Before MMA became one of SC2's greatest champions, he had very different dreams and aspirations. He initially wanted to become a soldier, but suffered a knee injury that lead to him being discharged from the army. Unable to pursue his military aspirations, MMA had to reinvent himself. He turned to another of his passions, pro gaming Brood War, and made it his new battleground. Due to his connections to BoxeR he was recruited to the new team SlayerS. He switched to SC2 and eventually became the ace of the team.
Even in the early days, MMA was one of the first challengers to rise up and contest the rule of Mvp, who was dominating the SC2 scene at the time with his unstoppable macro style. Though there were many other contenders to the terran throne — Bomber, Polt, PuMa — MMA's claim was the strongest. He was the most consistent, had won a GSL and a foreign event in MLG Columbus, and regularly clashed with and defeated his rival Mvp. After his memorable run at Blizzcup 2011, it appeared that MMA was ready to dethrone The King of Wings and craft his own legend.
Alas it was not to be. Internal strife tore apart the mighty team SlayerS: constant fights, bickering, management issues. MMA bore the brunt of the crisis and was demoted to the B team for disciplinary reasons. Though it must have hurt, it paled in comparison to what would follow. BoxeR attempted to forward MMA's personal sponsorship to himself. Worse yet, BoxeR had called MMA a cancer cell that had to be quarantined from the rest of the team. MMA caught wind of this and was distraught; to be betrayed on such a deep level by his mentor, his father figure, the man he looked up to as an idol, must have been absolutely devastating. From the incredible highs he had reached, MMA slumped to the lowest of lows, and became a shadow of his former GSL winning self.
MMA's turbulent career. Credit to Aligulac.
It was the kind of scandal that had dishonored legends before him — such as the man who cannot be named — and it would have been easy for MMA to shrivel in the face of these accusations. Disowned by his mentor, the Son of Boxer was in danger of being defined by his precipitous fall from grace. Our fickle community had turned its back on its heroes for far less, and it seemed like his reputation was beyond repair.
But the Military Terran was not done. Not yet. MMA decided that he needed to clear out his past once more and allow his results to absolve him of those accusations. So he left his home with SlayerS. Due to the connection he had with foreign fans, he was recruited by the new team Acer. He switched to WCS EU and eventually became the ace of the team.
In the early days of WCS EU, MMA was one of the first Koreans to make the move. There were many other contenders to the continental crown, players like Mvp, Stephano, MC. MMA's claim was denied repeatedly. He lost in the Round of 16 on his debut, to Strelok and ForGG; in the following season he was stopped in the semifinals by MC; and at the WCS Season 2 Finals he was defeated by Scarlett and Maru. Though he was a model teammate on Acer's (in ATC) and AxiomAcer's (in GSTL) team league triumphs, individual success still eluded him. It wasn't until the concluding season of the year that he finally found his bearings, defeated his European rival MC, and claimed the regional championship. After his memorable run to reach Blizzcon 2013, it appeared that MMA was ready to renew his legend.
Alas it was not to be. An identity crisis tore the mighty terran race apart: the widow mine nerf, the power of protoss and less than favorable maps. MMA bore the brunt of the crisis as his results declined with his race. He lost in the finals of WCS EU Season 1 2014 against his new rival MC, and was knocked out in the Ro32 the next season. In the GSL Global Championship, he fell at the first hurdle. At Dreamhack Stockholm, he even failed to advance from the third group stage. From the incredible highs he had reached at the end of 2013, MMA slumped to another low. But with no distractions clouding his mind this time, he was once again able to rebound near the end of the year, as he won both Dreamhack Moscow and WCS EU Season 3 to scrape to the WCS Grand Finals. Another turbulent year had cleared.
More than any other player, MMA has had a tumultuous career. And more than any other, MMA straddles the fine line between hero and villain. He was the antagonist to Starcraft 2's greatest hero before winning tournaments on all continents, in all years, and against all expectations. He incited eSports' greatest legend into retirement and was blamed for the dissolution of his team, but he proved the strength of his character on his personal odyssey. He crushed many a foreign hope in his travels before astounding fans with his electrifying play. He has tasted the most magnificent victories and the bitterest defeats.
