3-0
What an historic event, Bisu defeating Savior, the best ZvP in the world, if not, ever, 3-0 in the finals of GomTV MSL. What is truly amazing, is that he did it using the same build in all three games. From this early game build he branched off into varying midgames - but the opening idea was constant.
During the training, I discovered a good build against Zerg. For that, I was also disheartened(when I lost during practice using this build), stumbling across thoughts like 'I really can't lose like this tomorrow". I guess I was able to win, because Ma Jaeyoon chose builds that are relatively easy to deal with instead of difficult ones. No one else believed I'd win 3:0 except myself(smile). I think I showed them real good, winning it 3:0(smile).
- Bisu in his winners interviewMBC are notorious for being well prepared or their games, none more so than bisu. Arguably, Bisu's biggest strength is Best of X series due to the fact he prepares well for the whole set. So for his first ever finals against the maestro, without a doubt the whole MBC coaching staff as well as bisu would have being doing their homework on how to win this. They were fighting against all odds.
What are we going to do!
Lets back track alittle bit in time. This revolutionary build bares historical similarities to Splash Protosss (Sair/Reaver). Developed extensively by Ra, this was thought be to be the best counter to Zerg, and was at times dubbed to be perfect PvZ. Zerg's learned and adapted and sair/reaver is not as awesome as it once was. However, it was a very map dependent strat so it was not always able to be used. Splash Protoss could be called the first Protoss revolution in the way it changed the matchup forever. At the height of Splash Protoss ZvP winrates leveled out to roughly 50/50 iirc.
The expert of Sair/Reaver
Lets jump forward in time a bit. We all know that when boxer left, he left a hole in the MSL. Because of this hole a 8-man wildcard tournament was held to account for the dropout. The winner would receive a spot in the next MSL.
What does he have to do with this?
Many of you will remember this blog entry. It was the game which sent Daezang into the loser bracket of Pringles 2 MSL. The game shows that Daezang was an innovator - and one that was desperately trying to crack the PvZ problem - as demonstrated by his 4 gate all out offensive. Without a doubt, only savior could have defended it. Daezang struck it rough in Survivor and came up against team mate Free for a spot in the MSL. He lost 1-2 but due to boxer's absence he got into the wildcard tournament.
After edging out Goodfriend in a closer and hard fought match his next opponent was Mingu (who beat Nada) on Blitz. The fact that this game was on Blitz is very important. Why?
This map holds the key
Heres an interesting statistic, Daezang is 5-0 on this map against zerg (5-1 overall). The map is balance PvZ if you were wondering - 9-9. Daezang had discovered a particular build on this map that made him insanely good vs zerg on this particular map. In fact, he discovered the 'bisu build'. Yes, that's right, the very same opening which would give Bisu his 3-0 over savior was developed in this wildcard tournament.
Daezang shredded Mingu, Chojja and Aqua with the same build on this map. His amazing style earned him many fans amongst TL such as yours truly and Manifesto7. While Daezang would fade, his innovation wouldn't.
This begs the question, why didn't he use it more and on different maps? That, i cannot answer... Although at the time 5gate speedlot with +1 was considered the best post-fe strategy. If you look at his other games (e.g longinus) he uses the speedlot build. Perhaps he thought it was better. Another reason for Daezang's limited success is that he is a micro player. His macro is sub-par in my honest opinion and thus he could only go so far in the leagues. He would not be the one to revolutionise the matchup.
Yes!
Like Nada taking Soul Key's strategy and developing it into a weapon that imbalanced TvZ for a long time (until savior devised the antidote). Bisu took this build and with his superior game sense and macro abused it to its fullest potential. Bisu is no build order revolutionist, he simply does what every other toss does - better. It's his out-of-this-world game sense and timing that makes him such a PvZ threat. As Stork remarked, Bisu can predict when and where battles will happen before they take place. He claimed that Bisu was a genius at the matchup - and that is so very true.
So where is the evidence?
Here is Daezang's blitz gamelist;
vs Chojja @ Pringles 2 MSL
This is a speedlot build, but it is prior to Daezang's savior game so it shows the evolution and discovery of the build.
vs Child @ Proleague
This was 2 days before the wildcards, and is somewhat of a hybrid build iirc - the video is buggy and choppy so i cant get anything conclusive out of it
vs Mingu @ MBC Survivor Wildcard
This is the first instance of the build
vs Chojja @ MBC Survivor Wildcard
Same build, same map, same outcome
vs Aqua @ MBC Wildcard
Sadly, i cannot find the vod for this... but it is the same build as the last two (check live report thread if you dont beleive me)
With a little innovation 3-0 was possible
While many hard core bisu fans will probably abuse shit out of me, let me say this. This post in no way detracts from Bisu's talent and skill. It is not saying that Bisu is a cheap build stealer - because hey, everyone copies everyone in the game anyway. Bisu and Daezang share very similar styles, except Bisu does what Daezang does better. He is like Daezang MkII in my opinion. This post is dedicated to Daezang, who is currently serving his time in the Air Force. Hopefully it will gain him some credit. His innovation has allowed a second Revolution in PvZ. Daezang created the tools, and Bisu weilds them well. Bisu extended the build to other maps similar to what Ra did with Sair/Reaver and has changed PvZ forever.
If you think this should be reposted elsewhere then say so in the comments - be sure to leave your opinion too... I may not be 100% right on the issue, but im pretty sure about this Hopefully this can generate some discussion at the very least.
I hope you enjoyed the read
The Innovator