Last January, at the WESG main event, we witnessed a surreal collision between alternate timelines as TY and Maru met in the grand finals.

In September of 2010, Maru had played in his first GSL match, breaking TY’s record for youngest progaming debut by a matter of weeks. At the time, TY was three years into his professional career, and had already started to become a cautionary tale about youth and talent.

In 2013, a sixteen-year-old Maru defeated Rain to win the OnGameNet Starleague. By then, the narrative around TY — who was still just nineteen at the time — had become firmly set as one of squandered potential.

Fast forward to January of 2017, to the $300,000 WESG main event. TY entered the tournament as the grizzled veteran, with nine years of esports experience under his belt. To some extent, the stain of disappointment had faded. TY had transitioned well in StarCraft II, earned numerous upper-table finishes in individual tournaments, and had played an instrumental part in KT Rolster’s Proleague championship campaign. From a certain perspective, one could say that TY had enjoyed a successful career. To take that point of view, however, one had to ignore the burden on TY’s shoulders. Nine years of esports experience, zero titles.

As for Maru, there was nothing to doubt about his career. With two major titles to his name and an unbroken stretch since 2012 as one of the best Terrans in the world, it was clear that he was one of the greatest StarCraft II pros to play the game. What was even more clear, however, was that he had plenty of time to expand his legacy.

When TY sat in his chair and gazed across the stage at his finals opponent, he was staring into a mirror. Except, he was the hazy, warped reflection, and Maru was the clear, vibrant reality.

Screencap via WESG Youtube

I like to imagine that a part of TY then wondered “where did things go wrong?”

That same part of him, upon allowing Maru to pull back from down 2–3 to force a game seven, would also have thought “why me?”

And then, maybe, just before TY rallied his army for a decisive attack in game seven, “why NOT me?”

Or, more likely, none of these poetics juxtapositions passed through TY’s mind at all, as he was singularly focused on achieving the goal of over half his life: win at StarCraft.

Nine years, one month, ten days laters, TY had finally done it. He was a champion.