• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:56
CEST 19:56
KST 02:56
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
The Memories We Share - Facing the Final(?) GSL10Code S RO12 Preview: Cure, Zoun, Solar, Creator4[ASL19] Finals Preview: Daunting Task30[ASL19] Ro4 Recap : The Peak15DreamHack Dallas 2025 - Info & Preview21
Community News
Weekly Cups (May 19-25): Hindsight is 20/20?0DreamHack Dallas 2025 - Official Replay Pack8[BSL20] RO20 Group Stage2EWC 2025 Regional Qualifiers (May 28-June 1)10Weekly Cups (May 12-18): Clem sweeps WardiTV May3
StarCraft 2
General
The Memories We Share - Facing the Final(?) GSL Code S RO12 Preview: Cure, Zoun, Solar, Creator Can anyone explain to me why u cant veto a matchup DreamHack Dallas 2025 - Official Replay Pack herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2025)
Tourneys
[GSL 2025] Code S:Season 2 - RO12 - Group A [GSL 2025] Code S:Season 2 - RO12 - Group B EWC 2025 Regional Qualifiers (May 28-June 1) DreamHack Dallas 2025 RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers [G] PvT Cheese: 13 Gate Proxy Robo
Custom Maps
[UMS] Zillion Zerglings
External Content
Mutation # 475 Hard Target Mutation # 474 Futile Resistance Mutation # 473 Cold is the Void Mutation # 472 Dead Heat
Brood War
General
Will foreigners ever be able to challenge Koreans? Practice Partners (Official) GG Lan Party Bulgaria (Live in about 3 hours) BW General Discussion BGH auto balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[ASL19] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL20] GosuLeague RO16 - Tue & Wed 20:00+CET [ASL19] Ro8 Day 4
Strategy
I am doing this better than progamers do. [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Monster Hunter Wilds Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
LiquidLegends to reintegrate into TL.net
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Plays: Diplomacy TL Mafia: Generative Agents Showdown Survivor II: The Amazon
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine All you football fans (soccer)! European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread NHL Playoffs 2024 Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Cleaning My Mechanical Keyboard How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL.net Ten Commandments
Blogs
Need Your Help/Advice
Glider
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Yes Sir! How Commanding Impr…
TrAiDoS
Poker
Nebuchad
Info SLEgma_12
SLEgma_12
SECOND COMMING
XenOsky
WombaT’s Old BW Terran Theme …
WombaT
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 12916 users

A Weekend for Believing: MaNa at WCS Austin

Forum Index > SC2 General
22 CommentsPost a Reply
Normal

A Weekend for Believing: MaNa at WCS Austin

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
June 11th, 2018 11:27 GMT

A Weekend for Believing

Serral lifted the trophy, but MaNa lifted spirits at WCS Austin

Written by Mizenhauer
Mizenhauer [image loading]

Life can be cruel. The rich get richer, the good die young, and hard work is met with failure. The unforgiving nature of reality is hammered into our consciousness each and every day, until there's no choice but to begrudgingly accept it.

It wasn't always that way, though. Childhood was different. It was a time when we believed in fairy tales. When we were untarnished by burdensome knowledge, and could be captivated by fantastical stories and dream of perfect endings.

Being a fan is like being a child. Amid the tedious reality of our daily grind a football match or game of StarCraft has the power to make us believe again.

In time, WCS Austin will likely be remembered as Serral's second consecutive WCS Circuit triumph, a stepping stone on his path to greatness. And while Serral blazing a trail of destruction the likes of which the foreign StarCraft has never seen is certainly important and historic, it's not the story I'll remember. I'll remember a fairy tale made real, an impossible quest as inspiring as any I ever heard as a child. Because as Serral brought destruction and ruin to everyone around him, MaNa rose from the ashes.

Serral went into WCS Austin as the prohibitive favorite to win it all. MaNa went in as one of many afterthoughts. The last time he had been a true contender was in 2012, when he won Dreamhack Summer and the Electronic Sports World Cup. But six years might as well be an eternity in esports, and MaNa's greatest achievements had long since been reduced to StarCraft II trivia.

