Chinanews.com, Beijing, February 17th, title: Dialogue丨Li Peinan: The first and last player in StarCraft in China
Reporter Yue Chuan
From the moment he stepped off the championship podium, Li Peinan (ID: Oliveira) was always surrounded by a sense of unreality.
He tried to pull himself away, but the weight of the trophy in his hand reminded him that this was reality, not a dream.
Born in the last century, "StarCraft" is regarded as the pioneering work of the world's e-sports.
Twenty-five years after its release, China finally ushered in its first StarCraft world champion.
Image source: ESL official social media
01 First and Last Man
Li Peinan, who was born in 2000, is not yet 23 years old.
Most of his peers favor "Glory of the King", "League of Legends" and "Peace Elite", but Li Peinan finally chose "StarCraft", which is a few years older than himself.
The real-time strategy masterpiece "StarCraft" can be called the originator of e-sports. It was once a smash hit and was regarded as the most difficult e-sports to control.
The complicated system and cumbersome operation have raised the threshold of "StarCraft", which discourages many players, but Li Peinan is deeply fascinated by the corresponding sense of accomplishment.
When Li Peinan first expressed his desire to become a professional e-sports player, his parents didn't agree with him, but they couldn't hold back his persistence.
Li Peinan hopes to prove himself with time, and also believes that time will give the answer. This is the origin of his e-sports ID "Time".
This road is not destined to be smooth.
Li Peinan quickly showed his talent, but because he was still young when he turned professional, he couldn't control his mentality very well, and he would have the idea of "don't want to fight anymore" when he encountered setbacks.
At this time, the family members who once opposed Li Peinan's going this way would stand up to cheer him up and encourage him to try again.
Image source: ESL official social media
During the stumbling, Li Peinan slowly took over the title of "first person" and became the leader of "StarCraft 2" in China.
But with his achievements, this circle has been shrinking.
Due to the pressure of life, more and more players choose to bid farewell to the arena and find another way out.
The e-sports with a lot of traffic has a glamorous appearance, and the transfer fee and signing fee are often in the order of tens of millions. However, these astronomical figures have nothing to do with "StarCraft", which has been going downhill in recent years.
There are hundreds of millions of e-sports fans around the world, and only a handful of people who have gone through all kinds of hardships and climbed to the top of the pyramid can really enjoy this bowl of rice.
As the top interstellar player in China, Li Peinan received the highest salary in the industry.
Although it is not enough to make ends meet, if compared with the income of other industries, this top salary immediately pales in comparison.
"I'm better off, and I can rely on bonuses to make a living. Other players may not be so good, anyway, it's quite difficult." Li Peinan said that there are still a few domestic teams operating interstellar divisions, but they are basically losing money. Love to generate electricity".
The huge gap between the threshold of getting started and the income makes the attractiveness of "StarCraft 2" to young players close to zero.
There is an extreme lack of fresh blood to join, and Li Peinan, as a "post-00", has been labeled with another heavy label: the last player in StarCraft in China.
Image source: ESL official social media
After entering 2020, Li Peinan's career has encountered a bottleneck, and the results of many competitions have been unsatisfactory, and sometimes even qualifying for the group has become a luxury.
His grades fell to the bottom, and the external environment became worse and worse.
If you don’t count the patches launched on the eve of this IEM (Intel Extreme Masters), the last official update of “StarCraft 2” (except for the map library) dates back to two years ago, which is not common in the field of e-sports.
As the cooperation between NetEase and Blizzard ended in January this year, the national server of "StarCraft 2" cannot be logged in, and it is unknown when it will resume.
In the gloom, on February 5, Beijing time, Li Peinan boarded a flight to Poland.
02 Ten days and nights that changed the world line
IEM, born in 2006, is one of the top e-sports events in the world today.
Katowice, a city in southern Poland, will host the 2023 IEM.
Due to the unsatisfactory results before, Li Peinan did not have any expectations for this competition. The goal he set for himself was to qualify for the group stage.
Even Li Peinan is ready, his 8-year career will end here.
Before "The Last Dance", Li Peinan made a decision: he changed his ID to "Oliveira", after the Brazilian UFC champion Charles Oliveira.
Li Peinan, who was in a trough, saw Oliveira's story by accident.
From being judged by a doctor that he may not be able to walk when he was young, to becoming one of the greatest champions in UFC history, Oliveira's experience greatly touched Li Peinan and helped him get out of the most difficult period.
"Katowice, this may be my last game, so I want to play 'Oliveira'."
Image source: ESL official social media
With the growth of experience, compared with the past, the biggest change of Li Peinan's trip lies in his mentality.
"Whether I can win the world championship or not, I have no regrets. For me, winning or losing is not important, I just want to play a few more StarCraft games." Along the way, in the boring cycle of training and competition, Li Peinan It's all gone.
This unreserved dedication allowed him to accept any result calmly.
The progress of the group stage was uneventful. Li Peinan, who had 2 wins and 3 losses, ranked third in the group and advanced.
However, after that, he, who is used to being a supporting role, replaced the old script in his hand.
There are 3 races in "StarCraft 2", and Li Peinan uses the human race.
