Does FlaSh owe his success to picking Terran? - Page 4
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Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
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Malongo
Chile3468 Posts
On May 29 2023 17:39 Magic Powers wrote: It takes years for a player to become number one. It takes a similar amount of time for the frontrunner effect to change a matchup statistic. For example because of Boxer and Yellow, many Koreans were inspired to practice terran and zerg, and while only few of them made it to the top, they helped push the meta and the win rate. The protoss meta stagnated, perhaps because Garimto, Nal_rA, Kingdom, Reach and Anytime didn't have the same pull. Anytime in particular looked very interesting for a brief period, but something stopped him. The lack of optimizations wasn't because protoss couldn't be innovated, as Bisu proved a few years later with fast expand builds and his infamous dark templars, or with Stork using carriers to make PvT look broken. Had these two popped up sooner as top players, maybe a larger share of protoss players would've pushed through with optimizations. Especially terran players would've suffered from that. But instead Bisu had to carry the crown all by himself. Innovation rarely comes from only one person. This is why it's so important to acknowledge the historic changes as something fluid and dynamic, but certainly not fair or equal. As the meta progresses, the level of meta variability is more likely to be reduced while matchup fairness is more likely to increase, and that's exactly what we've been observing. Maps and matchups used to have more imbalances than nowadays, and big meta changes used to occur much more often. Just consider: what would've happened without iloveoov showing that terran has strong macro capabilities in every matchup? Or without Flash and his race to 3 weapons upgrades in TvP? I think both protoss and zerg would've stood a much better chance for years longer. But instead we had Boxer, Nada, iloveoov, Flash, and Fantasy, five top players who innovated terran and they also showed the results to prove the viability of their ideas. And Flash stuck around for so many years that more of his optimizations just kept coming. For zerg it was Yellow, Savior and Jaedong, and later also Larva, and there were a few more top zerg players who also brought optimizations like JulyZerg and GGPlay. Protoss had only three or four players at the very top with Nal_rA, Reach, Bisu and Stork. They stood up against a large number of innovators from the other two races. Out of these four, only Bisu was ever truly dominant. What would've happened if Rain had stuck around post-ASL? He was among the greatest hopes for protoss. What about Jangbi late Kespa? He looked promising, but his drive was lacking. It took many years before Mini and Snow finally popped onto the scene, and they've been making big splashes. Mini has already innovated and optimized a few things in PvZ, and Snow has found further optimizations, plus he has pushed PvT back in protoss' favor. It's now an open buffet for other protoss players. They can absorb this new information and push it further, or they can let it waste away and protoss will continue to suffer from a lack of talent. I think you have a big part of the story wrong. Bisu and Best were playing as early as 2005 there were even some WCG reps going around from them, Stork probably active since 2002 or 2003. When you say Protoss meta stagnated early on you are making the big assumption that there was something to improve on at that time. No wonder Reach couldn't beat Savior or July, I mean look at the map pool. Seriously. Somehow every time the argument against Protoss players always revolve around "they are just not good enough" or hinting at Terran/Zerg players being geniuses. In the end there are just as many good Protoss players you can name, they just never won as many titles. Your last remark about an open buffet for P players makes no sense. There are no more pro players coming into BW, there is simply no incentive, we are watching pro bw die because the player pool will never sustain itself in the long run. Afreeca streaming is the only thing keeping the game alive. New players will never have the practice routine old pros had at the team houses, not to mention all the support from other people teaching them. | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
No offense, but it seems to me like you don't know what you're talking about. | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