[image loading]
MaNa competes at IEM New York in 2011 - [Photo: R1CH]

MaNa entered WCS Austin without fanfare or expectations. Anyone predicting great things of him had to be utterly deluded. Maybe MaNa believed in himself, but we didn't believe in him. David doesn't actually get to beat Goliath.

MaNa's journey started in the open bracket. It has always been a labyrinth riddled with danger, but MaNa's road was more treacherous than most. He faced Optimus and Namshar to open the weekend, was wounded by souL in the next level of the dungeon, and had to slay uThermal twice to crawl out into the daylight.

Bloody and battered, MaNa had escaped, but even greater challenges lay ahead. In the first round of the playoffs, MaNa faced an insurmountable obstacle in Neeb. If Serral was the prohibitive favorite going into the tournament, then Neeb was the one player in the world capable of upsetting him. MaNa would be an adequate warm-up match for Neeb, who would inevitably face Serral in an earth-shattering final to decide who was truly the best foreigner of Legacy of the Void. But MaNa, who went down nearly 30 supply in game one and 15 supply in game two, didn't care for such prophecies. He clawed his way back in both games, leaping out to shocking 2-0 lead. Game three was over before we could recover from the shock. Neeb, three time circuit champion, was eliminated. MaNa was moving on.

The saga continued against Snute in the quarterfinals. Once again, it hardly seemed a contest on paper. Snute had history, prize winnings, and pedigree on his side. None of that mattered in the proceeding best-of-five. MaNa's decision making, execution, and strategy far outclassed his most decorated opponent. It only took three games for MaNa to instruct us as to who the superior player was.

It was only fitting that SpeCial would be MaNa's semifinal opponent. Again MaNa entered as the underdog. Again his accomplishments paled in comparison to SpeCial's. The Mexican Terran had become a juggernaut of the foreign scene: he was the only man to defeat Neeb in the elimination stages of WCS 2017, a BlizzCon semifinalist, and a six-time semifinalist overall. It was the likes of soO, sOs, and Neeb who kept SpeCial from reaching the finals in the past—this time he would have his rightful due.

Man, the match was fun. It was a knock down, drag out, sloppy bloody-knuckled brawl. Matches like that bring you to your feet. The reckless haymakers, the do-or-die charges, the barrage of disruptor shots that steal your breath away. I've been called jaded and disillusioned—overly fixated on maps, metas, and all the little imperfections that take away from what I believe should be a better game. When the match was over, all I could think of was why I love StarCraft II.



On the other side of the bracket, Serral was in the midst of his preordained conquest. Make no mistake, the hype was warranted. Serral was the best player outside Korea. It was quite possible that his level of play exceeded that of any foreigner before him. He was more terrifying than Goliath, or any monster or demon from myth. He was reality.

Serral had a 90% ZvP win rate against foreigners in WCS 2018, and came in with a 9-0 head-to-head record against MaNa in particular. In the previous rounds, MaNa's chances during the previous rounds had been merely terrible. But there were no words or concepts yet discovered by human kind that could describe the sheer impossibility of MaNa winning a match against Serral. MaNa himself joked that he hoped to get four solid practice games out of the series.

But MaNa had been making the impossible possible all tournament long. He was walking a path from legend, trials and labors more akin to Hercules than any from our daily lives. Logic dictated that Serral would win, but I stopped caring about logic as the cameras zoomed into the game. In that moment, I stopped being a thinker and became a believer. I believed that fairy tales were real, and that one man can defy logic through sheer, obstinate force of will. I could tell—couldn't you?—that there was magic in the air that day.

