4Kings

I just had to blog about this. And this isn't an emo post.
I guess I should have seen this coming. Three of the kings left already - FoV because he could postpone his army service and obtain cheap affordable living in mid 2006 to wNv; Creo who stopped playing because he wanted to commit himself to studies in university, but not without winning the most prestigious award with fireworks; ToD left because apparently the team management did not renew his contract for whatever reasons. So there's just one king left.
It's like a weird dream. I doubt the thought of Mancher United closing down would ever occur to their fans, ever. Same here as was 4kings to me. The brand was a trademark, it is synonymous with the game itself, such that when you mention 4Kings, anyone will tell you about the wc3 team (not that I disrespect the other gaming divisions in 4K).
(Back in 2003) The first member was 4K.Tillerman who was a legend, but he had quitted just so that he can go do poker instead. Then there was Kiko,Bond and Kaj who I didn't get to take much notice of. I know LaWn and FuRy was some sick 2 on 2, but thats as far back as I went in 2003 - as my stupid computer lagged the nuts out of me so did my interest in the game. I didn't even know that FoV and Zacard were Koreans, but luckily I know that both ToD and FoV were in 4K.
When I finally had a new ram chip stuffed into the CPU, the first thing I did was scout for replays, and I ended up at the WC3L (most prestigious league) webpage. The first thing I did was to look out for 4Kings, and there they are at the very top during season 8. They were either first or second place ever since, falling to third only once all the way till mid of 2007.
I remember clicking the refresh button a dozen times every minute to wait for updates on the scores during their clan wars, hoping that they'll make it through. I'll feel all high and triumphant when they do 5-0 or a 4-1 over the opposition, or simply any one of them doing an all kill in NGL. I remember feeling SIAN whenever they've lost a clan war so narrowly, but praying ever so fervently whenever anyone of the players was at 1-1. I remember how the team won the WC3L Season 9 finals using only 3 members - ToD, Grubby and Zeus, coming up from the loser bracket and winning 3-2, then 4-1, while they had to forfeit a point every match. I was jumping up and down then, hugging my monitor and cheering to bits ^^
The last few months were a little painful to look at, knowing that they're only a shade of their former selves with those 3 major players gone. There's no 4Kings to look at no more, ever. I'll never get to see the tag 4K in front of their names again in international competitions. There's no reason left to stay up and spam the refresh button hoping that my favourite team will pull through.
It was fun watching them play. The only upside is that the players didn't vanish, they're just in different teams for now. That's good enough a reason for me to continue supporting them.
I'll always be a fan of you guys.GOODLUCK.