protoss to their most abusive early mid-game push over and over.

Now, if this is enough to justified Ryung “IMBAIMBAIMBA” cry this is not quite enough to fully understand the brood lord-infestor mythos. The peculiar nature of brood lord-infestor come from his entanglement with a raising paranoia about the perpetually professed “Death of Starcraft 2”.(149.)


One could have thought that now that esport and especially Starcraft 2 was producing content at an unmatched rate and creating a living for more people than ever before, the fear of falling into irrelevance would be far from everyone mind. It was the opposite, Starcraft 2 success was quickly followed by a sense of uneasiness.(150.) The causes are somewhat hard to pinpoint, perhaps it is because a lot of people involved in SC2 remembered the esport bubble of the early 2000, or it was the near disappearance of the RTS genre that made us doubt SC2 could live on or maybe a closer inspection of other esports community would prove a wide spread of these kind of thoughts in an environment where our hobbies become increasingly intertwined with the capitalistic success of mega-corporation. In any case, the looming fear of the vaguely define “death” of the game was forming as an ever-present sword of Damocles.

While Starcraft 2 millenarism is noticeable as early as the beta launch, it really came to the forefront of the community with the rise of League of legend. It had been released a year prior to SC2, but it is in 2011-2012 that it really started to make waves in the esport world, garnering a big following in Korea and across the oceans. Lol and SC2 were often showed at the same tournaments starting in 2012 and soon enough it became clear that lol was consistency getting more viewers. To say this was not taken well would be an understatement. SC2 losing his throne as the “king of esport” created many responses, few good one; distain and aggressiveness toward lol fans, bashing of Blizzard, declarations that SC2 was actually a shitty game all along, statement of hopelessness and despair or more positively discussions about how to fix the scene. And here lies the last essential point to understand brood lord-infestor and its place in Starcraft history.



Brood lord-infestor was not just a bad meta game that made for a lot of boring games for a few months. It was the herald of the apocalypse, the scapegoat for every time a player retired, that lol beat another viewership milestone or that some caster or personality evoked branching out. If brood lord-infestor is often referred as the dark time of Starcraft 2, it is as much for its meta game as it is for its association with the moment, we realized that SC2 was no more the biggest Esport in the world.

Will all that said, no, no I did not watch RorO vs Symbol, that shit looks way to boring.

My rendition of late 2012 Starcraft probably seemed more doom and gloom than it really was, there was plenty of fun to be had, but it is undeniable there was a widespread sentiment that the game was in some sort of disarray, and if brood lord-infestor was the culprit of the various degree of complain, from soft balance whine to prophetic eulogy, there was one universal savior: Hearth of the Swarm.

Starcraft 2 was planned to be a trilogy from the start, with each expansion being closer to a whole new game. As such, HOTS was always on the horizon through all WOL and was being presented as soon as 2011, but it is around the spring of 2012 that marketing started in earnest.(151.) The MLG Spring championship was the first time the grand public had a chance to put their hands on the game and after that esport event were regularly used to give update on the state of the development process, a few exhibition tournaments even took place.(152.)


With such a massive update to Starcraft 2 coming, a lengthy beta testing period was put in place. The beta gave opportunity for a few lucky fans to try the game before everyone and for a very responsive development teams to bounce back ideas and take into consideration the response of the community to tweak the mechanics and remove some of the less convincing units and spells. Among those left on the cutting room floor were the oracle “entomb” ability to froze mineral patches, the warhound, a Terran mech-marine and the shredder, an initial version of the widow mine that was promptly shutdown by Incontrol.(153.) In there place were introduced seven new units, the viper, the swarm host, the hellbat, the widow mine, the tempest, the oracle and the mothership core.

For hundreds of thousands of people, HOTS was first and foremost the opportunity to follow up on SC2 story. The space opera, highlighted with an extraordinary trailer, promised to tell the tale of Kerrigan regaining control of the zerg swarm and getting her revenge on Mengsk. The campaign would introduce many new units with branching mutation and the chance to play as the Queen of Blades herself as well as following up on Blizzard experimentation on the level of nakedness a central character could be in AAA video game.


On the esport side of things, the pressure on David Kim was immense, after months of brood lord-infestor, he needed to give SC2 a new momentum and fix the multiple and contradictory criticisms that were thrown his way. Each of his decision would be analyzed and discussed in relation to the way viewers would react to them so the maximize the esport potential. HOTS success would be judged as much on the quality of the game itself as on its ability to regain SC2 place as the biggest esport in the world. The time when esports competitions could be an accidental deviation of a video game carried by fans and amateurs was over. Blizzard was now deemed to have a moral responsibility to make esport work and to answer against the surge of League of Legend and other Moba.
It is with this newfound responsibility in mind that on April second 2013, at 19h17 Eastern Day Time, a thread appeared on TeamLiquid.net announcing that on the subsequent day Blizzard would reveal its plan for the 2013 World Championship Series and change SC2 esport forever.(154.)