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Aotearoa39261 Posts
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Hot_Bid/windowcover.jpg)
Cover image by KizZBG
Window to Nowhere
by Plexa
TeamLiquid: Final Edits
Competitive sports are a great thing for us fans, but are even better when we have a vested interest. Just look at the difference between the Shinhan3 and Daum OSL Finals – the Savior-Nada final had more replies (1600 to 700) and views (81,000 to 33,000) despite being shorter and less dramatic. Because the thing is, the scoreboard is more than just a separation from winners and losers; it’s about pride. The feeling that you get when your team, your pride and joy, wins the biggest tournament available is simply amazing. That feeling of nervous excitement that builds up inside you while you watch builds upon the game itself and creates a huge emotional impact on you.
The intensity and drama associated with Shinhan 3
made it one of the best OSLs ever
That feeling we get makes watching fun. If you’re not there experiencing the emotional roller coaster with your team or player then it’s simply just not as great. By creating that extra connection with the player or team playing via gambling, fanboyism or a grudge match, normal games become extraordinary. Surprise tactics become legendary moves. Screw-ups become epic blunders.
It’s all nice and easy when your player is winning.
But when things go wrong, it’s tough to be a fan.
Starcraft is a cruel mistress. The average duration of a Progamer’s career is roughly three years. In those three years, only six months is spent at the top in either of the two major individual leagues. Even when you’re a fan of a bonjwa, it really hurts when they come plummeting back down to earth. All you Savior fanboys know exactly what I’m saying. Savior’s recent games have been abysmal at best and a long way away from the form he showed when he was on top.
Savior fans have to deal with the fact he's not coming back
The pain when your idol chokes in the semifinal of the OSL or MSL is even harder. I signed up on teamliquid as the So1 Semifinals between Boxer and Pusan were being played. I cheered when Pusan went up 2-0. I was ecstatic. Then watched in utter dismay as he blundered and ‘went fishing’ in the 3rd set, then cried out in pain as he lost his shot at the finals. It was one of those days that will stay with me for a very long time.
More recently, we have Stork, a player whose PvP has been my inspiration for years. Basic fundamental errors in the crucial 5th set of the MSL finals cost him a victory against Bisu, and in the OSL he crumbled before the might of Jaedong. Many of you celebrated when these things happened; we Stork fans just went silent.
The good times are still amazing. Just ask LastRomantic when he was saw the epic comeback of Reach against Sea on HitchHiker. The whole game sat on a knife’s edge, but when Reach pulled through and forced Sea to concede, LR went nuts. It was a beautiful moment. Or when Nada triumphed over Anytime in one of the most meaningful and heartfelt victories I’ve ever seen. The Nada fans among us couldn’t help but shed a tear for the man who had lost so much.
There aren't many Shine fans left, but when he wins; she goes wild
It’s difficult to remain a fan of one player for a long time when they continually post bad results, that’s why many of us prefer to support teams. Team games are considerably more dramatic than a Starleague final. Each series is the combined effort of over twenty players in an attempt to win three or four sets. Teams generally post more consistent results – MBC has made the playoffs for four rounds in a row. But when you lose week in week out like Plus did, its really hard to keep that motivation up high, and even harder to keep reeling in the fans.
But those fans were rewarded this year. After many, many years of being the punching bags of the progaming scene, Lecaf broke out and achieved the highest level of success possible. Jaedong won an OSL and his team just won the 2nd round of Proleauge. It means so much more for those long time fans who have been dedicated supporters and not just the “fans” that cling to the current champions.
ACE may be at the bottom of the table, but they still have dedicated fans
A lot of players around teamliquid are subject to extensive bandwagoning. A lot of the time this is really bad. Goodfriend became one of the most hated players in all of Starcraft and for what? His ‘boring’ style of play? What many people failed to realize was that Goodfriend wasn’t as he was stereotyped. Although it wasn’t as plainly obvious as it was with Boxer, he was still an interesting player – very similar to Midas. Not only that, Goodfriend developed Terran strategy over seven consecutive OSLs.
Other times the current bonjwa amasses a plethora of fans simply because he wins every time. Sadly, as the bonjwa starts to lose those fans dissipate as quickly as they had come. Many of these people never experience the extra drama associated when you emotionally invest into a player. Watching Savior against Chalrenge, to them, would simply be a case of ‘wow Savior sucks now, Jaedong for president!’ whereas the real fans fell to the floor in dismay when he squandered his advantages and lost.