For some, the SlayerS scandal and his opposition of Mvp will never be displaced. For others, he is one of the game's greatest players with an irreproachable character. Our perception of players has always had an element of unpredictability, but we will always gravitate towards compelling tales. duckdeok won our hearts with his tears of joy, negating a season of cheese and favorite slaying. Sniper, on the other hand, has been immortalized as the villain despite his rock solid play for his role at the end of Wings of Liberty and the tears of Eve. How will MMA be remembered?
Perhaps we will find that answer at Blizzcon. A win will tie him with his great rival for the 2nd most Premier Tournament titles. Another disappointment could signal that he's lost a step against the best in the world. How he performs here could change how he will ultimately be remembered. He could complete his quest to break free of all this uncertainty surrounding him, but could also be thrown right back into the thick of it.
mma was betrayed and was never the villain it was boxers/slayers fault for what they did to him and yet he came back from depression. takes a special type of person to be able to put it up with the bullying of the dominant types. no excuse for an mentor to to say and do the things he did. im glad to see him pull himself back into the spotlight where he belong but i hope it hadnt scared him too much with trusting people, as i can speak from experience does cause more problems later in life.
I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MarineKing is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp, literally. A timeless champion.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
No don't do it
The best way to make him more curious.
Yea lol.... Now I really want to know what happened xD.
MMA is an intriguing player as I can't really place his form. He won Dreamhack Moscow and WCS EU, and won them playing TvT probably the most important matchup this tournament due to how strong terran is recently.
However, he lost First, Happy and poizon??? recently, so... I could equally see him making a deep run, performing well against the other terrans in this tournament, or losing 3 straight maps against Stardust.
On October 22 2014 11:04 vult wrote: Though I think MMA is going to get stomped pretty early, it is really cool to see him make it!
if his side of the bracket plays out in his favour and he has to face terrans, i honestly think he can make it to the finals. he is on par with bomber and polt in tvt, but he will almost certainly lose to hero or classic
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MarineKing is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp, literally. A timeless champion.
On October 22 2014 11:24 ZigguratOfUr wrote: MMA is an intriguing player as I can't really place his form. He won Dreamhack Moscow and WCS EU, and won them playing TvT probably the most important matchup this tournament due to how strong terran is recently.
However, he lost First, Happy and poizon??? recently, so... I could equally see him making a deep run, performing well against the other terrans in this tournament, or losing 3 straight maps against Stardust.
That's MMA in a nutshell - his form varies so much series by series
One day, he really looks like a top 5 player in the world, other days he loses to random foreigners.
Y'all are a bunch of buzzkills. MMA can beat absolutely absolutely anyone if he puts enough effort in. Blizzcon champ 2014.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
Boxer tried to run a business with a SO. He learned his lesson.
On October 22 2014 11:38 VeNoM HaZ Skill wrote: Y'all are a bunch of buzzkills. MMA can beat absolutely absolutely anyone if he puts enough effort in. Blizzcon champ 2014.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
Boxer tried to run a business with a SO. He learned his lesson.
10 crack commandments is required listening to everyone planning to run a business.
On October 22 2014 11:38 VeNoM HaZ Skill wrote: Y'all are a bunch of buzzkills. MMA can beat absolutely absolutely anyone if he puts enough effort in. Blizzcon champ 2014.
On October 22 2014 10:08 TheLordofAwesome wrote: I checked out the link about the SlayerS drama, which I have heard a little bit about before. however I was not actually involved in the Sc2 proscene when this was going on. The link contains a bunch of interviews and stuff from MMA and CranK, but it was written assuming that the readers knew the context.
Could someone please explain to me what happened on that team? The OP of that thread looks shockingly toxic.
Boxer tried to run a business with a SO. He learned his lesson.
10 crack commandments is required listening to everyone planning to run a business.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MarineKing is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp, literally. A timeless champion.
On October 22 2014 12:43 negativedge wrote: people forget that MMA was always the fan favorite in his matches against MVP, not the other way around.
noo, definitely not true. People were mad when he 3-0ed Mvp in the Blizzard Cup. Check out the thread.
Even Artosis sounded completely biased and disappointed haha.
He was a fan favorite against Mvp during the summer (GSTL, MLG, GSL October), because while Mvp was ridiculously dominant, Mvp was seen as a "boring champion" (crazy, right?) and MMA was the exciting underdog.
