The Articles That Time Forgot

"Plagguuuu!", the all-too familiar cry of the MBCGame commentators rings throughout the hall.. Flash's science vessels have just been destroyed, and he quickly leaves the game. He leaves the booth with a disheartened expression, and the no-name zerg to which he conceded leaves his with a look of complete mirth. How could it be that a player such as him, who came so close to the title of "Bonjwa", could fall so hard, so fast, and so many times. This wasn't his first slump; ever since that damn loss to Luxury in the EVER 2008 OSL, things just haven't been the same.

One minute you're on top of the world, and in the next you feel like Atlas. His play-style shows the inconsistent emotion of a teen going through puberty; those delicate years in which your self-esteem is affected at the slightest event. Like I said, one win and you feel like the champion of the universe, and all it takes is one loss to bring you down to rock bottom. I know how Flash feels, I'm a teenager too. The invisible audience haunts me at every corner, my ego is either too large or too small. I just haven't had the time to discover my own emotional balance. Could one imagine discovering such a complexity, with as much pressure places upon you as is placed upon Lee Young Ho?

Pressure is the enemy that divides the strong from the weak. It is ones ability to act cool under fire that makes someone truly great. It's that consistent temperament that seems to conflict so naturally with the raging hormones of adolescence. How can our little monster fare? The better of the two Lee Young Ho's (Sorry Lucifer...) had fought this enemy his fair amount of times. Can he win? Will he win? Or will it defeat him again and again.

One thing is certain.

This "Ultimate Weapon" has not been living up to his own potential. Before you prepare your argument against my "Anti-Flash Propaganda", realize the point of my statements. I will say it now, and I will only say it once. Flash is the best StarCraft player in the world. But he's like me. He's a teenager in a big world, trying to figure out his place in this big mess. This is merely the story of a teenager, much like myself. Trying to find his place in the world, and overwhelmed by what he sees as the great achievements and failures of his lifetime. His little world amplified sevenfold, and his every action scrutinized by fans and media the pressure is enormous. What human being could live up to this, much less such a little monster?








Flash burst onto the StarCraft scene as a young Terran player known for his cheesy builds and cute micro. While he was no top-5 material, he went 39-24 in his first year of professional StarCraft. Not too shabby, for a rookie. Flash did well; garnering love for his obvious skill, and hatred for what was perceived as his unfair play.

Flash showed enormous potential, being only 15 years old, and even more amazingly he had only played StarCraft for 3 years. He earned the title "Little Monster", and amazed his teammates. Within the walls of KTF, it was thought for sure that he would be the next big thing. And they were right.

Flash demonstrated the perfect balance between macro and micro, and the incredible timing sense that was necessary to be a StarCraft champion. While Flash is lauded more for his macro now, and his pioneering of many macro heavy TvP builds (and infamous attachment to the 14cc build), many forget how incredible his micro is. Every unit moves exactly where he wants it to, while he flawlessly streams units from all of his production centers.

But Flash was written off as just another lucky rookie, who would get lucky and disappear. We've seen many of those (BackHO comes to mind), but many people insisted that Flash would be a different story. There was a definite potential in his play, while it may have certainly been the play of a rookie, it was not the play of fortuna. As Machiavelli would say, virtue is far more valuable than fortuna, and Flash had plenty of virtue regardless of naysayers claims.

His elimination of Bisu and great games against GGPlay and others put him in the spotlight as one of those players you look for in the next season. Who just seemed as if they would be a household name among fans of the game. While other players walked away with the titles, Flash looked as though he was going to soon be able to live up to his true potential. (Leta and Thezerg remind me of Flash in this stage).

The young man couldn't wait to show his true stuff. Of course, the players on KTF knew what he was capable of. They took a fondness of the young player, and set about to reinvent him. To create a little monster. The results would be the same as the last "ultimate weapon" in history. Utter destruction.







Bacchus OSL. GOMtv Star Invitational. Seemingly in a day, Lee Young Ho turned his play-style around and became more than anyone expected.

Flash destroyed everyone in the OSL and GSI, convincingly and unexpectedly. He demonstrated not only his micro intensive builds from the season before, but his new skill in macro builds. His fast double armory and risky FE becoming staples of Terran play within weeks.

