Kiai is a Japanese go term representing an attitude of aggressively parrying your opponent's plans and pushing ahead with your own. Often translated as "fighting spirit", it has a positive sense, and can also be applied to individual moves demonstrating the kiai attitude.
Wei Qi? The Chinese game of Wei Qi is thought to be at least 3000 years old, up to a possible 4000. Wei qi is also played widely in Japan and Korea, where it is known as Go/Igo or Baduk/Paduk respectively.
The Game itself is one of capturing territory. Players alternate placing black and white stones on a 19x19 grid (intersections of this grid), fencing empty areas of the board to capture this territory. When players clash, the fighting can be quick and brutal. These fights can scale the width of the entire board, with groups of stones (stones adjacent to each other) life hanging in the balance.
Paduk/Go/Weiqi is said to represent a players personality, known in some Asian cultures as “Hand Talk”. In the battles that occur, a quality is shown by the players.
This quality is Fighting Spirit. This Fighting Spirit is the undying resistance shown by players. Where ever possible, players will find another way to what their opponent intends. They will resist every blow as much as they can, whilst finding a way to push back themselves for a suitable, if not superior result.
Starcraft today, in my humble opinion, has become bland. Players play standard build orders that maximise their chances of winning, and minimise the risk of suffering to 'cheese' plays, or all in builds. Players have become robotic, albeit mechanical monsters.
What we see in the great players is Fighting Spirit.
The players who have demonstrated this have always had considerable, consistent force. Iloveoov, Nada, Savior, Boxer. These players have shown their unbreakable will, at least whilst in their primes.
I think that today, no player better emphasises the concept of Fighting Spirit than Shin Sang Moon, or, as he's better known as, Sea.Leta of OnGameNet SPARKYZ.
An interlude
I should give some information about myself. I have followed Starcraft since roughly 2005. I started playing on Europe, under the aka of bonjordo. A player I knew from some forums I visited (Nemesis.cF-, for those who know anything about English starcraft), would occasionally play with me. I saw a challenge in beating him, something I thought was impossible! Needless to say, I would have no interest in the game if he didn't nurture it. He would play with me, critique my play, and show me videos of progamers. The first video I remember as being particularly inspiring was Xell0s_Plutos infamous Julyzerg highlight video. I was in awe. Back in 2005, mutalisk micro was a shadow of what it is today. There was no latency fixer, nothing. My experiences with mutalisks on battle.net taught me that they were a BAD idea. When I saw july dismantling his opponents with aggressive mutalisk openings, I could think of nothing else. I was amazed at the raw aggression, at the dominating playstyle he possessed.
the classic video
That is how my interest in progaming bloomed. Soon after I discovered teamliquid.net, which was a way for me to watch VOD's. I preferred watching VOD's, because as an Australian, I had typically shitty internet. ADSL which was unable to stream videos on youtube. So I would lurk and read the forums.
Sadly though, my interest in actually watching starcraft waned. I wasn't interested in watching 99% of games played that didn't involve savior. In savior I felt the same powerful, masterful, dominating style that july possessed, but expressed in a different manner. I will never forget watching savior pushed to his absolute limits in a game, yet pushing back, always fighting, never giving his opponents the actions they wanted. Who could forget Nada vs Savior on longinus II?
Shin Sang Moon Rising
No players have captured my imagination since Saviors decline. Yet recently, Manifesto's wonderful power rank edition introduced me to Sea.Leta. I had read in live report threads of Leta's amazing play, but have never bothered investigating.
But the power rank made me investigate the games. The descriptions sounded outlandish. Leta defeating Guemchi (the prophesied protoss messiah who never rose), starting an incredible comeback. All I could think was...
“Pure bullshit, how could players at that level be undone by a dropship!”
God. I was wrong.
Yep... Dropships.
Jesus Christ. 20 minutes of pure harassment, after an aggressive opening gets punished. Coming back into the game with some of the most amazing harassment by a terran I had ever seen. His vulture harass unbelievable. He dominated the game. He played by his own tempo, creating a vivid storm of non stop harassment, whilst he slowly crawled back into the game. Just like that classic Nada savior match on longinus 2, where savior came back from being pushed into the very reaches of his natural, I felt Leta claw and tear forward with each vulture.
