EPT
Midas, undisputed best player to Never have won a starleague before the arrival of Sea much later on in BW's Life span, a progamer of a completely different era all together, a progamming career that spanned 11 years. This is going to be a trip down memory lane alright, yes everything was still flowers and rainbows in 2000, booting up Windows 98's and play Deus Ex for the first time, buying your brand New PS1 console and playing Dragon Quest VII or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, a simpler time when polygon graphics looked like half inflated beach balls. The world of strategy gaming was a completely different Animal back then. BW had just been released for two years, Warcraft 3 was yet to be released, Command and Conquer was still riding high with the hot new release of Red Alert 2, and the first ever WCG 2000 Challenge was on the horizon being held in Yongin, South Korea, I remember it as if it were yesterday.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aHW0p.png)
It was everyone's dream back then to go to the WCG, screw regional tournaments, this was the WORLD CYBER GAMES man, shit's for reals. With an unprecedented $200,000 total in prize pool, the first ever real OSL Hanaro 2000 on the horizon, no one knew where esports was heading in, and hopes were higher than ever that the passion of progamers would soon become mainstream culture. Western gamers for the First time saw a completely different competitive scene emerging from the far Asian country of South Korea, that would soon capture the gaming world by storm. But... that's not where
Midas's story begins, while 
GoRush and I.Love_Star would capture the First ever WCG gold and silver that year, along with 
Grrrr... (that'S 4 r's and don't you forget it)'s legendary first ever and last OSL win as a foreigner, Midas wasn't Actually playing BW back then, he was playing something called Samgukji Cheonmyeong II that was a part of the domestic demonstration games. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RhMr0.png)
Terrible old rip-offs you probably Never heard of
So What exactly is this "Samgukji Cheonmyeong" in the first place? This was a time when South Korean game developers saw the success and Rise of real time strategy games in the west and wanted to duplicate its success in domestic waters, ofcourse they thought the best way to do that would be to just RIP THE WHOLE THING OFF.
Enter Dong Seo Interactive, the pioneer of blatantly plagiarize popular Western RTS' and selling them to an unsuspecting South Korean populace, yet we ironically have alot to thank them for as with out them strategy games would probably have never taken off the way it did in South Korea with out the cheap knock off versions. They published adventure games by Sierra and Lucas arts and their entire production line of "original" games consist of these 3:
광개토대왕 (Gwang Gaeto Daewang), or The Forgotten Land, was a Game released in 1995 that is supposedly based on the 4th century King Gwang Gaeto of Koguryeo, yet bares an uncanny resemblance to a, shall we say, grand daddy of all western RTS'.
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/iydlf.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pGYoM.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GzEPB.png)
Can't figure it out? Let me spell it out for you, Dune-mother-fucking-2.
삼국지 천명 (Samgukji Cheonmyeong), other wise known as Three Kingdoms Divine Destiny was a Game released in 1998 supposedly based off a science fiction interpretation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel from Chinese historical literature set in the far future, but What the Game developers Dong Seo Interactive didn't tell you was that it was a carbon copy of Command and Conquer.
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/i0ryN.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/A087a.png)
wtf is this shit
And ofcourse the most important subject of this Flashback, 삼국지 천명 II (Samgukji Cheonmyeong II) or Three Kingdoms II: Clash of Destiny, was a Game released in 2000 with a strange resemblance to an RTS that you may or may not be familiar with...
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/CVo4e.png)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wddD2.png)
Yes that's right,
Midas was playing a rip off of Starcraft. With the three races Wei - a race that trained in mythical beasts - (Zerg), Shu - a race that specialized in tanks and cyborgs - (Terran) and Wu - a race of magicians that specialized in summoning buildings instead of building them - (Protoss). And he played it quite well apparently, winning second place in WCG 2000 with a prize of 2 million won. A transition WE were all waiting for
So inevitably, as the fates will it, Midas would be drawn to Another Blizzard title during the RTS boom in South Korea, a Game that will garner him the attention, admiration, and popularity among fans every where. That Game, obviously, was going to be.... ellipses... drum Roll...
