This is EffOrt's group but none of the players in Group A are incapable of pulling the upset. Action is widely expected to be the last place finisher in this group, but this belies his strong ZvZ and his virtuoso hive management. The latter shouldn't come into play tonight (But, who knows?) but Action can give good ZvZ performances. EffOrt however, is still the overwhelming favorite here, and has been stunning in the match-up since the now-famous OSL tiebreakers. After seeing EffOrt embarrass three straigh SKT zergs in the playoffs, and having shown some interesting and effective ZvZ builds recently, I don't see EffOrt losing here. The map is Eye of the Storm.
The dregs of Group B, this game is basically a must-win for both players. The winner here will put themselves in a good position to take the second place in this group, while the loser will need to defeat both ZerO and Flash to survive, which seems more than unlikely. HiyA is a surprisingly solid player all around, with no match-ups below .500, while Hyuk's ZvT is notoriously horrible, despite recent improvement in the MU. This makes HiyA the favorite, but the map is Grand Line SE, which seems strongly terran favored, and thus HiyA ought to win handily here.
Group C is similar to B, in that the group has a clear favorite, and a host of fairly evenly matched players contending for the third spot. Skill wise, these two players probably represent the back end of the group as well, but a win here would do wonders for either of these player's chances. This is the weak match-up of both, and each looked anemic in their proleague playoff games in this MU. It's really a push, but with the map being Polaris Rhapsody, the protoss haven, I'll take Pure at a slight advantage.
This is the headliner for tonight, and possibly the marquee match-up for the entire round of 16. Stork and fantasy are two players with long intertwined histories, and a lot of stunning games in between. Stork passed his position as a perennial silver medalist (the Kong line) to fantasy in the Incruit OSL, by defeating him 3-2, and fantasy has been unable to realize his full potential since. Both players enter this match-up in somewhat uncertain form. Both have been playing well enough to still be the their team's ace, yet neither have been playing quite up to the level we usually expect. This is a game between these player's signature match-ups, and on a new map (Flight-Dreamliner) with a small but balanced sample size in the MU. Both Stork and fantasy have taken games on this map. All in all, it's almost an impossible call between these two. I think the winner of this game figures to be the group winner, and I feel that fantasy holds a small advantage here, as this map allows a lot of latitude for vultures and drop-based play. Either way, this should be a great game.
On July 28 2010 19:03 ArvickHero wrote: Every single time I watch OSL, I wonder to myself, why are there booth girls?
they're like canaries in a mineshaft. If the boothgirl collapses, there's insufficent ventilation in the booth and they need to pull the progamer out asap.
On July 28 2010 19:11 moopie wrote:
On July 28 2010 19:31 chongu wrote:
On July 28 2010 19:46 Waxangel wrote: In good news, OSL will at least get the two lowest skill pairings out of the way on their first day, (hiya-hyuk, pure-hydra). Everything from here on out shouldn't be embarrassing, at least.
The thing with Effort's group, at least for me, is as follows: Bisu and Leta have both two matchups to prepare for, Action and Effort have three. Seeing ZvZ is so volatile, I presume Effort will prepare his ZvP and ZvT much more. Action may think: well, im more likely to loose against bisu or leta, and thus my highest chance lies in ZvZ. Now if this does happen, will he come better prepared than Effort?
And then, it is possible for bisu or leta to take the game against Effort. Will it happen?
This group A seems so intriguing.
Edit:
I find that Kerouac quote so appalling. Not because of what he wrote, but because it became (somewhat) the chant accommodated middle class pseudo intelectuals.
EffOrt> Action EffOrt just buttrapes every Zerg he plays. Ever since the super tie breaker, he won 90% of his ZvZs going 18-2. But hey, its ZvZ. its still the coinflip matchup so you never know if Action will prevail. EffOrt also has the mental advantage because hes 3-0 vs Action.
Hyuk> HiyA This is really close. i cant really tell whose going to win but i chose Hyuk.
Pure < Hydra Pure likes to fail a lot. Hydra recently took down Stats 2-1 which is somewhat an upset. It would be an outrage if he lost to Pure here. This is their first time going head to head. Pure has terribad PvZ and he only played 1 PvZ in 2 months and lost to Hyuk so i dont see him winning this.
Stork < Fantasy The match everyone wants to see. Hard to predict but Stork has protoss imba and a win rate vs Fantasy. Both of them are 7-3 in their last 10 games of their respective match ups so this is a coinflip as well. Dreamliner is 4-5 in Terran's favor but its fairly even.
