For the past couple of months, Flash has been dominating the scene in ways I didn't think possible. Breaking various records, going on massive streaks, and demonstrating little to no weaknesses in any of his match-ups. He had the elusive aura of invincibility, and the constant hype from the commentators only bolstered this image, with repeated phrases like "Flash is beyond human" and "How can you hope to de-throne a god?"
And I bought into it. There was a point where I thought that Flash had "solved" the game in a way that even the bonjwas before him hadn't been able to. For a while, I thought "Okay, here's a guy who's got it all figured out. Where do we go from here? How can you improve upon perfection?"
In my opinion, Jaedong was the better player during his Nate MSL run... but that was then, this is now. I caught glimpses of Flash's mortality in his recent proleague games against Effort and Snow (particularly the latter), but I chalked it up to circumstance. At that point, a few stray games weren't enough to alter my perspective in a significant way. I went into today's OSL final series expecting a one-sided rapefest with a 3-1 final score at best.
This was an interesting series, not only because Flash lost, but because for the first time in months, Flash seemed just like any other player in the pro scene. I didn't feel the aura around him. His mental fortitude was not unshakable. Mistakes were made, and costly errors in judgment stacked the games against his favor. I watched Flash pave a path to transcendence only to fall from grace into the bounds of mortality. I witnessed Flash bleed like any other progamer would, something I thought was uncharacteristic of a player of his mastery and skill.
If Flash could've taken any of these games into a mid-to-late management game, his superior mechanics would've probably seen him through. That's hardly the point. While there were hints of his usual brilliance (the maphack-esque scans come to mind), his overall game sense was off. In fact, "off" is probably the most fitting word for his performance today; there was something in his gameplay that seemed awfully "off". He may be one of the best, if not the best, player in the pro scene right now, but if this series is indicative of anything, it's that he's certainly not "beyond human"; he makes human mistakes, and there are glaring weaknesses in his play that can be exploited for full effect.
As odd as it may sound, this series made me see Flash in a different light. It certainly makes the upcoming MSL event a lot more interesting, I think.
On May 23 2010 02:22 The6357 wrote: god i don't know who i wish to win...i hate both jeadong and flash...but since flash is doing much better than JD lately..i hope flash would lose
Yeah, and even in the later games there wasn't a lot I saw that Flash did outright wrong, as in mistakes. Like, game 5, Effort earned himself a whole lot of useless extra gas and later timings just to fool Flash, and it worked like a charm.
On May 23 2010 02:22 The6357 wrote: god i don't know who i wish to win...i hate both jeadong and flash...but since flash is doing much better than JD lately..i hope flash would lose
On May 23 2010 02:45 Mobius wrote: umm.. did you not watch game1 and 2 or something? I really dont think you did.
Yeah, watched the whole thing from beginning to end... monitor problems and all. Don't get me wrong, Flash played brilliantly in those games, which is something we've come to expect of him. I'm mainly focusing on aspects of his play that we WOULDN'T normally expect from a player of his caliber. Obviously, something went wrong, because Flash completely fell apart and proceeded to log three consecutive losses afterwards.
On May 23 2010 02:48 Turbovolver wrote: Yeah, and even in the later games there wasn't a lot I saw that Flash did outright wrong, as in mistakes. Like, game 5, Effort earned himself a whole lot of useless extra gas and later timings just to fool Flash, and it worked like a charm.
Well, that's just it, isn't it? Effort decided to pull a fast one, and Flash took the bait. In game 3, this caused Flash to move out prematurely. In game 4, he risked a proxy barracks, which Effort was fully ready for. In game 5, he opted for a greedy build, but failed to account for early aggression. I would think most or all of these situations were avoidable.
In game 5 he could have leave the marines in the bunker and deal with 3 zerlings in his main with the next round of marines... he was on a 14cc advantage...
It's pretty clear that Flash's dominance at least in TvZ has come to an end, if it didn't with the last MSL finals already. It's no accident that many of his games recently (even those he won) have looked really uncomfortable; his opponents have figured out the right counters. Effort executed it beautifully.
You make some good points, although to be honest I didn't ever see him as invincible or that he figured out that game. Thats happened before only for the players to fall. Of course not as dominating as Flash was/is but at the time it seemed unreal just like Flash's run. Although Flash shouldn't be doubted just because of that series. As long as he doesn't let it get to him and fall hard, he will be a better player because of it. Hes still the ultimate weapon and the best terran player right now.
