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Recommended Games+ Show Spoiler ++ Show Spoiler [Game 1] +Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 1?Yes (31) 94% If you have time (2) 6% No (0) 0% 33 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 1? (Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 2?Yes (25) 96% If you have time (1) 4% No (0) 0% 26 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 2? (Vote): Yes
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 3?Yes (30) 88% No (3) 9% If you have time (1) 3% 34 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 3? (Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 4?Yes (16) 55% No (8) 28% If you have time (5) 17% 29 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 4? (Vote): Yes
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 5?If you have time (13) 52% Yes (8) 32% No (4) 16% 25 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 5? (Vote): Yes
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 6?Yes (32) 97% No (1) 3% If you have time (0) 0% 33 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 6? (Vote): Yes
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Poll: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 7?Yes (31) 67% No (14) 30% If you have time (1) 2% 46 total votes Your vote: Recommend Flash vs Soma Game 7? (Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
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Northern Ireland27480 Posts
On May 26 2026 03:52 TMNT wrote:
By the way I'm glad Soma won this despite it means Zerg has won 6 in a row.
What Flash has brought to this tournament feels quite meh to me. I acknowledge the issue with his wirst, but it seems like his entire modus operandi for the tournament is to get ahead with build order (mostly by going CC first) then brute force his way to victory. Some people may sugarcoat it by saying he won the mind game or whatever, but truth is he can't decide where his opponents spawn, when they scout and whether they're going to rush or not. We have neither seen godlike macro nor fancy micro (rather poor micro actually) in all his non-mirror matchups.
And I saw he had way better games than these in online Proleague in the past years, when he didn't "grind" offstream games like this to prepare for ASL.
Non-mirror matchups are still matchups, and he eviscerated Light even when they played similar builds
One series sure, but that was godlike StarCraft, almost incomprehensible stuff against an operator of the quality of Light
Just didn’t really see that in this final, in a different matchup
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Northern Ireland27480 Posts
On May 26 2026 07:15 sc2turtlepants wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2026 03:52 TMNT wrote:
By the way I'm glad Soma won this despite it means Zerg has won 6 in a row.
What Flash has brought to this tournament feels quite meh to me. I acknowledge the issue with his wirst, but it seems like his entire modus operandi for the tournament is to get ahead with build order (mostly by going CC first) then brute force his way to victory. Some people may sugarcoat it by saying he won the mind game or whatever, but truth is he can't decide where his opponents spawn, when they scout and whether they're going to rush or not. We have neither seen godlike macro nor fancy micro (rather poor micro actually) in all his non-mirror matchups.
And I saw he had way better games than these in online Proleague in the past years, when he didn't "grind" offstream games like this to prepare for ASL.
I'm glad Soma won because flash winning would have been terrible for the scene. People already idolize flash more than is healthy, and him winning would have undercut the achievements of everyone else moving forward. Nevermind that aside from Light and Soma his bracket was a breeze, and nevermind the terran map pool. Also fitting that Soma stopped his random and his return years later. I wonder if he now has a winning record vs Flash? Not sure how to find that out.
How are the likes of Bisu, Snow and Jaedong a breeze in an ASL bracket?
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WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won
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Also the 7 mineral patch is irrelevant
Flash just needed to:
* Lift main CC and evacuate scvs to natural
* Build up to 7-8 marines
* Go back to the main and clear up the few lings and drones
* start mining in main again
Would've been 2CC Terran vs 2 hatch low drone Zerg.
Threw away a 98% won game
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On May 26 2026 13:29 Highways wrote:
WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won
No he didn't
Soma addressed every point in this thread on his review stream himself. It will be up a week after tastosis is public.
I'm so tired man.
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On May 26 2026 13:38 jinjin5000 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2026 13:29 Highways wrote:
WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won No he didn't Soma addressed every point in this thread on his review stream himself. It will be up a week after tastosis is public. I'm so tired man.
We love you jinjin. If it makes you feel any better, I think many are just disappointed that it ended that way and it's hard for people, especially Flash fans, to process. I don't think it is on you to correct the record (though we will ALL appreciate your upcoming translations... I wish you were around for the infamous MSL power outage  )
So many games had moments where one felt like Flash could have won. From the 8rax VS 4pool game which seemed won, even to game 6 where it felt like maybe Flash rushed it too fast... people, especially those without a ton of BW knowledge and knowledge of high stakes situations in general (the stress!) are always going to be questioning things and wondering "what if"
In the end Soma played so well, Flash also did his best, and I look forward to hearing all the progamers talking about it in your wonderful English translations. Keep your head up king!
