Horang2: The Greatest of Heroes

Bibbit

Canada5377 Posts

November 27 2011 01:43 GMT

When you see Horang2, what do you think of? For many of you, it’s words like “Cheesy” and “PvP Sniper.” But for me, I see something different. I see a Protoss player who can hang with the best of the. One who will slam out 30 units at a time from his very prettily placed gateways. And yes, one who will cheese you all to hell if he feels like it. Still, more than that, he is the most pimptastic player on the scene today. I’m here to explain why.

Them pretty gates. Hell, that’s not even his main.

Who is Horang2?

Starting out as one of the key players in the Elite School League, Horang2 managed to make it to play with the big boys as a member of Hite Sparkyz. To understand Horang2’s beginnings, we have to first look at his very first broadcast set of games. He was a complete unknown placed into an MST group with Flash and GGPlay. With both of those players already holding OSL golds, nobody so much as glanced at Horang2. How silly we were.

First he comes up against Flash on Byzantium 3, already gearing up to spread his reputation as a filthy cheeser. He was Dark Templar rushing Flash. But a simple DT rush isn’t very cool and boss-like, is it? Horang2 looked at other Protoss players proxying their Templar tech and went “No, that is not manly.” So instead, after making his Templar tech in his main, blocking the ramp with a zealot and nothing else, he went ahead and slapped gateways two and three in the middle of the map.

That marine just needs to look down at the user interface and see that there’s a Templar Archive there!

A few moments later, that marine does find the gateways. Flash, perhaps thinking it was going to be a big bust at his natural, throws up a bunker. But little does he know that Horang2 is up to something else entirely. Something much more bullshit. Flash soon realizes what’s up and his vulture mines are finishing just in time despite the proxy gates, so he might be able to hold. Horang2, however, is prepared for that too.

Horang2 apparently had a better Minesweeper coach than GGaemo did.

Finally Flash is starting to throw up some Turrets in his main. But there are few Dark Templar now and they’re just bashing them down.

“Dont just stand there, help me build faster!” - SCV

Horang2 continues to cut down mines just as fast as Flash can plant them.

Apparently mines need to collect some dirt from the ground before they can blow up.

After much trouble, Flash manages to get up a Turret by his mineral line. But by this point, Flash is just about out of units, which you’ll note are important to have in this game. Flash’s new-found detection does little to help against the zealots that are now streaming in and, as his only factory is just about dead, he types out the GG.

If those zealots had mouths, they would be grinning ear to ear. Well they would if they had ears.

With that, Horang2 advanced to play against GGPlay. Though that game wasn’t quite as cool as the one against Flash, it was still funny as hell. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?

A PvZ on Destination, Horang2 holds off on the insanity and forge expands. It’s not until much later that we see what badassery he has in store for us.

4 Gate Speedlot/ Archon attack. Also known as the Baby Punch Build (sure why not?) for its goal to take out the zerg before he really gets going.

About a minute later, Horang2 rolls out with a handful of zealots and a single archon. He started +1 really late so it’s not going to be ready for a long time.

All good armies march in the shape of a lollipop.

But GGPlay is really good and has a great simcity prepared at his third. Those zealots are going to be hard pressed to get back to those Sunkens. Surely Horang2’s attack is doomed to fail, right?

No way you’re sticking your lollipop in there, 50 Cent.

I’m sure GGPlay was mighty disappointed when he realized Horang2 never even considered making his way over to that third. He ran straight for the natural which, though it has those thin bridges that need to be crossed, has no real simcity protecting the Sunkens.

Those terrible Rodeo ClownLings are totally getting fired.

Seconds later, the natural is getting completely overrun and GGPlay is looking hard-pressed to hold off the attack.

Super brave drone mining that gas. Lest we forget.

By this point, Horang2 has 6 gates making pure zealot and all rallied straight across the map into GGPlay’s natural. He holds it off impressively for over 5 more minutes, but ultimately is forced to type out.

