So we have the paradox of a man shamed to death because he is only the second pugilist or the second oarsman in the world. That he is able to beat the whole population of the globe minus one is nothing; he has “pitted” himself to beat that one; and as long as he doesn't do that nothing else counts. - William James
One of the most difficult things to do in SC2 competition is to reach the finals of a tournament and fail. Good players, even great players, have never been able to even make the finals. But for those who do, those who play their hearts out, and those who are just one step away from winning to then fail in the clutch moment, the loss becomes unbearable. For most, they never rise to the challenge again. The first year of GSL was full of broken runner-ups who seemed to lose all strength and skill after losing their finals. Some finals ended careers (Like what Mvp did to TOP). Other finals could break a player and haunt them for the rest of their lives (Squirtle).
To get so far and be so close yet fail is life-shattering. Years and years of hard work and practice are dedicated to that one game, the one chance, and to fail there destroys players. Most never come back to challenge for a title again. Sisyphus can only push the boulder up the hill so many times before he accepts his fate and gives up. Players can only challenge for the title and fail so many times before they utterly break.
soO hit that moment not once, but five times. Each time he was close and each time he failed in the deciding moment. He could beat any player in the entire world at all times, except in the finals. That was his name and his legacy. The fourth time he went up to the plate, he lost to Solar, a player he had beaten multiple times before. soO was broken.
Then he lost his 4th consecutive GSL finals to Innovation. soO’s confidence and play completely melted away. He was a broken man and in his post-game interview, Canata revealed that soO was very close to just straight out retiring from his endless string of defeats.
Yet he didn’t give up, nor did he surrender. Though he was knocked out, he forced his way back up and turned it around in the last month. He has qualified for both Starleagues. He won Leifeng Monthly #3 (The hardest online tournament to have ever been played in SC2).
If there was one game, one moment that encapsulated his turnaround, it was his game against Dark in the finals on Coda. There, he got the bad end of build orders as Dark opted for an 8 pool against his hatch first 17 pool. Most would tap out or be forced out of the game, with the situation being similar to Life surrendering when Dark did something similar against him in the KeSPA Cup. Instead, soO hung in there, took the losses and stabilized. Not once, but three times, because the amazing thing about Dark’s build order was that it allowed for Dark to play Triple Jeopardy. soO held off all three rushes with incredible decision making and sacrificial slow ling attacks that bought him time to make a spine and a wall, gained valuable scouting information, and made sure Dark could not morph banelings in proxy positions. It was a performance completely unlike what we have come to expect from soO in the finals.
And today he stands for the first time not as a Kong, but a Champion. It is a testament to not only his skill, but the tenacity to force himself into a situation he had failed in over and over and over to prove he could do the impossible after all. That he could beat history, he could beat fate and he could beat himself. For one night we saw Sisyphus roll the boulder up the hill and for one night the boulder did not fall back down.
I remember at DH stockholm where he lost to solar. After the ceremonies and stuff he just stood in the empty space next to the stage with his huge check under his arm and looked into the empty air. I approached him and praised his play a bit and asked for his autograph, and it seemed to cheer him up a bit. Finally I wished him good luck at the upcoming GSL finals. Needless to say, he lost the GSL finals... but now he won kespa cup and gosh, that smile is sure heartwarming to watch!
On July 13 2015 04:29 LongShot27 wrote: Still not a gsl championship, it continues
He should win S2SL pretty soon.
Well not this year.
Dear's shadow still haunting soO. But I'm glad he finally did it. Even though he had to beat my favourite player to do it. Nobody deserved it as much as soO.
I played StarCraft from 1998 and watching games from the times when TheMarine was the best in the whole world. But i never was so happy for the player who won the tournament like today. soO deserve this.
stuchiu writing the articles full of emotion, as always :D and yeah that game on Coda was art. He had to make only the best moves to get out alive of Dark's attacks, he did them. Godlike.
Dark is such a nice guy. He defeated Dream to avoid the singularity of 2 SKT Kongs in a finals. And also he surrendered to soO to anoint himself as the new SKT Silver Zerg.
On July 13 2015 09:38 IntoTheheart wrote: I wonder if the writing team has made some variation of winning article for every player and ad-libs certain articles.
So happy for soO. Can't think of anyone more deserving. To repeatedly get knocked down but keep getting up and struggling forward when everyone has left you for dead is what constitutes a champion.
Is this really the victory soO wanted? Beating a smalltime zerg in the teamkill finals of a filler tournament?
I'm glad for him, though. It's been a long time coming. He's been quite consistent over the years and knowing how hard he took some of the losses you can't begrudge him the victory.
On July 13 2015 11:50 lolmlg wrote: Is this really the victory soO wanted? Beating a smalltime zerg in the teamkill finals of a filler tournament?
I'm glad for him, though. It's been a long time coming. He's been quite consistent over the years and knowing how hard he took some of the losses you can't begrudge him the victory.
smalltime zerg? Dark is a top 5 zerg.
His bracket to the championship was harder than probably Rain's to current GSL championship. He also had to beat Zest just to get into the tournament. I don't understand why people are trying to take away from his accomplishment. He has been on a tear recently and beating nearly everyone in every matchup (including Dream twice recently in the Leifing Cup). I just hope he's finally over his mountain and goes on a monster run to end the year. And he's doing this once again at a time where Zerg is pretty weak.
On July 13 2015 11:50 lolmlg wrote: Is this really the victory soO wanted? Beating a smalltime zerg in the teamkill finals of a filler tournament?