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United States10627 Posts
On May 25 2026 15:50 mtcn77 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 25 2026 15:36 FlaShFTW wrote:On May 25 2026 15:22 mtcn77 wrote:On May 25 2026 14:11 AttackZerg wrote:
I did drone scout and 5 drone pull and the timing works awesome. The drones cross map on polypoid show up 2 seconds before marine pops out, ez to zone it away from bunker.
It feels insane to have not known this was an option. Yes. It is sad. Dodging the grudge match are we? You are not even in my radar.
Dodge.
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Even if Flash was behind (which he wasn't imo), why didn't he play out the rest of the game??
Why early gg in game 7 of your last ASL final. It wasn't over yet
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Thanks jinjin for the inside scoop for those of us who don't understand Korean. I hope you can share more of Soma's thoughts with us, and Flash if he has any.
What a finals. It was truly the best Zerg versus the best Terran, and the meta went all the way around. So much so that people are still lost on game 7 lol.
Soma, you are "JapJae," "fake Jaedong," but your play is more real than any Zerg I've seen. You are a true student of the game, and you have everything from every great Zerg player in history. And you were just an amateur. You now have two championships, back-to-back, and you've defeated every great one from your peers. What you have accomplished is incredible, and your place in BW history is cemented. You are an inspiration for those who think that they needed to come from somewhere to compete at the top.
Flash, you are a true legend, coming back after such a long time and nearly beating everyone again on a handicap. You've proven beyond a doubt that your skills are what made you the best, not your race or anything that people might meme or falsely believe. Even though you lost, you showed that you're human and that's what makes you so admirable. That you were able to accomplish so much just through your sheer genius of the game and ability to prepare. Your scientific approach is second to none, and I'm glad BW had you to keep pushing the envelope and giving us viewers great games. Please enjoy your time off and take care of yourself, because BW needs you. But frankly, I'm tired of seeing you play lol. We get it, Terran is very good. Please share your wisdom and help those spoiled Protoss catch up some more in strategy and tactics so they can finally win something.
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United States10627 Posts
Ok, let's review the game state at 3:41, which is where I felt the critical moment of the game occurs.
1. FlaSh has just gotten his bunker up with a marine inside.
2. Upon seeing the bunker finish, Soma elects to runby into the main. The units that survive the runby are as follows: 3 speedlings, 2 drones.
3. FlaSh's supply is 18/36, with no SCVs producing and 1 marine in production. He has 2 marines (1 in bunker, one that was just made). Therefore, we know that he has 15 scvs alive at this moment (18-3=15). 14 are in his base, 1 is scouting and about to enter Soma's main.
4. Soma's supply is 14/17. He has 3 lings in FlaSh's main and 2 drones (4 supply). He has 3 more pairs of lings currently running across the map (FlaSh's natural ramp, center of the map, and his own natural). We also know that he has another pair of lings in production (at 3:58, we see the lings running across the map). Based on this information, we know that Soma has 6 supply of zerglings, 2 supply of drones in FlaSh's main, and the rest are drones in his base, so he only has 6 drones mining.
5. FlaSh only has 77 minerals while Soma has 300 minerals and 116 gas.
So to check our work, FlaSh has 14 scvs in his base (1 scout), 2 marines. 1 barracks with building marine, and 2 CC. His sim city is at his natural, with only a 77 mineral bank.
Soma has 6 drones mining, 2 drones and 3 lings inside of FlaSh's main with rallied zerglings. He has speed, and a reasonable bank of 300/100.
If at this moment, FlaSh lifts his main CC and runs his SCVs to the natural to mine and protect the bunker, I feel he is in advantageous state. Yes, he will not be mining for a brief moment as his main SCVs transfer to the natural, but he also has 9 SCVs already at the natural that were attempting to hold off the attack. Those 9 scvs can get to mining on 7 patches very quickly, and he can begin to also make more SCVs from his natural CC. The 5 SCVs that transfer can hold the bunker with 2 marines inside. 7 patches should be more than enough to stabilize, nonstop produce marines (no supply depots needed for a long time as he has the 2 CCs providing ample supply), re-establish the wall to prevent further ling runbys, and tech to 2 rax acad and retake the main.
