GSL Code S Ro32 Foreigner Special: EG.IdrA By Hot_Bid
Images courtesy of GomTV.
As we all know by now, IdrA plans to return to the United States after several long years in Korea. For quite a while, he was the only active foreign player practicing overseas, and when StarCraft 2 was released, he was always considered one of the top players.
GSL Greg Fields Tribute Video
The GOM tribute to IdrA said it best: "The issue maker of GSL, Greg has shown us colorful and powerful plays that we will never forget." Not only did IdrA give us memorable moments in the booth, but he also gave us drama, intrigue, and humor out of it. His words and actions have spawned countless fan pictures and signs. There may never again be a player that polarizes opinions and generates as much interest just being himself.
EG.IdrA Top 5 In-Booth Moments
5. GSL Season 1 Opening
IdrA was regarded as one of the top players from the beta, so the GSL kicked off their league with Idra on the first day. He dominated the Terran JiTaeHoon in two very one sided games, showing us that StarCraft 2 is certainly different from StarCraft: Brood War in terms of the status of non-Koreans.
4. IdrA 6-pools on Jungle Basin
While many of IdrA's detractors say he does not adapt or switch strategies, IdrA showed that he was capable of this against Jinro in the GSL Ro8. While IdrA did not win the series, he came within 5 hp of winning on a very T > Z map. He also created one of the most dramatic and tense games in the GSL, and proved he wasn't as predictable as critics thought.
3. GSL Season 3 Ro32 vs MVP Game 2
IdrA won against the best Terran in the world on the heavily imbalanced T > Z map Steppes of War with excellent mutalisk control. He sniped several of MVP's tanks and then busted MVP's center map push with a huge army. MVP would go on to win the GSL Code S January, but Idra showed he was capable of competing with the very best in the world. Check out Artosis' cast of IMMvp vs EG.IdrA on Shakuras Plateau from the ladder as well.
2. Consistency
IdrA did not win a GSL, but he did improve his finishes throughout the GSLs he played in. He was one of the most consistent players in the GSL, and one of the few to not only qualify for every GSL Open season but advance in them. He was so consistent that his qualification for Code S in January 2011 was never really in doubt. This was a big reason why many fans were sad to see IdrA go, as his consistency virtually guaranteed his qualification in future seasons.
1. GSL 2011 Jan. Code S Ro16
IdrA wins in dominating fasion over top Terrans Clide and NaDa and Protoss Genius, advancing from the Group 3-0. The win over NaDa was especially meaningful to IdrA, as NaDa was one of his idols back in Starcraft: Brood War.
EG.IdrA Top 5 Out-Booth Moments
5. Leather Gracket
IdrA's change from relatively awkward looking teen to full blown Fonzie-esque baller happened right before our eyes, and nothing was more shocking than seeing Greg rock a "leather gracket" to one of his GSL matches. He pulled it off with style too, advancing from the group.
4. IdrA vs Zenio
IdrA and Zenio had one of the most contentious relationships. After Zenio's win in the GSL Open Season 2, he punctuated it with this ceremony and told IdrA to "watch his mouth." IdrA would get his revenge though, as his selection of Zenio at the Group Selection and subsequent withdrawal eliminated Zenio from GSL March 2011 without Zenio having a chance to play more than one game in Code S. As IdrA said to Zenio on the ladder -- "backhand".
3. IdrA misses high-five with Artosis
In a popular interview video with Artosis, who is known for denying high fives, IdrA was baited into putting his hand up. Artosis quickly withdrew, generating a missed high-five. This spawned numerous musical renditions of the moment, including the Imogen Heap version, American Beauty version, and the IdrA Revenge version. We hope this denied high five was not the reason Greg left Korea.
2. IdrA trolls the GSL Group Ceremony
IdrA knew he was going back to the United States, and picked two of his rivals, Zenio and Clide, for his group. Both rivals were very eager to play IdrA and very disappointed when they found out Greg was withdrawing from the tournament. Check out their faces at the Group Selection and the hilarious "missing Idra" screenshot on the play day.
1. "The Gracken" is born.
This event seems so ingrained in the fabric of ESPORTS now that many forget it was just a chance encounter and lucky misspelling. IdrA met the Emperor himself SlayerS_BoxeR on the ladder, and Boxer went on to mispronounce IdrA's name, Greg, using the more Korean-English hybrid "Grack." This spawned an endless string of memes and wordplay. Some of the best include leather gracket, Michael Grackson, Admiral Grackbar, etc. It became so big that fans were showing up to games with "Release the Gracken" signs, and Artosis and Tasteless regularly called IdrA the nickname on air.
