Bisu vs Mind

hero vs free

Bisu to win

hero to win

hero’s incredible run through the SSL11 will culminate into one final series against one of best players in Brood War, Bisu. The ZvP monster has played some fantastic Brood War, only dropping one game to free in the semifinals, while destroying the rest of the competition, including Bisu, in the group stages. He trounced the washed up Iris and rookie Olympus in the Round of 24, then dismantled his Round of 16 group in the form of HiyA, Larva, and Bisu. After moving into the bracket format, hero didn’t miss a beat, embarrassing Mong 3-0 in the quarterfinals and confidently beating free 3-1 in the semifinals.

In his past 20 league games, hero is at an astounding 16-4. While his ZvT won’t help him in this matchup, it is important to note his unbelievable 12 game win streak vT that he has going at the moment. Concurrently, since the beginning of the 2015 calendar year, hero has an incredible 22-12 (65%) vP winrate, and has a post-KeSPA lifetime vP record of 72%. He also got some practice beforehand by beating free in 4 games in the semifinals, as well as winning a hard-fought game against Bisu in group stages. In contrast, Bisu was taken to the brink by Mind in his semifinals, but he was able to beat ZerO in the quarters.


hero will look to his extremely aggressive style to clash with Bisu’s calm, yet fiery multitasking. We have seen in the semifinal games against free, and earlier in hero’s career, his heavy usage of early hydras, through economic builds such as his 4 hatch before lair to his aggressive 3 hatch hydra builds as they have fantastic success. He was able to catch free off-guard and force free to play to the tune that hero laid out, which of course was 2 base all-ins every time.

Because hero often opts for the early hydras to fake out the Protoss, he gets a lot of map control and information, but, most importantly, does not let the Protoss players to build up with comfort, which is huge in the PvZ matchup. In addition, we have seen hero make some ridiculous lurker drop plays so far in this SSL, most of them out-right winning the game for him, as shown in his semifinal series against free. His ability to be constantly dominating the map while still going for drops will be a key proponent for hero should he want to win against Bisu in the finals. But hero is not just known for his devastating mid game hydra plays; he can take any Protoss to the limit with his late game management, as well. hero knows when he has to transition to the late game and does so quite well while fooling his opponents that he is still committing to the heavy lair tech game. We have seen in this SSL Protoss players struggling against the late game Zerg management, especially if the Zerg has map control. It is no secret that Bisu will be able to weather the management, but can he manage the storm that hero is able to bring? We believe not.


If hero wants to beat Bisu, however, he will have to fix some glaring mistakes with his current play, plays of which Bisu is known to take advantage. The biggest mistake that hero has been making is skimping on scourges. Since hero utilizes builds that rely on heavy hydra usage in all stages of the game, he often feels that hydras should be enough to serve as his anti-drop and as his anti-air. While there is some merit to this, the main one being as economical as possible, hero will be playing against a player who abuses his ability to multi-task with heavy corsair and drop play. Let’s not forget that Bisu won the most lopsided MSL final off of his signature heavy corsair-DT play, and he has never stopped using it.

Because of this, hero must adapt his build to include spire tech if he wants to keep Bisu’s superior air play in check. It does not have to be dedicated mutalisk play in a fashion that he displayed against free on Heartbreak Ridge, but for hero to not lose a winning game will require him to be constantly producing scourges add to his army and to serve as a safe-guard. One of the other issues that hero has had is making inadequate use of static defenses. Because hero favors his early game army that is quite mobile, he usually skimps out on sunken colonies at his bases, defending with a handful of hydras at each location. However, as we saw in game 1 vs free, his lack of sunken colonies allowed free’s 2 base all-in to break through. Note that Bisu does a fantastic job of defending against aggression so hero will most likely not be able to win the in early to mid game, meaning that hero will want to aim for a the late game to beat Bisu. This is where having a lot of static defense to buffer his defenses comes into play, even if it only serves to provide peace of mind for hero.

Look for hero to throw Bisu off his game with hydra fakes and more incorporation of spire play into his games. hero will be pushed to his multi-tasking limits against Bisu, and it will come down to his ability to shut down Bisu’s sneaky harass that will most likely win him the series. If hero forces Bisu into all-ins like he did against free, he will easily be able to learn from his previous series and hold. The biggest key factor for hero will be his level of comfort going against Bisu and playing at the SSL 11 stadium. Hero needs to make sure that he stays calm, stick to his game plan, and the rewards will be ripe for reaping. Taking Bisu out of his element through sneaky lurker drops will be a sure fire way for Hero to gain the upper hand in this tough match-up. We are cheering for hero come out strong and take the whole series.


hero has shown his immaculate Neo Jade play, using his early hydras to take full map control and abusing a very wide open choke between the third and natural. Hero will look to spread the Protoss thin on this map, using lurker contains to his maximum advantage while grabbing expansions behind it. Bisu’s shuttle play may be annoying, but hero will make use of an early spire like he did against free to shut it down comfortably. Should the game go to the late hive tech, then hero gets to draw on the wisdom displayed in EffOrt’s game against free, where EffOrt goes for constant zergling runby's to grind free into an inescapable hole.


La Mancha’s distant third and no real choke point between the natural and 3rd favors hero’s aggressive hydralisk builds. By creating an aggressive early army and slowly reinforcing with more units, he can cut Bisu off from his third if Bisu ever moves out to grab an expansion. hero should also be able to use the top of the ridges to rain down lurker spines and hydralisk attacks while maintaining high ground advantage over the popular heavy dragoon armies. Look for hero to properly create static defenses on this map if Bisu attempts the 2 base all-in and to incorporate scourges into his army composition as this map is one of the easier maps for Protoss to pull off shuttle harassment.


The back ridge behind the natural and a relatively open main will favor hero’s early drop play, as we saw in his game vs free where lurkers decimated the mineral lines. hero will most likely opt for a quick lair for overlord upgrades while taking his 3rd base. Bisu will need to try to abuse a lack of early spire and take control of the skies, but hero also showed that he is comfortable with massing scourge & mutalisks against large corsair fleets. The key to this map is whether or not hero can safely secure his 3rd and 4th and defend it without losing too much economy given that the 3rds and 4th on HBR are terrible to defend as a Zerg. We will need to see some clutch defenses and very creative simcity as Bisu will be more than happy to charge into hero’s bases with a well-timed zealot attack.


Easily one of hero’s best maps, he loves taking the mineral only bases if he spawns vertically or cross-map to the Protoss. This allows him to defend much easier and helps him defend against annoying shuttle drops. The map is also susceptible to lurker drops, as every expansion has some holes where lurkers will feel at home. Bisu’s multi-tasking will have to be perfect in order to deflect hero’s aggressive hydra forces as well as the lurker drops. The tricky part for hero will be army positioning as he will need to abuse the open ground on the map and to make sure that he is not engaging only on one flank, especially at that high ground outside his mineral only bases.


As the last player of the Zerg Supremacy to fight against the cult of Bisudom, we will cheer on Hero with a simple but elegant HERO HWAITING! hero to take the crown with a score of 3-2