On May 23 2010 02:22 The6357 wrote: god i don't know who i wish to win...i hate both jeadong and flash...but since flash is doing much better than JD lately..i hope flash would lose
Starcraft Myth #1: Great players can just magically start playing bad.
Origin: People see a great player try a cute build, and they just get pummeled by it, or see them beaten by cheese. They think; "why did he play so stupidly?"
Fact: Great players lose games for many reasons, and usually those reason totally divorced from their actual skill. If a player is losing, it's usually not because their apm has dropped off precipitously, or that their multi-tasking has gone to pot. It's usually because they're (A) being read by their opponent, or (B) made a mistake early game that you didn't notice, and have suffered accordingly.
Example: Fantasy is an excellent example of a player whom the community mistakenly believes has terrible TvZ. In fact, while Fantasy's bio control is average, his understanding of TvZ is pretty insane. When fantasy tries a cute build and loses, it's not necessarily because the build sucked, or the execution sucked, but because the opponent may have luckily countered it, or inferred fantasy's intentions correctly. Watch fantasy's TvZ BoX's. He always plays much better than he does in random proleague matches.
EffOrt lost a few games of ZvP back in the fall, which were somewhat unexpected. These losses precipitated his bigger slump. Why did he lose? It's because players (JangBi and free, if I remember) saw that on certain maps, EffOrt was vulnerable to sair/dt. Similarly, EffOrt went 12 hatch a billion times last summer, and so when Calm 9pooled every game and beat him 3-0, it wasn't because the build sucked, or because EffOrt had started sucking at ZvZ. Calm just read him.
Micro mistakes, forgotten upgrades, building placement gaffes ... these are actual mistakes that justify saying a player is bad. When a Woongjin Terran, a Hwaseung Protoss, an SKT zerg, or great play, you can say that they're playing "bad".
***
In the OSL finals, Flash played an excellent Game 1.5, and then an even better Game 2. So where did all of that go in Game 3? Absolutely nowhere. EffOrt played well Game 1, and was outplayed in Games 1.5 and 2. In Game 3, he executed well, and fooled Flash into moving out.
Game 3 was crucial, because after Game 3, EffOrt had the confidence to do something like send his first overlord directly at Flash's BBS. Did Flash somehow lose his ability in Game 4? Not at all. But EffOrt had a huge BO advantage, and he defended perfectly. Game 5? Game 5, I'll concede that Flash played poorly. He didn't block a very predictable zergling runby. Which is to say that he did block it initially, but not well enough. Chalk it up to his mental state.
But did Flash suddenly start playing poorly starting Game 3? Of course not. Both players were extremely well prepared, and it showed. EffOrt just won the mindgames, and thus, the series.
It'd be wonderful if all Flash had to do was play safe, and he'd win every game with his superior mechanics except: 1) There are a few players, EffOrt being one of them who can match Flash's mechanics. 2) Safe play can be exploited if you know it's coming.
When Flash cheeses, or plays mech, it's not because he's bored, it's because these games set up the times when he plays a predictable one rax into expo.
Compared to the MSL ZvZ semifinal which was absolutely beautiful beautiful beautiful, this match seemed awfly rofley. Game 1 was a good play by flash, game two was very iffy defense by Effort, game 3 was a rofl-fest, game 4 was a rofl-fest and game 5 was a rofl-fest. Play safe flash! :p And good job Effort for dethroning a king!
I knew when he lost that people would make a bigger deal about it than it actually is. Hey, Flash has made 4 final appearances in 2 seasons. He's allowed to lose a few games. He's even allowed to lose a series, as ridiculous as that sounds! Even Boxer, Nada, Savior and Oov were allowed to lose games and even series in their prime
I think the nature of the match-up came into play here. Terran is reliant on composure and tough defence, especially early game. Although Flash is one of the best players of all time he's not unshakable. If you can catch him off guard or trick him then you can unsettle his nerve slightly, that's what happened here. In Game 3 Flash made an assumption about how many Zerglings Effort had. He made just a slight error and it shook his confidence. To his great credit once Effort had made Flash off balance he maintained the pressure and took the win.
effort luckboxed like none other. Flash was careless for two seconds in game three at a time where it shouldn't have even mattered and he wouldn't normally have had to have been careful which lost him the game. Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
Then Flash basically threw that next game, trying to cheese with that stupid BBS. It was over from the start. There was nothing interesting about that game, just effort's extraordinary luck in sending his overlord to the cross position.