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/H0GVG.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/mts31.jpg)
mfing griffin riders are op
You see What I did there
Yes
Midas's second game of choice was a shameless Warcraft 3 rip off - Kingdom Under Fire (Or Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes) developed by Phantagram, whose Only other Game of note except the inevitable sequel Kingdom Under Fire 2, electric boogaloo is Ninety Nine Nights, a dynasty warriors rip off (or Onimusha for all you elitists), how fitting. Midas became an extremely popular player in Kingdom Under Fire, but eventually by 2003 as the game slowly died out, was forced to transition. He was tasked with choosing, ironically, between Warcraft 3 and Broodwar, a choice that is detailed in this interview, back in the glory Days when fomos didn't get their panties in a twist. Q: Reasons why you decided to become starcraft Progamer?
Midas: I first became a progamer back when I played Kingdom Under Fire. But I found out there won't be any leagues for that Game anymore. So during my freshman year in high school, I was debating if I should play starcraft or Warcraft III. Most of Kingdom Under Fire progamers transitioned to WC III and performed well. Although starcraft league was already very tough I decided to play it anyway.
Q: Why starcraft then?
Midas: starcraft simply looked more fun, and I thought the Game/leagues would last longer.
BoxeR, YellOw, Reach, GARIMTO and other players made it that much better. I wanted to Start from those amateur leagues but I couldn't because I already had a Progamer license. (I guess there's only one license for all games) I wasn't that good but I could go play in the qualification rounds for MSL/OSL with my license. That's right fanboys,
Midas laying down the law saying that BW is more fun than WC3, after all, he did already play both games for years, he just didn't know it yet.![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kylFZ.jpg)
OR DID HE?
A young man destined to inherit the throne
To say that
Midas exploded on to the scene would be an understatement, Sea exploded, Flash let off a spark that would eventually manifest Into an atom bomb years later, Midas... well. He dropped out of school, was teamless, sponsorless, practicing by himself and qualifying for the 2003 Stout MSL and stunned onlookers and coaches by taking down fOru 2-0. No words can describe the amount of shit dribbling fear this Rookie who came out of no where gave everyone else in the league. Because this was fOru'S PvT record aT the time.+ Show Spoiler [Holy. Shit.] +
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/eD94T.png)
This feat was observed by the Head Coach of GO (Greatest Ones, former body of CJ Entus / Hite Entus ect), following
TheMarine's transfer from GO to KTF (former body of KT Rolster / Fingerboom), Midas was hired to step in, yes, a Rookie stepping in for a multiple time league finalist / contender. ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/82M2E.jpg)
Like the great kings of Gondor before him,
Midas had the proper attire for battle.The stage was set for
Midas' break out, being fielded regularly in proleague despite only being on a professional team for a few months. His first proleague run in the Neowiz Pmang Cup Proleague yielded this result:![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cPQgR.png)
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![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/KeLTw.png)
At the same time though,
Midas would fail to capture any progress in the singles leagues, failing to qualify for any league. Despite posting a 4-3 record in the OnGameNet Challenge League 2003 with wins over iloveoov and fOru, Only losing out against Sync / Goodfriend / XellOs (Seriously how fucking stacked was this)Disgruntled and apparently losing all of his interest in gaming,
Midas would leave the team in April of 2004 for a law school exam, perhaps signalling an abrupt end to the most promising Rookie of 2003. The Return of the King
In a surprising turn of events,
Midas reentered the esports arena at the end of 2004 and qualified for both OSL and MSL, as well as making it out of the WCG 2004 Korea with a 2-0 over then OSL Silver and Ghemtv bronze ChoJJa, 2-0 over then Ghemtv Silver and OSL Bronze Junwi, Another Perfect 2-0 over OSL champion Perfect terran XellOs, and 2-0 over old rival fOru, and 2-0 over ZvT slumping Silver for yet Another Perfect 10-0 record heading Into the WCG finals in San Francisco. His 2-0 over fOru on the big stage would cement him as One of the all time best TvP-ersGame 1 @ 8:35, Game 2 @ 26:50
In the WCG Grand finals,
Midas would make his way to the finals yet again to face against XellOs, unfortunately, XellOs would go on to win the set 2-0, cementing his place as a TvT revolutionist. Ah... AH... the First Days of WCG english casting.
