People often say that history is written by the victors. I imagine none of those people ever saw Shanghai Dragons play. With a record 0-40 they have broken all of the records, including their own 20 times over. By the end of Stage 2 they had already broken the record of any esports team in any premier esports league for the most losses anywhere. They then doubled down on it as they went winless for the entire rest of Overwatch League and thus my faith was fulfilled as the 0-40 dream came into completion.

Even now I cannot believe it has happened. This is a historic achievement, the likes of which we will likely never see again in our lifetimes. They had twenty chances since the 0-20 one to make at least one bo5 victory. Each time they rolled out into the Blizzard Arena, the entire crowd roared in approval, hopeful that the perpetual underdogs could finally get their one win. Could finally get their Disney ending.

I’ll be honest, it filled me with dread every time. My analytical mind could not believe, refused to believe that a team with all of that money could possibly lose every single series. But, I wanted to see the impossible, wanted to believe in the impossible, I wanted to see if any team was truly so horrendous that they could break their own worst record in any esport night after night. Beyond just the sheer amount of chances was the fact that analysts believed they had good players. That they were practicing an incredible amount. That the other teams would not prepare for them or take them as seriously the longer the losing streak went on. There was reasons to believe they could surely win one.

We even saw it happen on the analyst desk. In Shanghai Dragon’s 21st match of the Overwatch League, all three analysts picked Shanghai Dragons to upset and beat the Dallas Fuel. Luckily for me this angered Hyeon “EFFECT” Hwang and he put on another great carry performance to keep Shanghai Dragons in the dumpster. After I wrote my initial article about my faith in the 0-40 Dream, people messaged me each time the Shanghai Dragons went to bat. Florida Mayhem are on the downturn and look potentially weak. Dallas Fuel are still a train wreck. Philadelphia Fusion always play down to their level.

But I persevered through the trials and tribulations. There was some talent in this roster, enough that with 20 tries surely a bo5 victory wasn’t out of reach. Weida “Diya” Lu, Gi-hyeon “Ado” Chon, Se-yeon “Geguri” Kim, and Eui-seok “Fearless” Lee were “standout” players for the team that people kept hyping incessantly. In the end, none of them were consistent enough to get a single series win in the League.

I’ll admit there were some bright spots for me, the biggest being when the management had decided that the entire team would speak Chinese despite four out of the six main starters speaking Korean. Then things got worse as they realized their mistakes and allowed the team to communicate however they wanted. On top of that they explained how they were practicing 12 hours a day. While that method of practice isn’t the most efficient, it is one that has worked for Koreans in the past, so I was worried.

There were moments of doubt as well. In Stage 3 they had the series against the Fusion where the score was 2-2 and they got to the decider. However in that moment, my faith was rewarded. Under the bright lights, with all of the pressure on the line, they capitulated faster than Greg “idra” Fields did against hallucinated Void Rays.

In Stage Four, all of the chips were in the middle of the table. There were a few scares. The first being when Shanghai Dragons won the first map against Dallas Fuel, one without EFFECT in the lineup. In the end Dallas were able to win and went on to be one of the better teams in the stage.

In week three, Diya broke his back trying to carry the team against Houston Outlaws. The score was one win and one draw against the Outlaws. The third map was Lijiang Tower and the rounds were tired 1-1. If the Shanghai Dragons won, they could force a deciding map on Gibraltar and potentially upset the series. On that third round, Diya carried hard and Shanghai Dragons got the point to 99% and into overtime against the 0% of Mayhem. They then lost again.

The biggest trial of all was in week four. Shanghai Dragons matched up against Florida Mayhem. That was one of the closest series that Shanghai Dragons played as they were up 2-1 in the series going into the fourth map. It was the moment that the Shanghai Dragons fans had hoped for, had prayed for. For me this was the crucible. 144,000 people tuned in and watched to see if the Shanghai Dragons could break the chain. For my part I prayed that Jeong-woo “Sayaplayer” Ha could carry the Misfits out of the pit. And when Andreas “Logix” Berghmans I spammed the “thank mr logix” meme.

