After the abomination that was an all Terran Ro4 in SSL10, the StarCraft gods still have a bad aftertaste so they decided that this final series will be free of Terran. Out of the chaotic sea of 512 players, only two men emerged to do battle. On one side, we have Bisu who is no stranger to the game's biggest stage and on the other, we have EffOrt who was the second best Zerg in the TBLS era behind only Jaedong. This matchup shaped up to look like the last finals with Bisu representing himself and EffOrt taking over hero's role. However, there is one major difference between the two matchups; Bisu and EffOrt have never met in an official Bo3 or Bo5 series. With that said, this unprecedented series commenced on Circuit Breaker.

Game 1- Circuit Breaker:
Circuit Breaker is known for its 62% Zerg winrate versus Protoss in the post-KeSPA era so at least in theory, EffOrt only has Windows 7 and Bisu's history of proving statistics wrong to deal with. EffOrt started out on the five o'clock position putting his pool down first while scouting in the right direction towards Bisu's main at the one o'clock spawn. Bisu went for a slightly non-standard opening that used gate first aggression to force lings and slow down some timings. EffOrt anticipated this opening with a ling heavy 4 hatch hydra build to prevent any significant harassment from zealots. The lings proceeded to do a soft contain that lasted until Bisu walked four zeals out across the bridge -a tactic to surprise unsuspecting Zerg users.

Alas, EffOrt was not an unsuspecting Zerg user as he shut down the zeal pressure and dealt Bisu quite the blow with the death of four crucial early game zeals. This would come in handy as hydras started streaming in. They tore down the FFE wall with impunity and systematically destroyed the cannons. However, that was not the end with Bisu somehow holding his ramp with a few zeals, probes and a lone DT. With cannons rebuilt and storm out, Bisu was able to hold on for dear life.

Bisu now thought that he needed a third base. He used a few zealots to clear his mineral lines of hydras but the pesky hydras kept coming back so he mustered his main zeal/templar force to obliterate anything that moves. But instead of him doing the obliterating, this happens:


It turned out that Bisu was not the only one who can use imba invisible units. With lurkers, EffOrt delayed Bisu's third base until goons and obs came out and secured the min only and took the center. EffOrt used Bisu's momentum against him by going to the backdoor and denying his third once again.

With growing pressure to catch up on economy, Bisu double expanded on the mineral and at twelve o'clock. EffOrt meanwhile had been sitting on four bases for a good while now and has a blob of lings, hydras and lurkers at his rally point, ready to storm the four base protoss before the eco kicks in. The intense attack was not able to destroy any of the expos and some DT-induced multitask problems slowed it down but it did whittle down Bisu's army which was no problem for the Messiah's second wave. GG from Bisu.



Grades:
EffOrt- The Alien Zerg played with a clear strategy to address Bisu's tactics and keep the vulnerable mineral only expansion safe. He played aggresively (in contrast to his loss versus GuemChi on the same map) and used it to great effect. [A+]
Bisu- The Ninja Toss was unable to mount a good response in part due to how well EffOrt kept him in the dark. [C]

Game 2- Gladiator:
This game was not worthy of mention. Please move along... But since I need to do a proper recap, I'll put in a few sentences. Bisu 2 gated on his natural on Gladiator, perhaps to gain control of the high ground natural quickly. Unfortunately, EffOrt not only opened pool first but he also got the lucky scout on with his first ovie. Bisu decided to deepen his predicament by leaving exactly one zeal to protect the only pylon powering the gates versus six zerglings. The lings destroyed the pylon leaving Bisu to go all-in which of course will not work due to the pool first. GG

Grades:
Grade this game? What game? Next. [N/A]

Game 3- Fighting Spirit:
Okay so back to decency. Bisu was down 2-0 and shades of the SSL11 finals versus Hero were becoming very real. Unlike the first two sets, Fighting Spirit is more kind to Protoss versus Zerg so Bisu stood a chance and kept his hopes of taking the championship alive. Bisu spawned at one o'clock and instinctively went for his gate first build. EffOrt spawned at eleven so he got the first scout on Bisu. Once again, EffOrt did the same opening; added his third at nine o'clock. It was pretty much a replay of the first game with the same zeal killing zerling sandwich in the early game. The midgame is where one of the players deviated from the norm-reavers. EffOrt brought hydras at Bisu's front to tear down the cannons but was unsuccessful at doing so partly due to the number of cannons and the reaver.

With his base secure from any threat of hydra busts, Bisu took his shuttle reaver, barely dodged patrolling hydras and disturbed the hydras at the third. EffOrt defended well but Bisu was channeling his dynamic past self and had more in store.

Bisu dropped a sneaky DT at the edge of EffOrt's main then flew off to join his zeal/DT on route to nine o'clock. Then it kicked off a crazy sequence. The zeal/DT forced EffOrt out of his base while the hidden DT was discovered and killed. EffOrt decided that a counterattack was the best choice and poured everything on Bisu's front. Bisu scramble to defend and brought his reaver in just in time.







