When ThorZaIN qualified for the TSL, I tried to explain my reservations about the qualifiers to Plexa on MSN. "I just don't know," I wrote, "I watch the TLOpen and I feel like some of these guys are doing things that I could do. I mean, the guy who qualified today, is he any good? He didn't seem to be anything special." "Thorzain?" asked Plexa, "Yeah, he's really good."
I wanted to believe him at the time, but I didn't really believe it. I wanted to convince myself that ThorZaIN stood a chance, and that the awesomeness of his name would be reciprocated by awesome play. But ThorZaIN, who was last seen not advancing from his Dreamhack group, was a black box. Between his semi-final appearance in TLOpen #1, and his qualification in TLOpen #5, ThorZaIN had gotten bumped out of the TLOpens before reaching the series stage. And his handle was absent from any other competition. Between his qualification and the opening day of the TSL, he was nowhere to be seen.
Who was this kid, and why is he here? I liquibet Fruitdealer.
I could not watch the first day of the TSL live. But when I watched ThorZaIN's opening sets against Fruitdealer, I had a huge banana grin on my face, that slowly dropped until I looked like Edvard Munch's 'The Scream', with my mouth wide open and my hands cupping my face. ThorZaIN wasn't stale or gimmicky. He was exquisitely prepared. He was flawless.
And then doubt crept in again. Koreans began to drop like flies. The foreign scene was mounting a stiff defense, and suddenly ThorZaIN's workmanlike defeat of Fruitdealer was obscured by Adelscott's flashy destruction of MVP, and QXC's heroic perseverance against Genius. Suddenly, ThorZaIN's exceptional play aquired asterisk after asterisk. Fruitdealer had long been slumping. Fruitdealer was unused to the lag. Fruitdealer was playing a broken match-up.
And so, three weeks later, ThorZaIN had to prove himself once more against the reigning TSL champion and fan favorite Liquid'Tyler. I liquibet Tyler. This time, ThorZaIN's victory had some savagery to it. In the final game on Metalopolis, ThorZaIN ended up with upgraded bio units against upgraded gateway units unsupported by tech. It was a massacre. Yet again, doubts crept in. Tyler had looked completely out of sorts. And ThorZaIN's next opponent was MC. MC!
I liquibet MC.
There's nothing for me to add about that series that hasn't already been typed in all caps with exclamation points. But I shouldn't have been surprised. The TSL has always been different. The TSL does not treat the usual suspects kindly. Every TSL has been largely defined by the new players, the closet gosus who fly under everyone's radar until it's too late. The open qualification invites this. The preparation time invites this. For players like ThorZaIN, this was the opportunity to distinguish themselves. Who knows when that opportunity would've come again?
For the semi-finals, I liquibet ThorZaIN. No matter that his weakest match-up was TvT. No matter that Kas was a TvT beast. I changed my IRC name to "Thorhugger". I spammed variations of "THORZAIN!!!" I briefly considered going to the Thor movie. And in five fantastic games, ThorZaIN had won once again.
Both players in the TSL finals, have made tremendous turnarounds in the Pokerstrategy.com TSL3. For ThorZaIN, he has gone from a complete unknown to a hero for tens of thousands of fans. He has gone from ranked as an afterthought to considered one of the world's premier terrans. His play has triggered admirers, copycats, countless frustrated opponents, and even a crucial change in a balance patch.
And this weekend, in New York, he will meet his toughest challenge yet. To turn 'TSL finalist' into 'TSL Champion'.
-- tree.hugger
Cheerful by eXplod3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw518RCm4AA
"Wow, I didn't know who thorzain was, but from today on..."
-- Korean Netizen
Wikipedia says "In Norse polytheism, Thor (from Old Norse Þórr) is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind." In Starcraft 2, ThorZain is a 250 mm Strike Cannon wielding god associated with macro, micro, cloaked ghosts dropping EMPs to prevent psi storms, destruction, SCV repairing, and the protection of foreigners against an over-arrogant Protoss.
ThorZain FIGHTING!