The really strange thing about true fanboyism is that average games turn into masterpieces. Look at Savior versus Yarnc on Un’Goro Crater. It was a very average ZvZ, but couple it with the emotional investment that Savior had in the game, in addition to Savior carrying the dreams of his entire team – it was one of the great moments of January. The look on Saviors face after he won was special, just like it was on ChRh’s face after he defeated Bisu and as it was on Nada’s face when he beat Anytime. Those are the moments that define great for any true fan.
When Boxer doesn't qualify, it hurts
The offline preliminaries have just finished, and within those results lay many fans’ broken dreams. These hellish tournaments trap fan favorites for many seasons, and this time is no different. Already we won’t be seeing anything of Stork, GGplay, Iris, Pusan, Reach, Casy, 815, Best, Chalrenge, Rainbow, Yellow or Boxer in the MSL. It really sucks to see some of my favorite players drop out so early on, robbing the TV games of their brilliance.
Stork won't be seen in the next MSL thanks to two 5 pools
With each new round of prelims brings a new wave of gamers. Some will try to tell you that it’s a good thing that we have a good rotation of gamers. I disagree. Of these new gamers that get through, the vast majority of them fail miserably. I’m sure we all remember SkyHigh? After going 16-0 in prelims preventing Silver, Saint, and 815 from advancing to OSC and prevented Reach from entering Survivor. Once he did got into the minor leagues, he went 1-4. Thank you for making progaming a little less interesting SkyHigh.
The prelims are without a doubt the most painful thing for a fan to endure. Big names keep getting knocked out by weird no name gamers, and our dreams go down the tubes for another 4 months. The best example of this is Nal_ra, who was perpetually trapped in PSL for a long time (over a year). Meanwhile, Nal_ra was regularly qualifying for MSL and putting up a great showing.
Qualifying is hard, and it hurts went you don't
There is no doubt that many of us are disappointed by these results. Some days it really does hurt to be a fan. But when your player blasts through Prelims, Minor leagues and the Majors to seize the championship like Jaedong did, the experience is one you won’t easily forget. I wait here for the day when one of my players finally wins something, and when that happens – by god you’re going to hear about it.
So for all you Jaedong fans right now, soak it in. Treasure this moment and they joy of being a fan of someone having so much success and happiness right now. Don't take it for granted, opportunity is a slippery thing. For those of us with players still trapped in the void known as the offline preliminaries; take a moment out from your day, light a candle and take solace in the thought that proleague is just 2 months away.
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3 Lions
United States3705 Posts
thank you, i will soak it in
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great writeup
i'd 5 star it if i could
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B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L
*sheds a tear*
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This pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment, watching saviOr plummet and feeling stood up by XellOs (I totally agree that he comes in as the Flop of the Year). That, and iloveoov being "promoted" to player-coach.
Plexa must be prying into my head, using Reach v. Sea on Hitch as an example. I went apeshit during the latter part of the game, what with Reach going Mudang on Sea's ass and shit.
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Braavos36374 Posts
that Reach vs. Sea live report thread is so epic, everyone was going nuts haha
great article Plexa!
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United States7488 Posts
SkyHigh was arguably exciting, but hype is what was exciting rather than his play, which was a big letdown of that hype. If he hadn't gone undefeated in both preliminaries he would just be some other nobody who kept back someone great. Which means I think SkyHigh is an exception as he added a small amount of excitement for a while.
Eventually some new players have to rise from the depths, but I agree that it's disheartening to have so many big names (and some of my favorites who aren't quite so big names, but have gotten there a time or two) to get knocked out so early.
Also excellent writeup, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Articles like these are what makes me come back to tl.net every freakin' day. Great, great read.
The sAviOr crashing and burning part is true, everybody got off that bandwagon in a hurry. Still, sAviOr fan forever.
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Hungary11291 Posts
Truly inspirational article. Thanks for that. Love the title pic as well.
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Braavos36374 Posts
On February 06 2008 21:20 wurm wrote:
The sAviOr crashing and burning part is true, everybody got off that bandwagon in a hurry. Still, sAviOr fan forever.
hey speak for yourself!!
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Netherlands19135 Posts
Great stuff, emotional article.
Cheers~
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South Africa4316 Posts
Awesome writeup Plexa. One of the best TLFE's I've read so far. And I agree with you completely. Whenever KTF loses to ACE, or Flash loses to someone he shouldn't lose to, I get so frustrated that I often stop watching SC for a few days, but when they win (KTF vs MBC/CJ), I brag about it for weeks.
