Brood War has no shortage of great rivalries. Boxer and YellOw. sAviOr and Bisu. Flash and Jaedong. But can anyone truly say that any of these pairs can compare to the incredible spectacle that results when Lomo plays Jaehoon? I know I can't.

Sure, the history of LoHoonRok contains no high-pressure games, tournament titles, or strategies that fundamentally altered the way the match-up was played. But it fully makes up for these minor deficiencies with the passion and unrestrained genius that defines the game of BW. When Lomo and Jaehoon play, you can see the fight in their eyes. These are games for pride, pure and simple. And there’s nothing either of these players wouldn’t do for pride.

So read on, BW fans, because yet another installment of this epic train wreck ongoing masterpiece was played on Wednesday last, in the second set amidst a fantastic series (It really was very good) between MBC and Hwaseung Oz.


The game begins on Empire of the Sun, with Lomo spawning in purple at the top right position, while Jaehoon spawns in teal at the bottom right. Showing incredible daring, Lomo opts to expand after building only a barracks. Yet Jaehoon’s cunning is evident as he too plays for an economic advantage, taking an early nexus behind no defense at all! Jaehoon is the first to apply pressure, but is thwarted by an ironclad bunker defense from Lomo. Lomo then pushes out with a couple vultures, but Jaehoon’s flawless game-sense allows him to deflect this harassment with no losses. A brief skirmish at Lomo’s newly-established third falls in favor of the defender, but Jaehoon simultaneously shuts down attempted harassment from Lomo at his third.

Seeing that they are both too strong to simply overwhelm with mere harassment, both players settle into the mindset of a macro game. Thinking ahead, Jaehoon drops a probe at the island expansion at 6 o’clock. (More on this later.) In the midst of building up, Jaehoon expertly sends his probes to assist in the production at his third base, but Lomo strikes the first significant blow of the game by intercepting the maynard. All of the workers are assassinated instantly, except for one, who is allowed to live for a little while, running next to the vulture, before Lomo cruelly kills it just before it reaches safety.


With hardened resolve after having witnessed the depravity of Lomo’s forces, Jaehoon immediately moves out onto the map and engages Lomo’s vulture shock troops, killing many of them. He is swiftly aided by the presence of the elite protoss arbiter, a unit that has become Jaehoon’s hallmark. However, Lomo, appropriately fearing Jaehoon’s arbiter usage, has barricaded himself behind a wall of turrets, with mines blanketing the ground at each of his expansions. Jaehoon sends a few zealots to reconnoiter Lomo’s expansions, and discover their weaknesses. When these zealots do not return, however, Jaehoon wisely concludes that Lomo’s bases have no weaknesses at all, and thus an attack would be foolish. To compensate, Jaehoon parades his army around the map, living of delicious fruit plucked from the trees, hunting wild beasts for roasting, and generally imposing his will upon the virgin land.

Meanwhile, Lomo grows jealous about the bounty enjoyed by the protoss forces, and decides to push out with a significant force of mechanized units. This is what Jaehoon has been waiting for, however, and he strikes at Lomo’s army as it marauds across the center. In the first massive battle of the game, Lomo takes heavy losses, but reaches deep into his soul, and fends off the protoss with a tank line as deep as his love for Jaedong. (Really goddamn deep.) With this victory in hand, Lomo gathers his forces for a devastating strike at the protoss expansions at the lower left.

At this point in the game, one could’ve been forgiven for believing that this was just a normal TvP, with a typical timing push, and the same familiar collection of units. One would be wrong of course, but until this point, it would be an understandable impulse.


Sensing the tide turn against him, Jaehoon knows that only his prodigious understanding of the game can save him. With everything on the line, he builds a dark archon.

Some commentators—no doubt enjoying the game from thousands of miles away, sitting in plush armchairs, stroking snow-white cats, and eating truffles from gilded bowls—ridicule this decision. A sample of this sentiment is shown below, with the author’s name withheld because it would be too embarrassing to publicly be called out for doubting Jaehoon.


Shutting up the haters, Jaehoon immediately turns around his army and, with the DA leading the charge, stalls Lomo’s forces in the center of the map. Yet Lomo, being the kind of forward thinker that he is, has planned ahead and double expanded during his push. Most crucially, he martyrs Jaehoon’s DA as a parting shot.

With the gloves off, the blows become fast and furious. Jaehoon forces Lomo to lift a cc near the top left, while Lomo kills off a host of probes at the 9’oclock expansion. Jaehoon throws down the gauntlet by finally expanding to the 6 o’clock island, a full thirteen minutes since dropping a probe there, demonstrating the awesome extent of his foresight. Recognizing the urgency of Jaehoon getting the gold minerals, Lomo begins to build a massive tank-line across the upper section of the map, while floating a command center to the top left main. Jaehoon responds quickly by recalling nineteen zealots and one dragoon to the expansion, to make completely sure that he can prevent Lomo from landing the cc by placing zealots beneath it. Lomo is able to divert troops to the upper left, however, and is eventually able to clear enough space to take the expansion.


Jaehoon strikes again seconds later, recalling his dragoons to the 9 o’clock expansion and killing it off mercilessly Having met mixed success in denying Lomo’s expansions, Jaehoon reaches into his bag of tricks once again, and builds another DA. Emboldened by the reappearance of their leader, the protoss light brigade charges forth, and is promptly decimated by mines, doing little damage, but leaving an excellent impression.

Deeply inspired by the protoss heroism, Lomo makes a rare conciliatory gesture and donates a handful of vessels and a half-full dropship to charity. A rare amicable moment having passed, the players return to the important business at hand. Jaehoon recalls a tiny force of dragoons to the top left expansion, and tricks Lomo into lifting his cc and pulling his whole army to defend. Meanwhile, Jaehoon presses Lomo’s front with the massive army that he didn’t recall. It initially looks like Lomo will hold off the push, but Jaehoon guesses correctly what tank the purple flag is in, and stasises it, turning the tide of the battle.


Lomo’s reinforcements rush to the scene, but Jaehoon entrusts Lomo’s flag to a speed zealot, and Lomo’s vulutres are unable to catch it before it reaches Jaehoon’s nexus. At long last, after thirty one minutes of spell-binding action, Lomo calls gg.

What was gained? What was lost? Jaehoon reversed a two game losing streak to Lomo in taking the game, yet Lomo still controls the series. However unfair, both players will probably be unsatisfied with their performances in the game. When it comes to perfectionists like these two players, that’s always the case. There can be no doubt that both will dream of their next encounter, and prepare to make it even better than the last. The true winners, however were the fans. These are not ordinary or happy times for BW. Some of our favorite players are leaving. A lawyer from Blizzard could come bursting through the studio doors at any moment to stop the proceedings. It is under this cloud that we tune in at the end of every week. We know that each game we watch could be the last.

When that time comes, the only wish I have for that final game is that it be half as entertaining as Lomo and Jaehoon.

BONUS: I made one Sc2 reference in this write-up. Did you find it?