Check out my second channel with useful SC2 guides - ua-cam.com/channels/v9BLWuGTkTksDmhWcjWxZg.html The MATCHFIXING SCANDAL - ua-cam.com/video/DWbaUr8kZaU/v-deo.htmlsi=GJgbg5LUeexf-_Yl Brood Lord Infestor balance period - ua-cam.com/video/KbtDFgEO7pM/v-deo.htmlsi=uBv8Nt7tg7rgmcGA Timecodes: 00:00 Who's Life 00:55 First steps in StarCraft 2 02:00 Life's road in GSL 09:11 Life's path to becoming the World Champion 13:09 Back to back Global Finals 18:02 The Downfall
Game 7 of the global finals vs sOs is still in my opinion of the best Protoss holds I've ever seen in a tournament of this magnitude. Such an epic game.
Yeah wtf. I thought it'd be at least some sort of hacks, not he purposely lost a couple matches to make a quick buck. It's not even that bad, his accomplishments are still completely valid. Video is pure garbage hype.
@@TeacherDoug7its all because of money. Throwing on purpose with exact scores would ensure lots of money to his criminal buddies and himself. He was also very young and easily influenced by the wrong people. Furthermore likely high on his own success and keen on taking risks in real life.
I followed Life's professional career very closely. This was a devastating piece of news when it hit. All those times when I jokingly said "he's throwing!" weren't as funny in retrospect. Thinking back, he's had more suspect games than the ones he's been found guilty of. I remember him losing against Sjow in one of the first tournaments of HoTs by running group after group of lings over the same widow mines placed in the same spot. I chalked it up to new game, bad day for Life but who knows now. This is so shitty. Life leaves an bad taste in my mouth, especially after preventing Mvp from getting his G5L trophy and then going down the path he did. Great video though. Made me feel very nostalgic of the great days. I miss so many of the players seen in this video.
Just pretend all that didn't happen. Bj Penn is my favorite fighter. You know how many fights he lost in a row now? 😂 Remember the good times. When he wanted to win, he was a terror.
@@greuju I don’t like BJ Penn. too many out of the ring controversies. Like he was bar fighting guys who were not on that level at all. My favorite fighter is Jon Jones 😝
There are probably others doing it too, he just got caught, cause he was young and not naturally incline to do that type of thing. Of course they catch the best player doing it, and who knows how elaborate it actually was to get him kicked from professional play. I can tell by his name life, he wasn't that type of person. He was robbed and defamed.
Wow. Thanks for the video. I remember cheering for Life years ago. He was really fun to watch. Then he seemed to vanished. I never heard the story until now.
LIFE WAS THE GREATEST…. so sad he threw it all away.. sad no one speaks of how his coaches who were much older than him guided him down the wrong path. he was a minor when all this was happening.
i believe this is an underrated comment. But i guess that happens , when you become an unexpected talent and champion and people bind not only their feelings , but their expectations to you .
@@fabianheinrich2812It should be underrated. His coaches weren't involved, not the ones from KTR, Afreeca, or Startle. He took the dive to get paid 100k usd by Enough (who was not his coach).
Sos is actually the best. He’s the only one who managed to be creative and entertaining with original builds and gameplay while everybody else played meta. Massive respect for the guy! And Biggest thank you with it.
The thing is. Its in Korea. So yeah western wise this is fucking overboard. But esports have been real sports in Korea since 98? Whenever brood war took off. This is serious to them, your identity is tied to your online accounts. You can't just make new accounts in Korea. You have one assigned to your government ID
wait wtf i watched this and expected him to be like a cheater or a supervillain, he was just guilty of throwing some matches? Dude who cares, Life has skill and its not like he was evil. Whether or not he threw for money, or whatever, that's his choice. He should be allowed to throw for gain - And who's to say he was not threatened, or intimidated to do this? Anywhere there is money there is possibility for this. I'd love to know what they found out about this. The most I can see from something like that is like a fine or something. Why was this such a "huge disgrace" like they make it seem to be? Makes no sense to me.
Life today would probably be the ONLY player that can go toe-to-toe with Serral. A pity...what killed me was that he didn't even need to do it as he was already one of the most skilled SC2 players ever then. His lifetime prize money earned would've EASILY exceeded the ONE TIME cheat money he received. Unbelievable. Unreal.
Life was a kid that was taken advantage of by stupid people. He made a dumb decision. He deserved some sort of punishment but a total ban and no mention of his name was so severe for a fuckin kid...
@@tobiasL1991 dude for real. The punishment Life received made it look like he killed someone. The matches he purposely lost were unimportant games so it's not like he ruined the results of the entire tournament. The situation was blown way out of proportion.
@@TheHololo1234 He can still play Starcraft, just not at tournaments. It's the same in chess. Get caught cheating ONCE, you're banned for life. Keeping cheaters destroys the credibility of the sport and drives away viewers.
