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Aotearoa39261 Posts
This is not going to be a happy blog. In fact this blog will likely provoke some harsh criticism from virtually every member on this site. But this blog speaks of a harsh reality - one which we all hope never would actually eventuate. Boxer should retire from Starcraft Progaming.
Boxer is sad because its true
Boxer's career has been a story of continual reinvention and extreme highs and lows. Following Boxer's dominant period (ending with his loss to GARIMTO in SKY01) Boxer was forced to bring himself back up to speed. However in NATE OSL he went 0-3 in his group which showed quite strongly that he was desperately in need of a reinvention. Then in SKY 2002 Boxer's reinvention lead to him making the finals of the OSL - where he lost to Reach in another close final.
The loss to reach prompted Boxer to leave IS and form his own team - 4 Union (later Dong Yang and SKT1). Indeed the switch over to DY caused its fair share of drama and was the only solution Boxer could see to returning to his winning ways. While his play degraded over the next year he managed to raise one of the strongest teams in Brood War history and his role as a mentor and inspiration became firmly cemented in the minds of all fans of progaming as well as the progamers themselves.
His star pupil, iloveoov, lead the way in the macro revolution which changed the very fundamentals of the game. The game became about who could produce more rather than who could defeat his opponent in one single attack with brilliant micro. This change hurt Boxer's style, as can be seen in his sharp decline in form. However, Boxer, the master of reinvention, came back and ascended to the finals of EVER 2004 after showing promising games in KT-KTF 2004 earlier that year. Boxer brought all his tricks to the table, and even with his improved macro, could not topple the monster Terran.
Once again Boxer's form declined and fans were worried that they had seen the last of him - of course Boxer is a far superior player to that. Boxer once again redefined himself and adapted to the innovations of FD terran amongst other trends. Indeed, Boxer improved so remarkably that he once again returned to the OSL finals. After a remarkable OSL run in So1, including possibly the greatest comeback of all time against Pusan, he fell to Anytime in the final 2-3. Despite his total redefinition he couldn't muster a win. OGN believed that he would take the win, and arguably created to the Golden Mouse as an award for Boxer to win to make him seem like the best Starcraft gamer in existence. However, the plan backfired and obviously, Boxer lost.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Boxer_R/348392.jpg) Boxer after his comeback vs Pusan
With his military service looming on the horizon, Boxer picked up his game dramatically after a short decline and went on a rediculous 13-0 TvZ streak amongst other things. Shinhwa stopped Boxer in his last OSL run in Shinhan 1 OSL and then FireBatHero knocked Boxer out of his ODT group and OGN said goodbye to Boxer for a long time. In Pringles MSL, however, Boxer looked to be able to win the whole tournament after a ridiculously strong victory over Ra on Blitz in which Boxer showed that his macro was very much up to standard, and in fact was bloody scary. Boxer's MSL run was cut short, and was forced to join the military after the group stages were played out.
But then progaming threw Boxer a bone and created ACE - just in time for Boxer to join and make the team something amazing. Sadly, ACE will be the final nail in Boxer's coffin. Despite his brilliance and ability to adapt and redefine himself - this time the skill discrepancy is just too wide for him to catch up. Since Boxer has joined ACE his winrate has dropped to a substandard 40.32% (25-37) and noting that most teams opt to send out their B-Team's to dispatch of ACE, these figures are not reassuring.
The fundamental question here is what is stopping Boxer from coming back like he has done before and after maybe 6~ months return to tip-top shape. Well there are a number of forces at work here...
1) Mass influx of new gamers
Since Boxer left for the Air Force, there has been a substantial change in the composition of proteams. Old gosus have faded away or retired and a mass of new energetic and hungry gamers have risen to take their place. Players like Best, Jaedong and Flash represent the youth of today in all their shining glory. The fact that most of the gamers on the top 30 are vastly different to 2 years ago clearly shows this if nothing else. In addition to the rise in youth gamers the competition has risen exponentially - even one off game these days is enough to send you home, and we have not seen a dominant figure in a long time as a consequence. These young gamers pose a serious threat to any comeback attempt Boxer will stage purely because of the intense competition and significantly higher skill level. This follows on nicely to...
2) The skill discrepancy between Boxer now and the average gamer is far greater than it has ever been since the start of Boxer's career
What this essentially says is that Boxer has a huge amount of work to do to catch up to even the average 50% gamers of today. Before reinvention was easy, because Boxer was never below average for a gamer and was always a threat. Now any scrub has a decent shot at taking him down. If nothing else, Garimto's stunt proved that it's ridiculously hard for a gamer to make up a huge skill gap even with a significant amount of raw talent. This is one hurdle Boxer simply cannot jump.
