“Two there should be; No more, no less. One to embody the power, The other to crave it.”
Zerg is a race of fire. It is easy to kill at inception yet impossible to stop once it gets going. A tiny spark is easily snuffed out, but an inferno can never be. Zerg is a race of force and momentum. It is a snowball tumbling downhill or a freight train picking up speed.
Every versus Zerg matchup exists on a mountain. GGPlay plods dutifully up the economy mountain, and his opponent must prevent or slow him from reaching the top. If GGPlay gets to the peak (somewhere around four gases and hive), he wins, because nobody is stopping him when he comes down the other side. Similarly, KwanRo starts at the top of the aggressiveness mountain, and his opponent’s task is simply to not die before KwanRo reaches the bottom (where his attacks flame out). Every attack from then on is increasingly more survivable.
“You teach him.”
Zerg users are like their race. Their careers can blaze and rage or wither and die all within a year, a season, or a single game. More so than any other race, a Zerg player’s abilities are influenced by their momentum. Fear the confident, win-streaking Zerg player, and be happy to play the opposite. How else does one explain GGPlay’s lone title or July’s entire career?
Therefore, as much as it hurts to say this, it is becoming increasingly evident that Shinhan3 was Savior’s peak. The Maestro we knew and loved may never return. The fan in me will always support Ma Jae Yoon and hold out the hope that the Bonjwa in him has not fully been extinguished. If any player can make a full comeback, he can. But history is not on his side.
It is as if all Zerg players are subconsciously linked. Within a hive mind, it is logical, almost intuitive, that only one champion is supremely successful at any given time. With Savior’s painful fall from Bonjwa, it is inevitable that the Zerg hierarchy sort itself out. Savior’s successor, his heir, will step forward.
“This kid is getting annoying.”
While the Protoss and Terran players practice in a collegiate, camaraderie-like atmosphere, the Zerg players battle in a frenzied horde, each scrambling to sit on the now vacant throne, the seat that Savior occupied for the past two years. It is not a position to be shared, nor is it a comfortable seat. Thus there will never be the Zerg equivalent of Boxer-Oov. Transcendent Zerg pairings cannot be characterized as teacher-student, or even brother-brother as Reach and Ra happily co-exist. The Zerg master-apprentice relationship is merely a bond forged through common skill, knowledge, and circumstance, crossing team boundaries and player friendships. It is an unforgiving, adversarial link between two individuals who know deep down that ultimately, there is only room at the top for one. And amid the crowd of hungry Zerg players learning from Savior’s triumphs and mistakes, Lee Jae Dong stands above them all.
Join the Zerg Bonjwa club! All you need is an OSL title and the first name Jae.
Lee Jae Dong is a Starcraft genius at the age of seventeen. He has the best ZvZ on the planet at an astounding 25-9 (73%), but his play versus Terran draws the most attention. Jaedong’s ZvT produces July-micro, Savior-management, and fourteen game win streaks. In 2007, the difference between his #1 ranked ZvT ELO and the #2 ZvT (Savior) is actually greater than the difference between #2 Savior and the average professional Zerg. Jaedong is so far ahead of his peers in ZvT that there is Jaedong, and then there is everyone else.
In case you were wondering, Savior vs. Iris Daum OSL Quarterfinals happened in June 2007. Chart by Pop
That is why the Ever2007 OSL Final is so much more important than Daum, which was more about Savior’s fall than GGPlay’s victory. Before this match, I remember thinking that if Stork won, we would just be watching a solid but unspectacular player (sorry ManaBlue) struggle and finally realize his dream. Stork winning would be a feel-good story, but nothing more. As great as his 2007 has been, I just could not see Stork winning multiple titles or dominating for a long period of time.
But if Jaedong won, we would not merely be spectators. We would be witnesses. We would see, with our own eyes, potential become reality. It would be a Zerg coronation and a Bonjwa birthday party.
Even the OSL Intro agrees.
But a Bonjwa has no weak matchups. Jaedong will never attain Savior’s peak status without being dominant versus Protoss. ZvP is the staple matchup for Zerg, the same way PvT is for Protoss and TvZ is for Terran. It should the “easy,” reliable backbone matchup that Zerg players can rely on. To truly surpass Savior, the next great Zerg would have to showcase a ZvP that is at least on par with the Maestro’s.
