EPT[ASL21] Semifinals B - Page 16
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polgas
Canada1784 Posts
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Scarecrow
Korea (South)9174 Posts
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NoS-Craig
Australia3146 Posts
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Zapperkhan
United States437 Posts
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VioleTAK
4408 Posts
On May 15 2026 21:43 Zapperkhan wrote: This series brought this account out of retirement. Holy shit. As well it should have! Welcome back  | ||
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VioleTAK
4408 Posts
Light played incredibly well imo. It really shows how much mystery and depth still exist in the BW scene. It reminds me a lot of chess, where the same 20 elite players keep getting invited to every major tournament, and watching them face off never gets old. The GMs are amazing, but even they cannot compete with the super GMs by any messure. And then there is Magnus at the very top, where even the number 2 and number 3 players in the world cannot really touch him. No matter who officially holds the world championship, everyone knows Magnus is still on another level. BW feels exactly like that... The top pros already seem untouchable, and yet Flash still looks significantly ahead of everyone else. BW is one of the few esports that has produced true masters of the craft. And in BW the skill ceiling still feels unexplored after decades. In many sports dominant strategies eventually compress the gap between players. But in BW, mechanics, multitasking, decision timing, mind games, map understanding, psychological endurance and more, all stack together in a way that keeps producing these almost mythic skill differences. BW is so beautiful! | ||
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Biff The Understudy
France8123 Posts
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TornadoSteve
1116 Posts
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ThunderJunk
United States739 Posts
I feel like Flash didn't just prove himself. He educated me on the nature of life and existence. What a sublime showing. That said, I could feel my own wrists getting carpal tunnel just watching the way Flash positions his left hand on the keyboard. I can see why he's complained of wrist issues - he wasn't faking that to dodge anyone, that's for sure. | ||
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polgas
Canada1784 Posts
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/Wi6iCxx.gif) | ||
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Barneyk
Sweden317 Posts
Just complete and utter control from start to finish. Even when Light had a decent build order it didn't matter, Flash was in control. | ||
ImbaTosS
United Kingdom1717 Posts
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Dante08
Singapore4179 Posts
On May 15 2026 09:26 AttackZerg wrote: I think aspect of Soulkeys complete game make him a one of a kind player. He can make nearly any situation look like a smooth streamlined response and I am a big fan. But, Soma is much better at fighting mid-game armies and his judgement in those situations is legendary and decisive. I would love to be proven wrong by Soulkey getting top4 next season, but right now Soma is the last Zerg standing for a reason, second season in a row. I cannot wait for the finals, the meta may shift, Flash has a ton of inertia after this match. Not sure if you forgotten that Soulkey won 4 ASLs in a row. Overall he’s still the stronger Zerg just that Soma may be more on form now. Also not to take away from Soma’s skill but he did have a much easier path to the finals this time around. | ||
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johanes
Czech Republic2246 Posts
On May 16 2026 06:12 ThunderJunk wrote: Yeah, I have to admit that despite 8 years of following the Korean scene I was still among the doubters that thought the skill level must have increased over the last 5 years and that Flash was going to struggle to return to dominance - but this series showed me that while game understanding might have increased across the board, tightening what mapmakers are allowed to do, class is timeless - and truly great players will always find a way to rise to the top. I feel like Flash didn't just prove himself. He educated me on the nature of life and existence. What a sublime showing. That said, I could feel my own wrists getting carpal tunnel just watching the way Flash positions his left hand on the keyboard. I can see why he's complained of wrist issues - he wasn't faking that to dodge anyone, that's for sure. I don't believe the current level of StarCraft play comes close to the KESPA era. The environment was fundamentally different back then: players lived together in team houses, ate and slept beside each other, and treated SC as the central focus of their lives. The training regimes were brutal. That intensity produced an extraordinarily high level of play that was lost afterward and has never been matched since. Today's scene is more relaxed and streaming-focused. The games are entertaining and fresh strategies keep emerging. But the overall level, especially at the very top, falls short of the peak the game once reached. Flash has the unique ability to keep the focus and use his training time super-effectively even without the Kespa environment. Were it not for his health issues, he would dominate the last years harder than ever before. | ||
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Uldridge
Belgium5185 Posts
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Artas1984
149 Posts
On May 15 2026 05:09 [sc1f]eonzerg wrote: Now lets go with Flash. Keyboard: Qsend DT-35 Mouse : WL Beast. Now the biggest and absolute shit razer can do from a brand standpoint is using FlaSh when no long ago he was involved in the crypto scandal and almost ruined his career and his perfect reputation took the biggest hit ever to the point they call him these days Coinwa. Aaa! Thank's for this explanation. The politics of marketing are deeper than we think. Totally forgot about crypto scandal (not that i care - Flash payed dearly for that with his own wallet). Also Flash would have had to use Razer stuff while gaming on TV, and since that did not happen, no ad for him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to Flash vs. Soma. Coming into this ASL21, the story line was Flash's return after 6 years absence and claiming the throne once more - there was a theoretical probability that might not happen. It already happens. But how diminished all that would be if the player waiting for Flash in the finals would be someone else, but not the key contender defending the current ASL championship? There was also a probability of that not occurring, but it is happening also. If you calculate the possibility sum of these two independent stream of events, this is like a written Cinderalla story! A quote from AI (you should take it as a funny side not, and not seriously): Statistically, if you were to aggregate expert opinions from platforms like TL.net and r/broodwar before the matches began, Soma and Flash were the top two predicted finalists. If one assigned a conservative 40% chance for the reigning champion Soma to make the finals and a 30% chance for a returning, elite Flash to navigate a heavily Terran-favored map pool, the mathematical cross-probability of them meeting in the grand finals would sit roughly around 12% to 15% before a single game was played. | ||
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jello_biafra
United Kingdom6642 Posts
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SlayerS_BunkiE
Canada1717 Posts
On May 12 2026 20:46 gravity wrote: I hope Flash goes mech again in the finals. I feel like I haven't seen that working often in ASL so would be cool if he can pull it off (I've heard it's done well in other matches). I actually hope not, unless its a very specific timing attack like a goliath/m&m push. I think mech is gimmicky and is not flexible enough for finals play. Its certainly a possibility though since its less demanding on the hands; though if Flash is serious about this being his last ASL, you’d think he’d lay it all out there instead of preserving his hands. | ||
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Biff The Understudy
France8123 Posts
On May 17 2026 03:50 johanes wrote: I don't believe the current level of StarCraft play comes close to the KESPA era. The environment was fundamentally different back then: players lived together in team houses, ate and slept beside each other, and treated SC as the central focus of their lives. The training regimes were brutal. That intensity produced an extraordinarily high level of play that was lost afterward and has never been matched since. Today's scene is more relaxed and streaming-focused. The games are entertaining and fresh strategies keep emerging. But the overall level, especially at the very top, falls short of the peak the game once reached. Flash has the unique ability to keep the focus and use his training time super-effectively even without the Kespa environment. Were it not for his health issues, he would dominate the last years harder than ever before. On modern maps, current players would slam the kespa pros. They have two more decades of experience, understanding and strategic development under their belt. The intense practice you have done is not lost when you grow older and practice a bit less. It might be their mechanics have declined a little as they have grown older, but not by much and certainly not enough to compensate for two decades of development of strategic thinking. | ||
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Miragee
8678 Posts
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