EPTOn December 07 2015 22:44 Quateras wrote:
Gonna miss watching Flash so much, no other player gave me that nailbiting cheering.Be in in Proleague, IEM or that sick ass Homestory cup finals vs Parting.
Hope he'll be happy in whatever he choses to do next.
Gonna miss watching Flash so much, no other player gave me that nailbiting cheering.Be in in Proleague, IEM or that sick ass Homestory cup finals vs Parting.
Hope he'll be happy in whatever he choses to do next.
Ah yes, that HSC finals vs Parting. Another nice memory and epic series, even though Flash eventually succumbed in that ever-so-close Game 7 and 3-4 loss.
I see a couple Flash haters coming in here to say "he wasn't that good" and the "hype was annoying" in SC2. Well no shit? If you were never a fan of his in BW, and you don't particularly root for Terran players in SC2 or are a big KT fan, there isn't all that much reason to be a specific fan of his in SC2. But fact is, he won an incredible amount of fans for both his truly incredible BW play and his fierce yet humble character since his rise in [what was it exactly?] 2008. And on through his unparalleled dominance in 2010 on then onwards which had to inspire every Terran player and many fans. The hype shouldn't be surprising... it's there for a reason. And if SC3 came out in a few months, and a player like Life switched over a bit late you'd see the exact same kind of "overhype" and talk. But anyway, back to Flash...
So then he transferred to a new game, a bit late on unfortunately, and sure, too many people would talk too highly about him expecting him soon to "own everyone" and dominate as he did in '10. Which was stupid, but in a way I thought it was mostly light-hearted (the "God is back" jokes etc). Many of us, with the demise of BW, were just happy to see him playing again and giving SC2 a real go. And despite solid runs, and flashes of brilliance, he never reached the heights probably too many people "expected" from him after all the hype and all that. And it became something of a running joke... and eventually I think to him personally a massive burden on his shoulders especially in individual leagues.
Personally I see no shame in being something like a consistent Top 15 - Top 30 player in such a competitive scene. Real question, how many more Terrans have been significantly more impressive than Flash from 2013-2015 that were not named like Innovation or Maru (or Taeja I guess)? Consistently? Serious question. Considering overall body of work. Not that many that truly stood out from the pack IMO. Only players like Dream in spurts who would eventually recess again.
Thing is when you become a true massive a fan of a person, an idea, [a "playstyle"], you hope to see it continue as long as possible... unfortunately Flash proved to be past his peak and a few too many strong BW players who were unable to quite make it in the previous iteration, had picked up SC2 faster and it suited them and their individual skillsets more, and achieved significantly more success in this new game. Who knew sOs would turn out to be such a revelation. And players like herO[join], who smartly switched from BW Zerg to SC2 Protoss, which helped them along with their success. Same with Classic, switched from BW Terran to SC2 Protoss, and look at his relative success. Had Classic stayed Terran would he have had more success in SC2 than even the "underwhelming" Flash?
People can hate on the Flash hype sure, it is understandable in a way, but I would implore them to objectively see Flash for what he stood for and the competitor he is/was, and that there is surely something there to appreciate even if you only know his SC2 story. So what if the "hype" was a bit overblown? Flash had this aura for a reason, he had won it in an earlier era, and deserved it... just like players like Life will have going forward. And a slight tangent, here is another player, in Life, that I can argue is a bit over-hyped in a similar way, one who many seem to think is basically the greatest SC2 player of all time (except way to let down KT in Proleague buddy) and his fanboys are "annoying" but what's the point? I don't quite see things the same way but that's okay. I still massively respect the little fucker for what he's accomplished in individual leagues, and get how he's an inspiration to basically all Zerg players. But at the end of the day I just want to see great Starcraft again with great rivalries and clashes of playstyles between elite players, on the biggest stages... and hope the now-weird LOTV era proves to develop into something decent.
The MVP comparisons are stupid and pointless. Simply not comparable. Ultimately, we just lost a massive icon and this will hurt the game a bit in a way and is pretty sad. Even though pretty much everyone saw this coming sooner rather than later. But of course all good things come to an end eventually, it's just nice to go down memory lane and remember Flash's legacy and what he gave to the game... in both BW and SC2.
Sorry got a bit rambly there, but fuck, it's weird coming to terms seeing such a great competitor like Flash that I personally adored being gone from the game forever. Plenty of other amazing players to follow with great stories as well going forward, it's just Flash's has been extra special to me personally
. As I'm sure it has been with quite a few others.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/90rDmGP.png)