GSL Code A Ro32 Foreigner Special: Liquid`HayprO By TrueRedemption
GanZI opted for a one barracks expand, daringly flying his first barracks from his main to wall off, using a bunker feint with a single marine to delay Haypro’s zerglings long enough to complete the wall off with a couple more barracks.
A reaper finished and killed off the ling pressure as both players macroed up, GanZI threw down a factory and Haypro continued droning while getting a fast +1 melee. GanZI moved out with a well executed siege / stim timing push, loading 8 marines into a medivac to drop the main while the remaining army approached the front. Haypro’s lings were able to chase off the drop with neither side taking any damage, but this ploy was simply a decoy while GanZI elevator dropped his main force onto the high ground at Haypro’s natural.
Haypro morphed banelings and charged up to repel the threat, but a couple constructing bunkers seemed to disrupt the baneling pathing AI, costing Haypro additional zerglings to clean it up.
Haypro’s mutalisks seized map control, but was unable to do much harass. Meanwhile, another marine drop from GanZI was able to take out the baneling nest before being chased off. Haypro started a somewhat late third at the gold expansion as GanZI set up his marine tank force around the middle watch tower. By sweeping his army through the further gold expansion Haypro was able to avoid the majority of the terran army, canceling the CC constructing at the normal third location as he ran by. When he reached GanZI’s front however the barracks wall was well defended by the most recent production wave, and Haypro found his army caught between a rock and a hard place.
With the clear advantage GanZI moved forward, again elevator dropping marines onto the natural high ground. Haypro seemingly cleaned up the disorganized push with ease, but a couple well positioned tanks and a slip in muta control cost Haypro quite a few units.
GanZI’s attack had again been two pronged. The camera had followed a cost efficient but ultimately unsuccessful attack at the front, while simultaneously a large marine drop in the main had been wreaking havoc. Having lost most of his ground forces to the tanks Haypro was forced to use his muta ball to defend it.
Terran reinforcements streamed to the gold expansion, taking it out before Haypro was able to macro up a force of his own to defend it. The uninterrupted economy of the Terran army was now apparent; GanZI was content to establish his own third and turtle up. Feeling the pressure, Haypro opened up the destructible rock pathway, but thanks to impressive marine control the zerg army was unable to do significant damage and a small terran force was able to once again shut down Haypro’s attempt at the gold third.
Down a base and an army, things looked dire for the home team hero, but Haypro managed to pick off three medivacs carrying marines with his remaining muta flock. This relief was short lived as 4 more medivacs full of marines dropped the main.
Haypro again managed to find the units to clean up the unrelenting assault, but both player’s mains and naturals mined out. Haypro managed to secure the standard third, but GanZI moved out with another marine tank force, and Haypro did not have the army necessary to defend his only mining hatchery. Confident in his advantage GanZI retreated to his third, Haypro had no option but to attack, quickly typing out gg as his army quickly disappeared.
GanZI embraced the size of Terminus RE, opting for a command center before barracks, but a drone scout informed Haypro of this quite quickly, allowing zerg to open 2 hatches before pool. As both players were macroing up GanZI moved out first with 8 marines and scanned the front of the zerg base specifically to snipe creep tumors.
Speedlings overtook the marines as they attempted to return home, and once again the game entered a macro lull, GanZI even opting to take his third as both players teched to their standard unit compositions and began upgrades. A two medivac drop reached the zerg third, but it was easily deflected by speedlings. With three base vs three base economies kicking in Haypro attempted to double expand, but great terran army positioning intimidated Haypro into sacking a recently completed hatchery and not being able to cancel the other before it was killed by a few marines.
Haypro was unable to engage GanZI’s army directly as it retreated back, nor was he using the mutalisks to do any significant harass. Again zerg attempted to claim a fourth, but as GanZI’s full force came over Haypro was forced to cancel. What followed was an interesting rendition of whack a mole, Haypro continued to try and establish a 4th base, but GanZI’s incredible awareness allowed him to repeatedly cancel or take out two more attempted hatcheries before Haypro felt comfortable to engage the terran army, narrowly saving a hatchery with red health and wiping out the main marine tank ball that had been giving him so much trouble.
Haypro didn’t have time to catch his breath however, GanZI had set up a 4th of his own fueling an incredible amount of production. The surviving mutalisk ball was unable to use the opportunity to harass, instead only being able to clean up a few stray medivacs and a drop in the main before another fearsome marine tank army pushed out. Haypro’s 4th was still in the red when the push arrived, and a few marines easily sniped it while tanks established a strong aggressive position.
