On May 26 2026 16:21 QRCode wrote: 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..
It was over when he gg'd for sure, just people are stating it would be better for him to of moved to natural when first runby happened.Artosis says this twice in the cast himself as it happened and he's likely more up to date with current meta than most.
You can't count Soma going Lair yet it doesn't matter (Lair never started). There's only 4-5 Drones on minerals. If FlaSh had defended the main successfully, he was in lead. But if he gave up his main, he can't win though.
The issue was FlaSh not being able to defend before 2nd ling runby. You 100% cannot win if you give up main though, because having worker lead doesn't matter anymore at that point. He needed to defend 3 lings cleaner, but at same time, had Zerg ranby with 6 lings instead at start, zerg was in good position so... But FlaSh dealing with initial runby was poor and shouldn't have let it happen in first place.
2 CC doesn't matter since it's not 4Pool, and 8 worker lead doesn't matter if Zerg sees natural defense and just drones up.
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).
Totally agree with this, to add on, Flash didn’t build depots in main so Soma wouldn’t have anything to target which is a huge factor in games like this.
Pros are definitely more knowledgeable but they are also many times where they try to call games too early and get it wrong.
Artosis actually called for the main to be evacuated as soon as the first runby happened as well. I don’t think any pro can look at that and determine the game was won for Soma if it happened.
On May 26 2026 13:34 Highways wrote: 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
Exactly. It is not a clearly lost game if he did as such.
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).
Totally agree with this, to add on, Flash didn’t build depots in main so Soma wouldn’t have anything to target which is a huge factor in games like this.
Pros are definitely more knowledgeable but they are also many times where they try to call games too early and get it wrong.
Artosis actually called for the main to be evacuated as soon as the first runby happened as well. I don’t think any pro can look at that and determine the game was won for Soma if it happened
I can even imagine pros defending flash's honor by saying he made no mistakes or whatever. As they would defend each other always unless you fly in a turret like tulbo :D
On May 26 2026 10:32 TMNT wrote: The 7 mineral patches is totally irrelevant at that point in the game.
As I said Flash has 15-16 SCVs when the first lings run by. Say he uses 4 to plug the entrance, 1 to build the gas (then when it finishes send another 2 that he builds during that time to mine gas), he'd be in fact very well saturated after 1 minute of constantly building SCVs. At that point he'd also have 6 marines too and can start clearing the main with 4 of them and leave 2 in the bunker.
7 patches only slow Terran down if they continue to mine them for the next 5 mins or so. Whereas don't forget Soma is on 5 drones lol. Not like he's going anywhere fast.
It was 8 drones in a few second, and the time it takes Flash to get 6 marines (90 seconds), zerg will produce either 14 lings from a single hatch or 7 drones... and Soma is about to get a second hatch in 45 seconds, so add 6-8 lings or 3-4 drones to this.
So the time it takes flash 6 marines to clear the main, he is risking another runby if Soma decides to mass 20 lings instead. Or Soma can decide to add 10 more drones to his 8, saturating 2 bases vs 7 mineral patch terran.
There is a reason 20 pros said that it was already over at this point, but somehow all the foreign terrans here (also by fudging numbers by 'forgetting' drones) know better than Flash.... foreign terran delusion strikes again
Your maths are wrong though.
Check the behind the scene video where 910 went to Soma's booth after the game and Soma was checking the replay. He has precisely 6 drones when Flash gg at 4:45, but one is in Flash's main. He only has 5 at home.
During the 1 minute from 3:45 to 4:45 when Flash gg, Soma only produces lings. He has 8 in Flash's main before the last fight and 4 on the map. You can see in the mini map.
Flash already has 2 marines at 3:45 (one in the bunker and one dies immediately trying chase the 3 lings in the main). If he evacuated at 3:45 he'd get to 6 marines at 4:45. He produces almost nothing during that minute because the SCVs in the main are busy drilling instead of mining, while he spends 150 to build a rax then cancels it (hence wasting 37).
So no, when Flash would have 6 marines, Soma would still only have 12 lings and 5 drones at home, exactly like what he has at 4:45 in the game.
Pros call gg AFTER the second pack of lings run into the main freely, not after the bunker is finished. Flash still would have a whole game to play if he evacuated immediately. That's exactly what Effort was calling for.
I've read through this thread and I'm definitely a noob spectator, so I'm still confused about Game 7. Gonna wait for the JinJin video to drop which will hopefully help clarify the game state at various points a bit more. I'd love it if someone made a video doing an in-depth analysis of this Game 7 though, because I just don't understand it and I think there are many others like me who are just as confused.