If Flash beats Jaedong in the coming MSL quarters you won't be able to shut me up for days.
That said, I do like new players. Old players get stale quickly. There's few things I enjoy more than seeing the favourite get knocked out by some no-name 16 year old kid. Another similar feeling, is watching the favourite get knocked out by an oldschooler that wasn't expected to win. It keeps the game interesting.
I think the main issue with hype around players is, and I've often fallen into this trap myself, that we tend to look at results, and not at gameplay. If we started looking at the way a player plays, rather than who he beats, we might be able to detect a long term emotional investment, rather than an average player on a hot streak.
Great article.
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i would love to see FBH get to the top :D
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United States7488 Posts
On February 06 2008 21:31 Hot_Bid wrote:Show nested quote +On February 06 2008 21:20 wurm wrote:
The sAviOr crashing and burning part is true, everybody got off that bandwagon in a hurry. Still, sAviOr fan forever. hey speak for yourself!!
Yeah, Savior is ingrained into my life. The man is on my living room wall and I will continue to cheer for him. He has earned my eternal respect as a player.
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oh the pain, kind of reminds me of the other FE post by honesttea, only until midnight.
it is hard being a fan of one player... anytime, how the fuck could u fall to nada like that???? T____T brings my hope up only to crush it into oblivion. hopefully he makes it out of his survivor and osc groups....
u know whats even more frustrating for individual league? sea dieing yet again >< god it must be so painful when he performs so brilliantly in proleague.
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On February 06 2008 20:51 Plexa wrote:Qualifying is hard, and it hurts went you don't
Draco 
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When I saw sAviOr and XellOs winning the 2v2 against Lecaf and seeing their happy faces and them hugging each other, it was one of those moments where I thought "look at these veterans, they were giants once and now being cast away by newer players... but they still have it in them and they just showed it to the world!". God, those 2 were so happy and I was happy with them. I won't forget that moment as I almost shed a tear of joy for those 2 greats of Starcraft. But that's just the way it is, sadly nothing lasts forever
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i know exactly what you mean, Plexa... great article!
i remember how sad i was when HOT went down and down and almost vanished. But then he came back as 2v2 expert and pwned all with reach! i was so goddamn happy!
and im still casy fan and waiting for him to come back... waiting...
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I believe in the sun even when it is not shining,
I believe in love even when feeling it not;
I believe in sAviOr even when He is not owning.
sAviOr Fighting!
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BISU WILL WIN THIS OSL!!!
BOXER WILL COME BACK!!!
NADA WILL WIN THE MSL!!!
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Awesome article Plexa!!!
I liked this part "There aren't many Shine fans left, but when he wins; she goes wild"
ahahah
And I can definately relate to the nervousness and excitement when watching your favourite player/players.
Nada has always been that player for me and it's really special when I have downloaded his latest game from the VOD tracker and sit down to watch it.
It may sound gay but I shed a small tear when Nada won against Anytime, and so did probably the members of his fanclub! (I think it's the second biggest of all pros after Boxer btw?)
It was just beautiful to watch him kick ass, the flow of the units, his SENSE (of star) which was notable in that game and it makes me nostalgic, thinking about how Lee Yun Yeol used to be "the new kid who owns everyone"
Nevermind Anytime played a bit shaky but people aren't also very objective when commenting games I've noticed. They always find short-comings in the game if the player they want to win, loose.
I also have an eye out for Canata although he needs to up his play considerably.
I hyped him some 1-2 years back and I hope my predictions come true
You really have amazing writing skills Plexa
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No reason to write of  sKyHigh yet. His mechanics were good, but obviously he would need some more TV matches to perform as he would usually do. Flash was the exception of that rule last year, being one game from reaching the final after having no TV experience before his OSL quest begun. In that way he would be a more pure royal roader than for example  Jaedong and sAviOr who were both known to be very good for atleast more than a year before they won it. The only close example I can think of is July or  Anytime who both came from nowhere to pick up their respective titles.
It gets noticed when you beat good players in the prelims, and in Skyhighs case he won against Reach TvP which is Reachs best MU. In addition to this a flawless record in both prelims. Of course that's bound to receive attention. Also I consider prelims a really good pointer at your overall skill if you arent really lucky and get an easy road. This is because you dont know your opponent nor his race beyond the first match, hence you cant prepare a "superstrat"/cheese for that game and get away with it. You need to perform i several bo3s in a row.
