On August 18th, ByuN announced the completion of his eighteen month mandatory military service with a short tweet: "ByuN is back." Three months later, ByuN defeated Maru 4-2 in the finals of ASUS ROG Online, winning the first championship of his post-military career.
Back in September, ByuN's almost instant return to the GSL Code S round-of-16 suggested he might be the strongest military 'returner' yet. Still, few could have expected his tour de force showing at ASUS ROG Online.
ByuN kicked things off by taking out Reynor 3-2 in a thrilling series, and then proceeded to beat Stats 3-1 to top his group. Things didn't get any easier for ByuN in the quarterfinals, as he drew the other top European Zerg in Serral (who had a lower seed after an upset loss to ShoWTimE in the group stages). ByuN topped his earlier performance against Reynor with an even more electrifying 3-2 victory against the Finnish Phenom, clinching victory on Romanticide after almost mining out the entire map. In both series, ByuN looked like an absolute monster in late-game TvZ, using Ghosts and Mines to take incredibly efficient trades and win slow wars of attrition.
ByuN got a minor reprieve in the semifinals, sweeping Solar in a series where the Zerg barely got a chance to even see the Terran natural (an undeservedly one-sided end for Solar, who had defeated Maru, Clem, and PartinG earlier on). Then, it was finally time for ByuN to face Maru.
Maru was actually the player who had ended ByuN's comeback GSL run in the RO16, shutting down ByuN's aggressive, mid-game Marine-Tank style before finishing him off with mass Ravens. This time around, ByuN was able to prevent Maru from activating turtle-mode, forcing the games to early/mid-game conclusions with constant action. The finals came to an end on Pillars of Gold, with ByuN narrowly holding off Maru's proxy-Reapers and follow-up all-in to collect the last GG of the tournament. Three months after concluding his military service, and four years after lifting the trophy at BlizzCon 2016, ByuN was a champion once more.
Surprisingly, ByuN almost failed to qualify for ASUS ROG at all, barely claiming the final qualifier spot with a narrow 2-1 victory against Elazer. If ByuN had not gotten a safety bunker down in the final set, or if Elazer had microed his Ravagers just a bit better, we may never have seen ByuN's incredible ASUS ROG run. ByuN himself was humble in the post-finals interview, saying he was very "lucky" to win. But BYuN did allow himself a moment of cheeky confidence as well, saying his upcoming Super Tournament 2 opponent Dark was a very powerful player, but still predicting himself to come out on top.
The Super Tournament will be quite important for ByuN as he looks to secure a spot at IEM Katowice. Winning ASUS ROG awarded ByuN with not just $6,000 in prize money, but 250 precious EPT points that place him just beneath the Katowice cutoff in the Korea's point rankings. While there are some unusual variables in the Korean rankings that might make ByuN's qualification easier, he'll surely want to control his own destiny and 100% confirm his spot with strong performances in his remaining tournaments.
Besides ByuN's triumphant return to international StarCraft, the broader story of ASUS ROG was of how Korea salvaged some pride after a humiliating DreamHack Winter performance two weeks prior. Back then, four out of six Korean representatives failed to even make it out of the group stage. At ASUS ROG, the world warriors were the ones falling short of expectations (which may have been overinflated from Dreamhack), with Clem going out in the group stages after losing to Maru and Solar, Serral losing in the aforementioned quarterfinal clash with ByuN, while Reynor was stopped by Maru in the semifinals (a highly entertaining series that was overshadowed by ByuN vs Serral). Still, with the ByuN vs. Serral and Maru vs. Reynor series both going the distance, ASUS ROG left us with some rather interesting "what-if's" headed into the next major international of TeamLiquid Starleague 6.
Realy glad for Byun, while I didn t watch the final, I m still glad he won in the end, this is a great sign for every Player, currently in the militarry. Lets hope Byun makes it to Kotowice now, he realy deserves it
All the Four Horsemen of Terran really fit the title by their own rights. Clem, Taeja, Cure and Gumiho should work hard in order to be placed in the greatest list of the top Terran players ever.
This was just an entertaining tournament all around. Watching Byun and Maru take on late game zerg was amazing, offline Maru finally showing up online, and Byun winning was a brilliant ending to a great weekend of sc2.
That game 5 of Byun vs Serral did cost me a bunch of fingernails for sure! Great series and even greater victory from Byun!
Disappointing performances by Protoss :/ Why doesn't Protoss more often play like Harstem did? His series vs Maru was great! Him coming so close to defeating Maru makes me think Protoss is actually in a good place but then all other Protoss really fall short
Another new champion this year. When was the last time we had so many different players who could be considered the best? Katowice is going to be sick!
Now we just need a protons champ... yeah okay lol jk
There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Serral and Reynor will adapt and Byun's weaknesses will be exploited but wow it was fun to watch Byun take them down.
People will look solely at results when deciding the GOAT but one guy with passion lasting over 10 years that just sits in his room and plays his fucking heart out for 12 hours a day till his wrists bleed. He took on Kespa teams in 2016 and European zergs (who are as organized as a Kespa team) in 2020 with predictable and suboptimal openers but made it work through sheer talent and force of will.
For this reason Byun will always be GOAT for me. His style is just remarkable - it's so damn exciting and watchable.
On December 01 2020 02:23 1gragequit wrote: There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Oh god we're really back in the era where ByuN doing literally anything gets him praised as showing the best micro of all time in any game ever.
On December 01 2020 02:23 1gragequit wrote: There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Serral and Reynor will adapt and Byun's weaknesses will be exploited but wow it was fun to watch Byun take them down.
People will look solely at results when deciding the GOAT but one guy with passion lasting over 10 years that just sits in his room and plays his fucking heart out for 12 hours a day till his wrists bleed. He took on Kespa teams in 2016 and European zergs (who are as organized as a Kespa team) in 2020 with predictable and suboptimal openers but made it work through sheer talent and force of will.
For this reason Byun will always be GOAT for me. His style is just remarkable - it's so damn exciting and watchable.
that was beautiful to read. well said. life will always be the goat, but byun surely is close second for me.
On December 01 2020 02:23 1gragequit wrote: There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Serral and Reynor will adapt and Byun's weaknesses will be exploited but wow it was fun to watch Byun take them down.
People will look solely at results when deciding the GOAT but one guy with passion lasting over 10 years that just sits in his room and plays his fucking heart out for 12 hours a day till his wrists bleed. He took on Kespa teams in 2016 and European zergs (who are as organized as a Kespa team) in 2020 with predictable and suboptimal openers but made it work through sheer talent and force of will.
For this reason Byun will always be GOAT for me. His style is just remarkable - it's so damn exciting and watchable.
that was beautiful to read. well said. life will always be the goat, but byun surely is close second for me.
Life is like Maradona. I was thinking a crazy idea the other day with my colleagues at work. If kespa is dead than life ban should be dismissed. I was actually thinking why not make a crowd funding. I can easily rise 50k and make a tournament league to bring life back to pro, but as a foreigner outside kespa. It would be the kind of think sc2 needs to resurrect.
Life is like Maradona. I was thinking a crazy idea the other day with my colleagues at work. If kespa is dead than life ban should be dismissed. I was actually thinking why not make a crowd funding. I can easily rise 50k and make a tournament league to bring life back to pro, but as a foreigner outside kespa. It would be the kind of think sc2 needs to resurrect.
I simply cannot understand people like you. I hope the starcraft-community boycotts any tournement which includes cheaters/matchfixers. People like them should never again be able to play professionaly at all, at any point in their lives. Same for doping-cheater in other sports btw. In my opinion its the only chance to keep sports somewhat fair and clean.
While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
Serral winning 2 tournaments this year sure sounds like he wins most of the time. Reynor as well with his one tournament win. They are undisputed GOATs for sure !
On December 01 2020 02:23 1gragequit wrote: There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Oh god we're really back in the era where ByuN doing literally anything gets him praised as showing the best micro of all time in any game ever.
On December 01 2020 02:23 1gragequit wrote: There's no player like Byun. He is the only one that can make old school SC2 with aggressive, sometimes foolish strategies work. A style that relies on micro and instinct with unique flair rather than copying the meta very carefully. It's something that has been missed with new players that are just fantastic all rounders.
I think Serral and Reynor were both a bit bewildered by Byun's micro ability - fights that they would normally win were one-sided because Byun's micro is on a different level to every other Terran.
Serral and Reynor will adapt and Byun's weaknesses will be exploited but wow it was fun to watch Byun take them down.
People will look solely at results when deciding the GOAT but one guy with passion lasting over 10 years that just sits in his room and plays his fucking heart out for 12 hours a day till his wrists bleed. He took on Kespa teams in 2016 and European zergs (who are as organized as a Kespa team) in 2020 with predictable and suboptimal openers but made it work through sheer talent and force of will.
For this reason Byun will always be GOAT for me. His style is just remarkable - it's so damn exciting and watchable.
that was beautiful to read. well said. life will always be the goat, but byun surely is close second for me.
Let me tell you, he was my favorite player when he was active, but FUCK that guy!!! He single handed ruined the scene.... seriously, let's stop mentioning that little bitch....
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
Serral winning 2 tournaments this year sure sounds like he wins most of the time. Reynor as well with his one tournament win. They are undisputed GOATs for sure !
Maru won KoB, Inno won nothing this year. What's your point?
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
Serral winning 2 tournaments this year sure sounds like he wins most of the time. Reynor as well with his one tournament win. They are undisputed GOATs for sure !
Maru won KoB, Inno won nothing this year. What's your point?
Maru won the first Super Tournament and KoB. I dare to say ST is bigger than KoB
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
Serral winning 2 tournaments this year sure sounds like he wins most of the time. Reynor as well with his one tournament win. They are undisputed GOATs for sure !
Maru won KoB, Inno won nothing this year. What's your point?
On December 01 2020 21:45 syndbg wrote: While it's cool to circlejerk old pros, let's be real.
Life is not the GOAT when you see the competition that Serral faces nowadays and still comes out on top (most of the time). You also have Reynor who is on the rise and contesting hard the #1 spot.
Serral winning 2 tournaments this year sure sounds like he wins most of the time. Reynor as well with his one tournament win. They are undisputed GOATs for sure !
Maru won KoB, Inno won nothing this year. What's your point?
and TY? Rogue?
Don't know. I thought we just throw random stuff around.
Finally managed to catch up with all the VODs and wow what a treat this tournament was!! My thoughts:
- So happy to see BuyN come back and do THIS. Top performance and a very deserved trophy - I am (still) a fan!
- The Serral vs BuyN series was absolutely awesome and game 5 must have been one of the best this year! A real display of why Sc2 can be one of the best spectator E-sports!
- Lambos casting added a lot to the insights and viewer experience - really enjoyed that. Danke schön Lambo!
- Protoss still a DED race Final two eliminated in RO8 without a single map win. Will catch up on the super tournament the next few days (I'm way behind at the moment) and hoping for a Toss Christmas miracle there (yeah right)...
EPT
ASUS ROG Online 2020![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/asusrog/rogonlinegroups2.png)
Final two eliminated in RO8 without a single map win. Will catch up on the super tournament the next few days (I'm way behind at the moment) and hoping for a Toss Christmas miracle there (yeah right)...
