Thoughts on Savior - Page 7

On February 24 2007 23:05 rgfdxm wrote:
A lot of people seem to forget that Savior is human. For these people, he is resented because of his dominant play, but this dominant play is never really credited to him. Savior is instead a force of nature interrupting the world of progaming and ruthlessly keeping "real" human progamers down, a scourge that stops the best of BW from winning. His composure during and after play makes him "robotic" and "inhuman," his builds "macro-whorish" and exploitative.

What I think more people should really realize is that Savior himself is a 20 year old kid. He wasn't granted some great gift from the heavens to be able to play BW. He worked damn hard to get where he is, and every aspect of his skills and strengths now was forged over years of practice and determination, just like a Ra or a Boxer or a July.

We all acknowledge what a daunting - no, terrifying experience it must be to get in front of a crowd of hundreds or thousands and even more on television, including family and friends, and be expected to play a lightning fast game of skill and concentration against what you know will be a world-class opponent. We acknowledge from the example of players like Midas or Canata that practice, skill, and dedication alone won't win you titles. Mental strength to me is the hallmark of Savior's style, and I see many people resent him for it when to me it is a thing to be respected, whether or not I like him, whether or not I like his games.

When Savior got on that stage opposite Nada a day ago, on maps known not to favor his race, playing against the most accomplished player in history, I don't understand how you could not give Savior some respect for his composure and beautifully consistent play. Savior's style is to make no mistakes, play for every small advantage he can get and let the mistakes of his opponent accumulate to spell their doom. I can understand that some people will find that more boring than, say, July's balls-to-the-wall aggressiveness. But that is why July is the God of War, and Savior the Maestro. Feel free to appreciate tactics over strategy or vice versa, but one is not more "inhuman."

I'm not especially a fan of Savior. I'm a very optimistic kind of person, and I enjoy seeing all players succeed. I would have been happy with any result of the semifinal matches. I can understand that other people would rather see some players win than others, but the outright dismissal of Savior as something other than human frustrates me. Those of you who demonize him, remember that he's put in the time, he developed his signature builds himself, he is elevating the play of his race to new heights. Imagine how it would be for you in Savior's position. Could you be as cool, as composed, as consistent as he is? Savior, name change or no, is still the same person, the same human, he was years ago as IPXZerg. His dominance is not a fact of life, it's a result of his growth as a player in every way.

There's no zerg master waiting for him back at CJ, ready to give him the new builds that win on maps like RT and Longinus 2 against players like Hwasin, Midas, Nada, no cheat sheet that gives him the answers. He's a man with a target on his back, doing his best and making it up as he goes along. If Savior's defiler use is godly, it isn't because God hates Nada, it's because Savior more than anyone around him realized the power of defilers and practiced his art to perfection. If you care to deride him for "drone-whoring," then I'll challenge you to a game of BW PvZ, but you're not allowed to make drones.

He was given the same tools as every other zerg in BW history, and I can't disdain him for seeing their potential in ways no one else has. Other players have done that before, and most of them are revered and respected. Those who hated Boxer and his dropships, Nada and his multitasking, oov and his macro are nowadays mostly gone. Those players contributed greatly to the game of BW and have masses of fans to show for it. Any of you who can still honestly not respect them now, feel free to disrespect Savior and pray for him to lose all his games and go back to being a nobody as IPXZerg. Then I'll know who not to pay attention to.

On February 25 2007 07:07 uhjoo wrote:
Just to add to this discussion I find savior to be spectacularly intriguing because as many people have mentioned, in terms of his mechanics/strategies/builds he doesn't stand out particularly. It's hard to say why he is so dominating-- other past dominating players, it was easy to identify their strengths. NaDa, oov, Boxer, July, etc. all had very identifiable strengths.

I think the answer of why he's so good is at least partly that there is none better in the intangible, psychological/mental parts of his game. The level of his play doesn't diminish significantly under pressure, he thrives in it. His decisionmaking is hardly ever rushed, and even in intense moments you'll find him choosing a path, usually a good one, and following it. So I must disagree with anyone who says he is boring, robotic, formulaic. No way in the world-- savior is a scout-react-instigate-react type of player. He finds holes, exploits them, and widens the hole. He's positively surgical in his play, as if his brain is able to analyze the game at half speed while he's playing, as if he's watched the replay of the game he's playing in. Has anyone noticed how savior always seems to have just the right amount of troops and mix? Again, as a fan, it's exciting to watch it unfold.

Also so much of his game is putting pressure on his opponent, and fucking with his mind, even when he's not necessarily attacking. 3 hatch before pool? That's pressure right there. Do early damage with muts then drone pump? Psychological warfare. In his series against NaDa, he used alot of speedlings early to constantly threaten to do early damage-- a step that alot of pros have skipped in the past b/c it slows tech/drone pump. He understands better than anyone the severe psychological threat of lurkers and mutas, and leverages the possibility of using them better than anyone out there now. Also he has such a pronounced mean streak, and positively delights in making a fool out of you. All this adds up to his opponents playing at least a little scared. It's silly how often you see his opponents play worse than normal against savior. That's a tribute to savior, and simply saying "NaDa sucked" doesn't do full justice to all the psychological warfare savior is conducting in the game, before the game, after the game, in interviews, etc. There's no doubt in my mind that NaDa lost game 4 at least partly due to the fact he got his CC infested in game 3. And part of the reason why the savior-iris semi was so much better than even the final is, imo, because Iris is not as affected by savior's intimidating mind games and image as other terrans, and he was able to play his game.

The only other gamer with this type of mental fortitude and out-and-out confidence, imo, is iloveoov. One of my favorite games in recent memory was that savior-iloveoov game on RoV where savior broke through that tremendous tank line-- it was truly a battle of wills, as if oov was saying, "fucking try to break through this," and savior answering, "ok you fuck i will with ultra filer crackling lurk."

I sincerely hope for more savior-oov games because this mental dialogue that happens in every high level game is most intriguing when those two are matched up.