Soma has two choices: he could either expand off 6 drones and take a natural and begin to drone, or he could keep the pressure and tech to lair while droning behind. But, Soma does not have larva banked up as he was constantly producing zerglings to aid the attack. So if he expands, his extremely low drone count would make it very difficult to catch up to FlaSh's already established 9 SCV economy (assuming he uses the main 5 SCVs to guard the bunker). If he techs, lair is going to be 63 seconds away, with the next piece of tech being either muta or lurker which will be another 2 minutes away after that for mutas, even longer for lurkers. More than enough time for FlaSh to have produced enough marines to retake his main and establish a reasonable 2 base, 2 rax academy setup. Also, FlaSh knows all of this (or should know all of this) because he has that 1 scout in Soma's base. He should know that Soma's economic and tech position was still in the stone age.
FlaSh instead tries to fend off the runby with SCVs and one singular marine. 2 more lings runby to now make it 5 total lings, and with speed instantly kill the marine and an SCV. But 1 pair of lings dies trying to runby after the marine dies.
At 4:00 now, the supplies are 13 for Soma (same position basically but now 5 vs 3 lings) and 17 for FlaSh. Essentially, subtract 1 supply of lings and 1 marine and SCV from FlaSh. He still had the opportunity to cut his losses protecting the main and flee to the natural here. Soma still doesn't have lair started, or his natural hatch started, which he only starts at 4:15. Once FlaSh lost that one marine, it was impossible to defend the main with reasonable efficiency against 5 speedlings and 2 drones. He would slowly have his main SCVs get picked off one by one.
The second runby seals the deal, with 5 more reinforcing. FlaSh FINALLY pulls the SCVs and sends his 4 marines up to defend the main (why didn't he fight with his SCVs?) and gets surrounded of course and loses.
I'm not blaming FlaSh by the way, the game was a very chaotic situation, and FlaSh's mentality likely was to crush the runby and win the game right there and then. He did not want to get drawn out into an awkward position that could turn into a longer game of attrition, as this was game 7 and his wrists were clearly deteriorating.
I also understand that Soma's perspective is that he was ahead after the runby. But according to Jinjin, he says that "I can continuously disrupt mining". But look at the position of FlaSh's bunker. How will he disrupt natural mining when the bunker is positioned so well. If Soma wants to commit to harassing the mineral line, the lings would come into the bunker's range. The interviewer also mentions "there wasn't enough workers mining". But FlaSh has 9 SCVs in the natural. Even if we assume that FlaSh will play on the safer side and use some SCVs to hold the wall, he still has some income while the main SCVs are transferred and he has 77 minerals to at least begin producing an SCV from the natural.
(By the way, using Soma's words and opinion about the position of the game without actually looking at the underlying facts is an appeal to authority. Look at the underlying facts, not just what Soma was saying).
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On May 26 2026 13:29 Highways wrote:
WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won
I bet you guys didn't watch Hero vs JYJ ASL15 game 5 on Nemesis. Eventhough Hero lost the series, he won that particular game. There is no comeback once zerg gets 100% scout into your whereabouts and defensive lack thereof. If you have no fighting chance, how many scvs you have don't matter any more to zerg because what you think zerg will do is not any zerg does in actuality. There is no game in which zerg macros after seeing you have no defensive unit, it is 100% zerglings thereafter.
User was temp banned for this post.
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On May 26 2026 15:05 Highways wrote:
Even if Flash was behind (which he wasn't imo), why didn't he play out the rest of the game??
Why early gg in game 7 of your last ASL final. It wasn't over yet
Yeah. I kind of agree with you... even given what the pros are saying, and obviously they know better than me OBVIOUSLY.
All I know is Fantasy wouldn't have GG'd out there XD
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at the very least this will be a finals that will be hard to forget
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On May 26 2026 15:24 FlaShFTW wrote:
Ok, let's review the game state at 3:41, which is where I felt the critical moment of the game occurs.
1. FlaSh has just gotten his bunker up with a marine inside.
2. Upon seeing the bunker finish, Soma elects to runby into the main. The units that survive the runby are as follows: 3 speedlings, 2 drones.
3. FlaSh's supply is 18/36, with no SCVs producing and 1 marine in production. He has 2 marines (1 in bunker, one that was just made). Therefore, we know that he has 15 scvs alive at this moment (18-3=15). 14 are in his base, 1 is scouting and about to enter Soma's main.
4. Soma's supply is 14/17. He has 3 lings in FlaSh's main and 2 drones (4 supply). He has 3 more pairs of lings currently running across the map (FlaSh's natural ramp, center of the map, and his own natural). We also know that he has another pair of lings in production (at 3:58, we see the lings running across the map). Based on this information, we know that Soma has 6 supply of zerglings, 2 supply of drones in FlaSh's main, and the rest are drones in his base, so he only has 6 drones mining.