I'm glad for him, though. It's been a long time coming. He's been quite consistent over the years and knowing how hard he took some of the losses you can't begrudge him the victory.
smalltime zerg? Dark is a top 5 zerg.
His bracket to the championship was harder than probably Rain's to current GSL championship. He also had to beat Zest just to get into the tournament. I don't understand why people are trying to take away from his accomplishment. He has been on a tear recently and beating nearly everyone in every matchup (including Dream twice recently in the Leifing Cup). I just hope he's finally over his mountain and goes on a monster run to end the year. And he's doing this once again at a time where Zerg is pretty weak.
this. also, lol at the people suggesting that soo is still somehow lacking because this wasn't a GSL. pretty sure 4 time GSL runner up is still better than every single player in the world who's never made a finals, and arguably better than many players who have made only one finals and won
what the hell is up with the negativity in this thread, I just watched most of kespa cup tonight and straight up shed a tear when I saw SoO win. We just witnessed one of the most inspiring moments in e-sports history. It doesn't matter that this wasn't GSL, Kespa cup is just as prestigious but even more importantly, its symbolic for SoO. He faced his demons so many times and just kept coming right back up to the plate. That kind of determination is just the very best of what makes us human. so happy right now
soO, one SSL championship away from usurping life and starting his rule as the best player around. Soo bonjwa ^_^
Seriously, its players like this, that survive the hurricanes, walk through the blizzards, climbs all obstacles that are scary. You've seen how soO plays when everything goes against him, can you imagine how he plays with the wind on his back?
This sort of thing happens all. the. time. If you guys aren't going to take the "hide spoilers" option seriously then it probably just shouldn't be there, so people would stop thinking it's safe to visit TL if they aren't up to date on watching tournaments.
If soO is back to his 2014 form now, holy hell he might rack up alot of championships before the end of the year. He was on an insane run in 2014 but went full Kong, if he does that run now but with that mental block of finishing 2nd now removed. Oh my! Would love to see him do it as well, one of the very few Zergs i liked to watch play due to his fabulous mechanics.
Tears were shed when he finally beat Dark. I mean, I've never been a true fan, but that was disheartening to see him fail countless times in the finals.
On July 13 2015 04:22 neptunusfisk wrote: I'm so glad for this guy!
I remember at DH stockholm where he lost to solar. After the ceremonies and stuff he just stood in the empty space next to the stage with his huge check under his arm and looked into the empty air. I approached him and praised his play a bit and asked for his autograph, and it seemed to cheer him up a bit. Finally I wished him good luck at the upcoming GSL finals. Needless to say, he lost the GSL finals... but now he won kespa cup and gosh, that smile is sure heartwarming to watch!
The two aren't really correlated... when he lost to Solar at DH, he just came off of a couple of 2nd places, he wasn't looking for another second place at a foreign tournament. At that moment, the devastation of another 2nd place was drastic to him. He's made it to the finals enough time for his psyche to know he had what it takes, but just couldn't reach what he wanted.
This win is quiet different because of the time lapse between all those 2nd places and this 1st place, not to mention he did win Leifeng monthly #3 (over Dream), I'm sure that gave him a definite boaster in his confidence and play. + Show Spoiler +
It was a fantastic series, and the previous one with Dark vs. Dream game two was definitely the best "parade push" TvZ I've ever seen. Dream should have been dead a dozen times over but kept making it work (thanks to a few overly aggressive muta pushes from Dark as well). Finally, though, he fell and then it was all over.
On July 13 2015 05:12 AWalker9 wrote: So happy for soO
Hopefully he can win GSL this season, based on his performance this weekend I can't see anyone stopping him
Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Flash and San are barely Code S level and herO has been playing miserably as of late. soO has been dominant on zvz, but we outside of vFlash we havent seen his zvt at all recently. Dont get me wrong, he's looking really good right now, but claiming he's the undisputed favorite at this point is naive.
On July 13 2015 05:12 AWalker9 wrote: So happy for soO
Hopefully he can win GSL this season, based on his performance this weekend I can't see anyone stopping him
Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Flash and San are barely Code S level and herO has been playing miserably as of late. soO has been dominant on zvz, but we outside of vFlash we havent seen his zvt at all recently. Dont get me wrong, he's looking really good right now, but claiming he's the undisputed favorite at this point is naive.
he absolutely crushed Dream (twice) in Leifing. as you just said he's been dominant in zvz and is surviving in zvp where it's protoss favored matchup.
On July 13 2015 05:12 AWalker9 wrote: So happy for soO
Hopefully he can win GSL this season, based on his performance this weekend I can't see anyone stopping him
Let's not get ahead of ourselves now. Flash and San are barely Code S level and herO has been playing miserably as of late. soO has been dominant on zvz, but we outside of vFlash we havent seen his zvt at all recently. Dont get me wrong, he's looking really good right now, but claiming he's the undisputed favorite at this point is naive.
Dude Flash beat Curious in KeSPA Cup, he is as Code S as one can be.
i loved that shot after game 4 when he reached for the pocari sweat, then decided nah, quickly adjusted his mousepad and furiously clicked his mouse with lightning speed -> let's go!
even if you aren't a big soO fan, its hard not to be totally pumped by this. The guy has deserved a big tournament title for a long time now and its great the has finally earned it. Hopefully he keeps the rally going and comes up on top in one of the big korean leagues this year.
EPT![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJt2QNHUEAAYL0j.jpg:large)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/RDIdfsE.png)
I hope he can pick up a tier 1 trophy as well, he deserves it
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GMDQAFl.png)