Weak matchups are only weak relative to something. Stork’s PvZ only looks weak because his other two matchups are so strong. Many fans seem to overlook the fact that Stork forced Savior to a deciding game in GomTV3, and Savior had to use an unorthodox one-hatch lair build to win. Before the Ever2007 OSL Finals, Stork’s PvZ ELO in 2007 was actually second among all Protoss players. In 2007, Stork’s PvZ rating was higher than Free’s, higher than Much’s, and higher than Anytime’s. Stork’s PvZ was improving, or as Stork claimed, it had always been good (just not on TV).
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Jaedong’s ZvP. While Stork has no recent series losses against lower-tier Zergs, Jaedong actually lost a Bo5 to Rock in the last OSC Finals. This is the same Rock who was 2-8 in his last ten PvZs before that series (career PvZ 42%), losing to players like ShinHwa, Zergman, and Clon. The loss was embarrassingly bad, but it was also a benchmark for just how far Jaedong has come.
“He's... just a kid. No older than my son.” —Subway passenger, upon seeing an unmasked Spiderman
It is easy to forget that underneath that machine-like accuracy and speed, Jaedong is just a seventeen year old kid playing in the most important series of his life. He is not Savior in Shinhan3, who had four MSL Finals under his belt. He is not GGPlay in Daum, an experienced veteran with something to prove (GGPlay’s first televised game came a full two years before Jaedong arrived on the scene). Nada was eighteen when he appeared in his first OSL Final. Savior was twenty; Iloveoov twenty-one.
Even geniuses are vulnerable to nerves. We were reminded of this in the very first game on Persona. For Jaedong, it was an epic failure. At the time it seemed like just a step towards another spectacularly boring 3-0 finals. The game was essentially over after the scouting probe harassment. Stork was almost too prepared for Jaedong’s poorly executed and transparent all-in, and Jaedong conceded the game with a single digit supply cap.
Stork thinks to himself – “I’m going to win the OSL!”
Games one and five on Persona was subject to much pre-match discussion. This map was supposed to be Jaedong’s ticket to victory. Instead, all signs pointed toward a Stork win. The fans I watched with all remarked on how lost Jaedong looked in Game One. His decisions were blind and without direction, and the final lurker-ling attack smacked of desperation from a wide-eyed newcomer who was overwhelmed under the bright OSL Finals lights.
“I shall give you my bird-killing powers.” Image by alffla
Through vocal ventrilo prayers, we urged for standard play. The better player aims for late game, and you, Lee Jae Dong, are the better player. How can you not see that? From the offline qualifiers to the semifinals, you knew. You simply needed to believe one more time. Lurker-ling all-ins are not believing. Play standard!
It would seem our prayers did not go answered. The second game on Katrina did not open well. Stork’s one gate harassment killed four drones, forced Jaedong to make a lot of zerglings and secured Stork’s backyard expo. The camera cut to Anytime’s grim expression in the audience. He knew his teammate was behind.
Fun observation: Did anyone else think it was interesting that Stork thanked Anytime and Backho, Lecaf’s two main Protoss players, in his post-semifinals interview? Did these two help Stork because they knew Jaedong stood a better chance against Stork than he did against Bisu?
With a lower worker count and equal bases as Stork, Jaedong continued to make mutalisks even after seeing Stork’s initial corsairs.
FakeSteve: Stork saw the spire, he’s going to be completely ready for those mutas.
Chill: What is Jaedong doing?? That is not going to work.
Hot_Bid: Stop making mutas!!
Brood: This is ugly to watch, is Jaedong some sort of celebrity guest or a contest winner?
“EE HAN TIMING!” (This one timing!)
The vent channel went dead with stunned silence. The attack actually worked. We had never before seen something pulled off with such perfect timing and execution on a stage as huge as the OSL Finals. Stork misplaced one cannon, and it cost him Game Two. Jaedong lured Stork’s corsairs out, split his scourge perfectly, and absorbed the cannon fire with his mutas—textbook theorycraft put into action. By the time Stork’s last ditch zealot counter arrived at Jaedong’s base and found an airtight evo-evo-pool block, it was already over.
A few weeks ago in his quarterfinals against Light, Jaedong used two scourge and one muta to kill a valkyrie hiding among four turrets. He also used two evolution chambers to block vulture entry. Game Two showcased a cross-matchup transfer of skills and style, and it was only the beginning. Jaedong was learning ZvP before our very eyes.
We were still talking about the Game Two muta/scourge attack when the next game on Fantasy II began. Game Three would answer every question we had about Jaedong’s ability to manage a long, standard game. On Fantasy, Jaedong taught a map control clinic. He rebuffed Stork’s harassment attempts with burrowed InfoLings™ all over the map. He scourged shuttles and ran drones the second a shuttle was seen. Jaedong was one base and fifteen to twenty supply ahead of Stork for the entire game.
