The Faded Bold

In the foreign scene, not many names are more storied than Nerchio's. To say that the landscape has changed around him is an understatement. In the tempestuous landscape of foreign Starcraft, it is telling that after half a decade in the competitive spotlights, he still climbs ever higher. In 2016, Nerchio won Dreamhack Valencia, placed top four at a WCS event and made the finals of another WCS event before losing in an exhausting seven game series. He made headway against Korean opponents, notably at the KeSPA Cup and at a number of other events, and posted a match winrate of 82% that bordered on the ridiculous. 2017 started off as the year before had ended, with him taking a close second at WCS Austin and looking once again like the absolute best zerg in the west. Then he lost to PtitDrogo in a soul-crushing 0-3 in Jönköping, and lost again when he faced his rival Elazer - who went on to win the entire event, cementing his WCS champion status ahead of Nerchio. Last year, that would have seemed unthinkable. Now, it wouldn't be controversial to call Elazer the more versatile and adaptable player, or that he has ultimately achieved more. It is there where Nerchio's story is born; in the unexpected moments where primes fade away and are promptly shuffled away, into the hoary past.

After a year lined with hopes and great moments, the births of many rivalries and the crowning of Nerchio as one of the WCS circuit's greatest, it was tough to say where he would go from there. Greatness is tough to quantify, harder yet to predict. It is an unpredictable, almost mysterious flow. All is equal in a competitive tournament scene, and one's own successes - or lack thereof - from prior years rarely hold weight once the calendar changes a digit. To some people, this leaves the tournament circuit feeling like an annual reconquest, and endless repetition of the same cycle of claiming the throne and defending it from whoever would claim it. To others, it is constant pressure, always reminding them of how close they are to failure. Look at ShoWTimE. He was on top of the world, having defeated the world champion ByuN at Blizzcon and becoming the first foreigner to win a WCS event, and consistently looking like a top three foreigner. Now he isn't at Blizzcon at all, eliminated from the contest by Kelazhur, one rising star darkening another.

To say that Nerchio followed the same path as ShoWTimE isn't true; in fact, the Global Finals acted as a prophecy for Nerchio. It was there where he lost to Elazer, and the crown slipped from his head. There's a pragmatic lesson in that: the imagined crown we dub greatness isn't real. It isn't a championship trophy to be clutched tight, that remains no matter how far its champion falls from successes of the past. It isn't one of those famous Dreamhack celebratory videos, to be rewatched whenever one needs a reminder of what the moment felt like. It is temporary. Greatness rusts. All forms, no matter how consistent the player or how unbelievable the streak, eventually end.

But that's not to say that Nerchio was a failure the moment the calendar changed; by standards he set himself, his run in Austin was fantastic. With it, the hope that Nerchio could move past his failures at Blizzcon to once more become one of the greatest foreigners in the scene re-ignited. In Jönköping, he came apart at the seams. His ZvT, previously the gem in his crown, the one thing everyone complimented, fell apart. He lost to Semper and only narrowly advanced over TIME. He was promptly crushed by PtitDrogo. Worse? None of these three players are at Blizzcon this year. None of them even came all that close. WCS Jönköping was not a fluke for any of them, no event they will look back to as their moment. Beyond defeating Nerchio, WCS Jönköping was nothing special for any of them. Nerchio did not lose to breakout stars. He lost to players that, by his standards, he shouldn't have lost to.

In context, WCS Valencia was for Nerchio as a bandaid helps an evisceration, and even though his ZvT looked a lot cleaner and he was able to make the quarterfinals, it still proved brittle. Bitter. Should this truly be a 'step forward' for Nerchio? Losing to Elazer - previously a heart-breaking upset - and having to watch as his Polish rival ascended the steps and won the event instead of him? What happened there, in the very same city that gave Nerchio his trophy - albeit not the trophy he wanted - gave him a bitter aftertaste a year later. In difficult times, it is often the best choice to reforge one's self; to reflect upon one's faults and one's mistakes, to grow and to evolve. It is the thematic role of the Zerg race, and the very real responsibility of any striving player. Adapt or abandon. Evolve, or be eliminated. But Nerchio had nowhere to go. His ZvP form, which saw him eliminated from three premier tournaments, did not play into the rest of the year. From Jönköping until now, he has only played a single ZvP game in a major offline event- a single map against Stats, which he lost. The entirety of his results have rested on his ZvT and ZvZ, and all three of his eliminations since have occurred in the mirror matchup.

Legacy of the Void has never allowed Nerchio any peace in the mirror match-up. It's the one matchup where his scientific dismembering of the metagame doesn't work, where instinct and mentality reign supreme. In 2016 alone he was eliminated from four events in 5-game ZvZ series, including a reverse-sweep by Snute and a heart-breaking game-5 failure against Scarlett in Montreal. Add to that his collapse against Elazer in Blizzcon, plus his recent trio of disappointments against Elazer, Dark and TRUE this year. ZvZ has been the source of so much of his heartbreak that it is difficult to see him overcoming it. Every king is defined by battles they have fought, just as they are defined by what they will fight. For Nerchio, his battle comes dressed in blood red; Rogue and soO, two clever Korean zergs who are likely to enact past heartaches anew. There is no unearned throne here. There is no plastic crown fit for a king. You can carry the real crown, that which follows the trophy, or have no crown at all.

The last time Nerchio came to the Global Finals, he had enough success blowing in his sails that he could say that his year would be remembered fondly, regardless of performance. This year, he is none so fortunate. If he falters here, he will be forgotten. But if he rises, he is forgiven. Because this is what matters. This is what sleepless nights and grueling practice sessions lead to. The one moment where all that stands between success and failure is a handful of series. It's cruel fate for one's year to depend so much on so little, but in Nerchio's case, that may be fortunate - unlike last year, there isn't so much to lose. He's struggled before. He's felt what it feels like to lose at Blizzcon and feel that magnetic tug of defeat. That nagging voice in the back of one's head, forever doubting, forever shaming. Nerchio has no taste for it.

It's time to feel what it is like to win.