The God of WarCraft 3 is human after all

written by Frank 'Mirhi' Fields

If you ask anyone in the world who the best Warcraft 3 player is, you will likely hear any of three responses: Grubby, Sky or Moon. I am here to end the dispute. The most innovative, talented, accomplished and respected player in the world is Jang Jae Ho; also known as MYM]Moon, Spirit_Moon, Moon.

Zacard v Moon -  a game for eternity

Wind the clock back to 2005, at the WeG 2005 final. Moon v Zacard - at the time it was the premier rivalry in Asian E-Sports. Zacard took to the stage to defeat his nemesis and claim the grand prize as his own.

He scouts and sees only 1 archer, Moon's DH already heading to harass, "Why isn't he creeping?" At tier 2, Zacard scouts to see no Tier 2 buildings and a teching T3 Tree of Eternity. "Where are his Lores?" He finds the shop at the tavern, the hidden Ancients of Wind. "DoTTs!?"

Suddenly, Moon is in his base with a beastmaster and 2 quillbeasts cancelling his T2 buildings and killing his burrows. Moments later Zacard goes straight for Moon's army, surely with only Talons he won't stand a chance! Moon hires a Firelord, "What is he doing? Firelord?"

Moon walls off his talons with quillbeasts, heroes and lava spawns, raiders fly in the air, the crowd goes crazy! Announcers struggle to keep up with the action! "Cyclone!" They shout. All of Zacard's grunts gone in seconds, Tauren Chieftain and Blademaster constantly in the air, Raiders all surrounded. An entire army dead within seconds. As Zacard calls gg, the crowd erupts in chants and cheers, applauding and going crazy, the champion pumps his fist. Thus Moon became the God of Warcraft 3.

Moon had created a strategy that Orc players said was literally unbeatable. For a long time, many players had doubts as to whether any Orc would ever beat Spirit Moon again. This strategy was overpowered, imbalanced, disgusting, an abomination. How could an Orc ever beat this? How could anyone beat someone who destroyed the best players so easily? They couldn't!

Enter The 5th Race.

As evidenced above, Moon's influence is felt all over by the strategies he creates and how furiously and quickly they are copied.

Moon - knows how to pose for the press

The Druids of the Talon against Orc is just 1 example. He made popular Ancient of War creeping that is now used by every amateur, semi-pro, and professional player in the world. Human players frustrated that the insomnia style militia creeping was actually SLOWER than an Elf could creep and then come harass. Still this holds true, "He's on me before I even get brilliance aura!" "DH is so imba!"

He also made good use of offensive Ancient protectors pushing in early Tier 1. He started the strategy of using Pitlord as a third hero against Human in combination with Panda to hit the mortars and casters of their ground army push. He started using Orb of Venom on Demon Hunter as a way to counter gargoyle harassment from Undead. Perhaps most gamebreaking, he is responsible for the blizzard nerf to the mass expansion strat that still makes it hard for many races to Beat Night Elf on Twisted Meadows. By the way, those quillbeasts and heroes in your base canceling your Tier 2? You can thank Moon for that when they both get out without using a Scroll of Town Portal.

All of these strategies that we now view as common place, while Moon may not have invented all of them, he made each of them extremely popular, and with success breeds imitation.

After Moon's accomplishments in 2005, Meet Your Makers, one of the most accomplished teams in E-Sports, signed the young prodigy to one of the most lucrative contracts for a professional gamer in history - and every bit of it was earned. With Moon in the lineup, Meet Your Makers won their first WC3L Championship, and dominated the first 3 Seasons of NGL-One. To try to list all of his solo accomplishments would be foolish, but Moon has finished in the top 2 of almost every major title WC3 has had. Perhaps the only missing part of Moon's resume is a finish at the top of one of the big two tournaments, World Cyber Games, and Electronic Sports World Cup - though he is always a favorite at both. Moon's lack of success at WCG sure isn't from lack of trying.

WCG 2008 - Moon's vindication was at hand. Here he would finally get his shot at the big one, the biggest tournament in the world, his most sought after victory. All he had to do was employ his Orc strategies to beat his nemesis and teammate Grubby, the same Grubby who was over the hill, washed up, finished. "Easy win for Moon!", all the fans said.

The 5th race after the WCG disaster

Moon finally will get his championship! It just wasn't to be. Everyone remembers in the press coverage afterwards, Grubby draped in his Netherlands flag while his teammate, rival, and friend Moon sat quietly in tears, completely overwrought that his best chance at the title he wanted the most slipped through his fingers. The God of Warcraft 3 is human after all.

However, more than all his accomplishments or minor shortcomings are how players fear and respect his playing. Ask any Orc player who they fear playing most in a tournament most of all and it's Moon. Overall, people don't like playing him just because everything he does is so different than other players, his innovative playstyle is something people just can't prepare for. His skill and his creative ability has given him the moniker "The Fifth Race" and for good reason - there just isn't any preparation process against Moon.

Even though I may be idolizing him, my comparisons and praise for him is nothing compared to his endless parade of fans. Even if Moon never played a match with MYM, he would bring a gallery of followers cheering for him. During every match ticker: "Go Moon!". Every WC3L match, "Moon will win...". "Moon Fighting!" If ever he is absent, people ask "Where's Moon?" If he loses, people think that there's something wrong with him. Not only is excellence expected, it's almost demanded.

At this point though, I think people would revere him whether or not he is the same player he was in 2005 and late 2008. Moon is a strange player in that his consistency hasn't always been his strong suit, but his excellence has commanded such attention. MYM has been wise to capitalize on Moon's success, and marketed his "brand" very well, because with Moon comes his overzealous fanbase - and with Moon come the sponsors. While he may not be consistent, at his best, there was no question that no one could touch him. Even at recent IEM, on Day 1, Moon looked once again like a God among insects - every God has followers.

In the end when Warcraft 3 is no longer played and e-sports fans have moved onto a new game like Starcraft 2, and the editors and writers have nothing better to do, people will look back and think "Who was the best Warcraft 3 player?" The debate may rage on forever. However, if the discussion was over who was the most influential player in Warcraft 3, perhaps in all of E-Sports, it would have to be Moon. No one has inspired more discussion out of game, planning in game, and been more popular than MYM's most prized possession.

Personally, I think Moon has touched everyone in this industry, and many of us would not be successful without him. For that, I thank him. One must wonder what Meet Your Makers and Moon has planned next, and what mystery lies ahead for the most intriguing person E-Sports has ever known.