In a time long before StarCraft II, when even Brood War was still in its infancy, Team Liquid was founded. For over a decade it has remained an exclusive group for skilled players with the required quality of character, known only by team leader Liquid`Nazgul. The explosion of StarCraft 2 and the rise of eSports in the West brought Team Liquid into the spotlight, both for the skill of its championship-winning players and also for the team's unifying identity.
For a while, 'good players with good character' seemed to be the closest thing to a mission statement for Team Liquid, represented by a roster with players like Jinro, HuK, Nony, Ret and TLO. But with a blockbuster move that saw the wealthy Evil Geniuses buy out superstar HuK's contract, a more specific goal began to emerge: find promising talent, integrate them, and give them best possible opportunity to fulfill their potential.
And so, HerO and TaeJa. One of the most powerful one-two punches in the business. There was never any doubt that both HerO and TaeJa were talented players, but few ever expected them to become the forces they are now. They are at the heart of Team Liquid's success.
Click the buttons below to change the player!
TaeJa: A Fiery Demon
TaeJa was not a complete unknown when he joined Team Liquid. In hardcore fan circles, his online cup games were considered a must-watch and many thought him to be one of the most talented players on SlayerS. But to most of the StarCraft world he remained out of the spotlight, just another Terran without any chances to impress in front of a large audience. Aware of this situation himself, TaeJa left SlayerS to see what opportunities might lie overseas.
It came a small surprise that TaeJa would end up signing with Liquid, and the majority of fans passed off Nazgul's promise of a championship for TaeJa as standard hyperbole. It would soon become clear that the truly shocking part of TaeJa's signing was that no other team had raced to receive his signature. Placed in a tough Code S group with two GSL champions in DongRaeGu and Jjakji, TaeJa defeated them both to advance to the Ro16 in grand fashion. Though his first Code S for Liquid was eventually ended by in the Ro8 by Squirtle, it was but a preview of what would eventually come.
TaeJa's momentum didn't stop, and he took full advantage of his newly gained ability to compete in overseas tournaments. He began making a name for himself by eliminating big names from qualifiers and brackets, all the while continuing to place high back home in Code S. However, he would have to wait until summer to make his most important breakthrough.
In the sweltering heat in a New York July, TaeJa found the spark to set the world ablaze. All of his incredible macro, micro, and multitask came together in a destructive harmony, and he swept aside his opponents at MLG Summer Arena to win his first championship. Once TaeJa started heating up, other players became but more fuel to the fire. No one could stand up to TaeJa as he took a second title at ASUS ROG Summer. ForGG nearly quenched the flames at the finals DreamHack Valencia, but lacked the endurance to defeat TaeJa in a five game series. Meanwhile, the online IPL Team Arena had become a massacre with entire teams falling to TaeJa alone.
But such power has limits, and every inferno will burn itself out. TaeJa paid the price with injured wrists, and after a roaring summer where no player looked like his equal, he quickly cooled off as the mercury begin to drop. At DreamHack Winter, he was finished off by his teammate and polar opposite in Liquid`HerO who, with no other choice, handed TaeJa the most thorough defeat of his career in a vicious 4 - 0.
Still, the spark has remained. A voice inside TaeJa's head still whispers tales of the destruction to come once the summer returns. In 2013, Assembly, HomeStoryCup and Dreamhack were unable to withstand his wrath. As the winter approaches again TaeJa seeks to keep the fire burning for just a few more days. The target is Blizzcon.
HerO: A Frozen Dragon
The arrival of HerO to Liquid' from oGs was a significant moment for the international scene. With little opportunity for the young talent to shine amongst the veterans of oGs some wondered whether the move was premature, but the players on Liquid` and oGs knew him for the beast he was. Both HuK and MC were thrilled about HerO joining the team as both saw the talent in him to be one of the absolute best Protoss players in the world. Still, there was this feeling of cold coming from him, like a protective shell of cautiousness and self-doubt.
