Road to BlizzCon 2019: Rogue (#6 WCS Korea)

Sorry Not Sorry

by Orlok and Wax

Out of all the contestants heading into BlizzCon this year, Rogue is without a doubt the one most undeserving. After yet two more seasons of failing to get past the Code S quarterfinals, he finally took advantage of a favorable Zerg meta to win the championship in Season 3. It's just like the time he won BlizzCon off the Hydra-Bane meta back in 2017, going so far as to rob soO of his rightful title in the process. Rogue even flaunts his dastardly nature to our faces, admitting Zerg is OP and asking us what we're gonna do about it.


Just kidding.

Rogue, despite all the TL.net community jokes about his 'PatchZerg' status, has long been vindicated as worthy champion. Following Rogue's Nydus-powered 4-0 stomp of Trap in the Code S Season 3 finals, Mizenhauer gave us a detailed breakdown of how Rogue has always been a quirky player with an aggressive streak. As it turns out, Rogue was going to see "Nydus and the Swarm Hosts" play at dingy underground venues long before they went mainstream in 2019 (with their #1 hit single "KREAAAAARRRGGHHHHH"), making his only real crime the fact that he is a hipster. In other words: don't hate the player—hate the game.



It’s one thing to see the logical weaknesses behind an opponent, but it’s a lot harder to successfully and consistently attack those weaknesses. Like the other pillar of Korean Zerg in Dark, Rogue has the confidence, intelligence, and killer-instinct to take these 'easy' wins on the regular. It's been mass speedlings and and proxy-hatches in certain eras, and roach-ravager all-ins in others. Rogue has no trouble looking for some outside inspiration if it results in a win. After using pre-buff Nydus Worms to devastating effect in his IEM Katowice championship run, Rogue said he had just iterated upon some strong looking builds Elazer had used at the same tournament.

Rogue doesn't always play at the same level as his finals beatdown as Trap, far from it. His path to the finals had a particularly ugly step, where he just barely scrapped by Zest in the quarterfinals. But once he hit the semifinal round, and more importantly, best-of-sevens, it was smooth sailing for Rogue as he handily defeated both Dark and Trap. Rogue himself directly addressed his strength in the BO7 format, mentioning he had yet to lose such a match in a major offline tournament. Indeed, there's no player in recent history—maybe even overall StarCraft II history—who's been better than Rogue in such a setting. IEM Shanghai finals, Super Tournament finals, BlizzCon finals, IEM World Championship finals, Code S semifinals, Code S grand finals: he's currently 6-0 and counting. Even among the all-time greats, this is an absurd record. INnoVation (14-3 in BO7) infamously gave up a reverse sweep to Soulkey in his first Code S finals. sOs actually has a losing record at 7-9, despite winning the absolutely biggest series at BlizzCon and the IEM World Championship. Even Mvp, the legendary King of Wings, lost two key Code S finals to MMA and Life.

Rogue's prowess in such matches circles back to his aggressive tendencies. In the latest season of Code S, he spoke about how BO5's have sometimes prevented him from making the daring plays that are such big part of his identity, as he was afraid to lose even a single map due to a bad gamble. While the other half of his identity—that of a top-class macro player—is often enough to see him through, that alone doesn't give us the full Rogue experience. It's when Rogue mixes up all-ins, blind-counters, and straight-up games that he becomes the fully powered version of himself, freezing his opponents with the fear that he could do anything at any moment. It's what makes him an even better version of Dark at his best, and the reason why he's the one who happens to have a BlizzCon championship to his name. Rogue needs to win four more BO5's before he can play in the biggest BO7 of the year. But if he can reach that point, all bets are off—even against the infamous ZvZ duo from the Circuit.



Can Rogue make it to the finals? Life, just like StarCraft II, is all about timing. And just like in StarCraft II, Rogue seems to know when to strike at the right time. When he won BlizzCon back in 2017, he spent half the year achieving little of note before become a legend in the fall. Even last year, where he seemed to be sleepwalking his way through the GSL after winning IEM Katowice early on, he was able to step up his play at the Global Finals and achieve a top-four finish.

The same pattern is playing out this year. While there are plenty of other stories being talked up, such as the long rain-check on Maru versus Serral, or the last stand of a veteran like Classic, Rogue also comes to BlizzCon with a chance to make history. He and Serral are the only former champions at the tournament—if either one wins, they will join sOs in having achieved the incredible feat of winning two WCS Global Championships. Considering how those two wins have secured sOs' legendary status no matter his current form, it would be a priceless achievement for a player like Rogue. Despite all his skill, his emotional resonance among fans still lags behind that of Dark, soO, or even permanently banned players. A second BlizzCon title, especially if his road included beating the defending world champion in Serral, would re-order the all-time Zerg rankings for good. And even outside the personal stakes for Rogue, Korea's reclaiming of StarCraft’s biggest championship would complete one of the oddest redemption arcs ever, with the fallen empire rising from the ashes to restore its domination over the world. Now, we can only wait and see if Rogue can go 7-0 in BO7's to weave his name into the tapestry of StarCraft II once more.