Perfectly disguised by Jaedong; Stork had no idea this drop was coming.
The game culminated in Jaedong luring corsairs away and obliterating Stork’s third gas island with a ten overlord, forty hydra drop, while simultaneously holding Stork’s 150 supply Protoss land army with waves and waves of lurker/hydra/ling. At this exact moment, every professional Starcraft player in the world collectively groaned, because they realized the ZvP light bulb in Lee Jae Dong’s head had finally switched on. At this exact moment, a thousand Koreans kids switch to Zerg. At this exact moment, Bisu smiled, because he now knew who to pick for his MSL Group.
The most impressive thing about Game Three was the cool, efficient way the killing was carried out. It was like re-watching Dexter Season One. Jaedong just looked so confident, as if there was absolutely no way that Stork could win. From Stork’s standpoint, any hope remaining from the “fluke-ish” nature of Game Two was gone. Game Three could not be characterized as a one-time micro trick. It was a macro war, and it was not close.
“Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen.” —Darth Maul Jae Yoon Image by Xeofreestyler
I waited for Game Four on Blue Storm with giddy anticipation. Jaedong was about to win the OSL! After Game Three, I knew Stork was done. You could see it in his face as the waves of Zerg units poured forth from all directions. It was the “I can’t believe this is happening again” Stork face. The same face made an appearance in the GomTV2 Finals against Bisu and every time Stork faces Savior.
The cameras cut to a worried-looking January, and rightly so—her ace was now facing a stone-cold assassin. The Zerg in the other booth was no longer some kid with a weak matchup. He had transformed into Savior ZvP version 2.0, Cuban gangster reborn (but not old to drink yet).
The recent zergling-factory trend on Blue Storm has led to every PvZ on the map climaxing in a “oh shit, all I have left are dragoons” moment. It’s where the big Protoss midgame push looks like it might work because the army is so big and shiny, but the attack stalls out and the Protoss player is left with maybe eight to twelve dragoons and a morphing archon against six hatcheries worth of reinforced 2/2 adrenal zerglings. Through exhaustive historical analysis I have concluded that if Blue Storm was actually early 1940s Eurasia, the third Zerg gas would be Moscow, the Protoss would be the Germans, and the adrenal upgrade would be the Russian Winter.
“Winter is coming.”
Game Four was total, utter domination. After the ten-minute mark, Stork never pushed past the mid point of the map. It was an endless minefield of lurker/ling and scourged observers. There were a dozen battles, and Stork came out slightly more behind each time. At one point in the game, Jaedong had four fully saturated gas bases and was plaguing Stork’s army every fifteen seconds. At the twentieth minute, when Jaedong finally crossed the midpoint of the map to attack, he brought with him a fully upgraded ultra/ling/defiler army that was triple Stork’s supply. Jaedong’s fans began cheering before the armies even engaged.
Jaedong makes a statement.
Two more bases fell, and a teary-eyed Stork tapped out.
For the briefest of moments, our Zerg kings look human.
Lee Jae Dong has walked the Royal Road, from offline qualifiers to OSL Finals. He is the youngest OSL winner ever, and has written a new chapter in Starleague history.
“Jaedong hugs his mother aww such a good son. He’s crying. She’s crying. Everyone melts.” —Last Romantic, KTF Fan
On December 28 2007 15:37 chiflutz wrote: Love the last item on the checklist, really looking forward to it. Oh, but don't ya mean Darth Sidious in one of those captions ?
* FakeSteve: Stork saw the spire, he’s going to be completely ready for those mutas. * Chill: What is Jaedong doing?? That is not going to work. * Hot_Bid: Stop making mutas!! * Brood: This is ugly to watch, is Jaedong some sort of celebrity guest or a contest winner?
ahahha My name is Lee Jae Dong, commander of the Broods of Lecaf, General of the mutalisk legions, loyal servant to the coach, Han Sang Yong. I have the best zvt in the world, best zvz on the planet. How dare you question me, I am korean progamer, osl champion.
Jaedong has come a long way, and he's a real threat to pick up from Savior's fallen crown. Jokes aside, it looks like Jaedong against Bisu could be one of the next rivalries.
Excellent article, and now we can only wait and see ...
It's good. Not quite as good as your gomtv msl preview post, but still good.