“I have no clue who this guy is or what I just watched.” - Literally everybody

With those games, Horang2 advanced out of his MST Group first with his wins over two OSL champions. Unfortunately, he was knocked out the MSL in the group stage with losses to Kwanro and DoctorK. But for Horang2, this was only the beginning.

2009-2010 Season

In Horang2’s first full Proleague season as a progamer, he enjoyed considerably playtime as Hite’s top Protoss. He continued his trend as a bit of a strange player with oddities like his low ground, out of base gateway against Darkelf.

Wait, somebody run into his booth real quick and tell him that’s not where gateways belong!

Or, he could impress with standard but shockingly solid play. Like this game over Effort on Polaris Rhapsody.

Overall, he closed out the season with a respectable record of 15-12 in Proleague which made him one of Hite’s more reliable players. However, although he was able to play well for a team, he was much less enviable in the individual leagues. From October of 2009 through to July of the following year, he dropped out of his MST group to Baby and Saint, lost 1-2 to Frozen in an OSL, and barely fell out of another MST group with dual losses to Hyuk. Altogether during that time period, he went 19-20. But we started to see a pattern emerge. Even though we wasn’t doing great overall, there was clearly something a bit strange going on.

That.

Okay. Granted, a lot of those big wins, specifically the ones against Kal, Stork, and Jangbi, were matched by losses to the same person. But something was definitely wrong. I’d like to take a look at one of these games to show that Horang2 wasn’t getting lucky or anything, but was rather just incredibly solid in the match up.

It’s a game between Horang2 and Kal on Fighting Spirit. Now, call me crazy if you have to, but I felt like Kal was one of the strongest Protoss players around in 2010. But that’s a story for a different time. My point is it’s not like Horang2 was beating up some scrub.

Horang2 in red at the 1 o’clock and Kal in yellow at the 7 o’clock, cross positions. The game starts off kind of fun already with Kal trying to block his ramp with a probe and Horang2 trying to zap his way in. Eventually he manages to make it in.

Also look how Horang2 ~~scouted the middle for proxies~~ used his magic powers to find Kal right away.

Kal first scouts top left and upon seeing he’s not there and judging from the quick scout time, figures Horang2 must have been at one of the closer spots. So he starts his long journey to the bottom right, not realizing that Horang2 is actually just a genius.

You can see on the minimap that there’s also a dragoon headed in that direction. It pokes his head up the ramp then walks away in shame.

Both players went for one gate goon range followed by a robo. The first deviation happens when Kal goes up to two gate while Horang2 stays on one, and Kal goes Observatory before Support Bay while Horang2 does the opposite.

There doesnt have to be a joke under every picture, does there?

Kal takes a Nexus pretty soon after, and Horang2 goes Reaver before Shuttle. This is a bit unfortunate for Horang2 since the Reaver first signifies he’s content with staying defensive for the time being which means he probably would have liked to have the quicker nexus. Not too significant though because Horang2’s nexus starts shortly after.

“My zealot friends... You must push me.” - Reaver

Before the Shuttle ended up popping out, I was kind of confused. Why did Horang2 go Robo Bay before Observatory but Observer before Reaver or Shuttle? How did Kal get a quicker Nexus despite being on two gates instead of one? But when the Shuttle came out, it all made sense. He went for a fast Shuttle speed upgrade. Also, seeing there’s an Observer in his base, he takes a roundabout route through his base with the Shuttle so it’s not seen.

It’s hard to tell with a still picture, but just trust that Shuttle has speed right now !

Horang2 moves forward with his army and starts to prod at the front. He’s deflected pretty easily by Kal’s whole army sitting in the natural, including a Reaver.

Check out that baby Recall that’s somehow happening in the middle.

But because of Horang2’s sneakiness with that speed Shuttle, there’s something more interesting happening at the same time.

Whoops. And yes, that was the very first scarab fired.