Truth be told, I'm really only enthusiastic about the last game: Stork v. Fantasy.
The others just appear to be, on paper, roflstomps (Effort's ZvZ v. Action), likely losses do to matchup fails (Hyuk's ZvT), or does not seem all too interesting (Pure v. Hydra).
Fantasy - I like you, you're damn entertaining and your TvP is intimidating but I think Stork is going to crush you like he did in last year's WCG
Hyuk vs Hiya...both of these guys really really need this win. Hiya should take this IMO, but the Hyuk factor (for hyuking his opponent or himself) makes me less sure
stork's game, although on different maps, vs classic did not exemplify the best of harass defense. if fantasy plays to his potential, and dreamliner being a more vulture-evil map (i think?), fantasy will probably watch stork's game, and play to his own style. then again, stork's prepared strat may be something totally different like a strategic dt build. or a strategic gas steal elevator.
Must be so hard for guys like Stork, Flash, Jaedong, Bisu and others that have to play two days in a row, in different matchups.
stork even playing 5 games in 1 day, is that an advantage for him or Fantasy? Also for those guys who for example have one matchup in MSL one day, and then a new matchup tomorrow. Must be so hard to prepare for it.
Well after Stork slammed Flash for not playing proleague that one time he had an individual game right after, it would be pretty hypocritical for Stork not to do what he did today.
On July 28 2010 15:41 Taku wrote: Well after Stork slammed Flash for not playing proleague that one time he had an individual game right after, it would be pretty hypocritical for Stork not to do what he did today.
Well that does not mean that it is not an advantage not to play PL the same day.
nor does it mean that stork had to come out first. that's a huge burden.
even if he didn't practice at all for the masters games, the time he was there instead of practicing could make a difference. fantasy and stork are at a very similar level, every little bit helps
Pure is randomly awesome in spurts. Since he just went 0-3 against SKT, this obviously means he is about to bust out the ownage again. And Hydra lost to BeSt PvZ tehe.
I feel like Dreamliner will be much more suited to Fantasy's harass play, at least in the early-mid game, which will give him a pretty good edge going into the mid-late.
At any rate, why the hell are the good games always last?
I wonder why Samsung let Stork go up in the STX tourney this morning. I mean Samsung only has Stork left in OSL or MSL, so why not let him get the best preparation?
Is this STX tourney really that much more important than Stork making it to ro8 in OSL?
And this game vs Fantasy I think is the key game for Stork in this group. Win and he probably will make it, but if he lose I dont see him taking 2 pvp in a row.
I have insane insomnia right now and would love to stay up for Stork's dismantling of Fantasy, but I'm afraid I'll just have to try and go to sleep as early as possible. Hey, maybe I'll manage to get a lucid dream out of it! :D
On July 28 2010 18:41 ArvickHero wrote: that opening was disappointing lol
better and more personal than the Effort standing on a highrisetower.
If they made it epic like all the progamers are below him climbing to challenge him, then I would gladly take that opening over this shitty unremarkable opening with terrible music.
Effort attacks Action's nat now, mutas and lings. Action with a counter ling attack meanwhile in effort's base. Effort forced to pull back all his lings, brings his mutas to defend, isnt mining meanwhile.
Action attacking with his mutas now, but pulls back.
T_T That was smart Action. That was smart too EffOrt to try to even things out at the end, but no scourges + running taking free shots was not nice at all
Action had some flawless mechanics right there. Beautifully done using his lings to get a small advantage and then finishing it off with a superior muta force and impeccable micro. I am impressed.
Great work Action! Not the most impeccable muta micro, but he got it done. It was a great move to take those lings the long way round, that basically won him the game.
Oh hell, that didn't need to happen. And that's a pretty big upset, Action should probably have been the easiest opponent in EffOrt's group. Taking down Bisu and Leta will be more of a tall order.
On July 28 2010 18:55 letian wrote: yeaaahhH!! Action good job! Effort is outmicroed? oh
No he didn't outmicro effort: effots micro was better all game. But he made really clever ling attack the long way around the map, with really good timing.
On July 28 2010 18:57 tree.hugger wrote: Oh hell, that didn't need to happen. And that's a pretty big upset, Action should probably have been the easiest opponent in EffOrt's group. Taking down Bisu and Leta will be more of a tall order.
