Welcome Back, YC.

The Rise and Fall of YC

419 had an interesting surprise last Friday when a long lost member of 419 decided to join the ranks of 419 again. The pioneer of the DT technique and the co-author of the “Sexy and Solid” technique, YC decided to test his mettle in 419 once again. Little did he know that there were surprises waiting for him. Yes, long and deep seated hatreds were waiting to be awakened in the hearts of 419 members Pip and Raz after what YC99 had did to them in the past. For Pip, revenge was everything when YC had defeated him on a 1 v 1 SC match in the past. What made Pip to the extent of being so spiteful was the fact that YC refused to give him a chance to redeem his honor again.

But what about Raz? Raz was just waiting for his chance to add one more point to his tally against YC. Legend foretold a battle of gigantic proportions in 419 ages ago where Raz defeated YC in a 1 v 1 game of “NARUTO”. It was different from Pip situation though in this case. In contrast with Pip’s situation, Raz was actually behind in terms of the number of 1 v 1 won. However, upon defeating YC , Raz refused to duel with YC again to make sure that he doesn’t forget his defeat. Eager to make sure that YC remember his bitter defeat, Raz had to ensure that YC will remember this battle as well.

It is no wonder that careful planning was undertaken by Raz and Pip to make sure that they stayed in the same team for a match in “Huntress”. The game started off in the lunary landscape of Huntress with Pip at 7 (Terran), YC at 5 (Zerg), GAME at 3 (Terran) and Raz at 1 (Protoss). Thinking that this was a normal game of SC, YC took some time to familiarize himself with what was long forgotten. It was most fortunate that he had chosen the race which he last played SC with. Retracing back old memories was rather sweet to his liking when he remembered the good ol days where he dominated SC with his mutalisks. To properly reach the build order of his mutalisk strategy, he had to divert his opponents attention first though. Microing his zerglings to the front of his opponents base, YC began taunting Raz.

*Cluck* * Cluck* said the yellow baby chicks to the Protoss Zealots.

Little did YC know that the mere sight of a taunt from him would be a sign of bloodlust for Raz. Also, while YC was taunting him, Raz’s forces had grown substantially. “Ah, fresh meat” thought Raz. Praying that YC would think that his feint was working and hopeful that his BNET connection would not be terminated, Raz selected every single troop in his base to charge at YC’s troops. “CHARGE!!!!!” he typed in his screen. The word charge not only gave a morale boost of confidence to his troops, but it also signaled to his teammate Pip to attack YC together.

"Charge!!!!!"

YC saw that his plan had been seen through when he saw that Raz’s zealots were running towards him. Zerglings that were meant for scouting and taunting the opponents were cut down as though they were made out of butter. In a state of panic, YC did the impossible: retreat. The zerglings immediately scampered towards their hatcheries hoping to find refuge from the charging Zealots. Scurrying into the creep, the zerglings thought that they had found refuge from Raz’s zealots. However, the sight of a dozen blood lusted Zealots and marines suddenly appeared in YC’s base entrance. “Die YC! Die” laughed Raz maniacally.

The Zealots of Raz charges towards YC's base...

The zealots were busy dishing out their long seated hate towards YC’s base while Pip’s marines were busy providing support fire towards any troops that came towards the Zealots. The level of spitefulness at that time for Raz and Pip was tremendous as long awakened feelings of hate awakened. Pleased that their efforts were paying off, Raz and Pip decided to let one single structure stand. But this was not for mercy, but to make sure YC saw his teammate, GAME, fall.

I know 2 people who will start their Monday morning with a smile this week.....

The Rise and Fall of GAME

At this point, special mention needs to be given to GAME for bringing down a platoon of troops consisting of zealots and marines prior to his fall.

The first wave of troops consisted of nothing but Zealots and marines

The second wave of troops consisted nothing but marines. Notice the amount of blood at the floor and the "disappearance" of the Zealots from the mini map. Notice also that the marines are still standing after 2 waves of attacks from Pip and Raz.........

Druggy Goes To WCG Malaysia 2008!

I have returned! Free from the shackles of work (albeit temporary only) I am now able to update this blog which has been neglected for so long.

The first question I ask myself is "What would be worthwhile to update on this blog?" Looking through the 419 replay archives so gratiously provided by Raz- 6 megabytes in total, I found that there were plenty of good replays (mostly featuring GAME and Raz in their unstoppable quest for dominance over 419) but I needed one that commensurates with the revival of the blog. It had to be neutral and unbiased. Dismayed, I stopped thinking and headed towards Midvalley Mall in Bangsar. After hours of walking around aimlessly, I caught glimpse of an A3 poster . The title of the poster? - "World Cyber Games Malaysia 2008, Midvalley Convention Centre, 15 to 17 August 2008". What a fortunate turn of events! Now I can tell 419-ers how WCG felt like. Imagine the real, raw and powerful experience of elite Malaysian cyber game players in action!

Surprisingly though, WCG was not really that crowded (even better!). Walking past the entrance, there were people giving out flyers for online multiplayer games and auction sites. What would have really attracted some 419-ers were the cosplayers handing out the competition entry forms - Blue haired Samsung models (Sorry fellas, no photography allowed here). To entice more contestants in the competiton, they were handing out a free stress ball to the first 500 entries - I manage to get 2 : ).

Further down the convention centre was a plethora of gadgets and computer peripherals. Pip would have loved this event for there were computer peripherals of many kinds. The main attraction was none other than a driving seat for an F1 car (for PC). Guitar Hero was also shown at the convention centre and visitors were allowed 5 minutes worth of demo. Speaking of guitars, there was also a live band playing at the background.

But on to the main event, which was none other than multiplayer games. The main hall of the convention was equipped with loads of PCs apparatus. Yet, I was a bit curious when some of the PC's were without keyboards. The answer soon came with a player carrying his very own customizable keyboard. -_-. I arrived just in time to see who was the winner for the semi finals of SC. Apparently, SC is still pretty popular - a total of 128 players out of 132 players participated.

Well, what a memorable event. To further commemorate my visit to WCG, I manage to get a souveneir and several memoribilias. The host was kind enough to provide more freebies too - : )