Down a base and under immense pressure Haypro was forced to pull himself back into the game, deciding to use his massive muta force to harass GanZI’s main. Without hesitation the terran ball moved forward despite the trouble in his main, and was able to snipe yet another morphing hatchery as Haypro desperately pulled back his mutas to help defend.
Without Mutalisks ravaging the main GanZI again simply withdrew to a stronger defensive position as Haypro continued to desparately try and re-establish a 4th. Haypro tried to harass again, but was met with turrets and marines forcing him to withdraw. GanZI aware of the location of the muta flock took a group of marines and sniped yet another hatchery that had not begun mining yet, but this time Haypro’s army prevented the marines' retreat, killing off far more than 300 minerals worth of marines.
In response GanZI moved towards the recently finished hatchery at the original 4th location, but Haypro had anticipated it well and was able to wipe out the terran army. GanZI used this opportunity to take another base and remain one ahead. Haypro capitalized and was able to take it out, and meanwhile setting up a fifth sixth and seventh, stetching into the other starting locations. Having added thors to his army GanZI again pushed Haypro’s 4th, killing off the hatchery and re-establishing his fifth but losing his army in the process.
Haypro was unable to turn the muta ball into a meaningful advantage after the victory, but Hive tech was complete and the greater spire morphed. GanZI set up for another push, now aware of Haypro’s bases at the top main. Broodlords were making their way to the front as GanZI set up a brilliant positioning maneuver, elevator lifting the majority of his army into the 12 o’clock main and seiging up in position to defend the ramp.
From here GanZI easily took out the 6th and was working on the 5th. Haypro frantically attempted to use the Broodlords to break the position, but by taking the wrong angle he had them in range of the marines and lost them, and with them the game.
Haypro’s army made an impressive final stand, but without a single mining base GanZI had once again starved the zerg and all that remained was the anticlimactic cleanup of a truly epic game.
While HayprO was unable to advance past this round of the tournament, he faced a player who many considered to be the best Terran in Code A. The second game on Terminus was a long, dramatic game, and we hope HayprO can continue to improve and show us great games like this one. Good luck in future seasons Hayder!
Next Up, TLAF-Liquid`Jinro!
Foreigner week pushes forward as the Gorilla Terran himself takes on Code S Group C tonight; be sure to tune in as Jinro takes on Polt, Rainbow, and Check for a spot in the Ro16. And remember, FXO.mOOnGLade and TLAF-Liquid`Ret still have their Ro32 matches this week as well, stay tuned for more Foreigner Specials!
Brilliant coverage of Idra. Similarly with the foreign fan base, there is a lot of love/hate for Idra. Like him or not, he provides a lot of drama, backstory and excitement to the SC2 scene. Look at how Cliiiiiide and Zenio are sad that they don't get to play him!
Gotta love just how much humour Gom has, keep pulling these videos out of no where. Lest we forget the Ken Ashcorp 'Tasteless theme' vid.
And thanks for the piece, perhaps we've taken Idra too much for granted. So here's hoping he finds a love of the game again, or failing that takes NASL for all the money they have
TROLOLOLOL, "We hope this denied high five was not the reason Greg left Korea." Also, I love the empty IdrA chair.... GOM does have a pretty good sense of humor!
On February 24 2011 13:37 ImmortalTofu wrote: TROLOLOLOL, "We hope this denied high five was not the reason Greg left Korea." Also, I love the empty IdrA chair.... GOM does have a pretty good sense of humor!
I also loved that PlayXP had Idra's chances of winning as 0.57% xD
awesome writeup, guys. the missed high-five was in episode two of imbalanced!, though, not in an interview. you linked to it, but the preceding text sounds a bit strange. great job, again!
IdrA knew he was going back to the United States, and picked two of his rivals, Zenio and Clide, for his group. Needless to say they were very eager to play IdrA and very disappointed when they found out Greg was withdrawing from the tournament. Check out their faces at the Group Selection and the hilarious "missing Idra" screenshot on the play day.
Well played sir, well played... a true mastermind indeed
On February 24 2011 13:26 `Zapdos wrote: Why no haypro interview? :/ Best of luck next season haypro <3
Haypro lost, and the losers don't get interviewed. Anyways, with this showing, I am not so sure Haypro will be gifted a spot in GSL code A next season. He will probably give it one more attempt to try and do well in the tournament before focusing on other tournaments like MLG, IEM, and possibly NASL. These tournaments have players that do not seem anywhere near as intimidating as the Korean scene and slightly, but not significantly, smaller prize pools for the most part. Whichever path he choses, I will still wish him the best of luck with what he decides to do.
