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duckdeok and the greatest story never told

Forum Index > SC2 General
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duckdeok and the greatest story never told

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
December 18th, 2013 14:59 GMT
2013 WCS

The Greatest Story Never Told, Part 2

duckdeok ended his career the same way he spent most of it: trying to fight his way into the spotlight.

by stuchiu

For sOs and (P)duckdeok, BlizzCon was a tournament of peculiar parallels. Both were Protoss players with a talent for surprising their opponents off-guard with clever all-ins. Both entered the WCS Global Finals without fanfare or expectations. Both were relegated to the backstage area to play out their first couple of matches on the side-stream.

However, that's where the similarities would end. sOs forced his way onto the main stage and into spotlight, defeating opponent after opponent to win the biggest tournament of the year. duckdeok fought with all of his might and made it to the quarterfinals, but was ultimately eliminated before he could receive the cheers from the audience at Anaheim. For sOs, BlizzCon was a beginning. For duckdeok, it was the end.

A few weeks later, duckdeok would announce his retirement from professional gaming, deciding to return to his studies after having had the best year of his short career.

[image loading]

Going into BlizzCon, duckdeok seemed all but doomed. The WCS point system had done its work properly and the #2 seed (T)INnoVation was handed a heavily favorable match-up against #15 seed duckdeok in the Ro16. Most of the global finalists pointed to INnoVation as the elephant in the room, the player who was the greatest threat to take home the championship. Even though he had ceased to be totally invincible as he had been at the beginning of HotS, few other players inspired as much fear in their opponents. Terran vs. Terran was his only weakness, and that would not come into play against duckdeok.

duckdeok could only seem like a minnow in comparison. When INnoVation was ruling Korea with an iron fist in WCS Season 1, duckdeok had been struggling to make it into the Premier division in Europe, the weakest WCS region. Though duckdeok would star in a most heartwarming and dramatic tale as he took the WCS EU Season 2 championship, no amount of sentimentality would help him measure up to a player like INnoVation who was considered the best Terran in the world.

It was a monumental mismatch. The fans, the experts, and even the bookies were convinced it would be the most one-sided match of the first round, with even a 3-0 win for INnoVation seeming like a reasonable bet.

But while INnoVation may have been looking ahead to later rounds and how he might overcome his TvT weakness, duckdeok had been preparing for the last games of his career.

The series started out with a bang as duckdeok went on the offensive with three consecutive all-ins. That was good enough to put him ahead 2-1 headed into the fourth game, where duckdeok decided to try a macro game. That ended up going about as well as everyone expected, with INnoVation crushing duckdeok to tie up the series 2-2.

In the fifth game, the brilliance of duckdeok's series planning was revealed. The first three games of all-ins had conditioned INnoVation to be cautious. The fourth game told INnoVation that a standard game was still a possibility. But none of that hinted at duckdeok's true trump card in the fifth and final game: an all-out economic gamble. With his tournament life on the line, duckdeok double expanded off one gate.

The gambit paid off spectacularly. INnoVation scanned duckdeok’s main and saw nothing, and immediately started fretting about the possibility of one more all-in. Even though INnoVation wasn’t tricked for long, the damage had been done. With three bunkers built and two scans wasted to find the non-existent all-in, INnoVation found himself facing a huge economic deficit.

Even playing from behind, INnoVation managed to show his class. Deciding the only course of action was to try to beat duckdeok off two bases, he very nearly brought duckdeok to his knees with his non-stop aggression and drop harassment. However, duckdeok rallied back with fantastic play of his own. Despite losing probes, buildings, and units left and right, he was able to stabilize. The game continued to see-saw back and forth, until duckdeok finally completed his crucial psionic storm research to gain the final edge. Finally having the firepower he needed, duckdeok broke down INnoVation’s front door and extracted the final GG.

It was the biggest upset of the tournament, if not one of the biggest upsets of the entire year. INnoVation was the player who had spent all of HotS building his reputation, with every single tournament being part of the build-up to his final coronation at the WCS Global Finals. But the sacrificial lamb ended up fighting back, flipping the script and butting into the story.

There would be little time to celebrate, as no sooner had duckdeok taken out INnoVation than was he forced to climb another mountain. Maru, the rising Terran star and OSL champion, had defeated MC handily in the Ro16 and was ready to take on another Protoss opponent. The first game seemed promising for duckdeok, as he challenged Maru to a straight up macro game and very nearly toppled him with Protoss's late game deathball. However, Maru's unit control and constant medivac harassment were just too much for duckdeok to keep up with, and he was eventually forced to surrender the game.

With his very best effort at a macro game resulting in defeat, duckdeok fell back on his trusty all-ins. He took two consecutive maps with blink-stalkers before losing game four on a failed all-in. Once again put in a do-or-die situation, duckdeok opted to go for a different kind of gamble, going for a proxy-oracle build. Sadly for duckdeok, there would be no second miracle. Maru scouted out the proxy, forcing duckdeok to awkwardly adjust into a different all-in. Maru proved to be more than capable on defense, and duckdeok had no choice but the GG out. For the final time, he packed up his keyboard and mouse.

[image loading]

duckdeok's BlizzCon experience was much like that of his entire career in StarCraft 2. In both victory and defeat, he played with a desperate energy that could only come from a player who had spent three years in the shadows, knowing nothing would be given to him for free. At WCS Europe he earned the championship with his skill, while the cheers, applause and the chanting of his name were bought with his own tears. At BlizzCon, there was one more chance to experience all of that glory, but it was not to be. Instead, it all ended for duckdeok in what must have been the most familiar of settings: in a dark room, trying to escape and earn a chance to play in front of the world.