The only thing I'd say marred jaedong's osl victory was the relative ease of his bracket and most of all the map pool. He cruised through an all-terran left bracket on a mind-numbing set of maps. He lost twice to Stork on Persona. Although he stepped up games 2-4, Jaedong's still not quite proven himself yet, and he's still miles behind Maestro in opinion polls.
I don't care if he beats Bisu or not (on one hand his hands are faster than Savior's), but if he can perform consistently in pvz while maintaining an excellent ZvT/ZvZ streak, then perhaps he's got the make of a bonjwa. My view is still the same - don't talk about future bonjwas till it happens. When everyone is of one mind, that's when you know you got a bonjwa on your hands.
Also I have to disagree with your comment on Daum. That final was a very emotionally charged 0-2 into 3-2 comeback on decidedly harder set of maps. Savior's defeat only hilights GGPlay's victory over the same opponent.
That's what i call an article about a final. Great from start to finish!
“EE HAN TIMING!” (This one timing!)
That's exactly the small things i'd like to understand. I was hyped when jaedong engaged into storks base but seeing it again, aware of what he screamed hypes me up again like i'm seeing it for the first time.
On December 28 2007 19:10 .dragoon wrote: ... The only thing I'd say marred jaedong's osl victory was the relative ease of his bracket and most of all the map pool. He cruised through an all-terran left bracket on a mind-numbing set of maps. He lost twice to Stork on Persona. Although he stepped up games 2-4, Jaedong's still not quite proven himself yet, and he's still miles behind Maestro in opinion polls. ...
You can't count his bracket against him. Yes, Light-Hwasin-Bisu would've been harder, but it's not LJD's fault that Hwasin and Bisu couldn't take care of business.
Savior may have had a harder road if GoRush beat Much, and GGPlay would've had a harder road if he had to play Bisu instead of Flash.
You can't fault a player for someone else's inability to win. Up and Stork earned their places.
"Through exhaustive historical analysis I have concluded that if Blue Storm was actually early 1940s Eurasia, the third Zerg gas would be Moscow, the Protoss would be the Germans, and the adrenal upgrade would be the Russian Winter."
AMAZING ANALYSIS...Jaedong's ZvT and ZvZ is ASS PWNAGNAGE! But like you said, in order for Jaedong to be the next Zerg Emperor, he have to step up his ZvP. I really can't see that he can beat sAviOr's peak 83% win rate in ZvP.
P.S. He sorta got cream puff opponents in the OSL. Light[alive] wasn't as sharp as Bisu or sAviOr, and Upmagic is useless against zergs (his career win rate is below 50%...) and Stork don't even have a 51% ZvP yet... Jaedong also managed to avoid Hwasin or Bisu, the zerg killers of the OSL. So all in all, it only takes one strong PvZ toss player to knock Jaedong out of the tornament.
I thought the finals were quite boring though and Stork didn't play very good. But Jaedong did some cool stuff, like the muta/scourge thing and evo/evo block.
On December 28 2007 19:10 .dragoon wrote: ... The only thing I'd say marred jaedong's osl victory was the relative ease of his bracket and most of all the map pool. He cruised through an all-terran left bracket on a mind-numbing set of maps. He lost twice to Stork on Persona. Although he stepped up games 2-4, Jaedong's still not quite proven himself yet, and he's still miles behind Maestro in opinion polls. ...
You can't count his bracket against him. Yes, Light-Hwasin-Bisu would've been harder, but it's not LJD's fault that Hwasin and Bisu couldn't take care of business.
Savior may have had a harder road if GoRush beat Much, and GGPlay would've had a harder road if he had to play Bisu instead of Flash.
You can't fault a player for someone else's inability to win. Up and Stork earned their places.
Plus we get to see JD play Bisu in the MSL soon
I'm not taking anything away from Up and Stork. Quite the opposite, my love for these two are unquestionable (especially UpMagiC). Both played great great sets against great players to advance. That TvT on katrina vs Hwasin, the pvp on persona vs Bisu, mamma mia!
I'm saying the entire left-bracket was terran except leejaedong, so there wasn't a single chance for JD to face a non-terran before the final. With many advantages on his side, his trip to the final was never in doubt. That makes it a lot less inpressive than, say, shinhan3 where Savior overcame all odds to knock out a red hot Nada.
While GGPlay played all-terran also, that was genuinely due to non-terran's inability to advance. That final was really something: There was a very palpable sense of reversal in game 3, where GGPlay danced his mutas on a razor's edge and came back with the skin on his teeth to win. Game 4 was a giant leap of faith, which emptied directly into Game 5 - a repeat of Game 1 except with everything done faster, coordinated better, stronger resource management and tighter unit control.