@@tobiasL1991 Not to sound elitist, but compared to esports fans, the average fan of traditional sports is basically retarded. One of the athletes can commit a crime right on national television, and nobody cares. Take Odell Beckham's late hit against Josh Norman. Beckham should have gone to prison for that hit, but most football fans are like "gee I think he took it a bit too far". (He got a one-game suspension for almost killing someone.) Crap like that is why I stopped watching football years ago. Personally, I only watch sports that can keep a lid on bullshit. I'm tired of watching fixed matches, roided athletes, egregious penalties, and people who are just bad role models continuing to be given a platform to influence young people. If you can't be a decent human being, then I don't want to watch you play. If the league keeps bringing back people I think are scumbags, then I stop watching the league. It seems like most of the Korean Starcraft fanbase share my view, which is what keeps those leagues honest. Personally, I am happy to see at least one sports fanbase actually care about these things.
Damn, I remember all of this. He was so fucking sick and I was really sad when I found out that he was rigging matches. Seeing these matches also make me remember how OP infested Terran was. lol
Life was well on his way to making an amazing fortune. The regions weren't locked at the time so he could have swept international money like a hoover. Instead, he did this. What a loser.
Maybe the answer is just easy money and the false belief that he couldn't be caught. Why trying hard to win matches when u can get money for losing? And if he wasn't caught, he could get the money from matchfixing and international tournaments too...
The greatest Zerg to ever be. Only Dark has ever come close to reaching the heights of Life. Life is the one who made the headlines, but he was not the only one. A sad time for SC2 for sure.
@@EsportsStoryteller I could understand that. Serral is on the Mount Rushmore of Zerg greats. The fact Zerg was clearly not the weakest race during Serrals time, and that Serral reigned when 45 minute plus resident sleeper games were the norm, hurt his candidacy. None the less, many great Zergs have risen to the top, and each of them have pushed the race to dizzying heights. Perhaps a video idea, but what about the greatest of all 3 races? For me: Zerg: Life, Dark + (Serral, Jaedong, NesTea, Rogue, Idra, Stephano). I could be talked into any of the last batch for final spot Terran: Maru, ByuN, INnoVation. Maru and ByuN for sure. Protoss: MC, PartinG. 3rd one? I can be talked into a couple for this slot. MC was always entertaining. PartinG was just so solid from what I remember.
Life was simpler back then in times with Life. There was still access to WoL and HoTS ladder and I was just climbing WoL as that's what I was used to since release. Life made tournaments worth watching. Everyone clapped and cheered for "Life's lings" with what felt like a stadium full of people. The absolute peak of the game with Blizzard's support and a community that shared near top spot in streaming on twitch. Starcraft 2 has been my first real PC game and my favorite game of all time. Every starcraft broadcast I would watch live just for Life. After his finals best of 7 with sOs I nearly cried after his loss because I was so invested and idolized this man as a hero to zerg. Then it all came out. I cried for a different reason then. To have one of your only role models turn into this... inhumane puppet for money drove me away for a long time. I still tuned in to some streamers, played the game a little, but slowly it all faded away until I stopped playing for years. I've recently begun to start playing and enjoying myself again! I can't really get into watching the pro scene again but I must admit I was reignited by Oliveira yet I just feel like the top Zerg players like Reynor or Serral don't have that life that Life brought. Perhaps it was because the time was younger so optimization wasn't the best and the overall skill level is much higher. God was it fun to live back in those times. Sometimes I wished Life would come back but realistically what he did is unforgivable and shattered the trust of the playerbase and love of the game to a point it still struggles to return to
This one broke my heart. Life was my favorite player. The scandal broke during the first LOTV tournament. There were so many “what if’s”. How good could he have been?
@@tqhung169 no game was ruined because it didn't work on keeping the casual playerbase alive. Like improving custom games and marketing it better while also doing amazing cinemagraphics like League would've saved the game. It would be a worldwide game at or near the level of League or Valorant.
Life was something special, man. It was amazing watching him in those times. He would have made so much more money over time had he just kept competing legitimately. So sad to see
I remember a good friend of mine used to play SC2 religiously. He introduced me to SC2 and showed me Life and his accomplishments. I used to go round to his place and watch him play (he was a zurg player) and we would watch Life games and he would show me the level of his talent. was quite sad to hear when he got caught for match fixing :( so sad to see such talent go to waste
Life won a world championship at age 17 and finished 2nd the next year at 18. The only issue for him as a player was how he would adjust to LOTV. Hard to imagine him not being a top 5 player for at least another 5 years. Remember that in 2017 and 2018 prize money went up significantly. Blizzcon championship was 200K and there was big money in Katovice and the Chinese tournament WESG. WESG paid 200K to the winner who was Maru in 2017. So the money was there and he had no need to cheat for cash.
If only he didn't match fix, it would be very very interesting to see Life continue his successful path and fight Serral for who's the best zerg player.
i'd rather be banned for life in a video game (in this case just the tournaments, to be precise) than be in jail for 5 years lol. and being in jail bans you for life in certain departments too btw. if you commit a crime as a police officer, you'll never be a police officer again. nobody want's to have you in their company really. that's why black americans who never committed a crime get in the criminal loop, because some racist officer decided to put them in prison for no reason. when they get out, no one hires them, they can't earn money, so in order to survive, they start stealing. anyway i feel very sorry for life. he was just a kid and some capitalist assholes just exploited him. i don't consider him a villain. he is just one of many victims in this cruel, stupid society
Came back after break, good to see StarCraft II community still holds. What can be done to make player base higher? And who is to blame? Blizzard? Or is it just RTS genre that's not currently fancy?