Remember Light beating Reach in the Shinhan1 prelims ? I was pissed at Reach not qualifying, but also curious to see if the player he lost to actually knew how to play. Light then failed horribly in his first Dual participation losing against ShinHwA and Silver. Not exactly the cream of the crop of Zergs and certainly not ZvT(Silver in particular). But at that time I was only interested to see him play TvP, and to see if he had the mechanics able to defeat Reach in a straight up game. He qualified for the next OSL, and disproved any concerns I would have by showing a powerful TvP in later matches.
Not saying sKyHigh will do as good as Light, as he failed in both prelims this time. I think we should just wait and see. He gave Best a good fight on Blue Storm, and Bests macro has been one of the most scary lately - almost Pusanish. Like in Lights example I was only interested to see him TvP due to Reach, and I think he delivered even though he didnt win.
I cant quite relate to the fan because I like so many players, and rarely like the player "everyone" like or the "best player", as sAviOr, Bisu and recently Jaedong(not that I dislike them either - Disliked sAviOr abit when he infested CC vs NaDa in shinhan3 final, and loved Bisu abit for making Scouts vs Hwasin and putting an end to the PvZ whining, have tons of respect for their skills though). I liked Oov when he was the best, and that probably had somewhat to do with the fact that so many people hated him(around EVER1 times). My core players are NaDa, Reach and July, but my world doesnt go under if they lose matches.
Ive liked Flash better than most players ever since he broke through. Maybe because like with Anytime and July I could see his potential already in his first matches. Also because he like Anytime and July had the balls to cheese or play unorthodox against great "bonwja" opponents; July(who also 4pooled in the groups) and Anytime vs Oov in Gillette, So1 respectively, and Flash vs Bisu in Daum. July got mostly praise for his balls because he was the first Zerg to succeed and because everyone hated Oov even though he was the bonwja at the time. Anytime however was labeled a onehitwonder and risker due to his daring shuttleplay vs multiple terrans@815 and acused for being lucky not to face any Zergs(even though he raped both YellOw and GGPlay in the groups) on his road. This only made me love him more, and it warms my heart how much he disproved those claims, with solid straight up play at later occassions  Bisu was and is way more loved than Oov, so Flash cheesing him caused way more hate, and despite showing awesome straight up play, before and after that series, hes had the unfair cheese label since then.
Balls isnt enough to get love from me though, it's that mixup between great straight up play and cheesy play that does, and is why TT is despised while rA is loved; because we know rA can win without doing his cheese. Of course I appreciate good fundamentals, but I also believe there is needed an extra flare and something special to be successful.
Even though I like Flash better than Jaedong, I realize his chances are below 50%, or maybe even 40%, and this is the difference between me and a fan ; I dont believe, but I hope If he doesnt win I hope he will give Jaedong a good fight atleast. If he somehow knocks Jaedong out of both leagues it would be huge, and I think the style in which he does that will determine whether he will be viewed with hate or amazement.
Anyway I'll quit rambling
Great article I enjoyed it alot, thank you.
Maybe you can write about the royal road next time
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I agree with Guybrush here (although you contradict your last statement by liquibetting in the most random fashion!).
I think a lot of fans need to shift their point of view. I cheer with everyone else when Reach or Ra scores a bold victory, and get excited when some old player makes a good run in a starleague, but I don't agonize when they lose, because that is what we have come to expect. I don't like Savior or Bisu in particular, in fact I really don't care that much. But when they play it will still generate more excitement, because there is more at stake!
For me, failing or living up to expectations is what makes or breaks my heart, what creates the excitement, not wheter wishes come true or not.
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On February 06 2008 21:10 Hot_Bid wrote:
that Reach vs. Sea live report thread is so epic, everyone was going nuts haha
great article Plexa!
Can somebody link to it? I tried searching for it but found nothing.
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*trying not to cry since I got an essay to write*
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Braavos36374 Posts
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United States5262 Posts
I miss the XellOs of old.
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amazing article as user plexa!
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iNcontroL
USA29055 Posts
i didnt realize stork lost to 2 5 pools.. WOW that blows.
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ive always been cheering for jaedong, i knew he would make it!
savior will make a comeback sooner or later, he has the skill.