5. FlaSh only has 77 minerals while Soma has 300 minerals and 116 gas.
So to check our work, FlaSh has 14 scvs in his base (1 scout), 2 marines. 1 barracks with building marine, and 2 CC. His sim city is at his natural, with only a 77 mineral bank.
Soma has 6 drones mining, 2 drones and 3 lings inside of FlaSh's main with rallied zerglings. He has speed, and a reasonable bank of 300/100.
If at this moment, FlaSh lifts his main CC and runs his SCVs to the natural to mine and protect the bunker, I feel he is in advantageous state. Yes, he will not be mining for a brief moment as his main SCVs transfer to the natural, but he also has 9 SCVs already at the natural that were attempting to hold off the attack. Those 9 scvs can get to mining on 7 patches very quickly, and he can begin to also make more SCVs from his natural CC. The 5 SCVs that transfer can hold the bunker with 2 marines inside. 7 patches should be more than enough to stabilize, nonstop produce marines (no supply depots needed for a long time as he has the 2 CCs providing ample supply), re-establish the wall to prevent further ling runbys, and tech to 2 rax acad and retake the main.
Soma has two choices: he could either expand off 6 drones and take a natural and begin to drone, or he could keep the pressure and tech to lair while droning behind. But, Soma does not have larva banked up as he was constantly producing zerglings to aid the attack. So if he expands, his extremely low drone count would make it very difficult to catch up to FlaSh's already established 9 SCV economy (assuming he uses the main 5 SCVs to guard the bunker). If he techs, lair is going to be 63 seconds away, with the next piece of tech being either muta or lurker which will be another 2 minutes away after that for mutas, even longer for lurkers. More than enough time for FlaSh to have produced enough marines to retake his main and establish a reasonable 2 base, 2 rax academy setup. Also, FlaSh knows all of this (or should know all of this) because he has that 1 scout in Soma's base. He should know that Soma's economic and tech position was still in the stone age.
FlaSh instead tries to fend off the runby with SCVs and one singular marine. 2 more lings runby to now make it 5 total lings, and with speed instantly kill the marine and an SCV. But 1 pair of lings dies trying to runby after the marine dies.
At 4:00 now, the supplies are 13 for Soma (same position basically but now 5 vs 3 lings) and 17 for FlaSh. Essentially, subtract 1 supply of lings and 1 marine and SCV from FlaSh. He still had the opportunity to cut his losses protecting the main and flee to the natural here. Soma still doesn't have lair started, or his natural hatch started, which he only starts at 4:15. Once FlaSh lost that one marine, it was impossible to defend the main with reasonable efficiency against 5 speedlings and 2 drones. He would slowly have his main SCVs get picked off one by one.
The second runby seals the deal, with 5 more reinforcing. FlaSh FINALLY pulls the SCVs and sends his 4 marines up to defend the main (why didn't he fight with his SCVs?) and gets surrounded of course and loses.
I'm not blaming FlaSh by the way, the game was a very chaotic situation, and FlaSh's mentality likely was to crush the runby and win the game right there and then. He did not want to get drawn out into an awkward position that could turn into a longer game of attrition, as this was game 7 and his wrists were clearly deteriorating.
I also understand that Soma's perspective is that he was ahead after the runby. But according to Jinjin, he says that "I can continuously disrupt mining". But look at the position of FlaSh's bunker. How will he disrupt natural mining when the bunker is positioned so well. If Soma wants to commit to harassing the mineral line, the lings would come into the bunker's range. The interviewer also mentions "there wasn't enough workers mining". But FlaSh has 9 SCVs in the natural. Even if we assume that FlaSh will play on the safer side and use some SCVs to hold the wall, he still has some income while the main SCVs are transferred and he has 77 minerals to at least begin producing an SCV from the natural.
(By the way, using Soma's words and opinion about the position of the game without actually looking at the underlying facts is an appeal to authority. Look at the underlying facts, not just what Soma was saying).
I mean appeal to authority when there's 20 authority figures all saying same thing, and those authority figures are industry experts? Only question up on air was if FlaSh can continue the game on if he transferred worker ASAP or not, which all the Terran progamers who were streaming universally thought it was over.
Soma said that only point where game was up on air was if FlaSh saw through the build, transferred all his SCVs to natural immediately. Soma felt confident enough to think that he had won when 2 extra lings after got in and killed the Marine.
