The Ultimatum
I started this year saying, If this year didn't go well, i'll quit SC2.
Flash Esports, my team at that point was about to disband with the diminished time the founder of our team had. Of course there were other options in terms of teams, but i didn't want to just be stuck in SEA and not have the possibility to really go PRO.
WCS system was also slightly harder too without just Country specific qualifiers.
March
So start of the year i went back to my birthtown Berlin to visit my Brother and Dad, along the way i went to cologne to witness my first ever WCS Europe in the studios. Accompanied by one of my closest esports bros Grubby who was competing there.
After that i went to bootcamp(kind of) at Grubby's place had so much fun there, and i learnt so much about the game. But not only just staying with someone sharing the same passion as i had, also all the activities we did other than SC2 like some weird FPS games(with dungeon swords and stuff i forgot the name of the game), playing with the pets at home and just hanging out in general was just awesome. I guess that's what they call a "Brother from another mother".
WCS seaons 1 qualifer
I also remember i was at Grubby's place during the qualifier for WCS season 1. And i was really nervous the 2 days before the qualifier that i couldn't win a single game on ladder and i'm not even exaggerating that i lost like 30 games straight that 1 night alone. Grubby knew about my 2014 Ultimatum and told me:" You can either just give up now and let all this stress go, or you can just get as much out of this(esports) as you can while it lasts.~~Change is always good." I paraphrased a lot to what i can still remember but that's the jist of it.
I would say i'm a bit of a HerO when it comes to mentality and emotions but through the year i want to think i've gotten stronger? I hope so.
Teamless
During this time, i was also recently teamless so losses there was a big hit for me. Luckily a few weeks later, i got a PM from myi.Pengwin asking if i wanted to join MyInsanity's academy team. Well no shit. Of course i said yes. Was a bit of a miracle i should say, that myi firstly even knew of me and secondly would care to pick up someone half way across the globe.
Moving on...
ACL Sydney
Next tournament i attended i believe is ACL Sydney. Thanks to Blizzard SEA who kind of sent me there to represent SEA to claim a seed into WCS challenger.
I totally failed in the tournament though,beyond expectations. To the point where i just broke down in the back row of the theatre where they held the stage matches.KingKong
eventually walked up to me and consoled me, telling me the stories of his days in Korea.
But going to Australia for the first time, and meeting all the OSEAnia players was the highlight of my trip. Everyone's so friendly and so warm. Played some post tournament pool and the SCS guys got me like loads of different kinds of alcohol it was hilarious. With a heavy heart, i went back to Singapore getting prepped for my next tournament.
Dreamhack Stockholm
This was a big one. Other than the ultimatum i set for myself at the start of the year, i also set myself a goal. To go to DREAMHACK. It was almost impossible for a SEA player to go to a dreamhack with our limited sponsorship and how much it costs to travel to europe alone.
Luckily i got in contact with this amazing organisation SCOGA; an organisation that helps gamers in Singapore. I applied for a gamer's Fund they had and it was enough to cover my flight ticket and MYI helped with the accomodation.
Dreamhack was, the time of my life.
I will never forget the time i spent there, spending time with all the myi teammates, True, Lilbow and Ptitdrogo who were with us as well in the apartment we had there. Roaming the streets at night with Dayshi, Miniraser, Kane. Seeing countless progamers i watch online, in front of my eyes. Meeting up with so many old friends; Artosis, herO, etc etc. Also having my game been casted by Naniwa and SaSe 2 of my favourite Tosses back in the day. How cool is that. Of course tournament wise the games didnt go too well, nerves still got to me. But if i described it as an RPG, holy shit did i level up a shit ton of times from the experience gained.
MSI BeatIT SEA qualifier!
Now... Back to the monotonous red dot of a city Singapore again.. And the announcement of MSI BeatIT was up! What a huge opportunity, i just have to be #1 in SEA(excluding Oseania) and i can win 1.5k$USD and qualify for the main event?! Rapture gaming haven't done a SC2 event for 5ever and now that they were they kind of poured everything into it. I practiced very hard for it. And during tournament day i was on fire and even came up with a On the fly Build Order which sweeped the zergs. Felt like God was whispering in my ear Build orders xD. I won that, finally i win something major haha. So, we go to Taiwan Taipei now!
