With BW having been played from back in 1990s, it's no surprise that it's history runs quite deep. We, the viewers were gifted with such amazing and dedicated players and constant shifts in the metagame leading to what BW is today. To truly appreciate something as beautiful as BW, I believe we must take a look back to its roots. It's only by seeing how things progressed over the years can we gain a better appreciation for the game. With this blog series, I plan to look at the individual tournaments (OSL/MSL/GomTV) one at a time in chronological order to see metagame shifts and the rise of new strategies and notable players. I'm also hoping that I'll be able to compile a list of great games to share. So, without further ado, here's BW in all its glory:
1999 Tooniverse Progamer Korea Open: The first BW tournament that took place in 1999 was called Tooniverse Progamer Korea Open. It had 16 players face off in group stages till the end of Ro8. After the Ro8 was finished, the two top players in each group faced each other (1st against 1st and 2nd against 2nd) in bo3 series. By the end, two players emerged, TheBOy and Freemura who would play a bo5 to determine the winner. The prize was a hefty $45,000. At the time, race picking was just fine so both finalists would go on to choose races depending on their preferences leading us to watch both ZvZ and TvZ in the finals.
Love the look!
Maps: All of these were ladder maps released by Blizzard and were used in future tournaments: Ashrigo -> Siegable mineral lines, ramp positions or expo locations for imbalances Showdown -> lot of narrow chokes and ledges which can be abused Snowbound -> island map forcing a unique style of play (drops/mass air) Lost Temple -> famous map, "better" than the other three though still lacking
Metagame: Please note that since most of the vods are missing, these assumptions are made on the back of several games that I've watched. The finals were available giving us a glimpse of the TvZ and ZvZ metagame from back then. Suffice it to say, the layout of the maps played a great role in the metagame and players were rather passive in their games. Macro styles weren't in at the time either.
TvZ: Terrans felt the need to get most tech structures in their base before getting an expo. It's understandable when considering that scouting was nonexistent at the time so players played in the dark. The threat of lurkers or mutalisks is something of concern. Getting MnM with tanks/vessels seemed like the norm though lack of medics and bad control by Terran players (sieging tanks in sunken range, no hold position etc...) lead to less than optimal results. On island maps such as Snowbound, opening 2 port valkyrie seemed common to stop mutalisks and help with getting dropships though it also left the Terran vulnerable due to lack of ground units.
That's all on one base!
Zerg players were a bit better than Terran players when it comes to expoing. In general, they would one base till they start morphing a lair (with or without a hydra den) before grabbing an exp or two which they would sunken up. Lurkers were also used to help with defense. If left alone, you can be seeing guardians very soon! Island maps saw hydra drops used despite the high air count of terrans. Of note is the fact that since Terrans were passive, this allowed the Zerg to get away with an expo that was basically defenseless.
ZvZ: Players would stay on one base and go for pool then gas into lair adding another hatch soon after. They would focus on zerglings early on and might try for an attack or just defend while working on their mutalisks count. Due to lack of advanced micro techniques and poor micro, air battles came down to who had the higher mutalisk count and who did the better job of targeting with scourge. Expansions would be taken though depending on the outcome of a fight, it might be hard to hold. Sunkens were used to help defend. If behind, better hope hydras can help against the mass mutalisk style.
Mass hydras are best bet when behind.
PvZ: Zergs would go for pool first into expansion. Sunkens and zerglings were used for defense with more hatcheries added as the game progressed. They would eventually morph a lair and go for mutalisks with scourge support against corsairs so we see that muta/scourge combo being used in the matchup though scourge usage is correlated with corsair usage.
For protoss, depending on map, 2 gating into expansion 'seemed' common. Templar archives and stargates were added soon after as well. Cannons were also placed near or in mineral fields to help defend against any possible attacks. Corsairs were used but whether they were a staple or not is anyone's guess due to lack of games.
Notables: - Freemura ends up winning the tournaments in a close 3-2 series. - V-Gundam who would go on to create the gundam rush was eliminated in the group stages.
On September 06 2014 12:52 BigFan wrote: Due to poor micro, mutalisks battles came down to who had the more mutalisks and who did the better job of targeting with scourge.
> Due to lack of advanced micro techniques? Maybe? Sounds better and perhaps even more accurate..
Great blog with the analysis rather than just player focus, looking forward to more!
On September 06 2014 12:52 BigFan wrote: Due to poor micro, mutalisks battles came down to who had the more mutalisks and who did the better job of targeting with scourge.
> Due to lack of advanced micro techniques? Maybe? Sounds better and perhaps even more accurate..
Great blog with the analysis rather than just player focus, looking forward to more!
hmm not a bad change. I wanted to say something similar but more along the lines of non-existant muta micro but wasn't sure. Will look into changing it, thanks for suggestion. I'm hoping to do something similar to the rest though more detailed when it comes to the metagame due to having a ton of games to watch but it'll likely take a while between blogs seeing what I'm trying to juggle these days XD
Tbh I haven't seen the games in a while but maybe both lack of techniques and generally poor micro would be fitting :p certainly considering today's standards.. Yeah take your time make it awesome!