HerO arrived in Liquid` at a time when the Protoss race was in despair -- too many of their brethren were being decimated by merciless mass mutalisks from the Swarm and cruel 1-1-1 timings from the Terrans. His arrival brought new hope to the race through his masterful usage of the warp prism; dropping templar, colossi, zealots, sentries, immortals and the jaws of fans. The signs were there, yet we were still waiting for the inner beast to emerge from his shell like MC had foretold.
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
HerO's first few international tournaments caused uncertainty among spectators -- nobody knew how good he really was. Then Dreamhack Winter 2011 came along. Not even the king of 1-1-1s, Puma, could stand in the way of HerO as he took his first major victory. In that moment everything became clear; the ice had broken down, the growling of the dragon could be heard through the cracks, and the community discovered something unexpected. When fall ends and the world becomes cold, HerO gains the power to slip through the cracks in his shell and unleash his real potential as the Frozen Dragon.
Winter brought more runs for HerO as he left his mark on many tournaments and reached Code S. Eventually winter ended, TaeJa's summer began and HerO enjoyed fewer victories but he had already made his statement and established himself as one of the best. A year later he broke out again and another Dreamhack and NASL fell victim to him. Many were expecting HerO to disappear again after winter ended but he took WCS America Season 1 - a tournament in June and won the Rookie Award for his performance as EGTL's ace player in Proleague. Famous fortune teller Artosis even asked the question whether this meant that HerO had finally escaped the ice entirely. But defeats at two Season Finals raised doubts about his level and whether he was able to compete at the same level as his teammate TaeJa. HerO is desperately looking for another big win.
The leaves are falling again, temperatures are low. It won't be long now.
The Dream
The one thing that has eluded both HerO and TaeJa is the biggest trophy in the world. Their hard work and tremendous skill has shown through in the form of trophies at numerous international events, but neither has won THE single championship that commands the most respect in the world. That one championship used to be Code S, but in a world re-ordered by the WCS system it can only be the WCS Grand Finals.
On Team Liquid, HerO and TaeJa have realized their dreams of becoming successful progamers known around the world. In turn, they have repaid Team Liquid for the opportunity with their success and by becoming two of the most well-known pro-gamers in StarCraft 2. But the ultimate dreams have yet to be attained by either Liquid or its Korean duo, and these dreams happen to go hand in hand. For HerO and TaeJa, it is to stand above all others as the undisputed best player. For Team Liquid, it is to write the final chapter in a coming of age story, to have taken a young charge and journeyed together to the promised land. There is one trophy to fulfill it all.
IT'S HERE brb reading it Taeja and HerO really are opposites, now that I think of it. Maybe not in terms of actual games provided, as they both are fairly macro players, but everything else..
Badass. Love these hype threads. I seriously can't recall another tournament with this level of hype going into it, and the community has had a huge hand in that.
On November 08 2013 04:29 Kitai wrote: I see fire, but where's the ice?! As much as TaeJa is my favorite player ever, HerO needs some loving in this writeup too!
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.
- Frost
He's got it right -- either of the two will work for me ^_^
On November 08 2013 05:17 mythandier wrote: Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.
- Frost
He's got it right -- either of the two will work for me ^_^
Gosh, this is such an awesoem poem, I waited so long to read it on some forum. It's in my facebook quotes since like 2 years
damn im digging these hype articles. i like the format used but maybe could have used a couple more pictures or incorporate their faces into the buttons.
anyway, after jaedong im rooting for both taeja and hero!! gogo TL!
Wow that "mini Bisu" thing really describes him.. Not just because of the "hype" maybe, but also that that's exactly what describes his awesome style of play..
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
These articles are why I keep coming back to TL even though I don't play much SC2 anymore; incredibly well written with amazing narrative! Maybe a little biased since HerO and Taeja are my favorite players but shh....
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You must really hate it when people get hyped for something.
Taeja wasn't "obviously champion material", nobody wanted to grab him apart from Liquid, stop making stuff up. He was a faceless terran who had trouble showing his skill in GSL, even though he had some results in GSTL, he was overshadowed by many others at that point.
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You must really hate it when people get hyped for something.
