Air Force ACE is only as strong as its coaching... and it has the best coaching in the game today.
Does this claim seem ridiculous? Teams such as SKT and KT are renowned for having premier coaching talent, all the way down to racial coaches, with coach Park/oov especially considered the gold standard for coaching excellence. With oov's retirement, Coach Park still stands undisputed as the most successful in the game today. For the most part, other than training and preparing the players, his part involves setting lineups and creating mismatches for the opponent based on racial and map compositions. In this area, he has proven to be among the greatest of all time.
ACE's Coach Song and his team have absolutely blown Coach Park out of the water in regards to strategy, and in fact have morphed ACE from a team playing from behind into one that makes all the rules during a set. Let's take a look at how this works.
First you should watch the end of this vid as FBH finds his dance groove again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND5Osyw9k6w&feature=youtu.be&t=26m3s
The Air Force ACE bandwagon is bigger than ever before. Everyone pulls for the boys in blue, sometimes even rooting against their own "home team" because, come on, it's ACE. An endearing mix of castoffs and old legends, ACE is the perennial underdog, impressing with each victory and providing a dramatic storyline to accompany each game. Whether we are watching a fallen god attempting to reclaim his fire, or a plucky bench-jockey finally receiving A-team exposure, it feels good to root for ACE. And until recently, that was very important, because rooting for ACE meant you were rarely getting the satisfaction of a "W" in the result column.
Last season, this changed dramatically.
ACE went from being the worst team in the league by a wide margin to outperforming "legitimate" teams in several rounds. While the winners-league format still unceremoniously crushed ACE's playoff hopes and handed them the worst overall record, their overall play in other rounds was remarkable compared to prior seasons, winning more games, having more close losses, and winning nearly twice as many team matches as ever before. Furthermore, ACE began to play with a swagger heretofore unseen; while they still celebrated each win individually and as a team, players began to exit the booth after a tough win a look of pride and a knowing nod, instead of the deer-in-the-headlights, how-did-I-do-that astonishment of previous years.
Look at Peace's hands shake when he goes to salute after the match. You think he goes out there expecting to lose now? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBqPoxFZrZM&feature=youtu.be&t=21m14s
Individual players acquired clear identities and roles; ggaemo became known as a legitimate ZvP sniper with a solid ZvT, firebathero established a new reputation as a viable TvP player while returning to form in his other matchups, PianO and Peace showed dangerous prowess as early-game strategic players with excellent small-scale micro (especially Piano's play against lurkers, which might be some of the best in the game today despite his terrible multitask and mediocre vP. Seriously, the guy is so much like Casy that I can't believe people don't talk about it all the time). Other players stepped up and took on roles as snipers, solid backbones, and potential Ace match/map-specific threats.
Many attribute this newfound success to better recruiting and practicing, as well as a trend of taking on younger, less-appreciated players (Piano, Peace, Ggaemo) instead of mostly established, but potentially washed-up, veterans. Certainly the ACE players of today are much more modern and better-equipped to play 2011 Broodwar than the men of BoxeR's ACE were to play in their current metagame. But with ACE, more than any other team, credit must be given not to the players themselves, despite their admirable play of late, but to the real force behind their current success.
Coach Song has done this by completely rethinking the concept of the Starcraft "team"; instead of a group of ragtag players who are trying to accumulate wins for a team individually, ACE now functions as a cohesive unit that cleverly forces an opponent to react to a constantly shifting metagame of unusual strategies, carefully chosen rushes, and corner-cutting macro play to keep every player on the team completely off-guard, make it impossible to predict who or even what race will play on a given map, and to turn standard racial matchup conventions on their heads. While an individual player might successfully do this (both Flash and Nal_rA are excellent examples of players who rigorously utilized cheesy play to craft a reputation of unpredictability, and then respectively pioneered Double Nexus and 14cc play as well as a host of other corner-cutting macro measures), never before has an entire team managed to consistently perplex the way ACE has managed of late. It is always a surprise who they send out on a specific map (or even field on a given day), and there is no "default" strategy the other team can assume REGARDLESS of opponent.