[image loading]

[Photo: Carlton Beener, via Blizzard]

The galaxy of skill between the two was evident in game one—it was a triumph for rational thought, common sense, and natural order. But MaNa made all that unravel in game two. Fans, casters, and professional gamers alike tell us Tempests and Sky Protoss are the surest way to defeat Zerg in the late game. Facing Brood Lords and Serral's asphyxiating late-game style, MaNa dove into the belly of the beast with Blink-Stalkers, disemboweling it from the inside. He won game three with an even more improbable attack. Forcing his way deeper and deeper into Serral's territory, MaNa's incisive blinks eviscerated the core of Serral's army, his prized Brood Lords, while immortals and archons cleared the path to victory on the ground. The series was his for the taking. The WCS Leipzig champion was crumbling. We all know what happens next. David exploits Goliath’s weakness and triumphs with a well-placed shot. Theseus stumbles out of the labyrinth, weary but elated over his defeat of the Minotaur.

That’s not how it turned out.

Serral rallied back over the next three games in ruthless, dominating fashion. He didn't so much accept MaNa's GG's than he ripped them from MaNa's body. The most frightening part was how casual he made it seem. There was no emotional turning point or self-discovery in crisis. Serral simply diagnosed an error and corrected it.

Poor Cinderella, you were warned that midnight was coming.



In the end, it wasn't a fairy tale after all—it was real life. I was wrong. So very wrong. But I was okay with that.

MaNa had reminded me that while harsh, cruel realities are an unavoidable part of life, they're not the only part of life, nor the most important. He reminded me that life is also about the journey. He reminded me to that effort matters more than the goal, because it's the effort that shape us into who we are. The effort is also what leads us to the little motes of brilliance that light up the world, even if only for a moment.

In the moment, MaNa's improbable run may have seemed the stuff of legends. In reality his trials were just another one of billions of earthly struggles. But that doesn’t diminish them. Any one of those struggles can be a source of inspiration as we confront obstacles on our own path. In reality, WCS Austin is the tournament that MaNa lost. But I’ll always remember it as the tournament where MaNa made me believe that anything is possible.




Credits and acknowledgements

Written by: Mizenhauer
Editor: Wax, CosmicSpiral
Photos: Carlton Beener (via Blizzard), R1CH

Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
Azhrak
Profile Joined January 2011
Finland1194 Posts
June 11 2018 11:50 GMT
#2
Great read. Thanks! Let's hope MaNa can keep his form in Valencia. We need more Protoss in the top end of WCS.
starcraft2.fi
maitiky
Profile Joined November 2016
Czech Republic54 Posts
June 11 2018 12:35 GMT
#3
Very well written piece, it gave me goosebumps. For me, MaNa is the true winner of WCS Austin, not Serral. Serral got into a position when winning a tournament is just another day in the office for him. Nobody is surprised anymore, it's just reality. But MaNa showed a brutal dedication, a sheer force of will and let us all to live a miracle with him that weekend. It was just magical to see an "old dog" refuse to surrender to a better, younger, stronger oponent. It was like watching a Terminator movie, where MaNa is T-800 and Serral is T-1000/T-X/you got the point... Even though he got destroyed in the end. I hope he will continue in this form. Definitely will be cheering for him in next events.
"Riggs... I'm too old for this shit!"
Executer08
Profile Joined June 2015
Germany163 Posts
June 11 2018 14:15 GMT
#4
great article, unfortunately mana didnt study the rottibuild thoroughly enough or he wouldve won game 4 vs serral ;P also, with map 7 being redshift, i think he wouldve had a good shot to take the championship if he had been up 3-1
"You have the image of being a robotic, stoic player among foreign fans. What do you think about that?" - "I don’t think it’s incorrect." || letodSWAG
Deleted User 3420
Profile Blog Joined May 2003
24492 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-06-11 14:30:04
June 11 2018 14:29 GMT
#5
Nice article, the best part of the tournament for me was following Mana as well. And the best moment, one of the best moments from any sc2 tournament, was when we went up 2-1 vs serral.
The_Red_Viper
Profile Blog Joined August 2013
19533 Posts
June 11 2018 14:47 GMT
#6
Well written as always, nice narrative on top of that. It surely was "magical", i am by no means a mana fan but after this spectacular run one simply had to root for him in the finals, and then he even was ahead 2-1, cannot make this stuff up.
IU | Sohyang || There is no God and we are his prophets | For if ‘Thou mayest’—it is also true that ‘Thou mayest not.” | Ignorance is the parent of fear |
runn3r5uk
Profile Joined April 2018
13 Posts
June 11 2018 16:19 GMT
#7
austin was the only time in a long while i was excited to follow the story, mana being an old favourite made the weekend for m. i wished for a different result
Corvuuss
Profile Blog Joined April 2014
Austria354 Posts
June 11 2018 16:27 GMT
#8
I am so sad that this was at an American tournament, as I fell asleep after the first game of MaNa SpeCial.