Taeja wasn't "obviously champion material", nobody wanted to grab him apart from Liquid, stop making stuff up. He was a faceless terran who had trouble showing his skill in GSL, even though he had some results in GSTL, he was overshadowed by many others at that point.
yes he was. he was a 17 year old kid who raped code s players and won tournaments with them 5-6 times in a row. it maybe wasn't ovious for you though.
but neither has won THE single championship that commands the most respect in the world. That one championship used to be Code S, but in a world re-ordered by the WCS system it can only be the WCS Grand Finals.
Now that is just absolute bullshit. GSL is still the hardest tournament by far.
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You must really hate it when people get hyped for something.
Taeja wasn't "obviously champion material", nobody wanted to grab him apart from Liquid, stop making stuff up. He was a faceless terran who had trouble showing his skill in GSL, even though he had some results in GSTL, he was overshadowed by many others at that point.
yes he was. he was a 17 year old kid who raped code s players and won tournaments with them 5-6 times in a row. it maybe wasn't ovious for you though.
For me this is the weakest article so far, right after MC's (which didn't really do MC justice).
But that may just be because I would have preferred two separate articles. The whole fire and ice thing is a bit weak as well. Would have been far more elegant to go with the summer and fall theme...
Anyway these articles as a whole are still awesome and have me really looking forward to the first games.
but neither has won THE single championship that commands the most respect in the world. That one championship used to be Code S, but in a world re-ordered by the WCS system it can only be the WCS Grand Finals.
Now that is just absolute bullshit. GSL is still the hardest tournament by far.
I disagree. To even get here would likely require some high-level consistency in multiple tournaments.
Then you're up against 15 others who are likely of similar caliber with bo5+ the entire way through from the ro16? I'd absolutely hold the Blizzcon champ in higher esteem than a gsl champ.
don't get me wrong, I love taeja so much, but i hate how people say that taeja was like a hardcore fan pick before liquid. he had already made his name with ro4 code a, and going into code s, and 2 GSTL allkills ALL before he even joined liquid. It just feels like people disregard the amount of work slayers' put into him, and that's really sad because the biggest reason he wins anything today is that eye of boxer picking him up
Shoulda talked about Taeja's bullshit run through IPTL, it was something crazy like 25-2 against top Korean teams. That's where the Summer of Taeja really started.
On November 08 2013 07:58 aRyuujin wrote: don't get me wrong, I love taeja so much, but i hate how people say that taeja was like a hardcore fan pick before liquid. he had already made his name with ro4 code a, and going into code s, and 2 GSTL allkills ALL before he even joined liquid. It just feels like people disregard the amount of work slayers' put into him, and that's really sad because the biggest reason he wins anything today is that eye of boxer picking him up
That's a bit of a stretch, considering he was always playing from home and had no salary on Slayers. It wouldn't be hard for a player of his talents to find suitable practice anyway (NEX players practiced together anyway).
Neither team really put much "work" into him when it comes to actual in-game performance, let alone so much to be "the biggest reason he wins anything today". He mostly soloed it all the way. Results-wise it's his teams that benefited from having him a lot more than the other way around.
Again, this is mostly related to in-game performance and result-wise. Obviously Liquid puts a lot of resources into paying him and flying him around, and Slayers gave him his first real offline spotlight. They've given him the opportunity to play, but his performance is his own doing (like most players in SC2 anyway).
On November 08 2013 08:06 GhandiEAGLE wrote: Shoulda talked about Taeja's bullshit run through IPTL, it was something crazy like 25-2 against top Korean teams. That's where the Summer of Taeja really started.
Meanwhile, the online IPL Team Arena had become a massacre with entire teams falling to TaeJa alone.
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You obviously haven't been keeping up with Hero since he first joined Liquid... Go watch Day9 Daily #349. Day9 explains it quite nicely.
As for Taeja, he won 6 out of 7 ESV Korean weeklies, but when he left SlayerS, Liquid was the only one that tried to sign him. Everyone knew he had talent, but no one else attempted to pick him up. Even Nazgul said it (I think it was in Liquid Rising but not sure) that Taeja was the biggest acquisition in skill because Liquid's philosophy was to help people with talent flourish.