For example in TvP, after the concept of pushing out with a 2-1 army became standard, Flash found an optimization for the rapid destruction of protoss bases by putting exactly three siege tanks within the range of each nexus. This minimized the tank investment per expansion, it allowed for simultaneous destruction of several nexuses, and it made it very likely that protoss would lose 2-3 bases at once while terran's bases were somewhat safe. Every top terran player has been using this method since Flash proved its viability. Up until then even Flash was struggling with the process of destroying protoss bases after pushing out. The example of the quick mech transition in TvZ (also by Flash) is well-known, and as I explained it would make the matchup look almost broken if Larva hadn't found the perfect counter to it. I can even give an example of how it was Flash who optimized PvT from the protoss perspective. When he did his random run, he introduced the method of continuously storming scv lines. In and of itself this wasn't groundbreaking, but his idea had an important twist: he didn't intend to kill many scvs, instead he just wanted to keep their numbers low. That way terran would have a harder time building a strong 200/200 army from 3 bases. It would take longer and allow protoss to fight smaller skirmishes while rapidly taking bases. HT and shuttles were the key units in this strategy. The idea was improved upon a few times until it became standard. | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
On May 29 2023 19:42 Magic Powers wrote: I can even give an example of how it was Flash who optimized PvT from the protoss perspective. When he did his random run, he introduced the method of continuously storming scv lines. In and of itself this wasn't groundbreaking, but his idea had an important twist: he didn't intend to kill many scvs, instead he just wanted to keep their numbers low. That way terran would have a harder time building a strong 200/200 army from 3 bases. It would take longer and allow protoss to fight smaller skirmishes while rapidly taking bases. HT and shuttles were the key units in this strategy. The idea was improved upon a few times until it became standard. I know you want to be poetic but isn't this going too far? You're basically saying Flash invented storm drop lol. And what random run btw? The ASL season 10? | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
On May 29 2023 20:10 TMNT wrote: I know you want to be poetic but isn't this going too far? You're basically saying Flash invented storm drop lol. And what random run btw? The ASL season 10? I was talking about a very specific optimization that Flash brought to PvT, not just storm drop. Minimizing the scv count for the price of shuttles filled with expensive HTs was certainly not a commonly observed strategy before he started doing it, because it was considered too expensive for too little return. Since then it has become quite standard. Flash switched to random late April 2020. Indeed his run was in ASL 10, it ended after he lost 2-4 against Soma, who ended up as second after Queen. Flash placed third. AfreecaTV StarCraft League Remastered/10 | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
I mean, look. He played a PvT where he was ahead and storm dropped multiple times. Do you seriously think other pros would look at that and think "Oh, hey, this is new. We should do storm drops more than one time. This is such an optimization". Apparently no Protosses have ever storm dropped more than once per game before. | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
On May 29 2023 21:12 TMNT wrote: Then it's simply not true lol. Protoss players have been doing that for years and have also certainly been doing that in PvZ long ago. It's just a situational play. You're making up history here. We can have a vote on this I'm sure no one agrees with you. I mean, look. He played a PvT where he was ahead and storm dropped multiple times. Do you seriously think other pros would look at that and think "Oh, hey, this is new. We should do storm drops more than one time. This is such an optimization". Apparently no Protosses have ever storm dropped more than once per game before. Ok I must've imagined all the comments praising Flash for demonstrating a fresh take on a PvT tactic. Your argument could also be used to take away from Larva's broodling invention. It was done before, he didn't do it first. Only the context in which he did it was new, and he improved on it, so it's not new. If we go by that logic, then Bisu's fast expand in PvZ also wasn't new, and his dark templar harassment wasn't new, and his corsair builds weren't new. It has all been done before, he just did it better. | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