By late 2011, people really started to respect Mvp's dominance, plus in the Blizz Cup series only G1 was a longer game - games 2 and 3 were short timing attacks by MMA, and people were upset that such a potentially great Bo5 ended so quickly
If someone wants to reply to me here or PM, what was the truth behind the SlayerS scandal? BoxeR was a jerk, MMA was the cancer in the team, Alicia and Ryung were turning on each other, etc etc.? I stopped following it back then because it was simply progressing too fast and the information was all over the place.
I'm actually baffled, even though I've closely followed Starcraft 2 since just after the beta and I never felt like the shame was on MMA, who has never done anything but give it his all. To me, the drama brought by Jessica (and I guess Boxer himself) was just completely outrageous and killed an amazing team. I was happy that Acer picked up so many of their great players and that MMA was brought back.
He's certainly back in top form, and I hope he can walk the road to a Blizzcon championship that he started so long ago....
tbh, i like the last year's article more... MMA from what I see, is always the protagonist and fan favored against MVP and Team MVP, this article goes little too far to portray a hero/antihero theme..
I have never try to dig deep for the Slayers drama, since Boxer and MMA are two of my favorite player and Slayers is my all time favorite esports team :/
Big thanks to Acer (and Kaoru) to have recruited MMA and allowed him to rebuild himself. He seems happy now, always nice and playing well, it's really cool to have him at Blizzcon.
It would be surprising if he won the whole thing though, but the MMA from 2011 could have crushed any of the 15 others, so who knows?
Great article. I got into SC2 after MMA's heyday, so this was a really nice and dramatic recap!
On October 22 2014 09:41 Destructicon wrote: Alas it was not to be. Internal strife tore apart the mighty team SlayerS: constant fights, bickering, management issues.
Obligatory "thanks for wasting three hours of my life, assholes."
For me, MMA, along with Life, will always be the players who denied MVP ultimate glory in the GSL. I will forever root against them because of this, but at the same time, I can't help but admire their skill.
On October 22 2014 16:27 Dreamer.T wrote: For me, MMA, along with Life, will always be the players who denied MVP ultimate glory in the GSL. I will forever root against them because of this, but at the same time, I can't help but admire their skill.
He is four time champion. This is ultimate glory. But mma beat Mvp when Mvp was probably strongest so there's that.
On October 22 2014 16:27 Dreamer.T wrote: For me, MMA, along with Life, will always be the players who denied MVP ultimate glory in the GSL. I will forever root against them because of this, but at the same time, I can't help but admire their skill.
He is four time champion. This is ultimate glory. But mma beat Mvp when Mvp was probably strongest so there's that.
I'm glad you think so too, but 6 time GSL champion would've put Mvp into undisputed Bonjwa can't touch me status. But as you said, it's indeed a feat that MMA beat Prime Mvp, and his rivalry with Mvp is in my top 5 rivalry list.
Really nice story, enjoyed reading it. Also, what a visionary was Boxer with slayers.. just think about it.. top 3 terrans all time in sc2 are MVP,Taeja and MMA, where MMA and Teaja are Boxers creation somehow. MMA is one of the most consistent players since SC2 came out, they are really few players who won tournaments in every year after their first premier winning (MMA didn`t win any in first year FruitDealer, Nestea, MC). I guerss MMA is easily in the TOP10 of all SC2 players. Will be hard for him to win Blizzcon, he is in great shape after wining WCS and DH.. but the lineup for this one is much more stronger. I feel like players like Zest, Innovation and Bomber are the clear favourites.
First match is against Star_Dust - one of the most difficult opponents. Actually both of them are really great, but even for my protoss nature I always supported MMA. Of course what he did 3 years ago cannot be repeated anymore or with any other player. But still MMA proved that he has a psyche for a champion. In general, MMA is situated in the easier semi final bracket and has the chance to make it to the final match, it will be amazing! But the other bracket will be more epic with the chance to see at least two GSL final rematches again. GL!
MMA is an amazing player...and I think he can take Stardust...but he wont. The Dust is training hard for this...he is serial cereal serial serious for this Blizz...
On October 22 2014 17:54 AxiomBlurr wrote: MMA is an amazing player...and I think he can take Stardust...but he wont. The Dust is training hard for this...he is serial cereal serial serious for this Blizz...
Anybody disagree??
I do, but only because I don't like Stardust.
MMA is going to shrug off Stardust of his shoulder and move onto the next competitor.
On October 22 2014 18:18 Bibu wrote: best terran! go go MMA!
