2023-03-19

Chen gave me an Olivera championship jersey!

I’ve been playing StarCraft 2 on and off since 2009, before the Chinese server even launched, all the way until last year. I’ve always been pretty bad—my highest rank on the ladder was a pathetic Diamond. When I came back to it last year, I only managed to claw my way up to Platinum. The game has changed a lot, and my hands have gotten a lot clumsier. My 60-key mini keyboard doesn’t even have F2.

In mid-February, I suddenly heard that Li Ge had won the world championship. I couldn’t believe it at first. Just like Hei Luobo said, who would have thought you’d be celebrating the New Year at 4 a.m.? I went back and watched all the replays from the quarter-finals to the finals. No, I watched them over and over. They were amazing. Everyone’s talked a lot about how tough the schedule was and how improbable it was to win the championship with a 0.37% probability. I want to share my own feelings.

StarCraft 2 has been with me for half of my life now. From a kid to a corporate slave facing a sometimes tough life, it feels like I’ve lost a lot along the way. After watching Li Ge’s—now Olivera’s—semi-final victory and his post-championship speech, I felt like I found something back through my sobbing. It’s the unquenchable passion, the persistence and confidence in the face of adversity, the courage to confront a powerful opponent, the calmness in a final match, and that damn run under the sunset!

Thanks to Chen for giving me this jersey, and thanks to Li Ge. I’ll never forget this toughest championship journey. They say, “There is a way to seek, and there is a fate to gain.” Maybe that’s true for many things. But people, like trees on a mountain, grow upward just to greet the lightning, even if it means burning out their entire life.

And after this life is over, we will face all the past hardships with a big laugh and say: Alright! Let’s do it again!

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