Fire and ice is just something to sound cool and it's only used to hype them up so I don't understand why you're so touchy on it. Perhaps you would have preferred "Team Taeja" and "Team Hero"?
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You obviously haven't been keeping up with Hero since he first joined Liquid... Go watch Day9 Daily #349. Day9 explains it quite nicely.
As for Taeja, he won 6 out of 7 ESV Korean weeklies, but when he left SlayerS, Liquid was the only one that tried to sign him. Everyone knew he had talent, but no one else attempted to pick him up. Even Nazgul said it (I think it was in Liquid Rising but not sure) that Taeja was the biggest acquisition in skill because Liquid's philosophy was to help people with talent flourish.
Fire and ice is just something to sound cool and it's only used to hype them up so I don't understand why you're so touchy on it. Perhaps you would have preferred "Team Taeja" and "Team Hero"?
don't get me wrong, i think hero's awesome. he's just not unparalelled or revolutionizing or anything like bisu, that's all;) he doesn't have any segment of his play that others didn't do before, he just did it better. but not good enough to be the best protoss or dominant or anything. that's why deluded fanboys are annoying, the ones who think hero truly revolutionized anything or he is the top protoss. his style is awesome to watch, he had good success and that's it. i don't know what day9 talks about, cba watch a whole episode because you told so. Hero was basically a no name before he joined TL, and his fan club grew to 300 pages from 3 pages in like a week, just like Taeja's. the point is, 70% of the hype is and was fanboyism. The forums flooded with users who think "hero is the top pross because he plays so beautiful". I choose to look at things objectively, be it a player i personally sympathize with or not.
Taeja was obviously the biggest acquisition, the other korean teams were stupid. Taeja had performance like San back then, only 3 times better. And TL suddenly grew to be the strongest "foreigner" team because they signed 1 player, in a day. Maybe it was connected to the slayers happenings, it's not like the other slayers players managed to get into good korean teams either, not even mma/ryung/alicia etc who had arguably more exposure.
edit: yeah the Team Taeja and Team Hero joke would have been really awesome;)
[B] Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
I think the point was that Taeja at that time was not as well known and as dominant as other Korean Terrans at that time. While on Slayers, he was overshadowed by MMA and Ryung. Foreigners that dont follow Korean weeklies didn't know him that well. He didn't get huge foreign exposure till he joined TL.
That one championship used to be Code S, but in a world re-ordered by the WCS system it can only be the WCS Grand Finals.
no....despite the money gap between GSL and WCS Korea its still a WCS Korea win that puts the big ! behind a players name. Don't have a link or smth right now but I think it was written in a TL article about Innovation that he still lacks a WCS Korea/GSL Win that puts him above all ([...]cause its still (by far) the hardest competition).
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You obviously haven't been keeping up with Hero since he first joined Liquid... Go watch Day9 Daily #349. Day9 explains it quite nicely.
As for Taeja, he won 6 out of 7 ESV Korean weeklies, but when he left SlayerS, Liquid was the only one that tried to sign him. Everyone knew he had talent, but no one else attempted to pick him up. Even Nazgul said it (I think it was in Liquid Rising but not sure) that Taeja was the biggest acquisition in skill because Liquid's philosophy was to help people with talent flourish.
Fire and ice is just something to sound cool and it's only used to hype them up so I don't understand why you're so touchy on it. Perhaps you would have preferred "Team Taeja" and "Team Hero"?
don't get me wrong, i think hero's awesome. he's just not unparalelled or revolutionizing or anything like bisu, that's all;) he doesn't have any segment of his play that others didn't do before, he just did it better. but not good enough to be the best protoss or dominant or anything. that's why deluded fanboys are annoying, the ones who think hero truly revolutionized anything or he is the top protoss. his style is awesome to watch, he had good success and that's it. i don't know what day9 talks about, cba watch a whole episode because you told so. Hero was basically a no name before he joined TL, and his fan club grew to 300 pages from 3 pages in like a week, just like Taeja's. the point is, 70% of the hype is and was fanboyism. The forums flooded with users who think "hero is the top pross because he plays so beautiful". I choose to look at things objectively, be it a player i personally sympathize with or not.
