• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 10:29
CET 16:29
KST 00:29
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice5Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza1Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0258
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Gypsy to Korea BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ It's March 3rd
Tourneys
[BSL22] Open Qualifier #1 - Sunday 21:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues BWCL Season 64 Announcement The Casual Games of the Week Thread
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Diablo 2 thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Gaming-Related Deaths
TrAiDoS
ONE GREAT AMERICAN MARINE…
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1480 users

Flash TvZ musing

Blogs > Djabanete
Post a Reply
Djabanete
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States2786 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 00:07:48
July 05 2009 23:48 GMT
#1
In TvZ, Flash is the exact opposite of Fantasy. Fantasy's bio control is unimpressive but his mech/valkonic/what-have-you play is incredibly deadly (in important starleague matches anyway). Flash on the other hand just gets rolled when he tries for fancy builds against top notch TvZ. I wish he'd forget about this biomech stuff, or at least save it for proleague matches against easy players, and go for solid builds in really critical matches.

All Flash needs is a secure main and natural, and a couple of raxes, and he can compete with any zerg on any map. His bio control is flawless and his muta defense is actually amazingly good --- it just seems bad because he keeps erring on the side of too little defense, and consequently loses in embarrassing fashion.

Flash has always been known to cut corners, but lately he's been taking it way too far. I'm sick of seeing him play fragile builds that involve expanding when his only unit support is a vulture (in case of lings!!!), a turret (in case of mutas!!!), and a goliath (extra precaution!!!). If anyone can afford to trade economy for early-game safety, it's Flash --- he's got the mechanics and game sense to come back from a slight economic lag, if it comes to that. What he doesn't have is the ability to hold off 9 mutas and 2 scourges with a valkyrie and a turret. It's just not possible.

What's more, if there ever was a time to be a good bio TvZ player, it's right now. Nowadays zergs have to deal with more crap from terrans than ever before --- everything from "standard" mech (whatever that is) to valk-mech to valkonic to 2-port wraith to fake-vulture-go-bio (hello Mind)... the list goes on. I don't know when the last time was that I saw 1rax->CC-> bionic play. Has it become bad? Don't tell me it sucks against 2-hatch muta, because it can't possibly suck more against 2-hatch muta than the stuff Flash has been doing lately.

tl;dr
Flash, why can't you play a safe bionic TvZ build that will let you capitalize on your great mechanics and bio control?

edit: Like this:
+ Show Spoiler +


May the BeSt man win.
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
July 06 2009 00:02 GMT
#2
I agree, Flash plays way too risky I can't understand why. Apparently it works in practice or else he wouldn't do it right?

I just can't understand.....
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
FragKrag
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States11556 Posts
July 06 2009 00:07 GMT
#3
yeah I don't understand why flash insists on his builds :/

What he is doing is getting really old really fast
*TL CJ Entusman #40* "like scissors does anything to paper except MAKE IT MORE NUMEROUS" -paper
sixghost
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States2096 Posts
July 06 2009 00:12 GMT
#4
Obviously flash feels he has the best chance to win on the current maps using these kinds of builds, or else he wouldn't be trying to do them.
mG.sixghost @ iCCup || One ling, two ling, three ling, four... Camp four gas, then ultra-whore . -Saracen
GhostKorean
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States2330 Posts
July 06 2009 00:27 GMT
#5
14 cc all over again? FlaSh really insists on gaining the economical advantage
il0seonpurpose
Profile Blog Joined January 2007
Korea (South)5638 Posts
July 06 2009 00:32 GMT
#6
It seems like 2 hatch muta has been a good counter against his crazy new build
d3_crescentia
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States4054 Posts
July 06 2009 00:43 GMT
#7
Flash is just greedy.
once, not long ago, there was a moon here
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
July 06 2009 01:05 GMT
#8
On July 06 2009 09:32 il0seonpurpose wrote:
It seems like 2 hatch muta has been a good counter against his crazy new build


Do you really think Flash never faced 2 hatch muta when he practiced that build? I would rather say that Flash did some mistake that he normally doesn't do and together with Jaedongs good micro (which I think is a bit better than most zergs, in all circumstances) it just failed.

Lim Yo Hwan forever!
Vasoline73
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
United States7828 Posts
July 06 2009 01:07 GMT
#9
Yeah Flash bio is freaking great. And his control v two hatch got to be extremely impressive....

Oh well.
konadora *
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Singapore66358 Posts
July 06 2009 01:14 GMT
#10
The reason why Flash loses when he does all these 'fancy builds' is because he plays too greedily

Despite what situation he's in, he always tries to get his nat running, which means more areas to defend, which in turn means that his defense will be spread out and weaker, at least in one area.

His builds can also be dismantled by off-timing attacks. Take his game versus Yellow[Arnc] as an example.

