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My blog. SC2 end.
 

TL;DR So, a lot of people have been questioning if I'm leaving SC2 or not lately. The answer is mostly yes. End TL;DR

This is written messily. The pacing isn't what I'd like, and I'm sure I forgot a lot. But this should sum up most things.

When I first started playing SC2, I didn't exactly have a lot of friends in it. I didn't belong to a clan, didn't join a clan, hell I had one friend who played constantly who quit shortly after beta. Once he quit, I was alone. It was tough not having anyone to sort of cheer me on -- you know? Having anyone there to say "unlucky man, you'll do better next week" and whatnot. So I filled that void. Most of you will remember how I came into the scene -- cocky as hell, telling everyone I was the best. That was me compensating for the void of not having a team, or a clan, to back me up. Not a good thing, probably not healthy, but that's one thing I never really cleared up.

Over time, I got better. When I started, hell, I sucked. My ZvZ sucked the most, and that never changed. Eventually, I sucked a little less to the point I got a spot on FXO. I can't really explain just how happy I was at that stage -- mOOnGLaDe was on the team, and he was the one person in the Australian scene that I looked up to. He was my measuring stick. If I could just get better than mOOnGLaDe, then hell, who knows what I could do? So I kept practicing. It was at this time that mOOnGLaDe was taking a bit of time off (he deserved it -- his schedule had been insane up until this stage and he had been very isolated, especially in Korea. He didn't have any teammates there with him), so when I went to Korea, I wasn't able to meet him. That sucked, but I spent some amazing time there with some of the best people in the world who I was proud to call my teammates - QXC, Sheth, Oz, OptikZero, Moonan, SLoG.

It was the chance of a lifetime, and I feel like I got to be the best I could be at that stage. I was beating everyone that I had looked up to (in the Australian scene) when I played on ladder (which, looking back, meant nothing but an ego boost. Anything but tournament wins are pointless.) and was doing well enough on the Korean ladder to constantly hit big names. It wasn't enough though -- I got knocked out in the GSL qualifiers twice (both to the eventual winners, but both games I still regret the way I played to this day) and performed poorly in the GSTL. Meta game issues and strategy issues lead to a huge variance, and it showed. I knew I wasn't better than my opponents going into the match so I tried things that needed to catch them off guard -- it didn't, and we all know what happened.

Oh well.

I also attended a few MLGs. Another amazing experience. Putting faces to names, meeting and relaxing with a lot of the people you simply knew online and the energy at a LAN is nothing that can be compared. Anyone who has attended a local LAN in Australia will know what I mean, but an MLG is on another level. It was amazing, and an experience I will never forget. Eventually I came back to Australia after my time overseas. I was extremely angry at this time due to missing the WCG Sydney qualifiers (which I learned pretty much lied about half of their prizes) and a fiasco with the Blizzard tournament of that year that I don't really want to get into. Oh well. I flew down to WCG Melbourne qualifiers with PiG and ended up qualifying.

Another tournament that I was super excited about. For a lot of people in SC2 WCG is just a joke because of how it was run. Not for me. I had grown up seeing some of the teams I looked up to in CS1.6 -- notably Team 3D, play phenomenally at WCG. It was amazing.

Alas, it was not to be. At the WCG finals in Queensland I lost to mOOnGLaDe -- unsurprisingly to many. That sucked. First got a trip to WCG, second got.. well I think I got a headset? Who knows. I do know that r0cky fought to get me a spot at WCG, and for that I am grateful, but it never came to fruition. A month later I was down in Adelaide for the first time to meet edge, frequency, maynarde and some other Adelaide residents (as well as the infamous tgun fan club consisting of only three people -- three too many, most would say ). I've always wanted to go back to Adelaide, the community there is awesome.

It was my first tournament under the itsGoSu name (with my itsGoSu shirt!) and I had a lot of support. The manager, Scott Ball, stayed up and talked to me over Skype the whole time. He was extremely supportive and it was amazing. The first time a manager had actually sat there for me during a tournament and talked about the games directly after them. Keeping me calm and generally giving me good advice. Hell, when I told him that I wanted to 6pool in game 5 because I expected Iaguz to go CC first on Tal'Darim, he told me to do it. Follow my instincts.

I didn't 6pool. He did 15cc. Needless to say, I lost that game.

Oh well.

Game 6 was an incredible game (he came back from the lower brackets and lost in the finals, 2-1, 1-2) and I ended up the victor, with us splitting it $700/$300, because having $1k/$0 is a very silly prize structure. I was extremely happy, my fanclub was happy and I instantly called my girlfriend who supported me through all the travel and time away from home. I was away for our anniversary at one stage. How I got away with all that, your guess is as good as mine.After Arena, there was a lull when we all practiced for a bit.

