Walking the Royal Road
- What would you do if you knew you had only one week left to live? You're still young, you haven't fulfilled your goals in life, you may never even have found love, or have your love returned? wouldn't you push as hard as you can to reach your goals? Take a leap of faith hoping to use your last chance to achieve something?
just how far would you be willing to go? It's not like you can err on the side of caution and come better prepared later, but on the other hand, you cannot make any mistakes. All it takes is one bad decision and your final chance is lost.
Wouldn't you envy older people, Who had a chance to live their life,reach for their dreams and make an impact on the world. Would you stop at anything to become like them?
If your name is Byun Hyun Je, you'll go pretty damn far to reach your goals.
And he's handsome too!
STX mini is the last potential Royal roader remaining in the 2012 Tving OSL. And between him and his title stands the Elite of today's Brood War. ]It's probably more telling than anything I could write about mini's place among these legends to simply click each remaining player's Liquipedia page, and compare it to mini's.
These players are anywhere from greats to legends, mini is a relative newcomer.
That's what he has to overcome if he hopes to become the next, and the last, royal roader.
Jangbi
Flash
Fantasy (Player)
Zero
Hyvaa
Shine
n.Die soO
mini
The last OSL champion
There are so many stories at stake here on the eve of Brood War progaming. The pro-league is still being played in the part-time BW format, but it's only a shadow of BW's past glory. This OSL is the last true BW tournament, and everything is at stake here.
As the grand novel comes to an end, it's up to these 8 players to write the last chapter in brood war history, and I will be cheering for mini to make his mark on it.
And mini seems determined to make this his time to shine. He's willing to do just about anything to continue is journey to the title, need proof?
Not everyone knows that the correct response to a 14CC is to kill him with your probes.
With everything on the line, mini is the one guy who has the balls to pull his probes off the line and attack cross-map with them. This is the same person that 2-gated across the
What really impressed me about that game though, is that while the probe rush did not kill off Rush, mini immediately transitioned into his signature shuttle play, no doubt inspired by former teammate Kal, and crushed his enemies defenses in a short time.
I'm not an strategical analyst, I'm just a fanboy, but I would like to direct whoever comes across this blog to Ideas' excellent post about mini. I'll leave it to others to explain the details of why mini has had his recent success, but just like any avid fan I can grasp in simple terms what he does and what makes him special.
It's the combination of flexibility, unpredictability and rock solid core play that makes mini so scary, makes him a legitimate contender for the last OSL title.
To slay a dragon
8 players remain, but only one of them is the reigning OSL Champion, and it happens to be JangBi, mini's next opponent in the ro8.
That's right bitch, I won the OSL
Just like in any good fairy tale, there is a dragon standing in our hero's way. It's not a big deal though. Jangbi's PvP is good, but this was bound to happen anyway at some point. If you want to be a champion, there is no better way of starting your run than to beat the current champion.
The comforting part is that should our hero get past the dragon, he'll be facing a Zerg in the next round, which has been his strongest matchup in the past. While nothing is certain, I have faith that if mini manages to win over Jangbi, he will indeed be in the OSL finals.
What awaits him when he gets there is another story...
+ Show Spoiler +
The fanboy
I will watch every game, I will stay awake at ridiculous times to watch this. I will be cheering my heart out for mini, and I sincerely hope he can elevate himself to a legend.
In the last days of Brood War, a young STX protoss has his first, and only, chance to make it to the top.
It's not his history, his legacy or his achievements that make us cheer for mini. We're not hoping our favorite player wins his fourth OSL title to finally break that curse, neither are we hoping for a second OSL title to firmly secure a player in the history of brood war.
We love mini for his games, they're entertaining, varied, refreshing and exciting. And the hope that we'll be talking about mini in the same breath as Jaedong, Savior, July, Boxer, Nada and other royal roaders will keep us cheering in the night.
Let's make history together