Had Yarnc attacked a few seconds later after gathering all his mutas, Flash would have had 2 goliaths, a few turrets and a valkyrie up. His defense there was terrible. He lost the first goliath while trying to attack the mutas, eventually losing it and unable to make it 2 goliaths (which is much much more stronger than 1 goliath), which could have also allowed him to save his valkyrie.

It's just his playstyle that causes him to lose games. His build is decent.
POGGERS
Djabanete
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States2786 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 01:31:03
July 06 2009 01:26 GMT
#11
On July 06 2009 10:05 Zoler wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 06 2009 09:32 il0seonpurpose wrote:
It seems like 2 hatch muta has been a good counter against his crazy new build


Do you really think Flash never faced 2 hatch muta when he practiced that build? I would rather say that Flash did some mistake that he normally doesn't do and together with Jaedongs good micro (which I think is a bit better than most zergs, in all circumstances) it just failed.



Well, in the game against Jaedong it's safe to assume that Flash was hoping to do a lot more damage with his bunker rush. It was JD's drone control that really won the game for him, since if he'd had a lower drone count going into his lair tech he would have had later mutas or fewer reinforcements once his muta harass started. Flash was actually close to stabilizing in that game, and if JD had been unable to afford ling reinforcements I think it might have turned out differently.

The bunker rush -> biomech strategy worked perfectly against Hoejja, which makes me think it's not necessarily a bad build, but against a player of Jaedong's calibur it's risky (to say the least). Basically I think bunker rushing Jaedong is almost never a good idea, unless the map is perfect for it (Blue Storm, Hwarangdo). Once the bunker rush failed Flash didn't really have any good options and probably would lost to mutas no matter what he tried to do, unless it were one-base turtling.

As always, Flash can do whatever he wants against B-class players and still win, but against the S-class he needs to play less greedily so that he can actually make it into the midgame.

On July 06 2009 10:14 konadora wrote:
Despite what situation he's in, he always tries to get his nat running, which means more areas to defend, which in turn means that his defense will be spread out and weaker, at least in one area.


Couldn't agree more. No matter what happens, Flash always tries to get the natural expansion up early, and sometimes it really costs him. Expanding and teching to academy/factory/armory right after a failed bunker rush is just asking for trouble.
May the BeSt man win.
Musoeun
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States4324 Posts
July 06 2009 02:19 GMT
#12
Anyone remember back in December or so when there were worries about Flash slipping a little bit? Turned out he was working on a slightly different TvZ style and he eventually jumped right back into things. I think the same thing's happening here, only we're actually getting to see some of his ideas in real play.
Don't Shoot the Penguins. | Dance, 성은, dance! | Killer FanKlub | Action sucks. | Storm Terran hwaiting.
KP_CollectoR
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
United States744 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 02:49:53
July 06 2009 02:49 GMT
#13

What's more, if there ever was a time to be a good bio TvZ player, it's right now. Nowadays zergs have to deal with more crap from terrans than ever before --- everything from "standard" mech (whatever that is) to valk-mech to valkonic to 2-port wraith to fake-vulture-go-bio (hello Mind)... the list goes on.


Hey which InteR.Mind game are you talking about? I'd like to see...
English Brood War Commentaries - Please Subscribe! youtube.com/dimecollectorsc... Winner of The "LeBron" Award for Best Rookie (FPL 5)
Zoler
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Sweden6339 Posts
July 06 2009 02:51 GMT
#14
On July 06 2009 11:19 Musoeun wrote:
Anyone remember back in December or so when there were worries about Flash slipping a little bit? Turned out he was working on a slightly different TvZ style and he eventually jumped right back into things. I think the same thing's happening here, only we're actually getting to see some of his ideas in real play.


No player would ever use a build they are "working on" lol. They play like 30 games every single day, the builds Flash are using are complete, or else he wouldn't use them.
Lim Yo Hwan forever!
Djabanete
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States2786 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 03:01:49
July 06 2009 02:55 GMT
#15
On July 06 2009 11:19 Musoeun wrote:
Anyone remember back in December or so when there were worries about Flash slipping a little bit? Turned out he was working on a slightly different TvZ style and he eventually jumped right back into things. I think the same thing's happening here, only we're actually getting to see some of his ideas in real play.


His TvZ is probably going through "growing pains" right now, I just wish it hadn't happened right at the time of his OSL group of death. I'm sure he will eventually either improve or abandon his new build... but what lousy timing!

On July 06 2009 11:49 KP_CollectoR wrote:
Show nested quote +

What's more, if there ever was a time to be a good bio TvZ player, it's right now. Nowadays zergs have to deal with more crap from terrans than ever before --- everything from "standard" mech (whatever that is) to valk-mech to valkonic to 2-port wraith to fake-vulture-go-bio (hello Mind)... the list goes on.