<3 jaedong and savior
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On February 07 2008 07:34 {88}iNcontroL wrote:
i didnt realize stork lost to 2 5 pools.. WOW that blows.
He didn't.
Apparently he did get 5 pooled twice, but he won 1, lost the other. Last game was on katrina, a timed hydra attack which he failed to stop (stork went dual stargate).
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Theres 2 pros that truely make me feel depressed and hurt when they dont win and one is obviously Boxer and the other is Free. I can't stand seeing Free lose, it just tears my heart open.
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is awesome32274 Posts
CJ players winning in PL = <3.
But then i know at least half of them are going to die in qualies because usually lots get in. : [
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On February 07 2008 02:48 Schiller wrote:
BISU WILL WIN THIS OSL!!!
BOXER WILL COME BACK!!!
NADA WILL WIN THE MSL!!!
wouldn't it be nice (don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love to see all of that happen)
btw how much longer till boxer is out of the military?
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United States20661 Posts
Return of the Hero = s2
Nice article.
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Much love to Plexa for this, although I'm new I'm also allowed to be sad for Savior
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i'll never forget when Haran beat Much[gm] in the ace match KTF vs CJ, when be baited much's sairs into a scourge storm, i screamed so loud, my brother ran in the room like WTF happened?!
and when Oov beat DarkElf 's 20 factories with his 3, omg i was laughing for at least 10 minutes...
i only got into starcraft during ShinhanOSL3, and since then i've been an Oov fan. don't ask me why, but i just love him.
nowadays i will be rooting for Haran. he got pwnt in prelims this time around.. but hey, i kno he has the skill to royal road it!
inspirational article =) now i think i can write my 14 page paper with peace...
thanksss plexa
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Christ on a zergling, this article does a brilliant job of summarizing the emotional roller coaster that is being a long-time dedicated Nal_rA fan. Though, these days when rA fails to win it's a dull ache; you've come to expect it. He consistently rams the cock of advantage down an opponent's throat with an absolutely ingenious move, then fails epically when it's time to bring the victory home. rA can eviscerate top players with creative and brilliant plays and lose poorly executed games against unknowns, the smirk on his face never changing. All the while, his fans cheer and despair.
If there's ever a player besides Boxer I want to see return to the top of the Power Rank in full glory, it would be the Magician... which makes it all the more heartbreaking because of the unlikelihood of it ever happening. Yet, anyone who can achieve the kind of mentality towards the game that rA has deserves respect, and as one of the emotionally involved fans inferred to in Plexa's great article, I'm in it for the duration.
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I am, always, a fan of the Swarm.
It was July that dragged me into progaming, and it was sAviOr who made me stay.
So long as there is a Zerg player dominating, who makes his zerglings dance ballet, who turns his mutalisks into main-destroying dragons, I will cheer for him.
Well, there are some non-Zerg players I like, but in the end, I cheer for the Overmind.
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This Final Edit was really nice. Good job.
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i hope you're reading this gorush
yrtgk 2005 come back im still waiting
Plexa nice read again love reading these brings a tear to my eye. I remember i didnt even dl games of gorush losing until recently o.0
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Nice TLFE exactly on point.
It is hard to see your favs loosing. And it is even harder that you can't do nothing but watch. Sometimes you wish you could scream and they hear it. I watch games with my beamer and there were times when i stood up and clapped and screamed "YOU'RE THE MAN!". As if i was there right next to all the other fans.
When one of my fav players win, there is this burning motivation in me to play starcraft. But when they loose i feel like starcraft is dead. It's only for them that i love starcraft even after so many years.
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Wow great write up. Sad pic of Draco tho
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That game of Reach vs Sea wasn't just Reach versus Sea. In so many ways, it was a metaphor, Reach was THE old school hope of the nostalgic fans versus the new school encumbents. I remembered watching that game over and over again just because it meant that much that there was that fairy tale mystique.
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On February 07 2008 01:58 s4rk wrote:
I believe in the sun even when it is not shining,
I believe in love even when feeling it not;
I believe in sAviOr even when He is not owning.
sAviOr Fighting!
You, good sir, have impeccable taste.
Maestro of Zerg fighting~
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ill always remember the game boxer beat inter.mind(after mind won msl i think) with 2 rax cheese, not losing a single marine *o*
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/saviorvicf.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/savior_fans.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/shine_fan.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/boxer_fanb.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/boxer_out.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/stork_thinking.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/Window/draco_frustrated.jpg)