Blizzard no longer supports SC2, the recent GSL for example had it's prize pool slashed to 1/4 as much money as the year before. SC2 is no longer the future of RTS, hopefully Stormgate is.
many Zergs, myself included, felt like Zerg actually had a chance to win games without just massing swarm hosts because of Life. i think it was this specific scandal that was the beginning of the end of me genuinely trying to competitively play this game... it really didnt help that people would point toward Life and be like "SEE?!?!? SEE!?!?! ZERG NEEDS MORE NERFS TERRAN AND PROTOSS NEED MORE BUFFS LOOK AT HOW EZ ZERG IS FOR THIS GUY" either, while me and many other Zergs across the entire ladder would be utterly struggling and losing game after game after game.
last 2 games of Global finals vs SoS were 2 of the clutches games ever! I think that year was the best of Sc2 so far. Sadly life dishonor himself and sc2
I'm not one to complain often but a 25-minute video just to speculate on how much he made in the two matches he threw. As well as speculation on the reasons why he did it.... I mean thanks I guess? I just expected there to be a little more information about the actual match fixing this was more so a video about his wins.
You could do such a good Hollywood movie out of this. How the high succes slowly corrupts him. And as far as I know his parents took the tournament money because he wasnt 18 yet.
Those games... I was recently watching some old HotS legendary matches. Man, I think that current TOP 20 players would just tear the best players from that era just like that. I am sorry. Yes, they have significance from historical perspective and as innovators. The only player that continuously improved and reinvented is Maru. Maybe Life would be the same. But likes of Serral, Reynor, Dark, Cure, herO would destroy peak HotS players any day IMHO. Also old SC2 was worse than we dare to admit nowadays. We complain about balance? Like, just look on those force fields and infested terrans. Horrible.
Major suggestion for you: whenever you use any kind of jargon (in this case 'bonjwa'), or refer to something that not all viewers might know - you should put up a little subtitle on screen briefly to fill in the viewer (so they can pause and read if they want, without slowing down the vid for people like me who already know!)
Life for whatever reason was never an elite team player during the team era up to 2016. Life got traded to KT Rolster and he was just another player on that team. Zest was the captain and leader and Life never became a front line type player. The team game was obviously different you play one map at a time but in the playoffs and in all kill matches he could have been a beast when hot. He was just another roster guy for that team.
Life got me into SC2. I used to love cheering for him. Now I still watch the game cuz I love it. But I'll never have that feeling of rooting for my absolute favorite ever again. Which makes me sad : (
It's so sad, I was a huge fan of Life. Even as a Terran player myself, I loved watching this guy play zerg. And then he did all this shit and Sc2 honestly never recovered from it. Very saddening because Sc2 is such a beautiful game. So much nostalgia in this video. Thank you for making this video!
I was about to ask after reading the title - "Story of whose life?" only to realize after reading a couple of comments below, that it's this dude's nickname! Lmao
Back in the height of SC2 I used to watch Life play every match. He was the face of SC2 during his reign and without him it just doesn't feel the same. I missed Life. In an alternate universe, Life did not commit any wrongs and is still playing in SC2 tournaments.
i would be genuinely curious to see if any media (Korean or foreign) could find him and give him a chance to explain things. I find it really really hard to believe he did this without a good reason (in his head at least).
@@busTedOaS 18 is still a kid. He deserved some punishment like a ban for a year or two or something. But a lifetime ban? Lol he didn't murder someone.
Funny. I've often wondered in other matches if something was going on. Fairly easy to do when all it takes is one poor attack, defense, rally point etc to swing a match.
The best player ever was already decided in 2015 when s0s beat life for first 2 time blizzcon champion the fact you didn’t even mention him in the opening is wild
Match fixers can be quite dangerous they dont shy to put a gun to the head of soccer players or their family to encourage them to sabotage their teams and loose matches to offset gambling bets. The real problem behind these things is the betting, you can see the commercials on youtube too. you can bet on anything and if its worth it they will rig it!
Starcraft has Life, MMA has Jon Jones, Cycling has Lance Armostrong.. Every competitive sport has someone trying to beat the competition by disregarding the rules set for the competition. In my opinion one of the worst things you can do as a competitior. Not only because it destroys your own reputation and achievements, but it also tarnishes the efforts of every other competitors sacrifice and results. I feel like if you don't wanna play the game by the rules, then you shouldn't be allowed to play. And getting caught once should be enough to ban you from any competition ever again. The rules are sacred because they are the only thing that gives the entire thing meaning.
You have to wonder if Life purposely dropped matches to ForGG in Dreamhack 2014 too, but just couldn’t win the final game. I remember ForGG made some bad mistakes in the series that a Zerg as good as Life should have punished, but he didn’t.
well, the other guys must have been ages behind Life's skill. He is so good that he can throw 2 games vs pro gamers and still win. GJ! I dont see the problem, the competition should have focused more on getting better. Not Life's fault. And when he bets on himself losing games, he still have to be the best. Gambling bodies are the real bandits here.
Loop hole for life, he is not banned from starcraft 1 tournaments which are regaining popularity as we speak and being used for private tournaments haha
I don't think it was mentioned here, but there's some that have said Life was a gambling addict. Often losing tens of thousands of dollars at a table. It was this addiction, and the thrill of winning large sums of money that may have made him throw away his career.