-- Achille5
i'd scream for ThorZaIN like a little girl infront of Justin Bieber if i met him RL!
'What score will ThorZain win with?' sickest poll ever:D Hahah:D awesome write-up really made me got a lot more hyped atleast, tho I have seen him around since beta.
Go go Thorzain, i was originally cheering for qxc but well, he isn't there, you are and you conquered many fans while climbing your way to TSL finals, i'm one of them.
Would love to see a 4-3 game but Voted 4-2. Hopefully Thorzain can prove himself, if he doesn't win it will be a really sad day seeing as he has been the king of upsets this tournament.
A sensible person would vote for a 4-3 win, 4-2 or even for Naniwa's win. But a sane person would have voted for fruitdealer. And for tyler. And MC. And Kas. It's a 4-0 coming up. No question about it.
I've voted against Thorzain every time, same reasons for the first 3 rounds but hoping that by voting against him I was jinxing Kas. I've done the same for the finals, you can't win if I bet for you naniwa! =P
Naniwa is favored, but I'm rooting for Thorzain. If Thorzain wins, its gunna be 4-3. If Naniwa wins its going to be a 4-1 smashing. THORZAIN FIGHTING!!!!
I hope that in the first three games, ThorZaIN will win by so much that he'll leave the game early and give NaNiwa those three wins. That way I can watch ThorZaIN roll a Protoss seven times instead of just four, which is how many games it would take him to beat NaNiwa.
Anyone who followed the WC3 scene knew ThorZaIN had a decent shot at winning versus FruitDealer. You were surprised by your own ignorance. Comments like "who is this kid?" are ignorant and disrespectful since he was already well-known before SC2.
On May 13 2011 21:00 Lennon wrote: Anyone who followed the WC3 scene knew ThorZaIN had a decent shot at winning versus FruitDealer. You were surprised by your own ignorance. Comments like "who is this kid?" are ignorant and disrespectful since he was already well-known before SC2.
Admittedly, I didn't think he'd win versus MC.
I believe most people making the 'who is this kid?' comment are using it as a joke as many of us have never heard of Thorzain before this. We're not using it as an insult, we're using it in amazement.
On May 13 2011 21:00 Lennon wrote: Anyone who followed the WC3 scene knew ThorZaIN had a decent shot at winning versus FruitDealer. You were surprised by your own ignorance. Comments like "who is this kid?" are ignorant and disrespectful since he was already well-known before SC2.
Admittedly, I didn't think he'd win versus MC.
I believe most people making the 'who is this kid?' comment are using it as a joke as many of us have never heard of Thorzain before this. We're not using it as an insult, we're using it in amazement.
I gotta agree though. I just didnt know it was the same Thorzane. I thought it was a different player with a simulare name^^
On May 13 2011 21:00 Lennon wrote: Anyone who followed the WC3 scene knew ThorZaIN had a decent shot at winning versus FruitDealer. You were surprised by your own ignorance. Comments like "who is this kid?" are ignorant and disrespectful since he was already well-known before SC2.
Admittedly, I didn't think he'd win versus MC.
I gave him like a 40% chance or so against Fruitdealer based on all the information I had: - I had never heard of him - Fruitdealer's been relatively bad since he won GSL1 - He had to be at least decent since he won a TLOpen with several big, recognizable names
Being able to judge for myself, after seeing him dismantle FD & Tyler, I predicted him to win against MC. Picked up a bunch of liquibet points on that one and on the one against Kas.
I'm looking forward to some more gosu ghost usage, especially with the buff! I WAS UNFAITHFUL, I ADMIT IT. I think I liquibet against Thorzain every time (even against Kas... Kas's TvT looked too good?!?). .. until now. I'VE LEARNED MY LESSON. FORGIVE ME!
Such a sick finals, every single game was amazing! Words cannot describe how impressed I was with Naniwa's play and how even more impressed I was with Thorzain for for playing just as well and managing to stage the 1-3 comeback to take the grand finals. So. Fucking. Epic.