People don't realize the impact San had on the Starcraft scene. His abuse of the Khaydarin Amulet and expert use of storms made him, in my opinion, for a short while, the best Protoss in the world. Alongside ThorZaIN and MorroW, he has the honor of almost single-handedly getting a unit nerfed into oblivion.
iirc ThorZaIN: the Thor's 250mm Strike Cannons were nerfed, San: Khaydarin Amulet was removed, MorroW: um, was it the fungal growth nerf (8 seconds to 4 seconds)?
morrow won iem cologne with 5rax against dimaga, and then against idra
Such an epic write up I loved looking back at all the amazing stories that have come out of the GSL makes me want to go back and rewatch the first couple seasons!
Incredible list here fionn, great job. I witnessed it all, cried with joy, raged with anger, and experienced all of these memories just as you have. Here's to many more years!
It´s amazing to see how gsl and sc2 evolved. i still remember mkps amazing tvz on shakuras where he was one of the first players to show incredible marine micro witch finaly gave him his new nick. Or the rise of nestea, his first embarrassing performace at gsl and the fantastic improvment to be a 3times gsl champion. but its not only the big names like mvp, nestea, or mc etc it was also the dynamic of the league from beeing gomTVT to the well balanced bracket it is now. terran is still strong but the game is evolving I also like the GSTL, fantasy gstl was fun as well. big upcoming champions have had their first stand there like MMA or DRG. It´s going to be an awesome year 2012 with finaly a final without a terran ahead.
If I can make any far-fetched predictions about GSL in 2012, my predictions are:
1. Genius will win GSL 2012 Season 1. KongRaeGu will place second, much like he did in the Blizzard Cup and MLG Winter Arena.
2. GOMTV will eventually drop GOM player as a requirement to watch the GSL, in favour of either Twitch TV or Own3D.
3. MorroW will switch to Terran, take a major international tournament and get invited to Code S, meanwhile maintaining his spot. The reason why I say this is because he defined imbalance when he was Terran and pretty much got Reapers nerfed to near-uselessness. Plus he's doing whatever he can to avoid playing ZvZ, so he may as well go all the way and cut out the need to learn a new race in a single matchup.
4. A foreigner Terran will rise from their dormant slumber and win the GSL. As for who it would be:
- MajOr/WinDy - Supposedly he's joined a new team after being released from CheckSix. While I most likely think that it's TSL (He's been practicing with them), IM (They already have Fenix) or Quantic (They seem like his sort of team), there is a chance that it could be one of the Brood War teams seeking to switch to SC2 later this year. Imagine KTWinDy...
- Jinro - Jinro's been bad since GSL March last year. However, I think that he could escape from this slump, put a NaNiwa-esque amount of devotion and focus into his play and end up clinching a GSL title.
- Kas - Kas put on an impressive display against Zenio in IEM Kiev. To look at Kas and tell us that he's not Code S quality is a moronic thing to do.
- Happy - Happy is well known for having marine micro that could compete with the likes of MarineKingPrime. Imagine if Empire sided with a Korean team and had him practice in a team house.
- ThorZaIN - ThorZaIN's been named "the best foreigner" by a lot of Korean players. If Mousesports partnered with a Korean team then he could be unstoppable.
- Fenix - Since joining IM, Fenix has slipped entirely off the radar. I can only hope that's because he's in some sort of Hyperbolic Time Chamber training for a full year to emerge from the IM house as the next IMMvp.
I'm so happy someone wrote this. It would be a shame to have such great moments forgotten in the wake of history. San's reign over GSL may well be the only time Protoss play was the most entertaining to watch (Despite my Protoss bias, I have to admit that Zerg, especially versus Terran, is the one I've found most entertaining throughout the rest of StarCraft II) out of all matchups.
Then there's Fruitdealer and Jinro. It's always been one of my sorrows that I wasn't watching pro StarCraft back in the time of legends, from Boxer to Savior. I've tried to go back and watch videos of those old Starleagues, but the games are simply to terrible to enjoy for someone who learned in the age of TBLS. I can only wonder if these situations can be compared. I know if I go back to watch Fruitdealer's run, I'll see terrible games, but it can never change that those were, in my opinion, the makings of the greatest GSL of all time. Because I experienced it.
i find it incredible that each race won the tournament at least twice. it is quite incredible really, no matter how you look at it. It's really impressive how you managed to follow the scene so well. I was really into it the first several seasons and then I went on and off. Thanks for the read, Fionn.
I remember sans game versus NesTea on shakuras so vividly, makes me glad that I have followed SC2 while it was ongoing unlike BW which I kinda had to do a lot of catching up on. Then while catching up the games all looked so shit XD
EPT
