On July 07 2014 22:45 Letmelose wrote: My personal list, with token leagues often remembered by the general populus,
1) Coca Cola OGN StarLeague: The birthplace of the epic rivalry between BoxeR and YellOw, but really man, considering how heavily OGN "tweaked" things just to put BoxeR on a pedestal, it delegitimizes the entire tournament for me.
2) 2002 SKY OGN StarLeague: The origin of the "Legend of the Fall", and the rise of a new hero for the protoss race. The finals had more than 25,000 people attending live, probably the most fondly remembered league for protoss fans in Korea.
3) Gillette OGN StarLeague: There's a saying in Korea, which roughly translates into, "did you only start watching OGN since Gillette OGN StarLeague you newb?", the duo-viewer magnets of BoxeR and YellOw both failed to qualify, but this league kind of signified a new era, with great games to go along with the ride. My personal favourite by far.
4) 2004 EVER StarLeague: The most fondly remembered league by many, due to 7 out of the 8 quarter-finalists having been previous OGN StarLeague/MSL winners (the odd man out being YellOw). Probably the go to choice for many. If I'm to be honest, I'm a little tired of any half decent league with BoxeR doing well in it being praised as the greatest ever.
6) YATGK MSL: One of the most thoroughly planned league, that sacrificed commercially successful elements to ensure the best players were rewarded. Some really classic match-ups, and the birth of the "Tim-Dal-Rok", the best rivalry going when the triumvirate of July, NaDa, and GoRush ruled supreme.
5) So1 OGN StarLeague: The most commercially successful league. I remember hating the horrid map pool with a vengeance, but people always wanted to see BoxeR do well, and boy did he deliver in spades. Personally, the rise of the neo-triumvirate of the protoss race (PuSan, Anytime, and Stork) was noteworthy.
6) UZOO MSL: In the same vein as YATGK MSL, one of the most highly concentrated leagues in terms of game quality, with the rise of one incredibly talented IPXZerg, some fantastic games from the legend Reach, and a back-up cast of some of the most talented players from the era. I personally think despite the commercial success of the GomTV leagues (due to the ease of access from the viewers), the vintage MSL from the days when double-elimination were the real deal, MBCGame actually brought a fresh angle that OGN StarLeague repeatidly failed to give (Jesus Christ, we get it, you want BoxeR to do well, just stop making it so goddamned obvious OGN).
To be honest, I loved them all. Even when OGN did their weird decisions just to appease the BoxeR fetish, even when MSL tried to go in a direction that I disliked just to stay afloat business-wise. But if I had to choose, I personally prefer the individual leagues that happened before the rise of the ProLeague (which took away the limelight from the individual leagues both in terms of viewership and progamer priorities), the leagues that didn't go out of their way just to cling on to the blockbuster stars of the time just to succeed commercially, and had the confidence in the participating players to create new and exciting storylines. And in the height of Starcraft's success in Korea, circa 2004~2005, when the old guard were still there, and the new blood were hungry to get the limelight the likes of BoxeR enjoyed, it was simply a pleasure to watch.
But that's just me. We all have our favourites. I mean, there's magic to be found in each and every one.
can you expand on how ogn tweaked the coca cola osl in boxer's favor? and other starleagues? i'm really curious
It's already been explained pretty well, but I'll get into the specifics.
1) Ragnarok, widely regarded as one of the worst abominations ever created, was strangely chosen as the map whenever BoxeR played with an inexplicable frequency. BoxeR played SEVEN games on Ragnarok, which is a far greater number than he should have played under reasonable circumstances. No other champion I know of gained their championship by essentially playing HALF their games under what were basically free-win conditions.
2) BoxeR actually struggled during the group stages, and was due for a tie-breaker. However, due to this strange "point system", where the points (which appears on the screen at the end of the game) were added up, and BoxeR was allowed to go through without having to do a tie-breaker. This horrible system was introduced just for this tournament, and was abandoned afterwards. Terrans are always guaranteed good points versus the zerg race due to how the match-up works, and the efficiency of their units, and I'm willing to bet any number of cash that if BoxeR was somehow disadvantaged due to this retarded system, it wouldn't have been implemented.
3) There are numerous instances where OGN got out of their way to help BoxeR, and my god were they rewarded with commercial success, which urged them to push their agenda even further. The guy was a genius, and a fine poster boy for the scene, but due to the circumstances mentioned before, I really had trouble fully enjoying any of his successful leagues. There were certain scenarios that tickled the masses just right, and successful players that didn't gain enough public approval were never backed the way popular players were (case in point, July). It's not that OGN didn't try, but once their efforts fell flat, they were quick to abandon certain players in order to make "stars" of more commercially viable pretty boys.
