Pitcure: Gosugamers
The life of a professional gamer is one full of mental strain and dedication, where success does not happen overnight. Relevance on the scene comes with years of training, lurking in the shadows, trying to build up the necessary foundations to finally earn one's spurs and become a recognisable character known and cherished around the globe. Jun 'TY' Tae Yang had been waiting ten years for this moment.
Growing up in Korea can certainly have its perks if a person happens to be keen on StarCraft. Beginning his professional career at a tender age of twelve, TY, who at that time was known as BaBy, was picked up by WeMade FOX in 2006. Failing to qualify for either MSL or OSL in the following years, he made his first individual league appearance in the 2008 GOM Classic Season 1. Beating Baek 'Robbie' Jin Yong in the round of 128 and then Koh 'HoeJJa' Kang Min in the first round of 64, TY's run was brought to a halt in the second round of 64, where Oh 'Anytime' Yeong Jong made short work of the young Terran hopeful.
As TY's performance showed great promise, he was subsequently played a number of times during the 2008 Proleague, but finished the season with a meagre 5-10 win/loss record. As his skill was clearly improving through 2009 and 2010, with the 'hybrid' Proleague of 2011/2012 came the transition to StarCraft 2 and TY was forced to shift his attention to the then newest title of the franchise if he wished to stay au courant with the latest developments on the Korean scene.
Though many former StarCraft 1 progamers initially struggled to keep up with those who had switched to StarCraft 2 much earlier, TY entered the scene by qualifying for OSL and GSL in 2012. As the years went by, the Terran's skill improved, but never to the point where he would be able to contest a StarLeague title. Being known for his stellar best-of-1 performance in Proleague, TY's predicament of underperforming in individual leagues came as a surprise to many. His breakthrough could have happened in 2016, when KT Rolster were guaranteed a GSL victory, as two of their members in Zest and TY faced off in the final. The former turned out to be the stronger contender of the two, beating his teammate 4-2.
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WESG 2016 was the first foray into esports of established Chinese organisation Alibaba. Despite many concerns after the grand final was moved to January 2017, as it was initially planned to take place in December 2016, the company went our of their way to deliver a world class event. A few hiccoughs in production put the professionalism of the endeavour into question, but in the end the community appears to be grateful for the support shown by Alibaba.
The main premise of the tournament was to allow for an even spread of talent from all around the globe. Supporters of their local competitors were thrilled to see them finally get a chance to participate in an event of such magnitude, as many were stripped of such occasions after WCG was discontinued and a certain void needed filling. As many had predicted, the two Koreans who qualified for the event through their national qualifier and then the Asian finals also made it into the grand final of the main event. This yet again puts into question the apriorism that region-locked competition helps close the gap between foreigners and Koreans. The dominant performance of both finalists, one of whom hadn't lost a single map until the best-of-7 series for 200,000$, shows the gap has grown out of proportion and should now be compared to a chasm to say the least.
TY and Maru had faced off twice in the lead up to the final. Once in the Asian qualifier, where TY 3-0'd the latter, and then once in the IEM Gyeonggi qualifier, where the tables were turned and Maru managed a 2-0 over his opponent. Maru had just played his GSL group, where, despite beating GuMiho 2-0 and advancing out of his group in first place, he claimed he does not feel confident in the TvT matchup. TY on the other hand failed in beating Kelazhur during the groupstage and that must have set alarm bells ringing.
Predictions were difficult and commentators struggled with choosing their favourite, often suggesting the game might go all the way to the seventh map.
The series started off on Echo, where TY caught Maru off guard with a proxy Banshee build. The latter had no defence set up at home and took massive economical damage which put him at a disadvantage and eventually TY overrun his opponent with better macro and positioning.
That did not seem to affect Maru's mentality. If anything it actually strengthened his resolve. Knowing TY's playstyle and the possibility of doom-drops coming into his main, he beat the former KT Rolster player at his own game on Daybreak, eventually decimating his mineral lines and leaving TY with 16 SCVs whilst Maru himself sat comfortably at over 50. All he had to is hold, and hold he did.
Game three on Vaani Research Station began with a proxy Reaper opener from Maru which put the other Terran at a 9 SCV deficit right from the get go. That forced TY's hand, who responded with an all-in frontal attack, which failed and put the map score in favour of Maru.
The series was yet again evened out on Overgrowth, where TY kept taking little advantages wherever possible and closed the game out with two quick doom drops into the main of Maru. Dealing massive damage to the production of the opponent, he prepared himself for a retaliating move and defended a counter drop from the Jin Air player thus gaining his second map in the grand final.
A change of pace on Whirlwind gave TY an early game advantage. Going for a two barracks proxy at the centre of the map, Jun Tae Yang denied Maru's early Command Centre opening and contained him with a bunker whilst getting his own second and third CCs back at home. The game snowballed from there and Maru, try as he might, could not deal sufficient counter damage and ended up losing after twelve minutes of back and forth trading.
Being one game away from taking the trophy, TY's build order on Newkirk Precinct was a perfect counter to Maru's cloaked banshee rush. Despite that, Maru managed to claw his way back into the game through consistent Raven harassment and a drop into the main that saw the end to TY's economical advantage by evening out the worker disparity between the two. Maru kept the aggression on by posturing himself outside the natural of TY. That, however, allowed the former KT Rolster player to counter attack and deny Maru's third that was being constructed on location. Knowing better than to try and catch up whilst his opponent had already sent a third Command Centre to saturate another mineral line, Maru used the army advantage he had and forced his way into the natural of TY, bringing the series to the last map.
Game seven on Habitation Station was down to the wire with both players going for similar openings but opting for different Starport units. As TY built a quicker Raven and a Widow Mine, Maru chose to go for a quicker second Cyclone and a Viking. Losing one of the Cyclones to the Widow Mine and unable to press the issue, the Jin Air player fell back to the safety of his natural, where a delayed Command Centre was under construction. TY, sniping one of the Cyclones with a clutch retargetting of the burrowed Widow Mine, went across the map to try and gauge his opponent's defences. Seeing he had more units at his disposal, TY went up the ramp, where a misrallied Tank had just popped and did not have the time to siege up properly. Two crucially placed Auto-turrets made quick work of the unsieged Tank and gave TY complete control over the low ground. Having no response to the force outside his main, Maru lost his Orbital Command and tapped out.
After ten years of hard work and dedication Jun Tae Yang became a champion. The atmosphere was electric as TY lifted the trophy, becoming the 10th highest earning professiona ever to play StarCraft 2. And 2017 had just begun.