As a first-time watcher of StarCraft during the GSI, he never seemed to amaze me. His incredible comeback v.s sAviOr in the group phase, where he demonstrated the power of SK Terran and his own incredible micro, melting sAviOr's expansions like candlewax. his games were truly impressive, and he shut down opponents that no one thought he could beat in a million years. Destroying Jaedong with beautiful micro and highly agressive early game play, destroying Anytime, and narrowly beating out the best PvT in the world with an unstoppable TvP build proved that he was a serious contender.

Flash prison raped Stork, the best PvT in the world in the Bacchus OSL,a nd beat him convincingly in GSI, earning the Bird Toss two silvers, and flash a place in the hearts of fans across the globe. This is the kid that won two golds in one season, in more than convincing fashion. Is this your new bonjwa? Perhaps. He had all the elements of a true great. Not only were his mechanics flawless, but so were his game sense, and his psychological warfare. It didn't seem unlikely that he could perhaps command a real army to victory. People wanted to know where this genius came from, and it was only fitting that the GSI, the first officially english casted Korean tournament, was his introduction to the S-Class stage.

But one was always reminded the he was just a child. Could someone so young dominate so much? Could the new BoxeR be almost half his age? It seemed impossible, that a 15 year old high school kid, having played the game for only 3 years was suddenly the best in the world. There were certainly skeptics, for the most part those who didn't like his early style. But he proved them wrong again and again.

+ Show Spoiler +




It was clear that something was going to be stirred up in the world of StarCraft by this young one. People already thought he was going to be the next Bonjwa, forgetting the delicate nature of his age. And as peoples opinions of the player rose, so did their expectations. With rising expectations comes rising pressure.

KTF had found its new pride. The days of Hong Jin Ho, Kang Min, and Park Jung Suk were over. Lee Young Ho was the new star, the ace in the hole. The Magicians put their hopes in him, and it seemed he would not disappoint. He did incredibly well in the individual leagues, and just as well in proleague. However they had to act delicately, don't put too much on his plate, he's just a boy. How much can he chew? It didn't seem like it would be a problem, because he didn't just chew his enemies, he swallowed them whole.






The 2008 Summer Season Flash immediately exploded onto the scene, raping everyone left and right. He did it in every tournament, the level of his play on par with oov in his prime. In the eyes of his fans, he was invincible, and this was precisely the stone that tripped him on his path to becoming the greatest. While his utter dominance earned him the #1 spot in Kespa and the highest TvP record of all time, it wouldn't last.

I don't have to post his stats. I don't have to show you his games. There is no insightful analysis, except this. Flash is simply amazing. His timing was perfect, his macro was perfect, his micro was perfect, and his decisions were perfect. He caught the world off guard, and he changed the meta-game. There is no secret to his play. He won through pure skill and perfect mechanics. You were there, you saw the games. You know the utter annihilation of which I speak. This wasn't Flash. This was a weapon of mass destruction.

Flash took the matchup of TvP, and took it into a whole other dimension. Every noob on iccup was copying his brilliant fast armory build, and his gosu goliath play struck such fear into the hearts of protoss that carriers nearly disappeared from play. His vultures seemed just a bit faster than the other player's were and his marines seemed to shoot just a bit further.

If there was any ability Flash was known for then, it was his ingenious metal build (again the double-armory goliath, basically destroying every light tech Protoss), and his incredible sense of timing. He was able to take an expansion at the perfect time, like oov, and attack when he had exactly the right amount of units to do so. His scouting was supernatural, leading him to making timing decisions based on more information than his own supply count, which is a fairly common and useful way to do a timing push. His eyes and units were all over the opponent, and while his style was not ultra aggressive like Iris or NaDa, but rather his mental game was incredibly aggressive.

Flash made sure that every opportunity to gain a small advantage he took, and he rode his momentum not only to victory but complete rape. If he won the first game in a series, it wasn't long before he left his opponent questioning their own ability to play the game. He was an intimidating figure, and at only 15 years old, it must have felt amazing and extraordinary to be the one and only bane of protoss players everywhere. It seemed that no protoss could even give him a run for his money, much less challenge him. After his complete rape of Stork in the Bacchus OSL, the best PvT player in the world, what Protoss could seriously feel confident in playing this monster?