This is actually sad. It's far too normal for young athletes from Asian countries to get forced into game fixing from the mafia. So many young athletes have been caught. And everyone knows who's behind.
he is not a criminal, at all events his behaviour could be called delinquent. and personally, i don't begrudge him for doing what he did. there is so much worse....
I always thought the cheating Life did gave him an advantage which explains his explosive rise to the top of the scene, rather than him actually hamstringing his own career. Now I'm beginning to wonder what must have gone on behind all this. Considering how young he was (and how much he was already earning) and all the people flocking around him as he's raking in money, I wouldn't be surprised if he got pressured into this or even forced by adults in his life who wanted to cash in while he was hot. I'd love to hear his side of the story. It probably isn't as black and white as people often like to make things out to be.
@@mimcduffee86 I'd recommend learning how to read before replying. Taking one part of someone's comment out of context and trying to use that against them isn't going to work on everyone, friendo.
Winning GSL gave you $85000, that's it. For those thinking, that's alot... NOPE. 50% goes to your team. Then you pay about 50% taxes, then KESPA fee. You end up keeping about $10,000. That's if you win GSL, putting in 120 hours a week, no life, just practicing 24/7. Back then there was no streaming, like how big it is now. Many pros had second jobs.
Brood War had sAviOr, SC2 had Life. Both were talented Korean Zerg pro, both would have been legends, and both ruined their careers and the whole pro scenes with such an unlikely and shameful crime.
Check out my second channel with useful SC2 guides - ua-cam.com/channels/v9BLWuGTkTksDmhWcjWxZg.html
The MATCHFIXING SCANDAL - ua-cam.com/video/DWbaUr8kZaU/v-deo.htmlsi=GJgbg5LUeexf-_Yl
Brood Lord Infestor balance period - ua-cam.com/video/KbtDFgEO7pM/v-deo.htmlsi=uBv8Nt7tg7rgmcGA
Timecodes:
00:00 Who's Life
00:55 First steps in StarCraft 2
02:00 Life's road in GSL
09:11 Life's path to becoming the World Champion
13:09 Back to back Global Finals
18:02 The Downfall
Life is like the voldemort of Starcraft2..because it is he who shall not be named,.even mentioning him is banned in the SC2 scene
Game 7 of the global finals vs sOs is still in my opinion of the best Protoss holds I've ever seen in a tournament of this magnitude. Such an epic game.
That match made me a fan of sOs. La Coocaracha.
I still watch this BO7 regularly. One of my favorite fights while watching starcraft since 2012! So epic!
wasn't that game just forge first hardcountering the ling all in?
You sure it was a "hold" or was Life doing Life things?
@@anthonyboone6843 We might never know for sure, but I don't think Life ever thew games that mattered.
Let me save you all 25 minutes of life; he was caught match fixing and got banned for life-you’re welcome.
Yeah I was expecting to learn more about WHY he did it.
Thanks. Video was like telling me what i already guessed. Smh.
Yeah wtf. I thought it'd be at least some sort of hacks, not he purposely lost a couple matches to make a quick buck. It's not even that bad, his accomplishments are still completely valid. Video is pure garbage hype.
Could've saved more time by reading the title instead of typing here
@@TeacherDoug7its all because of money. Throwing on purpose with exact scores would ensure lots of money to his criminal buddies and himself. He was also very young and easily influenced by the wrong people. Furthermore likely high on his own success and keen on taking risks in real life.
I followed Life's professional career very closely. This was a devastating piece of news when it hit. All those times when I jokingly said "he's throwing!" weren't as funny in retrospect. Thinking back, he's had more suspect games than the ones he's been found guilty of. I remember him losing against Sjow in one of the first tournaments of HoTs by running group after group of lings over the same widow mines placed in the same spot. I chalked it up to new game, bad day for Life but who knows now. This is so shitty. Life leaves an bad taste in my mouth, especially after preventing Mvp from getting his G5L trophy and then going down the path he did.
Great video though. Made me feel very nostalgic of the great days. I miss so many of the players seen in this video.
Just pretend all that didn't happen. Bj Penn is my favorite fighter. You know how many fights he lost in a row now? 😂
Remember the good times. When he wanted to win, he was a terror.
@@greuju I don’t like BJ Penn. too many out of the ring controversies. Like he was bar fighting guys who were not on that level at all.
My favorite fighter is Jon Jones 😝
@@nathanbarnhart7823 not liking BJ Penn for his controversies then liking Jon Jones is the definition of cognitive dissonance lol
Remember when he detonated all his banelings when he was not even engaging the terran army in a game vs Taeja in a hsc tournament?
It's such a shame he did this. It was just a joy watching this guy play on the height of sc2 popularity
i was there in person when he won the ironsquid tournament, what he did later made me really sad he was such a good player
@@barbatouffe8137 c'était le feu, le bon temps, l'apogée avec Pomf et Thud...
He was 16. The bad guy is the person who manipulated him.
There are probably others doing it too, he just got caught, cause he was young and not naturally incline to do that type of thing. Of course they catch the best player doing it, and who knows how elaborate it actually was to get him kicked from professional play. I can tell by his name life, he wasn't that type of person. He was robbed and defamed.
He’s still my hero. I love him.
Im just so glad that this channel exist. Seriously
Doing Reynor things before Reynor, always enjoyed watching this guy, quick nimble, agile play with unmatched multi tasking, especially in that era
100% he was the best player in Sc2 history.