I can understand how Guemchi would of felt. Securing such a gigantic early advantage, especially in a game where small advantages escalate into increasingly bigger ones, all to have it undone by a player who showed nothing more than his force.
Amazing. I sat Awestruck. Not since July or Savior had I been so compelled, entertained by how a gamer had played. I was inspired once again.
Maybe that was a fluke. I've been disappointed before.
Not a fluke?
This game had me enthralled. Opening with a saucy factory into dual port build, Leta showed how he would not yield. Even when luxury, who is without doubt one of the top tier zergs of this day had made a suitable counter, Leta kept pumping wraiths, moving into a 1 base play mixing wraiths with Marine, medic and firebats. He showed luxury that they would play on his terms. His Wraith micro was beautiful, his harassment unrelenting.
Active play. Play with real, REAL fighting spirit.
Once again, on the same map, Leta dominated luxury. This time with an elaborate 'cheese' build.
Go there now, and watch as many games as you can. Your cheating yourself if you never discover the fighting spirit of Leta.
Sea.Leta to me is without doubt the most interesting player in starcraft today. As Yum Bo Sung is to Fakesteve, so is Shin Sang Moon to myself. I only wonder what great heights that Sang Moon will rise to.
What scares me more is that he Waxes and Wanes like Yum Bo Sung, never fully realising his potential.
On February 25 2009 20:53 Garnet wrote: Batoo seems like a combination of Starcraft and Go, unfortunately, it's in Korean and there are no English versions.
More like a simplified Go mixed with minesweeper.
Also, I do enjoy watching Leta play. Though for some reason he sometimes annoys me to death with his play. Not because he's a turtler or anything but because I feel bad for the opponent lol. Like Upmagic vs Savior 2set in the msl.
Great read :-) There are so many Go players that follow the Korean SC scene. If you play KGS, know that there are quite a few of the highest dans are big SC fans and follow the starleagues. And by the way, I remember Boxer comparing SC to Go in an old interview, can't find it though.
On February 26 2009 07:43 Sadist wrote: leta = godly.
Its awesome that hes bringing back old builds and utilizing amazing mechanics and showing how beautiful harass terran can be to watch.
I second this. Flash/forgg/hwasin are all amazing players but sometimes I just want to be entertained god damnit and he never fails at to do that.
This is a great op, I love the intro all the way to the end.
I have to ask though if you like the killer instinct of july and savior and now leta what do you think about boxer ... I think he is the defination of fighting spirit.
Well, Ofcourse boxer is amazing, i mentioned him as being one of the players that have had consistent force/fighting spirit. , but with boxer i find that his games are alot shorter, he generally dominates a game from start to end with an incredible build order/intelligent gameplay, plus his amazing micro. I would probably describe boxer as the Wu Qing Yuan (Go seigen) of broodwar.
A problem i have with Go seigen is that when i replay his games, my understanding is next to none. the depth that he looked into the game was fathomless. Games would be over after the fuseki in many cases, his opponent would play on unable to see what Go seigen was able to. His play was incredibly light, and he would tenuki often.
i feel boxer's play is the same. I think that when boxer looks at a map, or thinks about playing terran vs z/t/p his interpretation is much different to other players.
I think that, to keep drawing analogies, I think savior is much more like Takemiya Masaki, who is my favourite go player. His play is known as "cosmic" go, as he emphasises the centre of the board (the hardest place to get territory), and thickness (an unquantifiable value used in go to describe the power/safety of a group of stones.)
He prefers simple joseki's (corner patterns played by both sides to get the best result for both sides, i.e. an equal result) and plays moves that are completely natural to him. When savior was in his prime i believe this was the case for him. He played the build orders/style that came naturally to him, the killer instinct that savior had was completely natural.
I guess, after rambling like that, the point i was trying to make was Boxer's play was genius, calculated and thoroughly brilliant, but far more analysed. I think Savior/july emphasise a more natural playing style.
Yes, boxer is known for his harrass based style, but i think that origonates in his own particular brilliance in the game, and his ability to analyse maps/his opponents playstyle. I would almost say that it was like savior/july/leta/nada are playing from the sub-concious, and Nada/Boxer where playing conciously.
Atleast thats the impression i get from watching their games. ~~
Nice article, I was thinking about writing something like that myself back when leta became my favourite terran back in shinhan 2007 PL when he was still mostly playing godlike TvTs, and afterwards started raping up all the about to be dragons (he absolutely killed, kal (twice), best and bisu, and hardly anyone predicted it except me ... ). However, I never got around to it.
