The "King in the North" used both skill and luck to become the only foreigner to qualify for the World Championship Series Global Finals at BlizzCon. Just three weeks prior to BlizzCon, he fought tooth and nail to take points out of IEM-New York in his last WCS-sanctioned tournament, and then watched intensely as every remaining Premier League and Season 3 Finals result unfolded in his favor. Even then, he only guaranteed himself a trip to Blizzard headquarters to face Revival in a play-in game on the eve of the Global Finals.
The 2012 World Championship Series Canada and North American Champion entered the 2013 WCS carrying the mantle of not only her own accomplishments, but the hopes of fans all over North America and around the world. Scarlett did not disappoint.
She took third place in the Ritmix Russian StarCraft II League Season 5 Finals in July with a win over Hyun. In August, she came tantalizingly close to the Grand Final of WCS America Season 2, falling 2:3 to Jaedong in the round of four. In November at the Red Bull Battlegrounds in New York, Scarlett started really showing her stuff -- defeating Bomber and Golden in the group stage before taking out the Boss Toss 2:0 to win 3rd place. To cap off a strong finish to 2013, she won her group, then defeated both StarDust and Life en route to a 2nd place finish at ASUS ROG Northcon.
After convincing wins over HuK, Leenock, Rain, and MC gave him a solid third place in the first Heart of the Swarm major tournament -- the MLG 2013 Winter Championship in Dallas, TX -- it was anybody's guess what the (then) 19-year-old INnoVation would do in the World Championship Series. He came out swinging.
Season 1 of WCS Korea saw INnoVation defeat everyone who stood in his way, right up until, with a 3:0 lead in the best-of-seven grand final, Soulkey found a way to take four consecutive games from the pro formerly known as Bogus. With a chance at retribution on the line, INnoVation then tore through the field at the Season 1 Finals, crushing sOs 4:0 in the grand final to become the Season 1 Grand Champion.
He then continued to perform on a level that earned him the second-highest total WCS points in the world in 2013, with top four finishes at WCS Korea Season 2, DreamHack Bucharest, DreamHack Winter, and ASUS ROG: NorthCon.
In 2013, Jaedong earned over $110,000 through multiple tournament placings and yes, two tournament wins. He started the year by defeating MC to win the Kingston HyperX 10-Year Anniversary tournament, and ended 2013 with a first place win over Scarlett at ASUS ROG: NorthCon.
He also took 2nd place in an astonishing number of events, including DreamHack Summer (to StarDust), DreamHack Valencia (to HyuN), WCS America Season 2 Premier League (to Polt), WCS Season 2 Finals (to Bomber), and the 2013 WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon (to sOs).
Jaedong entered the 2013 WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon seeded at #3 in the world, despite not having won a single WCS or or WCS Tier event. He then defeated Mvp, Dear, and Maru before losing 1:4 to the BlizzCon champion, sOs, in the Grand Final.
Thanks to his 2nd place finish at BlizzCon, Jaedong became the eSports player with the highest career total prize money.
Well, Innovation was arguably the most dominant player of WCS Korea this year, even despite choking in the GSL finals. In Season 1 and for most of Season 2, he was simply the man to beat, and he looked for the most part invincible.
Of course, Soulkey, Maru and Dear all won a WCS Korea, which is very important, but none of them attained the level of peak dominance that Innovation held.
On December 21 2013 11:52 opterown wrote: i dno i think Dear was more dominating in season 3 than bogus was in 1+2 combined
It's about the length of domination. Innovation was simply dominant for a longer period of time. Think of about this: From the release of HotS (Mid-March), until the Season 2 finals (late-August), EVERY single Premier tournament that Innovation entered saw him finished top 4 or higher. That's almost 6 months, and not only has Innovation shined in individual tournaments, he has also dominated teamleagues like no other, leading STX to a PL victory during this time.
Don't get me wrong, I love Dear and I do hope he enjoys continued success with Mouz and 2014, but the choice of Innovation as Korea player of the year makes sense if you consider the entire year (in this case Seasons 1-3).
On December 21 2013 12:08 Jer99 wrote: I still think that Taeja vs Innovation on newkirk was the game of the year, but congrats to the winners nonetheless
I feel like Taeja really got shafted by favoritism. He deserved some mention -- be it game of the year or player of the year. I honestly would've liked to see more than just the winners -- the runner ups need some credit.
edit: just noticed this was WCS. I guess Taeja falls out of consideration, then, since he didn't do too well in WCS.