Midas's simultaneous runs Into the IOPS OSL and YATGK MSL were both stopped at the Ro8. In the OSL by Goodfriend (Goodfriend would go onto the third place match after losing to JulyZerg against Midas's teammate GoRush) In the MSL he lost to
GoRush / JulyZerg. The in-form GoRush went on to win the MSL over NaDa). In an era of NaDa / GoRush / JulyZerg, Midas was denied his Ascension. Nevertheless Coach Cho of GO transfered him and GoRush to SKT following their spectacular runs, granting him an official contract as a Progamer with a yearly salary (still not a factor taken for granted aT the time). Setting the stage for Midas to finally take his throne. The man who turned everything he touched Into Gold
The year is 2006, King baby bear
Midas ruled over the land with great riches and prosperity, qualifying for both the MSL and OSL again as well as heading into yet another WCG finals. Yet there is great fear and tides of ill omen, for an unknown foe was rumoured to have been born from the evil in the hearts of men, and King Midas would soon be faced with a choice to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. Faced with this seemingly impossible task to slay the great maestro, and the impending dragons from the east threatening the realm of 
mankind, the future looked darker than ever. Midas, seeing the fall of the great heroes of
men, iloveoov, BoxeR, NaDa, Justin, Hwasin, Iris before this great evil, vowed to take revenge for mankind once and for all. Though he himself has suffered defeat once already the year prior, and challenged the great beast by picking him into his group in the ShinHan2006 OSL. Great though the powers of the
great beast were, its darkness was not more powerful the curse that came with Midas's great gift, for the secret to his kingdom's prosperity was that as everything he touched turned to gold, he could never obtain or wear bronze and silver, so mighty was his claim to gold and so greedy were the hearts of men that he was cursed never to win any singles league if he were to unleash its true powers. Midas thus sacrificed his only chances at winning a starleague, making it to the 4th and 3rd place in the MSL / OSL respectively. Before the final confrontation.Spotlight:
Midas vs sAviOr @ HitchhikerWith the beast thought to be slain forever,
Midas continued to lead his valiant knights SKT T1 with a 8-3 record in the SKY 2006 proleague, carrying the team all the way to the finals, yet was struck down by a usurper to the proleague throne, L'enfant Terrible, who dethroned the King, yet inherited from him the same curse to wonder the earth eternally with out a singles league win. With his curse ridden,
Midas no longer possessed the strength necessary to combat the monsterous maestro, who returned despite losing to Midas once already. Midas, realizing the futility and inevitable demise of the kingdoms of men challenged the great beast yet again on his home turf, vowing to end its plot for global destruction.Spotlight:
Midas vs sAviOr @ HitchhikerA Greek Tragedy
Many great and contradictory tales surrounding the twilight years of King
Midas exist today, Aristotle famously held that he died of his vain prayer for the golden touch, Homer makes no mention of the ancient king but instead refers to the famed inheritor of the lineage, some say that he lost hope in defending a humanity that no longer valued his sacrifices, others still hint at a even greater descendant from the house of SKT T1. What is known is that
Midas' passion declined after suffering a defeat at the hands of the maestro 1-2 in 2007, his failure to stop the beast's quest for global domination destroyed his soul more than his body. A momentary spark of brilliance was shown in 2008 when he made a Ro8 run in the OSL, but was struck down by a now full fledged dragon. Midas contemplated ending his own career and disappear from the world that he knew and loved, but instead decided to step down and and become a common peasant. Midas entered free agency in 2009, however was unable to find any offers due to his now broken spirit and being in the twilight of his years. Abandoned by the very people he tried to save, redemption came in an offer to return to SKT T1, but his future still seemed uncertain as he was relegated to the old guard and never sent out to battle. Midas, still with fire in his soul, joined WeMadeFox instead, hoping to end his twilight reliving the glories of his past. And such a moment presented itself 2 years later. Midas vs YellOwA fitting end to the careers of these two kings.
All things must end
With WeMadeFox disbanding in 2011,
Midas lost his last home and has since decided to finally retire, with out signalling any intention to return to SC2 or coaching as his mandatory military service was imminent. His years of stress has also caused him to be diagnosed with stress-induced angina pectoris in 2011 and thus wanted to lead a life devoid of stress. Signalling perhaps the end of Midas' esports career. Good bye
Midas sing thee to thy rest! You leave behind a legacy of being one of the best TvPers ever, and one of the few capable of challenging the best zergs the world has ever seen, and one who held his own in the era of the terran bonjwas. We remember you in your youthful exuberance and your later conquests, we remember you in your joy and sorrow, always one of the most emotive yet awkward players and a clear fan favorite, even though you never won a league, we knew that any mouse you held was always gold.+ Show Spoiler +
You didn't expect such a tonal shift did you.
![[image loading]](http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/2603/pimpmidas.gif)
. And thanks for writing on Midas, his earlier carrier, which I knew very little about, was quite interesting to say the least 