But it wasn't just TvP that Flash dominated in. TvT and TvZ were by no means weak. His micro ability was very vast, and as such he could use the powerful SK Terran build with ease. Almost no Terran could challenge Flash at this time and come out on top. Only one player posed a serious threat to Flash during this phase, and it's too bad that by the time they met this phase was done. You'd think it would take an army to stop this monster.

But all it took was one match...





I can imagine myself in his place. Losing a series to a zerg no one thought would beat you in a million years. Losing the next few proleague matches after that, I just don't feel like the same player. Surely it can't be bad luck. There must be something wrong with me.

How am I supposed to go to High School while I do all this? I'm expected to win this OSL and this MSL? I can't practice for all this, I don't have enough time. I don't even know who I am. I'm just a kid, and now I'm scared. This fame and power, it came too quickly. Now I don't know what to do when I don't live up to the expectations of my fans. I just need experience. Is that the problem? Is it puberty?

It isn't a scenario that has been ignored by anyone. The field of psychology dedicates an entire field, solely to development. The change of a psyche over time captures the interest of many professionals, many of whom have studied situations much like Flash's. The downfall of child actors, young musicians, trust fund kids, and many others in comparable environments have been analyzed through and through by developmental psychologists.

Erik Erikson, world reknowned developmental psychologist describes the teenage years as a stage of Identity v.s Role Confusion. The teenager tries to establish himself a role or identity in terms of society. Flash had been established, in an alarmingly short period of time as the best player in the world. However, according to Erikson, role-confusion occurs when that identity is proven false in some situation. His loss to Luxury and ForGG, his streak of bad luck in Proleague, is exactly that confusing situation which seems to the very identity he had established for himself.

One may think that such a simple situation could not cause such a downward spiral, and a long standing period of inconsistent play. Let's look at yet another profession beyond psychology. Politics.




President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, is entering the office in January with unprecedented high expectations. This can only set him up for dissapointment. No President has ever left office with the same approval ratings he had when entering. The leader of any state must face the demons of dissapointment, that he or she cannot satisfy the needs of the state that they lead. How they deal with this reality is telling.

Barack Obama has the cool temperament necessary to understand this. But does Flash? Certainly, he doesn't have the emotional stability of a 47 year old senator, but Flash seems pretty cool-headed for his age. Is it enough?




Focused on the stress of highschool, family, friends, girls, and trying to find his niche in the social structure, how can Lee Young Ho confront the demons of his loss? It all seems to blend together for the lad, it seems overwhelming. Isn't this what I have been told I was the greatest at? I was the hope of my team, and I let them down. I let myself down. I let the fans down. How can I win with this shattered confidence? With this shattered dream...






Or what is holding him back? Is it too much on his plate to eat? Maybe, he is still a young boy after all, inexperienced and unused to such pressures in life. You can blame Luxury for starting the chain reaction, the coaches for overworking him, or puberty for confusing him and amplifying the stress of being a progamer.

Anyone who looks back upon their teenage days can remember that sense of confusion that Flash may feel. Psychologists describe teenagers as experiencing the "invisible audience", a conviction that every action is judged by those around them, amplifying their self-consciousness to extreme ends. One slip-up seems like an incredible failure, and a simple win seems like a championship title. Self-consciousness cannot exist in the world of a successful progamer. Confidence must overrule completely, mistakes must be educational nor heartbreaking. That kind of cool temperament is easier talked about then had. It is not the temperament of the young.

StarCraft is the game of the youth, but one will note those players who are incredibly young experience an alarming rate of inconsistency. (Flash, inter.Mind, Sea[shield], and now even Jaedong) Whatever caused it, one thing is painfully clear. This is no "Ultimate Weapon". This is just a kid. A kid who feels the stress of Atlas, the stages of Erikson, Kohlberg, and Piaget in all the wrong ways. A kid who just dreamed of being the best, and now must face his failure to become what he wanted to be.

Don't get me wrong. Flash is still a very good player. Even now, he went on a five game win streak after his embarrassing loss to GGPlay in the OSL, and at the time of writing this he is tied for top 1v1 in PL. Flash is again showing the monstrosity he is capable of demonstrating. One must ask, however, how long will it last? Even now, the game is still not living up to the potential of the player. Those in charge of him need to learn why. Stress of time or stress of life, it must be eliminated.

