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So I finally hit Masters. I was under a lot of pressure to get this shit done recently. At the outset of the season all my former (well, most of them. Minimat, BearPack, Dante, Meatex, etc.) GPD peers were promoted to Masters. I was still in Diamond. Eventually RVgybyteRPR (now known as RVxReaper) (who was also promoted, and suddenly got super good) got into GM, and considering he was Diamond last season I asked him about it. He told me that he started playing on the Korean server and just focused on improving. This inspired me. I said to myself "If people I was able to 2-0 only like a month ago are able to get GM I really have no excuses for still lounging around in Diamond." I was maintaining top 8 since the beginning of the season, beating some Top 8 Masters (or better, I've played and beaten a couple of GMs on ladder) in fairly straight up fashion. I thought about it and said "No. **** this. I'm getting into Masters and I'm doing it right ******* now."

Well, it took a while, but I just kept playing, and I was winning a lot. I knew that a promotion would have to be imminent. I also wanted to see my win/loss record this season. Come to think of it, what's with that? I know Blizzard removed w/l record to try and kill ladder anxiety they should have made it an option you could turn on/off. Some of us actually want to see w/l and we shouldn't have to be punished just because some people are insecure.

That was about a week ago. Getting Blizzard's system to actually promote you into Masters is annoyingly difficult. I ended up getting 150 points ahead of rank 2 in my division, went on a 9 win streak and beat a GM and then Top 8 Masters player. I was beginning to question why I hadn't been promoted yet. Was there some kind of mysterious ladder lock that no one knew about? Was there a glitch in the system? Did Blizzard not want me in Masters? Well, that's a silly conspiracy theory. As it turns out all you have to do is just play, play and then play some more. It was like 12:00 when the following events took place:

I was playing a Masters Terran and ladder, and I had beaten him with a bane bust (as a response to scouting many, many rax and no factory with my 6:30 overlord scout) before. I didn't think he would lose to that again, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

It went for like 30 minutes and let's just say he should have been dead and shouldn't have been able to come back. I've never raged so hard at a loss before (I would put sPook to shame with this shit, for reals).

I took 5 minutes or so to calm down, although I thought about just shutting it down for the night. The next game came up and it was a ZvT. Having just lost a game to a Terran I said something like this.

"OH YEAH, TERRAN. LET ME GUESS YOU'RE GOING TO MAKE 2 MARINES AND THEN KILL 100 ZERGLINGS BECAUSE MARINES ARE ******* GOOD. YOU DON'T DESERVE A MACRO GAME YOU TRASH, I'M GOING TO ALL-IN YOU LIKE YOU DESERVE."

Note that this was said to myself, and I wasn't actually BMing my opponent. Also, just in case there was a mystical force overseeing my progress to Masters and deciding when I was worthy, I also said this to myself.

"I don't care about playing in GPD on Sunday. I don't care if I win, I don't care if I get the $10 and coaching. I don't care if the coaching gives me an epiphany that makes me the greatest player in the world. I only care about getting into Masters TONIGHT and after I win this game YOU WILL PROMOTE ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

So, as I raged to myself earlier, I did a roach/bane attack that killed him rather easily. I was feeling rather happy with myself at this point. Eventually I was taken to the score screen, caught a glimpse of his rank (he was GM! Wow!) and then the screen suddenly went dark.

"WAIT A MINUTE. COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE."

SHOOM

YES! I had achieved Masters, finally. I was no longer wallowing in mediocrity while the rest of my fellow last season-Diamondians partied in Masters. Masters isn't amazing or anything (yeah, I know. You got Masters 5 seasons ago and it's super easy and I suck. Okay.) but it feels good to 1. See my w/l record (as of right now it's 90-67) and 2. Be where I know I belong.

Now I have 134 bonus pool. That will get me to Top 8 Masters. It's gonna be a long road and may take a few seasons, but I'm gonna be in GM someday. Just you all watch.

So yeah, thanks to my ETL clanmates Paradox, Typhoon and Wehrmacht for cheering me on and RVxReaper for inspiring me to buckle the **** down and get this shit done..