On December 28 2007 19:10 .dragoon wrote: ... The only thing I'd say marred jaedong's osl victory was the relative ease of his bracket and most of all the map pool. He cruised through an all-terran left bracket on a mind-numbing set of maps. He lost twice to Stork on Persona. Although he stepped up games 2-4, Jaedong's still not quite proven himself yet, and he's still miles behind Maestro in opinion polls. ...
You can't count his bracket against him. Yes, Light-Hwasin-Bisu would've been harder, but it's not LJD's fault that Hwasin and Bisu couldn't take care of business.
Savior may have had a harder road if GoRush beat Much, and GGPlay would've had a harder road if he had to play Bisu instead of Flash.
You can't fault a player for someone else's inability to win. Up and Stork earned their places.
Plus we get to see JD play Bisu in the MSL soon
I don't think that saying an easy bracket marred JD's victory implies any fault of JD. It's more like saying that if we had to rank the prestige of the winner of every OSL thus far, JD's victory might be on the bottom half of the ranking (Royal Road is the only thing giving him a chance). Certainly JD is not to blame for not proving everything in one season of the OSL but we should be careful to track how much he actually has proven.
On another topic, I can't wait to see how many tl.netters draw hard conclusions based on the upcoming Bisu/JD meeting in the MSL. Kids these days...
You will not rest on your throne JaeDong, you will always have that uneasy feeling that you know the inevitable truth, the return of a legend, the return of a god, sAviOrs second coming.
Without doubt this is the best article I have read so far in TL. Great way to sum up all the emotions and I loved the comparison between the players and the Russian Winter.
I have nothing to comment about because I have seen it a couple of times now, Casy, GGPlay, Iris, etc. Could Jaedong be another one time wonder? Specially with ZvP being his weakest and Bisu on the way with the best PvZ ever witnessed in the 10 year history of BW?
So I will make no comment until I see more...I do not feel knowledgeable enough in bw history to talk about Jaedong's future.
thx a lot hotbid, great read, made my day btw didnt know jae was only 17...he`s been around for couple years already so when did he actually become progamer? at 14-15?
Hmm, it seems that, bonjwa or not (hot issue), Bisu is the benchmark with which to measure a Zerg player's skill (for lack of a better word).[*] sAviOr failed, and so he fell (still hoping for his return, though . . . )
The reason I used to like even a slumping sAviOr more than a rising Jaedong was that, if sAviOr played against anyone (except Bisu), he can win. But if Jaedong played against a Protoss, I looked the other way. This OSL finals match changed my belief--and your analysis made his victory even more impressive to me.
And so to extend the Russian Winter metaphor: It drove back Napoleon, and it pushed back Hitler. Will it stop the Revolution?
*[Bisu vs Calm on Shin Peaks doesn't count, STX brought out their secret weapon TossGirl, distracting Bisu.]
Screw the fact that he is the best ZvZ player I've ever seen, beating terran players with ease I've only seen in a couple of zerg players throughout all these years, hell, I you can even take away his recent triumph in the Starleague. What excites me most about Jaedong is his hardware.
Compare Savior for example. Savior gained his domination by creating his own unique paradigm, gaining map control with efficiency never seen before or since, but I've always felt that his micromanagement and macromanagement was never jaw droppingly great. His mutalisk raids simply bought time, his lurker count was always JUST right and you rarely saw him overpower his opponents with raw force. His relatively low APM was rarely exposed due to his efficiency and great multitasking skills. People used to say that Savior didn't utilize mutalisks to their limits or do stuff like that because he didn't need to. Well, it was true when his game plan was so far ahead of everyone, but gamers of today have Savior's number and we see him struggling to keep up.
I know some people saw a ray hope in Savior's closest struggle yet against Bisu this Starleague, but I personally gave up all hope. Savior simply couldn't keep up with Bisu's hardware. He had great starts in all three games: cutting Bisu's attempts to gain information with probes, tricking Bisu into making too much cannons, too little, or simply placing them in the wrong places. It wasn't his choice of build orders, his condition or the choices he made that cost him a place in the OSL semi-finals. He did almost everything he could and should have done. We saw 3 great games because of that. But that's it. This was as good as it got for Savior. In game 3, he failed to overpower Bisu after tricking him into building too much cannons, struggled with constant harassment and eventually got run over. He won the mind battles, but lost it with his gaming limitations.
