EPTThis was the first pro SC match I'd gone to live. The turnout is the hardest thing to really understand. Baseball games happen all the time, but they draw a respectable crowd, even in Korea. The crowd today - for LeeSsangRok finals - was numerically less than the average baseball game (here you inject yourself with "actually it's a lot of people for just watching two guys play a video game! where else in the world-"). I'm glad I've never been to a regular Proleague match because the measly crowds there are nothing. I imagine I'd feel embarrassment for the players that they have to play in those tiny studios.
However, Korean enthusiasm is ubiquitous in any of these sporting events. If you go to a baseball game or the MSL finals, you have to cheer for someone. There is no way to go there and be a disinterested spectator. Even if you respect and adore both players, you'll eventually get sucked into either the white colors on one side cheering for one party or the orange colors on the other side cheering for the other guy.
I picked Jaedong because to me he's the guy who ought to win. Let me explain with historical examples so you don't chew me out for using a truism. I would have cheered in his place for Boxer over iloveoov, for YellOw over iloveoov, for sAviOr over Bisu, for H.O.T-Forever over Sync. In other words I would have cheered for Jaedong because he's older on the scene and because he's supposed to be the champion. He's also the defender because Flash won last time so it's sort of his turn. I'd rather not cheer for the guy who is closer to flavor of the month.
The venue was great. You probably saw the pyro effects on the stream, but the biggest thing that doesn't translate on the internet is the volume. Also, it's cool once you process that your heroes are actually in the little booths, and it brings them down to earth. This is also part of why you have to cheer for someone.
I got to the Samsan Gym 1 game late. I saw and heard that Flash had won the first game. This made my heart sink and jump to thoughts of 3-0 in Hana Daetoo MSL. In hindsight, I should have remembered that Jaedong is allowed, even encouraged, to drop the first game. Watching the replay I saw that it appeared to have been a rape. Jaedong went for hydralisks when it looked like Flash was going for a mech build, but he went biomech (importantly I don't think it was in the iloveoov style or fantasy style, but rather in the Flash goliath->bionic way without valkyries or usually tanks - but I haven't actually seen the game yet). Marines kill hydralisks and Jaedong died.
Set 2 was the first game I actually saw. Before the game, Jaedong closed his eyes, as though to clear his mind, as he and some other players do from time to time. This doesn't actually help. I think he did this before 3set of Hana Daetoo (the Match Point game where Jaedong failed a 3hatch hydra bust and then died). Clearing your mind is the opposite of what you want when you lose the first set. You need the transcendent super-focus without sweating or nerves that boosts your competence. The game was on Odd-Eye, which in Hana Daetoo was the game (I believe) where Flash went valkonic and killed Jaedong's 3rd with ease. This time he did a 4factory goliath build. I think the players had opened up 14cc and 3hatch before pool and Jaedong was going for hydras before mutas. He poked into Flash's wall and killed a depot but this only gave Flash more room to bust out with the goliath clump he was massing from his 4 factories. Jaedong massed a bunch of hydralisks and I think the +1 spines attack upgrade finished. Flash went for Jaedong's 3rd and while he tried to get 2 sunkens up and sandwich Flash, he didn't have enough to wipe out Flash's army, and he could barely even delay him. He lost a lot of hydras and retreated, but his third died and Flash had tanks on the way. GG.
