EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/NewsImage.jpg)
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article represent those of Plexa and riptide only and do not necessarily represent the collective views of the TeamLiquid staff
Welcome to Backseat Broodwar. Everyday on these forums and elsewhere in the vast expanses of ignorance known as the Internets, hundreds of fans express their views on the latest developments in the progaming scene. Of course, a majority of those views are crap. BB is here to give you the lowdown on what's good and bad in Starcraft. If you want relativity, shades of opinion and think that everyone has a point, you're in the wrong place. If you, on the other hand, believe in right and wrong and the protection of all that we hold dear, read on. We don't claim to be an authority on SC. We are one.
Moving on, what better way to start our maiden column than to address a timeless topic that recently resurfaced on TL - respecting old progamers. While giving kudos to the OP of that thread for the motive behind his post, we have to say that the way he went about it is misguided.
See, noobs are like most pre teens - they're always angsty, seldom capable of original thought and will constantly express the desire to copulate furiously with whatever bandwagon is passing their bedroom window. Two years ago it was Bisu, now it's Jaedong, tomorrow it could be Backho or Lomo. The point is, it shouldn't bother you. Every sport has shallow fans who are attracted to current winners - they're an occupational hazard and you have to learn to deal with them.
Having said that, we have to accept that the likes of Boxer and Yellow will probably never be at the top of Broodwar again, the distinction here being of course that we really couldn't care less. After Hillary, many people have climbed Everest, but who do we remember? Moving to sports, ditto Jordan, Maradona, Bradman - their records will fall, but will their memory ever fade?
Now, a vent. Dear fanboys comparing Jaedong/Bisu/Flash mechanics to those of The Emperor, The Dreamer and The Maestro - stop it. Nothing screams I'M A TOOL WITH ABSOLUTELY NO GRASP OF PROGAMING than a post that even begins to compare players of two eras, especially in terms of mechanics. Judging any of the old pros based on how they play now (or how other people play now) is like comparing the mars rover to Apollo 11. BUT BUT BUT THE MARS ROVER IS THE MOST ADVANCED...
Yeah, nobody cares, noob.
Having said that, it's time to now chide the OP for saying that Team Liquid doesn't respect old gamers. Are you kidding us, sir? Team Liquid is not the bazillions of Bisu-Jaedong-Flash bandwaggoning fans you see everyday in Live Report threads (or, as it turns out, everywhere the B word is used). No, Team Liquid, and its outlook on progaming is summed up best in the Final Edits, the site's elitist opinion columns, an arena that is home to articles like Only Until Midnight, Slivers of Perfection and The Storm Zerg. These are what represent TL and its views on progaming, not the combined jibbering of a few thousand crazed fanboys. At Team Liquid we have always had, and always will have the utmost respect for the titans of Broodwar. In fact, we're going to take a moment to point you in the direction of our coverage of the Heritage league which was held earlier this year.
On July 27 2009 10:26 riptide wrote:
There is a reason that the likes of Bisu, Jaedong and Flash refer to Lim Yo Hwan as Hyung. There is a reason that despite his current form, commentators still get excited whenever Ma Jae Yoon enters the booth. There is a reason why when Kang Min speaks, people listen and that reason was on full display during these two weeks of Starcraft as these titans walked among us. As you watch or rewatch these games, and think about what they have given us, my hope is that years from now, when you look back on this era, that you, even you who were not around when Lim Yo Hwan triple bunker rushed Hong Jin Ho, will be able to point to Heritage and say, I watched those legends, I watched them live, and it was magnificient.
Above all, we hope that as you look back on this tournament you will see it not just as their heritage, but as yours, for even as Broodwar draws to a close over these next few months and years, we will forever carry with us these games, these players, these moments of joy and pain, and that when people, many years from now say hey, do you remember that game Starcraft?, you will only be able to nod and smile slowly to yourself, for where, or how, will you begin to explain to them the sum of what you have experienced here, in these days and hours, these weeks, months and years, in this age of Broodwar when titans walked among us.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/riptide/heritage/shl_finals_saviornalra.jpg)
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die.