Out of all the zergs I've seen, Jaedong has the best gaming ability (it's hard to define, but lets just say it's his gaming basics). What makes his mutalisks amazing is the fact that he can utilize them so well AND not lose control of other aspects of the game at the same time. Other zerg gamers can mimic his mutalisk raids, but fail to keep up with other tasks needed to win the game. Some, like Savior, don't bother to and concentrate more on overall game management.
You can say that mindless clicking can be attained through mass practice. I say otherwise. No zerg gamers of today, even with exhausting practice schedules manage to duplicate the intricate gaming skills that Jaedong displays.
Bisu's domination in ZvP won't last long. It was only a year ago when it was difficult to name a terran who had good odds in beating Savior. Nowdays Savior struggle against ANY half decent terrans (not that it's wrong, it's understandable that a zerg struggles with terrans, especially one that's fallen from grace). I'm not sure if Jaedong's the one to crumble Bisu's yet untainted domination against zergs. Maybe it's too early. But even now, if I had to pick just one zerg player capable of beating Bisu, it won't be Savior. It'll be Jaedong.
hmmmm.. you pose a really good argument, and youve got me thinking. after watching jaedong dismantle free in PL recently after his osl win i can see where your coming from. like someone said in another thread bisu is the benchmark that all zerg players will be judged by. after watching jaedongs games again i must say im not that impressed w/ his micro, i think bisu is just on a totally different level, but his macro is on par w/ oov, and if he can push through bisu's crippling and un-avoidable harass thereby gaining some sort of map control the kid might just have a chance. needless to say im extremely excited 2watch bisu/jaedong in ro32..
hopefully they start a rivalry like we've never seen in pro-gaming.. bisu is king, jaedong is rising royalty. a week away, let the clash of the titans begin!
Screw the fact that he is the best ZvZ player I've ever seen, beating terran players with ease I've only seen in a couple of zerg players throughout all these years, hell, I you can even take away his recent triumph in the Starleague. What excites me most about Jaedong is his hardware.
Compare Savior for example. Savior gained his domination by creating his own unique paradigm, gaining map control with efficiency never seen before or since, but I've always felt that his micromanagement and macromanagement was never jaw droppingly great. His mutalisk raids simply bought time, his lurker count was always JUST right and you rarely saw him overpower his opponents with raw force. His relatively low APM was rarely exposed due to his efficiency and great multitasking skills. People used to say that Savior didn't utilize mutalisks to their limits or do stuff like that because he didn't need to. Well, it was true when his game plan was so far ahead of everyone, but gamers of today have Savior's number and we see him struggling to keep up.
I know some people saw a ray hope in Savior's closest struggle yet against Bisu this Starleague, but I personally gave up all hope. Savior simply couldn't keep up with Bisu's hardware. He had great starts in all three games: cutting Bisu's attempts to gain information with probes, tricking Bisu into making too much cannons, too little, or simply placing them in the wrong places. It wasn't his choice of build orders, his condition or the choices he made that cost him a place in the OSL semi-finals. He did almost everything he could and should have done. We saw 3 great games because of that. But that's it. This was as good as it got for Savior. In game 3, he failed to overpower Bisu after tricking him into building too much cannons, struggled with constant harassment and eventually got run over. He won the mind battles, but lost it with his gaming limitations.
Out of all the zergs I've seen, Jaedong has the best gaming ability (it's hard to define, but lets just say it's his gaming basics). What makes his mutalisks amazing is the fact that he can utilize them so well AND not lose control of other aspects of the game at the same time. Other zerg gamers can mimic his mutalisk raids, but fail to keep up with other tasks needed to win the game. Some, like Savior, don't bother to and concentrate more on overall game management.
You can say that mindless clicking can be attained through mass practice. I say otherwise. No zerg gamers of today, even with exhausting practice schedules manage to duplicate the intricate gaming skills that Jaedong displays.
Bisu's domination in ZvP won't last long. It was only a year ago when it was difficult to name a terran who had good odds in beating Savior. Nowdays Savior struggle against ANY half decent terrans (not that it's wrong, it's understandable that a zerg struggles with terrans, especially one that's fallen from grace). I'm not sure if Jaedong's the one to crumble Bisu's yet untainted domination against zergs. Maybe it's too early. But even now, if I had to pick just one zerg player capable of beating Bisu, it won't be Savior. It'll be Jaedong.
On December 30 2007 06:11 str wrote: thx a lot hotbid, great read, made my day btw didnt know jae was only 17...he`s been around for couple years already so when did he actually become progamer? at 14-15?
