Starcraft 2 news » The Crowning Event: OGN Starleague's Brood War Finals
Thirteen years of history. Thirteen years of stories. Thirteen years of Brood War. It’s all led up to this single match. Heo “JangBi” Yeong Moo and Jung “Fantasy” Myung Hoon will face each other in the first and only repeat finals in Starleague history, for the honor of being the last Brood War Starleague champion. Fittingly, this finale will kick off with a revival of the original eSports rivalry: a Legends Match between Lim “BoxeR” Yo Hwan and Hong “YellOw” Jin Ho.
It’s been twelve years and eight months since Choi “Freemura” Jin Woo defeated Kook “TheBOy” Ki Bong in the Tooniverse Progamer Korea Open, the precursor to the Ongamenet Starleague. On that day, no one could have imagined what that tournament would eventually grow into. Twelve years and thirty-three OSLs later, professional Brood War would be recognized as an eSports phenomenon like nothing the world had ever seen. Over twelve years, this tournament has provided a lifetime’s worth of incredible stories. To attempt to do justice to all of them would be futile. But it’s at the very beginning of this tournament’s history that we can find the context in which to bid it farewell.
At the dawn of Brood War, it seemed as though terran just couldn’t win. The initial zerg victory was followed by two consecutive protoss champions, and terran seemed incapable of competing with the other two races. In the 2000 Freechal OSL, only two terran players qualified, only one advanced to the quarterfinals, and none advanced to the elimination bracket.
So when Lim Yo Hwan, SlayerS_`BoxeR`, elected to switch to terran from protoss, his choice must have seemed confusing to many. But BoxeR was to be the harbinger of a new age. Taking up the standard for the terran race, BoxeR qualified for the 2001 Hanbitsoft OSL and won the entire tournament with only a single dropped map – an achievement that would never be replicated throughout the history of the Ongamenet Starleague. BoxeR would go on to win the next OSL as well, and in doing so met his eternal rival, Hong “YellOw” Jin Ho, on the finals stage for the first time. Their rivalry, the “Lim-Jin Rok” (“Lim-Jin War”), would become the standard for all rivalries hence, eventually succeeded by the “LeeSsang Rok” (“Two Lees War”) a decade later. But in the next OSL, another legend would be born.
BoxeR would make the finals of the next OSL as well: the SKY2001 OSL. There, he faced Kim “GARIMTO” Dong Soo, the champion of the 2000 Freechal OSL. Though BoxeR entered the finals with a tremendous amount of momentum and had defeated him in the group stage, GARIMTO was able to narrowly edge out a victory in a close Game 5 – denying BoxeR his third straight OSL victory. Instead, GARIMTO became the first and only protoss to date to win two Starleagues, in what would come to be regarded as the beginning of the Legend of the Fall: the belief that the fall is when a protoss player will rise to prominence and win the Starleague. Since then, the Legend has come true in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, and most recently in 2011.
In that most recent Legend of the Fall, Heo “JangBi” Young Moo, a player who in his prime looked to be just behind Stork and Bisu as one of the best Protoss players in the world, known as the “Almighty,” had fallen so far as to earn the nickname “Loser King” instead. Failing to advance from the qualifiers, he only made it into the tournament through a wild-card round played due to an impromptu retirement. He advanced through the Dual Tournament to the group stage, where he once again very narrowly escaped elimination through a tiebreaker. But once he entered the elimination bracket, something changed. JangBi defeated Flash, rolled through n.Die_SoO 3-0, and advanced to the finals to face his opponent. And that opponent was none other than the progeny of BoxeR himself.
Though BoxeR would never win another Ongamenet Starleague, he would make a far greater contribution to the history of Brood War. He founded the team that would go on to become SK Telecom T1, and raised a lineage of legendary players. BoxeR would take a young man named Choi Yun Sung under his wing, and that man would grow into the bonjwa iloveoov, winning two Starleagues of his own. Iloveoov would then go on to mentor a player of his own: Jung “FanTaSy” Myung Hoon. Under his tutelage, FanTaSy pioneered a brand new style of TvZ and reached the finals of his first Starleague. Unfortunately for him, like his ancestor BoxeR three times before him, he would lose those finals 3-2 to Stork in the Legend of the Fall. He would lose 3-2 once again in the following OSL to Jaedong, and it would be another year before he’d have another shot.
FanTaSy would finally claim his first title in the 2010 Bacchus OSL, getting revenge on Stork in the process. Going into the 2011 Jin Air OSL, FanTaSy was one of the hottest players in the scene. Finally overtaking Flash and Jaedong to take the #1 spot in the KeSPA Power Rankings, and coming off of his dominating Starleague victory, FanTaSy looked to continue the SK Terran lineage by claiming consecutive Starleague titles.
However, the Legend of the Fall would not allow it. In one of the most intense TvP sets in Starleague history, JangBi came from behind in the final game of a 2-2 deadlock to claim his own title instead. In an absolutely incredible turn of events, the “Almighty” returned from an almost career-ending slump to claim a title of his own: fulfilling the Legend, once again at the expense of the SK Terran lineage.
Once again, history has led us to this legendary matchup. For the first time in Starleague history, the same two players meet in consecutive finals.
Regardless of the outcome, the legacy of these two players will be changed forever. Should JangBi triumph over FanTaSy, he will be the first protoss since GARIMTO, over a decade ago, to win a second Starleague, and one of only two other players to win them consecutively.
Meanwhile, a win for FanTaSy will set the record straight. A player with four finals appearances but only one title to his name, FanTaSy would have a Golden Mouse were it not for the Legend of the Fall. Victory here, a month before summer turns to fall, will fulfill his destiny as an SK Terran. The “Crown Prince” has already toppled the God of Terran, Lee “Flash” Young Ho. Should FanTaSy, in his third straight finals, defeat JangBi and claim his title, Brood War will end as it began: under the reign of the Emperor, `BoxeR`.
Of course, as one chapter of the Starleague comes to a close, another begins. The tagline for this season is, “New Beginning Not the End.” The preliminary rounds of the first StarCraft II Starleague have begun. So this isn’t the end for these players. We’ll see them again – in many future matches.
Nothing could be more fitting than kicking off this event will be a revival of “Lim-Jin Rok” – a Legends Match between BoxeR and YellOw. The storied history of Brood War will be captured on this day, beginning with its original heroes and closing this chapter in the eSports history book with a couple of its brightest stars.
The event will kick off at 2:00 a.m. PDT on Saturday, August 4. The match will be streamed with Korean commentary at www.youtube.com/esportstv . Ongamenet has mentioned that there will be an English stream, and this article will be updated as soon as details are available.
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