Set 3 could have gone either way. I assume every Flash fan wanted a quick 3-0 like Hana Daetoo, but this time Jaedong didn't close his eyes to clear his mind. His face had the focus of the Tyrant. Flash didn't 14cc, but after scouting Jaedong's 12hatch, he build his CC off of no marines. Flash at the bottom left went for a standard 9min push, probably because of both the need for series build variance and the fact that Fighting Spirit is the map to go bio on. Jaedong at the top left went for a standard 3hatch muta 3gas hive. First, he took the bottom right main as his third, but after Flash killed it before it could morph, JD took the top right main behind lurkers. Barely behind lurkers. He tried to stop-lurker Flash with great intel but Flash went around using his intuition. By the time Flash had collected his tanks and science vessel and pushed to JD's main, JD already had defilers waiting and easily pushed back Flash with some swarms. This put Flash in the unfortunate situation where all you do is macro off of 2base and try to use micro and aggression against a Z with nydus canals and defense everywhere. Later Flash tried to bust up the top right main but Jaedong killed his whole army with defiler control reminiscent of GGPlay. This looked inconsequential after Flash massed a new army having accrued an impressive vessel fleet, but then we saw Jaedong had a reserve of about a control group of scourge and the plague research to deal with vessels. Flash busted top right again with erasers and kept all his vessels alive while killing JD's scourge mass with marines. This looked very bad, but JD had gotten some ultras out. Then he had 8-10 ultras out. Flash lost control of 6 o'clock to a couple of lurkers and the remnants of JD's original muta flock. Jaedong's side of the crowd roared for his ultras. Flash's side roared when he saved his floating 3rd CC from deep red health with one repairing SCV. Flash lost some vessels and I don't really remember anything in the right order, but everyone was amazed at the 3 dropships. It takes ingenuity and foresight to send 3 dropships to your enemy's base. However, Jaedong's hive was at his natural and with some good defense and plagues, all JD lost was a spawning pool. Flash was wrecked.
Set 4 is traditionally (see BoxeR vs iloveoov, NaDa vs JangBi, et al.) the set when someone prepares a build. This is because if you're down 1-2 in set 4, you automatically have a practiced build to turn to and regain control of the series. However, if you're up 2-1, you have a build that you prepared beforehand for an easy win. Evidently Flash had some sort of build prepared (taken from his interview), but he died before he could use it. He spawned at 12 on Triathlon and tried to wall at his natural, but this means that marines get spit out on the wrong side of the barracks. He remedied this with a special wall involving 2 supply depots and a command center (T1 terrans also have some ingenious command center walls), but a Jaedong drone delayed the second supply depot for long enough that by the time JD's zerglings got to the wall, they could kill all the SCVs before they finished the depot. And you can't repair a depot before it's finished, so Flash's wall was fucked. He ended up defending the first few zerglings, but then he lifted his buildings because the barracks was blocking where the natural CC should be and Jaedong "made extra zerglings" bringing a quick GG from Flash. This game reminded me of Boxer and YellOw on Fighting Spirit. A traditionally "dishonest" Terran usurped by some zerglings.
Set 5, finally we get one! Jaedong opens with 2hatch muta into 4base hive, something of a Zerg trend on Polaris Rhapsody. You use the 2hatch muta for early map control and then defend 9min push with extra lurkers/Lair tech (because the third is 2gas, you get 4gas) and enter hive tech looking pretty unstoppable. Flash had an answer in the 4rax build. You just make marines and kill the Zerg. The control battles were tense, but ranged Flashrines ended up dominating Donglisks and Jaedong's 3rd gas died. This is very bad because you need gas to spam infinite lurkers to defend 4 bases. He got it back up and running and put 2 hatcheries at his mineral only to start outmacroing Flash, but Flash had added barracks and was adding tech while pressuring everywhere with marines. At one point Flash was storming Jaedong's natural and mineral only with marines and his side of the crowd exploded. Then Jaedong scraped some units together and killed both attacking groups, and his side of the crowd exploded. However, Jaedong exploded in the end... as it were. He never got enough lurkers out. You'd think someone with 400+ APM could save some gas by not making mutalisks that get rallied over a control group of marines and die. Similarly, although Flash was going for 4rax (aggressive), he made a bunker (defensive) behind his ling-tight wall. I can't remember how much vision he had so I guess it was a precaution against 2hatch lurker. Nobody's perfect.
Unlike the average PL game, there are some small concessions. Just stuff like kimbap and potato chips. Be warned, their potato chips can be cooked in fish oil. Pictures soon.
Edit: Pictures:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NK239.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zYgwT.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8H5kU.jpg)
