You know most of the time life isn't fair. Most of the time you'll just get beaten up over and over again, expected to take it because well... that's what you do. Most of the time you must live like Sisyphus, everyday rolling that boulder up the hill only for it to come crashing back down again.
But sometimes, in rare instances, by some random happenstance, life transcends that. Sometimes it all just clicks together and works. Sometimes, the boulder stays up at the top of the hill, if only for a day. That's when it was all worth it.
soO's achievement here transcends Esports. It strikes a chord with every person that has had to suffer and persevere to succeed in the hopes that they can finally push the boulder up for good. soO kept pushing that boulder despite everything that was stacked against him and for today at least he stands atop that hill, able to rest.
Truly the most engaging player story in Starcraft 2's history.
On March 04 2019 00:44 Snarosc wrote: Can we take a moment to appreciate our new Kong Stats, be it in all kinds of tournaments :
2018 GSL S1 : 2nd place Blizzcon 2018 : 2nd place GSL vs the World 2018 : 2nd place IEM Katowice 2019 : 2nd place
Very emotional and well-deserved win for soO, even Smix was barely able to hold out her tears during the interview.
Dude wins 2 starleagues and we call him a Kong?
Yeah, this is like 'group of death' degenerating to mean just 'strongest group'. There's a narrative and someone needs to be beaten into shape to fit it.
Well, that single victory was drowning in a sea of heartbreaking defeats. After IEM he is no more a Kong, just as Stats definitely does not belong to the line.
Interview after the match has to be one of the greatest moments in Starcraft history if you have been following this game from the beginning of SC2. First we got Serral winning at Blizzcon and now this. We are spoiled.
On March 04 2019 05:36 RaFox17 wrote: Interview after the match has to be one of the greatest moments in Starcraft history if you have been following this game from the beginning of SC2. First we got Serral winning at Blizzcon and now this. We are spoiled.
I totally agree. I don't remember when was the last time I reacted so emotionally during the aftergame interview. I will remember this moment as one of the biggest highlights of the whole Starcraft legacy.
On March 04 2019 02:58 Veluvian wrote: Got to admit that my eyes filled with tears today. What an amazing career! What an incredible personality! In the very beginning of the migration of the Kespa teams, soO used to be Ro16 player in Code S, but then in 2013 he reforged his talant. Back then I didn't like him. I was a Soulkey fan (still I am) but soO was just another arrogant zerg who used to give very decisive interviews how he would desroy anyone and I gladly observed how my favorite protosses dealt with him. But simultaneously soO proved what he was made of. His second final against Zest is one of the best finals in GSL history! I realized that he is different and really hyper talented and balanced macro zerg genius in HotS era. I remember a match in Ro16 against Parting who tried any kind of quick timing attacks and proxy cheeses. soO made him look pathetic! And everything was changed. No matter who is facing - favorites or no favorites, soO always impressed me. And he grew up and started learn from his mistakes. He started smiling more often, no trace of arrogance, then I realized that he was always a cool guy, and those interviews in the past was just a part of Korean funny attitude and dialogues, only showing some fake rivalries, nothing personal, nothing serious, just for the fun and the sport aggression. And all this long way from unliking him in the deep past from getting so emotional with every his match up until today when I cried after his victory. soO got some incredible ZvZ almost two years ago against Dark (another of my favorites) in Ro16 in GSL Code S, one of the best ZvZ's ever!!! To be honest, soO is probably not the best player right now, but he showed the maximum of his form by beating the best player Serral (being best player doesn't mean that you got to win every time). And have to say that Stats played very poorly after 2:0. Like after 2:0 and the first break he went outside the hall, may be visiting the bathroom and he suddenly changed. soO became the well balanced and defending Stats - they practically exchanged their roles.
OMG i think i know exactly which match against parting you were talking about. i had always thought parting and his soul train were super overrated and i was cheering against him, and then in comes soo and he smashes him so hard. i hadn't even heard of him before then, so to me that was his debut. and i remember thinking, HA i knew parting was overrated he lost to some random faceless korean zerg! who knew this random faceless korean zerg would make me cry today
I think stats may feel a little bad for coming on second place again, but being the way that he is and being one of the nicest players I've seen. He really didn't look devastated or frustrated.
He didn't look deep in thought either. It's like he's genuinely happier that one of his friends finally broke the curse than sad that he lost.
Won't lie, I got teary. I haven't felt this way since Byun won the GSL. What a story. Those emotions at the end...he got emotional, Smix got emotional, the Twitch chat became emotional. His emotional speech about rallying up the last bits of his being when down 0-2... just WOW. The man slayed a monster in Serral and then made an epic comeback at a moment he usually falters without hope.
EPT
