A battleship grey sky looms overhead, it's a wet Saturday afternoon and I wonder somewhat anxiously why I'm not interested in the Electronic Sports World Cup Masters in Paris. The worlds eyes are fixed upon the Palais Omnisports yet as I shuffle in my seat I pretend to care, to take interest, I can't lie - I've lost my passion for eSports.

I look away from the window and towards my screen, the window to my electronic world. Browsing through my external hard drive I search for hope, a connection to remember why and how I became 'evan'. A voice rings in my head, “do you remember when we were younger?”. My eyes are closed and I breathe slowly. I want to tell you a story, I want to tell you where I came from, I want to tell you about Juha Porvali. He's an Enemy Territory' player, Abdisamad 'SpawN' Mohamed but better, he's Juha 'mystic' Porvali.

There's something almost inevitable about parodia magnifica. Hans Zimmer vs. Lambretta (Loxodonte mix) opens up the movie and I can already feel the hairs on my neck standing on end, my mouth is dry and I know something special is coming. I'm on the edge about to be swallowed up by something utterly awesome.

Juha comes from Helsinki. I remember the first time I saw him and like most I didn't actually see him, he is and was always out of reach. The pictures of a mousy haired Finnish boy, his flabby, dough-faced cheeks and beetroot red face were distinctively and deliberately unimpressive. I think it only added to the spell, it was his first and only LAN.

Best medic, best aim, best overall player and most over-rated. It seems he couldn't win everyone over, not that he ever tried. He's in the best team and his last team, GunSlingers, were voted the most popular ever. Skill doesn't get you to mystic's level though, there have always been challengers and the likes of Markus 'feruS' Stenmark, Jeroen 'teKoa' Augustinus, Sebastian 'butchji' Eisregen and David 'mAus' Herreman still pale in significance for anyone old enough to have seen mystic in his peak.

The movie concludes with mystic's frags and I begin to remember why and how I started out in eSports. I look gingerly for demos, I already know the matches I'm looking for because they're memories as real and vibrant as my first kiss, burnt into my conscious: parodia versus u96d, the Eurocup' XI final.

It's Supply Depot and after an awful first stage defense parodia lock down. feruS is in the east turret with a pistol waiting on axis respawn, he leans and spots mystic - it's the encounter the entire ETTV server has been waiting for, Jesse 'saintt' Leino nades' feruS in the face, killing the Swede and the hopes of 2000 others watching the match live.

saintt feeds mystic ammo packs at east, he gobbles it up and spits out allied bodies. The overbearing thump of body shots pound continuously through my headset, head shots sing like harpies: ting, ting, ting, another foe downed in three. He's a wall you just can't get past, you've to bring your team mates and break him down. Minutes pass and he still hasn't died, this is what three generations of talent have aspired towards, he's the star which even the top players look up to.

mystic doesn't speak, ever. He doesn't leave comments on websites and doesn't chat during matches. He could've just won the Eurocup' and you'd never know. No “gl, hf, gg”, nothing. He lets others speculate, debate and comment. He's above it. He doesn't even speak on ventrilo, apparently. His team mates never break the spell, it's as if there's some high skilled pact to keep mystic's status. A god in the virtual world, untouchable, unassailable, we the barbarian masses only watch on with bestial stupidity, clapping with dropped jaws as he butchers another defense.

Words without experience are meaningless; Juha Porvali from Finland is a nobody, mystic is a somebody. What's an alias worth? It reminds me where I come from, what I've achieved, what I believe in and shows me how far I've still to go.

Their skill make us stand to attention, their personality makes them memorable and it's their alias which makes them unforgettable. Whisper “mystic” to the right person and you'll get more than a smile in return...