For those who haven’t, you should read this Runner interview from Andrew.
In it, Runner talks about his team and what he wants to do. During his time as a player, I paralleled his OGN APEX Season 2 run to Nestea’s first GSL championship run. Both were old timers, both still had that crazy aspiration to be pros, and both made it to the finals. But he has since stepped back and now manages RunAway, and this is where the Choya parallel sets in.
For those who don’t know, Choya went down a similar path as Runner in the early StarCraft 2 days. He was a pro player, someone who made it to a semifinal early on. At the same time, he made himself the manager, coach and owner of fou — he even got a gaming house. The two most notable players to come from his team were Leenock and Gumiho. Unlike Runner, he was incredibly young, and this was when streaming had just started, so few people understood what it took to be a streamer or how profitable it could be, especially in Korea. Because of that, Choya had to fund the gaming house out of pocket in his own belief that the industry could go somewhere one day. He eventually attracted the interest of a foreign team called FXO. They held on for a few years, before FXO pulled out. At that point, Choya was considering to pay out of pocket again, but his players wouldn’t let him. And thus ended the Choya saga. Similar to Runner, Choya was a good coach. Not so much in terms of raising up players, but rather strategizing for team leagues. He was among the best in SC2’s history.
Runner, on the other hand, has just started his path and is already a step above. He understands the streaming market as that is where he comes from and has already started to build that up for the team. At the same time, he seems to have a better grasp of how the scene works.
Just thought it was an interesting parallel for those who are following Runner’s career in Overwatch.