It's not as cool being a leta fan anymore, since other people have started noticing him , but it's still nice to know that there is support for him. And by all means, he's deserved every ounce of our support, he's probably the only player i like who hasn't ever really let me down, even when he looses he always put up a good fight, or it was a BO win or something.
I play Go, and I tell you, it's probably the board game equivalent of SC. Needs great amount of tactics and management, learning when to lose and when to attack.
That game of Leta vs Geumchi made me go 'wtf terran even more imba nao'.
And as stated, Leta needs to just push ahead, not go on a roller coaster ride.
Great article, I still remember when I first spotted Leta, I was checking the VODs in the TLPD and looking for games where the T won, and find a game of Leta cant even remember vr who it was but I really liked so I look for all the games of Leta and was amazed by all the games he won versus great players, I said wow who is this guy and started watching his games, game after game I could only said wow have someone in TL notice this??? cause I didnt read anything about him, I say I should make a post about it, but life is hard and I forgot lol... few days later he was in the Power Rank and I start hearing a lot about him... oh well now everyones now ^_^
He is a great player, I hope he doest fade out soon and win some tittles!!!
How is Leta's performance against Guemchi so special?
Granted, his vulture micro was good. But many terrans could have played just like this. I feel that it wasn't really Leta's spirit that won him the match but rather Guemchi's total lack of defense against such simple harassment.
I mean, come on, not a single cannon in any of his bases? It was really sad to see a Protoss have that much trouble against vultures. But then again, with those ridges, that map is clearly favoring terrans in that respect.
Flash has been my favorite terran for so long and his style has always identified with mine. But let's face it; Flash is rock solid, calculated, which equals BORING.
Leta is like the complete opposite, and when I watch him play I'm always like "Man I wish I could play terran like that".
On March 03 2009 12:23 meRz wrote: Leta is indeed awesome ;O
Flash has been my favorite terran for so long and his style has always identified with mine. But let's face it; Flash is rock solid, calculated, which equals BORING.
Leta is like the complete opposite, and when I watch him play I'm always like "Man I wish I could play terran like that".
Flash, boring? Let's not say things we might regret.
On March 03 2009 12:23 meRz wrote: Leta is indeed awesome ;O
Flash has been my favorite terran for so long and his style has always identified with mine. But let's face it; Flash is rock solid, calculated, which equals BORING.
Leta is like the complete opposite, and when I watch him play I'm always like "Man I wish I could play terran like that".
Flash, boring? Let's not say things we might regret.
Yeah it's a harash generalization of his style seeing how he was flamed for "Only knowing how to cheese" in the beginning, then he'd start playing really textbook and people would claim that he's boring. Don't get me wrong, as a terran player myself, watching Flash is never boring. But I always thought that's because if you're a terran player, you can appriciate all the things Flash is doing in a different way than someone who's looking on a game from like an entertainment point of view.
What I meant to say with all that is I get WHY some people claim Flash is boring.
On March 03 2009 12:23 meRz wrote: Leta is indeed awesome ;O
Flash has been my favorite terran for so long and his style has always identified with mine. But let's face it; Flash is rock solid, calculated, which equals BORING.
Leta is like the complete opposite, and when I watch him play I'm always like "Man I wish I could play terran like that".
Flash, boring? Let's not say things we might regret.
Yeah it's a harash generalization of his style seeing how he was flamed for "Only knowing how to cheese" in the beginning, then he'd start playing really textbook and people would claim that he's boring. Don't get me wrong, as a terran player myself, watching Flash is never boring. But I always thought that's because if you're a terran player, you can appriciate all the things Flash is doing in a different way than someone who's looking on a game from like an entertainment point of view.
What I meant to say with all that is I get WHY some people claim Flash is boring.
Flash is really one of the few people who I've ever seen playing a solid, calculated and unboring game. Oov and Nada come to mind. Seriously, I can't think of any Flash game where I honestly thought his play was boring
EPT![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/28m2yp1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i39.tinypic.com/omgk3.jpg)
yay Leta fans
, but it's still nice to know that there is support for him. And by all means, he's deserved every ounce of our support, he's probably the only player i like who hasn't ever really let me down, even when he looses he always put up a good fight, or it was a BO win or something. 
