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Iris was the best of an extremely talented crop of Terrans (others include Hwasin and FBH) who had the great misfortune of peaking in skill level at the same time as Savior, and who, unable to make true names for themselves by winning a title, can be collectively described as Shadows of Savior. Savior didn’t just dominate, he turned the universe of progaming inside out. From his mind-bending game against Nada in UZOO to his ultimate demise in the GOM S1 finals, he upended everything that was taken for granted about race balance. As he rose, he inverted Terran’s dominance over Zerg, and his fall inaugurated a long period of Protoss dominance over Zerg. Iris’s generation, which had developed an incredible TvZ in order to counter Savior, suddenly found itself at the mercy of a crop of Protoss imbued with excellent macro and an unprecedented confidence in their ability to win.
The skill set required for excellent TvZ largely overlaps with the set required for excellent TvT; both require extremely refined micro and clockwork mechanics that never miss a round of macro. Not surprisingly, Iris, Hwasin, and FBH were all known for having both world-class TvZ and exceptional TvT. But the crucial skills for new-age TvP are not grounded only in unit control and mechanics, but in strategy and economics as well. The age of Protoss basically blind-sided them and side-lined them from the leagues long enough for them to lose heart. FBH’s two deep runs into the MSL were shut down by Stork in GOM S2 and Bisu in ClubDay. Whenever Hwasin manages to dodge Protoss in a league, he eventually loses anyway, because he’s not championship caliber. When he doesn’t manage to dodge Protoss, the Protoss is Bisu, and promptly bounces him from the MSL (3 times!). Among their entire generation, only Iris has shown TvP competent enough to survive direct encounters with Taek-bang. Of course, Iris’s penchant for not being to finish off Zerg in series play has become the stuff of legend by now, but he remains nonetheless the smartest and sharpest Terran among the Shadows.
It fell to the next generation of Terrans, which I'll call Time Attackers, to develop the proper recipe for winning a title: with a little luck against Zerg, a keen intelligence, and perfect timings, a Mind, a Flash, or a fOrGG could steal gold medals right out from under the noses of the Protoss. Mind squeaked past a declining Savior 3-2 and broke Bisu in half with—what else—mind games. Flash beat Jaedong and put Stork's brain in a blender before being flogged into inconsistency by KT coaches. Shortly afterwards, fOrGG picked up strategy to go with his macro. He beat Kal four times, stomped all over Flash, and ran over Jaedong with a dump truck. Then midnight rang, the glass slippers broke, and Park Ji Ho became...THE PRETENDER. Shortly afterwards, the Protoss upgraded their own defensive timings and ironed out many timing windows, a process which led to the Season of the Six Dragons of fall 2008 when all four ClubDay semifinalists were Protoss and Bisu and Stork split the two individual league titles between them. It didn’t help that Flash, the only player to consistently stand up to the Protoss, had weaknesses against Zerg and lost to them even, perhaps especially, when he shouldn’t have.
The rise of Fantasy and the resurrected Flash mark the beginnings of a new breed of Terrans, which I'll call The Returners and which I'll write more about later, once it's over.
+ Show Spoiler +
Summary:
Shadows of Savior (winter 2006 to summer 2007): Hwasin, Iris, FBH
Time Attackers (fall 2007 to summer 2008): Mind, Flash (1st form), fOrGG
The Returners (spring 2009 to present): Fantasy, Flash (2nd form)
 
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Well said. Very sad though =(
damn tosses
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Nice! 5/5
Waiting for azureeye to go and find some stupid argument that Terrans are imba...
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On January 02 2010 00:32 Kaniol wrote:
Nice! 5/5
Waiting for azureeye to go and find some stupid argument that Terrans are imba...
When obviously toss can 1a2a3a with carriers to victory EVERY game.
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Nice little history write up and comparison to older generations, definatly something is about to happen with pro terrans catching up with flash eventually in skill, most excited about how to other races will respond to this kind of gameflow and adapt.
This is what makes starcraft for me, the constant adaptation and evolution of the game. (give queens back :3)
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2010: Perfect Flash? 
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"The Shadows of Savior" and the "Time Attackers" both sound cool and seem appropriate. "The Returners" does not. Maybe "The Machines" instead? Nice blog though, keen to read more.
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I fully expect the next segment to have Flash and Fantasy floating down a river on a raft with some dude named Banon. And a giant purple octopus. 5/5
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loved the article. 5/5, keep writing!
On January 02 2010 02:37 Scarecrow wrote:
"The Shadows of Savior" and the "Time Attackers" both sound cool and seem appropriate. "The Returners" does not. Maybe "The Machines" instead? Nice blog though, keen to read more.
and he's right, except fantasy is a dead man so maybe just "The Flash" or "The Terminator"
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On January 02 2010 03:21 hyst.eric.al wrote:
loved the article. 5/5, keep writing!
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On January 02 2010 02:37 Scarecrow wrote:
"The Shadows of Savior" and the "Time Attackers" both sound cool and seem appropriate. "The Returners" does not. Maybe "The Machines" instead? Nice blog though, keen to read more.
Wait for his next post. Since his first two labels had good reasons, it's likely his other label does too.
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United States11393 Posts
You eerily remind me of Plexa when you write.
Also, you make Flash sound like a dbz char. >_>
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If Savior had a shadow, it was Midas.
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On January 02 2010 00:53 KennigitsABaller wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2010 00:32 Kaniol wrote:
Nice! 5/5
Waiting for azureeye to go and find some stupid argument that Terrans are imba... When obviously toss can 1a2a3a with carriers to victory EVERY game.
Well to be fair, if they have enough carriers that they have to go 1a2a3a with them, you fucked up hard
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nice article, the only problem is hwasin and FBH peaked long after the reign of savior was over so that part is a bit off
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On January 02 2010 05:26 Bibbit wrote:Show nested quote +On January 02 2010 00:53 KennigitsABaller wrote:On January 02 2010 00:32 Kaniol wrote:
Nice! 5/5
Waiting for azureeye to go and find some stupid argument that Terrans are imba... When obviously toss can 1a2a3a with carriers to victory EVERY game. Well to be fair, if they have enough carriers that they have to go 1a2a3a with them, you fucked up hard
If the Protoss can 1a2a3a his army into your army and actually wins, you fucked up your placement hard.
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EPT