In the knockout round, Li Peinan defeated the Italian player Reynor, who was regarded as the strongest Zerg, the Korean player herO, who was regarded as the strongest Protoss, and Maru, who was recognized as the strongest human race in the world, in the most convincing way. Win the first prize.
In the usual training against these top players, Li Peinan won more than 20 times and lost more.
Until now, he himself can't tell where he won.
"I'm actually confused too. They seem to be too nervous and they didn't play at the level they had in training. And I can accept any result, so I'm more open and unburdened."
In the quarter-finals, Li Peinan's opponent was last runner-up Reynor.
Li Peinan, who was behind 0:2, staged a big reversal, and finally eliminated the strong opponent 3:2.
"After beating him, I had completely let go, and that was the first time I felt there was a chance (to become world champion)."
Image source: ESL official social media
When Li Peinan kissed the championship trophy, it was dawn in China.
The golden dream is like the rising sun, which is the long-awaited dawn of all Chinese StarCraft players.
From the departure for Katowice on February 5th to the return to China on February 14th, with these ten days and nights, Li Peinan changed the world line of Chinese e-sports.
03 World Champion First Experience
Since breaking the wasteland in 2001, China has produced many e-sports world champions, and Li Peinan is the most special one among them.
Just like table tennis in China, starting from "StarCraft 1", Korean players not only symbolize the world's highest level in this field, but also have an unparalleled group advantage.
Before the start of the knockout round of this year's IEM, foreign media predicted that Li Peinan's probability of winning was only a pitiful 0.37%.
In the semi-finals, the remaining three South Korean players were all ranked higher than Li Peinan in the world, but the trophy was eventually brought back to China.
It has been more than 20 years since "StarCraft 1" came out, and the goals of several generations of Chinese StarCraft players have been realized in the hands of Li Peinan.
As the former professional player Sun Yifeng (ID: F91) said: "Li Peinan has fulfilled my childhood dream. This moment has not come easily. Thank you Li Peinan and StarCraft. I have no regrets."
After winning the championship, the blessings and invitations from relatives and friends "exploded" Li Peinan's WeChat.
"These touch me very much. Not only myself, I seem to have really helped many people realize their dreams, and it feels very meaningful."
On the night of holding the cup, Li Peinan didn't fall asleep too much, and the excitement of his long-cherished wish being fulfilled dispelled his drowsiness.
"I don't know what was going on in my mind at the time. It was not easy along the way. I felt that all this was unrealistic and I couldn't believe it."
Image source: ESL official social media
The term "timing" is often mentioned in the "StarCraft" series, which means to seize the weak link in the opponent's operation process, attack accurately at the right time, and win.
After the "StarCraft 2" national server "downtime" for 20 days, Li Peinan grasped the best "timing".
The strong sensory contrast between "the server is gone" and "the world champion is coming" pushes "StarCraft" and Li Peinan to the Chinese people in the fullest way.
On the day of returning to China, Li Peinan, who had not yet adjusted the time difference, appeared in the live broadcast room as promised, sharing this glorious moment with the friends who were waiting for him.
The barrage and gifts filled the live broadcast room to the brim. Behind the countless "thank you", there are countless surging hearts.
Once upon a time, Li Peinan also envied other contestants, but he never expected that he would be the one who finally got the male lead script.
"Being a world champion, I didn't dare to dream about it before. This journey is too fantastic."
04 Hope Elementary School is another dream
When the fantasy journey gradually returned to life, Li Peinan suddenly felt a little tired.
For some time in the future, he plans to take a vacation for himself and think about how to go in the future.
Unlike when he was on the field, Li Peinan used "boring" to describe himself in life.
Apart from "StarCraft", fitness is his biggest hobby, and training and exercise almost fill his entire schedule.
There is also a donation to build a hope primary school, Li Peinan wrote it on his life list very early, and being crowned a world champion created an opportunity for him to realize his dream.
However, Li Peinan didn't want to be too high-profile, and worried that if he didn't think properly, the result might be counterproductive.
He will learn more about relevant information, and then finish the matter silently.
Others are the same as usual. In Li Peinan's eyes, there is no difference between the days before and after winning the championship.
"For me, every day is an ordinary day, and every day has to be good. If I didn't have this mentality, I wouldn't be able to achieve today's results."
Image source: ESL official social media
As for the future of "StarCraft", Li Peinan feels that there is no need to force it. He actually agrees with the statement that he is "the last man standing".
"The current domestic interstellar circle is too small. I have accepted it before. Whether I win the world championship or not is the result. Even if I become the world champion now, it is difficult to attract young players, and it is even more difficult for newcomers to emerge. "
""StarCraft" requires too much basic skills, it takes a lot of time to concentrate on training, and it may not have the desired effect. It has been out for more than 20 years, and it is impossible for young players to practice as we did back then. things." Li Peinan said that if there is an opportunity in the future, everyone can log in to "StarCraft" at will and gain happiness from it, which is enough.
The end of the song is elegant, as the "first person" and "last person" of Chinese StarCraft, Li Peinan, who intends to retire, has drawn a perfect end to this career.
"Should it be a full stop?" Li Peinan paused, "Actually, I'm not sure now. If I can, I hope to do more for China StarCraft."
"I like myself as a player. I love e-sports and I love "StarCraft". If I can give back to the society in the way I love, that would be great." (End)