Yeah, there would be no Rogue or Dark if Life was playing till today, he would take a lot of shine from those 2.
Way better than Serral
@@ML-rs7we I'd say Serral is way more consistent than what I've heard about Life
Who is Reynor?
Wow. Thanks for the video. I remember cheering for Life years ago. He was really fun to watch. Then he seemed to vanished. I never heard the story until now.
I will keep saying it over and over watching Life play was something magical he really was something else man.
Life finds a way.
LIFE WAS THE GREATEST…. so sad he threw it all away.. sad no one speaks of how his coaches who were much older than him guided him down the wrong path. he was a minor when all this was happening.
i believe this is an underrated comment. But i guess that happens , when you become an unexpected talent and champion and people bind not only their feelings , but their expectations to you .
@@fabianheinrich2812It should be underrated. His coaches weren't involved, not the ones from KTR, Afreeca, or Startle. He took the dive to get paid 100k usd by Enough (who was not his coach).
Sos is actually the best. He’s the only one who managed to be creative and entertaining with original builds and gameplay while everybody else played meta. Massive respect for the guy! And Biggest thank you with it.
Maru is very creative too. And Life relied on his zergs a lot, but was so uniquely good with them. Even more than Byun with reapers.
@@halneufmille life was straight up faster than any other player. Microing ling auto attacks like a matrix agent.
Too bad is doesn't matter and it was all wasted effort. @@foxmulder7436
It's kind of bizarre that we socially punish this type of thing more than many crimes.
match fixing is a crime, and not just socially punsished.
@@busTedOaSLife was also just a kid. He made a stupid decision. People took advantage of him. His punishment was too severe.
@@busTedOaS note that I didn't say it wasn't a crime.
@@Fanaro note that I didn't say you said that 😘
The thing is. Its in Korea. So yeah western wise this is fucking overboard.
But esports have been real sports in Korea since 98? Whenever brood war took off. This is serious to them, your identity is tied to your online accounts. You can't just make new accounts in Korea. You have one assigned to your government ID
wait wtf i watched this and expected him to be like a cheater or a supervillain, he was just guilty of throwing some matches?
Dude who cares, Life has skill and its not like he was evil.
Whether or not he threw for money, or whatever, that's his choice. He should be allowed to throw for gain - And who's to say he was not threatened, or intimidated to do this? Anywhere there is money there is possibility for this. I'd love to know what they found out about this. The most I can see from something like that is like a fine or something. Why was this such a "huge disgrace" like they make it seem to be?
Makes no sense to me.
Life today would probably be the ONLY player that can go toe-to-toe with Serral. A pity...what killed me was that he didn't even need to do it as he was already one of the most skilled SC2 players ever then. His lifetime prize money earned would've EASILY exceeded the ONE TIME cheat money he received. Unbelievable. Unreal.
Life was a kid that was taken advantage of by stupid people. He made a dumb decision. He deserved some sort of punishment but a total ban and no mention of his name was so severe for a fuckin kid...
@@TheHololo1234 I agree, most pro athletes who take illegal drugs to win and cheat don't get life time bans, which is a far more eggrecious offense.
@@tobiasL1991 dude for real. The punishment Life received made it look like he killed someone. The matches he purposely lost were unimportant games so it's not like he ruined the results of the entire tournament. The situation was blown way out of proportion.
@@TheHololo1234 He can still play Starcraft, just not at tournaments. It's the same in chess. Get caught cheating ONCE, you're banned for life. Keeping cheaters destroys the credibility of the sport and drives away viewers.
@@tobiasL1991 Not to sound elitist, but compared to esports fans, the average fan of traditional sports is basically retarded. One of the athletes can commit a crime right on national television, and nobody cares.
Take Odell Beckham's late hit against Josh Norman. Beckham should have gone to prison for that hit, but most football fans are like "gee I think he took it a bit too far". (He got a one-game suspension for almost killing someone.) Crap like that is why I stopped watching football years ago.
Personally, I only watch sports that can keep a lid on bullshit. I'm tired of watching fixed matches, roided athletes, egregious penalties, and people who are just bad role models continuing to be given a platform to influence young people. If you can't be a decent human being, then I don't want to watch you play. If the league keeps bringing back people I think are scumbags, then I stop watching the league. It seems like most of the Korean Starcraft fanbase share my view, which is what keeps those leagues honest. Personally, I am happy to see at least one sports fanbase actually care about these things.
Damn, I remember all of this. He was so fucking sick and I was really sad when I found out that he was rigging matches. Seeing these matches also make me remember how OP infested Terran was. lol
Bro there's no way, I had so much good memories of these times and I remember being a big fan of Life. Kinda sad
Life was well on his way to making an amazing fortune. The regions weren't locked at the time so he could have swept international money like a hoover. Instead, he did this. What a loser.
Yeah that's a really sad story
Maybe the answer is just easy money and the false belief that he couldn't be caught. Why trying hard to win matches when u can get money for losing? And if he wasn't caught, he could get the money from matchfixing and international tournaments too...
Soo he purposely lost matches and got arrested for it? Damn.
The greatest Zerg to ever be. Only Dark has ever come close to reaching the heights of Life.
Life is the one who made the headlines, but he was not the only one.