The next tournament was SGL #6 -- a recurring lan tournament in Sydney that I had never been to. My brother, however, was going with me and his team were participating in a few tournaments. I've always looked up to my brother. After getting set up at SGL (with a pretty funny experience trying to register at the front desk as team TGUN) the tournament went underway.SGL was weird. The games were laggy due to people being jerks and torrenting at a lan. Seriously, who does that? mOOnGLaDe was knocked out because of Swiss brackets. I think I beat him at this by cheesing him or something.. I don't really remember.

All I remember was it was one of the first tournaments in a long time where he wouldn't win. After some interesting sleeping arrangements -- interesting being the floor was a good choice, even though I lived ~15 minutes away -- I cheesed out MaFia in the first round and went on to win on my ZvT. Notoriously my strongest matchup since forever. My second tournament win in Australia, and I was pumped. Moreso because my Brother was there.

After SGL, I played a lot of online tournaments. I beat KawaiiRice in a show match, won a Masters Cup over Enderr, another small tournaments and then came the ASUS Pro-Am. This was a big tournament for me. Not only was this tournament one of the biggest prize pools in Australia from an independent (read: not blizzard) tournament. The first prize was a bunch of money and a laptop. My brother was going overseas to Japan in a few months and needed a laptop to take with him, so what better present to get him than winning this tournament? I still remember the day when he walked in and asked me about this tournament. "Hey Brad, you know how the first prize is a laptop? Can you win it for me? I need a laptop.". "Well, sure. Easy."

Not easy.

I got knocked into the losers bracket early on by Targa (I believe it was Targa.. my memory is a little fuzzy) and fought my way back through extremely tough competition to play him again in the grand finals. For anyone who thinks double elimination is boring because the person who goes through the winners bracket always wins, you're wrong and I hate you. I played my ass off against Targas emerging strong style of "Targa Banes" and struggled to a 2-1, 2-1 victory. To say I was ecstatic was an understatement. I sat there in shock for a solid 45 seconds before moving when my youngest sister, who heard me win, shouted out "Does this mean you can buy me a present?".

Sure.

I feel like this was the top end of my "career" in SC2. After this, things fell off. My practice was getting worse, my ZvZ never got back to this level and I struggled with motivation until WCS Oceania was announced. That tournament was a rollercoaster. I qualified through ACL Melbourne (I believe) and then qualified on the first day after beating Light in the second round. No-one picked me to beat Light during that tournament -- rightfully so. Light is an absolute beast to go up against. Way too smart to be playing Starcraft, that's for sure.

The next day was an interesting one. I went home to sleep on my bed because I wasn't able to sleep the previous night in the hotel in the city and got a decent nights sleep. I'll never forget the next day. My brother was there to watch, as was my girlfriend and man.. the crowd was insane. This tournament felt like MLG in Australia to me. I fought my way to the winners semi-finals where I fell to MaFia after beating Light. Oh well, losers brackets weren't a new thing to me. I ended up playing Light again in the losers bracket -- the 3rd series between us that weekend, and eeked out another 2-1 victory by exploiting his weakness of jerks who go mutalisks every game.

The games vs. MaFia will stay with me until I die. I won the first game in a fairly standard macro game and was shaking. One more game and I was going to China with mOOnGLaDe. I didn't even care about the finals of this tournament. To me, this was the finals. The second game, I got hit by an extremely strong -- and smart, timing attack and fell. Damnit. 1-1. One game to go to china.

Most people will remember this game as a close game which could've went either way. Most people will remember the burrowed roaches. I remember it due to all the mistakes I made throughout the game. I could've won it super early if I had poked out a changeling. I could've won it super early if I hadn't been worried about losing the game on a timing attack and backing away. I could go on and on about it. Needless to say, MaFia won the series. I stood up, shook his hand (thanks to Riichard for parting the TA Sea -- I wonder if I would've had friends like that cheer for me if I won?) and walked away to a corner. Or tried to. I collapsed not far from my booth, and that was that.

To come so close -- much like WCG, like GSL qualifiers, like countless other tournaments and fall at the last hurdle was the most devastating thing to me.

After this, I joined Immunity. This had been a childhood dream of me, as they had been the best Australian team in CS1.6 -- which was the game I grew up playing. Sadly, I hadn't had much success since joining them. I continually struggled with ZvZ and wasn't' able to perform to a standard I deemed myself worthy of. It sucked. Immunity had been nothing but amazing to me, and I wanted to prove myself to them. I sadly didn't ever do that.

That brings us to right about now. I have skipped over a few things. ACL, my time in itsGoSu with some amazing teammates there (ViBE, Ostojiy, WBC, among the few). I feel that I'm done with SC2. My passion is no longer there. I'm not as good as I once was, and I really wish I had a high note to go out on. I'll still attend any Sydney SC2 events that I can get myself to, but from here, I won't be playing SC2 much, if at all, anymore.