Flash is the best player in the world.

So why isn't he acting like it?

A Common Scenario

The crowd roars as the letters "GG" flash- across the screen. Yet another victory for , the flamboyant terran of Samsung KHAN. Victory is no stranger to player Lee Sung Eun, and a new victory means only one thing. A new ceremony. Sung Eun bolts out of his booth for a victory lap around the stage. KHAN fans go crazy, and the fans of the opposing team hang their heads in shame.

+ Show Spoiler +

4000 miles away, there is yet another familiar scene. A young man, a foreign fan is snarling in anger. "I can't believe this debacle.", "firebathero is such a showboater!" he proclaims. Within minutes the sAviOr fanboys come out in droves on teamliquid to complain about the flamboyance of the young terran. "He has no respect!", "Starcraft isn't about that..." they say, their anger creating a stark dichotomy to the laughter in Seoul, Korea at that very moment.




A Sense of Purpose

Not only do progamers live to master the game, but also to bring entertainment to the fans. Rivalries between players (BoxeR and YellOw come to mind), flamboyant ceremonies, and trash-talk fuel the fire of fan loyalty and contribute largely to the sustenance of StarCraft as an e-sport. Love him or hate him, firebathero is a crucial element in all of this. He is the personality, the face, the Rock Star of StarCraft.

+ Show Spoiler +

Because of this element, people sometimes forget the brilliance of his play. That he can be equally entertaining in the game, as he is out of the game. One could hardly forget his hour long TvZ with sAviOr, ending in an epic battlecruiser push that won him the game. But will he be remembered for his brilliant plays? Or his arguably brilliant ceremonies? He will be remembered for the controversy, the bm plays and cute micro tricks, the ceremonies and trash-talking. Lee Sung Eun personifies all the personality that exists in StarCraft. He has it all.

+ Show Spoiler +



Brilliance in Flamboyance

While the foreign community (and sAviOr) may not appreciate his sense of humor, not enough credit is given to his contribution to e-sports. Lee Sung Eun is a baller and a rock star. He has the skill, the arrogance, the personality, and the controversy required to attain the Rock star status. Most importantly he personifies what has kept StarCraft alive in e-sports for so long. Fun.

Flamboyant comedian or serious player; whatever you see him as it is undeniable that firebathero keeps things entertaining. Even if you harbor the most intense hatred for Sung Eun imaginable, the drama keeps the scene alive. This is the man and the brilliant mind that keeps a scene that gets more and more boring every year turning on its side every now and then. This, is a Rock Star.



-thanks to DJ for the banner.

Hall of Champions
An OSL Retrospective
By DoctorHelvetica
A TeamLiquid Final Edit



From 2000 to 2008, the OGN StarLeague was the most prestigious StarCraft tournament in the world. The winners were gods of the game and champions of the digital realm. While the general Star League began with Tooniverse, the OSL began in 2000 as a small tournament with a meager cash prize and a small cult following, nothing like the gigantic spectacle we see today.

It wouldn't be too long before the OSL became one of the largest events in all of Korea, attracting celebrities, crowds of more than 50,000, corporate sponsors, and cash prizes of over 40,000 won. The Star League champions became celebrities, sex symbols, and role models. The OSL is now the e-sports equivalent of the NFL Super Bowl. From a small tournament for a relatively popular game, to a stadium filling extravaganza of celebrities, entertainment, and best of all StarCraft, the OSL has come a long way since 2000.



A large part of the OSL's increase in popularity is the creative play of Lim "BoxeR" Yo Hwan. Terran was an underused race during the time of his dominance, leagues were dominated by Zerg and Protoss. BoxeR started as a Protoss player who, like IntotherainbOw, specialized in shuttle/reaver play. When he made the switch to Terran he centered his gameplay around the dropship, attempting to emulate the shuttle/reaver harass that he focused on as a Protoss player.