Both Logix and Sayaplayer delivered me from the valley of death as Mayhem struck back. The game see-sawed on Gibraltar, but in the end the Florida Mayhem took it 5-4. The final map went to the third round of Nepal, but at their most critical moment the Shanghai Dragons choked. They had clutched defeat from the jaws of victory and that was the moment the 0-40 was secured.

The rest was cake as their last two teams clearly outmatched them land the impossible became probably. The dream became reality. The Shanghai Dragons created the ultimate defeated season in any large esports title with an 0-40 record. It was mesmerizing and tragic in all of its glory.

People often say that the history is written by the victors. I don’t believe that, I believe that history is written by those who survive it. And among those survivors, a story is written about a particular time or place or people. So long as that story captivates people, so long as it touches upon the human condition, the story and history lives on, shining eternally into human memory.

In the case of the Shanghai Dragons, their 0-40 season will live on. No one will likely ever surpass this record in any esport, no one will ever lose this much again. It is simultaneously absurd, hilarious, sad, and pitiable. It is both absurd and hilarious in how consistently they lost week after week, night after night. For the fans of the Shanghai Dragons, it was sad to see them struggle so hard and for it to mean nothing in the end. It was pitiable in the sense that the Shanghai Dragons took up a slot that had far more deserving teams and players under them. For me though, I saw a tragic beauty in all of this. Something that made my affirm my belief as to why competition is so compelling. And it is that in competition, everything is earned.

There are no Disney movie endings, no fairy tales. There are endings that feel like fairy tales, moments where you believe the miraculous happened. Jian “Uzi” Zi-Hao winning MSI after all of those successive second places was a culminating moment for him and his career. But that wasn’t a disney movie ending because his endings wasn’t fabricated. It was ground out through his endless toil and experiences as a player.

One of the best examples of endings having to be earned is Eo “soO” Yoon Su. In my estimation he is a transcendent Zerg player in Starcraft 2 history. He has accomplishments in his career that no one can ever match. Four consecutive GSL Finals, six GSL finals total, and one Blizzcon Final. For all of those finals however, he has lost them all. Each time he was close, each time he lost, and each time he forced himself back up to try again. The story of the GSL became the story soO. Like the Shanghai Dragons Fans, the soO fans also wished for soO to “just win one.” It never happened. After he lost his 6th GSL Finals he was interviewed on stage. His remarks were, “I wish to congratulate Gumiho on his victory and I hope that people here tonight don’t focus on my loss once again, but to celebrate him.”

soO had all of the reason in the world to wallow in self pity, but instead he understood how rare and incredible it was for Koh “Gumiho” Byung Jae to win the GSL. That despite his pain, he wanted his fellow competitor that had gotten to win the trophy he never had to enjoy the limelight. soO’s story shows the tragedy of competition in that he never got his GSL or Blizzcon beauty. At the same time he also shows the beauty of it.

The beauty is that no one is entitled their Disney Movie ending, it must be earned. It must be fought for. No victor “deserved” to win, every victory is taken, every win is made. They are made through the players’ everything. Their strategy, their skill, their will, their blood, their sweat, and their tears. For me that is the tragic beauty of the 0-40 Shanghai Dragons season. No matter how badly they played, no matter how they struggled, we can never say that they didn’t try. It wasn’t enough though and they didn’t earn their victory. But one day they will, so long as they do not give up. So long as they do not succumb to the overbearing tide of competition. If they can survive through all of that, then a feeling of elation unlike any other awaits them. Because in that moment of victory, they will know that they weren’t gifted victory. That they worked for it, bled for it, put their everything into it. For the competitive player that can mean everything.

As Starcraft 2 pro, Choi “Bomber” Ji Sung once said, “Even though I have failed many times, it makes those victories I do have all the more meaningful.”

Related Articles: