by Zealously

The Royal Road is a double-edged sword. The consequence of doing the unthinkable and winning the hardest tournament in the world on your very first try is that a metric ton of expectations are immediately piled upon your shoulders. After all, a Royal Roader is the very embodiment of everything we want to see in a professional gamer: prodigious skill in the present and the potential to reach even greater heights in the future.

Most live up to expectations. Jaedong walked the Royal Road and became not a king but a Tyrant, establishing a reign of terror matched by no other Zerg in Brood War. The prodigy Life used his first Code S victory to embark on a seven month spree of destruction, the likes of which had not been seen in StarCraft 2. July, Bisu, and iloveoov all walked the royal road and are now legends in the Brood War pantheon.

But just as the Royal Road can be a blessing, a means to catapult oneself into the spotlight, it can also be a curse. Not all Royal Roaders can bear the weight of expectations, and some buckle under the pressure. The days where you could lose games without being questioned are gone, never to return. The Royal Road will make you a star overnight, but it demands tribute in a steady stream of victories, or it will turn from a blessing into a curse.

Anytime was a Protoss who walked the Royal Road in 2005, winning the So1 OSL seemingly out of nowhere, shocking the entire world by defeating the legendary Terran mentor-student duo of iloveoov and Boxer during his run. Although Anytime performed admirably after winning his first championship, he would not lift the OSL trophy again. The royal road made him a star, but a star haunted to his final day by the question "What if he could have done more?"

Somewhere in all this, we find our third GSL Royal Roader, Baek "Dear" Dong Jun. He first caught our eye during the Shinhan Bank Proleague, but like all his STX Soul teammates, he was largely overshadowed by the titan known as INnoVation. Dear would end up winning the second most games for eventual champions STX Soul, but even then his Protoss teammates Classic and Trap attracted more attention for their more entertaining and risky play. It was already hard enough for a Protoss to distinguish himself in PvProleague, and Dear's style was excruciatingly normal on top of that.

In spite of STX's financial troubles and the chaos surrounding Soul, Dear continued to improve and did what only Life and FruitDealer had done before him: win Code S in his very first attempt. Unfortunately for Dear, his Royal Road run was very different from the ones that had preceded him, largely because most of the big stars had dropped out in the earlier stages of the tournament. It gave Dear what was perceived to be an easy run to the championship, and the questions popped up almost immediately: What if he had faced INnoVation? What if Maru hadn't wasted a game cheesing? Were those two games he lost against soO a sign of weakness?

So unlike other Royal Roaders, who had the pressure of living up to lofty expectations, Dear went into the WCS Season 3 Finals with the pressure of proving that he deserved the same lofty expectations as his esteemed predecessors. A different kind of pressure indeed, but no less burdensome on the shoulders.

Dear took on the challenge with gusto, riding his momentum from Code S and turned the Season Finals into what could be considered a continuation of the Royal Road. After a relatively bland Code S run, Dear tore through a who's who of modern StarCraft to claim his second title. He schooled MC 3 - 0 in PvP, dismantled Maru (again) in some of the most thrilling PvT games ever seen, and mauled #1 Zerg Soulkey in a 4 - 0 rout. If Dear's original Royal Road was received with a collective shrug of the shoulders, then the sequel Royal Road II: WCS S3 Finals had fans dying to see more.

With barely any time to gather our breath, we're moving onto part three: Blizzcon. The opposition at Blizzcon could hardly be any tougher, but it's clear that difficulty doesn't bother Dear. From being the player who broke Flash's 14-win streak in Brood War to being a Royal Roader in Starcraft II, he is a player who beats the best, whether people expect it or not. At this very moment, there are few, if any players that can claim to be on Dear's level. He is playing the best Starcraft of his life, seemingly without weakness, just in time for the most important tournament he has ever played in.

More impressive than anything else, Dear plays with composure in every situation. Maru's relentless aggression is normally enough to pick apart any Protoss, with one mistake enough to cascade into ruinous defeat. Dear parried Maru's attacks with unmatched precision, even finding the breathing room to riposte with precisely measured templar drops and zealot harassment. He made few mistakes in the GSL and even fewer still at the Season Finals. He is winning everything in his first attempt, but his play is flawless as if he has rehearsed all his games in a past life.

In a stark contrast from when Dear headed to Canada, the expectations are now sky high as he heads to Anaheim. His legacy has yet to be written, and he enters Blizzcon with a still relatively clean slate. The WCS Grand Finals represent Dear's chance to create a lasting legacy as the greatest player of 2013. With two championships and a third within reach, he can immortalize himself as the player who won it all, all on his very first try.

Writers: Zealously.
Photo: Silverfire.
Editor: Waxangel.