His deep understanding of the game and ability to outsmart his opponents made him a Star League champion, but as the game evolved his micro based play was no longer viable. Macro players became much stronger, and a new generation of gamers arose. BoxeR couldn't keep up with the massive armies and high APM playstyle of new gamers like Lee "NaDa" Yoon Yeol and Choi "Iloveoov" Yeon-Sung. While he brought StarCraft to the forefront of Korean entertainment, these newer players would carry the torch into the future.



And now an even newer generation of gamers are dominating the scene. Lee "Jaedong" Jae Dong, Lee "FlaSh" Young Ho, Heo "JangBi" Young Moo, Shin "Leta" Sang Moon. This may be the last generation of progamers before StarCraft 2 changes the e-sports scene. This is the generation I first came to know, the final evolution of progamers. Coming into the scene this late



The first game of StarCraft I ever saw was FlaSh v.s sAviOr on Blue Storm during the GOMtv GSI. The ferocity and strategy of the game drew me in, I immediately bought a battle chest from Wal-mart and I stayed up every night to watch Tasteless cast the GSI. My friend introduced me to it, and while he was mildly interested in progaming, my interest soon became obsession and I found myself watching every Star League and Pro League game. I spent increasing amounts of time on TeamLiquid after hearing Tasteless mention it in a cast, and not before long I became the proud owner of a CJ Entus shirt.

While I was happy with my new hobby, I had always felt that my knowledge of the game is severely lacking, mostly due to my being so new to it. My tendency to obsess over an interest and learn much about it has helped to some extent, but I couldn't help but feel I was missing out on a lot of the games and satisfaction other people had gotten from watching progaming for much longer.



After the Incruit OSL, I felt much more comfortable with my understanding of the game, having followed 3 seasons of progaming quite faithfully. But still when the conversation turned to the old greats: sAviOr, NaDa, ChoJJa, BoxeR, Iloveoov, CaSy, and July, I had nothing to say. I knew they were all really good, I knew they revolutionized the game for X or Y reason, but I didn't see it. It wasn't the same.

Last week I decided to watch every OSL finals. I wanted to see how the game evolved, how each finals represented the meta-game at the time and how professional play has transitioned to where it is now. I wanted to see the old giants with my own eyes, I wanted to see BoxeR change the OSL from a cult tournament to a entertainment phenomenon. I wanted to watch NaDa change the metagame and dominate every league, becoming the most successful gamer of all time. I wanted to feel the crushing might of The Maestro in his prime, and see Bisu revolutionize PvZ.

As I watched, I learned. As I learned, I thought. As I thought, I wrote.

This article is a five-part series, detailing my thoughts and reactions to each OSL finals. There are 25 total, and each article will contain details on 5 OSL finals. If you're new to the scene or want to revisit old memories of e-sports, read on. The rate at which the game has changed and evolved is astounding. The difference in skill between GARIMTO v.s SKELTON and Stork v.s Jaedong is incredible. Hopefully this will be a journey that we can all take together.

---

The 2000 Hanaro OSL developed from Tooniverse StarCraft tournaments, and was the first OnGameNet Starleague. Many old greats such as Grrrr..., H.O.T-Forever, SoulKey, and TheMarine entered the tournament. In what would today be a nearly impossible feat, Grrrr...(Guillame Patry) cut through the Korean players and won the first ever OSL. The first man to walk the hall of champions was the French-Canadian Protoss now famous for his poker ability. A former random player, Guillame Patry became increasingly comfortable with Protoss and began to play it exclusively.

In the finals he meets H.O.T-Forever (Name), one of the top zergs of the era, and one of the most successful players of all time. While both players were considered the best of the best, while watching these games I couldn't help but think that I could easily beat these players. The level of play was extremely micro base, low economy, and very aggressive. Grrrr... and H.O.T-Forever would often stay on one base, even when teching to high level units.

I wondered what players started to introduce a more macro based playstyle into the metagame, and how and when the game would evolve from micro to macro. I knew from what I had heard that NaDa and Iloveoov were largely responsible for the switch, so I found myself excited to witness this paradigm shift.

The low economy games are very boring. Although players like BoxeR and nal.rA are lauded for their creativity and the excitement that surrounds their games, this finals was a snooze. The one base armies are small, the clashes are resultantly less epic. However, viewing this match has given me improved respect for the skill of todays players, and respect for a game that can change so much over a long period of time.

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Game One: Grrr..../H.O.T-Forever on Space Oddysey

<center><table><tr><td align="center"><img src="/tlpd/images/players/237.jpg" alt=""></td><td align="center"><img src="/tlpd/images/maps/135_Space Odyssey_thumbnail_90.jpg" alt=""></td><td align="center"><img src="/tlpd/images/players/228.jpg" alt=""></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><img alt="(P)" title="Protoss" src="/tlpd/images/Picon_small.gif"> <a target="_blank" title="Grrrr... - TLPD Information" href="/tlpd/players/237_Grrrr...">Grrrr...</a></td><td align="center"><a target="_blank" title="Space Odyssey - TLPD Information" href="/tlpd/maps/135_Space Odyssey">Space Odyssey</a></td><td align="center"><img alt="(Z)" title="Zerg" src="/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.gif"> <a target="_blank" title="H.O.T-Forever - TLPD Information" href="/tlpd/players/228_H.O.T-Forever">H.O.T-Forever</a></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><img alt="(P)" title="Protoss" src="/tlpd/images/Picon_small.gif"> 21 - 19 <img alt="(Z)" title="Zerg" src="/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.gif"></td><td align="center"><img alt="(P)" title="Protoss" src="/tlpd/images/Picon_small.gif"> 8-8 <img alt="(Z)" title="Zerg" src="/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.gif"></td><td align="center"><img alt="(Z)" title="Zerg" src="/tlpd/images/Zicon_small.gif"> 27 - 16 <img alt="(P)" title="Protoss" src="/tlpd/images/Picon_small.gif"></td></tr></table></center>


The camera zooms in on a metal room, devoid of any life besides that of Guillame Patry and Kang Doh Gyung, complete in their ridiculous costumes. Unlike the e-sports stadiums of today, the two players face each other directly, as though they were at one of any various LAN parties I've attended, although of course without the metal walls and fog machines. It was corny, but really awesome. Although I've been told that the cheese of this OSL is nothing compared to the Tooniverse series.

Grrr... begins at the 11 o 'clock position, while H.O.T-Forever is at the 7 o 'clock position. Grrr... takes a fast gas and quickly techs to Corsairs to scout and harass. H.O.T-Forever adds a hatchery and hydra den inside his base, a 1 base hydra build. Staying on one base makes it much easier to defend against corsair harassment, since hydras don't have to run from expansion to expansion, however he will have difficulty teching as quickly as he needs to.



Because Space Odyssey is a map in where ground units cannot attack the opponents main, air units are of critical importance. Grrr... opts for corsair/carrier while H.O.T-Forever counters with Guardian/Devourer, along with scourge and hydralisk support. Both players stay on one base for a very long time. H.O.T-Forever expands to the bottom left outside his main. Grrr... adds cannons while continuing to pump corsairs. His corsairs are able to scout, but unable to harass due to the massive amount of H.O.T-Forever's hydralisks.

Grrrr... techs to carriers but is unable to do necessary damage against H.O.T's large scourge/devourer defense. While being chased around his own base by H.O.T's anti-air fleet, Mr.Patry finds himself unable to do any damage to H.O.T's base due to the large hydralisk force. Grrrr... taps out.

---

Excited over last games victory, H.O.T-Forever hopes to win his second game in a row.However, the map is Deep Purple, which is highly in favor of Protoss over Zerg. Grrr.... spawns at the 12 o clock position and H.O.T at the 1 o clock position. H.O.T-Forever immediately sends his overlord in the right direction and types in a smiley face when Grrr....'s base is located.




H.O.T-Forever lays down a hatchery first in his main, so different from the immediate FE of today, and soon after starts a spawning pool. Grrr.... comes in with a zealot and attempts to harass, but H.O.T's zerglings pop out just in time. Grrr... gets a second gate and continues adding pylons and pumping zeals. H.O.T is distressed and adds a 3rd hatchery IN HIS MAIN. The clash between zealots and zerglings continues, but soon enough Grrr.... has far too many zealots. He destroys one hatchery, and then takes out about half of H.O.T's drones before "gg".

---

Grrrr... spawns in the 6 o clock position and H.O.T spawns at 8 o clock. Both players assume normal builds, Grrrr going 2 gate, and H.O.T-Forever getting a pool rather quickly. H.O.T-Forever's initial zergling harass is ineffective and quickly crushed by a combination of zealots and probes that Grrrr has in his base.