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The bizarrely confident comments about Flash not yet having lost the final game and/or GG'ing too early are quite puzzling and awkward to read; I did think this forum was for more experienced players/watchers? I suppose it was a slightly deceptive game state, but of course he was conclusively done. Maybe there can be questions and conversations about decision making in the final minute, but the GG clearly came when it was over.
An amazing finals, though! Beautiful mind games. So layered. I have always been rooting for Flash, but I feel like it's time to move on (if he does retire, for real), therefore the comments about Soma winning being good for the scene make a lot of sense. Some pretty colorful stories this ASL with a wickedly hype grand finals. Some matches sucked, some were brilliant, but at least they were never boring. 
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The only other poster I've seen with the right take on game 7 was A.Alm. How are you guys so lost on the game? No offense, but it seems most of you didn't play the game at a high level and don't get the current meta/tempo. Not being a snob, that's ok, but if you know you're not coming from a great position you have to trust the pros here. There's no conspiracy and Flash didn't prematurely gg. He just knew what was coming and wasn't gonna waste everyone's time and disrespect Soma. If you 4 pool and fail, you're still alive, sure...but no way you're going to win the game against a competent player. Just gg and don't waste anyone's time. Or in chess, don't be that annoying idiot who doesn't resign and forces you to play a little more to checkmate him. Flash was definitely fucked and you gotta try to understand why, not question it.
@Flashftw You are making Flash's position sound better than it really was and not giving Soma's position enough credit on how healthy it was despite the early aggression, and what he would be able to do from there.
Yes, for Flash to continue on, he would've needed to do a combination of make more SCVs, marines, seal off the wall, and tech. And if he continued on, we would've watched him slowly macro off 7 patches to do all that which requires hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of minerals, while everyone is just watching the calm before the storm, celebrating Soma's win. And when the Muta storm comes and wrecks him, people would just be like, why didn't Flash just gg earlier, he was fucked. Lol
The bunker. Someone put up a picture of the bunker, and said here's the bunker protecting the mineral line...except it had some blind spots lol. You guys are misjudging the range of the bunker. Soma says he was able to disrupt mining for a reason. Because the bunker did not guard the edges of the mineral line.
Now neither Flash nor Soma are C level players so let's give them both full credit please. In response to that, Flash will almost certainly leave some marines a little bit outside to shoot those lings. Solved right? Ok, Soma can't harass his SCVs anymore. He's saved! Nah. He's on 7 mineral patches, which is lol in itself.
So Flash will mine off 7 minerals, investing the vast majority of that slow income in *still* dealing with Soma's *potential* speedling threat, not being able to improve his economy or tech to something better, while Soma is free to watch Flash do whatever little he can, blow up his economy, and tech up to something that Flash cannot deal with, because the lemons he's got can only afford him to deal with threat one.
Flash cheesed and his cheese failed. When you cheese in BW and it fails against your opponent's proper response, you're fucked. That's really it in a nutshell.
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Netherlands6007 Posts
Flash's GG timing was more than spot on, but how Flash arrived there is whole nother thing.
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On May 26 2026 13:38 jinjin5000 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2026 13:29 Highways wrote:
WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won No he didn't Soma addressed every point in this thread on his review stream himself. It will be up a week after tastosis is public. I'm so tired man.
How does it feel to be a hostage to late tastosis releases :D
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On May 26 2026 16:31 Bonyth wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2026 13:38 jinjin5000 wrote:On May 26 2026 13:29 Highways wrote:
WTF Flash won that last game
Why did he quit. Zerg had no drones left. Just move scv's to natural and he won No he didn't Soma addressed every point in this thread on his review stream himself. It will be up a week after tastosis is public. I'm so tired man. How does it feel to be a hostage to late tastosis releases :D
It's what it is. I got absolutely shat on when I just released as I finished it.
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On May 26 2026 15:45 Vasoline73 wrote:Show nested quote +On May 26 2026 15:05 Highways wrote:
Even if Flash was behind (which he wasn't imo), why didn't he play out the rest of the game??
Why early gg in game 7 of your last ASL final. It wasn't over yet
Yeah. I kind of agree with you... even given what the pros are saying, and obviously they know better than me OBVIOUSLY. All I know is Fantasy wouldn't have GG'd out there XD
I remember Firebathero spent about 10 minutes to fly his CCs around map before he typed gg in some his games at Proleague.
Giving up too soon in the last game in the last matchup in the last ASL in his career so weird!
btw I want my points in LB, I was wrong 4 matchups in a row before I won the last one.
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EPT![[image loading]](https://i.postimg.cc/yYj5tYG0/111w.png)
