“MMA is back." We've been hearing that for several weeks now, and after two goldless finishes at WCS Europe Season 2 and DreamHack Bucharest, it's finally true. On October 6th, Mun “MMA” Seong Won was given a first-place check for $20,000 under the applause of the ESL studio's audience. His return to top form was officially recognized.
Although this is not the first time a player has reappeared after being off the radar for a long time, there are a few factors which make MMA’s rebirth more special. In the spring of 2012, MMA went from being the absolute best Terran in the world with five gold medals on all three continents to a player with a rapidly declining performance. Going from Iron Squid champion to ping-ponging between Code S and Code A, he was soon edged out by the new hot Terrans: Taeja, ForGG, Polt and, later, Innovation.
MMA during WCS Europe Season 2. Photo: ESL
The only thing that was going right for MMA was that the dissolution of SlayerS in November 2012 left him teamless for two weeks only. On the 20th of the same month, the “Son of the Emperor” joined Acer's fledgling team and his slow rehabilitation began.
It took MMA whole eighteen months of mediocre results and top four finishes (counting from his Iron Squid I championship) before he could finally sit atop a tournament. But I guess it has been worth it. Dropping just three maps throughout his entire run, MMA is the most uncontested champion in all of 2013 WCS so far and the ease with which he drilled through the competition is very reminiscent of the MMA of the past. His TvZ is back to perfection, his TvP is closing the 65% and his TvT, which has often been among his weaker match-ups, has wins against Taeja, Flash, Ryung and ForGG. His team is getting more esteemed by the second and his roster-mates are among the strongest players in their regions. The stars have finally aligned for Mun Seong Won
The heir has indeed returned.
MMA's rating change since Heart of the Swarm. Graphic: Aligulac
That same Sunday, another player was, too, rewarded for his prowess in StarCraft 2. Standing next to the champion, Jang “MC” Min Chul accepted from ESL another silver-tinted paycheck.
Finishing as a runner-up for a second time in a row must’ve been the last thing MC wanted as he’s currently into his nineteenth month without a gold medal. He came really close to the trophy both times, losing to Duckdeok in the seventh game in S2 and to MMA in the sixth in S3, almost bringing it to a tie after being down by three maps. Writing this paragraph, I recall ReDeYe’s words about seeing the pain in Jaedong’s eyes after placing second in the Season 2 finals and feeling crushed for him and I make parallels with MC's situation.
Then I remember there’s always something extra when it comes to MC and this time around that extra is meaty. As of October 6th, MC is the first player in StarCraft 2’s history to break the $400,000 earnings mark, something he’s been trying to achieve since the Season 2 finals. Although MC will have to show his face at the Season 3 finals before technically collecting the money that separates him from the milestone (at least $5,000), there is no other player who’ll be able to reach that number before him.
The loser of WCS Europe you say? Bitch, please.
Photo: SC2earnings.com
This is something a bit harder to be picked on first sight but once we look back at the entire WCS Europe and write down some statistics, we’ll see that there are just a few players capable of keeping good form all throughout the year. A simple counting process tells us that as far as foreigners are concerned:
- Vortix is the only player to make at least two playoffs
- Vortix and Happy are the only 2 players to make it to all three Ro16’s
- Aside from Vortix and Happy, there are only 8 players to make at least two Ro16’s: BabyKnight, Naniwa, Lucifron, Nerchio, Stephano, Thorzain, Welmu and Titan
Struck by the level of inconsistency, I went on to check the other leagues (and more specifically WCS Korea, since WCS America is still in the Ro16 and the foreigners in it are in the minority anyway) and it turns out that:
- There are 7 players to make at least 2 playoffs: Soulkey, Parting, Innovation, Maru, Bomber, Symbol and Rain
- There are 6 players to make all 3 Ro16’s: PartinG, Innovation, Soulkey, Flash, KangHo and soO
- Aside from them, there are 2 players to make at least 2 playoffs: sOs and Bomber
It’s hard to argue that WCS Korea doesn’t have the more stable high-clique pool of players but that’s not necessarily a positive thing. Europeans having trouble to maintain their shape has made their circuit much more dynamic and interesting to follow. The influx of talent capable of surprises and upsets is definitely something WCS Europe should take pride in. Nobody likes a stale scene.
The gradual increase of the Korean population in the circuit is another thing which has been happening behind the excitement of the actual matches. In Europe S1, there were only four Koreans in the league overall and half of them ended up making playoffs. In Season 2, the overall count increased to seven but, again, the number of Koreans reaching the quarter finals was a small one – just three. Although the foreigners failed to take the championship both times, the league did manage to keep its identity, people could still easily call it WCS Europe without giggling at the irony.
In the final season, however, things were a bit different. Nine Koreans signed in for the Premier league and while this is only a small increase to the seven of season two, more than half of them reached the quarter finals. Losing the Ro8 three to five, the Europeans were outnumbered for the first time in the history of the league. While the bulk of the previous rounds were still in Europeans’ favor, a minor loss of circuit identity could be seen.
While the intrusion is nowhere as big as the one in WCS America, it’s still a detail that has to be worrisome for the local competitors. Players like MC, MMA and Mvp aren’t likely to simply disappear and there are still players like ForGG, Genius, Duckdeok and StarDust signed for the league. On paper, the odds of Europeans finally winning a trophy at their own circuit are most grim and unless someone suddenly reaches a godly status, their last hope might turn out to be the rumors of region locking in 2014 becoming true.
They say a picture is worth a thousand reddit posts.
We kind of have to agree since we don’t have a thousand words to write. Instead, we’ve reached out to Wolf “Wolf” Schröder for further commentary.
iNcontroLis. Photo courtesy of talented redditor
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