On February 13, 2023, China's Li Peinan won the championship in the 2023 IEM Katowice StarCraft 2 project. This is also the first world championship won by a Chinese esports player in the esports event "StarCraft 2".
Interestingly, until last year, the ID used by Li Peinan was TIME, supposedly changed its name to Oliveira as a tribute to UFC legendary champion Oliveira, hoping to rise up in desperate situations like him. Sure enough, mentality determines destiny, and after that, Li Peinan seemed to break the shackles, reborn, and finally achieved a legend.
Another interesting and somewhat ironic thing is that the official evaluated each player, Li Peinan's comprehensive score is 80 points, which is a very mediocre score, mediocre to foreign media to give Li Peinan the probability of winning the championship is even only 0.37%. However, ideas are used to break, and other people's opinions and evaluations can only be proved by their own efforts.
Li Peinan, who only had 80 points, defeated Reynor, the top Zerg master with 93 points, in the eight-in-four game;
Li Peinan, who only had 80 points, won the first master of the Protoss race with 94 points undisputed 3:1 in the semifinals, herO;
Li Peinan, who has only 80 points, was even in the final, facing the 96-point emperor and also the world's recognized number one master, Maru, did not have the slightest stage fright, did not put tactics, and did not take the sword to the edge, just fought steadily, saw the moves,-for-tat, did not show mercy, and defeated Maru with a score of 4:1 in a dignified manner, and was undisputed crowned as the new emperor.
After the game, the foreign commentator said: This is the craziest thing in the history of Star 2, although Li Peinan's card rating is only 80 points, but he is worth 100 points at this moment! He didn't win the game by little tricks, he won the game. He did all this with an indomitable will, not only that, but he also defeated Reynor, who is the strongest Zerg (player) in the eyes of many people; He then defeated herO, the strongest Protoss in the world; Then he beat Maru to the top, not BO3, not BO5, but BO7 in the final, this result is simply ridiculous, crazy!
Another detail is that during the break between races, Reynor, herO and Maru have support staff who will help them with advice and discuss countermeasures; But Li Peinan is just alone, no one to accompany, no one to discuss, he can only fight alone, his road is full of thorns, he is a real lonely brave.
I can't imagine what kind of mental journey he went through on the road to winning the championship, and it must not be good, and it is no wonder that he choked up in the victory interview and said: I have waited too long for this world championship.
The difficulty of winning this championship is really no less than that of the national football team winning the World Cup, and it has to be a decent champion without a black whistle, no luck, and no host bonus.
so
What makes Li Peinan, who was eliminated with a clean sheet in last year's Atlanta game, rise strongly this year?
What made him cut down all four of the most vocal pre-race champions?
(Note: Clem lost 1:2 to Li Peinan in the group stage)
Is it luck?
Not!
It was 12-15 hours of training a day, continuous high-intensity and boring training, that made him reborn.
Effort will eventually pay off, and God rewards hard work. This champion deserves it!