The Rebuild

In 2016, ShoWTimE proved himself worthy of the moniker Die Mauer [E/N: the wall]. His stingy defense, resolute play and crisp, unfailing execution made him an indomitable wall separating his opponents from victory. He’d shown hints of promise in 2015 but leapt into prominence the following year when he won WCS Spring and made the finals of Copa Intercontinental, finishing the year third on WCS points behind Neeb (second after Polt forfeited his BlizzCon spot). When all was said and done, ShoWTimE’s breakout year ended with a quarterfinal finish at the WCS Global Finals. Although his 1-3 loss to the upstart Elazer was deflating, such a high placing in such a prestigious tournament portended that a bright future lay ahead.

Tragically, ShoWTimE never built on that success, and Legacy of the Void’s inaugural year has turned out to be the best period of his career thus far. A poor showing at the 2017 IEM World Championship was followed by numerous early exits on the 2017 WCS Circuit, most notably a group stage exit in Valencia. The woeful tale ended in November of 2017, with ShoWTimE left to watch BlizzCon from home—something few would have predicted at the beginning of the 2017 campaign. ShoWTimE’s past results left us anticipating more but there we were, questioning how reality had strayed so far from our expectations.

As the midwinter sun rose over Leipzig, the first WCS Circuit event of 2018, few players craved a positive result more than ShoWTimE. Back on his home soil, in a venue packed to the gills with loyal fans, Die Mauer was poised for his return to grace. Three-time circuit champ Neeb was the favorite on paper, while Elazer and Serral played the part of challenger to a T , but ShoWTimE was also a returning Circuit champion. Every fan of foreign StarCraft II remembered his adepts and phoenixes needling Nerchio into submission on Korhal Carnage Knockout. Why couldn’t this be the weekend for a repeat performance?

ShoWTimE must have been aware of the narrative that followed him. He started off strong, earning his slot in the playoffs without dropping a match. He met Namshar in the round of 16, a match-up ShoWTimE had become very familiar with in the past two years. Namshar would have exhausted himself futilely crashing against ShoWTimE’s defenses in 2016, but was more than capable of giving the German Protoss problems during his downturn.

Their duel turned out to be a closely contested affair that tested ShoWTimE’s endurance and poise. Lasting almost two hours, the series hinged on Acid Plant. Powering into hydra/bane on 72 workers, Namshar jumped out to a large supply lead. Yet ShoWTimE refused to succumb to the endless waves of units. It took 19 minutes and more than a few carriers to batter Namshar into submission, but as he tapped out it was clear for all to see: the wall had held.

He had to wait a day to fight TRUE in the quarterfinals, but when they met ShoWTimE made the Korean Zerg look like a rank amateur. This wasn’t a nail-biting victory whatsoever. It was the equivalent of a motorcycle running straight into a brick wall. Buoyed by the jubilant German crowd, ShoWTimE had briefly recaptured the magic of yesteryear. Here he was in prime form, as if the previous year of heartache had been washed away. It was as close to a crowning moment as you can get in the round of 8.

What ShoWTimE really needed was one tremendous win to complete his revival, the type of grand statement the community would still be talking about when they were reminiscing over the fading year. By the time January 28th arrived and ShoWTimE took the stage, the cold German night oozed with tension and promise. Every eye was glued to his impending match with Neeb.

On paper, Neeb was ShoWTimE’s better in every way. The Ting Protoss had stolen ShoWTimE’s thunder back in 2016 with his unprecedented victory at the KeSPA Cup. While ShoWTimE proved to be a dud in the following year, Neeb claimed three WCS Circuit titles to his name and earned the elusive honorific of 'best foreigner.' He boasted a perfect record against the German opponent in offline matches. ShoWTimE had his work cut out for him.

His valiant attempt to buck fate started off well. ShoWTimE won the first game after repulsing Neeb’s six-gate aggression. Neeb restored normalcy by winning the next two games, first with the aid of early phoenix harassment and then with a one base contain that allowed him to parlay a faster expansion into a victory. More than the result, the ease with which Neeb pulled the strings on Acid Plant and Catalyst evoked memories of their previous encounters in WESG 2016, IEM Shanghai and WCS Austin. Down 2-1 and facing elimination, ShoWTimE was faced with the daunting prospect of winning two straight maps.