3) The "Boxer" effect
If by some miracle Boxer managed to return to ODT/Survivor the "Boxer" effect kicks in. Gamers instantly recognize that Boxer is their opponent and Boxer is synonymous with Starcraft genius. Hence gamers prepare harder to fight against Boxer than any normal gamer. This is partly due to his fame as Mr Stacraft and partly because of his traditional super high skill. This make any serious run extremely difficult because the gamers are better prepared than normal.
So what does Boxer have going in his favor? Well the simply answer is cheese. Boxer is the one gamer in all of Starcraft (aside from Ra) who can cheese and be called a genius. Any other gamer who cheeses in a similar fashion is looked down upon by the community. Don't beleive me? What about Flash vs Bisu on Monty Hall? That was a Boxer-esque cheese that everyone hated purely because Flash was "just another terran" at that point. Anyway, Boxer can still cheese - as he's proven throughout his time on ACE. But sadly, this isn't NATE OSL anymore and you can't cheese yourself to an OSL final. Even Boxer's biggest asset won't help him in ascending the individual leagues.
Basically, in light of all of this it is not unfair to conclude that Boxer will have a steep learning curve to get back up to speed - one which he probably won't be able to scale. However, Boxer has one important aspect about him which gives him a chance in Progaming - his charisma and role as a mentor. Boxer is the mentor figure and knows how to inspire a team to victory. He got ACE from #12 -> #11. He trained Oov into a monster. He performed the Proleague Grand Slam in 2005 by winning Round 1, Round 2 AND the Grand Final. Upon his departure the team fell apart which can't just be a coincidence. Boxer's Progaming future lies within a Mentor position within the team, a "player-coach" or "coach" if you will.
Although the thought of Boxer in an OSL finals gives me wet dreams at night, realistically it's never going to happen. He's never going to get to that Golden Mouse. Boxer will forever be "just another Terran" for the rest of his career thanks to the enormous setback ACE has had on his career. Boxer's career as a progamer after ACE is for the large part over. He'll pop up in Proleague from time to time - but will never advance out of his preliminary group. This is the sad truth.
I love you Boxer, but it's time so hang up your mouse.
 
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
=[ please be kind!!
But I strongly encourage discussion on the topic though!! 
EDIT: theres a number of people simply saying "i disagree", well thats nice  but if you could say why you disagree then we will have some pretty decent discussion floating around in this thread
UPDATE: 9/08/08 19:37
Alright, in creating this article i wrote it under the premise that 99% of teamliquid would immediately reject the idea... but then people started agreeing with it. Theres probably somewhere between 10~25% of users here which have expressed that Boxer will not return to starcraft.
There were a number of omissions in the article, most of which ack aptly picked up. The most important thing about Boxer, which I didn't say anything about, is his passion for Starcraft. Above everything else this differentiates Boxer from every other progamer that has ever played the game. TheMarine was considered one of the only players who could go toe-to-toe with the Emperor, yet his interest waned and his skill deteriorated and he couldn't bounce back. That being said, his revival in 2004 was nothing short of miraculous, especially seeing as how TheMarine was reduced to the level of a B amateur before he staged his comeback.
TheMarine is proof that Boxer can, and will, come back to progaming. TheMarine's story is often forgotten amongst the glory stories of Nada, July and Oov. But look at it this way. TheMarine was comparable to Boxer in every way back in 2001, well, even before that really. But then in his slump between 2002-2003 he royally sucked. Over a period of two years (approximately the length of time that Boxer has been in the army) he made the group stages of two OSLs and one MSL and was eliminated in pathetic fashion in each of them. But on the whole, TheMarine never really achieved much and the record of 43.68% (38-49). Now compare this record to 40.32% (25-37) and you can see that Boxer's record during his stay in the airforce (where he made an MSL appearance) is perfectly comparable to TheMarines.
- TheMarine had unlimited practice time, Boxer has restricted practice time
- It was comparatively easier to maintain a 43% winrate in 2002/2003 than a 40% winrate in 2008
- Boxer has a greater drive/passion/inspiration to keep playing than TheMarine
Im sure there are more parallels that i could draw but the bottom line is - Boxer is in a similar situation to TheMarine; and he came back to place third in an MSL in 2004.
