EPT"The way for Yellow to find confidence is not practice but wins." -becker
There are some things with very low possibilities: the odds of China winning 2014 World Cup, of winning $100 million lottery, of me dating a member of a popular chick band, and so on. These are things that you'd just better not expect, and expecting them to happen is sometimes considered stupid.
How about the possibility of Yellow winning a title? I'm sorry for the fans but even they know that it's low.
He's known as the emperor of 2nd places, the ever not-the-first, the killer of the old Terrans, the head of Zerg, the e-sports icon, and numerous other labels. But there is one thing that hasn't been discussed as much.
It's the in-depth analysis of his games. Things like his low Drone count in the early game and his tendency to storm even a well-guarded opponent are about the only focal points.
An icon of Starcraft. The progamer among progamers. Not much about his games in spite of these credentials. Some miss him. Some deride him. Either way, much is about his failed story to become number one.
"Yellow's Potential"
Is it possible? Someone who hasn't won an official game in two years? Someone who lost two Drones to one Probe so went for all rush but forgot to rally his Zerglings?
It is tough. Yet this column dares to discuss the potential.
There are three things that Yellow lack compared to other progamers:
1) The lack of "optimization". Early in the e-sports days, fans were stunned by Boxer's coach, who carried a stop watch and after Boxer games said things like "his Bionic was three seconds late!" StarCraft is the game of one second, one moment. Analysis of detailed movements by time is crucial; at certain minutes and seconds this many Drones should come out; at certain minutes and seconds Mutals should fly; Terran is using Bionic if it's building Vespene at this certain time of the game; and so forth.
These are things that cannot be memorized. Spontaneous grasp of the opponent, analysis, and subsequent execution should take place. Falsh is the best at the fastest execution of the process. Savior in his days was the best at the grasping part. Jaedong is the best at the execution of Mutals.
What does Yellow lack in this process? The main thing is the analysis. Without the lack of much practice in the past year or so, his analytical framework has gotten outdated. Even if it gets right, the number of Drones and units he possesses cannot compete against the newer players who have optimized the three processes.
2) The lack of spontaneous reaction. With the lack of practice time, the players at ACE often go with the most conventional style of the opponent. But what happens if something unconventional happens? Yellow completely collapses. In the recent game against Much at the Garden of God, Much's Probe unexpectedly kills a Drone. No big deal so far. However, stirred by this unexpected event, Yellow couldn't even get his first expansion and went for a haphazard mix of Zerglins and Hydras. Probably not something he planned.
In another word, he loses if things don't go as he planned. It's not the recent problem. Back when he won 70 - 80% against Terran, he had this problem. For instance, at the OSL final against Xellos, the unexpected Marine troop lost him the game that he almost won.
3) The lack of confidence. It's been too long since he won. Back in his days he was not the emperor but new players feared him. As time went by, that's not the case any more. It's been reported that he's been practicing crazily, but this lack of confidence is not something you can overcome with practice.
Where should he start to fix things up?
First, in the aforementioned, grasp-analysis-execution process, he's still good at execution. In some of the recent unofficial games he won, it was all because of his execution of Zerglings, Hydras, and Lurker in the early game. He has an excellent instinct in this area. If he adds the developing analysis of StarCraft to this instinct, he can come back.
Second, there is a current, dominating player with his style that he can maybe model after. Luxury is the player. Though his strength mainly is on his Mutal control, his mind is similar to Yellow - how he storms at moments where it's not certain whether it's a good time.
In the recent Lost Saga MSL round 4 match against Leta, Leta's Bionic troop entered Luxury's first expansion. It wasn't certain whether it's good time to attack. However, Luxuy went ahead with Mutal control and just dominated the game. In the round 16 match against Hwasin, at Destination, Luxury didn't lose control even when his resources were lacking. At Shin Fall's Wind, he dominated with just three Lurkers. All of these were something that Yellow was good at. At the final against Jangbi, Luxury won by attacking when it wasn't certain whether it was a good time. Luxury is definitely somebody that Yellow can learn from.
Lastly, hope comes from his latest record. What's one thing that Yellow is better at than Boxer, Nada, Savior, Jangbi, Sea, and Forgg? In the OSL qualifier, he did better than all of them. The circumstances are even important; the fact is he won some games. When Yellow appeared for the first time in hundreds of days early this year, the famous commentator Jaegyung Um said:
"After a long drought, if you have a sip of water, you just wanna drink more; you wanna drink crazily."
It wasn't official games. It wasn't the Proleague. Nevertheless, he did better at this OSL qualifier than some other players did. When everyone thought he was just another icon, he won game by game.
The way for Yellow to find confidence is not practice but wins.
Poll: Will Yellow ever win OSL or MSL title?
(Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
