EPTOUR STORY UNFOLDS with two paths, one begun in the summer days of Brood War, and the other in these early days of Starcraft 2.
It is 2003.
SlayerSBoxeR, given the opportunity to create a team in Brood War, surrounds himself with a hand picked crowd of then unknown players. Most of them do well, but one -- iloveoov -- quickly stands out from the rest. Surpassing even his mentor, iloveoov becomes a true bonjwa. The team that Boxer formed around him would become SKT, truly the greatest Brood War team there ever was.In another time, and another place,
CellaWeRRa of the Werra clan is playing Starcraft 2. He makes friends and gains many fans in the foreign audience. Known for his humor and his on-stream antics, he quickly makes a name for himself outside Korea with videos such as the 13 Gate build.Two things happen, at roughly the same time.
Slayers_Boxer decides to leave the team he founded and to start a career in SC2 with the GSL. He makes his debut in GSL season 2, eventually beating NaDa to advance to the Round of 4. Now deep in the SC2 scene, Boxer needs both a team and sponsors. Intel answers his call, and sponsors not only a team, but also Boxer himself.
Meanwhile, the clan Werra is disbanded amidst a firestorm of controversy as their manager, Gundam, is accused of sexual misconduct towards Werra members. And just like that, CellaWerra is just Cella, and needs a team.
"I'm wandering without a home. I have no idea what to do.
I apologize for writing some personal stuff in an official notice.
This was CellaWerra, vice clan master of WeRRA, teary eyed and signing off.
For all our faults, thank you for the interest you had in Starcraft II Werra."
Soon, Boxer puts out an open call for the new team he is creating with Intel's support, named Slayers. Cella applies, and is in. He becomes
Slayers_Cella. And as Slayers_Cella, he still continues to amuse and entertain his foreign fans.First One's Just Practice
The members that Boxer gathers around himself this time around in the new Slayers team are composed of relative unknowns, just like when Boxer formed Orion (the team that became SKT). None of the players possess the star power or fame of a Nestea or MC.
In February, GSL announces that it will be televising a one week team league. It features the top 8 teams in SC2 at that time in Korea: oGs, StarTale, Incredible Miracle (IM), Team SCV Life (TSL), For Our Utopia (fOu), ZeNex, Prime, and Slayers.
In an exciting series that takes place over the course of a week (and a series that you really should watch), IM manages to take the championship, mainly on the strength of
IMNesTea, 
IMSeed and IMmvp.Slayers, meanwhile, falls in the first round to ZeNex. Boxer himself came out as first pick for Slayers, and falls in the first game to ZeNex, one of the weaker teams.
But one player on Slayers stood out in that series: Slayers_ Jjob. In an almost reverse all kill, he goes last in the Slayers lineup against ZeNex, and takes out 3 of ZeNex's players before finally falling.
An Emperor Falters
With a team around him and sponsors to support him, Boxer seems primed to focus on advancing in Code S. Unfortunately, in the March Code S season, he falls in the first round of 32 to SanZenith and Hyperdub. In the following Up and Down matches, Boxer loses again.
Boxer, the Emperor himself, is in Code A.
At the same moment that Boxer falls to Code A, however, another Slayers player -- Slayers_Alicia -- plays an extraordinary series against IMMvp, advancing to Code S while simultaneously helping to knock Mvp down to Code A. This would not be the last time viewers would see Alicia.
This Time for Serious -- or, GSL Team League 2
GSL Team League 2 started with the same 8 team lineup. Of the 8 teams, the general opinion of the teams' ranking was:
Top Tier: oGs, IM, TSL, ST //// Lower Tier: Prime, ZeNex, fOu, Slayers
Most people put Slayers below even the lower tier, given their past performance in the team league and the obscurity of their players.
Viewers were introduced for the first time to the new vice-coach of team Slayers: Slayers_Cella. Carrying a notebook and constantly talking to his team members, Cella was perhaps the person that Slayers needed the most. A coach who could focus on strategy, not just at the player level, but at the team level. Someone who could see the flow of the team vs team battles, and make calls about who to send out.
Slayers's first opponent was oGs. Home to NaDa, TOP and 2 time GSL Champion MC, oGs were heavy favorites to win the team league. MC appeared to be unstoppable, and NaDa and TOP rounded out a bevy of top tier players.
The Birth of a Legend Killer
oGs vs Slayers started off with matches between Min, InCa and TOP that left the score at 1-1. In response, Slayers sent out Ryung. In a series of 2 games, Ryung demonstrated a masterful understanding of TvT. At every step of each game, he was composed, calm, and knew exactly what to do and when to do it.
Down 3-1, oGs had nowhere to go. What could they do but send out oGsMC?
Hot off the highs of winning an league-first second GSL Code S championship, oGsMC was considered by most to be the single best SC2 player in the world at that point.