The last game saw effort abusing the fact that flash would most definitely play safe and standard in the last set. It was a great move that worked out for him.
There was nothing particularly special about this series. The first two sets showed just how great Flash is, the third and fourth showed how a bit of bad luck can completely screw over even the best player in the world, and the fifth set showed once again that Flash can be pretty predictable.
On May 23 2010 06:24 mmp wrote: Flash was supposed to own Effort, get his golden mouse, then lose to JDong again.
His dreams of a golden mouse and double-league victory may never be attained, all that is left to earn is revenge.
[blink]>REVENGE>[/blink] (what, no blink tags? what is this, the dark ages?)
Cheesy blink tags were a part of the dark ages.
Wrong, they were a part of the Internet's Middle Ages. Then the Enlightenment came and the W3C deprecated them, but they're still displayed in most browsers.
Okay, my theory is that Flash gulped down an energy drink before the fight, but because of the hardware problems and the delay resultying from it, the energy drink didn't last long enough and theresfore he crashed in the last few games.
On May 23 2010 06:23 PH wrote: effort luckboxed like none other. Flash was careless for two seconds in game three at a time where it shouldn't have even mattered and he wouldn't normally have had to have been careful which lost him the game. Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
Then Flash basically threw that next game, trying to cheese with that stupid BBS. It was over from the start. There was nothing interesting about that game, just effort's extraordinary luck in sending his overlord to the cross position.
The last game saw effort abusing the fact that flash would most definitely play safe and standard in the last set. It was a great move that worked out for him.
There was nothing particularly special about this series. The first two sets showed just how great Flash is, the third and fourth showed how a bit of bad luck can completely screw over even the best player in the world, and the fifth set showed once again that Flash can be pretty predictable.
On May 23 2010 06:23 PH wrote: effort luckboxed like none other. Flash was careless for two seconds in game three at a time where it shouldn't have even mattered and he wouldn't normally have had to have been careful which lost him the game. Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
Then Flash basically threw that next game, trying to cheese with that stupid BBS. It was over from the start. There was nothing interesting about that game, just effort's extraordinary luck in sending his overlord to the cross position.
The last game saw effort abusing the fact that flash would most definitely play safe and standard in the last set. It was a great move that worked out for him.
There was nothing particularly special about this series. The first two sets showed just how great Flash is, the third and fourth showed how a bit of bad luck can completely screw over even the best player in the world, and the fifth set showed once again that Flash can be pretty predictable.
Yeah I think Flash is easily the better player and it's true that game 1 and 2 impressed me more in the solidness of the victories, but you have to hand it to effort, he played smart and he played well. I think saying he 'got lucky' from sending an overlord to scout for cheese is a bit rich. And Flash cheesing and it going wrong is hardly a mistake. It didn't work - he lost. If he'd won he'd be being praised for it ;p. I wouldn't take away Flash's awesome scans by putting them down to luck and I don't think Effort's intuitive and superior play in games 3-5 should be discounted lightly as luck either.
Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
You actually believe that? Like seriously? "Oops built too many lings, I'll just keep them a small distance away from the number of lings a zerg usually would have"
This is why I hate when people get so caught up in player hype. I know as a fan that's easy to do, but you have to stay in tune with reality. Flash has never once been "beyond bonjwa" and when I take a look at his individual league results, I've always seen "bonjwa hopeful" rather than "transcendent beyond our four past bonjwas."
What Flash is doing is very interesting. He's dispelling a myth.
In terms of mechanics, practice partners have been getting closer and closer and closer to the S-class players for years. So when you get down to it, the skill gap has been shrinking. But something else has been counter-balancing this: metagame. This game is getting better and better understood all the time. Once upon a time, it was relatively easy even for S-class players to succumb to unknown strategies. Hell, Anytime's OSL run in SO1 was proof of that. But that ability to do that has been shrinking. Build orders get more and more and more refined so that the better player is more and more and more guaranteed to win.