Incredibly, ShoWTimE out-clutched the Circuit's big-game king himself and did just that. He evened out the series in a phoenix versus phoenix battle where ShoWTimE’s patience perfectly countered Neeb’s impetuous phoenix control. With no tricks or gimmicks, ShoWTimE merely bided his time and amassed a larger phoenix count. He closed the deal on Eastwatch. Where Neeb opted for a fast twilight and gold base, ShoWTimE went for a sturdier immortal count with +1 attack and charge. Neeb found himself stuck on a stalker-heavy composition which was easily overrun by the horde of zealots. ShoWTimE walked on stage to address the raucous crowd, with a hard earned and relieved smile on his face.

"[Then] I lost the next two and I was like ‘Oh, no. Not again. Not losing to Neeb again please.’ [And then] I was like, all right, let’s just try to focus again and play a standard game because I think the games he won were a bit of gamble on my part and his part as well. [So] I just played standard games and it worked out..."

Playing standard games and having things work out against a multiple time champion? Even with the grand finals still looming, there was no doubt in that moment that ShoWTimE was back.

Ultimately, ShoWTimE lost the final to Serral in the first of the Finn’s four Circuit triumphs of the year. Like all the runner-ups he must have been bitter when the brass ring swung out of his reach, but he had many reasons to be proud as well. His run granted him a new lease on life and a healthy position on the WCS Circuit leaderboards. On top of that ShoWTimE, a wayward vessel just a year ago, had finally caught the wind in his sails. His once beaming future, which had darkened mightily in 2017, had suddenly regained its luster.

After a positive start to the year, expectations ran high. This time around, ShoWTimE has fallen awkwardly short of meeting them. He was never able to parlay his early success into a championship, and not just because Serral won every event. He managed another semifinal appearance in Valencia after squeaking out another five game series against Neeb. Advancing to the finals seemed to be a simple matter, until he lost to Has of all people.

The other results were less enviable. The 2018 WCS campaign began with a showdown between ShoWTimE and Serral, but ShoWTimE spent the year on the sidelines while less decorated and heralded Protosses MaNa and Has earned the opportunity to challenge the Finnish Zerg with everything on the line. He surpassed expectations at GSL vs. the World, but he was eliminated by Lambo in the Montreal quarterfinals despite entering as the fan-favorite. He never even reached the group stages at WCS Austin.

ShoWTimE may not have been able to duplicate his Leipzig success but he still ended the year #2 on the WCS Circuit. Serral’s unquestioned dominance in combination with an ever-shifting hierarchy of upper-tier foreigners left everyone else starved for results. In spite of letting down the sunniest of optimists, he was one of only three players not named Serral (alongside Nerchio and HeRoMaRinE) to reach the round of 8 three times. And while this chronic habit of coming up short might lead some to believe that ShoWTimE is closer to his 2017 self than 2016, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

He hasn’t been the best foreigner—that honor belongs to Serral—but he’s the best Protoss west of Incheon and one of the few foreigners to claim a significant offline victory against Korean competition. While Neeb failed to win a single game against Dark and SpeCial was effortlessly swept by Stats at GSL vs. the World, ShoWTimE dealt with Zest in convincing fashion. A win like that against a GSL finalist (who defeated Trap, herO and Stats in GSL in the month that followed) gives proponents of the foreign scene reason to believe that had ShoWTimE not met Maru in the second round, it’s possible he could have claimed another victim along the way.

ShoWTimE has not surpassed, or even equaled, his revitalizing performance at WCS Leipzig, but the results he’s garnered since have been more than enough to earn him the #2 seed from the WCS Circuit at the 2018 Global Finals. He proved he was one of the elite in the foreign scene by reaching the prestigious tournament two years ago, but he never got within shouting distance of the Gosu Trophy. The fact that ShoWTimE managed to recover his form and earn another shot at claiming StarCraft II’s ultimate honor must be a dream come true.

This year he boards his flight to Anaheim as the second best threat the foreign scene has to offer. While his results hardly jump off the page, and his resume doesn’t gleam with the same luster as Serral’s, Maru’s, Rogue’s or Stats', it’s clear he is a worthy BlizzCon attendee. They call him Die Mauer because he’s stalwart and unwavering, because he stands strong in the gale and weathers the storm. He endured 2017 and emerged stronger, reborn in 2018. January 28, 2018 was the day we knew ShoWTimE had returned. At BlizzCon we’ll discover if he’s truly arrived.