A sad time for SC2 for sure.
I'd argue Serral has overtaken Life, but it's difficult to compare
I'd second that argument.@@EsportsStoryteller
At the time, he was the indisputable, best Zerg player. If he wasn't banned forever, he'd likely be even better.
@@hydraxc2478 for sure.
@@EsportsStoryteller I could understand that. Serral is on the Mount Rushmore of Zerg greats. The fact Zerg was clearly not the weakest race during Serrals time, and that Serral reigned when 45 minute plus resident sleeper games were the norm, hurt his candidacy.
None the less, many great Zergs have risen to the top, and each of them have pushed the race to dizzying heights.
Perhaps a video idea, but what about the greatest of all 3 races?
For me:
Zerg: Life, Dark + (Serral, Jaedong, NesTea, Rogue, Idra, Stephano). I could be talked into any of the last batch for final spot
Terran: Maru, ByuN, INnoVation. Maru and ByuN for sure.
Protoss: MC, PartinG. 3rd one? I can be talked into a couple for this slot. MC was always entertaining. PartinG was just so solid from what I remember.
Life was simpler back then in times with Life. There was still access to WoL and HoTS ladder and I was just climbing WoL as that's what I was used to since release. Life made tournaments worth watching. Everyone clapped and cheered for "Life's lings" with what felt like a stadium full of people. The absolute peak of the game with Blizzard's support and a community that shared near top spot in streaming on twitch. Starcraft 2 has been my first real PC game and my favorite game of all time. Every starcraft broadcast I would watch live just for Life. After his finals best of 7 with sOs I nearly cried after his loss because I was so invested and idolized this man as a hero to zerg. Then it all came out. I cried for a different reason then. To have one of your only role models turn into this... inhumane puppet for money drove me away for a long time. I still tuned in to some streamers, played the game a little, but slowly it all faded away until I stopped playing for years. I've recently begun to start playing and enjoying myself again! I can't really get into watching the pro scene again but I must admit I was reignited by Oliveira yet I just feel like the top Zerg players like Reynor or Serral don't have that life that Life brought. Perhaps it was because the time was younger so optimization wasn't the best and the overall skill level is much higher. God was it fun to live back in those times. Sometimes I wished Life would come back but realistically what he did is unforgivable and shattered the trust of the playerbase and love of the game to a point it still struggles to return to
oh hey..
@@ChinitHeng IMPOSTER
It hurts so much in hindsight. He could have been reveered on the level of a Flash or Faker instead he killed the game he loved :(
A kid's decision hurt you? How about you refocus that energy on the people who took advantage of a kid.
This one broke my heart. Life was my favorite player. The scandal broke during the first LOTV tournament. There were so many “what if’s”. How good could he have been?
Impressive how Life managed to damage sc2 more then Blizzard itself
That’s a pretty high bar he beat
That's over exaggerating. Game is ruined because Blizzard add too many cast able to the game and make it just fun to watch but not fun to play
@@tqhung169 Gotit. You're bad at the game.
@@dukenovalith I'm still better than at least 80% of people who play this game 1vs1(might include you as well)
@@tqhung169 no game was ruined because it didn't work on keeping the casual playerbase alive. Like improving custom games and marketing it better while also doing amazing cinemagraphics like League would've saved the game. It would be a worldwide game at or near the level of League or Valorant.
sOs is now back from the army, can't wait to see him back in the world champion tournament !!!
Life was something special, man.
It was amazing watching him in those times.
He would have made so much more money over time had he just kept competing legitimately.
So sad to see
I remember a good friend of mine used to play SC2 religiously. He introduced me to SC2 and showed me Life and his accomplishments.
I used to go round to his place and watch him play (he was a zurg player) and we would watch Life games and he would show me the level of his talent.
was quite sad to hear when he got caught for match fixing :( so sad to see such talent go to waste
I used to watch this kid years ago. His micro was amazing. Especially as a Zerg player which was the weakest race out of all.
The catchphrase "Life finds a way" was always surrounding this guy's games. Great player, so sad it ended like this
Life vs Serral would've been a DREAM match now
Life won a world championship at age 17 and finished 2nd the next year at 18. The only issue for him as a player was how he would adjust to LOTV.
Hard to imagine him not being a top 5 player for at least another 5 years. Remember that in 2017 and 2018 prize money went up significantly. Blizzcon championship was 200K and there was big money in Katovice and the Chinese tournament WESG. WESG paid 200K to the winner who was Maru in 2017.
So the money was there and he had no need to cheat for cash.
If only he didn't match fix, it would be very very interesting to see Life continue his successful path and fight Serral for who's the best zerg player.
Every player match fixes. You are naive if you think they dun especially those that dun earn much
Life was superior to Serral in every way. He was by far the best player at the time.
@@ohgin12345 *Citation needed
The history of Anakin SkyWalker, he was the chosen one, he was supposed to be a Savior and at some point he kind of went in the wrong way tho
That's like a premise for a power fantasy manhwa
Stealing in life: 5-10 years in most countries. Match-fixing in SC2: banned for life.
i'd rather be banned for life in a video game (in this case just the tournaments, to be precise) than be in jail for 5 years lol. and being in jail bans you for life in certain departments too btw. if you commit a crime as a police officer, you'll never be a police officer again. nobody want's to have you in their company really. that's why black americans who never committed a crime get in the criminal loop, because some racist officer decided to put them in prison for no reason. when they get out, no one hires them, they can't earn money, so in order to survive, they start stealing.
anyway i feel very sorry for life. he was just a kid and some capitalist assholes just exploited him. i don't consider him a villain. he is just one of many victims in this cruel, stupid society
There is a big difference between being banned from a random game and being locked in jail lmao.