But it was great to re-watch everything.
I am a slave of Golden from now on. Obey a supreme leader of StarCraft 2 or you get banned. I am really glad to be citizen of Democratic republic of Golden.
stilt
Profile Joined October 2012
France2747 Posts
June 11 2018 16:30 GMT
#9
He then lost in a go4 against the future bonjwa and ogaming caster Yogo !
Darkness2k11
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Chile313 Posts
June 11 2018 17:28 GMT
#10
I very much enjoyed reading this, thank you for this cool article.
When Behind, Dark Shrine
Aelendis
Profile Joined February 2011
Belgium892 Posts
June 11 2018 17:50 GMT
#11
One of your best ones, congrats!
Rob-Zero
Profile Joined January 2011
Germany454 Posts
June 11 2018 17:52 GMT
#12
Thanks for the great read. Austin was really a great tournament because of Manas run, seeing him defying the expectations again and again made me feel the hype building more and more That he beat three of the absolute top players in a row, each a different race, was truly a miracle and even in the finals he was able to show more resistance than expected, i think when he went up 2-1 everyone was thinking : "could it really happen?" And even though he lost in the end, i was really satisfied with this event. Excited to see Valencia happen!!
Dark Age of Camelot - I miss you
MarinePrince
Profile Joined October 2011
United States101 Posts
June 11 2018 18:28 GMT
#13
Superb writing.
"Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character." - Albert Einstein
Shuffleblade
Profile Joined February 2012
Sweden1903 Posts
June 12 2018 07:39 GMT
#14
Mana played really well throughout the tournament, very inspiring. I'm looking forward to the next time I get to see him tango with the rest of the best foreigners. I remember watching the Mana vs Snute games and thinking: "Wow. this is the first time in ages that the play of a non korean protoss player that isn't Neeb or Showtime actually gives me goosebumps"
Maru, Bomber, TY, Dear, Classic, DeParture and Rogue!
RandomPlayer
Profile Joined April 2012
Russian Federation389 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-06-12 08:46:31
June 12 2018 08:38 GMT
#15
Why is Mana on the headlines twice? Hello, TL! It was Serral who took the trophy, you could at least do one post for each. Although I agree it was Mana's great result.
D-light
Profile Joined April 2012
Finland7364 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-06-12 10:47:38
June 12 2018 10:43 GMT
#16
On June 12 2018 17:38 RandomPlayer wrote:
Why is Mana on the headlines twice? Hello, TL! It was Serral who took the trophy, you could at least do one post for each. Although I agree it was Mana's great result.

TL bias at its finest.

+ Show Spoiler +
I guess it wasn't just that much of a big story in the end. Making the topic "Serral wins WCS Austin 2018", mentioning him as one of the good stories of Austin, and then in the two Mana stories to some degree seems appropriate.
why even
stevemachine17
Profile Joined April 2017
45 Posts
June 13 2018 06:48 GMT
#17
Great article!! Usually after major sporting events I love to read pieces like these, this is probably the best article I've ever read about an esports event! We need more stories like this
ensign_lee
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1178 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-06-13 12:41:06
June 13 2018 12:36 GMT
#18
Thanks for writing this up! Mana's story was THE story at Dreamhack in Austin. I loved being part of the crowd for his victories against Special and the games he took off or Serral.

