Watermelons in July
Eleven years after its release, the game of Starcraft still stands atop the mighty ladder of RTS games. With its spectacular balance, quick and exciting gameplay, Starcraft has become a game for all to enjoy, from casual gamers to professional gamers to the mere spectators of the eSport. Over the years, the game has vastly changed, from a micro-oriented gameplay to nowadays the standard macro play that everyone seems to use. In the progaming scene, the old have slowly come to fizzle out into mere shadows of their old self. From Yellow to Boxer to iloveoov, the old era has slowly come to an end, not able to keep up with the younger, quicker generation. One by one, these old gamers are reduced to either playing in the Air Force for the Ace team, or relegated to retirement due to injuries or lack of results. However, one progamer stood strong against the newer brood. One chubby, loveable zerg player by the name of JulyZerg aka the God of War.
It's SuperJuly!
JulyZerg burst into the spotlight in late 2003, early 2004, showcasing some of his wicked sick play against Terran and Protoss. Known for being one of the most aggressive zergs, July made a name for himself with his trademark mutalisk micro, unparalleled at the time by other zergs. JulyZerg: "I think my strong point is my control. my weak point is, I do all-in plays often, causing me to have a weak economy therefore its hard for me to play in the late parts of the game. In contrast, instead of control, I play the game focusing on the later parts of the game."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVnPZqBGT40
The God of War shows no mercy against the Red Sniper
The God of War shows no mercy against the Red Sniper
With some of the best small unit micro of his era, JulyZerg went on a sick run, abusing Namja Iyagi in the Gillette OSL to defeat the gorilla iloveoov in a spectacular semifinal. At the time, Oov's TvZ was simply unstoppable as Oov had recorded 27 straight wins in TvZ heading into the finals. Yet July, with his trademark aggression, managed to take down the beast en route to his first OSL victory. While July often fell unnecessarily due to overboard aggression, his trademark aggression perfectly countered Oov's greedy Terran style. Eventually July would go on to defeat Reach 3-1 with his watermelon colored hair and cape to win his first OSL in July.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl8y34NfJKE&feature=player_embedded
Reach is left helpless against July's ZvP
Reach is left helpless against July's ZvP
Victory would not stop for July though. July would make another deep run in the IOPS Starleague, defeating his nemesis GoodFriend in a spectacular comeback in the Semis. However, victory was out of reach for July, as he was stopped in the finals by Nada in rather disappointing fashion. This minor setback would not stop JulyZerg from achieving success. In the next OSL, the EVER 2005 OSL held in July, July ran through the quarters and semis playing ZvT exclusively, dispatching Iris and Xellos to set up another date with GooDFriend. As the two traded games in the first four sets, the match eventually wound up going to the final game on Forte, a map on which GooDFriend had already won on.
As the game started, July opened with a 3 hatch muta build against GoodFriend's 2 rax, 1 fact opening. As GoodFriend quickly pushed and applied pressure on July's nat, July hastily erects sunken colonies to stall for his mutas. With July's third falling to MnM and Tank fire, July is reduced to simply a handful of mutas against 3 tanks and a control group and a half of MnM. Despite being under constant pressure the entire game, July manages to fend off the GoodFriend's aggressive pushes with some spectacular mutalisk micro and an eventual mutaling attack. As July cleared, the crowd cheered, and devastating finishing blow of stop lurkers, GooDFriend could only sigh and cry and watch as his shot of winning the OSL just went down the drain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkwzAauHRXw&feature=player_embedded
Victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat
Victory is snatched from the jaws of defeat
With another OSL in the bag, July sought out the prestigious Golden Mouse in the Shinhan2005 OSL. However, he would be stopped short by his archrival iloveoov in the finals. With the arrival of a new bonjwa in Savior, JulyZerg's reign as the premiere zerg player of the day came to a halt. July would experience a brief slump in the individual leagues, but still managed to be a productive player in Proleague. In a decisive match against iloveoov in the SKY Proleague Grand Finals, July would defeat his archrival with simply speedlings. As always, July's aggressive style had always given Oov issues. Opening with a quick CC after rax, Oov was punished by an aggressive ling attack by July, forcing Oov to eventually tap out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdIlgp0LGNY
Who knew? July can be BM too
Who knew? July can be BM too
Aided by July's critical win against SKT's Ace player, MBC was able to win the Proleague Grand Finals over SKT. As time went by, July's success overall began to dip, as he could no longer ZvT hold his own in ZvT or ZvZ. However, his ZvP still remained top notch, which allowed him to eventually secure his golden mouse in the EVER 2008 OSL, also held in July.
Playing almost ZvP exclusively on his way to the finals, July dispatched PvZ failures Rock and Backho with ease to set up a date in the finals against the red hot Best. The red hot Best had just come off his spectacular come from behind victory against Luxury in the semis, coming back from an 0-2 deficit to win 3-2. Deemed as the Devil's Apprentice with almost god like macro, many wrote off the old schooler July, saying that had no chance at keeping up with Best in a macro game. However, with experience on his side, July sent Best on the rollercoaster ride of his life. Opening with a 5 pool against Best on Othello in Game 1, July sent Best into a state of disbelief, messing with his mindset. Despite Best playing rather well in response with dual proxy gates, July popped mutas and defended against zealots, forcing Best to type out.
Whatever confidence Best had after game 1 soon disappeared as July quickly shattered all of Best's confidence in the second game on Troy with the legendary drone drill, leaving even the revolutionist in shock.
Yes Bisu, even you would have gotten raped
With two unordinary wins, people began bashing the God of War, claiming that he had to resort to gimmicks cause he can't macro straight up. That notion quickly changed, as July began to deploy his spectacular ZvP in the third game on Andromeda. Opening with what now is a common build in 5 hatch hydra, July quickly put pressure and deflected Best's Sair/DT/Reaver attempts. Stalling for ultras, July flanked left and right, dropping and constantly putting pressure on Best. As Best rolled out, looking to be in a somewhat decent position after killing off most of July's tech with a DT drop, the observer scrolled over to the natural revealing a control group of ultralisks. With zerglings and ultras and units flooding in over and over, protoss units were decimated into piles of blue goo as the Tushin attacked his way to a third OSL and the prestigious Golden Mouse.
In an era where macrobots prevail almost every game, July has shown that he can still hang with the newer players. However, the glory days have come to a dwindling end, as he no longer gets much playing time on STX. Nowadays, you can see him in his skinny jeans on the STX sidelines as he munches on some food and roots for his teammates and watches as his zerg teammates Calm and by.hero attempt to carry on his legacy. With the dominance of the swarm these days, and the emergence of a new zerg hero in Jaedong, JulyZerg and his fellow swarmmate Savior are assured that the swarm is in good hands and that they are no longer needed. July's time might have come and gone, but forever he shall be known as the God of War.
+ Show Spoiler [Fun Facts] +
All three of July's OSL wins came in the month of July.
July was known to be a POS before his time on MBC.
July's favorite drink is Mango Juice
July thinks the sexiest progamer alive is Boxer.
July lost to FakeSteve in 1v1 by forfeit. FS so gosu.
July has been on MBC, SKT, and STX.
Skinny jeans do NOT look good on July.
July once crushed Chojja offrace TvZ in a televised game. Sync would have been proud of his sunken break.
July was known to be a POS before his time on MBC.
July's favorite drink is Mango Juice
July thinks the sexiest progamer alive is Boxer.
July lost to FakeSteve in 1v1 by forfeit. FS so gosu.
July has been on MBC, SKT, and STX.
Skinny jeans do NOT look good on July.
July once crushed Chojja offrace TvZ in a televised game. Sync would have been proud of his sunken break.