Let them say we lived in the time of Boxer, Emperor of Terran.
Let them say we lived in the time of Nal_rA, Dreamer of Protoss.
Let them say we lived in the time of Savior, son of the swarm.
There is a reason that the likes of Bisu, Jaedong and Flash refer to Lim Yo Hwan as Hyung. There is a reason that despite his current form, commentators still get excited whenever Ma Jae Yoon enters the booth. There is a reason why when Kang Min speaks, people listen and that reason was on full display during these two weeks of Starcraft as these titans walked among us. As you watch or rewatch these games, and think about what they have given us, my hope is that years from now, when you look back on this era, that you, even you who were not around when Lim Yo Hwan triple bunker rushed Hong Jin Ho, will be able to point to Heritage and say, I watched those legends, I watched them live, and it was magnificient.
Above all, we hope that as you look back on this tournament you will see it not just as their heritage, but as yours, for even as Broodwar draws to a close over these next few months and years, we will forever carry with us these games, these players, these moments of joy and pain, and that when people, many years from now say hey, do you remember that game Starcraft?, you will only be able to nod and smile slowly to yourself, for where, or how, will you begin to explain to them the sum of what you have experienced here, in these days and hours, these weeks, months and years, in this age of Broodwar when titans walked among us.
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die.
Let them say we lived in the time of Boxer, Emperor of Terran.
Let them say we lived in the time of Nal_rA, Dreamer of Protoss.
Let them say we lived in the time of Savior, son of the swarm.
On a similar note, the BBBonjwa discussion was started again this week (or maybe it just continued from another thread, it's hard to tell these days), and as usual turned into a Jaedong vs Bisu fan fight in under two pages. While thanking Doctor Helvetica for creating such a stellar OP, we must take a moment to berate the people who so quickly derailed the discussion. Seriously, stop it, guys. Opinions are opinions, and everyone is entitled to them, even idiots. Yes, Backseat Broodwar believes strongly that misinformed newbs should be allowed to spout nonsense far and wide, and by far and wide we mean away from TL.
In fact, we feel that this is an opportune moment as any to introduce our new Ban on Bonjwa rule. By decree of the Men in Red, any mention of the newly outlawed word Bonjwa (variants included) will result in a 1 week, non revocable banishment from these shores. Repeat offenders will get a fully paid permanent vacation to Disneyland.
Sigh, we wish. But two nerds can dream, right?
There is a new face around the TL staff – Aesop joins the ranks due to his incredibly valued work on Liquipedia. Working on Liquipedia is like uploading VODs to Nevake, or adding games to TLPD - it's a thankless job. It's a miracle that anything even happens over there, really! Aesop has already started promoting people on Liquipedia and the staff is getting all shaken up. He's got some pretty ambitious plans for the project which you'll all hopefully enjoy! (Including a follow up episode of Strategy Q&A).
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/backho.jpg)
Moving on to Starcraft proper, some pretty surprising things have happened since the seasons started up again. Most recently, let's look at Backho vs Calm game 1 from the OSL. What the hell, Backho? Since when did you learn to play Anytime Style? As I (Plexa) maintain, for once Backho didn't look confused or pathetic (or cheesy) and instead looked incredibly sexy as he smashed Calm from wall to wall with impressive Dark Templar play. I know Artosis hates DTs, but surely he has to give Backho credit for pulling it off.
In fact, the whole Backho vs Calm series is pretty non-standard and really interesting and entertaining. Backho is starting to emerge as an intelligent player (never thought I'd have to say that) and up against another intelligent player, such as Calm, the resulting games are always entertaining. For instance, it's not everyday you see 4 Reavers running after drones in a PvZ. If you contrast Game 1 to Game 3 I think it shows how both players have adapted to each others playstyles well - a sign of an intelligent player - and that both sides were pretty much evenly matched in both mechanics and intellect. It was just little things, like Backho not losing his cool as Calm sniped his Templar, which really impressed me the most (since before Backho would have just relentlessly attacked, and lost). While Calm walked away with the victory, I think Backho can be proud of the games he played here.