MSI BeatIT Taipei
There i meet the guy who inspired me to start playing competitively HuK. That alone made the trip amazing, and i met so many awesome DOTA2 folks, mainly hanging out with Navi.US and DotaDemon;if you hung out with dotademon you would never stop laughing. Taipei easily topped the charts for BlyskLifeHighlights. Just because we were going out all the time and the scheduling was very well done by the tournament organisers that we had a lot of time to do recreational stuff, i guess losing day one of the main tournament helped there too.. But that's not really good, we're just being Optimistic here >,< the event didnt go as smoothly as they kept getting technical difficulties but the whole trip was really fun, i can't go into too much detail though Kappa. BUT one thing i do remember was, at the hotel lobby one of the days, i was waiting for "the gang" to arrive, and Flash came down with his manager waiting for the shuttle bus to the venue, and we had a chat, watched like 5 minutes of WCS global finals together and i even made him laugh. What an accomplishment lol~
End of year, a couple of online cups here and there, and OSC finals as well, i did alright, not too well, #KoreanHappened. Other than competing, i've casted quite a couple here and there and it's been really fun, and i've heard quite a few complements so, Thank you so much! and i hope i can cast a major tournament sometime
Ending off~
Well to sum the year off, the experiences i've had, the people i've met and so many friends i've made. My year has been AMAZING. I've learnt so much in game and outside, making me stronger as a person. More importantly, it motivated me, the whole community IS STILL HERE, they're still cheering. The players, we're still fighting. So **** the ultimatum, i'm still gonna play until i dry up and my fingers stop working.
To The Fans
To the people who keep supporting me, Thank you so much, without the encouraging words after every loss i wouldn't be able to stand up as quick after falling, and i probably wouldn't even still stay around. I really hope i can repay all your support by doing well in a Major tournament in 2015 so keep rooting for me!
Shoutouts
To all the people that made 2014 happen thank you so much. In addition, i want to give a few shoutouts: Eddie from sc2sea, Baldie ACL, Jaczie Blizzard, My Insanity, Pengwin, SCOGA. Of course God for having watched over my whole year, praise the lord
Non-hallucinated ending
And the final or final words. If you have a dream, fight for it, work for it, and you'd be surprised how it's possible to defy countless odds and boundaries to make it possible.
I will keep fighting in 2015. I hope 2014 was as pleasant for you guys as it was for me and even if not, let's work to make 2015 our year! To a better 2015!
2015 Resolutions: <gonna exclude accomplishments>
Stream Weekly
Take Cabs less
Tournament goal: Compete in HomeStoryCup.
Apologise to people i didnt mention or thank in my blog post, I wrote in 5am in the morning with no sleep.. i'll give you permission to flame me on twitter XD
Know that i love you all still
Signing off,
Thomas @itsblysk Kopankiewicz
Sorry the fonts and format are all messed up I'm new to this blog stuff, be nice.><
Also Sorry bout no Picturinos i'm too lazy to dig them out ><
This is a really nice read. All the best and dont give up!
Grubby says the best things. Always loved his quotes. It must be awesome to be brotherly buddies with him
___________________________________ player in
"and we'll invest more on Bots, as our first Trial bot, the 'NemBotElie' was a huge success, organising tournaments and being part of the Council of mGG. But there are a few bugs in which the bot cannot go past the skill level of a Platinum Protoss." - PaRAnorMaL
Awesome blog Blysk mate. You really have levelled up this year, I can really see you being the #1 Protoss in SEA and breaking into the pig/kk/iaguz/petraeus ranks for SEA players soon.
I must agree, I thought your ACL Run wasn't as I would have expected, but I understand now more that you struggle with nerves. I hope you can conquer your nerves and become one of the best.
Seems like it was an amazing year with awesome travel to some of the best events. I look forward to cheering for you at HSC next year
It's been awesome to see the rise of Bly$k this year. You've become one of the clear top 5-8 blokes in the region!
Beating Enderr to get those big MSI $'s was huge. Also you've come extremely close to knocking off PiG a couple of times, losing 2-3 on both occasions by memory.
Can't wait until it swings 3-2 your way, and move up to join the more established stars. Only a matter of time. Big things ahead mate, keep at it
Even the smallest donations help keep sc2sea running! All donations go towards helping our site run including our monthly server hosting fees and sc2sea sponsored community tournaments we host. Find out more here.