[MSL] Jaedong vs. Flash Ro8 - GomTV S4 Feb 14

Jaedong
The first name barely needs an introduction. But yet we have to see once again, what giant wave of success Jaedong is riding on. The first was his victory in the OSL, taking down Stork 3-1 in an impressive series, at least from the Zerg side. As the Powerrank stated: "The only thing keeping Jaedong down these last few months was his hapless ZvP". And this issue has been remedied. Not only through the win against Stork, as Stork was always reknown for dubitable ZvP. But during the MSL groups, Jaedong met someone who picked him for his group to teach him a lesson. He took up that challenge and beat his foe through a straight, strategic game. This foe was none other than Bisu, who subsequently dropped out of the MSL against Yarnc.

While having refined this other matchup, Jaedong was best known to be a beast in his staple matchups, ZvZ and ZvT. In both of these, his win figures have climbed as high as 70%. ZvZ was proven lately against Luxury, taking him down clean and earning this spot in these quarters in the process. What remains is probably the matchup which has been the most impressive on Jaedong's side and which we are going to see today: ZvT. Whoever watched the Grand Finals of the Proleague couldn't help but wonder what Iris did wrong in that game. Iris had a stable economy, a solid build order, he even fended off the mutalisk harass quite easily, while Jaedong ran his mutas through turret fire and lost most of them. Yet, that did not stop him. At every point where you would think that Iris would have a window of opportunity it was closed quickly through excellent positioning and precise dark swarms. Iris - technically - should have been ahead. Practically, he never was. This is the phenomenon of Jaedong right now.

During the groupstage, Sea felt this sharpness. On their game, one small misclick with his initial marine group cost him the game - Jaedong did not hesitate, shredded most of the marines with his lings and mopped the floor with his Mutas. His only three losses since December were a game against Sea, the first game of the Stork series and a weirdly planned strategy on Demon's Forest (one hatch fast lurker) which ran into the exact counter with Robo first, but still ALMOST succeeded.

Jaedong is:

• on a 21-3 streak since December
  
• on a 8-0 ZvT winstreak
  
• OSL Champion
  
• Shinhan Bank Proleague Season 2 Winner with Lecaf
  
• in MSL and OSL Quarterfinals

Flash
Jaedong is one of just two players who are still in business for both leagues. The other one is his opponent today and will be his opponent in the OSL as well. There are better fates than this. But Flash has risen. There was a time when his name was spoken with contempt, as he was best-known for his cheesy openings and seemed to lack a proper mid- and lategame management. These times are long past. In his Ro16 against Hwasin which carried him into this round, Flash clearly showed how he is able to outmaneuver his opponent without resorting to cheese, granting him easy wins against his foe. His supposed weakness against Protoss and carriers seemed to kick in again at the OSL groupstage, but in the tiebreakers he took it home safely. He has the game under control, and not only during weird openings. He is playing straight and he is playing well. His Tiebreaker TvZ against Rumble had the stamp "almost too easy" on it, as he casually went through it.

If there is one thing which Flash does not show, it is nerves. That his maybe his greatest asset in the fight against the current monster of progaming. When other players might be disheartened or resort to cheese because they would not dare a straight game, Flash keeps his calm, be it in Proleague Ace matches or individual leagues.

Flash is:

• 17 - 6 since december
  
• in MSL and OSL Quarterfinals
  
• Maybe the reason that KTF was not totally dismantled in Proleague this season.

The first thing to consider are surely the maps. As I only have limited experiences through my own play (not too much and playing Protoss), I can mostly only analyze statistics and what I saw in games.

We have Katrina being played twice, but in this case, nobody is in a position to go two base carriers as there are no protoss represented. Still the map sports a slight overweight for Terrans to win it, with them being 16-12 (57.1%) against the swarm. Katrina also hosted the disassembly Rumble suffered from Flash, so he should be comfortable on this map, he is 5-1 overall and 3-0 against Zerg. Jaedong is 6-0, winning 2-0 against all races. So either JD's ZvT streak on this map, or Flash's TvZ streak will break today.

Loki II has it 8-4 in favor of terran, Flash is 3-1 without having encountered a zerg, Jaedong has not been televised on this map yet. If the figure is indicative in any way, Flash will have a slight advantage.

The map which can definitely be called in this matchup is Blue Storm. 26-19 (57.8%) for the zerg, Flash 4-3 on it (0-1 against Z), Jaedong 8-3 on it, but on a 7-0 streak. Blue Storm usually gives lots of opportunity for the zerg to secure the gas he needs, he can forestall terran offenses in the middle, the cliffs around the bases allow for swift muta harass, and we certainly remember the "double penetration" move Jaedong pulled on this map, piloting two groups of mutas through the terran bases at once. Jaedong is the clear favourite here and there will be a reason why Flash thumbed it down, in order not to have to play it twice.

Zodiac was the thumbed down choice by Jaedong. Terran sporting an impressive 2/3 win percentage with 12-6 games, Jaedong being 2-1 with 0-1 stats in ZvT, this was maybe a wise choice, although the statistical value of these figures is certainly limited.

Jaedong takes Katrina, both lose the maps they thumbed, Flash takes Loki II. In the decider on Katrina, Jaedong wins again.

Jaedong > Flash
Jaedong > Flash
Jaedong < Flash
Jaedong < Flash
Jaedong > Flash

Jaedong [3-2] Flash

Jaedong < Flash
Jaedong > Flash
Jaedong > Flash
Jaedong > Flash

Jaedong is your winner!