EPT
Today marks the 29th birthday of Lim Yo hwan, known and loved by us all as
SlayerS_`BoxeR`, the Emperor.![[image loading]](http://boxerforever.com/images/img_memorable2.jpg)
While technically he doesn't turn one year older today due to the way the korean age system works, I still wanted to take this chance to say happy birthday.
It may not be original nor unexpected to state BoxeR as one's favorite progamer, but the truth is that there really is noone quite like him.
I bought StarCraft back in the early first few years of the new millenia, and played it casually. At first I had no idea that there existed such a thing as a korean proscene and I thought that StarCraft was a game just like every other one. How wrong I was.
Then in 2005 I got a job at a local newspaper station and I met a fellow StarCraft player who had a lot more insight in the game than I had. We talked a bit about how good the best StarCraft players might be and he mentioned someone I would come to remember as [Slayer], pronounced Box Slayer.
Now that I think back on it I understand that it must have been SlayerS_`BoxeR` that he mentioned. I had jokingly asked if the best gamers of the world could defeat me with just using SCVs. My work colleague had replied:
– He has SCV-rushed his opponent and won.
Never before had SCVs seemed so powerful.
Indeed he has. Boxer, the largest StarCraft innovator of them all, has done many a thing in StarCraft. The Emperor has always been thinking outside the box(er), if you do pardon the terrible pun.
In 2009, I rediscovered StarCraft and with it, the progaming scene. Thanks to YouTube channels such as nevake and the GOMTV homepage, I quickly fell in love with watching the professionals play.
I saw the massive macro machine that is
Flash, I saw the incredible powerhouse that is 
Jaedong and I saw and heard Tasteless talking about progamers of old. But no matter how much StarCraft I watch and how many players make their mark on my memory, nobody comes near the Emperor.He seems to be playing, not only to win, but also to create entertaining games for his viewers.
Some games where short and intense
while others where long and epic
but they all had one thing in common: You never knew what to expect.
With Boxer, one can only expect the unexpected. He's playing style is so unique, so innovative and so, if I may say so, crazy that it's almost a surprise when he plays standard play!
If he wins or loses doesn't really matter. As long as I get to see him play, I'm happy because I know that it will be a fantastic game.
The outcome doesn't really matter. Boxer makes StarCraft an art.
To me, Boxer represents many things in StarCraft. He represents innovation and evolution of the game, better than any other player does.
Boxer also represents a time past. A time where gamers laughed and actually showed emotion when they won. One of my favorite StarCraft games is in fact a casual game between Boxer and
JinNam where the aim was to use micro to win. Boxer started with seven Vultures and a Siege Tank while Jinnam stared with eight Dragoons.Just look at them laugh and look all excited.
I guess I could go on and on for ever just posting VODs of great Boxer games, but time has come to wrap this all up.
So in conclusion I just want to say happy birthday, Boxer, and thank you for all the entertaining, crazy and innovative games you have brought us all through out the years. I may be a Protoss player, but I still bow down to the Emperor.
/Slugbreath
GTR's OP:
![[image loading]](http://osimage.freechal.com/Data/Image/2008/12/22/200812221647553100_1.jpg)
One more year and you become the first 30 years progamer (in Western standards).
Happy birthday 임요환.