When you let Canata beat you with cheese, you were definitely not ready for your opponent
All this means practicing to beat ACE is absolute Hell on the other team and no better than a crapshoot. But even better, it means ACE has an easier time practicing than ever before; when you are intentionally choosing unconventional strategies and rushes, you are dictating the flow of the game and have much less impetus to practice for a wide variety of circumstances. Liberal early-game shenanigans force the opponent to play perfectly while ACE players concentrate on a very specific and easy-to-practice plan, requiring much less in the way of time or quality practice partners to test and refine. Furthermore, it allows the macro players of that week extra time to tie up practice partners, gives them leeway in their live matches to outmacro opponents in the early game (because the opponents are, rightfully, overly preoccupied with playing safe and not being cheesed), and once again means they are more likely to dictate the flow of the game. This gives ACE an edge over "good" players from other teams, who have almost no incentive to cheese ACE (cheesing is best when you are the underdog and can predict the opponent race, and if ACE is likely to rush as well you are setting up, at best, a 50/50 situation) and visibly rattles many players and teams.
Firebathero decides to beat the hell out of Bogus twice in one day, who cares if he's one of the top Terrans in PL
By utilizing an incredibly scrappy, in-your-face style of team-play that was previously unknown, ACE is effectively fielding an entire lineup of UpMaGiCs, BoxeRs, and Nal_rAs, with the ability to play better macro games than those players were ever really capable of... and it is allowing ACE to establish an identity, with all the confidence that comes from such. This is scary!
With the new proleague format, and the removal of ACE matches, other teams may find that ACE is better-equipped, strategically, to handle proleague than any other team. While they will almost certainly be outperformed, other top teams need to pay attention to this new strategic trend, and hopefully some of the weaker teams (STX in particular) will incorporate this style of play into their everyday lineups, because it is the only way to beat a team like Team8, CJ, or SKT who can roll out 5 very good players each day. Whether or not other coaches understand this call to action, they will feel its effects the next time ACE batters down their doors with players no one has ever heard of before.
Nice writeup. Yea I kind of remember not that long ago, I liked them but expected them to lose vs almost any team. Couldn't really put a finger on what they were doing differently but they've been kicking ass. Thanks for the insight.
Nice write up. It is not shocking ACE is going to be deadly under this new format, and with the players they have, they will do extremely well when it gets to the game 4 and 5.
Great writeup. I never really payed too much attention to ACE before this last season (started paying attention mostly because of FBH) but when I did I was pleasantly surprised. Great insight, thanks!
nice OP. Indeed, this new format will only benefit ACE, and the ACE coach has definitely been doing better and better with his men... Things are only looking up for ACE :D
[However, what's worrying is that... if ACE doesn't finish last, what will the sponsor of the last-place team feel...? D: ]
ACE is becoming a stronger team each day. I'm pretty sure they won't end last place in the rankings this time, and hopefully they'll make it to the playoffs.
Hmmmm.... I think it's a little early for a title like this. To say a team is winning after just one 3:2 victory is a misuse of the word. I'm rooting for ACE too but it's speculative if they are going to do well the whole season. (that's my reaction to title haha. Will read this tomorrow when I am not sleepy. I bet everything else is very interesting ^^).
I think you (OP) is flowing with the wind too easily. ACE is performing better because they have better player this time around and one match 3:2 win doesn't say anything. You should save your talk until they're top half or at least win 3-4 match in a row.
On November 28 2011 13:36 Chef wrote: Hmmmm.... I think it's a little early for a title like this. To say a team is winning after just one 3:2 victory is a misuse of the word. I'm rooting for ACE too but it's speculative if they are going to do well the whole season. (that's my reaction to title haha. Will read this tomorrow when I am not sleepy. I bet everything else is very interesting ^^).
exactly. And Id say this win was more of a coach failure on KT's part by sending out HoeJJa and BarrackS (wtf) when they have Wooki and Mind.
People, somebody on the ACE coaching staff know what they're doing. RuBy last year might have been an anomaly, but ggaemo - who lost out as Jaedong's apprentice to Killer - has become Military-Dong. M18M is a competent player now. Iris looked resurgent at times, PianO almost looks like the Terran hope he was supposed to be for Woongjin - for the first time ever he finished a season with a winning record. And the greatest miracle of all? - firebathero has learned to TvP. Wait, what? Somebody at ACE is doing something very right.
