EPTHayprO is a MONSTER. I showed up on Sunday at around 0930 to grab a good seat for the sure to be epic matches and noticed that a Mr. Hayder was already at the Open Bracket Player Station A practicing it up. I didn’t think anything of it until around noon when I realized SeleCT was playing HayprO. Seeing as SeleCT is my favorite player, I opted to watch their incredible 3 game set; the games SeleCT and HayprO played lasted through two mainstage matches. Leenock rolled Boxer and then I can’t remember the second set. Anyways, first thing I realized was that I’m almost 100% positive Hayder played from 0930 until about 1300 when that match went live; what a beast. On Liquipedia, the match score shows 2-1. But what does this really mean?
Beast mode engaged.
Hayder looked like eloped with Kerrigan secretly and realized how to embody the Zerg swarm. Games two and three were on Metalopolis and Shakurus respectively. Both games were macro and I saw endless flocks of mutas, carpets of lings, and a terrifying stampede of banelings.
SeleCT’s fabled multitasked drops? Shutdown.
SeleCT killed about 9000 drones on Shakurus with 3 pronged drops? HayprO makes around 10,000 drones.
SeleCT had an epic medivac cloud with 2/2 marines and siege tanks? Zerglings and Mutalisks overran everything.
HayprO had contained SeleCT to 1.5 mining bases (3 total) on Shakurus while he took 5. SeleCT shuts down one base only to see another one up. He killed that? HayprO simply rebuilds.... and rebuilds....and grinds....and annhilated.
I knew I had seen something special.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uM0Zh.jpg)
So. Fucking. Handsome.
HayprO was ON FIRE. And how did he celebrate his demolition of SeleCT? Back to practice and laddering. He literally took a 15 minute break or so and then practiced up until his ZvZ against Nestea. He looked unstoppable and I had hope.
I realized that HayprO was to play Nestea but went to eat some food. The first of my 2 biggest regrets of the weekend. Instead of staying to watch Nestea versus HayprO, I ate food. While I ate, my friend was texting me this unbelievable story that HayprO had taken one game off Nestea....then lost.....then won?!
Foreigner hope abounds again.
Later when Liquipedia updated the bracket to verify that HayprO had beat Nestea, I was stunned. HayprO had not only beaten Nestea, but he was to go toe to toe with MVP next. I regret not going over to the player stations to watch this match. I instead saved mine and my friend’s seats but stood up and watched the screen from about 100ft away. And my friend was texting me a Live Report text-stream of the match. The crowd watching the match was ENORMOUS. Even much of the back rows of the seating area was standing up to watch the matches.
Through live report threads and finally a stream, we watched game 3 on Metalopolis. Mech vs ultra/broodlord. When the final engagement hit I was heartbroken. Hayder “HayprO” Hussein had lost to the best Terran in the world. But he took him to a game 3 and even then, the match looked to be half map versus half map; HayprO had put up an amazing set against MVP. Nothing ezpz for MVP. But still I was heartbroken. One by one, all of my foreigner heroes had fallen. My idol SeleCT, Kiwikaki, Sheth, and Idra had already gone down at this point.
I was looking for any hope and HayprO had become a shining beacon quickly. I’m not sure if I’ve ever experienced such a high and low in 2 hours time. When HayprO was done, I placed all my faith into Naniwa...and we all know how that turned out.
Looking back though, I think I remember those 2 matches the best: SeleCT vs HayprO and HayprO vs MVP. They weren’t on the mainstage and didn’t have the biggest crowds but they gave me so much:
Nerd chills. For those who were there, who remembers the HayprO chant before game 3? Followed by the thunderous HAYPRO FIGHTING! led by TLO. My eyes watered up then and I pause even now to blink them away.
Hope. HayprO gave me renewed hope when the foreigner light seemed all but burned out. On paper it seemed ludicrous but HayprO took out Nestea so why not MVP? Why not just take the whole tournament while he was at it? DongRaeGu? Leenock? Naniwa? EZPZ
Inspiration. Remember all the hate that HayprO got in that thread about Liquid’s lineup needing a makeover? Fuck that. Anyone, ANYONE can breakout. For me, HayprO was the most visible in the last few weeks. He’s the pinnacle of breakouts in my opinion. But how about Leenock’s run at Providence? Or Gatored’s performance at IEM NYC, followed by taking out Axslav and Ganzi at Providence, and then taking Thorzain to game 5 at the NASL Season 2 Open? What about goswser who was named Polt killer by the TL twitter and went on to be promoted from the Complexity Academy to the Complexity main team. If an “underperforming” HayprO can beat Nestea and almost MVP, what else can we expect from HayprO and others?
Thank you.
Thank you HayprO for beating my favorite player....in front of me. And for all the hope you gave me. Thank you for giving me nerd chills and nerd tears.
Thank you Kennigit for being such a HayprO fan and standing opposite of me during SeleCT versus HayprO. Your pain during those matches were my highs and your highs were my heartbreak. It was hilarious and amazing to see how he had the exact opposite reactions to my own feelings.
Thank you random TL fangirl who was cheering for HayprO and was clutching her Team Liquid horse poster. You looked as invested as I did and it was amazing to see such fandom.
Thank you SeleCT for showing such good games all tournament long and taking a picture with me.
Thank you to MLG for hosting the best Starcraft 2 competition; Providence was magical.
Providence was my first LAN and first MLG. It WON’T be my last. I can’t wait to see HayprO’s continued talent. I’ll be back to watch HayprO hoist a trophy. Or SeleCT. Or Gatored. Or anyone else that decides that it’s time to do work and breakout. More nerd tears.
Before ending this blog, I’d like to take the time to thank JS for her proofreading.
(I edited this to move the picture around and to add in a lost word)
. But shit happens~