He became a progamer in March 2006, so at that time (His birthday is Jan 9), he was 16.
Screw the fact that he is the best ZvZ player I've ever seen, beating terran players with ease I've only seen in a couple of zerg players throughout all these years, hell, I you can even take away his recent triumph in the Starleague. What excites me most about Jaedong is his hardware.
Compare Savior for example. Savior gained his domination by creating his own unique paradigm, gaining map control with efficiency never seen before or since, but I've always felt that his micromanagement and macromanagement was never jaw droppingly great. His mutalisk raids simply bought time, his lurker count was always JUST right and you rarely saw him overpower his opponents with raw force. His relatively low APM was rarely exposed due to his efficiency and great multitasking skills. People used to say that Savior didn't utilize mutalisks to their limits or do stuff like that because he didn't need to. Well, it was true when his game plan was so far ahead of everyone, but gamers of today have Savior's number and we see him struggling to keep up.
I know some people saw a ray hope in Savior's closest struggle yet against Bisu this Starleague, but I personally gave up all hope. Savior simply couldn't keep up with Bisu's hardware. He had great starts in all three games: cutting Bisu's attempts to gain information with probes, tricking Bisu into making too much cannons, too little, or simply placing them in the wrong places. It wasn't his choice of build orders, his condition or the choices he made that cost him a place in the OSL semi-finals. He did almost everything he could and should have done. We saw 3 great games because of that. But that's it. This was as good as it got for Savior. In game 3, he failed to overpower Bisu after tricking him into building too much cannons, struggled with constant harassment and eventually got run over. He won the mind battles, but lost it with his gaming limitations.
Out of all the zergs I've seen, Jaedong has the best gaming ability (it's hard to define, but lets just say it's his gaming basics). What makes his mutalisks amazing is the fact that he can utilize them so well AND not lose control of other aspects of the game at the same time. Other zerg gamers can mimic his mutalisk raids, but fail to keep up with other tasks needed to win the game. Some, like Savior, don't bother to and concentrate more on overall game management.
You can say that mindless clicking can be attained through mass practice. I say otherwise. No zerg gamers of today, even with exhausting practice schedules manage to duplicate the intricate gaming skills that Jaedong displays.
Bisu's domination in ZvP won't last long. It was only a year ago when it was difficult to name a terran who had good odds in beating Savior. Nowdays Savior struggle against ANY half decent terrans (not that it's wrong, it's understandable that a zerg struggles with terrans, especially one that's fallen from grace). I'm not sure if Jaedong's the one to crumble Bisu's yet untainted domination against zergs. Maybe it's too early. But even now, if I had to pick just one zerg player capable of beating Bisu, it won't be Savior. It'll be Jaedong.
I think you're spot on about Savior and Jaedong. Savior had insane game management, but his mechanics and everything that he did was simply good enough to get by. Savior's macro never wowed me. His micro wasn't that great. His multitasking wasn't that spectacular. But he was still able to take control in nearly every game and was still able to dominate.
And now his ability to control the game, and his dominance are gone.
Jaedong, on the other hand, has simply jaw-dropping mechanics. There are other examples, but his game against UpMagic on Bluestorm really sticks out in my mind. The way that he alternated between those two groups of mutas which he micro'd perfectly while never missing a beat macroing just blew my mind.
If Jaedong finds the right zvp "software," he will be the next dominant player.
jaedong's been around for a while now. he did manage to take the royal road but hes not some totally unheard of player like when mind > bisu or when bisu > savior.
beating stork in zvp isnt that much to brag about imo. he may take up the mantle and become the leading zerg player but he doesnt have the dominance that bonjwa ma jae yoon had at his prime.
On January 07 2008 16:43 dybydx wrote: jaedong's been around for a while now. he did manage to take the royal road but hes not some totally unheard of player like when mind > bisu or when bisu > savior.
beating stork in zvp isnt that much to brag about imo. he may take up the mantle and become the leading zerg player but he doesnt have the dominance that bonjwa ma jae yoon had at his prime.
he just took down bisu in a standard game ^^; respect yo
On January 25 2008 09:55 dybydx wrote: his gf is hot. but then again, in south korea, having 300 APM on SC get u hotter chicks than a 12 inch dick.
His gf? I think the women you are talking about is Lecaf's coach's fiancé.
Check out Jaedong's APM in his game vs Savior recently... topped at 523 and averaged 395 APM... Surely he could basically choose from all the single chicks in Korea with that kind of speed.