Glad to see someone else agreeing with me!
Anyway, I want to say here that one pattern I've noticed is that 2nd year ACE players have (almost notoriously, except I'm not sure who's actually noticed) really dropped off in terms of performance: I'm guessing it's a question of simply not having the practice time. This was really noticeable in FBH's win over Action - his multi-tasking was almost non-existent. The camera would repeatedly cut from a brilliant display of micro (which he still has) to another force getting swamped by ling/swarm, something KHAN's firebathero would never have let happen. This was in fact almost entirely responsible for dragging the game out as long as it did go: Action's muta were decisively refuted, and fbh had a huge macro lead the entire game. Whether firebathero's eventual win was due more to his understanding of the TvZ game (which is still phenomenal) or simply to Action's suckiness (he depends on Hive-level spell micro and his early game is absurdly weak for a #1 Zerg) I leave to the reader's judgment.
I'm leery about the coaching aspect, especially because if the Ace coach is so good, one of the other teams like SKT1 or KT would've hired that guy. Just a guess from a free market standpoint.
I think more than coaching, it's the lack of pressure that has allowed these players to succeed. We're talking about B level level players living breathing BW but rarely gets a chance to shine. And even when they're sent out, they must feel they're on a short leash with all the other guys fighting for that PL lineup spot. We have veteran former top players who had to face the constant pressure of having to win time after time. A lot of players in BW don't succeed more due to mental issues than physical issues. It's these players who sometimes succeed in Ace.
On November 28 2011 15:16 baubo wrote: I'm leery about the coaching aspect, especially because if the Ace coach is so good, one of the other teams like SKT1 or KT would've hired that guy. Just a guess from a free market standpoint.
I think more than coaching, it's the lack of pressure that has allowed these players to succeed. We're talking about B level level players living breathing BW but rarely gets a chance to shine. And even when they're sent out, they must feel they're on a short leash with all the other guys fighting for that PL lineup spot. We have veteran former top players who had to face the constant pressure of having to win time after time. A lot of players in BW don't succeed more due to mental issues than physical issues. It's these players who sometimes succeed in Ace.
The coaches likely study/have classes on military strategy. I'm not saying there's causation, but more likely than not, there's correlation. Strategy and tactics are a staple in any military force, whether the Airforce, Army, or Navy. Principles in real life apply to RTS as well (at the very least by analogy).
I've always thought ACE had the best cheeses, more so than even SKT/CJ (the two best proleague coaching staffs)
Of course coaching isn't solely responsible for ACE's recent solid play, but I'm taking a bold stance on this subject, having watched every ACE game in the last few years and seeing the drastic shift in strategy and results (+70% team win rate is extremely significant), the coaching must be responsible to a large degree. For the first time, ACE has actual racial coaches and players functioning exclusively in a support/coaching role, and for the first time they are actively confounding opposing lineups with clever metagaming.
I am also not saying the ACE coaches understand the game better or are better at preparing players for specific matchups. However, Coach Song and his team clearly understand the limitations of ACE and have worked hard to play to their strengths, to much greater success in recent times, and could perhaps herald an important new trend in the team-based metagame now that ACE matches are gone. ACE's strategy works best against "above average" to "A-tier" players, who normally have great incentive to player super-standard, but often falls against the top of A-tier and S-tier opponents, who have the skills and game sense to play through most scenarios. Now that S-tier players cannot play twice per match, confounding strategies designed to attack the 2-5th best players on a team are more valuable by comparison.
I am in no way basing my evaluation of ACE's prospects/skill level on the win over KT. In fact, it is not actually surprising at all that KT, a relatively shallow team with a few very good players, would fall to ACE, a team that uses its entire depth, top-to-bottom, in a clever and unique way.
On November 28 2011 13:22 ]343[ wrote: [However, what's worrying is that... if ACE doesn't finish last, what will the sponsor of the last-place team feel...? D: ]
Easy. Nobody will be unhappy about ACE beating them if they make it off to play-offs, not merely end up as 7th.