I want to thank everyone for their support over the years. It means more than anyone could believe. I'll still try to keep myself involved with the SC2SEA community and the greater SC2AUS community in general, but now I'll simply be a spectator.

Thanks to Team Immunity for their support over the past few months. It's a team that I'm happy to call family. Thanks to everyone that I've missed. I'm sure I missed a lot of people over this blog and definitely under-credited a bunch. Don't take it personally. Or do, whatever.

For the first time in my career, that's it. I'm out of words. Bye.

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

rip tgun ;(
ctrl + f spook pls

also serious question, how come you didn't switch to protoss like you were playing in beta, might have given you a different kind of #dedication

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Great blog, you'll be missed man. Hope to still see you down at all the barcrafts and maybe you'll actually come to a cityhunter now! :P

Look forward to you upsetting people in some tournaments despite not practicing!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

ctrl + f Arnor

zero results...

but seriously, sad to see you go, but theres always barcraft and stuff!

you were one of the easiest pros the handle during LANs, you understood when to chill and when to play the damn games, a quality many many people could learn from!

dont be a stranger man!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Best of luck in the future mate

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

T_T

But seriously, still come to barcrafts and stuff. You're always one of the more interesting people to have around the scene...

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Sad to see, you were my favourite player to watch when you were still active best of luck with whatever you go on to do

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

This is a sad day. Loved watching you play because you wore your heart on your sleeve for every game. And I love your silly strats

Do you have any plans for the future? Or have you not thought that far ahead?

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

great blog man whats next for you? if you dont mind me asking. I hope you stick around sc2sea too.

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Haven't been this sad about SC2 news since Jinro retired. Game 3 of you vs MaFia is the most emotionally invested I have ever been in a game of SC2. You and your passion inspired me and everyone around you. It was great to see someone with such love for the game.

I still remember the first time I ever saw you. I had been a pretty hardcore GSL fan in 2011, not really paying any attention to the Australian scene and being unfamilar with everyone except mOOnGLaDe. I was excited when it was announced that a foreign team (FXO) would be playing in GSTL. Even more excited that an Australian would be going!

There was a stream for the Code A qualifiers that season. You were playing vs FOXSocceR in the first round. All we could see was your back, and information on the overlay that you were down 0-1. You placed your head down on the desk, hands on the back of head. "Oh no, tgun lost " came up in chat. Darn, but I guess that was pretty expected.

"Okay guys, tgun has tied it up 1-1." Unstable said. Wait, what? If this is what he looks like when he wins, what does he look like when he loses? If only I knew. You ended up kinda throwing a game away vs SocceR on Shattered Temple where you went hydra drops and just overcommited. I remember it quite vividly and wish that stream was still available just for nostalgia's sake.

You made history by to this day being the second ever Australian to ever play in a GSL booth. If the current shitty WCS format remains you'll probably be the last. You may be retiring, but the good times you've given me and others through your personality and gameplay will live forever.

Forever my favourite player, you'll be missed, tgun.

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

That's saddening man, you were and still are one of the few who I have really looked up to on the top competitive level. Best of luck with all the future endeavours fiiighting~

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

All the best man, good luck in the future!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

ilu braddles xoxo

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

I still remember watching you stream when you won that tourney for the laptop, was really cool. Good luck wherever you go next, as long as you apply that same passion to the rest of your life I'm sure you'll do fine.

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

always enjoyed your stream or watching you play in tournaments on live stream
gl in the future

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

It's been a blast to see you up top mate, I wish you the best of luck in whatever you choose to do from here and echoing what Daedulus said, if you bring the same passion you have/had for Sc2 into the next part of your life then you will have no problems at all!

#foreverthelordofthelaw

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

great now you have plenty of time to play Dark Souls!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

lol

10char

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

You think I'm joking Tgun?

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Sc2 is fun but there is always a time to stop.
Can someone tell me why i got an 5gold star opp in pvp company of hero 2 ?
I really dont get it when i am only 1star!!!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Ctrl+F infeza
0 hits.


JK
sad to see you go! you were one of my favourite players coz of the passion and excitement you bring to the game.
glhf in the future

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Sad to see you go but good to hear you are doing it the way you want to.

I have many fond memories with you and hope there will still be more to come in the future.

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

The true lord of the lings

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

sucks to see you go. i always enjoyed our massively long games we played in masters cup a few times and just coming close to winning a series against you was a massive deal to me back then!

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

Sad to see you go Wish you the best with your next step!~

Re: My blog. SC2 end.
 

**** it. Doin' it live, guys. Doing it live.
You were the most entertaining streamer we had. And then came along Own3d. Been missin those streams.