SC2SEA.com - Starcraft 2 SEA eSports Community Site

Hear me out okay? Yes? Thanks

It has been a year and two months since I’ve joined the community. And it has been one heck of a ride. Within that time span, I’ve met so many new friends (although they are online AND the parents don’t quite approve of our habits ie. gaming :/) as well as finding an extended family. Within this time, I have also received a lot of advice, both for Starcraft II and for real life. I’ve also been part of the greatest events of my entire time gaming.

A little backstory eh? I found SCII a year ago while watching TotalBiscuit aka The Cynical Brit was a and ballsing up a Proxy BC Rush. It was, intriguing if not hilarious to listen to a fully grown Brit cursing about he had ballsed up and was going to lose in a horrible fashion. In college, there was a minority among the students of my program who played SCII casually. Pretty soon, I picked up my own copy.

I placed in before getting demoted into at that time. Playing with your mates and all is cool but something in me told me, ‘There’s gotta be something bigger out there’. And I found it. Here. On sc2sea. The first was the Community Open. Could you imagine that? A total new player joining a tournament where anyone could play. Anyone. I think my first opponent was none other than iMMafia, then TAMafia (I THINK) who steamrolled me. Lesson learnt. Get better or don’t bother.

However, from that one game, I had suddenly met a player named HoOh who taught me the basics of mechanics, being an ex-Terran (last I remember he was part of the Swarm ). It was there, I decided, ‘Okay, time to get better at this game. No more getting rolled over like a dead log.’ At that point in time, my weekends were always occupied so I could not participate in the BSG Opens.

As I played a few more Community Opens, getting rolled over happened a couple more times over but I took it in good stride. I lost to better players whom I watched the replays to see what made them ever so professional. And I could always spot what it was, just never being able to put it back in.

By then, I had started participating a little bit more within the community. I started posting in the Replay Feedback thread to help improve myself. I found people to practice with, whom usually were leagues above me and steamrolled over me. BUT, they always told me what I had done wrong and what I could have done better.

Then BSGCL Season 2 came along. If you remember, I used to be part of SMEG (cue the snickers) which disbanded but the two founding members still stay in touch every once in a while whenever they are online. So, I looked for a clan and found Time of Rising or ToR. By now, I was back in and hovered somewhere in the Top 50 and Top 25.

In the early days within the clan, I found players who were ever willing to share ideas, build orders, tricks and what not. I think it was Snod who introduced me to a unique opening for vs . It was players like ToRSpook, QEDBloodMyst (then ToRZorba) and ToRBobby (then SmotPokaFish) who were my buddies in BSG. Then one day, I got called up to play the first game in BSGCL Season 2.

It went bad. I was beaten by BlackWidow. I was called up a second time where I was murdered by TAEaeron. I got called a third time. Upon being called up however, I ran afoul with the social aspect of my life. A long spiral down and a trip to the hospital was called for. Didn’t help when I got called up an additional two times. It also didn’t help that it was the exam season. I told the then ToR BSG Captain that I will represent in November. And that month, I exceeded expectations. The first time I represented ToR I was close to an All-Kill of then Brothers till Death (BtD). Unfortunately, their ace reverse All-Kill and we lost that round too.

To summarise that season, we were placed 5th with 4 wins and 5 losses. I didn’t play in a lot of those rounds cause I was busy with classes or was in the hospital. But, the experience of playing for a clan and representing them in an official event was amazing.

Nothing much happened in between BSGCL Season 2 and sc2sea SEA League Tier 5, I played in a series of tournaments and CW. The most notable one is the Bronze Silver Open hosted by FaDeMuss where I managed to reach the semi-finals. Oh, I also met baller friends like BakaInu and Brultze. Top blokes who helped me with SCII. And having a few shit and giggle moments with other games (Terraria )

In the sc2sea SEA League Tier 5, I represented ToR once. It was versus FaDerezyn. At that point in time, my gameplay had improved through a combination of work and training with some fellow and a lot of people mentioned I deserved . I won my match where after our games, FaDerezyn congratulated me and even commented that the builds I had used were interesting and he wants to use them. I was pleased to hear from him soon after that the build had worked for him.

I decided at one point to go into overdrive and go for . It was an amazing journey to see myself grow as a player as well as seeing people support my growth. When I achieved league, it was a great feeling to achieve something, even if it was a game thing.

After being promoted into league, I slowly drifted away from the scene to concentrate on some real life matters as well as look into other games that were available at the time. Over time, as I popped in and out, I realised I didn’t have that spark anymore and that I could not keep with the scene.

In the months leading up to now, I decided to host ThePandarine Bronze Silver Open. It was a small throwback to my roots, to the leagues where I began my little humble journey through the land of SCII. It generally a success with a good turnout with great people sponsoring it.

Okay, okay. So what am I prattling at? Well, I’m here to announce that I will be withdrawing from the SCII scene. Permanently. No questions asked. I plan to devote time to my studies as well as my wellbeing (physically and mentally). It’s no easy decision for me to make as I wished to represent my clan and even make it to at the least. However, things need to be placed on the backburner.
I will be popping in now and then to just keep in touch with people and see what’s going on. Probably get Heart of the Swarm for the campaign and when need to, vent steam on team games. But I will be in no way participating actively in Clan Wars, Leagues or Tournaments. Perhaps one day as an organiser for small events but even that is uncertain.

My final ‘official’ appearance on the scene was the friendly CW between ToR and Fusion Slugs. I played in the 4v4 Ace Match cause I wanted to go out with a bang. And we sort of went out with a bang We lost but it was fun cause hey, that’s the point of playing games with mates right? Have fun

Now, the roll call of people I want to make special mention :3

• To TradeZero and Savadi who I know IRL for introducing and playing the game with me at the start, you guys were real great guys. Still are in my eyes.
• To HoOh, thanks for helping me in the early days of my SCII BSG career :3
• To BakaInu, Brultze and Nemo. Thanks guys for helping me become a better gamer and chatbox buddies.
• To ToRSpartaz, Snod, Suipr, ToRBobby, breadfan, ToRSpook and all the other gosu, elite and Code S class guys in ToR. Thank you. Two simple words that have to convey so much to you guys. I don’t know.
• To the clans I have had the opportunity to meet and interact with. Good luck and thanks for the games.
• To dippa. For writing that one post that made me to a double take on my life.
• To the community. For being so open, supportive and probably the best online community I’ve ever had the honour of joining.

With that said, I will see you guys sometime or even tomorrow. Not as a player anymore but more of a passer-by with friendly intent. And hopefully in five years’ time, a doctor with an everlasting place for Starcraft and what it meant to him.

Here’s me saying bye bye.