It was short period of time when he was truly best terran. In October when he won GSL he was on the top for few months but by the spring 2012 he was definitely not.
Did anybody ever blame MMA for the slayers drama? I don't really remember his reputation being hurt because of that like the article suggests, but maybe that was only my fanboy eyes
I like MMA of 2014 more than of 2011. It's much less common that MMA will open with a hidden command center or other greedy build, while relying on his superior multitasking to get away with it. He's not so much faster than his opponents anymore, and the field of competition is much stronger. His first scout after scvs isn't a medivac drop, and he's been stronger vs Protoss for quite awhile now.
Bomber beat him last year in the ro16 and is the favorite to beat Jaedong and face the winner of StarDust/MMA in the ro8. He's been a stumbling block for MMA, if not as famously as Polt. I'd really love to see MMA make it all the way this time.
On October 22 2014 20:17 Split. wrote: Did anybody ever blame MMA for the slayers drama? I don't really remember his reputation being hurt because of that like the article suggests, but maybe that was only my fanboy eyes
Personally I believe everyone involved was to blame so mainly Jessica, BoxeR and MMA.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
MMA might now have been called the very best int he world for a very considerable period but MMA has always been undoubtedly much more solid than MKP ever was. Being a 2 time GSL champion was always bigger claim to being the no. 2 terran after Mvp. The fact that he has beaten Mvp several times and they had an awesome rivalry is like the final nail in the coffin for MKP.
MKP will forever be in my heart for having the best micro in wings. However, MMA has maintained an exceptionally high level of play for years. That's the hardest thing to do. Look how many pros have come and gone. How many gsl finalists aren't even playing the game anymore... And now MMA is on the biggest stage in the world, again.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
Well, both MMA and MKP made 3 GSL finals / GSL equivalents: However, the difference is that MMA won 2 of 3, while MKP lost all 3.
MMA had 5 premier titles in WoL - MKP had only 2
Even during MKP's peak in early 2012 (when he won 2 MLGs) - MMA still placed higher than MKP in two premier tournaments that they both played in (IPL 4 and Iron Squid)
On October 22 2014 19:50 Starecat wrote: Didn't know that Boxer was a asshole.
I think it's less of him being an asshole and more him trying to defend his (now) wife, no matter how ridiculous she and her policies are. She really must've distorted his viewpoints. I think if he had a more solid manager and Jessica would've stayed away from it, everything would've been fine. This is mostly coming from the idea that Boxer is a well-respected player and coach and wouldn't deliberately sabotage his own team without the influence of an outside force.
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
MMA might now have been called the very best int he world for a very considerable period but MMA has always been undoubtedly much more solid than MKP ever was. Being a 2 time GSL champion was always bigger claim to being the no. 2 terran after Mvp. The fact that he has beaten Mvp several times and they had an awesome rivalry is like the final nail in the coffin for MKP.
If only MKP somehow fit into that triangle of Polt > MMA > Mvp > Polt, the story would be so much more awesome
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
MMA might now have been called the very best int he world for a very considerable period but MMA has always been undoubtedly much more solid than MKP ever was. Being a 2 time GSL champion was always bigger claim to being the no. 2 terran after Mvp. The fact that he has beaten Mvp several times and they had an awesome rivalry is like the final nail in the coffin for MKP.
If only MKP somehow fit into that triangle of Polt > MMA > Mvp > Polt, the story would be so much more awesome
On October 22 2014 10:12 Bagration wrote: MMA is one of the legends, one of the greatest players of Starcraft 2. In WoL, he was 2nd best Terran after Mvp. A timeless champion
Surely Boxer/Foxer/MarineKing/MKP was the best terran after Mvp? MMA was for a short time the best in the world, but MKP was the second best for ages and the best for far longer than MMA was.
MMA was and is awesome. An awesome dude, an awesome player and one of the best handful of Terrans in Starcraft 2 (along with fellow gods Mvp, MKP, Maru and Innovation), but his peak was not as bright as MKP's (MKP had one rival for best in the world for several months, that being Parting) and certainly didn't burn for near as long.
MMA might now have been called the very best int he world for a very considerable period but MMA has always been undoubtedly much more solid than MKP ever was. Being a 2 time GSL champion was always bigger claim to being the no. 2 terran after Mvp. The fact that he has beaten Mvp several times and they had an awesome rivalry is like the final nail in the coffin for MKP.
