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The thing that must have irked Hwasin even more about being called an insurance, was the fact that he probably considered himself to be one of the best terran players around at the time (admittedly this was one of the absolute weakest period in time, in terms of the terran race having a superlative alpha).
Fresh off a nail-biting series defeat against sAviOr in the semi-finals the season before, Hwasin's worth as a player was higher than ever. Hwasin was the only terran player to reach the quarter-finals for both individual leagues, as well as being one of the five terran players to hit double digit number of victories in that particular season of the ProLeague. In fact, it could be argued that Hwasin was the only terran player to hit a high level across all three platforms of competition when Bisu mocked him for being his insurance.
Hwasin ended up being one game away from knocking out the eventual champion of GomTV MSL S2, and Daum OGN StarLeague. With the entire spectrum of terran players, whether young or old, struggling to establish clear domination over the other players, Hwasin continued to make his case for being the number one terran of early to mid 2007, by winning WCG 2007 Korea in the off-season.
In retrospect, Hwasin's prominence within the terran race at the time probably had more to do with the fact the terran race clearly lacked superstars in early to mid 2007, but Bisu's dismissal of Hwasin was memorable not just because Bisu backed up his words with results, but because it was targetted at a player who was literally at the zenith of his professional career.
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On October 12 2017 15:04 Letmelose wrote: The thing that must have irked Hwasin even more about being called an insurance, was the fact that he probably considered himself to be one of the best terran players around at the time (admittedly this was one of the absolute weakest period in time, in terms of the terran race having a superlative alpha).
Fresh off a nail-biting series defeat against sAviOr in the semi-finals the season before, Hwasin's worth as a player was higher than ever. Hwasin was the only terran player to reach the quarter-finals for both individual leagues, as well as being one of the five terran players to hit double digit number of victories in that particular season of the ProLeague. In fact, it could be argued that Hwasin was the only terran player to hit a high level across all three platforms of competition when Bisu mocked him for being his insurance.
Hwasin ended up being one game away from knocking out the eventual champion of GomTV MSL S2, and Daum OGN StarLeague. With the entire spectrum of terran players, whether young or old, struggling to establish clear domination over the other players, Hwasin continued to make his case for being the number one terran of early to mid 2007, by winning WCG 2007 Korea in the off-season.
In retrospect, Hwasin's prominence within the terran race at the time probably had more to do with the fact the terran race clearly lacked superstars in early to mid 2007, but Bisu's dismissal of Hwasin was memorable not just because Bisu backed up his words with results, but because it was targetted at a player who was literally at the zenith of his professional career. That's fucking metal.
I think we understand a bit more about the person behind the matchfix, now.
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On October 12 2017 15:04 Letmelose wrote: The thing that must have irked Hwasin even more about being called an insurance, was the fact that he probably considered himself to be one of the best terran players around at the time (admittedly this was one of the absolute weakest period in time, in terms of the terran race having a superlative alpha).
Fresh off a nail-biting series defeat against sAviOr in the semi-finals the season before, Hwasin's worth as a player was higher than ever. Hwasin was the only terran player to reach the quarter-finals for both individual leagues, as well as being one of the five terran players to hit double digit number of victories in that particular season of the ProLeague. In fact, it could be argued that Hwasin was the only terran player to hit a high level across all three platforms of competition when Bisu mocked him for being his insurance.
Hwasin ended up being one game away from knocking out the eventual champion of GomTV MSL S2, and Daum OGN StarLeague. With the entire spectrum of terran players, whether young or old, struggling to establish clear domination over the other players, Hwasin continued to make his case for being the number one terran of early to mid 2007, by winning WCG 2007 Korea in the off-season.
In retrospect, Hwasin's prominence within the terran race at the time probably had more to do with the fact the terran race clearly lacked superstars in early to mid 2007, but Bisu's dismissal of Hwasin was memorable not just because Bisu backed up his words with results, but because it was targetted at a player who was literally at the zenith of his professional career. Thanks. Stuff like this makes these threads even greater.
This was a great read!
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Really fun to read! Never saw the older topics so now I have something to do
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Great post!
I just remembered reading the first 50 ages ago. Ah the memories . Especially July's Spark Terran against Chojja on Guillotine (I still don't know how he did that).
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GomTV MSL Season 2 is a landmark competition in the history of tournaments aired by MBC Game. Just like the Onamenet StarLeague that went through a complete overhaul the year before, MSL had a significant make-over in terms of format and overall prize pool.
The familiar format of the MBC Game StarLeague starting with the round of thirty-two (instead of the more conventional round of sixteen), was first implemented in GomTV MSL Season 2.
If we limit the confines to just the round of thirty-two, and how good players were at advancing to the round of sixteen of MBC Game StarLeague, Hwasin was actually the greatest at that particular element of the professional Brood War.