On November 28 2011 15:16 baubo wrote: I'm leery about the coaching aspect, especially because if the Ace coach is so good, one of the other teams like SKT1 or KT would've hired that guy. Just a guess from a free market standpoint.
I think more than coaching, it's the lack of pressure that has allowed these players to succeed. We're talking about B level level players living breathing BW but rarely gets a chance to shine. And even when they're sent out, they must feel they're on a short leash with all the other guys fighting for that PL lineup spot. We have veteran former top players who had to face the constant pressure of having to win time after time. A lot of players in BW don't succeed more due to mental issues than physical issues. It's these players who sometimes succeed in Ace.
On November 28 2011 15:16 baubo wrote: I'm leery about the coaching aspect, especially because if the Ace coach is so good, one of the other teams like SKT1 or KT would've hired that guy. Just a guess from a free market standpoint.
Not if he's in the Air Force and hasn't coached before. It's not like there's an enormous college sports network for coaches to develop and come to the forefront like in US sports. Furthermore, many of the teams out there aren't operating at a profit, and the BW market itself is shrinking, so applying the free market argument doesn't necessarily work as there might not be any serious financial incentive to developing top coaching talent.
What is significant is that the Air Force coach is running his team in a different manner to other coaches in the league. Map/roster selections are less predictable and players with enormous, known holes in their game are able to play around them because they are dictating the pace. PianO, for example, absolutely falls to pieces in lategame macro play and has no real multitask - but by playing unconventionally and mixing in early-game cheese, as well as playing on wildly varying maps with map-specific strategies, Piano almost never has to play a conventional lategame.
So sad that I have no emotional connection with BW players, it makes me not want to watch BW. But bit by bit I'm starting to get in, apart from the known Flash, Bisu and Jaedong I'm starting to get more with Firebathero, Sea, etc, and if I see that they are playing, I stay there to watch.
Why did I say that? Well, because I watched the entire ACE series (with Sayle's commentary of course) and I know nothing about BW. But these people, going to military and playing professionally at the same time..so awesome. There's a story, something to root for.
What is the name really lovable and smily coach that rejoiced every time his players won a game last season? He is a big reason why I became kept being a fan after the veterans left. Watching him grin like a child in Christmas when he new his coaching paid off was uniquely gratifying.
Thanks for the write up. I wanted to write something like this and from a similar point of view because I knew that the coaching staff was responsible for the stronger ACE players but I didn't have your knowledge. I hope the staff can do the same wonders to Kal and Great!
Hey, I always have said that ACE can actually do it, if there was no ACE match. There is not anymore, so really ACE should be expected to Top 4 this season.
Didn't expect them to get stomped 3-0, even if it is CJ.
Is Kal on the team now?
not yet. he's still in basic training i think. he hasn't been seen on the bench at either match (at least i dont remember anyone saying they saw him). I thought I saw at the first match, but it was actually someone else lol. damn bald asians
For the most part, other than training and preparing the players, his part involves setting lineups and creating mismatches for the opponent based on racial and map compositions.
>Firebathero: We each picked our favourite maps, then did a random draw. The entry does not reflect our internal rankings. In the next game, you may not see me or the other two beside me, but you can expect the same ferocity and power.
KT is the team that's gonna hurt most with the new format. I think they can improve it though. What if, instead of having a complete list of 5 players before the game, each team sends only the first two, and rest are submitted immediately after each game. That way teams have a chance to adjust depending on the outcome of the first two games. Fair enough I think.
EPT![[image loading]](http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9443/aceemblemlogolargeqh4at5.jpg)
ggaemo became known as a legitimate ZvP sniper with a solid ZvT, 
firebathero established a new reputation as a viable TvP player while returning to form in his other matchups, 
Nal_rA are excellent examples of players who rigorously utilized cheesy play to craft a reputation of unpredictability, and then respectively pioneered Double Nexus and 14cc play as well as a host of other corner-cutting macro measures), never before has an entire team managed to consistently perplex the way ACE has managed of late. It is always a surprise who they send out on a specific map (or even field on a given day), and there is no "default" strategy the other team can assume REGARDLESS of opponent. 
nice OP. Indeed, this new format will only benefit ACE, and the ACE coach has definitely been doing better and better with his men... Things are only looking up for ACE :D