By the way, while it was the most obvious with BoxeR, it was never an even playing field for all the players involved. That's why I love Gillette OGN StarLeague the most. July was never meant to win. He played the "hideous alien" race, he was from a terrible non-sponsored team that nobody supported, he was a nobody, and on top of that he didn't have the pretty-boy looks that was oh so important for those fan-girls. He won his fans over with his dedication, his gutsy play, and out of the world mechanics for his time. It was such a cinderella story, but alas, he didn't have the face for it. But I'll always remember.
1) Ragnarok, widely regarded as one of the worst abominations ever created, was strangely chosen as the map whenever BoxeR played with an inexplicable frequency. BoxeR played SEVEN games on Ragnarok, which is a far greater number than he should have played under reasonable circumstances. No other champion I know of gained their championship by essentially playing HALF their games under what were basically free-win conditions.
O wow - when I looked up statistics, in the final there was only one fairly balanced map (55% TvZ) and YellOw won on it. Two maps were incredibly imbalanced (Ragnarok and Neo Legacy of Char - one point for each of them) and Neo Hall of Valhalla twice - 66% TvZ.
1) Ragnarok, widely regarded as one of the worst abominations ever created, was strangely chosen as the map whenever BoxeR played with an inexplicable frequency. BoxeR played SEVEN games on Ragnarok, which is a far greater number than he should have played under reasonable circumstances. No other champion I know of gained their championship by essentially playing HALF their games under what were basically free-win conditions.
O wow - when I looked up statistics, in the final there was only one fairly balanced map (55% TvZ) and YellOw won on it. Two maps were incredibly imbalanced (Ragnarok and Neo Legacy of Char - one point for each of them) and Neo Hall of Valhalla twice - 66% TvZ.
yeah, but was it the map that were imbalanced, or the metagame at thattime on these maps ?
1) Ragnarok, widely regarded as one of the worst abominations ever created, was strangely chosen as the map whenever BoxeR played with an inexplicable frequency. BoxeR played SEVEN games on Ragnarok, which is a far greater number than he should have played under reasonable circumstances. No other champion I know of gained their championship by essentially playing HALF their games under what were basically free-win conditions.
O wow - when I looked up statistics, in the final there was only one fairly balanced map (55% TvZ) and YellOw won on it. Two maps were incredibly imbalanced (Ragnarok and Neo Legacy of Char - one point for each of them) and Neo Hall of Valhalla twice - 66% TvZ.
yeah, but was it the map that were imbalanced, or the metagame at thattime on these maps ?
Well the balance of a map has sense only in the context of given metagame. If the amateurs - for example - have around 80% winrate in TvZ in specific map but it is "balanced" when played by pros in Korea, that's little consolation, because maybe it requires mechanics for Z that are way beyond their skill. Similarly I don't see how it would help the situation if Ragnarok would turn out to be balanced after sAviOr reshaped the matchup (I'm not saying it is balanced - just making a point).
Such excellent posts from you Letmelose. I share your feelings about OGN, about how proleague became too important while i always thought individual leagues should have been the real deal..
OSL had a lot of controversies. Of course choosing Valhalla to be played twice in Coca cola OSL was one of them. I became of fan of Yellow because of game 1 of this final, a 50 minutes desperate attempt at surviving (also because of his desperate sunken rush on the worst map of all, Ragnarok). I have to say that Boxer also got owned by OGN when they edited Incubus before his final against Garimto and he couldn't land a tank on a small island behind the natural..
I think i agree with you on Gillette. The level was very good, most series went the distance, July was the first zerg to win, in a SL with only 3 zergs, there was a come back to form from Reach and that semifinal against Oov, omg such a good moment in BW ! Oov was the ultimate challenge, no one could imagine him lose, especially in a bo5, against a no name zerg. This osl had it all, even race and match-up distribution was ok, since July made it far.
It's strange that another OSL which stands out for me is Ever2005, also won by July. This time it was mostly about tvz and again July showed how good he was. The last game was crazy, the best final game i've watched and i've watched many. Yes, i think it was better than the Jangbi comeback against Fantasy. It shadows almost everything else, although i remember good semifinals.