To quote PurePwnage "Well, gamers are good with their hands right? That could be interesting"
Man what a sexy article. I was searching for stuff on JD after that horrible OSL performance and I came up on this thread. Fuck Hot_Bid, I want to have your kids.
this is by far my favorite FE Article, i always love reading this thing. It's up there with Only Until Midnight and a few others, but this one is definitly my favorite.
You know, I almost forgot about this, but while I was reading this, the images all came back to my head. That final was pure epicness and to capture the emotions and images of it on paper was equally impressive.
Cool writing. And then he went on to play that EPIC game vs Bisu on Bluestorm, where most people at first didnt know how Jaedong won. Seemed Bisu did everything right, yet JD had more units.
On December 28 2007 15:16 Hot_Bid wrote: It is not a position to be shared, nor is it a comfortable seat. Thus there will never be the Zerg equivalent of Boxer-Oov. Transcendent Zerg pairings cannot be characterized as teacher-student, or even brother-brother as Reach and Ra happily co-exist. The Zerg master-apprentice relationship is merely a bond forged through common skill, knowledge, and circumstance, crossing team boundaries and player friendships.
On December 04 2008 06:28 Raithed wrote: its just because savior is at a "meh" stage and effort is becoming bigger right? "THE NEXT BIG THING" kind of zerg.
let me explain something about effort, and why there's so much good feeling about him. effort is irrevocably tied to savior. he is his true apprentice, his home grown little brother. idra says that savior loves effort, i'm sure even more than the coaches do. he's more like a young, modern savior than kwanro or jy or orion ever was. he's his heir. when cj fans and savior fans watch effort, we see a young ma jae yoon, someone with infinite possibilities and whose play reminds us so much of the old maestro its scary. most of all, when we watch effort play, we remember. we remember a dominant ma jae yoon who had been so abruptly taken from us. we remember the savior who we wish so badly to return. before bisu, before FBH, before his current painful struggles. effort represents both hope for the future and the legacy of the past, merged into one talented, hard working, fierce looking kid.
i am basing this solely off of what i see during CJ proleague matches, but the kid cares. he's a team player, he's humble, and he's come up through one of the most difficult team practice systems out there. ever since the team-ceremonies that xellos, much, and iris did to stick it to FBH when savior was slumping, i've loved CJ more and more. effort is a continuation of that and of all the things i've mentioned above with relation to our memories of savior. even his name is representative of this. his choice of ID is not one that represents a sun god or jesus or even something that's cool like bisu or shark. it's an ID that embodies the CJ spirit more than anything. it's all you need to be a good teammate, to win. if CJ could be embodied in one noun, it'd be effort.
to us CJ fans, he means much more than just the next big zerg player.
Wow that quote is very moving. It really makes me wish I'd pay much more attention to the pro scene and not just watch some live events here and there.
On July 23 2009 08:21 Hot_Bid wrote: ever since the team-ceremonies that xellos, much, and iris did to stick it to FBH when savior was slumping, i've loved CJ more and more.
What ceremonies did Xellos and Iris do to FBH? I think I read something about Iris' ceremony but I forgot it.
Sorry, sorry I just had to bump it after reading this again. I was searching for the Jaedong trading card and this was in the first page of the image results, so I clicked on it and bam there it was. So beautiful.
I miss these days :/ *Hopes for Jaedong to take this MSL*
Really really nice work. 7/5! Thanks for this amazingly written article. Definitely gonna read this again, loads of times. Gotta love the clashes between Flash and Jaedong.
Still remains one of the best articles I've had the pleasure of reading on TL, a must read on this forum. In the dark times of the JD I come back to this article for a smile. Thanks Hot_Bid, you are awesome. It's post's like these AND "God of the Battlefield pt1" that make me wish I had access to the writing staff forums to uncover all the gems which haven't been posted for any reason.
I was just tasked to write the EVER2007 OSL up for its liquipedia page. Being completely ignorant of BW, I didn't think it was really any different than other OSL/MSLs. After slogging through round after round of preliminaries, and struggling to understand how the rounds progressed, it dawned on me that this was Jaedong's royal road. I clicked around to get a little better context and came across this article.
Hot_Bid, this piece is beautifully written. It transcends the too-common need in ESPORTS to understand the game before you can appreciate the feat. Hopefully everyone may someday come across this article and better realize the power these games have to amaze.
i love this, i was actually thinking in bumping it before i saw your post Wren, so anyone could see this masterpiece, it warms my heart, i will love bw till the end of my days
EPT
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Best write up to-date! And I can give you no higher compliments.
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