EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/kSeKf7T.png)
Teamliquid’s ‘Best games of 2013’ thread marks the conclusion of a great year of starcraft. No doubt once we’re well underway into 2014, on a rainy day with no other starcraft tournaments to watch, a few of us liquidians will slowly make our way through a 40 game long list and say to ourselves ‘I was there.’
Well maybe not that dramatic, but definitely a fitting farewell gift from the 2013 starcraft community to the average viewer.
Now, all the games on that list deserve to be there. I’m not going to say “well according to the standard starcraft rating metric of day[9] February 2013 Innovation vs Taeja is objectively less exciting than Taeja vs Rain,” while I slowly push thick glasses up my nose (that is the stereotype isn’t it?).
That being said I do want to make my own suggestions of great games of 2013. And since the wonderful writers of TL have done numbers 1 through 40, I’ll have to start at 42.
42.
It’s unfortunate that this particular game happened on a teamleague qualifier on the back alleys of a community stream, circumstances which gave it a much lower viewership than this quality of play deserves.
It was Empire.Happy up against iG.Macsed on Yeonsu. Empire.Happy’s TvP is statistically his best matchup after perfecting and utilizing only a single build in the matchup. Macsed on the other hand is a connoisseur of a Phoenix Colossi PvT style, an aspect of play indigenous to the iG protoss’ line-up.
Add in the fact that these were two of the best foreigners having both made it to the round of 8 in their respective WCS regions before this game happened.
The intitial fourteen minutes played out in a ‘nice’ way as Happy ceaselessly harassed the outer edges of the protoss base while Macsed swatted away Happy’s aggression with very little damage.
But at 14 minutes the game really started. A double drop of Happy’s would snipe Macsed’s natural nexus. Macsed with the superior composition of Phoneix Colossi would walk across the map to take out Happy’s infrastructure while his own base crumpled to pieces.
Macsed had 2 thousand minerals, 4 probes and the stronger army. Happy had no SCVs, 100 minerals, 2 floating orbital commands and the more mobile army.
They’d both establish bases once again.
And then they’d base trade for the second time.
This is a game that hangs on a delicate balance; one less observer, one more supply depot or a single phoenix could all cut the lifelines of either player, making this game a must watch for 2013.
41. (game should start at 38:10)
Here is a game that was no doubt considered for the top 40 list. It has all the right ingredients; two top tier Koreans, constant action, a low economy late game and the chance of a comeback.
It features Flash and Curious in a mech TvZ at IEM New York. Flash, known as the ‘God’ of Brood War, has achieved a high level of success in HotS making it to a MLG grand final as well as achieving the most wins in last season’s Proleague.
Curious qualified for IEM NY on the back of beating Innovation at his TvZ peak. The last time a zerg had beat Innovation people were predicting a new era of DRG, and before that Soulkey had won a GSL final.
So why didn’t it make this year’s top 40?
Well it’s probably because the end just feels…dirty. Here was a game where both players are holding on by their fingertips for 40 minutes straight yet one particular unit would be able to slowly pick off the opponents units in a way that made the final minutes frustrating and the conclusion inevitable, albeit well deserved.
But take it for all it is, you really can’t miss this one.
Bonus 2012 game:
You might say ‘Don’t you feel like we’ve seen enough great Gumiho games?’
‘No. I really don’t.’
Here’s a TvT between Gumiho and Bomber down in Code A. It’s mech vs mech with skirmishes of all scales happening constantly. It was one of the great games that missed out on the 2012 list and so there's a good chance that you haven't seen it.
In the words of Wolf: “That was one of the best TvT’s I have ever seen! This TvT will go down in history, at least for me.”