More people (including me) flocked to him immediately following the finals. Kind of felt bad for Serral a little, but hot damn if Mana didn't have an amazing following. Guess that's what happens when you have an amazing personality and the delta between expectations and reality is so large.

And he's such a cool dude too.
xlumpy
Profile Joined April 2011
United States43 Posts
June 13 2018 19:36 GMT
#19
yay fun article
Sleep is for those people who are broke. I don't sleep. I got an opportunity to make a dream become a reality.
waiting2Bbanned
Profile Joined November 2015
United States154 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-06-14 03:59:27
June 14 2018 03:54 GMT
#20
Would've been nice if someone had also acknowledged Lambo's run..
I mean MaNa did great, but he's got some pedigree as a multiple tournament winner, as opposed to Lambo.

But I guess only one of them is on Team Liquid, and this is TL.net..
"If you are going to break the law, do it with two thousand people.. and Mozart." - Howard Zinn
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3340 Posts
June 14 2018 07:47 GMT
#21
It was magical and he was the wizard, unfortunately at the end though, he did run out of MaNa..
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
CaptainBurnTurn
Profile Joined February 2018
United States80 Posts
June 16 2018 16:42 GMT
#22
This was a great article, thanks for this. Neeb is probably just going to randomly (not really randomly) destroy everyone at either Valencia or Montreal though.
Mark my words, sOs will win a GSL one day
BlaCha
Profile Joined March 2005
Poland743 Posts
June 18 2018 08:08 GMT
#23
Great Read ! Awesome writing
Of course, fucking of course.
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Road to EWC
16:00
Europe Open Qualifiers #1
RotterdaM1332
TKL 363
IndyStarCraft 314
CranKy Ducklings302
Fuzer 287
kabyraGe 260
EnkiAlexander 113
CosmosSc2 95
3DClanTV 83
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 1332
TKL 363
IndyStarCraft 314
Fuzer 287
CosmosSc2 95
BRAT_OK 47
MindelVK 16
ForJumy 6
StarCraft: Brood War
Bisu 3375
BeSt 832
Soulkey 640
ZerO 486
Stork 371
Snow 315
Rush 178
hero 170
sorry 66
Rock 31
[ Show more ]
Terrorterran 27
soO 21
Hm[arnc] 6
Dota 2
Gorgc9527
qojqva3136
XcaliburYe163
Counter-Strike
fl0m1410
flusha57
Other Games
crisheroes185
XaKoH 161
Trikslyr80
QueenE40
ZerO(Twitch)25
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Reevou 3
• Kozan
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 40
• FirePhoenix11
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 2508
• WagamamaTV481
• Ler90
League of Legends
• Nemesis3206
• Jankos1540
• TFBlade983
• Shiphtur477
Other Games
• imaqtpie1089
Upcoming Events
Road to EWC
4h 4m
GSL Code S
15h 34m
GuMiho vs Bunny
ByuN vs SHIN
Road to EWC
16h 4m
Online Event
18h 34m
Road to EWC
22h 4m
Road to EWC
1d 4h
Road to EWC
1d 15h
Road to EWC
1d 16h
Road to EWC
2 days
Road to EWC
2 days
[ Show More ]
Road to EWC
2 days
Online Event
3 days
Clem vs ShoWTimE
herO vs MaxPax
Road to EWC
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 19
DreamHack Dallas 2025
Calamity Stars S2

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
YSL S1
BSL Season 20
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 2
NPSL S3
Rose Open S1
CSL Season 17: Qualifier 1
2025 GSL S2
Heroes 10 EU
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
ECL Season 49: Europe
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters
CCT Season 2 Global Finals
IEM Melbourne 2025
YaLLa Compass Qatar 2025
PGL Bucharest 2025
BLAST Open Spring 2025
ESL Pro League S21

Upcoming

CSL Season 17: Qualifier 2
CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
Copa Latinoamericana 4
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLAN 2025
K-Championship
SEL Season 2 Championship
Esports World Cup 2025
HSC XXVII
Championship of Russia 2025
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.