Flash's fundamentals are absurd. This reminds me of watching NaDa back in like 2001/2002. That's why Flash's win percentages are so outrageously high. People often compare Flash to Oov, but actually that comparison is totally wrong. Oov's fundamentals never were the best (his strengths were in other areas), but that's where Flash excels. That's not to say that Flash is bad at the other stuff (he isn't), but that he's so good because he can get more out of the same build order and the same strategy than anybody else. He'll have a bigger army because he's able to defend against the muta harass just slightly better, spending just slightly less on turrets. That kind of thing. That's a huge, huge part of what we call "skill."
But don't confuse perfect fundamentals with perfection itself. It's silly to get disappointed because of "OMG HE LOST!" As far as I'm concerned, the OSL/MSL finals (especially the MSL finals against rival Jaedong) are the most important stroke in securing bonjwahood. Flash has not yet received coronation, but still may yet. Only it will be slightly more difficult to achieve than before.
On May 23 2010 06:23 PH wrote: effort luckboxed like none other. Flash was careless for two seconds in game three at a time where it shouldn't have even mattered and he wouldn't normally have had to have been careful which lost him the game. Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
Then Flash basically threw that next game, trying to cheese with that stupid BBS. It was over from the start. There was nothing interesting about that game, just effort's extraordinary luck in sending his overlord to the cross position.
The last game saw effort abusing the fact that flash would most definitely play safe and standard in the last set. It was a great move that worked out for him.
There was nothing particularly special about this series. The first two sets showed just how great Flash is, the third and fourth showed how a bit of bad luck can completely screw over even the best player in the world, and the fifth set showed once again that Flash can be pretty predictable.
game 3: that was a perfect example of what Day9 calss a potential advantage.Effort got his lings there so that if Flash moved he would win. it was perfectly played by effort and poorly done by FlaSh. You can't say Effort got lucky, you can say FlaSh did not play smart instead.Effort did not happen to be at the right place, Effort was at the right place in a very calculated manner.
Game 4: Again you know when Day9 says that it is smart play to send your overlord in the middle of the map to check proxies and then send it to a main. That's what Effort did. he did not happen to be lucky and scout cross positions. Again it was a very calculated move.(he even said so in interview if you don't believe me)
Game 5: well very well played by effort.
Effort did not get lucky in these finals they were perfectly calculated wins... and as someone said above, Flash is not to be blamed for cheesing. he's trying to not be predictable and that's perfectly fine, sadly it did not work out but we ewould be calling him a baller and a genius if it had worked.
Flash played insane during games 1 and 2. Effort beat him fair and square in game 3. But then Flash seemed to have a brain malfunction or something and threw away the last 2 games with terrible builds.
On May 23 2010 06:23 PH wrote: effort luckboxed like none other. Flash was careless for two seconds in game three at a time where it shouldn't have even mattered and he wouldn't normally have had to have been careful which lost him the game. Effort's lings just happened to be at the right place.
Then Flash basically threw that next game, trying to cheese with that stupid BBS. It was over from the start. There was nothing interesting about that game, just effort's extraordinary luck in sending his overlord to the cross position.
The last game saw effort abusing the fact that flash would most definitely play safe and standard in the last set. It was a great move that worked out for him.
There was nothing particularly special about this series. The first two sets showed just how great Flash is, the third and fourth showed how a bit of bad luck can completely screw over even the best player in the world, and the fifth set showed once again that Flash can be pretty predictable.
Luck? Maybe a bit. But not all that you're talking about. Hmm dude you should read the interview.
Effort is no pushover.... He was afterall the one who shall not be named's + Show Spoiler +
Voldemort
true heir first and foremost. The second most mechanically gifted player to come on to the scene, second only to Jaedong. He went on an Oov like ZvT tear in 2009 that gave us a glimpse of what he was capable of. This wasn't no kwanro that flash was facing in the finals.
It doesn't help at all that flash has to face off against the other case for GOAT.Undoubtedly the greatest series player in history. With all that said, flash has been hovering around 2400 ELO on BAD days.... Not even Jaedong or Bisu on their very best streaks, during the crest of their respective eras could even come close to BREAKING 2400. And....lastly, flash is still only in his 3rd year as a progammer. JD in his 4th. Progammers and bonjwas typically peak at years 3 and 4.
The only thing stopping flash from attaining a platinum badge and mouse in the next two years is the other one. After flash's unprecedented dominance these past six months, I think Jaedong will be as hungry as ever. He definitely wants as stab at getting back to back dual finals
EPT