Taeja was obviously the biggest acquisition, the other korean teams were stupid. Taeja had performance like San back then, only 3 times better. And TL suddenly grew to be the strongest "foreigner" team because they signed 1 player, in a day. Maybe it was connected to the slayers happenings, it's not like the other slayers players managed to get into good korean teams either, not even mma/ryung/alicia etc who had arguably more exposure.
edit: yeah the Team Taeja and Team Hero joke would have been really awesome;)
I agree that Hero's not revolutionizing a matchup, but it's a particular style of play. As much as I am a Hero and Taeja fanboy, Hero is most likely going to be knocked out early (Even though imo Hero is a top 10 Protoss). As for the day9 episode, it's a game from MLG and Day9 talks about how Hero got so hyped and he cites PvZ in Brood War and how Bisu revolutionized it. It's only a 3-4 minute explanation from 5:00 to around ~8:30.
I'm not sure how far Taeja's going to go since he's up against Dear in the first round. He has a killer TvP, but Dear has the momentum while Summer has passed for Taeja.
About Taeja's signing with Liquid, I remember reading somewhere that Taeja talked with some guy at ESV or something and they introduced Taeja to someone on Liquid because he wanted to go to foreign tournaments. It might have just been that Liquid had a head start on signing him than anyone else.
Edit: Yeah, it says on his Liquipedia page that a tournament organizer from ESV introduced Taeja to Liquid's upper management.
I love both of them, but hero looks way to gay on this picture. Hero is the destroyer of dreams, the destroyer of worlds, make his picture more badass!!!
On November 08 2013 09:54 BlueFlames wrote: I love both of them, but hero looks way to gay on this picture. Hero is the destroyer of dreams, the destroyer of worlds, make his picture more badass!!!
Sick sick articles! I wish they wouldn't share the spotlight, but it makes sense, being from TL and all. I think HerO has a chance of making it far, for Taeja it might be his form. If he wins, he will prove that all year is summer (like Singapore! lol)
On November 08 2013 09:54 BlueFlames wrote: I love both of them, but hero looks way to gay on this picture. Hero is the destroyer of dreams, the destroyer of worlds, make his picture more badass!!!
On November 08 2013 09:57 slowbacontron wrote: Dude...I wish HerO was gay.
Mhmm. Just the right amount of gay.
Dont mean for this to be negative, but i dont see a gay guy as a badass. Maybe there just havent been enough of them for me to realize. When i think of Hero i just imagine someone badass, someone who will destroy your dreams while beeing super nice to you. Maybe that sounds weird, i dont know :-D
The word was spreading across the eSports world that a new dragon had been found. There had been tales of dragons in an ancient game, one of which, a being called Bisu, had once terrorized the world with fearsome harass, micro like none had seen before and a strategic eye that was unparalleled. It wasn't long before the community drew the comparison. "Mini-Bisu" they called him, which roughly translates to "Handsome Toss".
Nice little hype writeup, but this paragraph borders ridiculousness;) Micro that nobody has seen and strategic eye that was unparalelled... simply not true. He played(plays) a flashy style with good micro and multitasking, and that's it. Also, who really called him mini-bisu? he looks nothing like bisu and isn't similar to him in any way, not even playstyle wise. Honestly, the frequent warp prism usage existed in the scene by whitera and sase earlier than the time hero was around, they didn't play as high level as him though that's for sure.
Another point I would make is that Taeja when liquid signed up, had the most ridiculous win streak in korean weeklies. can't find the correct liquipedia article, but it was the most ridiculously stacked online tournament ever, full of code s+a koreans, and taeja was the bonjwa of that league, winning like 5 or 6 of them. basically everyone knew that he was champion material by the time he got acquired by TL. while the article doesn't directly contradict this, basically the only thing TL did for him was to give him money to travel to tournaments and win them, so nothing miraculous happened there.
