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In "IdrA - The Long Road to Korea, I have summarized the career of one of Starcraft's most notorious characters: Greg "IdrA" Fields, who practiced in Korea throughout 2007-2010. Enduring 12-hour days of training, IdrA would eventually go on to become one of the best non-Korean the game had ever produced, winning almost every non-Korean tournament he entered.
Some excerpts:
IdrA's initial impressions on his eSTRO coaches:
"After all, he was the first non-Korean in Korea to ever dedicate himself fully to the game. Even the coaches at eSTRO were surprised at the amount of Practice he put in, and in an interview with gamenews.afreeca, eSTRO Coach Jiho Lee said "He is clearly different from Bertrand and Guillaume", referring of course to the famous Bertrand "Elky" Grospellier and Guillome "Grrr..." Patry who were by far the most successful non-Koreans active in Korea before IdrA."
The story of IdrA's First time in an official KeSPA game.
IdrA was put in group 4 of group stage bracket A, where he would face up against a, then, unknown practice partner for Hwaseung Oz called NeeL who is today known as the GSL Season 2013 semi-finalist Symbol. Game one consisted of IdrA fighting fiercely against Symbol for 36 minutes. After a very back-and-forth game IdrA was eventually greeted with the victory screen. The americans' first official game in Korea had been a victory, but instead of turning his victory in to momentum in the following game, IdrA crumbled as a poorly placed armory managed to get picked off by Symbol's mutas, prompting IdrA to simply attempt an attack with his remaining goliaths that were swept up easily by Symbol's remaining army. In game 3, IdrA had already lost before the game had begun. Taken aback by his loss in game 2 he attempted a bunker-rush. With one marine. Symbol cleaned up the attack with minimal amounts of effort and IdrA had been eliminated in the first round of the tournament
2009, the crowning of the foreign bonjwa:
2009 was definitely IdrA's most successful year in progaming, showing off his growing potential at the end of 2008 he decided to not only focus his attention towards the Korean scene, but the international one as well. Participating in a total of 14 events throughout the entire year he won 7 of them, including tournaments with Korean and Chinese competition. It was the result of roughly 1 year of dedicated practice in Korea, ahead in both tactics and overall knowledge of the game, CJ's growing terran talent dominated the non-Korean online tournament scene to such an extent that people within the English-speaking community were wondering if he should be eligible to compete in online tournaments at all.
The full article can be read over at Team Acer
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He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him.
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On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him.
Read the article maybe ?
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On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him.
The quote literally mentions Grrr in the next sentence or two.
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I remember being around during the discussions about keeping IdrA out of foreigner events. Looking forward to reading this!
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Nice article, interesting to see that all the unkown opponents he faced back in the day turned out to be such great players in sc2.
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And Draco, NoNy, Ret etc.
IdrA stayed the longest, that's all...
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On April 30 2013 06:02 Godwrath wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. Read the article maybe ?
Read my second sentence maybe? I didn't say that grr didn't get mentioned, I said he didn't get enough credit
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I enjoyed this article, it was interesting to see the context of so many of the unknowns back then turning out to be known players in SC2.
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On April 30 2013 06:03 5ukkub wrote:
And Draco, NoNy, Ret etc.
IdrA stayed the longest, that's all...
No it's exactly the opposite. The reason because Draco,NoNy and Ret etc didn't stay in Korea for long, was because they weren't able to put in the effort that was required and that Idra was able to bring in. They could not keep up to the incredibly hard training schedule in the pro houses and the unkown and thus for sure uncomfortable enviroment and this is why Idra is named here as the one that was dedicated most among those people. (Realize that this statement has nothing to do with the skill level of these people)
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On April 30 2013 06:11 Jaaaaasper wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:02 Godwrath wrote:On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. Read the article maybe ? Read my second sentence maybe? I didn't say that grr didn't get mentioned, I said he didn't get enough credit
Dedication does not mean succes or skill. Realize this please, while reading the article.
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On April 30 2013 06:11 Jaaaaasper wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:02 Godwrath wrote:On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. Read the article maybe ? Read my second sentence maybe? I didn't say that grr didn't get mentioned, I said he didn't get enough credit
Idra played in korea at a time when people actually had somewhat of an idea what they were doing, the level of play isn't comparable
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Oh god, the B-word has been said.
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On April 30 2013 06:11 Jaaaaasper wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:02 Godwrath wrote:On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. Read the article maybe ? Read my second sentence maybe? I didn't say that grr didn't get mentioned, I said he didn't get enough credit
This article is about Idra you know.
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I really admire idras mechanicaly macro focused style, too bad he isen't doing so well in sc2 as he was in bw...
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On April 30 2013 06:18 Assirra wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:11 Jaaaaasper wrote:On April 30 2013 06:02 Godwrath wrote:On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. Read the article maybe ? Read my second sentence maybe? I didn't say that grr didn't get mentioned, I said he didn't get enough credit This article is about Idra you know.
Why do you bring logic into these arguments? I mean the word dedication is super subjective, but that doesn't mean we can't argue about the first few sentences for like 20 pages in the thread. Its what we do here.
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On April 30 2013 06:18 BoggieMan wrote:
I really admire idras mechanicaly macro focused style, too bad he isen't doing so well in sc2 as he was in bw...
He's actually had more success I think. Won an mlg, ipl, iem, asus ROG and several other events.
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Ofc he's different. Those guys practiced poker more than SC at a certain point lmao.
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On April 30 2013 06:02 Little-Chimp wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:01 Jaaaaasper wrote:
He wasn't the first non Korean in Korea to dedicate himself to the game. Why does everyone forget grrr? Grr won a freaking starleague, I think that earns him a bit more credit than the estro coach gave him. The quote literally mentions Grrr in the next sentence or two.
Look, if he took the time to keep reading, he would have risked developing a lethal case of patience
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On April 30 2013 06:23 MstrJinbo wrote:Show nested quote +On April 30 2013 06:18 BoggieMan wrote:
I really admire idras mechanicaly macro focused style, too bad he isen't doing so well in sc2 as he was in bw... He's actually had more success I think. Won an mlg, ipl, iem, asus ROG and several other events.
yeah people are quick to say he hasn't been successful, when there are maybe 2 players with more titles in the foreign scene (huk, stephano)
yep, they're a long time ago (ESPORT-time) , but so is most of foreign success
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EPT