From the first incarnation of the round of thirty-two in GomTV MSL Season 2, and his last ever MSL appearance before his disgraceful exit from the scene, Hwasin was successful in reaching the round of sixteen for a record breaking nine consecutive tournaments. This is something his contemporary rivals, more famous for their MSL exploits, such as Jaedong, Flash, and Bisu never managed to do. Within his specific niche domain, Hwasin was a literal god.
When it was the round of thirty-two of the MBC Game StarLeague, Hwasin was near untouchable, in a manner that was somewhat like Canata and Sea of MBC Game Survivor Tournament, or how ZerO was exceptionally good at reaching the round of eight of Ongamenet StarLeague.
If these statistics alone doesn't convince anyone of Hwasin's absolute power over literally everyone when the stage was the round of thirty-two of the MBC Game StarLeague, imagine the following groups:
Jaedong, Bisu, Hwasin, FrOzen (Group A of Arena MSL)
Firebathero, Flash, Hwasin, Jaedong (Group F of Lost Saga MSL)
Pretty tough groups, right? Hwasin's record in these two groups? 4-0. 100% record. While he was in my eyes never quite championship material, I personally felt like his durable legacy was often overlooked. Sustained competency may not bring players glory, but it does merit more level of respect than what most people pay in my opinion.
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TLADT24917 Posts
Went back and read the other 50 incidents, great stuff all around. So many little gems in there!
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Thanks for the content! I scour the BW forum everyday for this kind of thing!
Never heard about that ahjussi incident! That was entertaining, it's so interesting watching Koreans interact with laypeople(non-sc), although I felt a bit sorry for the drunken man! Been watching this stuff on korean SNL and seeing more of their culture, and always trying to learn more korean-language...
I remember the game bisu made scouts against hwasin... It was very effective, as Hwasin had absolutely no goliaths. Though I'm sure it was all a ceremony sort of play! That series they played a BO5 is still etched in my mind! Very memorable, klazart did a great commentary of it, I remember watching it in sunny LA in 2007! Hwasin made some good moves. Hwasin did a big death-push and klazart was like "bisu fought hard, but hwasin is just... Shoving... It all down (Bisu's) throat!" Klaz always had the most poetic descriptions...
I also remember a fun little bit the stargirls led, interviewing Bisu and Hwasin together, as "The Handsomist" progamers. Bisu said he looked cuter as a youngster, but he liked how he looked more mature in the face as he aged... And they called hwasin "the progamer with the cherry-red lips." I always loved that description "cherry-red-lips," very poetic! Anyone else remember this little bit?
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I found this thoroughly enthralling. Great work, walking BW library!.
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Great writeup, brings back all the drama. I can't wait for the 2008-09 incidents, I can smell the FBH from here.
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Kau
Canada3500 Posts
Was that Shark vs Goodfriend game that one base hydra build?
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Thanks for posting this mate. I only knew of a few of these things before. So happy I got to read up on those past posts as well.
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United States10327 Posts
thanks for this post GTR
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On October 12 2017 17:56 asel wrote:Great post! I just remembered reading the first 50 ages ago. Ah the memories . Especially July's Spark Terran against Chojja on Guillotine (I still don't know how he did that).
Was there actually any player that play random in competitive matches? I dont really remember any (obviously it is really hard to be equally good at 3 races / 9 matchups)
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That Bisu - SaviOr 3-0 NEVER HAPPENED.
NO ! NEVER !
On October 21 2017 06:48 8882 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 12 2017 17:56 asel wrote:Great post! I just remembered reading the first 50 ages ago. Ah the memories . Especially July's Spark Terran against Chojja on Guillotine (I still don't know how he did that). Was there actually any player that play random in competitive matches? I dont really remember any (obviously it is really hard to be equally good at 3 races / 9 matchups)
I don't think so but it wasn't unusall to have player picking race. Random was more of a 2v2 thing
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On October 21 2017 23:47 FFW_Rude wrote:That Bisu - SaviOr 3-0 NEVER HAPPENED. NO ! NEVER ! Show nested quote +On October 21 2017 06:48 8882 wrote:On October 12 2017 17:56 asel wrote:Great post! I just remembered reading the first 50 ages ago. Ah the memories . Especially July's Spark Terran against Chojja on Guillotine (I still don't know how he did that). Was there actually any player that play random in competitive matches? I dont really remember any (obviously it is really hard to be equally good at 3 races / 9 matchups) I don't think so but it wasn't unusall to have player picking race. Random was more of a 2v2 thing Back in like '99-'00 it wasn't unheard-of to cycle races throughout a series, including random
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If someone is interested, I just stumbled upon the VOD for incident #18 (Reach's Neutral Animals) by accident. www.teamliquid.net Thought I might share this because that VOD was one I originally didn't find when going through the old incidents.
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I love Bisu and Hwasin, but Bisu calling him insurance is my single greatest Broodwar memory. The utter lack of respect and then backing it up with scouts cannot be understated.
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