EPTOn March 01 2009 13:09 Fzero wrote:
Since I've been watching so many games on these maps, I thought I'd offer a little bit of background before this thing kicks off:
First of all we need to cover the fact that Andromeda is being played twice (1 + 5). What does this mean? Well, not much for ZvP. The only advantage I can see here is that the map features many harass positions and horrible defensive positions for P. Plus and minus means balance. Jaedong has shown an inability to finish off late game opponents on Andromeda. Bisu could steal this game, honestly. Everyone screaming that this will be 3-0 JD are just wrong. Bisu will either win this game or Medusa or both.
Game 2 is interesting as well. Jaedong showed very strong play on Destination before against Bisu with a hydra/muta combo from a solid uphill 3 base turtle style into a punishing denial of a 3rd for Bisu as his army moved out from the main. Bisu must have strong harassment to win this map, but I don't like his style on this map. His third expansion is far too hard to defend from mid game zerg and his timing attack fails against the 3rd JD is sure to take early. Bisu could surprise JD by not going 14 nex to make this interesting, but I think JD takes this one.
Game 3 is Medusa. The only way I see Bisu losing this game is if Jaedong somehow gets on 5 bases without Bisu noticing the fifth and then manages to contain Bisu in his main from that. This map is basically crafted for Bisu's style. The only time Bisu ever looked lost on this map was against by.hero who continually exploited a hydra drop strategy which kept Bisu from moving out and stalling that 5th expansion.
Game 4 is Colosseum II which grossly favors the macro player. In this match, though -- I don't find either player to be particularly macro focused. I think Bisu will stall at 2 bases while JD takes 3 and attempt a timing push based on JD's high drone count. If his attack suceeds, he'll win. If JD gets his mutas out in time to pick off HT as they cross the middle, I think he can defend it. If Bisu loses this map the series is over in my opinion.
Whether it is 3-1 JD or 2-2 at this point does not really matter, in a fifth game on Andromeda I don't think Bisu has the same mind strength as Jaedong to prevail. The only way Bisu takes a fifth game here is in a 50 minute slugfest where Jaedong sweats himself out of form a la FBH game.
My prediction: 3-1 JD with Bisu's win on Medusa as I've stated before.
Since I've been watching so many games on these maps, I thought I'd offer a little bit of background before this thing kicks off:
First of all we need to cover the fact that Andromeda is being played twice (1 + 5). What does this mean? Well, not much for ZvP. The only advantage I can see here is that the map features many harass positions and horrible defensive positions for P. Plus and minus means balance. Jaedong has shown an inability to finish off late game opponents on Andromeda. Bisu could steal this game, honestly. Everyone screaming that this will be 3-0 JD are just wrong. Bisu will either win this game or Medusa or both.
Game 2 is interesting as well. Jaedong showed very strong play on Destination before against Bisu with a hydra/muta combo from a solid uphill 3 base turtle style into a punishing denial of a 3rd for Bisu as his army moved out from the main. Bisu must have strong harassment to win this map, but I don't like his style on this map. His third expansion is far too hard to defend from mid game zerg and his timing attack fails against the 3rd JD is sure to take early. Bisu could surprise JD by not going 14 nex to make this interesting, but I think JD takes this one.
Game 3 is Medusa. The only way I see Bisu losing this game is if Jaedong somehow gets on 5 bases without Bisu noticing the fifth and then manages to contain Bisu in his main from that. This map is basically crafted for Bisu's style. The only time Bisu ever looked lost on this map was against by.hero who continually exploited a hydra drop strategy which kept Bisu from moving out and stalling that 5th expansion.
Game 4 is Colosseum II which grossly favors the macro player. In this match, though -- I don't find either player to be particularly macro focused. I think Bisu will stall at 2 bases while JD takes 3 and attempt a timing push based on JD's high drone count. If his attack suceeds, he'll win. If JD gets his mutas out in time to pick off HT as they cross the middle, I think he can defend it. If Bisu loses this map the series is over in my opinion.
Whether it is 3-1 JD or 2-2 at this point does not really matter, in a fifth game on Andromeda I don't think Bisu has the same mind strength as Jaedong to prevail. The only way Bisu takes a fifth game here is in a 50 minute slugfest where Jaedong sweats himself out of form a la FBH game.
My prediction: 3-1 JD with Bisu's win on Medusa as I've stated before.
After the Games:
Game 1: Epic struggle from JD to avoid Bisu's strategic timing attacks and harass. Bisu was 1 step ahead the whole game and JD had a difficult time securing expansions as Bisu never really had any threat to his army. JD's drop failures and failure to contain meant that Bisu could stop his 4th before it kicked in and his timing drop on the island was also key. JD never had a chance to stop Bisu's army and while his own harass was effective at times, he could not stop Bisu's air or ground dominance.
Game 2: Bisu lost too many corsairs to have the ability to scout shuttle lanes on the map. His build is heavily reliant on damage much more so than the stargate --> citadel build. The inability of Bisu to protect his first shuttle and first two corsairs slowed his timing so much. I pretty much expected this exact result on the map, because I feel like this is more of a macro map than it first seems. Bisu needed to gain ground control and take a third instead of trying for reavers. His harass play couldn't contain JD and JD's map control was just incredible here.
Game 3: Bisu was never going to lose Medusa. As I said before, Bisu's timing on his map is impeccable and the only reason he ever loses on this map is when he is hit for the first time by a new strategy. I don't think JD had enough creativity here to outcute Bisu.
Game 4: This was also pretty obvious to me. I don't like how people consider toss to have the advantage here. No toss plays like BeSt does on this map. Bisu doesn't have it in him to play defense on 3 bases for 10 minutes.
Game 5: Zzzzz. I predicted a JD win here too, but I didn't think it would come like this. Overall, amazing series I have to say. I just wish this ling runby happened in game 1 and not game 5.
Did it live up to the hype? I think so. We clearly still don't know who the best player is right now. Some kind of King of the Races Round Robin needs to happen between Bisu Flash and JD. I think I might stop watching SC after that event though, so maybe not.