Even after that initial brutal shot, Kal was pretty slow on the probe pull. After 2 more scarabs fired, the Reaver takes his 12 Probe kills and flies off into the night.

What a lonely Probe. Also, you never notice how much graphics are recycled until you start freeze framing at random times. Tell me that’s not a tiny Dark Swarm over the mineral line.

Kal smartly tries to cut off the Shuttle with a few Dragoons but because of Horang2’s smart quick Shuttle speed build, he escapes handily.

If you close your eyes and pretend, you can see those Dragoons shaking their fists.

Now Kal is pretty afraid so he has some nicely positioned Dragoons waiting to intercept any incoming Shuttles.

But it turns out...

Fun fact I just learned: I saw the Reaver had only 10 kills on it even though I was pretty sure it had 12 so I ran an experiment. Apparently if you pick the Reaver up into a Shuttle before the scarab actually explodes, the Reaver doesn’t get credited with the kills!

Unfortunately for Horang2, that scarab ended up dudding. But still a pretty suave maneuver if I do say so myself.

Anyway, at this point Kal pushes Horang2 right back to his natural. But with the amount of Probe kills he got, I’m sure he doesn’t mind. He’s got a nice position on his end of the fat bridge so he’s not getting broken any time soon.

You shall not pass etc etc..

While Horang2 has been the master tactician in this game so far, Kal decides he’s got some cool moves of his own. With his position established outside Horang2’s bridge and his army threatening enough to make him commit all his units there for defence, Kal swings a bunch of Dragoons around through Horang2’s natural third to get a surround while sending his Reavers over to the natural mineral line. But then this happens:

Which in turn leads to this:

Still, Kal manages to get himself positioned rather nicely for a big fight. I’m not going to even try doing justice to a battle like this, so I invite you to watch a few minutes of the VOD. It will start at the battle.

Ultimately Horang2 loses both his Reavers while Kal’s both barely survive by the roboskin of their roboteeth (Robots). Still, he manages to push Kal back and this is followed by a pretty long period of passivity during which both players get up their Templar tech. Eventually Horang2 puts up his third while having a Probe in position to see that Kal has not yet taken his own.

The peace treaty is finally broken by Kal as he scouts Horang2’s third and responds by running his army up a ramp after it and taking his own third behind the attack. Horang2’s army is hot on the trail but Kal barely manages to target down the Nexus at the cost of his army.

“Ha! I got your Nexus!” - Nobody because they’re all dead.

Meanwhile, Kal has two Reavers in Horang2’s natural getting a ton of Probe kills. But he loses his Shuttle and consequently the two Reavers with it.

“Ha! I got your ~~Nexus~~ Probes!” - Nobody because they’re all ~~dead~~ robodead.

Because of those two exchanges, Horang2 has a massive army advantage but an equally massive economic disadvantage. So what do you do when that happens? This:

“Oh dear.” - Kal

Again, I’d like to direct you to the VOD for this final battle, though I assure you its not particular close !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGl-bBAFpHw#t=16m25s

And with that final facerolling, Horang2 picks up the W.

2010-2011 Season
Again, this refers to the period of time between October 2010 and July 2011.

Even though his previous season had certainly been respectable, it was only with Hite’s merger with CJ, and consequently Horang2’s new environment, that he really became an incredibly potent force. Still, however, his results in individual leagues remained lackluster. He bombed out of the Bacchus 2010 OSL with a 1-2 loss to Hyun and lost in the MST to S2 and Roro. His next MSL run, the ABC Mart MSL, greeted him with a bit more success. In his MST group, he defeated Paralyze and Shine to come out first. Then in the group stage of the MSL Proper, he took his revenge on Hyun and beat Ruby to move on to the Ro16. But there, his run would end with a 1-2 loss to fellow Protoss Grape.