Shinhan bank season 2 and 3 were good ones. Season 2 could have got better if Anytime actually managed to win but it was still a good osl. Season 3 had the whole "Finally Savior managed to qualify for an osl" story. He did through an ODT group containing Jaedong, Casy and Sea... That was already something. Then some rivalries appeared, with a red hot Midas, with his teammate Iris and of course Nada. The only problem i had with those OSLs is the stupid 24 men format which made the group phase almost irrelevant since only the last guy was eliminated. I just couldn't stand it, it took out half the fun.
Daum OSL was a good one in terms of gameplay even though i never really felt connected anyhow to GGPlay, he was mechanically great but it was emotionally not that good.
Curiously, the lastest OSLs have left less impressions on me, even though i really liked Jaedong and Flash. That's strange when i realize the crazy run of Flash against Jaedong, Bisu and Stork to win his first title, but i don't remember any of it except for the final shutdown. Same thing for the first Jangbi title, a long time coming one, but i forgot the circumstances. Maybe it's because the times were more about proleague, i don't know.
Ragnarock was a bad map, whatever metagame you consider. It had an impact of course but not that much. It's just that the nat was in a dumb place that made it easy to defend as terran with tanks and difficult as zerg because the travel distance was quite long. Any competent terran would prevent zerg from expanding and would win easily from there.
Btw, it was on that map that Boxer played 7 times (7/0) during Coca-Cola OSL, including 1 tvp. He played Valhalla 4 times (4/0), Jungle Story (a quite fair map by 2001 standards) twice and Legacy of Char (very good for zerg) twice, and he lost the 4 games on those 2 maps. It makes me mad to think about it actually.
Savior > Nada @ Shinhan 2006. The rivalry between these two at this time was epic. Savior was just so good back then it was almost unfair. There was so much hype before this game.
GGPlay > Iris @ Daum 07. The players themselves weren't huge names in the history or BW stars but I think this was this was the best finals in terms of game quality. It didn't have the hype of a Savior vs Nada but the games were amazing. GGPlay's play in game 3 under the most intense pressure is one of the most incredible BW feats I've seen. An amazing hold.
Garimto > Boxer @ SKY 2001. The first OSL final I ever saw. Boxer was pretty unbeatable at the time so this was a big upset.
Honourable mention to Jangbang in the Jin Air final. Intense play under huge pressure.
Was never into the MSL as much as OSL but you can't go past Bisu > Savior. Was it ever confirmed if Savior threw this series? Still, this ranks as the biggest ever BW upset, IMO.
After thinking this through I decided that the most memorable OSLs for me were the last two.
JangBi's first OSL was memorable because it was such indredible cindirella story - lucky wild card tournament won, than being 0-1 behind Flash but eventually getting to the final which was so exciting. And the last game with carriers (IIRC) - couldn't be better.
JangBi's second OSL was memorable mostly for the final, were so many legends assembled to say good bye to the scene that was so kind to them. I don't remember much about this tournament, but the final goodbye was truly amazing.
Of all the MSLs I remember two the most. When Flash won Golden Badge because I facepalmed so hard when Jaedong lost to Zero and king of "14cc into yaaawn..." repeated NaDa's feat but with WCG gold on top of that and the previous one when Flash went all "LoL I'm fabulous" into "0-2", I rooted so HARD for Jaedong's Golden Badge and then evenly hard facepalmed when he lost to Hydra in semis.
Which translates that I remember mostly OSLs when I was happy for JangBi and MSLs I was frustrated by Jaedong. It's incredible that player with so immaculate ZvZ (73% based on TLPD!) lost three times in MSL semis in ZvZ. Especially in PDPop when he knew there was no terran waiting for him, no Flash, no doom. This was his one sure shot at golden badge.
From the tournaments that happened before I started watching SC:BW I think I liked July's titles the most, especially the 3rd one. He was obviously excited about getting golden mouse, so unlike Nada.
To me, even as a Terran, I loved the Dragon season. Bisu was SOOO close to making it past Stork in the Ro16, and then messed up his micro to lose. Stork went on to win that OSL. After that match Bisu suddenly turned on this gear that made him dominant in PvP/PvT, the 2 match up he always had trouble with. He won the MSL/GOM Thing and was beyond great for his team.
The second would have to be Flash's emergence the second time, to be arguably the most dominant player of all time. He went from be this turtle style player to reinventing himself for 3 whole seasons. Eventually he won both the MSL and OSL in the same season.
And for nostalgia sake, Savior's final title in the OSL was amazing after going through all these maps "intended" to destroy him and Zergs.
EPT