Hey which InteR.Mind game are you talking about? I'd like to see...


Game one of Mind vs Effort in GOM, I think. Mind goes vulture, wraith, bio transition off of (I think) one base and really throws Effort off balance with aggressive bio/tank play on Neo Medusa.

On July 06 2009 11:51 Zoler wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 06 2009 11:19 Musoeun wrote:
Anyone remember back in December or so when there were worries about Flash slipping a little bit? Turned out he was working on a slightly different TvZ style and he eventually jumped right back into things. I think the same thing's happening here, only we're actually getting to see some of his ideas in real play.


No player would ever use a build they are "working on" lol. They play like 30 games every single day, the builds Flash are using are complete, or else he wouldn't use them.


Nobody can change their whole playstyle overnight. It's completely plausible (IMO) for a player to develop a new strat and take some time to hone it to perfection.
May the BeSt man win.
Avidkeystamper
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
United States8556 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 03:02:18
July 06 2009 02:59 GMT
#16
On July 06 2009 09:12 sixghost wrote:
Obviously flash feels he has the best chance to win on the current maps using these kinds of builds, or else he wouldn't be trying to do them.

Not really. Maybe if he's using a new build and relying on its uniquess to throw the zerg off, then yes he has a better chance to win. But zergs have shown how fragile the build is to a quick lair and he insists on sticking with it.

I think his greed showed in his game vs FBH, although in an indirect manner. Yes, FBH seized the game with his great tank formation, but Flash's early third means that he didn't go for a Starport or 2fact build and couldn't sustain vision on FBH's tanks or have more tanks to back his army up. His 3rd indirectly put him into trouble, but in this case it saved him because FBH was never ahead economically. Or am I wrong?
Jaedong
reincremate
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
China2216 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-07-06 03:27:54
July 06 2009 03:13 GMT
#17
This is just pure speculation, but maybe Flash doesn't receive as good coaching and/or practice as other S-class players. Obviously there is a crapload of planning and practice involved for any strategy a progamer uses, which leads me to guess that Flash's practice with his teammates leads him to think these risky builds and risky tactics are airtight. Luxury has always had a unique playstyle, so playing against Flash in practice would probably produce weird results like a lot of Lux's games do. KTF's other Zergs just seem pretty crappy.

One possible reason KTF is struggling for a playoff spot despite having 3 starleague winners and Violet is the fact(?) that their players lack brilliant and experienced mentors who can help construct and perfect builds, tactics or playstyle like players on other teams do or did in the past (i.e. oov/fantasy, Nada/Mind, July/by.hero).

And maybe whenever Flash lost by going 14CC or from some other early game unit disadvantage KTF's coach just goes "well he's Flash, I'll just let him do whatever he wants and it'll work out." Flash is a creative player (like any player with a build named after him) but it seems like he's a one man strategical crew.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Winter Champion…
12:00
Playoffs
ByuN vs Gerald
Clem vs Krystianer
WardiTV1091
TKL 257
IndyStarCraft 178
Rex143
3DClanTV 81
EnkiAlexander 44
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
TKL 257
IndyStarCraft 178
Rex 143
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 43509
Jaedong 1966
Shuttle 1583
Larva 841
Soma 553
EffOrt 422
Mini 409
Stork 385
ggaemo 348
firebathero 344
[ Show more ]
BeSt 319
Soulkey 283
Hyuk 223
Rush 177
Sharp 100
Dewaltoss 100
Mong 97
Mind 95
Snow 62
PianO 61
Aegong 42
sSak 36
Free 36
sorry 32
[sc1f]eonzerg 31
IntoTheRainbow 17
HiyA 16
yabsab 15
Terrorterran 14
Rock 13
soO 10
GoRush 9
ajuk12(nOOB) 8
Sacsri 8
NaDa 7
ivOry 5
Dota 2
Gorgc2567
qojqva1903
BananaSlamJamma126
Counter-Strike
fl0m2794
Fnx 1716
oskar46
Other Games
singsing2063
B2W.Neo1105
DeMusliM332
Lowko306
Mlord271
crisheroes197
Hui .136
QueenE96
Liquid`VortiX96
Mew2King95
ArmadaUGS46
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV101
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• poizon28 30
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota260
League of Legends
• Nemesis11656
• Jankos1983
• TFBlade979
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
8h 32m
Ultimate Battle
20h 32m
Light vs ZerO
WardiTV Winter Champion…
20h 32m
MaxPax vs Spirit
Rogue vs Bunny
Cure vs SHIN
Solar vs Zoun
Replay Cast
1d 8h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 18h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 20h
Replay Cast
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
OSC
4 days
Replay Cast
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-04
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.