EPTScene: Lost Saga MSL 2009, round of eight.
Our players:
JangBi, and 
NaDa. JangBi
Slowly supplanting Stork as the ace of Samsung Khan, he boasts a PvT record nearing seventy percent. His Reaver harass is rightly feared the world across. His storms cover the sky and rain lightning on his opponents. The third of the Six Dragons, a Protoss warrior born true.
NaDa
The Tornado Terran. The most successful player in the history of the game. A career spanning seven years, during which he has dropped from the Top 20 once. Read that again: In seven years, he has been outside the twenty best gamers ONCE. Three MSL titles. Three OSL titles. The first of only two players to earn the Golden Mouse. The only thing more impressive than his list of accomplishments is the respect and honour he shows his opponents. Polite, humble, with never a harsh word for anyone.
The Old Guard
It is a time of returning greatness. The Emperor has finished his service, and is once again enthroned in the SKT house. His apprentice, once a coach, announces his return to active playing. And famously, the Maestro. The announcement that gave us all hope. The old guard is returning, with one exception. NaDa has no need to return. He never left.
The Newcomers
Starcraft has never been as competitive as it is at this moment. Build orders have been polished to mirrors brightness. Mechanics pushed to heights previously thought impossible, resulting in armies larger, more powerful than ever before. The dance of units refined to an art form, beautiful and deadly. Just to compete in this era requires skills that would lead to instant Bonjwa status in any other stage of the game. And yet there are players that not only meet these limits, but constantly redefine them. True S Class gamers, a cut above the rest. Undeniably, JangBi is one of the members of this illustrious and highly exclusive club.
The Build Up
All too often, we have seen our heroes crushed under the weight of the next generation. Nevertheless, we hope. Prayers are sent to the Starcraft Gods: Please, let our heros win. Just once more, let them show the sprit; the fire that made them champions.
But our reason dictates otherwise. “I love NaDa, but his time is past. JangBi 3-0”. “I think NaDa can cheese out a win, JangBi 3-1”. The forums are filled with such examples. As heartbreaking as it is, it is often the truth.
And yet we hope.
They Call Me Genius
Game one opens on Byzantium 2, and NaDa sets out to show why he has earned every ounce of his reputation. It was never in any doubt. Never has a game been controlled to the level that NaDa did on this night, on this map.
Two gate early harass rebuffed with no significant losses. Reaver harass met with perfect turrent timing, creating a watertight seal on the Terran base. The reaver was never even allowed out of its shuttle, let alone get a shot off. A single dropship is sent out, containing four vultures. Knowing NaDas expertise with vulture micro on undefended probes, JangBi pulls back his army. The harass appears to fail, but when JangBis army returns, they run smack into a third base, already fully defended and nigh-impenetrable.
The final push comes, showing the sheer production capacity an un-harrassed Terran can muster. Arbiters pop out in a desperate attempt to shield the Protoss units, and NaDas goliaths and science vessels arrive at exactly the same moment, rendering the Arbiters unless. Stasis timing matched exactly with EMP timing. Every move JangBi makes is predicted and countered by NaDa.
Small squads are sent to each Protoss expansion, while the bulk of the Terran army ties up the Protoss army. The expansions are reduced to rubble, and NaDas forces shrug off the last ditch storms, forcing a GG from JangBi.
A near perfect game, beginning to end.
I Will Not Lose Here
Carthage is the second battlefield, a two player map ripe for cheese, and JangBi did not disappoint. Determined to win the series no matter what, he opens with a proxy gate. Although NaDa defended it admirably, his macro was definitely delayed. Putting down two factories allowed a three tank push, but with no siege mode upgraded, pushing into the natural was beyond the Terran force. By this stage, JangBis natural had been up for five minutes, and NaDas economy just could not keep up. A reaver and an observer allows JangBi to clean up the push, and NaDa is forced to concede.