Well Action is not that easy, indeed he used to be a scrub in ZvZvP and early vT, but he practices like hell, I expect him to be an A group wonder
On July 28 2010 18:55 letian wrote: yeaaahhH!! Action good job! Effort is outmicroed? oh
No he didn't outmicro effort: effots micro was better all game. But he made really clever ling attack the long way around the map, with really good timing.
oh! i see now, well gg Action, anyway I like he won
On July 28 2010 18:55 letian wrote: yeaaahhH!! Action good job! Effort is outmicroed? oh
No he didn't outmicro effort: effots micro was better all game. But he made really clever ling attack the long way around the map, with really good timing.
Action microed quite nicely to kill all the scourge when Effort countered after the ling attack, and Effort completely messed up right after that when, instead of running his mutas straight away, he tried to get scourge kills and let them get in range of Action's mutas.
Well Action managed to hit Effort's scourges much more than vice versa, and he had the presence of mind to do a ling run-by that effectively crippled Effort's economy, despite Effort knowing that Action would do such a thing after attempting to do so with two lings earlier (which did nothing but chill in front of Effort's nat.
OK, now for Hyuked vs the Magikarp. Go Hyukhyukhyuk~! (even tho I think he'll get pwnt by the karp!)
On July 28 2010 19:03 ArvickHero wrote: Every single time I watch OSL, I wonder to myself, why are there booth girls?
they're like canaries in a mineshaft. If the boothgirl collapses, there's insufficent ventilation in the booth and they need to pull the progamer out asap.
On July 28 2010 19:03 ArvickHero wrote: Every single time I watch OSL, I wonder to myself, why are there booth girls?
they're like canaries in a mineshaft. If the boothgirl collapses, there's insufficent ventilation in the booth and they need to pull the progamer out asap.
On July 28 2010 19:03 ArvickHero wrote: Every single time I watch OSL, I wonder to myself, why are there booth girls?
they're like canaries in a mineshaft. If the boothgirl collapses, there's insufficent ventilation in the booth and they need to pull the progamer out asap.
On July 28 2010 18:55 letian wrote: yeaaahhH!! Action good job! Effort is outmicroed? oh
No he didn't outmicro effort: effots micro was better all game. But he made really clever ling attack the long way around the map, with really good timing.
Action microed quite nicely to kill all the scourge when Effort countered after the ling attack, and Effort completely messed up right after that when, instead of running his mutas straight away, he tried to get scourge kills and let them get in range of Action's mutas.
Well, he had to try. He had already lost the game imo and he had to force the battle to have a chance. Action micored nicely against that attack, but before Effort beat him quite bad with equal muta count.
The zooming into the map from ground level is pretty hilarious.
Yes, because a canyon with four spawns, two islands, and a raised line through the middle of it actually exists somewhere. And there's clearly topography around it that we just can't see.
On July 28 2010 19:03 ArvickHero wrote: Every single time I watch OSL, I wonder to myself, why are there booth girls?
they're like canaries in a mineshaft. If the boothgirl collapses, there's insufficent ventilation in the booth and they need to pull the progamer out asap.
Thanks for the laugh, this was pretty funny
Not sure who I actually want to win here between Hiya/Hyuk, both of these guys are fodder for Flash and don't quite compare to Zero so I'm sorta expecting both to be eliminated
Hahahaha it's quite funny how there are UFOs in the intro.. near the end when a bunch of lights flew to the UFO makes me think that it's stealing all the progamer's souls O_o
On July 28 2010 19:10 ArvickHero wrote: Hahahaha it's quite funny how there are UFOs in the intro.. near the end when a bunch of lights flew to the UFO makes me think that it's stealing all the progamer's souls O_o
On July 28 2010 19:10 ArvickHero wrote: Hahahaha it's quite funny how there are UFOs in the intro.. near the end when a bunch of lights flew to the UFO makes me think that it's stealing all the progamer's souls O_o
Maybe they're implying that Effort is indeed an alien. :p
On July 28 2010 19:10 ArvickHero wrote: Hahahaha it's quite funny how there are UFOs in the intro.. near the end when a bunch of lights flew to the UFO makes me think that it's stealing all the progamer's souls O_o
Could Hyuk have done less damage with those initial lings? At any rate he's pioneering the really goddamn late third base strategy, where you go aggressive muta/ling and forget how cost-effective terran is.