On September 06 2014 16:27 Stratos wrote: Tbh I haven't seen the games in a while but maybe both lack of techniques and generally poor micro would be fitting :p certainly considering today's standards.. Yeah take your time make it awesome!
ya, no worries. Let's just say, the games failed to impress haha. Going from 2014 BW to 1999 BW, it's just amazing at how much things changed. That's the plan, as awesome and informative as possible! :D
I love that they are playing in what appears to be a combination throne & park bench. Everything about those old tournaments rocks, especially the smoke machines and space suits. You can see the tables rock back and forth when the players move sometimes.
The play is great too, what little I've seen from around the 99-00 era is really hilarious.
It's incredible how much BW developed over the time of its existence, the amount of change is brilliant.
I hope that if you put further blogs out that you will eventually compile them all together to add to the BW General section as they may get lost in the Blogs later!
I've watched the available VODs so many times. Not exactly great games, but there's definitelyt something to them. As far as I know the only VODs around are for the finals, and for the first game in the tournament. In case anyone wants to watch:
On September 06 2014 12:52 BigFan wrote: Due to poor micro, mutalisks battles came down to who had the more mutalisks and who did the better job of targeting with scourge.
> Due to lack of advanced micro techniques? Maybe? Sounds better and perhaps even more accurate..
Well I thought it'd be cool to mention that there are advanced micro techniques that were only discovered years later, something I found quite intriguing as a newcomer to the scene ^^ that's a fact that would end up having huge impacts in the strategy development. Some strategies that are considered standard now weren't something that no one would ever think of or sth people weren't fast enough for, but something that just didn't work at all until someone figured out a tiny glitch that made it all possible.
That means we really have multiple editions of SC:BW to look back at, and in that mindset a lot more things we see start making sense. Maps will also play a crucial role in this.
Thanks for the comments and links. ya, funny place where they played but pretty cool overall. Wonder if the idea was to get people to start watching then hook them with the game or something.
On September 06 2014 23:55 DarkNetHunter wrote: I hope that if you put further blogs out that you will eventually compile them all together to add to the BW General section as they may get lost in the Blogs later!
Well, seeing as there's a ton of OSLs/MSLs etc... this blog series won't be done for years unless I watch a tournament in 2 days lol. My goal now is to just try and keep the blogs coming improving with each tournament. I can probably do something in the end but that's far off into the future for now
On September 07 2014 03:13 Stratos wrote: Well I thought it'd be cool to mention that there are advanced micro techniques that were only discovered years later, something I found quite intriguing as a newcomer to the scene ^^ that's a fact that would end up having huge impacts in the strategy development. Some strategies that are considered standard now weren't something that no one would ever think of or sth people weren't fast enough for, but something that just didn't work at all until someone figured out a tiny glitch that made it all possible.
That means we really have multiple editions of SC:BW to look back at, and in that mindset a lot more things we see start making sense. Maps will also play a crucial role in this.
Of course techniques were to be developed! Just look at that this game linked above, it was a 2 gate rush with 3 zealots and ~5 probes and he still charged at the zerg base after seeing a sunken and ~ 10 lings. Not to mention the mutalisks fearing the cannons (might be really strong in the past, I don't know), shitty cannon placement, not enough cannons... etc etcetc
It was like watching a D- or E game.
Even BigFan could easily trash them :D, maybe even take them on 2v1 haha
On September 07 2014 03:13 Stratos wrote: Well I thought it'd be cool to mention that there are advanced micro techniques that were only discovered years later, something I found quite intriguing as a newcomer to the scene ^^ that's a fact that would end up having huge impacts in the strategy development. Some strategies that are considered standard now weren't something that no one would ever think of or sth people weren't fast enough for, but something that just didn't work at all until someone figured out a tiny glitch that made it all possible.
That means we really have multiple editions of SC:BW to look back at, and in that mindset a lot more things we see start making sense. Maps will also play a crucial role in this.
Of course techniques were to be developed! Just look at that this game linked above, it was a 2 gate rush with 3 zealots and ~5 probes and he still charged at the zerg base after seeing a sunken and ~ 10 lings. Not to mention the mutalisks fearing the cannons (might be really strong in the past, I don't know), shitty cannon placement, not enough cannons... etc etcetc
Even BigFan could easily trash them :D, maybe even take them on 2v1 haha
JieXian, while I agree in general, I prefer to say that their gameplay was unrefined and their macro was almost non-existant to the point where most current players today even in the lower ranks would compete and beat them but that's with 15 years of experience and meta game changes lol.
EPT
TheBOy and ![[image loading]](http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/BigFan_2008/Opening_zpsa0c0e9e4.jpg)
Ashrigo -> Siegable mineral lines, ramp positions or expo locations for imbalances![[image loading]](http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/BigFan_2008/Game4-Gottahaveitall_zps574852a1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj236/BigFan_2008/ZvZ-Game1_zpsf455000e.jpg)
