In this decade, we gamers have seen a massive boom in the size and complexity of competitive gaming, spearheaded by the dominance and popularity of Riot Games’ League of Legends. It is in this era where people have begun to see gaming for more than some isolated subculture; it’s a culture that is deeply ingrained into the seams of society. As more and more people come into the fold, and learn more about gaming and competitive gaming, most will only know the new stars, and they will never know the old greats.

Among these new stars is the chosen son, the prodigy, the god of League of Legends, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. It is Faker who the world will remember as the god of gamers, the man who mastered League of Legends, the Michael Jordan of gaming. Standing next to him is Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund, the best Counter-Strike player ever, one of the few gamers to maintain years upon years of dominance, and even longer in terms of relevance. It is these players, who’s games draw in spectators by the millions, who will be remembered in history by the many.

But we should not forget the old and forgotten, the gods of the past, arguably the true greatest gamers. Had they been born in a different time or different universe, they could have been revered worldwide by tens of millions, rather than hundreds of thousands. Who were these gods?, gamers of the modern day ask. I speak of men like BoxeR, NaDa, iloveoov, and Jaedong. These men received titles such as the Emperor, the Monster, the Tyrant. Players of other games have been revered similarly. But none had received the title of God, the honor of being called the Ultimate Weapon. Only one ever did, and his name was Lee “Flash” Young-ho.

The Birth of a Divine Dynasty

Flash’s legacy is one that most likely will never be toppled. He mastered what was arguably the most difficult game in what was indisputably the most competitive environment at the time. He fought through eras that some would call the most competitive of all time, and yet he still triumphed.

He went pro at the age of 14, something next to unthinkable today. At age 15, he became the youngest player ever to become Starleague champion, beating some of the best of the best legends.He once won 17 games in a row, tying the record at the time. He fell for a time, and returned with a vengeance, taking 5 Starleague titles over the course of 2 years, and achieved the highest elo of any Starcraft player ever. He was named the last of the five Bonjwas, a title given to only the most consistent and dominant of players. The list goes on and on.

League of Legends players joked that Faker was the Final Boss for SK Telecom during the Mid-Season Invitational of 2015. To most, he’s known as God. But he is merely an usurper to the original bearer of these titles, titles that belonged and still belong to Flash.

The Fallen God

Unfortunately, he never did translate his success from Brood War to Starcraft II. Gone were the days of a dominant God, only spurts of inconsistency. Despite his lows, his highs were strong enough to put him in contention to be the best. However, he never was consistent enough to translate those streaks into tournament victories. After three years of playing, the only real laurel that he can rest on is his conquering IEM Toronto, a tournament featuring top tier players such as Snute, MC, Taeja, and Zest. By the end of his three years in Starcraft II, this was his only premier tournament victory. Yes, he was among the best of the best at certain times. But, alas, his accolades do not show it, and thus Starcraft II will forever be a slight blemish in his legacy. But nonetheless, it lives on.

The Immortal Legacy

I suppose this meme speaks for itself. Starcraft Brood War was the most mechanically demanding game at the time, and is one of the most difficult games to master of all time. You needed high APM. You needed good micro. You needed good macro. You needed good map awareness. You needed to be able to control armies of gargantuan sizes, and using game mechanics from 1998. You needed the drive and motivation to win, to climb through the ranks in an ocean of talent. Perhaps he wasn’t the greatest of genius innovators, or a prodigy who bursted into the scene from the very beginning. But he was the man who beat multiplayer, and mastered Starcraft Brood War. One man against the world. And he crushed them all.

You may say that a player like Faker is God. But remember, he controls only a single unit in a team of four other players. He’s had teams built around him, so that he can succeed. He’s had other people call the shots and make the decisions for him in game. No matter what, he will only be a part of the sum. In this era of gaming, where team games dominate the market, future gods will also suffer this fate in terms of legacy. There will always be the argument that players like Faker could not have done what they did without the teams that they had, and those people are right. Greatness in games like League of Legends do not produce monotheism, they create pantheons. That’s why it’s easier to determine the best teams rather than best players.

Faker may be the best at League of Legends, GeT_RiGhT may be the best at Counter-Strike. But Flash will always be greater, and the greatest. What he did was rely purely on his own volition and skill in the hardest game in the hardest of environments to become the best of the best for one of the longest of times. It is because of this that I will always remember December 1st, 2015 as the day an era came to a close, the day Flash, the Ultimate Weapon, retired.

It’s been a good eight years.