After all this time, I have finally been inspired to write my 1000th post and I have decided to dedicate my 1000th post to IMMVP. He was not the reason I got into starcraft (we have Husky to thank for that), but he is the reason I fell in love with starcraft. I got Starcraft 2 for Christmas in 2010, and the first live tournament I followed was GSL code S January, which non-coincidentally, IMMVP won in commanding fashion. That moment I picked Terran. And MVP was forever sealed into my heart as my favorite player. From then on I followed all his GSL runs, MLG runs and pretty much anything related to MVP or IM. I was one of the first 20 followers on twitter and due to their lack of fans, I was able to win a fan video contest and score this baby. + Show Spoiler +
Anyways, my obsession with MVP continued to grow. When MVP dominated, I ranked from bronze to plat. When MVP went into his slump, I lost my passion for SC2 and played 2-3 matches a season for 6 seasons and completely lost all forward progress. I know it seems kind of dramatic but I wasn't really interested in SC2 much at all, basically just in IM, and MVP.
TL.net has been the main port where I would express my MVP fanboyism. Example: my 22nd through 31st posts were in the "Nestea/MVP to Blizzcon" thread arguing that MVP was the best and would win. (he did :D) I just counted and I have 98 posts either in MVP's fanclub, or in other threads telling everyone how MVP is the best. Including my 999th post: "MVP, flash will be famous in sc2 for taking 1 game off of him." Posted in the thread: "Who is the terran King?"
responding to + Show Spoiler +
I have made it my mission to show everyone how MVP was/is/and always will be the greatest of SC2 by making a comparison to the first and greatest of Starcraft 1: Boxer.
The first "premier" tournament Boxer won in BW was the Hanbitsoft OSL, on the 5th of May 2001. He won with a clean 3-0 sweep. During his prime, Boxer won another OSL, a MSL, and (The first real) 2 WCG gold medals. As well as 4 OSL silvers. His last win was the 2002 WCG on November 3 2002. The span between these occasions was 1 year and 7 months. During his reign, he formed one of the most powerful Broodwar teams to ever exist, SKT. While his achievements were later surpassed by later bonjwas like Nada and Flash. The fact that he was the first one to dominate made him special.
MVP's first Premiere win was GSL January 2011, on January 29 2011. He also won with a sweep. He went on to win 3 more GSLs, an MLG, the first SC2 WCG, and Blizzcon 2011, 1 GSL silver and 1 GSL code A silver. His most recent tournament win being GSL 2012 code S season 2 on May 19 2012. That puts the span between the beginning and most recent at about 1 year 6 months. He has served as a leader to his team and despite his coaches reputation for not sending effective players, IM is one of the strongest SC2 teams win 1 GSTL, 2 IPL TACs and a GSTL silver. MVP's list of accomplishments has not ye been surpassed, Starcraft 2 is still young and since his relative fall, nobody has taken a clear lead for any substantial amount of time. And even if he is surpassed, should not MVP be remembered as the first great player?
What does every legend have in common? A rival; Boxer had Yellow. Boxer and Yellow met in numerous finals, Boxer winning them all. When Starcraft 2 came around, Marineking started accumulating silver too. This led to the immediate comparison of him to Yellow, the sucessor to the Kong line. But what people fail to recognize, is the legend in the room. Who did MKP lose to in GSL January? MVP. Who did MKP lose to in the GSL WC? MVP. Who did MKP lose to in the WCG Korea final? MVP. Who knocked MKP out of MLG Providence? MVP. You get the picture. It always kind of bugged me when people only made half of the comparison.
Boxer was known in BW as an innovator, always creating exciting games with new strategies. MVP certainly isn't nearly as known for that but he has made some great contributions. Notably this.
Yeah, we have MVP to blame for the mass ghost style and the subsequent ghost nerf. He also was one of the first to make mass BC in TvP and pure skyterran lategame TvZ.
While I know many of you will just say: "Boxer's the best, nobody will ever be Boxer." And you are right. Boxer played a unique role in the rise of esports. Nobody has the charisma and dedication he has shown over the years. And he still plays an active role today. But one cannot miss the similarities MVP has shown in the early days of SC2 and I hope he sticks to it for years to come.
Thank you for reading.
TLDR: MVP is epic and has many parallels with Boxer which I think people should recognize more.