Will the comeback be easy? No
Will Boxer give up? No
Is Boxer going to comeback? Yes he fucking will
Increase Boxer's practice time, increase Boxer's access to progaming and just watch as he gets exponentially better and fights his way back to the top. If TheMarine can do it, Boxer most certainly can.
While drawing the parallel to TheMarine may seem invalid, if you actually both to go read some of Boxer's recent interviews (notably this one) you can see that Boxer has as much passion as he has ever had and really this is the key component to a successful comeback. To become great at Starcraft one simply needs talent + will power. As we all know Boxer currently has both of these components, and that means that even if he instantly gets demoted to B-Team that he will rise from the ashes and will indeed add to his already impressive legend.
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I think boxer should be a coach now. Stop playing and focus on making a stronger younger generation!
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maybe... but then again who saw the july golden mouse coming?
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I'd like to see boxer try to get back into form for a few months. If it doesn't work out, then go to something better. What kindof a role model would he be if he didn't at least try to make it work?
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On August 08 2008 22:55 chameleonia wrote:
maybe... but then again who saw the july golden mouse coming?
I was just about to say that.
I don't know really, people have always loved Boxer despite his results, his games are pretty much always entertaining, which is all i want when i watch pro-games. I'd rather watch Boxer's still entertaining games then follow some 100-0 stats guy who just plays standard and "safe" in order to win all the titles.
I say as long as he can produce entertaining games he should continue.
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To oversimplify: Boxer needs more practice than he can get, and his style won't get him anywhere anymore - he's playing against a different crowd.
Well...... you just spent like 9/10 of your post talking about how he was awesome because he kept changing his style. *shrug*
I dunno, I think it's still possible that starcraft can be optimized more, and it's possible that boxer will do it. Not holding my breath, but that's no reason to quit.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On August 08 2008 22:55 chameleonia wrote:
maybe... but then again who saw the july golden mouse coming? Since when did July drop off the top 30 rankings? The thing is about July is that he never really went away and has been a feature of SC even during his slump he regularly made OSLs in 06 and made 3/4 of the GOMTV MSLs. He also qualified for Bacchus. Essentially, the skill discrepancy between July and your average gamer was always positive (ie July was better) and really, July posted rather consistent results for a long time even though he made no strong impact on the scene.
Thats why July's case isn't exactly the same as Boxers Julys case is more like Boxer between EVER04/So1 where boxer was good but not great.
On August 08 2008 23:02 BottleAbuser wrote:
To oversimplify: Boxer needs more practice than he can get, and his style won't get him anywhere anymore - he's playing against a different crowd.
Well...... you just spent like 9/10 of your post talking about how he was awesome because he kept changing his style. *shrug*
I dunno, I think it's still possible that starcraft can be optimized more, and it's possible that boxer will do it. Not holding my breath, but that's no reason to quit. more like 5/10 which was totally intentional btw. Boxers "style" doesn't exist anymore either, he plays the same brand of generic Terran - but through the eyes of fanboys this becomes something more than what it really is. In fact, Boxer's "style" has been dead since EVER04 imo, possibly earlier. He's always simply been adapating the modern take on Terran as most other Terrans have done.
Yes Starcraft can still be optimized, but those who are optimizing the game are getting younger and younger. Can you say that July or Nada has optimized the game any further since their prime? No we can't. Jaedong (young) has picked up where savior left off and innovated, Luxury has too, Flash (youngest) has done similar things with terran, and Best for Protoss. Boxer will just follow the current trend and really won't be able to optimize Terran any more imo.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
WTF NO WAI EVEN THOUGH I HATE BOXER SO MUCH BECAUSE IM A HARDCORE YELLOW FAN BUT HOW CAN U SAY SUCH THINGS T_____T PLEAXAAA!!!
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boxer is an extremely strong-willed person. the mentality described in his book proves that.
if he really tries hard and has more time on his hands after his military service finishes.. who knows. virtually nobody has put so much thought into starcraft than he did in the past and maybe he'll be able to invent yet another style with which he'll crush his opponents.
if he still possesses the mechanics to do so, i don't know.. but immense experience coupled with great dedication may lead him to his goals.
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Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
YOU ARE HIGH PLEXA!!! Well it was that or insulting you
/offtopic
He won't retire but he just doesn't have the skill anymore. A coach role when he finishes the Army sounds viable for him.
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Calgary25977 Posts
I completely disagree. I think you sell the greatest StarCraft player ever quite short.
