The Nearly Man

Until last year, there was a distinctly melancholic tinge to TY’s career. The boy wonder of StarCraft was in danger of sliding into mediocrity. For so long, TY had been the great Terran hope of the future. A six year apprenticeship as on the WeMadeFox bench in Brood War gave way to a backup role on Team 8 (now the Jin Air Green Wings) during the KeSPA transition to StarCraft II. Throughout that time, the word most commonly associated with TY wasn’t “great”; there were no titles on the mantelpiece. He was, instead, “young”, “exciting”, and “had potential”. Even the in-game nickname he chose was a self-aware jab at his defining characteristic.

The BaBy of StarCraft shot to fame quickly. A twelve year old taking on adults on live TV; how could he not? But potential is the most dangerous quality in sports. It’s both a promise of things to come, and an acknowledgement that those rewards had yet to be earned; hope for improvement in the future and a crutch to explain faults in the present. At the end of Brood War, after dedicating the entirety of his youth to the game, all TY had to show for his efforts was a single Round of 8.

The real reason for the continued excitement surrounding him wasn’t his occasional flashes of brilliance on the individual stage though; it was his performances in team-leagues. Much like a few other notable Terrans spread across the history of StarCraft, TY began his career as a cheese specialist; he became less of a threat as competitions trended towards the consistency and series planning required in a Bo5, but was no small obstacle in the high-pressure intensity of the Bo1 arena. It’s a skill set he brought over to SC2 as well after the KeSPA switch, and it remained his main trade until his Starleague successes in 2015.

Besides Maru, TY’s arguably the biggest ‘highlight’ player in Korea right now. Be it his rage-inducing ability to use tanks to exploit terrain (see his Proleague games against SoulKey on Yeonsu or Solar on Expedition Lost), his ability to out-micro the very best (Banshees against Maru), or simply having the guts to be aggressive in the most demanding of scenarios (Cross positions 11/11 on Frost against Classic in the Proleague Finals), chances are everyone’s got their own favorite TY clip. But while that ability to conjure wins out of nowhere endeared himself to his set of die-hard fans, the fact that he failed to reproduce it consistently was the unfortunate barrier to his entry into the top echelon of the scene. Every Proleague superstar has had success inside and outside of the team competition—INnoVation, Maru, sOs, Zest, herO—and to rise to those ranks, TY had work to do on the Starleague front.

That he has flipped his weaknesses around in just over a year is a commendable achievement. A 3-4 debut semifinal loss against ByuL in the final SSL of HotS was tough to take, but it began a 12 month stretch of consistency for the KT terran. TY surged into Legacy of the Void as one of the game’s early leaders. Edged out 2-3 by PartinG in the Losers’ Bracket of DH Winter, he returned to Korea primed to stake his claim to top billing in the game. He tore through the GSL groups like a man possessed, ripping through his bracket with a cumulative 15-3 map score, including shutouts over Dream and Cure in the Rounds of 8 and 4 respectively.

Of course, he then had the misfortune of facing his teammate. Zest has long been one of the greats of the game; a fact established after his record-equaling trophy haul in 2014, but the recency of Legacy of the Void had given him an understanding of PvT unparalleled by anyone in the world at the time. Given how he dismantled ByuN at KeSPA Cup—a player whose GSL campaign was driven by his TvP—that could still well be the case. TY fought hard, even taking a couple of late-game wins off the Protoss, but ultimately couldn't stand up to his friend. He did not play badly; Zest was simply better.

That has been the story of his 2016. For all the quality he has shown throughout the year, TY has still fallen short. On the face of it, his results are consistent in a way that other players in attendance in California can only dream of—GSL silver, Top 4 at KeSPA Cup, and two further Starleague Top 8s. But consistency cuts both ways; while he has not dropped out early in an event since the SSL S1 qualifiers in December 2015, he's also yet to take that debut championship. It’s both a mark that he rarely underperforms, and a sign that he lacks the final edge that would take him to victory on the final stage. Time and again, he has come up against players who are simply better.

Not quite a GSL champion; not quite a Cross Finals champion; not quite a KeSPA Cup champion. Not quite good enough in TvT to beat Maru; not quite good enough in TvZ to beat Dark; not quite good enough in TvP to get past Zest or Dear or Trap. For any ordinary player, it would be a year to celebrate; a reason to admire their results from their lofty peak. For a player with ambitions to be the best, every loss is a missed opportunity. Drop out of BlizzCon early, and TY merely confirms his status as one of the chasing pack. But if he finally won his first championship at the Global Finals, TY would realize the dreams and aspirations he has pursued for a decade.

There are still no trophies on the mantelpiece. TY is still “young”; still “exciting”; still “has potential”. Still not yet a great. Not quite.