He might be only #7 in the PR right now, but from what I've seen from him recently, he's a strong Dark Horse to win this MSL. Not many people know this, but Calm is the zerg with the 2nd most wins behind Jaedong in the Proleague with ~40 wins. (he's just been shaded by Jaedong's domination) Since June, he is 10-3, taking down FlaSh (FlaSh has admitted that he's scared to play against Calm, according to the commentators), Mind, Sea, and Zero. It's not so much the record that leads me to believe he can take this OSL, though; it's his playstyle.
What characterizes Calm's play? I can think of Ballsy aggression and creative builds. But it's more a combination of the two, working together to create his greatest weapon: unpredictability. I believe Calm's strongest trait is that he forces open openings in the opponent's play. I don't think he has FlaSh's style of "I know what the other guy's going to do just by feeling it out" and try to abuse a hole in the opponent's play; Calm is different.
He literally rips apart openings in his opponents through 1) Ballsy builds 2) clever mindgame tactics that abuse the opponents' scouting 3) aggression with balls of steel. he attacks where the opponent is most uncomfortable at an uncomfortable timing, thereby disrupting the opponent's timing/overall plan for the game.
Exhibit A: Ballsy Builds
2 Base Hive for the Win? What?
Exhibit B: Mindgame Tactics that abuse opponents' scouting
what you see is not what it seems...
Exhibit C: Aggression with balls of steel
(watch from 7:00) Fuck your vultures FlaSh, I'm gonna rip you a new one. Be scared.. be very scared to play me..
(Watch from 9:30) All-in? I'll force an opening with mutas and make it happen
Calm never faces the metal ball head on but aggressively attacks forGG's base, trading units effectively as mech is weak in small numbers, as well as whittling down forGG's economy down to nothing in 2 waves of hydra attacks. The aggression forces forGG to head home TWICE before forGG could eventually take down Calm's natural. Oh by the way, he's got 2 more bases by that time, so it didn't matter at that point. Why go for hive tech when you can cripple the terran's economy by attacking?
Yes, most of these games are against terran. But he's also shown strong performance against Protoss. Some toss named yoon got his ass handed to him in this game:
Bottom line: Calm will win this MSL. I don't give a crap at who's still in the MSL. I BELIEVE!
You should have named it something different. Now you'll get flamed a lot. By claiming "Calm will Win this MSL" you've joined the sad group of people who predict an unlikely event just so they can claim to be a genius if they get lucky. (Before someone calls me out; I'm aware I'm in this group ;p)
I really like your analysis though. Calm IS a really smart player, respect to him.
Haha no way. I'm not even a Jaedong fan, but even then I think that Calm would get flattened against JD. Not to mention Bisu, and likely fantasy as well.
He really doesn't have a good list of victories against players that are actually good. Sure he beat Flash, but Flash doesn't really deserve to be up there with Jaedong, Bisu, Effort, or even Fantasy(lol i that guy annoys me) at this point. Calm is going to just get smashed when he plays an actual S class player.
also calm vs darkelf on python nuff said
edit: plus all you did was make a list of gimmicky builds that he did
I dont think we really need a new face right now as a champion, this will make the picture even more chaotic. I prefer Jaedong to win everything than Yarnc and Calm or smth like that, although canata for a double will be cool as fuck
On July 12 2009 01:40 Fontong wrote: Haha no way. I'm not even a Jaedong fan, but even then I think that Calm would get flattened against JD. Not to mention Bisu, and likely fantasy as well.
He really doesn't have a good list of victories against players that are actually good. Sure he beat Flash, but Flash doesn't really deserve to be up there with Jaedong, Bisu, Effort, or even Fantasy(lol i that guy annoys me) at this point. Calm is going to just get smashed when he plays an actual S class player.
also calm vs darkelf on python nuff said
edit: plus all you did was make a list of gimmicky builds that he did
I agree with your point about Calm getting smashed when he faces a top player, personally I think Forgg will take the next 2 games, but then you went all crazy and starting saying flash is worse than Effort and Fantasy...so umm dont post while high.
But for me Calm is like luxury+yarnc+brains, but really I dont think hes strong enough to get through a bo5 vs strong competition.
On July 12 2009 01:40 Fontong wrote: Haha no way. I'm not even a Jaedong fan, but even then I think that Calm would get flattened against JD. Not to mention Bisu, and likely fantasy as well.
He really doesn't have a good list of victories against players that are actually good. Sure he beat Flash, but Flash doesn't really deserve to be up there with Jaedong, Bisu, Effort, or even Fantasy(lol i that guy annoys me) at this point. Calm is going to just get smashed when he plays an actual S class player.
also calm vs darkelf on python nuff said
edit: plus all you did was make a list of gimmicky builds that he did
If you're trying to advertise Calm's skills, I think you probably shouldn't even mention his game against Flash. He played like garbage...I mean, how can you scout a walled in Terran on Outsider and not build a sunken? The only reason he won that game is because Flash handed it to him on a silver platter.
On July 12 2009 01:40 Fontong wrote: Haha no way. I'm not even a Jaedong fan, but even then I think that Calm would get flattened against JD. Not to mention Bisu, and likely fantasy as well.
He really doesn't have a good list of victories against players that are actually good. Sure he beat Flash, but Flash doesn't really deserve to be up there with Jaedong, Bisu, Effort, or even Fantasy(lol i that guy annoys me) at this point. Calm is going to just get smashed when he plays an actual S class player.
also calm vs darkelf on python nuff said
edit: plus all you did was make a list of gimmicky builds that he did
I agree with your point about Calm getting smashed when he faces a top player, personally I think Forgg will take the next 2 games, but then you went all crazy and starting saying flash is worse than Effort and Fantasy...so umm dont post while high.
But for me Calm is like luxury+yarnc+brains, but really I dont think hes strong enough to get through a bo5 vs strong competition.
Flash is fresh off of a 3 game losing streak to Kal, Calm, and Kwanro. He is only 5-5 in his last ten games. He lost to fucking BACKHO.
Fantasy on the other hand is fresh off a 10 game winning streak, including victories over Kal, Jangbi, Leta, guemchi(who is actually doing very well otherwise i wouldn't include him) and Backho(who flash couldnt beat lololo)
Effort is fucking crazy recently, nuff said.
Wake up and smell the roses. Flash isn't what he used to be. He is the next sea.
Edit: but I think he will actually beat forgg, its sad since I'm a huge fan of oov 2.0, but he just never lived up to his series against JD.
On July 12 2009 01:34 TwoStep wrote: I wouldn't mind Calm winning the MSL. Who would he play in the Ro8 assuming the higher seeds win? Flash or Bisu, I think.
I actually think Calm is a really strong player, on par with Effort possibly. He just hasn't his streak like Effort yet but I think he will. But Fantasy or JD will stop Calm from this MSL for sure.
EPT