I feel like the use of burrowed lings is underrated tech that barely gets talked about or mentioned, but it seemed crucial in Game 5 for tracking and responding to FlaSh's timing attack. It seems to be the kind of thing that zerg players roll out when they really respect their opponent's skills.
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.
Do they though? I feel like you're trying to force the issue too much with this "20 pros" line and don't differentiate between the two important milestones: the first and second ling runby.
Yes they all said the game was over when Flash gg'd and I think no one among us disagrees.
But when the first run by happenned, many were calling for CC lift, notably Effort. JD's reaction after the marine gets into the bunker was that of "oh Flash holds now, he's in advantage, but wait, it's not finished yet as this is speedlings". It's not like they were like "Flash is done" after 3 lings and 2 drones get into the main is it?
Now who's ahead after the CC lift is another complex issue that will only likely be solved by having them play out the same situation again. Because I'm pretty sure this game state never happened before.
I think Jinjin was spot on when he says FlaSh didnt even consider option 1 of transfering Scvs to the natural cuz he didnt want to play an equal/ non favorable game the whole series. And it makes sense cuz Soma was fighting Overpool vs Supply rax opening and still won the games. Last game would for sure forced FlaSh to play in a way that he didnt even prepared for. I imagine he either prepared a Mech Build or Maybe Some Valkyrie opening. That means that from the get go those builds were already ruined. He will be force to open 2 barracks academy and a lot of micro to stay healthy and fight out the map. Cuz late late game MP is great for terran but the nature the game started FlaSh will be for sure fighting uphill untill he get into a good fight vs Mutas or some blunder with lurks. Now we can assume that what was actually required for FlaSh in that game was some insane macro and multitasking Light type/ Jyj etc. And is something that FlaSh didnt show the whole series.
On May 26 2026 17:05 iPlaY.NettleS wrote: It was over when he gg'd for sure, just people are stating it would be better for him to of moved to natural when first runby happened.Artosis says this twice in the cast himself as it happened and he's likely more up to date with current meta than most.
Yeah, I feel like Flash had so many SCVs that he could've built up his marine count and retaken the main in a reasonable time if he just abandoned it immediately.
Maybe that was a loosing strategy in the long run anyway so it was pointless to try, but with only 3(?) drones mining for Soma at that time I feel like that gives Flash some room.
Soma did get another drone or so and has a hatch on the way when Flash GGs so the game was definitely over then.
In my mind there was a bigger chance to win by lifting the main CC and evacuating the SCVs to the natural than what Flash tried to do. Having to defend the choke and fight speedlings in the main at the same time just seemed to me like it was never going to work.
I am sure Flash knows much much better than me but he is in a very stressful situation with incomplete information so I can't know for sure that he made the best decision.
I am looking forward to see what Effort, Soma and others have to say about this to understand it better, I am sure there are factors I am missing since I am a terrible player.
Another thing I don't understand is why Soma went ahead with his 3 lurker all in when he got scouted and he saw Flash defend against it.
Why not abandon it and drone up instead or something? Flash spent all those resources on bunkers and tanks, that would delay his push quite a bit?
It was funny how Flash didn't even repair his bunker or flinch when the lings took out his tank.
In both cases I guess they know it's pointless to drag things out and while they might survive longer with my tactics, they will surely lose eventually. At my level I don't really think like that haha.
I am a bit sad that we didn't get a single big macro game between these 2, a final doesn't feel complete without one!
Amazing series. The games themselves weren't incredibly epic fights all over the map affairs, but they felt epic as fuck anyway, because the two of them are so good. That genius move in Game 6 to give up the natural... base racing Terran almost never works, that was so fucking clutch of Soma.
so like. why would u post one of the most infamous matchfixing vids of all time in relation to flash and soma grand finals in 2026 unless u're trying to accuse them of matchfixing
On May 26 2026 19:18 Zergxhx wrote: Geez, a group of fools really think they have more accurate judgments than a dozen professional players
Except that pros were also calling for Flash to lift CC immediately, the same thing that the fools have been saying. There's no such thing as all pros calling the game 100% over when the first 3 lings get into the main.
Soma also said as much himself: the scenario (where Flash would evacuate to nat immediately) has never happened before so they don't know for sure how it would play out, but he *feels* like he'd still be ahead. He was only confident that he won after the second marine is killed and the SCVs in the main keeps getting picked off.
As far as g7 goes my instant reaction would have been to pull everything to the nat. Honestly the only reason I think he didn't was because he was still titled with all of the spawns.
Kind of funny to think back on old flash games (some specifically on match point) where he would relentlessly over scout and have that flipped on him.
EPT
