The Fabled Ascendance

In the wake of Polt and Hydra's departure, we were left with two outcomes for the WCS scene. It could either devolve into chaos, with multiple players winning events and ceaseless turmoil, or reshape around a central force; a player undoubtedly good enough to rise to the mantle of Polt and Hydra's reign—perhaps even good enough to surpass their success. Certain players seemed more likely to fit the mold than others. ShoWTimE, being the only foreigner to win a WCS event and having beat ByuN at BlizzCon, was the leading candidate; but where is he now? Nerchio was a candidate as well, having the most consistency of all foreigners the year prior and flaunting an utterly incredible winrate. He even made the finals of WCS Austin, and all looked prepared for a coronation - but he lost, in an admittedly close set against Neeb.

Neeb's 2017 might seem easy to predict; after all, he was by far the best foreigner coming into Blizzcon last year, and he even took home a trophy at KeSPA Cup, which is probably worth more than any individual WCS victory. But 2017 has been by no means an easy road for him. He disappointed hard at Katowice, racking up a 1-8 record against Korean opposition (his sole win against jjakji) and made it out of groups at WCS Austin by the skin of his teeth. If he had lost to TLO then, all of this might never have happened. The crown of Austin would've gone to SpeCial (then MajOr), or ShoWTimE, or Nerchio—someone else with a stronger claim. But TLO didn't win. Neither did ShoWTimE, in their five-game set, or SpeCial, who saw himself up 2-1 on the verge of his first ever finals. Even the finals against Nerchio started off with Neeb facing a defecit before he rattled off three wins in a row.

That ability to become great at a moment's notice colored Neeb's entire year. He has, for the entire of Legacy of the Void, had the ability to shine regardless of whether things look dim or not. Look back to his breakout, beating Polt in a 5-game series to qualify for WCS Winter. There was no calm before the storm, nor was there a reign of tyranny after. He came, he conquered, and like the wind, he left, to rise against in Dreamhack Austin, and then so many more times throughout that year until he finally peaked to win KeSPA Cup. This ethereal nature followed Neeb to Jönköping, where he once more narrowly avoided early elimination to TLO and then...won. It didn't matter that he had lost to PtitDrogo and nearly to TLO in the group stage. He dominated SortOf and Kelazhur, broke MajOr's heart again, and eliminated the golden child Serral in the finals. Two in a row. From the chaos and sweat and blood of WCS came order, from the very source of disorder who had so thoroughly ruptured everything the year prior. Neeb had reigned.

Then, like the wind, he was gone; the dominant, soul-crushing Neeb was hardly present at WCS Valencia, nor was it present at the GSL Qualifiers which saw him lose multiple times to Hurricane, nor was it truly present at GSL vs the World; he was still an elite player, but he wasn't the king. His kingdom had once more fallen into chaos, with Elazer and Snute sparring while others such as SpeCial and Serral hung at their heels. But none of that mattered. Neeb as a player is not disturbed by the environment, or by the stakes, or seemingly by anything at all; he does not dream of championships, nor does he strive to be the greatest. His unrelentingly cold veins are born from a ruthless desire, not to win, but to avoid loss. As long as he wins, as long as he can keep the bitter taste of defeat away from his lips for another collection of moments, all is right in his world.

So in hindsight, it wasn't particularly surprising to see Neeb return at top form during Dreamhack Montreal; but what was surprising was the sheer dominance in which he did it. He seemed like a parent returning home to his unruly kids, setting them in order, reminding them of the one universal truth: Neeb is the greatest foreigner in the scene currently. It was one of the most dominant runs we've ever seen from a foreigner, in fact, the type of domestic tyranny greats such as NaNiwa or Stephano never quite clutched, for all of their trophies and success against Korea. There was not a moment, not even a milisecond, during the entire tournament where Neeb's tournament life was on the line, where it felt legitimately unsure of whether he was going to win the next series or not. It was all so certain. Like watching a prophecy unfold. Yet, did any of it truly matter? What is a WCS trophy to someone who has ascended beyond it? What is domestic success if it doesn't lead to international greatness? What is a win, if not for an evasion of defeat- why would a win matter if the defeat following tastes so much worse?

Last year, Neeb never had this. He never had domestic success, let alone dominance. He seemed to be destined to be a player such as Snute, forever looking from the outside among his peers, and yet always so much greater when it came to play against Korea. But that is no longer the case for Neeb. West of Korea, he no longer has any peers; players such as Serral, and Nerchio, and ShoWTimE, and Elazer, and plenty more, might be great. They might play phenomenal games. They might take sets off of Neeb. But Neeb's career is no longer going to be determined by how he plays against the ShoWTimEs of the world. It's going to be defined by what happens at Anaheim, and all the Global Finals to come, where Neeb acts as the sword in the darkness; the bastion of hope for a foreign scene which has lacked a champion to rally around ever since the retirement of NaNiwa. It may not be his desire. It may not be what he dreamed of. It may not be what he expected when he first changed races to Protoss, so many moons ago.

But it is his destiny.