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On August 08 2008 23:08 Chill wrote:
I completely disagree. I think you sell the greatest StarCraft player ever quite short. Greatest in what regard? He is far from the most successful gamer of all time and doesn't have too many stats on paper to support that claim.
ALTHOUGH he did conceive the progaming scene which makes him the most influential gamer of all time (which i think is what you were getting at). The industry is established quite strongly now, and because oft hat the competition has risen dramatically. Don't get me wrong, I love boxer. But if you look realistically at the state of progaming and the state of boxer you must appreciate the mammoth task ahead of him.
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I would give him 1 season with another team then ACE to pratice more and then if he can't be the Boxer we know, he should gg out 
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Calgary25977 Posts
On August 08 2008 23:11 Plexa wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2008 23:08 Chill wrote:
I completely disagree. I think you sell the greatest StarCraft player ever quite short. Greatest in what regard? He is far from the most successful gamer of all time and doesn't have too many stats on paper to support that claim. ALTHOUGH he did conceive the progaming scene which makes him the most influential gamer of all time (which i think is what you were getting at). The industry is established quite strongly now, and because oft hat the competition has risen dramatically. Don't get me wrong, I love boxer. But if you look realistically at the state of progaming and the state of boxer you must appreciate the mammoth task ahead of him.
Greatest in my arbitrary ranking system. He doesn't have the best micro, his macro is second or third class and his multitasking isn't the highest level ever. He does seem to have a lock on both Star sense and mind games, and I think that's what makes me think of his as the greatest ever.
Can you think of another player with so many comebacks as Boxer? Forget that, how about another player who has as many sucessful gambits as Boxer?
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Aotearoa39261 Posts
On August 08 2008 23:20 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2008 23:11 Plexa wrote:On August 08 2008 23:08 Chill wrote:
I completely disagree. I think you sell the greatest StarCraft player ever quite short. Greatest in what regard? He is far from the most successful gamer of all time and doesn't have too many stats on paper to support that claim. ALTHOUGH he did conceive the progaming scene which makes him the most influential gamer of all time (which i think is what you were getting at). The industry is established quite strongly now, and because oft hat the competition has risen dramatically. Don't get me wrong, I love boxer. But if you look realistically at the state of progaming and the state of boxer you must appreciate the mammoth task ahead of him. Greatest in my arbitrary ranking system. He doesn't have the best micro, his macro is second or third class and his multitasking isn't the highest level ever. He does seem to have a lock on both Star sense and mind games, and I think that's what makes me think of his as the greatest ever. Can you think of another player with so many comebacks as Boxer? Forget that, how about another player who has as many sucessful gambits as Boxer? Ra comes close (ish) as does Nada and July. But yes, i agree that no player has had the rapid oscillations of extremes like boxer has. But the difference in his skill now is just so much greater than it has ever been throughout his career. Of course, if anyone can come back from the gap and win something - it will be boxer, no one else. However, i think this leap is just too big
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Netherlands19133 Posts
On August 08 2008 23:20 Chill wrote:Show nested quote +On August 08 2008 23:11 Plexa wrote:On August 08 2008 23:08 Chill wrote:
I completely disagree. I think you sell the greatest StarCraft player ever quite short. Greatest in what regard? He is far from the most successful gamer of all time and doesn't have too many stats on paper to support that claim. ALTHOUGH he did conceive the progaming scene which makes him the most influential gamer of all time (which i think is what you were getting at). The industry is established quite strongly now, and because oft hat the competition has risen dramatically. Don't get me wrong, I love boxer. But if you look realistically at the state of progaming and the state of boxer you must appreciate the mammoth task ahead of him. Greatest in my arbitrary ranking system. He doesn't have the best micro, his macro is second or third class and his multitasking isn't the highest level ever. He does seem to have a lock on both Star sense and mind games, and I think that's what makes me think of his as the greatest ever. Can you think of another player with so many comebacks as Boxer? Forget that, how about another player who has as many sucessful gambits as Boxer?
Boxer has fucking titanium steel balls, so word on that assessment ^^;;
Great article Plexa, cheers :D.
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You make a very strong arguement, and if he was anyone but Boxer, I would agree. I'm just not understanding why he wouldn't at least try. I'm sure he'll rake in the fans by the thousands aswell, which means a possible small jump in popularity when he comes back.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Boxer_R/c0069715.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Boxer_R/883934.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Boxer_R/227183.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Boxer_R/im.jpg)
