Starcraft 2 rankings9/19/2023 ![]() ![]() Reynor immediately leapt into competitive play, bypassing the game's campaign entirely. "I just saw StarCraft and was like, 'I want this one.' And my dad was like, 'It's the difficult one.' But then I convinced him, and we started together." "I actually have no idea why StarCraft," Reynor said, laughing. Regardless of StarCraft's trajectory, the game Reynor's father bought him that day in 2010 changed the direction of his life forever. By the time his father took Riccardo Romiti on his eighth birthday in 2010 to the store to purchase the game, competitive StarCraft was still reeling from recently uncovered match-fixing scandals in South Korea.Īs a wide-eyed Reynor began to play StarCraft, the game itself was at a precipice, before falling, gracelessly and slowly, out of favor for the next several years. Its popular expansion pack, Brood War, was released in November that year. StarCraft's first edition was released in March 1998, four years before Reynor was born. Among all games, even with the rise of more popular offerings and multiple iterations since StarCraft's Brood War heyday, this Blizzard title still has the reputation of being the most difficult esport.īut a game that once brought thousands of fans to the beaches of Busan, South Korea, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in prize money, is aging out of relevance in the esports scene. No other competitive video game tries to split the senses or test mechanics quite like StarCraft. ![]() There's a delicate beauty to the game, a subtlety that requires peerless mechanical skill and the ability to manipulate micro units while keeping an eye on the macro picture. Patience, cunning and decisiveness are all valued in the real-time strategy game, along with myriad other traits. Nearly everyone in esports has their StarCraft story, whether they played it themselves or were simply inspired and affected by the game.Ībove all other things, StarCraft requires finesse. Anyone involved in esports past a certain age will almost always cite StarCraft: Brood War as their first brush with esports and talk excitedly about watching the grandeur of OnGameNet Starleague or bemoan their individual failures on the tough competitive ladder. Hotel training rooms, tables filled with computers and littered with empty boxes of fried chicken are also a universal esports experience. "I ordered a lot of chicken," Reynor said of his time in South Korea. Reynor competed in South Korea for the Global StarCraft II League (GSL) and even celebrated his 16th birthday there, but the day of his WCS victory was only his second time eating Korean BBQ. It's a shared meal with teammates, friends and staff, regardless of if a player is in Seoul to train against the best or in Los Angeles to compete, as Reynor was the weekend of April 7. The dining experience has oddly become a universal esports experience, thanks in large part to South Korea's dominion over most professional esports. "You can win WCS at 16, but you cannot eat Korean BBQ," Mainguy said with a laugh. The next attempt nearly succeeded for a determined Reynor, until the rice paper slipped from his chopsticks and fell open. Mainguy wrapped his cut of pork belly with the rice paper and quickly popped it into his mouth. To his left, one of his team managers, GamersOrigin esports director Yann-Cedric Mainguy, laughed. To Reynor's right, his WCS trophy gleamed through the smoke rising from the grill. Despite his exasperation, once he finished eating the wayward beef, he picked up another piece, placed it on the rice paper and tried again. "I give up!" he said with a sigh, shaking his head.Ī piece of beef slipped out of its rice-paper wrapping and onto his plate. LOS ANGELES - Fifteen minutes into one of his first Korean BBQ experiences, Riccardo "Reynor" Romiti - the freshly minted StarCraft II World Championship Series Winter: Europe champion - uttered a phrase he's rarely used, on or off the StarCraft stage. ![]() You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserġ6-year-old Reynor quickly ascending ranks in StarCraft ![]()
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