This is all-in, really. Hyuk has set a rally point so that the mutalisk goes in range of the bunker. It dies.
Hiya spending $$$ on stupid amount of turrets but Hyuk keeps throwing/trading units with Hiya without actually doing anything useful with Hiya's low unit count (like getting a third base) so Hiya should probably end up winning anyway.
jeez Hyuk, if you wanted to delay your third gas forever, you could've at least taken your min-only third so that you could've at least had a bigger ling force :\
Hyuk's second army was painfully small, and Hiya had no tanks. Sunkening up should have been the right thing to do. Did I mention the two crep colonies that morphed to sunkens only when tanks were banging on them?
Hiya is the man...I hope he keeps winning so we can see more halarious ceremonies. I'm sure it pushes him to win, so he can show off . I remember seeing a picture of leta doing a back flip, I think he should do that as a ceremony sometime :D
On July 28 2010 19:28 cascades wrote: Hyuk's second army was painfully small, and Hiya had no tanks. Sunkening up should have been the right thing to do. Did I mention the two crep colonies that morphed to sunkens only when tanks were banging on them?
At that point he was already 100% screwed so it didn't matter.
I'm no korean.. but the kid was being so much more awesome than the other little kids cuz he knows SC vs. boring shit that other kids do. Which was extremely funny. I've been listening to enough SC to catch on to a few phrases like.. earlier templars or something like that.
On July 28 2010 19:29 cascades wrote: Your gimmicky ZvT has been figured out Hyuk. Your games against fantasy exposed that ever so clearly. L2Hive.
It's not even about hive tech. Hyuk just likes to play a lair-heavy style, which is nice and even exciting as long as you expand properly. But too often he just all-ins. There are even games where he cancels the morphing third and all-ins. It works against the likes of forGG where they can just mash armies together and he comes out on top, but otherwise it's pretty limited.
On July 28 2010 19:29 cascades wrote: Your gimmicky ZvT has been figured out Hyuk. Your games against fantasy exposed that ever so clearly. L2Hive.
It's not even about hive tech. Hyuk just likes to play a lair-heavy style, which is nice and even exciting as long as you expand properly. But too often he just all-ins. There are even games where he cancels the morphing third and all-ins. It works against the likes of forGG where they can just mash armies together and he comes out on top, but otherwise it's pretty limited.
I agree with this, he doesn't have a hive-tech game worth a damn at all. He needs LOTS more practice at that level if he wants to get a chance in later games.
On July 28 2010 19:31 GTR wrote: any korean able to explain that kid korean air ad? D=
Znock in my channel said that the teacher asked the kids what they want to be when they grow up. The girl said teacher. The guy said firefighter. The kid with glasses said Dark Templar. When asked why, he put on his glasses and said that he's invisible and can attack, and he can also cast many spells when two Dark Templar merge. He then said that he's going to Mind Control everyone, and so the girl walked away crying.
... It probably flows better if you can actually understand Korean XD
On July 28 2010 19:31 GTR wrote: any korean able to explain that kid korean air ad? D=
Znock in my channel said that the teacher asked the kids what they want to be when they grow up. The girl said teacher. The guy said firefighter. The kid with glasses said Dark Templar. When asked why, he put on his glasses and said that he's invisible and can attack, and he can also cast many spells when two Dark Templar merge. He then said that he's going to Mind Control everyone, and so the girl walked away crying.
... It probably flows better if you can actually understand Korean XD
In good news, OSL will at least get the two lowest skill pairings out of the way on their first day, (hiya-hyuk, pure-hydra). Everything from here on out shouldn't be embarrassing, at least.
On July 28 2010 19:46 Waxangel wrote: In good news, OSL will at least get the two lowest skill pairings out of the way on their first day, (hiya-hyuk, pure-hydra). Everything from here on out shouldn't be embarrassing, at least.
On July 28 2010 19:46 Waxangel wrote: In good news, OSL will at least get the two lowest skill pairings out of the way on their first day, (hiya-hyuk, pure-hydra). Everything from here on out shouldn't be embarrassing, at least.
Pure is a good player but he seems more prone to making mistakes than most progamers, at least from the games I watch with him in it. That game was horrendous.
On July 28 2010 19:53 MaGic~PhiL wrote: that was so horrible from Pure
bad micro, bad decision making, bad everything
wow wtf is this osl ? seriously ?