Grrrr tries to counter after the zergling harass, now on 2 base and 3 gates, but the zerglings/sunks at H.O.T's ramp are unbreakable for the time being. H.O.T adds a spire and Grrrr immediately warps in 2 stargates. Grrrr decides to go for corsair harass and H.O.T for muta harass. H.O.T's mutas are earlier than Grrrr's sairs and he does quite a bit of damage.



Grrrr's corsairs pop out and begin scouting and harassing overlords. As Grrrr's corsair amry grows, he begins to rack up a ridiculous amount of overlord kills. This is very important, because it prevents H.O.T from having a large enough army. H.O.T decides tech may be the way to go, and morphs a hive. He gets his Greater Spire and collects a small army of Guardians and Devourers that remain hidden while Grrrr's corsairs ravage overlords.

After a long while, H.O.T sends guardians into Grrrr's expo only to have them be completely raped by corsairs. Huge waste of money. This is followed by a devastating attack on H.O.T's main which completely razes it to the ground.




But H.O.T refuses to give up, and begins building a force of hydralisks to counter the corsairs, and imminent carriers. He begins a successful push into Grrrr's base but is deterred by carriers. In the end Grrrr's army was too large, the amount of money H.O.T lost in building damages, Guardians, and overlords was just too much. He taps out.

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H.O.T-Forever spawns at the 5 o clock position and Grrr at 1 o clock. H.O.T-Forever opts for an early spawning pool while Grrrr dangerously goes for a 1 base tech build. Within the first few minutes, H.O.T-Forever has a multitude of zerglings in Grrrr's base. Grrrr manages to hold off the zerglings for a while with sick zealot/probe micro. Unfortunately, after H.O.T adds a second hatch the amount of zerglings becomes just too much and Grrrr types out.

---

Grrrr... brazenly selects random in the start of the game. H.O.T-Forever spawns at the x o clock position and Grrrr... spawns at y o clock. This is the deciding match of the Hanaro OSL, the players are tied 2-2. Everything rides on this one match. But the first question on everyones minds is probably not who will be the victor, but what race did Grrrr... spawn?



Grrrr... is terran! The commentators take a moment to laugh and chat about this, but the game continues on. H.O.T-Forever gets a standard timing pool while Grrrr... opens 2 rax. H.O.T-Forever has no idea what race Grrrr... is, hoping that his first lings might be able to not only discover what Grrrr... is hiding, but deal a fair amount of damage. H.O.T runs in Grrrr's base with his lings, sees that Grrrr... is a terran, and deals a fair amount of damage before recuperating. He researches burrow and morphs a lair.

As soon as burrow is finished, he burrows near Grrrr's command center, and in the choke outside of Grrrr's base. Grrrr... send out a sizable marine force, but walks over burrowed lings, loses many marines, and is forced to retreat. He takes down his own supply depot to make room for a comsat (imagine how stupid a terran would look, doing that now). With a decent medic marine force he moves to H.O.T's nat, but it is defended with lurkers and he is forced to move back.

H.O.T slowly produces hydralisks and lurkers, with a low econ on 2 bases, while Grrrr... techs to dropships and tanks. Grrrr... drops two tanks on the cliff near the choke, and immediately fills a dropship with medic/marine. He prepares for his drop while H.O.T moves out with some units.

Immediately, Grrrr... drops in H.O.T-Forever's main to find it barren. He razes the lair and the spire, while H.O.T's units can't advance due to the tanks on the cliff. H.O.T-Forever taps out, and Grrr... is crowned the first ever OSL champion. Congratulations Guillame Patry!

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The Hanaro OSL accurately represented a time when todays D- players would be starleague champions. Grrrr... carefully micros every zealot while he piles 4k+ minerals in the bank. 3 hatcheries seems to be enough to carry zerg to the late game. These early micro games are actually very boring.

The modern macro game is huge armies clashing on an open battlefield, it is two control groups of vultures razing your mineral line. The archaic micro game is two zealots fighting six zerglings for two minutes, it's a control group versus a control group deciding the outcome of the game.

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