Just like last season, it’s when we look at his Proleague stats that I start to get amazed. First, I’ll just state his overall record on the season: 21-11 for 65% wins. But the cool thing is how many different ways we can break those numbers down and have them still be astonishing!

He’s 5-1 on Neo Aztec
He’s 9-3 on La Mancha
At most in the entire PL season, he dropped 2 games straight
Freakin this: + Show Spoiler +

To a lesser extent, this: + Show Spoiler +

But of course, statistics never tell the whole story. People often write Horang2 off as a PvP sniper who’s abysmal, or mediocre at best, in his other match ups. To be frank, that is entirely unfair. Which of course means its time to look at another game! Let us watch a PvZ against Shine on Neo Aztec.

Horang2 is the red Protoss at the 12 and Shine is down at the 4 in yellow. The game opens as normal as can be with Horang2 forge expanding into a Stargate followed by Citadel while Shine goes three hatch into Lair.

It’s not funny but might as well just laugh anyway.

Air weapons are upgrading and Horang2 is building up his Corsair fleet. All PvZs are at least 20% cooler this way.

It’s okay to hide your Corsairs over the ocean but dont let them get Scourged or you wont be able to rescue the pilot.

The game proceeds as normal and Horang2 manages to slip a DT into the mineral line of Shine. Unfortunately he wasn’t very sneaky so he only got two drone kills, but he manages to deny mining for a little while.

“Come at me bro” - DT from Aiur Shore

Shine buckles down tight and takes his fourth base. Meanwhile Horang2 is just poking around with his army hoping to find a weak spot he can smash through.

Unfortunately the ever-present Lollipop Formation is denied.

Unable to do any damage, Horang2 just gears up to take a third base. However, Shine has a surprise for him:

That burrowed ling is giggling pretty hard, I assure you.

Horang2 continues to poke, this time at the third. Again he’s forced to back off.

“Get out of me, please.” Manner Archon.

I’m sure Horang2 considered going home, but he decided that he was actually a baller and starts to ferry units into Shine’s pretty undefended fourth.

Manner Archon is back with a vengeance.

With the help of four more Zealots, Horang2 manages to take down the base.

Note that dying Hatcheries apparently release Plague. Sadly Blizzard never thought to make it do 300 damage.

Horang2 manages to get down his third after much difficulty and he’s making his way up to 9 gates.

See? I told you he organized his gateways prettily.

Finally we get our first major engagement. Can you guess who wins the hell out of it with well placed Storms?

No it wasn’t Shine you jackass.

With that battle won handily, and +2 attack now finished, Horang2 crashes down on Shine’s third. Notice that Shine actually has three hatches at his fourth, making him pretty boned.

Look ma, no stupid tentacle things!

Meanwhile, as Shine is trying to get his army over to defend, Horang2 distracts it with a handful of Zealots he had rallied over. He’s pretty successful with it, as Shine ultimately has to burrow that Lurker.

“Sow how about that crazy weather we’ve been having?” - Distraction Task Force.

Shine’s third is entirely broken and his army mostly decimated by some more nice Storms. Horang2 continues on his merry way to take out the fourth.

Pretend Plagues... Pretend Plagues everywhere.

As he finishes off the fourth of Shine, Horang2 starts rallying his 834629 Gateways towards Shine’s natural, producing only Zealots. Horang2 also taking his fourth behind it.

Note that this is only like half the zealots in that congo line.

No description for this next event, just look. Unless you’re a Zerg sympathizer, then I advise you skip it.

Apparently people with chubby faces are really good at Storming.

Finally with Shine’s third and fourth dead, Horang2 consolidates his army, busts through Shine’s natural, and finishes off the game while Zealots continue to stream down the map.

Bam!

And with that, I conclude my writeup of why Horang2 is secretly amazing, not just in PvP, but on the whole. Whether he wants to cheese you dead in 5 minutes or if he wants to go late game and allow his spectacular macro to take over, he’s capable of taking games off the best of them. Hopefully in this coming season, Horang2 continues to be a critical component of CJ’s success. Moreover, I hope he can improve his performance in the OSL so that maybe he can get recognition as the truly great player he is. If you’re still reading this far, I thank you, and feel free to suggest players you might like to see a similar writeup of.

