"I am here to announce my retirement today. I will be serving my mandatory military service in October. I wanted to give one last shot at a title in one of the premier tournaments before doing so. Although it’s disappointing that I wasn’t able to accomplish it, I am glad that I got the opportunity to meet many pro players, staff members, and fans. The experience that I had with all of the mentioned above will remain as valuable memories to me. I will never forget such experiences and my career as a professional Starcraft 2 player. I appreciate the support that you have given to me and I hope our paths cross again one day"
Given that it's military service, I'm just glad he ended up satisfied with his sc2 career. Hopefully he moves onto something greater in the future; it was always a pleasure to watch him play.
For a short time, he was the best player in the world. Farewell Dear ! It will be tough for the protoss race. And what about Zest, he has to go soon too right ?
Oh no, this is two years too early. Sad to see him go but you can understand why he would call it quits now - the Dear skill graph has become inaccurate as of late.
Losing Classic and herO last year, and then Dear, Stats, and Zest this year. Welp.
On August 17 2020 17:41 sneakyfox wrote: Oh no, this is two years too early. Sad to see him go but you can understand why he would call it quits now - the Dear skill graph has become inaccurate as of late.
Losing Classic and herO last year, and then Dear, Stats, and Zest this year. Welp.
Welp indeed. Hopefully the remaining Protoss can step it up.
It's hard to watch this skill drain of Korean SC2 (not just Protoss) even though we knew it was coming. The gap is closing yay :/
This sucks. I did have a bad feeling Dear was gonna retire when he didn't join a new team after leaving KZ.
Dear is probably a top 10 protoss of all time and even if he hasn't been playing at his former level for a while, he's still one of the few toss players capable of making ro16 and even ro8 in Code S. With him gone and Zest and Stats presumably going to the military soon too, there will only be 3 relevant protosses in Korea...
Mandatory military service has decimated the korean protoss scene. How soon until stats zest follows the likes of classic, hero, and dear? They're both 28.
On August 17 2020 17:41 sneakyfox wrote: Oh no, this is two years too early. Sad to see him go but you can understand why he would call it quits now - the Dear skill graph has become inaccurate as of late.
Losing Classic and herO last year, and then Dear, Stats, and Zest this year. Welp.
Welp indeed. Hopefully the remaining Protoss can step it up.
It's hard to watch this skill drain of Korean SC2 (not just Protoss) even though we knew it was coming. The gap is closing yay :/
Yea, and it's even harder when they go earlier than they need to. Dear could have played for two more years.
Still, I guess we just have to accept that this is the way it's going to be for the foreseeable future. In a sense there is no use in getting depressed every time a player retires when we can already see it coming.
On August 17 2020 17:41 sneakyfox wrote: Oh no, this is two years too early. Sad to see him go but you can understand why he would call it quits now - the Dear skill graph has become inaccurate as of late.
Losing Classic and herO last year, and then Dear, Stats, and Zest this year. Welp.
Welp indeed. Hopefully the remaining Protoss can step it up.
It's hard to watch this skill drain of Korean SC2 (not just Protoss) even though we knew it was coming. The gap is closing yay :/
Yea, and it's even harder when they go earlier than they need to. Dear could have played for two more years.
Still, I guess we just have to accept that this is the way it's going to be for the foreseeable future. In a sense there is no use in getting depressed every time a player retires when we can already see it coming.
Maybe it is related to his health issues he had recently? Anyways really sad
Wish Dear all the best! He had some periods of beast mode, sadly mouz did ruin that and Dear never really got his old magic back after that.
In regards to a possible return, I think most players going to military service retire without a plan for going back, The decision to make a come back or return to the scene in some other role is something that only be made after knowing the state of the scene and seeing if you can regain top GM form after release.
Dear - the protoss who showed for a first time some top macro toss gameplay back in 2013. Especially his PvT is legendary for its time and incredibly scary. I saw glimpses of a long macro games earlier by Seed and Liquid Hero for a first time, but Dear was the first who clearly showed the future of the protoss players who later dominated especially in Korea. Rain of course did the same but back then Dear was beating everybody for a period of 4 months until Jaedong stopped him at Blizzcon. What Dear actually started, Zest later turned it into doctrine. And also Dear was three times semi-finalist in Code S in a row which is still a great achievement of consistency. That happened in the end of 2015 and the whole 2016.
On August 17 2020 22:19 Veluvian wrote: Dear - the protoss who showed for a first time some top macro toss gameplay back in 2013. Especially his PvT is legendary for its time and incredibly scary. I saw glimpses of a long macro games earlier by Seed and Liquid Hero for a first time, but Dear was the first who clearly showed the future of the protoss players who later dominated especially in Korea. Rain of course did the same but back then Dear was beating everybody for a period of 4 months until Jaedong stopped him at Blizzcon. What Dear actually started, Zest later turned it into doctrine. And also Dear was three times semi-finalist in Code S in a row which is still a great achievement of consistency. That happened in the end of 2015 and the whole 2016.
For sure, great player in his heyday. Dropped to merely a good player but had one hell of a career
On August 17 2020 17:41 sneakyfox wrote: Oh no, this is two years too early. Sad to see him go but you can understand why he would call it quits now - the Dear skill graph has become inaccurate as of late.
Losing Classic and herO last year, and then Dear, Stats, and Zest this year. Welp.
Welp indeed. Hopefully the remaining Protoss can step it up.
It's hard to watch this skill drain of Korean SC2 (not just Protoss) even though we knew it was coming. The gap is closing yay :/
Yea, and it's even harder when they go earlier than they need to. Dear could have played for two more years.
Still, I guess we just have to accept that this is the way it's going to be for the foreseeable future. In a sense there is no use in getting depressed every time a player retires when we can already see it coming.
Maybe it is related to his health issues he had recently? Anyways really sad
You certainly can't blame him for wanting to get the military over with when he's in a time of injuries and bad performances (and meta) anyway.
Another hit to the Protoss race. Not many top tier players left. Hopefully Astrea can step up in GSL and new Protoss players emerge. Otherwise we're going to be seeing a lot more ZvZ, TvT, ZvTs and no Protoss matchups
On August 18 2020 13:11 MoonyD wrote: Another hit to the Protoss race. Not many top tier players left. Hopefully Astrea can step up in GSL and new Protoss players emerge. Otherwise we're going to be seeing a lot more ZvZ, TvT, ZvTs and no Protoss matchups
What we have after this year are sOs, patience, trap, creator, prince, parting,zoun and super. Non of them beside trap looks promising. Sad
Saw Dear play against Soulkey in Toronto years ago. Talented player who has been very entertaining to watch. Good luck to you in the future Dear, appreciated your talent.
EPT
(hopefully some ppl can step up)