On December 21 2013 11:52 opterown wrote: i dno i think Dear was more dominating in season 3 than bogus was in 1+2 combined
It's about the length of domination. Innovation was simply dominant for a longer period of time. Think of about this: From the release of HotS (Mid-March), until the Season 2 finals (late-August), EVERY single Premier tournament that Innovation entered saw him finished top 4 or higher. That's almost 6 months, and not only has Innovation shined in individual tournaments, he has also dominated teamleagues like no other, leading STX to a PL victory during this time.
Don't get me wrong, I love Dear and I do hope he enjoys continued success with Mouz and 2014, but the choice of Innovation as Korea player of the year makes sense if you consider the entire year (in this case Seasons 1-3).
More like how hard is the domination. Rewatch games like vs SoulKey on Whirlwind/Gwanghalli or the series against sOs for example. Im not even Bogus' fan but hes the most dominant in the way he played in sc2 since the launch.
these were wcs awards...taeja sucked it up in wcs. he got some homestory cups and dreamhacks. and yes innovation was the most dominant for most of the year tho taeja passed him at the very end.
All of these I can agree on, except game of the year.
zomg a foreigner won an intense game against a top Korean! Best match evar!
Please, DRG vs Bogus shits on that game.
On December 21 2013 11:52 opterown wrote: i dno i think Dear was more dominating in season 3 than bogus was in 1+2 combined
Naw, I think he totally deserves it. I'd even consider putting Bogus in contention with Jaedong as player of the year. This is coming from someone who wanted to see him crash and burn early on this year.
- Nothing but ro8+ since hitting code S up until s3 2013
- 2nd most wins just narrowly behind Flash in SPL
- Total shark in online qualifiers
- Barely lost any games in GSTL
- Did pretty well in nearly all foreign tournaments he's been to
- Probably played more awesome games than anyone this year.
Whereas Dear was fairly irrelevant for most of the year and won back to back when the two events were barely a week apart.
On January 09 2014 13:36 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: All of these I can agree on, except game of the year.
zomg a foreigner won an intense game against a top Korean! Best match evar!
Please, DRG vs Bogus shits on that game.
I think everyones opinion on best game of the year varies. What constitutes as best game? Best mechanics? Most entertainment? Best strategies? Best reactions? it all varies, you can have a mechanically perfect game but it follows a standard route and ends standardly. Nobody but statistic lovers are going to acknowledge that as the best game, however most fans can get behind the Scarlett vs Bomber game as it shows a little bit of each category in it. It's not the most mechanically perfect game, but Bomber showed perfect macro. It was a highly entertaining game with no standard openings and confusing and absurd reactions from both players. DRG vs Inno was just two highly mechanically skilled players with moderate entertainment and dare I say standard play.
On January 09 2014 13:36 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: All of these I can agree on, except game of the year.
zomg a foreigner won an intense game against a top Korean! Best match evar!
Please, DRG vs Bogus shits on that game.
I think everyones opinion on best game of the year varies. What constitutes as best game? Best mechanics? Most entertainment? Best strategies? Best reactions? it all varies, you can have a mechanically perfect game but it follows a standard route and ends standardly. Nobody but statistic lovers are going to acknowledge that as the best game, however most fans can get behind the Scarlett vs Bomber game as it shows a little bit of each category in it. It's not the most mechanically perfect game, but Bomber showed perfect macro. It was a highly entertaining game with no standard openings and confusing and absurd reactions from both players. DRG vs Inno was just two highly mechanically skilled players with moderate entertainment and dare I say standard play.
I would add that the back and forth, tension, and sheer on-the-edge-of-your-seat-iveness of Scarlett vs Bomber is what made that game the greatest. To be frank, i've never actually gotten "nerd chills" watching a game before, but that ending gives me goosebumps every time i watch it.
On January 09 2014 15:37 Fubi wrote: how is it possible that Jaedong is the best overall player of the year but not also the best Korean player of the year?
EPT![[image loading]](http://brokenplanet.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Naniwa-200x300.jpg)
NaNiwa" Lucchesi![[image loading]](http://d299ks0j9y7dbf.cloudfront.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Scarlett-profile.jpg)
Scarlett" Hostyn![[image loading]](http://brokenplanet.co.nz/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Innovation-200x300.jpeg)
INnoVation" Shin Hyung![[image loading]](http://d299ks0j9y7dbf.cloudfront.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/jaedong-profile.jpg)