Im stunned
o_O
I hate to admit it... but... this is where I really start to miss the likes of Hwasin, Luxury, and Upmagic. They've had their fail moments, but they usually brought about exciting play. Feel sorry for Pure, though. Hope he sorts out his PvZ woes.
he didnt even bother his probes got killed by lings.. all he had to do was keep them alive by constantly sliding them + killing lings with the reaver..
On July 28 2010 19:53 MaGic~PhiL wrote: that was so horrible from Pure
bad micro, bad decision making, bad everything
wow wtf is this osl ? seriously ?
Im stunned
o_O
I hate to admit it... but... this is where I really start to miss the likes of Hwasin, Luxury, and Upmagic. They've had their fail moments, but they usually brought about exciting play. Feel sorry for Pure, though. Hope he sorts out his PvZ woes.
Save us Stork and Fantasy! Epic PvT incoming!
Interesting you mention those three names, you do realize some of their fail moments were due to matchfixing?
Because our team is participating in the STX Masters and my 2-week vacation ended on Sunday, I started practising on Monday. Fantasy had numerous chances to play/practice recently, so I think he has the advantage.
On July 28 2010 19:53 MaGic~PhiL wrote: that was so horrible from Pure
bad micro, bad decision making, bad everything
wow wtf is this osl ? seriously ?
Im stunned
o_O
I hate to admit it... but... this is where I really start to miss the likes of Hwasin, Luxury, and Upmagic. They've had their fail moments, but they usually brought about exciting play. Feel sorry for Pure, though. Hope he sorts out his PvZ woes.
Save us Stork and Fantasy! Epic PvT incoming!
Interesting you mention those three names, you do realize some of their fail moments were due to matchfixing?
Indeed. Makes me miss them more. Even though I shouldn't...
On July 28 2010 20:17 JohnColtrane wrote: fantasy is taking 2 expos?
Just 1. He expod to 1 oclock a few mins ago.
isnt he spreading himself a bit thin? :C
Only if Stork drops or flanks him. This is why he's setting himself up in the middle on the highground. He knows stork is going carriers, so meanwhile he's not producing zealot/goons.
Fanta wouldn't have won that. Critical mass carriers w/ mins to support interceptors, even if a base trade had happened. Air mobility > land movement on Dreamliner.
Fantasy's indecision lost him the game. He didn't know what to do at the critical moment: First he wanted to push, then went back to defend the far north expo (when all the scvs were already dead) and finally defended the main with small blobs of goliaths that got picked one by one.
Considering that Fantasy scanned the carrier tech before the fleet beacon was even done, and had a big econ advantage, skipping a starport+sci fac was a huge mistake. 1-2 Vessels for EMPs + gols (which he would have had more than enough for with an EMP) and Stork's mass carrier army would have been crippled.
more turrets in base could hold the stork a bit longer to let fantasy kill protoss main. Beside he did not know what to do, when carriers attacked his main.
IMO, vs Toss going mass carriers w/ early info, forcing them to invest on their ground army or risk being over-run before they can get them up is the best option. The Vulture harass was the right move, but it should have been followed up with a push going for the nat. And Fanta did make the big mistake of not going EMP as a back-up plan; would have worked too if Stork went Arbs. (And if he had busted the observatory earlier on, a tech switch to wraiths would have been nasty.)
wow that was seriously gay. this map reminds me of python, but very poorly designed and blatant product placement!
not only is it seriously zerg favored, but it's also the second super carrier friendly map after polaris rhapsody. as if we needed more games showcasing carrier imba
On July 28 2010 20:35 p14c wrote: Terran cannot protect expos and main at the same time.
Yes, he can, because the carriers can't afford to be too far forward (or they get run down and killed by goliaths). But Fantasy couldn't stop land units from walking into his expos because his siege line was so far up. That's Fantasy's fault for positioning aggressively (way past the back of the high ground ramp), but not so aggressively that he blocked off the front of the high ground ramp.
On July 28 2010 20:43 hitthat wrote: well, we were complaining about protoss holocaust last season, than here we are, Protoss not fail anymore
Last season just got boring due to protoss being so damn horrible. Not that they dominate this season but at least they are doing better and I think its just alot more fun when all races have players that can go far.
Sea, Fantasy, Kal and Hyuk got kind of screwed on the scheduling this go around. All of them have to play back to back in the OSL/MSL at some point this week. I know it's necessary scheduling to allow PL playoffs to schedule correctly but man is that harsh.