At least for duckdeok, the finale came after he had reached his dream. He had won a championship before it was all over, he had travelled around the globe, and he had played some of the best players in the world and had won. Though not a player to be counted among the greats, he had left his mark and would be remembered.

There is another important achievement in duckdeok's career, though it might not be one he realizes himself. To us, he became the face of the faceless Koreans. The players who practice day and night, knowing that their hard work may never amount to anything, that few will ever even know their names. The best they might hope for is a single moment of recognition, a single day in the sun. As duckdeok showed, that one moment can make it all worth it.

Writers: stuchiu.
Photos: ESL.
Editor: Waxangel.
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TL+ Member
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22271 Posts
December 18 2013 15:01 GMT
#2
duckdeok
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
FeyFey
Profile Joined September 2010
Germany10114 Posts
December 18 2013 15:03 GMT
#3
T.T will never forget.
Aeromi
Profile Blog Joined August 2012
France14434 Posts
December 18 2013 15:06 GMT
#4
finale !
https://twitter.com/DrAeromi | Updates on live tournaments: @StarCrafteSport
Eroart
Profile Joined July 2011
Greece37 Posts
December 18 2013 15:13 GMT
#5
For all the talented writers that have written for TL.net, stuchiu remains unsurpassed in creating narratives.

Thank you for the read!
nurle
Profile Joined August 2009
Norway308 Posts
December 18 2013 15:14 GMT
#6
Good read. Tho little too "sad" for my liking :p
Jaedong fucking beast
gneGne
Profile Joined June 2007
Netherlands697 Posts
December 18 2013 15:16 GMT
#7
Thanks for the write-up, a player like duckdeok shouldn't fade into the abyss without a sparkle.
Fildun
Profile Joined December 2012
Netherlands4107 Posts
December 18 2013 15:21 GMT
#8
duckdeok <3
lolfail9001
Profile Joined August 2013
Russian Federation40109 Posts
December 18 2013 15:21 GMT
#9
Wow, that's one heck of a sad story.
DeMoN pulls off a Miracle and Flies to the Moon
quannguyen
Profile Joined January 2012
Vietnam1390 Posts
December 18 2013 15:27 GMT
#10
I wanna go cry right now. Reading this is so heartbeaking

You will be missed Finale. Good bye, and good luck!
Unlimited Warcraft Works and Super Starcraft Taisen ^^
jakethesnake
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
Canada4948 Posts
December 18 2013 15:27 GMT
#11
What makes duckdeok's retirement sad for me is that he seemed to be on the up. Things looked bright in the future for him and although he didn't get the recognition he deserved, he was only getting better.

And then he tossed his hat into the ring and walked out without fanfare. It's a shame that even going out on a good note wasn't enough to put him in the spotlight. His retirement was like one who was long past their prime and had faded into obscurity, but instead it seems that duckdeok had never really fully broken through obscurity in the first place.

Sad he retired....
Community Newsjjakji || jjakji || jjakji || jjakji || jjakji || jjakji || jjakji nshoseo.jpg
MysterySC
Profile Joined October 2012
Andorra109 Posts
December 18 2013 15:30 GMT
#12
Honestly, when I read this i feel bad for inno, Blizzcon should have been his crown
<3 Hyvaa
Acronysis
Profile Joined November 2011
872 Posts
December 18 2013 15:31 GMT
#13
Good write up Stuchiu. Capturted the sentements well. Finale (i like that name of his better XD) will be missed. Sad to see him go =/
The multiplying villanies of man do swarm upon him.
messioso
Profile Joined June 2011
Denmark635 Posts
December 18 2013 15:32 GMT
#14
Those last 3 paragraphs man.
Former ESL League Operations. I ran IEM/WCS for like 3 years or something. I did map vetos on a tablet. That guy.
Akaann
Profile Joined May 2011
Switzerland82 Posts
December 18 2013 15:33 GMT
#15
I wish he had a bit more success, he was a sympathic guy. Sad that he has retired..
https://www.instagram.com/luke4power/
FFW_Rude
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
France10198 Posts
December 18 2013 15:39 GMT
#16
That was really emotional and well written. Thank you.
#1 KT Rolster fanboy. KT BEST KT ! Hail to KT playoffs Zergs ! Unofficial french translator for SlayerS_`Boxer` biography "Crazy as me".
SorrowShine
Profile Joined October 2011
698 Posts
December 18 2013 15:39 GMT
#17
duckduck. TBH the best memory of 2013.
Darkhorse
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
United States23454 Posts
December 18 2013 15:40 GMT
#18
Nice write up on thee guy. Duckdeok has such an inspirational story, and I'm glad he got to experience success before he retired.
WriterRecently Necro'd (?)
ComaDose
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
Canada10332 Posts
December 18 2013 15:47 GMT
#19
the bit about the face of the faceless Koreans is really nice
BW pros training sc2 is like kiss making a dub step album.
TheBloodyDwarf
Profile Blog Joined March 2012
Finland7518 Posts
December 18 2013 15:47 GMT
#20
Im crying...
Fusilero: "I still can't believe he did that, like dude what the fuck there's fandom and then there's what he did like holy shit. I still see it when I close my eyes." <- reaction to the original drunk santa post which later caught on
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