In fairness to Flash, he was indisputably the best Terran for an entire year. He's pretty clearly the most skilled TvT player ever and made a permanent impact on the TvP matchup. The expectations for him have just always been so enormous, and the few flaws he has in his play have really cost him time and time again. Only once in the past 15 months could you say Flash was even mediocre at a matchup, and that's right now in TvZ.

Really what it comes down to is, what will win out - Flash's age or Flash's experience? Flash's age suggests he still has plenty of room to grow. Flash is STILL younger than the Jaedong was when Jaedong won his first Starleague, and Jaedong is the second youngest Starleague winner of all time (behind Flash of course). But, Flash has been around for so long already, and played so many games, that his style has settled into a very predictable one that ensures a high winning percentage but not big game victories. Other successful players have stagnated in style only to reinvent themselves again (Bisu comes to mind). Whether or not Flash ever reaches his full potential - which is to be the greatest player ever - depends completely on whether he can do this in the end.

tree.hugger

Philadelphia, PA10406 Posts

July 10 2009 21:36 GMT

#62

On November 26 2007 03:19 Try wrote:
Flash is either cheesy, or a generic terran who comes up with no innovative strats, has horrible late-game decision making, and shows no great talent in any department of the game. He 1. tries to win within the 1st 5 minutes or 2. just follows his normal FE build every single time and A. wins because his opponent sucks ass or the map is terribly imbalanced (aka his game vs Savior in Proleague), or B. looses because his opponent has any sense watsoever and can exploit Flash's predictability and mistaken play.

Cheers. He'll never last.

Djabanete

United States2786 Posts

July 10 2009 21:48 GMT

#63

On July 11 2009 05:48 darktreb wrote:
Whether or not Flash ever reaches his full potential - which is to be the greatest player ever - depends completely on whether he joins SKT.

Fixed.

United States6173 Posts

July 10 2009 22:01 GMT

#64

I think Flash has exceeded all expectations of him.

It's not really fair comparing Bisu, Jaedong and Flash together...they're the three top players in their respective matchups and they all practice very hard and have a lot of pressure on them due to their relatively weaker teammates (well, not Bisu anymore as SKT has been picking up its slack).

Flash, Bisu and Jaedong are like the Holy Triumvirate of Starcraft. That's right...you heard it from me first.

Vivi57

United States6599 Posts

July 10 2009 22:13 GMT

#65

to be fair, mind was REALLY innovative and was fun to watch while he dismantled savior. Taking out oov and bisu couldn't have been easy either.

flash's tvz is just mediocre now because the metagame has changed (to hyperagro play) while flash hasn't adjusted at all.

Still, flash completely REVOLUTIONIZED tvt and tvp. I'm behind? I'll double expo to catch up!
THat actually worked for a LONG time before people finally started to catch on. He pushed starcraft into an unprecedented macro age. A secondary effect is that flash is partially the reason such agressive builds like 2 hatch mutas work well vs terran.

TwoStep

United States294 Posts

July 10 2009 22:20 GMT

#66

On July 11 2009 07:01 PH wrote:
I think Flash has exceeded all expectations of him.

It's not really fair comparing Bisu, Jaedong and Flash together...they're the three top players in their respective matchups and they all practice very hard and have a lot of pressure on them due to their relatively weaker teammates (well, not Bisu anymore as SKT has been picking up its slack).

Flash, Bisu and Jaedong are like the Holy Triumvirate of Starcraft. That's right...you heard it from me first.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=82104
So close Bisu <> BeSt.

deathgod6

United States5064 Posts

July 10 2009 22:24 GMT

#67

wow epic bump. So funny how people doubted Flash.

mog87

United States1586 Posts

July 11 2009 00:18 GMT

#68

Flash's TvZ isnt medicore..geez..hes probably still the best TvZer, I dont even wanna hear some nonsense about fantasy having best TvZ cause theres quite a few in front of him.

tomatriedes

New Zealand5356 Posts

July 11 2009 00:26 GMT

#69

Hwasin's TvZ record is better percentage-wise than Flash's but only slightly. Canata is looking like he might becoming into some pretty strong TvZ form currently (8 wins out of the last 10 games).

GTR

51480 Posts

July 11 2009 00:32 GMT

#70

On November 26 2007 21:18 HonestTea wrote:
Flash is Cloud 2000

won't amount to much

quoted for embarrassment factor

skinnyrl

Netherlands125 Posts

September 26 2010 21:03 GMT

#71

bump

nobody did expect it but he def is the new king NADA 2. Much better then nada was at his prime and i think no1 will ever surpass Flash his dominance. Best starcraft player of all time prob for forever.

User was warned for this post