And he proved it, by defeating Ryung and Frozen.
The score was now 3-3. Cella gathered his notes.
Slayers sends out
Slayers_MMA.Who the hell is Slayers_MMA? Slayers_MMA is the new name of Slayers_Jjob, the player who nearly reverse all-killed ZeNex in the prior team league.
In a furious game of micro timings, MMA managed to defeat MC and create one of the great upsets of the season.
Slayers, considered the worst team of the previous team league, advanced over oGs.
Entering the Octagon
Next up for Slayers was team StarTale. Trying to prove himself, Frozen opens up for Slayers. In a surprise move, StarTale decides to lead with JulyZerg.
Frozen fared no better against July than he did against MC the previous day. Down 0-1, who could Slayers send out against July, the Code S finalist?
Slayers_MMA.
In a quick game, MMA decisively defeated July, as well as every single StarTale player until STBomber. In an amazing comeback play, STBomber bridged a huge deficit to defeat MMA. The score was now 3-2, Slayers lead.
One more win for Slayers would end the series. And it happens. The TvT master Slayers_Ryung stepped out once again, and defeats STBomber for the win.
Slayers was now in the finals.
Perchance to Dream
Team Incredible Miracle, with no less than two GSL champions in their roster, is widely considered to be the most consistent top tier team in Starcraft 2.
The finals is a best of 9. First team to five wins seals the deal.
Leading the charge for Slayers was Alicia. Not having been used at all during the second team league, he made his debut with an astounding 3-0 run against IM with convincing wins.
Down, IM decided that they should take advantage of PvP and sent out YongHwa. In a quick back and forth, YongHwa took the game from Alicia, making the score 3-1.
Comfortably ahead, Slayers decided to send out Slayers_Golden. Golden, formerly of fOu, is unable to surpass YongHwa. The score was now 3-2.
Falling once again back to the very solid and consistent Slayers_Ryung, Slayers managed to take a victory over YongHwa with some clutch TvP.
4-2, Slayers lead. IM was now against the wall. With Nestea out, that left only one player they could send.
January GSL champion IMMvp.
Patch 1.3 and the sweet, sweet sounds of Yamato cannons
Stepping back a couple hours, Blizzard released Patch 1.3 in Korea just before the finals of the team league. Patch 1.3 introduced many changes, including a speed buff to Battlecruisers.
Back in the team league finals, Ryung was playing great against IMMvP. Ryung was sieging at the right moments, expanding at the right timings, and generally avoiding any serious missteps in the complicated chess game that is TvT.
Then MVP broke all the rules. He made Battlecruisers. MVP realized that with the new speed buff, Battlecruisers were once again useful in the TvT endgame. MVP tore through Ryung's primarily ground and siege tank based army. With a few clutch Yamato cannon shots at a sizable amount of vikings that Ryung had managed to scrounge up, MVP won the game.
The score was now 4-3, Slayers lead.
Pause, Crash, Restart, Pause
After conferring, Cella and the rest of Slayers decides to send out GanZi next, in an effort to wear down MVP and to gain more information about his playstyle.
After a series of delays, the game begins only to have GanZi pause and then leave the game. Drama erupted. The IM coach could be seen shouting at a GomTV official.
In the rematch, MVP completely abandoned the strategy he was starting to show in the first aborted MVP vs GanZi game, and went for a quick 5 barracks all marine push. GanZi was caught flat footed, and loses.
And just like that, the Game Genie Terran equalized the score.
4-4. Tied.
Legend vs Legend Killer
As Slayers has done when facing MC, July or ZeNex, out comes Slayers_MMA.
MMA decides to go for a marine heavy force based on decisive tempo based play. MVP, meanwhile, decides to play orthodox TvT, getting a fair number of siege tanks and marines.
The atmosphere is tense. Nerdchills are experienced. The game to decide it all between the two pillars of each respective team.
In the end, it came down to timing. In a moment so tense that even Artosis and Tasteless are reduced to silence as they watched along with the audience, MMA takes advantage of a momentary opening. He stims and runs. Tanks explode, and MVP loses his army.
Soon thereafter, a flash on the screen: gg.
MMA wins.
A legend killer. Over the course of a week, Slayers_MMA defeats oGsMC, STJulyZerg and IMMvp.
Cameras flash. SlayersBoxer, the Emperor, the founder of SKT, once again holds aloft a championship trophy.
The Emperor has returned.
With minions.
And Cella?
Cella, the man without a team not too long ago, is now coach of the Korean team for the World Championship games next week.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/motbob/hug.jpg)
cella and boxer share a hug after Slayers's win
thx guys i'm so happy now and drank alchol!!!!!!!!!!!!
my team so strong now.
i did my best for ours team.
my team did best for them.
so now we are here.^^^^^^
my team so strong now.
i did my best for ours team.
my team did best for them.
so now we are here.^^^^^^