Can u guys explain to me why the "match-fixing" banned his life?
its banned for life IN video games bruh.. i choose that over being in prison
Came back after break, good to see StarCraft II community still holds. What can be done to make player base higher? And who is to blame? Blizzard? Or is it just RTS genre that's not currently fancy?
Blizzard no longer supports SC2, the recent GSL for example had it's prize pool slashed to 1/4 as much money as the year before. SC2 is no longer the future of RTS, hopefully Stormgate is.
@@richardgallimore5976 Or ZeroSpace, assuming it turns out the way I'm hoping it does.
23:11 I think I remember that footage from back in the day! Was that at a GSL qualifier?
many Zergs, myself included, felt like Zerg actually had a chance to win games without just massing swarm hosts because of Life. i think it was this specific scandal that was the beginning of the end of me genuinely trying to competitively play this game... it really didnt help that people would point toward Life and be like "SEE?!?!? SEE!?!?! ZERG NEEDS MORE NERFS TERRAN AND PROTOSS NEED MORE BUFFS LOOK AT HOW EZ ZERG IS FOR THIS GUY" either, while me and many other Zergs across the entire ladder would be utterly struggling and losing game after game after game.
last 2 games of Global finals vs SoS were 2 of the clutches games ever! I think that year was the best of Sc2 so far. Sadly life dishonor himself and sc2
I'm not one to complain often but a 25-minute video just to speculate on how much he made in the two matches he threw. As well as speculation on the reasons why he did it.... I mean thanks I guess? I just expected there to be a little more information about the actual match fixing this was more so a video about his wins.
he 1000% got pressured into doing this. This was not his idea.
You could do such a good Hollywood movie out of this. How the high succes slowly corrupts him.
And as far as I know his parents took the tournament money because he wasnt 18 yet.
Money makes people go crazy sometimes. Imo he's the best example of that.
And there is not a single comment that this is the Basset -_-
He started like Jaedong, but ended up like sAviOr.
Those games... I was recently watching some old HotS legendary matches.
Man, I think that current TOP 20 players would just tear the best players from that era just like that.
I am sorry. Yes, they have significance from historical perspective and as innovators.
The only player that continuously improved and reinvented is Maru. Maybe Life would be the same. But likes of Serral, Reynor, Dark, Cure, herO would destroy peak HotS players any day IMHO.
Also old SC2 was worse than we dare to admit nowadays. We complain about balance? Like, just look on those force fields and infested terrans. Horrible.
Major suggestion for you: whenever you use any kind of jargon (in this case 'bonjwa'), or refer to something that not all viewers might know - you should put up a little subtitle on screen briefly to fill in the viewer (so they can pause and read if they want, without slowing down the vid for people like me who already know!)
Life for whatever reason was never an elite team player during the team era up to 2016.
Life got traded to KT Rolster and he was just another player on that team. Zest was the captain and leader and Life never became a front line type player.
The team game was obviously different you play one map at a time but in the playoffs and in all kill matches he could have been a beast when hot. He was just another roster guy for that team.
Life made money and tried to get out before blizzard shit all over esports. In a way he was way smarter then others.
Destined to be Maru's greatest rival, on the road to be in the GOAT talks too, favorite Zerg before Serral happened.
Life got me into SC2. I used to love cheering for him. Now I still watch the game cuz I love it. But I'll never have that feeling of rooting for my absolute favorite ever again. Which makes me sad : (
It's so sad, I was a huge fan of Life. Even as a Terran player myself, I loved watching this guy play zerg. And then he did all this shit and Sc2 honestly never recovered from it. Very saddening because Sc2 is such a beautiful game.
So much nostalgia in this video. Thank you for making this video!
this video existing is peak esports
"He started as a Zerg player." Explains a lot right there...
love these videos! so nostalgic
i remember right when hots came out, he was the talk of the show, top of the world. but then spiraled downward
Need to look, but would love a video on Polt and Taeja
I was about to ask after reading the title - "Story of whose life?" only to realize after reading a couple of comments below, that it's this dude's nickname! Lmao
I forgot how insane Infesters used to be
Back in the height of SC2 I used to watch Life play every match. He was the face of SC2 during his reign and without him it just doesn't feel the same. I missed Life. In an alternate universe, Life did not commit any wrongs and is still playing in SC2 tournaments.
For what was he now cought you did not explain it ?
He was my favorite Zerg player even till now.
it's like the intro to "Shaolin Soccer"
i would be genuinely curious to see if any media (Korean or foreign) could find him and give him a chance to explain things. I find it really really hard to believe he did this without a good reason (in his head at least).
He was a kid. He made a dumb decision. People took advantage of his immaturity. He didn't deserve such a harsh punishment.
@@TheHololo1234 wasn't he 18 at the time? still a Kid to be sure, but also responsible for his own decisions
@@busTedOaS 18 is still a kid. He deserved some punishment like a ban for a year or two or something. But a lifetime ban? Lol he didn't murder someone.