While we're on the subject of Hwaseung - since when did Hwaseung become more than a one man team? Hwaseung have had probably the most impressive results so far of any team - well, at least in terms of long term potential. You have new players like Perfectman and Killer stepping up and taking wins. Special mention goes out to Hiya who is looking damn fine at the moment. With team mates actually winning games this season, I think Jaedong is getting bored for the first time ever since he's been on the bench so much! Also, Killer was played over Jaedong in the STX-OZ Ace match. Wait, WHAT?
In other news, Bisu's trademark inconsistency-at-the-worst-possible-time reared its ugly head again - this time against Shine in the OSL. To Shine's credit, ZvP is his best matchup, but seriously Bisu - we expect more from the "best" toss in the world. After how Backho played against Calm I'm inclined to say he's looking better than you are at the moment – and that's a serious issue. If you've read my stuff before, you know I've pinpointed this problem of Bisu's as his number one weakness and well, to everyone in my Jaedong article who tried to say otherwise; here's your proof once again. Now Bisu gets to sit on the sidelines for this OSL; at least he has an MSL seed this season (for whatever it's worth, the MSL qualification system is absolutely horrendous and he'll likely pick another easy group and get eliminated again).
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/jaehoon.jpg)
Why did Jaehoon dye his hair? Now he just looks like a tool.
Speaking of inconsistency, Jaehoon qualified for the OSL. What happened there? Did all his opponents just not show up or something? Well, semi-true. Nal_keke retired and out went his only serious Zerg challenge. Then, factor in a bunch of nice PvT maps and we guess you can kinda explain how he got there... Nevertheless, on the whole many more MBC players qualified for leagues this time around - something which hasn't happened for many, many seasons. Saint has already made a splash in the MSL - he played a pretty cool game with Movie. But I guess the credit for why that game was awesome goes to Movie, and not Saint. Saint just blundered away a huge advantage to Movie - and in doing so allowed Movie to show off his reaver skills.
Let me (Plexa) draw special mention to Pusan though, because after all I'm easily his biggest fan on site/on earth. He went 12-0 through the prelims and thent 4-1 in his OSL group. That means he is 16-1 since the season began. Those are some pretty nice stats! Additionally, in my opinion (and not Hot_bid's), Pusan is playing some really solid Starcraft. Maybe it's time for the last neo-king to take a league? Ah, now that's what dreams are made of.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/Ha1.jpg)
The Fat Man is Back!
When it comes to coaching, all we hear these days is Coach Park this, or Coach Cho that, the latter applying to both OZ and CJ. Today though, we're going to look at a more subtle coaching change that seems to have just begun making waves. What? We're talking about MBC, and the return of Coach Ha! After a year of some terrible coach running the team into the ground, Ha has returned and the team looks great. People don't think Coaches matter too much - not even Artosis. But that's probably because he hasn't seen what a bad coach does to a good team, and conversely what a good coach does to a bad team. Whoever that guy was that coached MBC last season, we know for a fact that practice sessions in the MBC house turned stale under his rule. Players weren't improving, nor were they focused on the task at hand. The coach was more content to let the players lose, stagnate and lose some more than do anything about it. Coach Ha (and Coach Park of SKT) promote a stimulating practice environment and as a consequence the players get more out of traning. Indeed, Coach Park is the unsung hero of the SKT Proleague 08-09 victory since he literally took the team from 9th place to 1st.
Speaking of of returning to form though - welcome back Luxury, we missed you! While it is commonly believed that Shark invented Muta micro (in the sense he discovered the larvae trick). There is an alternative theory that Luxury actually discovered the trick - we guess it's more plausible that Shark did since he was on the same team as July - but hey! Luxury has made better use of the ability so far in his career than Shark has. Nevertheless, after a season of sucking, he's finally back on form and playing some amazing games. Just check out Luxury vs UpMagic if you don't believe me.