Also, the fire/cold theme is not fitting for their personalities at all, only to the seasons they were successful in 2012. In truth Hero is very emotional (warm) and taeja doesn't show much more personality than Innovation or Alive. he is not exactly cold but not hot either. these themes aren't really nails hit on the head
You obviously haven't been keeping up with Hero since he first joined Liquid... Go watch Day9 Daily #349. Day9 explains it quite nicely.
As for Taeja, he won 6 out of 7 ESV Korean weeklies, but when he left SlayerS, Liquid was the only one that tried to sign him. Everyone knew he had talent, but no one else attempted to pick him up. Even Nazgul said it (I think it was in Liquid Rising but not sure) that Taeja was the biggest acquisition in skill because Liquid's philosophy was to help people with talent flourish.
Fire and ice is just something to sound cool and it's only used to hype them up so I don't understand why you're so touchy on it. Perhaps you would have preferred "Team Taeja" and "Team Hero"?
don't get me wrong, i think hero's awesome. he's just not unparalelled or revolutionizing or anything like bisu, that's all;) he doesn't have any segment of his play that others didn't do before, he just did it better. but not good enough to be the best protoss or dominant or anything. that's why deluded fanboys are annoying, the ones who think hero truly revolutionized anything or he is the top protoss. his style is awesome to watch, he had good success and that's it. i don't know what day9 talks about, cba watch a whole episode because you told so. Hero was basically a no name before he joined TL, and his fan club grew to 300 pages from 3 pages in like a week, just like Taeja's. the point is, 70% of the hype is and was fanboyism. The forums flooded with users who think "hero is the top pross because he plays so beautiful". I choose to look at things objectively, be it a player i personally sympathize with or not.
Taeja was obviously the biggest acquisition, the other korean teams were stupid. Taeja had performance like San back then, only 3 times better. And TL suddenly grew to be the strongest "foreigner" team because they signed 1 player, in a day. Maybe it was connected to the slayers happenings, it's not like the other slayers players managed to get into good korean teams either, not even mma/ryung/alicia etc who had arguably more exposure.
edit: yeah the Team Taeja and Team Hero joke would have been really awesome;)
I agree that Hero's not revolutionizing a matchup, but it's a particular style of play. As much as I am a Hero and Taeja fanboy, Hero is most likely going to be knocked out early (Even though imo Hero is a top 10 Protoss). As for the day9 episode, it's a game from MLG and Day9 talks about how Hero got so hyped and he cites PvZ in Brood War and how Bisu revolutionized it. It's only a 3-4 minute explanation from 5:00 to around ~8:30.
I'm not sure how far Taeja's going to go since he's up against Dear in the first round. He has a killer TvP, but Dear has the momentum while Summer has passed for Taeja.
About Taeja's signing with Liquid, I remember reading somewhere that Taeja talked with some guy at ESV or something and they introduced Taeja to someone on Liquid because he wanted to go to foreign tournaments. It might have just been that Liquid had a head start on signing him than anyone else.
Edit: Yeah, it says on his Liquipedia page that a tournament organizer from ESV introduced Taeja to Liquid's upper management.
I think sos is more manageable than many others honestly, even after seeing hero's quite bad pvp performance recently. or maybe i just didn't see sos play for a while so i write him off...
Taeja vs dear should be interesting. i think dear will take it due to his momentum, even though they're absolutely equal strength wise in my head. Maru managed to pull off insane aggression to keep Dear 20-30 supply down into the late game, if Taeja somehow manages that, he should win because his late game is better than maru's. Rooting for taeja, dear won too much and taeja needs a gsl win;)
If Polt, Taeja, Maru, MC or Jaedong takes it i'll be happy.
But with a blockbuster move that saw the wealthy Evil Geniuses buy out superstar HuK's contract, a more specific goal began to emerge: find promising talent, integrate them, and give them best possible opportunity to fulfill their potential.
Haha Zenio... Speaking of Zenio has he been playing in any tournaments lately? Anyways, sick write up as usual. Didn't know TL had that many talented writers, well done!