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If anyone cares since I recently watched the VODs, the circumstances regarding Leenock's first big MLG win at Providence last November for $50k were this..
Naniwa due to virtue of MLGs retarded system had a huge advantage going into the finals only having to win like 4 total series compared to Leenock's 18 or so series lol. And he only had to win a single bo3 in the finals while Leenock would have to win an extended series coming from the loser's side. So Naniwa takes the first game of the finals and just one game away, is poised to take down a huge title. Then Leenock catches fire like the rest of the tournament and wins 4 in a row to come back. If Leenock doesn't win, just think how much history would have changed regarding "best foreigner" and all that other crap, but maybe Naniwa doesn't work as hard in GSL etc..
Naniwa at the time really did pioneer the FFE vs Zerg, with his "FFE or die trying" motto, and well he did just that, dying to Leenock's relentless aggression. In two of the games Leenock canceled his expansion hatchery at the natural (!) to rush out 9 roaches and allin.
With Stephano's standard play, I'm not sure he would have been able to take down Nani at the time, that's why I give huge props to Leenock. Nevermind there was not a single three hatch gasless to be seen that day, how times have changed.
Anyone interested:
http://tv.majorleaguegaming.com/events/7-mlg-providence-nat-l-championships#551/573/1
EDIT: FFE hadn't really become standardized at the time I believe and wasn't at the forefront of the metagame (partly due to maps), so Stephano had also not revolutionized the ZvP matchup with his 3 hatch opening yet. So although on Stephano's stream he expanded faster than most anyone and was very macro and combat aggressive at the same time, it would have been a very tough matchup vs Naniwa, unlike the cakewalk it would be today. ( I still remember some casters at the time praising Stephano for his game sense to know that he could drop down 3 hatches early, based on some minimum ling scout if at all, whereas the truth was he was dropping 3 hatches blindly.)
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OMG halfway through that article and what an amazing article it is, verbose it may be. Funny how I just admitted to being a huge Kobe Bryant fan the page before, the article really rings true - I love the classic Kobe picture from his greatest playoff shot.
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Yeah great article, really enjoyed reading it. It reminded me of a story Grubby told about Stephano:
Stephano was an up-and-coming player at the end of WC3 and when he met Grubby at lan for the first time, he didn't recognize him. They even used to play costum games against each other and Grubby is such a big icon that he is recognized by pretty much everyone who follows eSports in any shape or form. At that time Stephano didn't read any esports sites and didn't watch any tournaments, he just didn't care.
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At that time Stephano didn't read any esports sites and didn't watch any tournaments, he just didn't care.
Wc3 day's.
He was not the player he is today, but somehow, the best WC3 player of that time pick him to play custom game and train together.
well...
now, few years later, stephano should do the same :p
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On September 19 2012 07:57 zedrOne wrote:
now, few years later, stephano should do the same :p
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that he did when Grubby started playing sc2.
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On September 19 2012 05:51 stephenrau wrote:
With Stephano's standard play, I'm not sure he would have been able to take down Nani at the time, that's why I give huge props to Leenock. Nevermind there was not a single three hatch gasless to be seen that day, how times have changed.
MLG Providence happened a month after IPL3. I think Stephano did an interview during that time where he said that Protoss was his hardest matchup. Obviously things have changed since then.
I suspect Leenock may come to be the dominant Korean Zerg in the future. It was briefly Fruitdealer, then it was Nestea and now is DRG. Leenock will probably be there at some point.
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Everyone is really blown away by SKT1 Rain right now, but Samsung Roro is probably not too far away in skill. During Korea WCS everyone kept doubting him (as most GSL fans like me are rooting against him) but he took out Seed 2-0 and barely lost to champion Creator towards the end. Unfortunately his Code A section is somewhat tough so he may not even get into Code S (just like Creator) even though he deserves it more than Jaedong did.
He has a good shot of advancing to World WCS so he's one of the few zerg threats Stephano may face (besides all the foreigners). It's basically all Korean protoss, the only 3 Korean zergs possible are Roro, Curious, and Miya.
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2012_StarCraft_II_World_Championship_Series/Asia/Finals
That's why I'm sure Stephano is licking his chops and hopefully really training for that $100k.
Don't want to look too far ahead but no Violet, Revival, DRG, etc. is awesome for him.
Just think about it, it's more than 3x as much money as any tourney he's ever won, and possibly easier for him than some of the MLGs he's lost, not to mention the prestige. I'm just concerned about the ro16 format, I hope it's not single elimination where volatility is increased. The tournament has so much NA filler it's almost like a 16 player field.
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/2012_Battle.net_World_Championship
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Stephano about to play supernova http://www.own3d.tv/nordrassilradio
No idea how long ago these games was played
Edit: Stephano 1-0 vs Supernova. Sick Comeback by Stephano he was so fare behind but the master of engagements slowly crawled back by winning every major battle with his incredible engagements
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Pretty sure it's the final of the last MSI pro cup.
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On September 20 2012 05:07 Nelz wrote:
Pretty sure it's the final of the last MSI pro cup.
is it? well then I look like an idiot lol
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Terrible caster, has no idea what he's talking about. He talks all the time about what terrible situation Stephano is in when he's perfectly fine.
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On September 19 2012 20:24 revel8 wrote:Show nested quote +On September 19 2012 05:51 stephenrau wrote:
With Stephano's standard play, I'm not sure he would have been able to take down Nani at the time, that's why I give huge props to Leenock. Nevermind there was not a single three hatch gasless to be seen that day, how times have changed.
MLG Providence happened a month after IPL3. I think Stephano did an interview during that time where he said that Protoss was his hardest matchup. Obviously things have changed since then. I suspect Leenock may come to be the dominant Korean Zerg in the future. It was briefly Fruitdealer, then it was Nestea and now is DRG. Leenock will probably be there at some point.
I don't think he has the playstyle to be as dominant as DRG, he's too aggressive to be that consistent except if you play on his field : MLG's :p
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On September 20 2012 05:51 Freeman87 wrote:
Terrible caster, has no idea what he's talking about. He talks all the time about what terrible situation Stephano is in when he's perfectly fine.
Haha. I did also think that he constantly painted Stephano's situation as being worse than it actually was. Supernova is a strong Terran but Stephano looked to have his measure quite comfortably in all the macro games.
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Just a heads up that Stephano will be taking part in the MSI Pro Cup Worldwide European Qualifier next week. Millenium are holding a bigger global version of their MSI Pro Cup tournament and the Euro qualifiers for this is on September 25-27 next week.
Top two go through to the Global Finals in December.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=370023
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On September 20 2012 22:21 StarVe wrote:Who says he won't?
He wont, the GSL semis and finals are being played there and those are Season 4 which is already ongoing.
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we all know he will play in season 5
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I guess it would have been to much. GSL World Championship+Code S finals+ IPL at the same time ^^
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On September 20 2012 22:33 Meggiroth wrote:
I guess it would have been to much. GSL World Championship+Code S finals+ IPL at the same time ^^
A subtle troll how cute
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EPT
