Zak vs. Vinylrake: Most Underrated Myth Rivalry of All Time

[DBSeeker]

Myth is a game that has had a history of storied rivalries. They range from great team rivalries built on camaraderie and fellowship, such as Civil vs. BMF, to rivalries built on intense hatred and loathing - Myrk vs. Shaister.

However, when we talk about rivalries we always neglect to mention one great rivalry, which truly deserves to have a piece written about it. This is an epic saga. Worthy of massive posts about acrimony. This is a story rooted in erstwhile friendship that turned into scalding hatred. This is the story of Zak and Vinylrake.

We begin this story a decade ago, in the twilight of Myth. A budding mapmaker had no friends. He didn't enjoy playing in the ranked games so much, for they were full of mean people like Adrenaline yelling at him for screwing up. Thus, instead he turned to the unranked room with 20 people playing. There, he found joy. He found a community. He found the members of OoH. This man was Zak.

After Zak played many games with the members of OoH, the wise Frumius finally consented to put Zak's membership in OoH to a vote. He said that Zak embodied the ideals of OoH. Fair play. Friendliness to the community. A desire to contribute. A desire to be positive. All the members of OoH voted yes. Including the member of OoH most devoted to these ideals - Vinylrake. Thus, under these great auspices Zak was inducted into OoH. He found friends at last. He found a home. He found a community.

At first all was well with OoH. Vinylrake was pleased with Zak's contributions to the order. He saw in Zak, the next generation of greatness in Myth civility. Someone, whom with time, could become OoH's Dantski. Much fun was had. Many great games were played. There was even some Frumius land wighting involved.

Zak even supported Vinylrake's forays into the MWC forum world. Forays that saw Vinylrake earn the scorn of every Myth player on the competitive scene. His peevishness. His desire to belittle everyone on the boards. His burning hatred of the ideals that the Myth competitive scene have fostered since the beginning of time. His need to argue maps and rules even when the tournament administrators ruled against him. During these tough times, Zak still enjoyed OoH. Zak supported Vinylrake.

However, all of this fun couldn't last forever. While the closed OoH games remained a haven of civility for Myth, the world outside continued to rage with pain. Players such as Kirk & god cops rendered the ranked rooms a wasteland of hostility & rage. Games were plagued by host dropping. Meanwhile, the forums were under assault by libertarians like Seeker, Grim & TB. While they did nothing wrong against the community, their philosophy of free dialogue was an affront to the child friendly space that Mariusnet wanted to create for a game that had a 17+ ESRB rating. This dual assault upon their space greatly upset Mariusnet. They needed an enforcer to step in and ensure that the rules were stringently enforced.

They turned to a new administrator named Om. Om began to ravage the servers of Marius, banning players left & right. Om suspended the posting privileges of those who would speak out against these grave injustices. Guilt was not necessary. In turn, these forces turned to the MWC boards to bear witness to their pain. On these boards, many players listened.

This included a few players from OoH, including Frumius who urged others to speak out against Om. Zak, seeking to follow in Frumius' footsteps joined the chorus. He started talking to Myth's strongest free speech advocates. TB became his mentor, replacing Frumius. Frumius was happy about this. He felt TB would be a positive role model for Zak. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Soon afterwards, it was revealed that Vinylrake was Om. Many in the community weren't surprised by this, but one person was. That person was Zak. This discovery broke Zak utterly. He went to talk with Vinylrake about this revelation. What went on between those two will never be known to outside observers. The end result though, was that Zak was banned by Om.

Eventually, Zak came back to Myth. However, he was a changed man. He renounced OoH. He renounced fair play. He renounced the community OoH that he felt betrayed him. Thus, Zak turned to destruction with massive dummying. He sought to upend tournaments. Destroy bonds between fathers & sons.

Occasionally Zak would feel a pang of guilt, and try to make it up to OoH. However, vinylrake was there to ensure that Zak would never be welcomed back. Never forgiven. Always hated.

Zak, the champion of OoH, became that which they despise the most. There is only one person to blame for this - vinylrake. There is only one person who refuses to take this mantle of blame - vinylrake.

To this day, they are still mortal enemies.

Fin.

Author's Hot Take: That rivalry story had everything you could need. It had love. It had a positive start. It had a shocking betrayal. It ended in misery. It shows the fair amount of history both participants have within this rivalry.

Disagree? Feel free to comment below.

[wwo]

Many great games were pleased.

Public school?

[DBSeeker]

Many great games were pleased.

Public school?

I desire legitimate commentary. Not grammar nazi snark becoming of Vinylrake.

Be a better human, wwo!

[Zak]

the story of zak is far longer and tragic than this

[sharkdrivingabus]

I laughed, I cried, I got a semi a few times.

Good story seeker. 5/7 nerd faces.

[Wank]

Today, we'll hear the riveting story of how Limp started as a FR raid whore then moved on to mui and eventual m2sbr stardom. Those stories and Andy Rooney, tonight on 60 minutes.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2_1ZZU4HUo[/youtube]

[Myrk]

Shaister is one of a handful of people who I've never had an argument with, I guess that means we are mortal enemies?

[Zak]

Relevant threads:

http://tain.totalcodex.net/forum/viewto ... it=Nicksly

This one is a zak vs myrk rivalry: http://forum.gateofstorms.net/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=718