@@TheHololo1234 Agreed. Everybody deserves a second chance imo. I think a big part of it was Kespa trying to save face, so they sacrificed him.
@@busTedOaS They take things like this pretty seriously over there. Different morals and all that.
Moonglade totally suspected something was up in that game vs Dream
Map pool for 2012 GSL was lit ❤🔥
18:53 video starts
I should have plenty of stored replays from Life's dreamhack and some of the GSL games :)
Truly such a shame, will never understand why he made these choices
you put the best SC2 content out there man , keep up the good work :)
I am surprised that there is no manhwa called "I regressed to correct the starcraft game decisions that ruined my life"
Funny. I've often wondered in other matches if something was going on. Fairly easy to do when all it takes is one poor attack, defense, rally point etc to swing a match.
17:48 a Tastosis gem!
The best player ever was already decided in 2015 when s0s beat life for first 2 time blizzcon champion the fact you didn’t even mention him in the opening is wild
still the GOAT of all of starcraft and its not even close. were he still playing there would be no serral talk
hearing tastosis just makes me smile! I love this game, long live SC!
Well made video!
Kind of similar career arc to another Zerg matchfixer Savior.
Match fixers can be quite dangerous they dont shy to put a gun to the head of soccer players or their family to encourage them to sabotage their teams and loose matches to offset gambling bets. The real problem behind these things is the betting, you can see the commercials on youtube too. you can bet on anything and if its worth it they will rig it!
Starcraft has Life, MMA has Jon Jones, Cycling has Lance Armostrong..
Every competitive sport has someone trying to beat the competition by disregarding the rules set for the competition. In my opinion one of the worst things you can do as a competitior. Not only because it destroys your own reputation and achievements, but it also tarnishes the efforts of every other competitors sacrifice and results. I feel like if you don't wanna play the game by the rules, then you shouldn't be allowed to play. And getting caught once should be enough to ban you from any competition ever again. The rules are sacred because they are the only thing that gives the entire thing meaning.
great content man
I've no evidence but since financial gain probably wasn't there someone might have threatened him.
i figured he'd murdered someone or something. just another 322 man for the collection.
And you wrong, the greatest villain of SC2 was EASILY IDRA!!! Lol.
You have to wonder if Life purposely dropped matches to ForGG in Dreamhack 2014 too, but just couldn’t win the final game. I remember ForGG made some bad mistakes in the series that a Zerg as good as Life should have punished, but he didn’t.
well, the other guys must have been ages behind Life's skill. He is so good that he can throw 2 games vs pro gamers and still win. GJ! I dont see the problem, the competition should have focused more on getting better. Not Life's fault. And when he bets on himself losing games, he still have to be the best. Gambling bodies are the real bandits here.
Loop hole for life, he is not banned from starcraft 1 tournaments which are regaining popularity as we speak and being used for private tournaments haha
I always give it a doubt, sometime they might be with the mob or get threatened resort to this and it is also possible people fell into the greed.
I don't think it was mentioned here, but there's some that have said Life was a gambling addict. Often losing tens of thousands of dollars at a table. It was this addiction, and the thrill of winning large sums of money that may have made him throw away his career.
What is the age limit in Korean casinos. Wasn't he still a minor? or was he doing some kind of other gambling?
This is actually sad.
It's far too normal for young athletes from Asian countries to get forced into game fixing from the mafia.
So many young athletes have been caught. And everyone knows who's behind.
Life was the best damn player i have ever seen play sc2. Talent was out of this world
It's Serral without question.
Most surprising is that he never performed particularly well in Proleague
he is not a criminal, at all events his behaviour could be called delinquent. and personally, i don't begrudge him for doing what he did. there is so much worse....
I always thought the cheating Life did gave him an advantage which explains his explosive rise to the top of the scene, rather than him actually hamstringing his own career. Now I'm beginning to wonder what must have gone on behind all this. Considering how young he was (and how much he was already earning) and all the people flocking around him as he's raking in money, I wouldn't be surprised if he got pressured into this or even forced by adults in his life who wanted to cash in while he was hot. I'd love to hear his side of the story. It probably isn't as black and white as people often like to make things out to be.
He was literally paid to throw the games and you still want to defend him by trying to blame others... Wow.
@@mimcduffee86 I'd recommend learning how to read before replying. Taking one part of someone's comment out of context and trying to use that against them isn't going to work on everyone, friendo.
@@mimcduffee86no he wad trying to say why he would do that considering he earn more by wining. Why jeapordise yr own whole life for petty money ..
By criminal he means, Life played zerg amirite bois?
my question is how did they prove that he threw the games intentionally? did the police check his bank accounts and saw fishy transfers or something?
Winning GSL gave you $85000, that's it.
For those thinking, that's alot... NOPE.
50% goes to your team.
Then you pay about 50% taxes, then KESPA fee.
You end up keeping about $10,000. That's if you win GSL, putting in 120 hours a week, no life, just practicing 24/7. Back then there was no streaming, like how big it is now.
Many pros had second jobs.
Life finds a way. Movie Quote.
Brood War had sAviOr, SC2 had Life. Both were talented Korean Zerg pro, both would have been legends, and both ruined their careers and the whole pro scenes with such an unlikely and shameful crime.