On July 28 2010 20:35 p14c wrote: Terran cannot protect expos and main at the same time.
Yes, he can, because the carriers can't afford to be too far forward (or they get run down and killed by goliaths). But Fantasy couldn't stop land units from walking into his expos because his siege line was so far up. That's Fantasy's fault for positioning aggressively (way past the back of the high ground ramp), but not so aggressively that he blocked off the front of the high ground ramp.
On July 28 2010 20:47 TwoToneTerran wrote: Sea, Fantasy, Kal and Hyuk got kind of screwed on the scheduling this go around. All of them have to play back to back in the OSL/MSL at some point this week. I know it's necessary scheduling to allow PL playoffs to schedule correctly but man is that harsh.
Bisu, Jaedong and Flash are also playing MSL and OSL two days in a row. And Stork had the STX tourney the same day as his OSL game against Fantasy.
Its not good but it seem that there is not much they can do when some players have so many matches.
On July 28 2010 21:01 structuralinertia wrote: at the risk of sounding stupid, where is the pun in the recommendations? I've been trying to find it for 15 mins D=
On July 28 2010 21:01 structuralinertia wrote: at the risk of sounding stupid, where is the pun in the recommendations? I've been trying to find it for 15 mins D=
why does this happen every time.... whenever Bisu starts playing up to his abilities, Stork steps up as well. These two really are the siamese twins of the protoss force
On July 28 2010 21:28 disciple wrote: why does this happen every time.... whenever Bisu starts playing up to his abilities, Stork steps up as well. These two really are the siamese twins of the protoss force
I really think the only real mistake Fantasy made was not to get a startport and upgrades during the early/midgame transition. They are sooooo critical for gols vs carriers, that could've made a gigantic difference imo.
It feel like it did not matter if Fantasy would have gone for a base trade.
If he had done so the carriers would have destroyed the main even faster and those goons would have removed his top expo. Stork had the Island and that would have been to hard for Fantasy to take out before Stork took him out.
Wow, the intro's pretty awful this time around. I'm guessing they couldn't get players from playoff teams away for long enough to do something cool, but do another hand drawn opening or something.......
On July 28 2010 22:16 purpose wrote: It feel like it did not matter if Fantasy would have gone for a base trade.
If he had done so the carriers would have destroyed the main even faster and those goons would have removed his top expo. Stork had the Island and that would have been to hard for Fantasy to take out before Stork took him out.
I agree, there's no way a base trade would have worked out. It almost never works in TvP (try doing a base trade on iccup some time and you'll see how bad of an idea it is), and it especially won't work when P has an island + Carriers (literally impossible to attack something like that after a base trade).
Ugh, I really wanted Fantasy to win this. Sadly it turned out to be one of those showcase "Flash would never ever ever ever ever have lost this (from the midgame position) but Fantasy did" games. Fantasy's on the fly decision making is just so many levels below Flash's, oh well.
On July 28 2010 22:16 purpose wrote: It feel like it did not matter if Fantasy would have gone for a base trade.
If he had done so the carriers would have destroyed the main even faster and those goons would have removed his top expo. Stork had the Island and that would have been to hard for Fantasy to take out before Stork took him out.
I agree, there's no way a base trade would have worked out. It almost never works in TvP (try doing a base trade on iccup some time and you'll see how bad of an idea it is), and it especially won't work when P has an island + Carriers (literally impossible to attack something like that after a base trade).
Ugh, I really wanted Fantasy to win this. Sadly it turned out to be one of those showcase "Flash would never ever ever ever ever have lost this (from the midgame position) but Fantasy did" games. Fantasy's on the fly decision making is just so many levels below Flash's, oh well.
yeah, i agree with you.
the commentators actually had an interesting discussion about flash and fantasy vs protoss. they were saying that fantasy usually kills the protoss before he actually gets a threatening fleet, but he's weak once protoss gathers a certain number of them. not many protoss dare to go fast carriers (relatively) vs fantasy since his mid-game vulture harass is arguably the best in the world and has an incredible sense of timing. on the other hand, flash doesn't really mind if protoss gets carriers. nobody is better than him at simply crushing the protoss with superior army/macro/upgrades. on a final note, i don't think not one single protoss can use carriers as well as stork does. it's not just his micro, but rather how he manages his carrier fleet in combination with the ground army. he makes the most optimal decisions, always attacking the right places at the right times. it's pretty nuts.