Well, It Worked Last Time
The third game was a slightly later repeat of the second game. A proxy robotics facility in NaDas third allowed JangBis’ reaver to harass NaDa into oblivion. Tank after tank, SCV after SCV meet reaver scarab and are sent to the big command centre in the sky. After NaDa sets up his tanks on the high ground above his natural, JangBi simply pushes in with his dragoon force, absorbing the tank fire. Some truly inspired reaver micro follows, and every single tank is eliminated. The next round of tank production is met with a second reaver, and nine minutes into the game, NaDa is once again forced to GG.
Someone Order Some Cheese?
Three games in, and it’s looking like it JangBi will force his way through. But Protoss doesn’t have a monopoly on cheese builds. A wall-in on NaDas ramp blocks scouting, and leaves JangBi unaware of not one, but two proxy factories. Not one to squander such an advantage, NaDa throws JangBi back into his base. Vultures run riot, devastating JangBis’ mineral line. Perhaps the best placed mine in SC history catches JangBis last dragoon, and what must have been at least ten probes. JangBi GGs.
The Decider
The cheese is over. Two games to JangBi, two games to NaDa, and it all comes down the fifth game, once again on Byzantium 2. The map that hosted the only standard game of the series, and the one that NaDa completely dominated. Both players open completely standard, one fact into expansion for our Terran player, and one gate into expansion for the Protoss.
The Protoss early harass turns out to be somewhat more effective than normal, as JangBi is able to snipe the barracks blocking the choke, and then snipe the replacement barracks that was building. Siege mode completed shortly afterward, and the goons are forced to retreat.
NaDa, predicting the reaver harass, throws up another turret wall surrounding his base. This time, however, JangBi shows considerably more balls, and aided by a second shuttle full of zealots, charges straight into NaDas main. What follows is some outstanding reaver harass, which would have been much more effective if it wasn’t matched with truly awful scarabs. JangBi is unrelenting in his harassment, however, and it begins to take its toll on NaDas economy. By the time the harassment is ended by a single SCV sniping the reaver, NaDas mineral lines are looking decidedly less populated than he’d like. Adding insult to injury, and quick ground push allows JangBi to lay storms over NaDas entrenched tanks, claiming ten or so before retreating.
JangBi’s plan is finally revealed, as a shot of the base shows three stargates and a fleet beacon. The might of the Protoss fleet will soon be brought to bear. NaDa, obviously aware of this, begins to stream goliaths towards his newly built fourth expansion. At this stage of the game, the Terran war machine is not easily stopped, but the economic harassment that NaDa has endured has taken its toll. Several running battles break out as JangBi pushes into the fourth expansion, while NaDa tries to trap the carriers with his ever increasing swarm of goliaths. The brutal combination of storms and carriers whittles the goliath force down, however. NaDas last hope is to destroy an expansion or two, before the carriers reach critical mass and overrun the Terran base.
NaDa pushes out with a tank force, but unfortunately sets up in front of JangBis third, which at this point is mined out. In exchange for a mined out base, NaDa gives up his fourth, and fifth expansions. The push has failed, and cost NaDa too many units to continue. GG is inevitable.
The Epilogue
The dust settles, and JangBi walks away the victor. It’s another match won, another step closer to a title that has thus far eluded him. He played some excellent Starcraft, and deserved the win. Now, he must look forward. The next round looms, and the likes of Jaedong, Stork, and Bisu stand in the way.
As for the Genius Terran, he played what is easily the best Starcraft of his career. He combined the exquisite game sense learned over his long career with the sheer mechanical brilliance characteristic of modern gamers. Very few players could have managed that feat, and I feel privileged to have seen it.
In the end though, his brilliant play was simply not enough. Youth will out, and that is the way it played out tonight. The realization brings tears to NaDas eyes. To have worked so hard, to have come so far, and yet fall short is nothing short of devastating.
I have faith that NaDa will bounce back. He has not earned the accolade of being the most consistent gamer for nothing. But for tonight, let us mourn the loss with him. Mourn the exit of a truly great gamer from the tournament. And mourn the realization that our heroes, though capable of feats both amazing and inspiring, are in the end; only human.
Edit: It was pointed out that Jaedong and Bisu aren't in the MSL. I was thinking of the OSL. Thanks for the corrections, and sorry for the confusion.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SonuvBob/ss/bisu_o_face.jpg)
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