Cheers !

Bibbit is a Starcraft fan who apparently has too much time on his hands. If you want to be the first to know when he writes more ~~incredibly biased~~ overviews of players, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Bibbit_Mack

BloodDrunK

Bangladesh2767 Posts

November 27 2011 01:49 GMT

OMG!!! what an epic writeup. haven't gone through the entire thing yet though. but still an awesome writeup. Horang2 deserves the spotlight and he's going to show everyone this season why.

Horang2 fighting.

iSometric

2221 Posts

November 27 2011 01:55 GMT

Nice writeup. I always like horangee for his insane macro.

baubo

China3370 Posts

November 27 2011 01:56 GMT

One thing I always look for in a Horang2 game is whether he screws himself over by making his gateways too neatly. I swear he has some sort of compulsive disorder where he can't stand the thought of gateways and pylons not lining up in a neat line. Even if it means getting a couple of goons stuck in there.

Zhang

United States129 Posts

November 27 2011 02:01 GMT

Does anyone have a link to that commercial with horang2 being awkward around that boothgirl?

red4ce

United States7313 Posts

November 27 2011 02:04 GMT

Very nice writeup. I always like when the spotlight is on lesser known players. Helps me to appreciate their play more. Keep up the good work.

risk.nuke

Sweden2825 Posts

November 27 2011 02:04 GMT

lol at the ggaemo pun

Meteora.GB

Canada2479 Posts

November 27 2011 02:09 GMT

Hmm, so I guess the comparisons between (P)

InCa to

Horang2 are somewhat inaccurate when at least Horang2 can PvZ. :p

Great writeup. Its nice to spotlight some of the lesser known players and appreciate their play.

Thrill

2599 Posts

November 27 2011 02:11 GMT

What a fantastic writeup - thoroughly enjoyed educating myself on Horang2, those screen caps must have taken ages to put together!

Warms my heart to see players outside of the most well known ones getting praise from foreign fans.

Taekwon

United States8155 Posts

November 27 2011 02:13 GMT

#10

Holy shit.

BloodDrunK

Bangladesh2767 Posts

November 27 2011 02:13 GMT

#11

On November 27 2011 11:01 Zhang wrote:
Does anyone have a link to that commercial with horang2 being awkward around that boothgirl?

SkimGuy

Canada709 Posts

November 27 2011 02:15 GMT

#12

I love these write-ups, really gives you an in-depth view of some of the lesser known players
Horang2 was pretty good last PL but I didn't know he was that good xd

VGhost

United States3621 Posts

November 27 2011 02:17 GMT

#13

I remember that game vs. Kal – I was amazingly upset over Kal's lack of any awareness whatsoever when it came to his probes.

Kimoleon

United States210 Posts

November 27 2011 02:18 GMT

#14

I support this fanthread, always been a fan of Horang2.
Felt like he grew more solid last round, and was a steal at 4 pts now at 6 T.T

Tiger toss hwaiting~

Warpath

Canada1242 Posts

November 27 2011 02:20 GMT

#15

There's a lot more in this thread than i thought there would be xD

whatusername

Canada1181 Posts

November 27 2011 02:23 GMT

#16

I see a player who can hang with the best of the too.

chongu

Malaysia2609 Posts

November 27 2011 02:36 GMT

#17

Cool. Dun remember watching most of these games!! fun reading!! and funny captions!! : )

but my favorite horang2 game is: *drum rolll*

+ Show Spoiler +

Horang2 vs Yellow. Fast forwarded to the best part.

Same match but at the ending battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyZBxHiPTqA#t=10m30s

+ Show Spoiler [game spoiler] +

SUCK IT BIBIT