Everything went as I thought it would except Action/Effort. Really didn't think Action could win that one in a ZvZ but awesome to see him do so. This makes his STX masters results ok :D.
On July 28 2010 22:16 purpose wrote: It feel like it did not matter if Fantasy would have gone for a base trade.
If he had done so the carriers would have destroyed the main even faster and those goons would have removed his top expo. Stork had the Island and that would have been to hard for Fantasy to take out before Stork took him out.
I agree, there's no way a base trade would have worked out. It almost never works in TvP (try doing a base trade on iccup some time and you'll see how bad of an idea it is), and it especially won't work when P has an island + Carriers (literally impossible to attack something like that after a base trade).
Ugh, I really wanted Fantasy to win this. Sadly it turned out to be one of those showcase "Flash would never ever ever ever ever have lost this (from the midgame position) but Fantasy did" games. Fantasy's on the fly decision making is just so many levels below Flash's, oh well.
yeah, i agree with you.
on a final note, i don't think not one single protoss can use carriers as well as stork does. it's not just his micro, but rather how he manages his carrier fleet in combination with the ground army. he makes the most optimal decisions, always attacking the right places at the right times. it's pretty nuts.
This is so true. What makes Storks Carriers so amazing is his abillity to always make the correct decision at the exact right time. Many other players use their ground force to try and make a brake, and that often fails and they are stuck with only carriers.
But Stork dont give away his ground army for free and always use them perfect. Poke when the army is occupied by his Carriers and vice versa, use them to harass expos while his Carriers doing something els etc.
Must be so damn hard to decide what to do when your playing vs Storks carrier. Perhaps Flash is the only one who can handle it.
Man at one point I was so confident that Fantasy had that game in the bag, even letting the island expo survive... he stretched his goliaths too much =[
Also... just found this stupid thing on youtube and it isn't necessarily accurate (golis shooting missiles @ gateways lol) but it sort of sums up how Stork vs Fantasy went...
On July 29 2010 15:57 Cr4zyH0r5e wrote: Man at one point I was so confident that Fantasy had that game in the bag, even letting the island expo survive... he stretched his goliaths too much =[
Also... just found this stupid thing on youtube and it isn't necessarily accurate (golis shooting missiles @ gateways lol) but it sort of sums up how Stork vs Fantasy went...
On July 28 2010 22:16 purpose wrote: It feel like it did not matter if Fantasy would have gone for a base trade.
If he had done so the carriers would have destroyed the main even faster and those goons would have removed his top expo. Stork had the Island and that would have been to hard for Fantasy to take out before Stork took him out.
I agree, there's no way a base trade would have worked out. It almost never works in TvP (try doing a base trade on iccup some time and you'll see how bad of an idea it is), and it especially won't work when P has an island + Carriers (literally impossible to attack something like that after a base trade).
Ugh, I really wanted Fantasy to win this. Sadly it turned out to be one of those showcase "Flash would never ever ever ever ever have lost this (from the midgame position) but Fantasy did" games. Fantasy's on the fly decision making is just so many levels below Flash's, oh well.
yeah, i agree with you.
the commentators actually had an interesting discussion about flash and fantasy vs protoss. they were saying that fantasy usually kills the protoss before he actually gets a threatening fleet, but he's weak once protoss gathers a certain number of them. not many protoss dare to go fast carriers (relatively) vs fantasy since his mid-game vulture harass is arguably the best in the world and has an incredible sense of timing. on the other hand, flash doesn't really mind if protoss gets carriers. nobody is better than him at simply crushing the protoss with superior army/macro/upgrades. on a final note, i don't think not one single protoss can use carriers as well as stork does. it's not just his micro, but rather how he manages his carrier fleet in combination with the ground army. he makes the most optimal decisions, always attacking the right places at the right times. it's pretty nuts.
You mean he is the Supreme Commander? OOOoOH!! SONG BYUNG GU HWAITING!
Just came in to comment on Hiya's Yugioh pwnage. In case anyone's wondering, the music that played was called "Passionate Duelist", a BGM track from the Japanese anime:
EPT
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EffOrt < Eye of the Storm > 
HiyA
Pure < Polaris Rhapsody > ![[image loading]](http://i41.tinypic.com/2a8romg.jpg)
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+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y150/Stormalong/bonus3.jpg)
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