UpMagic gained a pretty significant advantage using an unconventional drop strategy - but Luxury held his ground and stuck it out. Eventually he clawed his way back in and forced the game into an elimination race. There he made the better decisions on the spot and was able to outsmart UpMagic and take the win. We felt that UpMagic's decision making in the late game was quite lacking for a player who's reputation is almost entirely built on strategy, so that was disappointing for me. But nevertheless, as a Luxury owner in Fantasy PL, I'm (Plexa) not too upset! Incidentally, it appears that only one of the Zerg-twins can be inform at any given time because Yarnc is playing terribly at the moment.
Zergs across the board have been doing well against Protoss lately, a point noted by Motbob. Perhaps Motbob's claim that PvZ is imbalanced is a bit over the top - but we think the statement has some merit if you just consider the maps and trends today. It's not just Shine defeating Bisu, it's things like the 60% Z>P winrate in both the MST Prelims and OSL Prelims, where other matchups were closer to 50%. Also, Outsider and Heartbreak both are Z>P maps according to TLPD (when considering all games played, not just televised). Of course, one thing to keep in mind that statistics can be manipulated to prove anything. So if you don't want to believe the raw stats then maybe the TLPD map Balance table is more suited to you - it is only concerned with televised games but takes into consideration the elo of the players playing. Turns out that under this measure, Ousider is balanced in everything but ZvT (where Z>T). Very interesting!
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/rolster.jpg)
After the huge Finger Booming fiasco, KT have emerged with a brand new name and uniform. And we gotta say that damn, thats a good looking uniform. It reminds us a bit of the KTF Black uniform (which was amazing). The uniform still can't hold a torch to some of the older team uniforms, but in today's environment with JulyZerg wearing skinny jeans and Woongjin wearing polos this is a refreshing move in the right direction.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/nal_ra.jpg)
Nal_ra sporting the KTF Black uniform -- oh so sexy
Speaking of new uniforms, it looks like MBC has got a brand new uniform as well. One word - disaster. After many faithful seasons of the traditional MBC uniform, which all 7 MBC Hero fans adore, they've finally changed the uniform. But the new uniform is so so sooo bad. It's worse than Jaehoon's hair. And in fact, when combined with Jaehoon's hair - it clashes terribly. We suspect more teams will be unveiling new uniforms over the coming week so expect Backseat Broodwar to tear each one to shreds.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/mbcbefore.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Backseat_Broodwar/mbcafter.jpg)
A change in uniform isn't always a good thing
What else happened recently.. Ah yes, Calm vs Movie happened! Go watch it if you haven't! We haven't seen that turn up in the recommended games yet, but it is a great game exemplifying the brilliance of Calm. Movie gains a pretty huge advantage early on and the rest of the game is Calm exploiting tricks like burrow to make a comeback win - a really reassuring sign for Calm fans (like myself). Calm looks set to be a real heavyweight in this OSL. With a favourable map pool and Protoss getting crushed left right and center, could Calm be the next person to walk the royal road? (Riptide thinks so).
To end we’d like to single out two players who are really disappointing us at the moment. They are BeSt and fOrGG. Both player have made the finals before – fOrGG even walked away with a title. But right now they both look terrible. BeSt got run over by Classic who did use a really cool strategy, but ultimately BeSt shouldn’t be losing to mediocre Terrans. At least he crushed Chavi - whatever that counts for. fOrGG lost to Sangho miserably, and then put up a pathetic fight against Pusan in the OSL. To top it all off he just lost to han as well. Why must you make Plexa's fantasy team cry fOrGG!! BeSt is up against Pusan later in the week – which should be a pretty interesting encounter since they both have the same style – and that game should also give a good indication of how good/bad Pusan/Best is doing.
It's interesting really, because we both like Pusan and Calm a lot, and as luck would have it, they're both playing really well these days. As we head into the leagues in the coming weeks, rest assured that we'll be talking more and more about these players and why we like them.
These are exciting times to be a Starcraft fan. Unfortunately, they're also annoying ones. If you aren't aboard the Bisu/Jaedong train, it can get pretty intimidating because you tend to run into the blathering masses around every turn. If you're like us though, and prefer to examine Starcraft through well worn lenses, then join us again next week for another episode of Backseat Broodwar, the only progaming column that beats noobs over the head with the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