On May 29 2023 21:56 Magic Powers wrote: Ok I must've imagined all the comments praising Flash for demonstrating a fresh take on a PvT tactic. Your argument could also be used to take away from Larva's broodling invention. It was done before, he didn't do it first. Only the context in which he did it was new, and he improved on it, so it's not new. If we go by that logic, then Bisu's fast expand in PvZ also wasn't new, and his dark templar harassment wasn't new, and his corsair builds weren't new. It has all been done before, he just did it better. Bisu's PvZ revolution >>>>>>>> Larva's Broodling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.......................................................... Flash's PvT storm drop One one hand you have fresh strategies that opens up a new way to play the matchup. On ther other hand, Flash played a PvT where he storm dropped more than once ffs. If I can show you a game before ASL10 where Best did the exact same thing that'd be the end of your argument right? Okay I just rewatched that game. So basically Flash hit jackpot with his first two Reaver drop that he was so far ahead against Rush: 160 supplies on 4 bases vs 100 supplies on 2 bases. That allowed him to do whatever he wants later, probably a Scout troll build was also possible lmao. So of course he could throw as many Shuttles and HTs as he wanted later. Also I just counted and he did a total of 3 storm drops in that game but the 3rd one was just moments before Rush gg'ed and you can even argue that Rush already lost the game before the 2nd one. There is really nothing new in that game but I'm astounded that you can read that as Flash innovating PvT. Wow, a guy performed 3 storm drops in a PvT where he was so far ahead he could have won it with Scouts. Such innovations. | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
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TMNT
2245 Posts
Okay now we're attributing situational play in PvX to Flash. At this point I'm starting to think you have a strong Terran Protoss bias and that's why, like Malongo said, your arguments are basically a fancy way to say "Protoss players are not good enough". | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
Viability comes from innovation + optimization. You can't make something viable just by innovating it, that's not enough. But first you have to innovate it before you can optimize it. This is why the person optimizing something isn't always the same person who innovated it. Flash optimized storm drops in PvT, but he didn't invent them. Anyhow, it was because of him that protoss players got on board with the idea of storming the living hell out of scv lines, when previously that wasn't much of a thing. | ||
Puosu
6983 Posts
On May 29 2023 22:56 Magic Powers wrote: No, I think we're simply talking past each other. I'm not only talking about grand innovations, but also optimizations. That's why I've been using that word as well. Viability comes from innovation + optimization. You can't make something viable just by innovating it, that's not enough. But first you have to innovate it before you can optimize it. This is why the person optimizing something isn't always the same person who innovated it. Flash optimized storm drops in PvT, but he didn't invent them. Anyhow, it was because of him that protoss players got on board with the idea of storming the living hell out of scv lines, when previously that wasn't much of a thing. what the fuck | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
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Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
It has evidently resulted in far more of these builds being used by protoss. It was debated in the community how valid this is, and as it turns out the top pros are in agreement that it's very valid and can be done every other game. | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
On May 29 2023 23:14 Magic Powers wrote: Why do you keep saying that "nobody has ever done that before"? That's not the point I'm making. I'm saying that he's done it in a different way, far more aggressively. It has evidently resulted in far more of these builds being used by protoss. It was debated in the community how valid this is, and as it turns out the top pros are in agreement that it's very valid and can be done every other game. No. He didn't do it any differently. And what exactly is a "far more aggressive" storm drop anyway? Storm drop is usually a one way trip for the Shuttle and the HTs. How do you get more aggressive than that lol? There is no community validating that Flash has optimized storm drops (over 1 game lol) unless you want to count people circle-jerking off every little thing Flash did. You know what, Snow is also innovating PvT with Scout builds and mass Reaver drop on the ladder. Surely a drop of 12 Reavers is super aggressive than the usual 2 Reavers huh? Pity it doesn't work at pro level because he can't get ahead enough to do so. | ||
Magic Powers
Austria3530 Posts
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TMNT
2245 Posts
Nice to read the other parts though. | ||
TMNT
2245 Posts
(Only for me to point out later that the number of P T Z players in OSL and MSL qualifiers were always 33% each but Protoss just got eliminated more in qualifiers) If so, you certainly are too Terran-biased to the point that you tend to fabricate truths to cope with Tesagi argument. | ||
Nirli
Bulgaria323 Posts
Second rule of Brood War club: see 1 above. A dead and inferior game like SC2 is getting tens of K dollars of tournaments, while we, the BW plebs, are wasting precious KBs of the Internet on these discussions. | ||
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