Despite those probe loses, Bisu was still vastly ahead with a bigger worker count and on even bases with EffOrt. After that last ditch drop, Bisu mustered all of his units at EffOrt's natural forcing him tap out a few seconds later. Somehow, Bisu broke out of his mold and forced his older, more harass-oriented playstyle on EffOrt resulting in an exciting game and more importantly, a won game.

Grades:
Bisu- The revolutionist decided to bust out an unorthodox reaver/DT build on the most standard map there is and channeled his 2007 self. [A]
EffOrt- He played the same build and was totally unprepared for what Bisu had prepared. He should have adjusted better after the first reaver attack. [B]

It's funny that Bisu had to pull an EffOrt to take the trophy and taking the last set meant that he was on his way there. EffOrt on the other hand must be calm right now, after all he only needed to win one more game but sometimes, that is a difficult thing to do.

Game 4- Match Point:
EffOrt appeared at the bottom left while Bisu appeared at the top right. Bisu opted to do the standard FFE build order for the first time in the series. EffOrt planted his pool and took his drone to plant a hatchery at the natural where Bisu's probe was waiting. Instead of contesting the natural, the drone decided to go for the mineral only. EffOrt continued with a 3 hatch lair into 5 hatch hydra. Bisu went corsair/DT but EffOrt had already upgraded overlord speed which dissipated any chance of DTs doing immediate damage.

EffOrt felt that he was safe enough to add a fourth (a third gas base) at the top left expo. Bisu had prepared a later than normal +1 speedzeal push off of sair/DT but EffOrt cleanly shut down the attempt by blocking the ramp with lurker eggs. This left Bisu with no choice but to take his own expo and put on a defensive stance. EffOrt then focused on teching to hive and droning up which allowed Bisu to add a fourth.


Bisu moved his army towards the center to test EffOrt's army. EffOrt had firm control of his platform, disallowing Bisu to split the two bases near the platform. With the game stuck in some kind of status quo, Bisu opted to take the six o'clock base. EffOrt on the other hand skillfully used troop movement as a smoke screen for a doom drop addressed for Bisu's main. The doom drop itself lacked the 'doom' part but the main purpose was to distract Bisu from the hydras running to deny his fifth base. Funny enough, the distraction was overkill because Bisu's army was busy probing the platform.


EffOrt took both six and twelve in the chaos but lost six as Bisu focused all of his forces there. After a series of battles, Bisu decided to sack his six and redirected his zeal/HT/reavers to twelve. Bisu tore down the hatchery there and massacred many drones too but his victory would be short lived. EffOrt unleashed an almost toxic wave of scourges to scour the skies of corsairs. The sairs crashed to earth and above their wreckages, mutas burst out of the blue and annihilated everything. Bisu gathered whatever stragglers he could but in the end he was powerless to stop the Swarm.



Grades:
EffOrt- The Messiah played with a lot of depth in this one, both strategically and tactically. Not much I could say other than this game was a masterpiece on his part. [A+]
Bisu- Bruce Lee Toss' play was less than stellar here. He looked sharp in the early game then steadily spiraled downward culminating with the rather questionable sacking of his six o'clock in exchange for EffOrt's twelve. [B]

Bisu played with uncharacteristically poor control and decision making that made him such a beast and an anomaly in PvZ. In the mind games aspect, I suspect the thorough beating he received from EffOrt in the first game impacted his performance thereafter.

EffOrt played with clear objectives and displayed the edge in mind games. Although it helped that he got the lucky scout in all the 4 player maps, I do not think it would have mattered anyway. His games had a smooth flow and clever design that you would expect from a player of his caliber.

From humble beginnings of appearing on Mong's stream as a guest and struggling under the cruel reign of Windows 7, he now sits atop the highest pedestal of modern StarCraft gaming to rule over his domain. Congratulations to EffOrt, your 2016 VANT 36.5 National Starleague Champion.

64 players. 4 months of brutal brood war. One epic finals. One winner. 2 english casters to cast it all the way. With EffOrt taking the trophy after a dominating series over Bisu, we say our final words. But the story isn’t over yet for us.

Me and Bisudagger started out as a fledgling casting duo in the midst of October; thrusted into the limelight with no experience with professional casting, we had to learn the tricks of the trade the hard way. Of course, we have casted as a casting duo before, but this is the first time we received compensation for what we did. It was progress for Brood war! Progress for the foreign scene! We started out slowly with little to show, working our skill over the months. I remember fondly our first cast together; how nervous we were, how anxious we were. But alas, the people joined the channel and they watched. We watched the trials and tribulations of many players as they go through the gauntlet and storylines develop and unfold over the course of the months. We laughed at the more comedic games and were shocked at all the surprises thrown our way. Most importantly, we casted with our hearts out. We had fun and to me, that is the best part about the casts.

What will the future hold for us, the dark casting archon? That has not been foretold yet, but the future is bright. Perhaps you’ll see us again in the wee hours of the day casting once again. As always, we have the dark comedy, completely wrong analysis, and the rabid fanboyism.

Thank you all for watching.