You're an aspiring StarCraft II player, you have big hopes and dreams to make it into the top league some day, and you know you've got what it takes. You've kept track of the best players playing your race via streams, watching each match, pondering all their build choices, strategies and responses throughout. When you're not watching streams, you're watching replays in-game, taking notes, repeating them constantly to make sure you didn't miss any details that might have decided the win, you don't look at the losing replays. And when you're not watching replays you scavenge TL, rummaging through strategy threads to find the most relevant and sophisticated, they must include high-level replays and provide a thorough analysis of the strategy, or they just aren't worth your time. You're ambitions and determined, and on a mission to become the next big deal, the next Tyler or IdrA, you're sure of it. In the least you'll gain a stream with a following of a few hundred, watching and marvelling at your sheer ability at the game, it's only a matter of time you tell yourself.



But before you hit the ladder you make sure everything is in check. The keyboard needs to be the right distance away, the mouse clean and free of grease marks. Your coffee mug sits away from the monitor, with the handle facing outward to not block a millimetre of your screen. The headphones are at the appropriate volume and you've double-checked each setting in the game menu to confirm that its set up for the highest level of play. It's finally time to.. practice some builds, you need to refine your play first after all. You've been practicing these builds for two weeks now, comparing each moment against your blown-up poster chart of timings that hangs above your computer on the wall, analysing the strengths and weaknesses and how you should react in every situation. An hour passes and you feel confident, you feel energized and ready, the ladder is calling you and you feel the time is right to respond, the time is now.



The loading screen appears and tension starts to rise, you can feel the blood rushing through your veins as the loading bar creeps further forward, almost in slow-motion. A slight smirk reveals itself as you realise the opponent is of a particular race, you know this is the matchup you've practiced the most, and you smile even greater seeing his portrait is the boastful 500 wins reward, 'none of the best players show off their portraits' you mutter to yourself. Finally the game has loaded and you're ready to prove your worth.



The game begins, you scout the opponent and calculate your play, deciding on a particularly new build that you cleverly acquired from one of the less-known tournaments. 'It was a stream and there are no vods of this build' you tell yourself, you know that you can execute it to perfection. You're opponent plays in a 'pitifully predictable way' you murmur to yourself, and you almost laugh when they lose one of their workers to your simple but well microed scout harass. The scout dies, but you have enough intel so the moment skips past you.



A few moments pass and you are at the middle stages of the game, you feel ready to execute your most articulated and masterful plan, and cripple your opponent in the most unexpected of ways. It is so cleverly built - you mutter to yourself - that he has no indication of what’s to come and no way to react in time once its struck. You are assured of your victory and nothing can stop the smile gleaming on your face as you remind yourself of this fact. You also take note of the precise game time so you can boast to your friends about your hasty win, you deserve the praise you tell yourself, as you worked so incessantly to perfect this build.



The time finally comes, you move a segment of your army just shy of any possible scout and delicately navigate to your opponents base. The feeling of the moment is exhilarating. You can taste the victory on the tip of your tongue, and everything you've strived so hard to learn and understand has resulted in this one moment of glory that you're eagerly awaiting to bathe in.



But.. this is not the moment you had hoped for. As your feeble transport moves hopelessly across the chasm, you watch in befuddlement as your hopes for success dwindle and falter as a mass of units approach your poorly defended base. Before you can even begin to comprehend the issue, your entire base is overthrown by a throng of small minions. Your base is decimated in an embarrassingly quick fashion; your counter attack doesn't even make the suggestion of a base trade scenario. This is not the game you had anticipated, and you are pissed.



Profanities can only begin to describe the rage that fills your head, and you are fuming to the brim at the thought that such a pathetically simple early attack could thwart your brilliant plan. 'This isn't fair' you tell yourself, 'There has to be an explanation' you demand to someone, you are confused and infuriated and not beginning to consider the other player's position. 'Another worthless cheeser' you claim and proceed to make a few indentations against nearby furniture. You watch the replay and criticize every error your opponent makes, his inability to split workers, his poorly timed build order, his embarrassingly low actions per minute. Every aspect of his play appears flawed to you and you confide in this, finding solace in the belief that you are still the better player. His league is meaningless to you, because you know that his 'build' was easy to execute, mindless and is only a means of getting cheap wins, 'He must have used this build to cheaply get into his league' you assert and while still feeling robbed, confide once again in knowing your knowledge, understanding and thorough investment in the game still stands as the distinguishing feature between you and 'lesser players' such as this one.



'I can't believe he tried that', the other person wonders in puzzlement, 'that is an extremely situational build' he explains. He normally doesn't cheese but knew he was able to score a win upon seeing a missing small structure in his opponent's base. He is also an active member of the StarCraft 2 Scene and makes every effort to improve his play. He watches streams and replays frequently and is very observant of high level players and critical of his own play. He browses TL frequently, particularly the strategy forum to keep up to date with the latest changes in the metagame and up and coming build orders. He is ambitious but knows he isn't likely to become a professional gamer any time soon, and realises that there are thousands of gamers out there all as active as he is in striving to be the best they can at StarCraft 2.



