At this point, the StarCraft II community is intimately familiar with soO's struggle. It's one of the most compelling stories in all esports, drawing us in with the gravitational pull of a black hole. We watch with rapt focus, knowing—even dreading—what comes next. No matter how impressive soO looks on the path to the ultimate stage, fate looms like a specter. It’s what makes soO so respected in the first place. He never surrenders in the face of failure.
soO had finished second in GSL a record six times, but the BlizzCon finals was an untarnished frontier. It was a potential Eden if he could only reach it, so soO entered BlizzCon 2017 with his eyes set on a top two finish. The term “life changing money” gets thrown around a lot in sports, but reaching his tenth premier event finals would bag soO more than twice as much as he earned in 2014. $140,000 represented the third largest paycheck in StarCraft history, only eclipsed by winning BlizzCon itself, and TY’s WESG haul.
It might have been aiming for the stars given soO’s form at the time. Most notable were a pair of losses to Dark in GSL Season 3 and the second Super Tournament. soO had always dominated his former teammate, but as BlizzCon crept closer, the wheels seemed to be coming off the bus. This was not the soO who had rampaged to consecutive GSL finals. Fatigue was catching up with him and things weren’t clicking as they had in the first half of the year. The fact that he was happy with second might have been a portent, but he freely admitted that once he and Rogue stood alone, the desire to win flared up as strong as ever. It was an opportunity to pry the monkey off his back.
soO had finished in second place on eight occasions prior to facing Rogue. But this time was different. He had bared his hopes and dreams to the community when he penned My Life as Sisyphus, winning over more fans to his side than ever before. Those who had previously enjoyed mocking soO status as a running joke had a harder time of it, once they got to know his pain more intimately. soO's confessions revealed another side of a complex personality that didn't know how to give up, cementing the adoration of his followers.
"I’ll get myself ready until BlizzCon no matter what and I’ll show you a different side of myself. A career can be decided in a single moment. BlizzCon is my time to redeem my past mistakes."
It’s clear how much the WCS Global Finals meant to soO. BlizzCon 2014 was a careless embarassment soO never wanted to repeat. 2017 was an opportunity to rectify that mistake, and all the others which had haunted him throughout his career. BlizzCon may not have matched GSL Code S in terms of sheer mathematical difficulty, but the title of WCS world champion came with an unrivaled prestige. Perhaps it would be enough to change the entire narrative of soO's entire career.
It wasn’t to be. There was no doubt that Rogue was a powerful force in himself, but fate was an even stronger one. soO took a 2-1 lead in the series, but crumbled from there. The final blow came on Acolyte where Rogue completely outplayed soO. soO staggered back to the hotel, alone with his thoughts and a suffering none but he could understand.
We had seen soO fail before, but never like this. Rumors of retirement were stirring before BlizzCon even started and they only intensified afterwards. soO was also notably absent from HomeStory Cup and online events. The healing process was harder than ever. Relief was not as forthcoming as it had been when Stats and GuMiho had shattered his dreams. If his brief but noticeable absence fanned the flames, they roared like an inferno when he missed the WESG qualifiers. Some fans couldn’t help running with soO’s ambiguously worded tweet explaining why he had missed the event. It turned out he had simply been out of the country, but it was an unusually timed vacation.
soO seems certain his best days are behind him. 27 is a pivotal age in his eyes, for it is around the period when progaming careers peter out. If he hasn’t won by now, what’s to lead him to believe he ever will?
In 2014 he ascended to the pantheon of ignominious legends by taking second place in three consecutive GSL's. 2016 was the year in which he lost and subsequently regained his drive to be a progamer. 2017 was the year the fans came to know soO as a human and not just a caricature. We marveled at his resurgence, and suffered even greater disappointment because we dared to open our hearts. One can’t help but wonder what 2018 will be for perhaps the greatest Zerg of StarCraft II, the Kong who has outdone even the progenitor of his line, Yellow.
Despite finishing second at BlizzCon less than three months ago, soO does not enter the first GSL of the new year as a favorite. The spotlight shines far brighter on INnoVation, Dark, and the man who beat him in the WESG APAC qualifier, Classic. soO, riddled with doubt, troubled with old age, and coming off the largest defeat of his career has slipped through the cracks. He finds himself in maybe the most challenging group of the Round of 32. Zest is an elite Protoss. Bunny and his distinctive mech play are formidable in their own right. soO’s opening match against NoRegret is unlikely to trip him up, but there’s no denying that soO finds himself in the middle of the pack once more, a startling feat given all he accomplished in 2017.
soO has never quit. He’s given us reason to believe time and again, but this as we enter 2018, we can’t help but wonder if it’s one time too many. Those who savor his losses are licking their lips at the prospect of the only dish that can sate their hunger: soO finally breaking. But soO doesn't play for buzzards. He plays for those who have given him their hearts and cheered for him every step of the way. Those whose attention he garnered in 2014, and those he won over by baring his vulnerabilities in 2017. soO will keep fighting even if this is his last year. He still has to repay his fans for their kindness.
"As for the fans cheering for me and wanting me to win because I've lost so many times... I want to repay you for your expectations, but there's nothing I can say besides “I'm sorry”. I feel you are the driving force that keeps me working hard at the game. It's not over yet so I still want to become a champion, if only to repay your kindness."
On January 16 2018 04:09 DieuCure wrote: I hope he will not be eliminated in Ro32, considering his group and the style of play of Bunny it's unfortunately possible.
I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I have written a fair number of articles about soO, but I think you'd be shocked to know the other player I've written about the most. Note: I'll be excluding previews from GSL Season 1 because that system was scrapped and the topic was forced rather than chosen.
By my count, I wrote four articles about soO in 2017 (VSL Preview/Eo Yun Soo/BlizzCon/Weekly Focus). Two others were written as GSL final previews by other people. I wrote three articles about Inno during the same time period (VSL Preview/GSL S3 Preview/Weekly Focus). Two more articles were written for BlizzCon and SSL Season 1 by other writers. There was just an Inno/Maru article and now a soO article. So the two are pretty even on how frequently they've been covered in my tenure. It's not my fault soO's story, and by extension the articles about him, are more interesting and stick out so much more than other players in the scene like INnoVation.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I have written a fair number of articles about soO, but I think you'd be shocked to know the other player I've written about the most. Note: I'll be excluding previews from GSL Season 1 because that system was scrapped and the topic was forced rather than chosen.
By my count, I wrote four articles about soO in 2017 (VSL Preview/Eo Yun Soo/BlizzCon/Weekly Focus). Two others were written as GSL final previews by other people. I wrote three articles about Inno during the same time period (VSL Preview/GSL S3 Preview/Weekly Focus). Two more articles were written for BlizzCon and SSL Season 1 by other writers. There was just an Inno/Maru article and now a soO article. So the two are pretty even on how frequently they've been covered in my tenure. It's not my fault soO's story, and by extension the articles about him, are more interesting and stick out so much more than other players in the scene like INnoVation.
In that case these articles, while good to read, feel a little bit redundant. Articles about INno (or better, his interviews) are by far the best
Also the INno / Maru article was just a way for you to put some shine on a missing player while putting some salt on Innovation.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I have written a fair number of articles about soO, but I think you'd be shocked to know the other player I've written about the most. Note: I'll be excluding previews from GSL Season 1 because that system was scrapped and the topic was forced rather than chosen.
By my count, I wrote four articles about soO in 2017 (VSL Preview/Eo Yun Soo/BlizzCon/Weekly Focus). Two others were written as GSL final previews by other people. I wrote three articles about Inno during the same time period (VSL Preview/GSL S3 Preview/Weekly Focus). Two more articles were written for BlizzCon and SSL Season 1 by other writers. There was just an Inno/Maru article and now a soO article. So the two are pretty even on how frequently they've been covered in my tenure. It's not my fault soO's story, and by extension the articles about him, are more interesting and stick out so much more than other players in the scene like INnoVation.
That's not what I meant. Since finals previews are, well, finals previews, you obviously don't control who the subject is. I was referring instead to the articles that focus on particular players, like the one about soO, or Dear, or Classic, or Rogue.
IIRC this is the third such article about soO (Eo Yun Soo, Sisyphus, and now this), whereas everyone else has only had one at most.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I have written a fair number of articles about soO, but I think you'd be shocked to know the other player I've written about the most. Note: I'll be excluding previews from GSL Season 1 because that system was scrapped and the topic was forced rather than chosen.
By my count, I wrote four articles about soO in 2017 (VSL Preview/Eo Yun Soo/BlizzCon/Weekly Focus). Two others were written as GSL final previews by other people. I wrote three articles about Inno during the same time period (VSL Preview/GSL S3 Preview/Weekly Focus). Two more articles were written for BlizzCon and SSL Season 1 by other writers. There was just an Inno/Maru article and now a soO article. So the two are pretty even on how frequently they've been covered in my tenure. It's not my fault soO's story, and by extension the articles about him, are more interesting and stick out so much more than other players in the scene like INnoVation.
That's not what I meant. Since finals previews are, well, finals previews, you obviously don't control who the subject is. I was referring instead to the articles that focus on particular players, like the one about soO, or Dear, or Classic, or Rogue.
IIRC this is the third such article about soO (Eo Yun soO, Sisyphus, and now this), whereas everyone else has only had one at most.
soO agrees to work with us and other pros haven't. Tweet at your favorite player and ask them to do the same and you might get the article you so desire.
If stuff like this is something people want to talk about, I can write a blog post explaining why I write what I write, but I'm not responding in this thread anymore because I think it distracts from the piece.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I have written a fair number of articles about soO, but I think you'd be shocked to know the other player I've written about the most. Note: I'll be excluding previews from GSL Season 1 because that system was scrapped and the topic was forced rather than chosen.
By my count, I wrote four articles about soO in 2017 (VSL Preview/Eo Yun Soo/BlizzCon/Weekly Focus). Two others were written as GSL final previews by other people. I wrote three articles about Inno during the same time period (VSL Preview/GSL S3 Preview/Weekly Focus). Two more articles were written for BlizzCon and SSL Season 1 by other writers. There was just an Inno/Maru article and now a soO article. So the two are pretty even on how frequently they've been covered in my tenure. It's not my fault soO's story, and by extension the articles about him, are more interesting and stick out so much more than other players in the scene like INnoVation.
That's not what I meant. Since finals previews are, well, finals previews, you obviously don't control who the subject is. I was referring instead to the articles that focus on particular players, like the one about soO, or Dear, or Classic, or Rogue.
IIRC this is the third such article about soO (Eo Yun soO, Sisyphus, and now this), whereas everyone else has only had one at most.
soO agrees to work with us and other pros haven't. Tweet at your favorite player and ask them to do the same and you might get the article you so desire.
It wasn't criticism. You're free to write whatever you please, obviously, and I appreciate everything you put out. It was just an observation that you like writing about your favorite player (shocker, I know).
I've not read it yet but it's cool to have another article about soO. However he won't ever win a starleague. As a MKP fan it's cool to see another player take the Kong Line tho
I believe soO got a hex put on him by the one he defeated at the final of 2012 MLG vs Proleague Invitational to win $10k in first place. That man's name? The Wizard of Oz.
On January 16 2018 05:13 pvsnp wrote: I'm not a soO fan and can't say I was sad to watch him lose in 2014. But seeing it happen all over again in 2017 was kind of painful, even for a detached observer.
I may not be a fan, but I will still cheer for him to break his curse and finally lift a GSL trophy. Nobody with a heart could do any less. Though until that happens, I reserve the right to meme about his second places.
Great writing as usual, Mizenhauer. Though I gotta say, the frequency of these soO articles is a bit.....blatant.
I wholeheartedly agree with this. I will admit that I've cheered against him on every final he's faced against a Protoss....which has been like all of them except sOs and herO.
But his reaction every time he loses in a finals is heartbreaking. And just like foreigners tend to "go full foreigner," soO goes full soO in the finals. During Blizzcon, you could visibly see when his spirit began to wane.
I don't know if I'd cheer for him in a Blizzcon finals, but it is his time to hoist a GSL trophy.
Kudos to all the people who keep cheering him on. It's obviously hardest on soo, but I know how hard it is to see your favorite come so close time and time again only to fail. Being a Jaedong fan in 2013 was super hard, and it seems like soO will go down in history as the player with the most 2nd places ever. Gotta respect the guy for continuing onwards. A lot of people would have broken down at this point, but it seems like he never gives up. I really hope he'll eventually win a GSL or a blizzcon. But there will always be these kind of players. They look like gods time and time again, yet they never get the championship they deserve. Every eSport has these kind of players, but soO truly is the king of kongs. I'd love to see an interview with Yellow about soO. It must be hard to see others suffer the same fate as you have.
Do you really believe it's even possible for him to win after so many 2nd places ? Is there a guy in professionnal sport that always got 2nd but managed to finally win?
On January 17 2018 05:29 Poopi wrote: Do you really believe it's even possible for him to win after so many 2nd places ? Is there a guy in professionnal sport that always got 2nd but managed to finally win?
I don't know when i became a fan of soO and i don't really know why, but this guy is such a freaking beast when he's in top form. Nothing and nobody is able to stop him except for soO himself. As long as he is playing i wont stop believing and cheering.
On January 17 2018 05:29 Poopi wrote: Do you really believe it's even possible for him to win after so many 2nd places ? Is there a guy in professionnal sport that always got 2nd but managed to finally win?
An interesting read but I don't know if team sports are comparable to 1v1 sports in this way. What I would like to know is if anyone has done the same in any sport with single competitors. Team mentality is a whole other beast entirely. Not to belittle the mans incredible achievements, just saying I think its fundamentally different situations.
On January 17 2018 05:29 Poopi wrote: Do you really believe it's even possible for him to win after so many 2nd places ? Is there a guy in professionnal sport that always got 2nd but managed to finally win?
On January 17 2018 06:01 jodljodl wrote: I don't know when i became a fan of soO and i don't really know why, but this guy is such a freaking beast when he's in top form. Nothing and nobody is able to stop him except for soO himself. As long as he is playing i wont stop believing and cheering.
soO hwaiting!
Thank you, mizenhauer, for another great article.
You probably became a fan through soOcial osmosis.
I liked this post Mizzie, but I do have to agree with a few other posters that it seems redundant. However, if it helps ferment support for the shiniest silver surfer and beloved kong then more power to you, particularly as he is happy to work with TL.
If there was one message I could give soO it would be " No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking" - Voltaire
I don't think anyone else so far stomped their group as effortlessly as soO did. I get that a sick NoRegreT wasn't ever going to have a good time in that matchup, but soO also made Zest look like he was 1,000 MMR behind. I'll be crossing my fingers that he can keep it going!
EPT
Written by Mizenhauer ![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/bird_blue_16.png)
soO's struggle. It's one of the most compelling stories in all esports, drawing us in with the gravitational pull of a black hole. We watch with rapt focus, knowing—even dreading—what comes next. No matter how impressive soO looks on the path to the ultimate stage, fate looms like a specter. It’s what makes soO so respected in the first place. He never surrenders in the face of failure. 