If only MKP somehow fit into that triangle of Polt > MMA > Mvp > Polt, the story would be so much more awesome
On October 22 2014 12:43 negativedge wrote: people forget that MMA was always the fan favorite in his matches against MVP, not the other way around.
noo, definitely not true. People were mad when he 3-0ed Mvp in the Blizzard Cup. Check out the thread.
Even Artosis sounded completely biased and disappointed haha.
He was a fan favorite against Mvp during the summer (GSTL, MLG, GSL October), because while Mvp was ridiculously dominant, Mvp was seen as a "boring champion" (crazy, right?) and MMA was the exciting underdog.
By late 2011, people really started to respect Mvp's dominance, plus in the Blizz Cup series only G1 was a longer game - games 2 and 3 were short timing attacks by MMA, and people were upset that such a potentially great Bo5 ended so quickly
This is true. MMA was the budding underdog darling to save us from boredom (his games against DRG were always fantastic when they were both up-and-coming, capped off with the Blizz Cup game 7 that year).
I don't think MVP got a ton of nostalgia support until the season he beat Squirtle with pure audacity. Artosis always liked MVP though, since he a) was a macro player b) went mech a lot.
On October 22 2014 19:50 Starecat wrote: Didn't know that Boxer was a asshole.
I think it's less of him being an asshole and more him trying to defend his (now) wife, no matter how ridiculous she and her policies are. She really must've distorted his viewpoints. I think if he had a more solid manager and Jessica would've stayed away from it, everything would've been fine. This is mostly coming from the idea that Boxer is a well-respected player and coach and wouldn't deliberately sabotage his own team without the influence of an outside force.
I dunno, Boxer had a pretty rocky return to SKT-1 as well.
In any case, I don't think we'll ever know exactly what happened with Slayers. What exactly was the 'career-ending' dirt that they never revealed about Alicia for example?
From what we did learn though MMA definitely wasn't innocent with the Slayers drama, nor was he completely to blame. For example, shafting his personal coach was a pretty dick move if true.
In any case, what a lot of people are forgetting was there was an actual conman pretending to represent Intel involved and actually stealing money from the team (IPL admins even caught him trying to siphon off prize money at IPL 3).
Then there's also the entire freeze-out situation with the asshole Startale coach which didn't help either (not the first or last shady incident with the ST coach btw).
So a lot of things came together to destroy Slayers, but if you prefer to say external pressure turned them against each other. Maybe that's the best way to put it than trying to paint one side as villain and another as victim.
I cannot believe how much work you guys do with these articles, they're really great!Thank you soO so much! If MMA wins this Blizzcon i will cry tears of joy. Gunna be MMA vs SoO in the finals i feel.
Holy shit I never heard about what boxer did to MMA, what bastard. MMA was one of the best players and one of my favorites back in the day, but I feel like he has never quite found his style again. He used to be insane with his multitasking, dropping 6 bases at the same time against Zerg and somehow microing them all. I've never been as impressed anymore when i watch him play. He's still a good solid terran player but he doesn't really have anything special anymore. The magic is missing.
MMA's stopped being a championship contender the day coach Ryu left Slayers, the conflicts with Boxer certainly didn't help though and may have started the decline. But like I posted above, its near impossible to tell exactly how things went down between all the different sides.
Edit: I did wonder if we'd see MMA return to form on Acer, but it took so long that it convinced me that Coach Ryu really knew how to get the most out of MMA. But MMa's starting to round into form again, so we'll see if he's rediscovered the touch!
On October 26 2014 13:40 Wuster wrote: MMA's stopped being a championship contender the day coach Ryu left Slayers, the conflicts with Boxer certainly didn't help though and may have started the decline. But like I posted above, its near impossible to tell exactly how things went down between all the different sides.
Edit: I did wonder if we'd see MMA return to form on Acer, but it took so long that it convinced me that Coach Ryu really knew how to get the most out of MMA. But MMa's starting to round into form again, so we'll see if he's rediscovered the touch!
Having a coach helped, but so did having some of the world's best practice partners at Slayers - when the internal conflict started, I'm sure MMA's practice with the players was reduced, if not cut off.
MMA hasn't returned to the top-tier level that he was back in 2011 or early 2012, but he's become a champion again under Acer. That alone shows that he's got grit, and isn't dependent on a coach to win.