Road to BlizzCon 2019: Dark (#1 WCS Korea)

Big Dark Energy

by Wax

As a Dark fan, it feels like this should be a time for celebration. The 2019 season of WCS Korea just concluded, and it may very well have been the best one of Dark's career. He finally won that bedeviling Code S title, a focal point for criticism in an otherwise dazzling career. He reached the top four in two Code S tournaments, and managed to finish in the semis of IEM Katowice as well. He wrapped up the 2019 GSL season with one of the most impressive tournament runs in recent memory, defeating defeating Maru, Stats, soO, and TY with a combined 13-2 map score to win Super Tournament 2.

All this has earned Dark the #1 seed from WCS Korea headed into the Global Finals, the second time he's won this honor. We often emphasize how it's the players with momentum who do well at BlizzCon, not necessarily the ones with the best resume on the year—Dark seems to have both angles covered. On top of everything, the Zerg faction seems to be as strong as ever, with top players readily admitting that balance is on their side. Indeed, Dark and his fans should be filled with optimism.


And maybe that IS how most Dark fans feel. But for me, a pall has hung over this entire year, dampening any sense of anticipation or excitement. Even the Code S championship had some of its sense of fulfillment ever-so-slightly diminished. The problem is, all of the expectations for Dark were re-calibrated in 2018, when one Joona Sotala became the best player in StarCraft II.



When Dark met Serral in the quarterfinals of IEM Katowice 2017, they produced one of my favorite series of all time. If TL.net's best games lists are for thrilling blockbusters (and occasional comedy), then this series was an art-house movie about bleakness and futility, etched onto film with acid and blood. For the up-and-coming prodigy from Finland, his mere greatness was simply not enough to contend against Dark's godliness. Dark's 3-0 sweep was the perfect encapsulation of the cruelty and hopelessness of being a foreigner in StarCraft II, and was win number 29 in what would become a 34 match undefeated streak against foreigners.



Future events have only served to make this match all the more meaningful. It's not that it was a galvanizing event—Serral didn't think much of it when I asked him about it. But it feels like an important historical marker, the low point before everything changed forever. Or, from Dark's point of view, it was the high point before the fall.

Dark has never defeated Serral since IEM Katowice 2017. In fact, he's actually been Serral's most high-profile victim since his awakening and ascent to StarCraft II legend in 2018. Twice, Dark was offered up his typical, brash comments before Serral crushed him on the way to historic championships. "I don't know why [other Koreans] lose to foreigners" he said, before losing 1-3 to Serral at GSL vs. The World. "I want to avenge my loss in GSL vs. the World ... I think Serral is the weakest player among [Rogue, Serral, and Maru] so that’s why I want to play Serral." he said, being swept 3-0 by Serral in the quarterfinals of BlizzCon 2018. Dark's head is figuratively mounted to Serral's wall, almost a separate trophy in itself (presumably with the numbers "34-1" engraved on a plaque beneath it).

The reason Serral intrudes so rudely upon Dark's story is because he's why I couldn't be 100% satisfied when Dark finally won Code S. In the past, much of Code S' significance came from the fact that winning the championship made you the de facto best player in the world. And while Code S might still boast the overall most competitive roster and rigorous format of any premiere tournament, Serral's success against Korean players has been so great that it's managed to dull some of its luster. In short: what's the point of winning Code S if it doesn't make you the undisputed, absolute best in the world?

Alright, the money is pretty important, too (just ask INnoVation). But the symbolic value of a championship isn't entirely lost upon progamers (just ask Serral or Neeb). After all, who chases trophies just for the sake of winning trophies?—it's also about earning what they represent. When a young Dark said he wanted to win 10 individual championships back in 2015, the implication wasn't that he liked the decorative value of silverware—it was that he wanted to become the greatest player of all time.

After BlizzCon 2018, Dark's tone on Serral changed considerably. "I'll work harder next year to grow as a player and get better results, and try to take on Serral as the challenger." he wrote on his fan community board. After winning the Super Tournament 2 last week, his reaction was staid, staying diplomatic about his chances of beating Serral in a Global Finals rematch.

Such comments suggest that Dark has never really been so much arrogant as he was simply speaking his mind. Digging up Dark's interview after his very first Proleague win in 2014, I came across this amusingly telling quote:


Indeed, there might have been a time early in Dark's career when he wasn't getting interviewed because he wasn't winning matches, but I imagine he would have been brutally frank about his skill-level if anyone had asked back then. When he felt that he was the best player in StarCraft II, he spoke honestly as one might from that position. And now that it's ceased to be the case, he's admitted as much. After Super Tournament 2, he also spoke matter-of-factly about his priorities: ZvZ, Serral, BlizzCon.

While I'm wary about assuming what's going on inside progamers heads, I think all of this suggests Dark feels as many of his fans feel (or at least as I do). Winning Code S is fantastic. Winning Super Tournament is pretty good, too. But ever since 2018, the path to complete validation was always going to go through Serral. Already, he's missed a chance to atone at WESG. In 2019, the last opportunity to earn that validation will be at BlizzCon.





The 2016 WCS Global Finals already feels like ancient history. 2016 saw Dark continue his growth after a breakout 2015 when he won Proleague rookie-of-the-year, achieving individual success by winning SSL Season 1 and placing runner-up in season 2 (lest one has forgotten the standing of the old StarCraft 2 Starleague, the champion won exactly as much prize money and WCS Korea points as the Code S champion).

Dark headed into the Global Finals as Korea's #1 seed in 2016 as well, having been the best all-around player that year. Alas, Dark turned out to be the antagonist in ByuN's underdog saga—the ultimate story of the right man, in the right place, at the right time, with the right strategy—losing 2-4 in the finals.

I remember vainly thinking at the time 'Dark should have won,' soon followed by 'these chances just don't get gifted to you. It may never come again.' Still, in November of 2016, if I had to pick any player to maintain the consistent excellence required to return to the BlizzCon finals, I would have picked Dark. He was potentially the most complete, all-around excellent Zerg player I had ever seen, and he seemed sure to be able to navigate any meta, patch, or map pool and rise to the top.

Unfortunately, these expectations have only half borne out. He was, indeed, consistently excellent enough to return to the Global Finals in every following year. But his actual results have been nothing to be proud of, at least by the standards of someone aspiring to be the best in the world. In 2017, he was ousted in the group stage by Elazer, a young, break-out star of the WCS Circuit. In 2018 he lost to Serral, who was making a historic run for all of foreigner-kind.

Year after year, It's been the same story: Dark is the fire-breathing dragon in someone else's fairy tale. Even as the 2019 Global Finals beckons as the opportunity for ultimate redemption, I have to wonder whose turn it will be to plunge his sword past Dark's armored scales and into his heart, and by his blood be anointed.

If there's a chance that this year is any different, it will be because Dark is no longer the most terrifying monster in the dungeon. After suffering a shock defeat to Elazer in GSL vs. The World, Dark said he had practiced like crazy. It didn't avail against him Rogue in Code S Season 3, but he still has some time to spare before the Global Finals. Unusual as it may seem, the #1 seed from Korea enters the tournament as the underdog. I hope that this time, he can exit the tournament the hero.