Ganzi showed code s play tonight without a doubt. Haypro impressed me, too, but kind of paled in comparrison. I was never a haypro fan before today. Assuming Ganzis tvx is as good as his tvz, he will win code A.
IdrA video is priceless. Sorry Hayder, since the beta you were one of my favorite Zergs, but the lady luck just hasn't been on your side. don't give up!
Haypro needs to focus less on muta...its a harassment and stop drops type of unit...its good to follow up attacks targeting the tanks. But he continues to try to make a massive mutaball likes its sc1.
He also never attacks...I was like seriously......you killed his army attack or expand... instead its run around and retreat...
Very nice article, I love the tribute & good luck video that GOM made for IdrA. Very friendly corporation indeed
About HayprO, aaaaah man I'm so sad. I'm no expert so can't say what was missing in his play, but as stated, ganzi is a beast... Unrelenting pressure, drops all over the place, extreme marine micro... No regrets HayprO, you played really well. I know a LOT of pro-level Zerg who would have been destroyed in 5 minutes facing the same situations.
Nice wrap up on idra, i had some lols! However "The win over NaDa was especially meaningful to IdrA," i seem to recall idra saying that he felt NaDa played kind of bad and it didn't mean that much to him in the interview? Did he later state it was meaningful or am i just retarded?
Haha the countdown of idrA moments was a great read and made me laugh just thinking back to them, it was sad to see IdrA leave after all he brought great drama and was a good bet in the GSL for foreigners after his consistency but i know he will continue to do this thing in the NA scene now, I feel bad for haypro who got given a really tough opponent in the first round again, i hope he has his jinro moment soon.
Poor haypro, he just cant seem to do it >< its hard for zerg but i think ret will do better maybe even pull a jinro, Jinro won MLG and then came back to korea and owned it up.
Idra will do 8 weeks leading up to the NASL and then the 13 weeks, and then I bet he plans to return to Korea. Should be a nice 5-6 months home for him. I bet he returns to Korea at that time.
On February 24 2011 15:20 cheesemaster wrote: Poor haypro, he just cant seem to do it >< its hard for zerg but i think ret will do better maybe even pull a jinro, Jinro won MLG and then came back to korea and owned it up.
Ret wins assembly comes back to korea and ????
hopefully does the same :D
He just got unlucky that he got paired up with a Code S level player.
Would have been so much better with him in that group, with all the rivalries and such. Still think it turned out well for clide though as mvp didnt advance from his group. Don't think he would have gone through with idra in that group, probably would have been byun and idra.
Great article as always guys, definitely relived a lot of lol's with IdrA, he certainly has ingrained himself within the history of the GSL and the Korean foreign player scene.
Watched HayprO's VOD's earlier today and I must say GanZI is a spectacular Terran player for Code A. Sad to see HayprO go down but some entertaining games nonetheless.
IdrA trolled Clide and Zenio even more because he purposely chose Group B next to the group of MVP, so they would have to face him in the next round (although we know what happened to this plan).
I'm really sad for Haypro, he really has a bad luck, Ganzi is one of the best code A player and will definitly be in code S next season. I'm sure you can do it next season Haypro!
GSL did well in paying a tribute do Idra because he deserved it! he brought excitement and drama to a league that needs heroes and vilans and idra was a bit of both!
Haypro had tought luck with ganzi he's really good
I really don't get the "idra trolling lolol" thing and "Idra gets his revenge!!" at all. What's the difference from just staying and losing 0-3? It looked to be a pretty even group skill-wise to me, with idra probably the one most likely to not make it out. Zenio lost to both Byun and Clide, so he played and lost 2 matches, don't see how he was affected by idra not being there. And the whole "lolol now he has to face mvp/mc!!" thing is also something I don't get... I mean, if you go through to the round of 16 you are bound to face some good players. Its the top 16 of the hardest league in the world, and it gets harder every year, we will be seeing less fluke top finishes a la Rain.
so what happen if one invited foreigner lose in 1st round? he will be invited next season again? or he must play the long way to reach codeA. so sad for us : ( pull yourself haypro!!!
It was so unfortunate that HayprO drew such a strong opponent in the opening round. I hope that he has a better showing the next time around. Hope to hear some comments from HayprO in the future.
As for Idra, it sucks that he is not in the GSL this season. Hate him or love him, he was definitely one of the more interesting and controversial players to watch. It is funny if he really did troll Clide and Zenio, poor guys must have been so disheartened to learn he was leaving. Oh and that GSL tribute video, they made it almost seem as if Idra had passed away rather than just left Korea.
I don't think its luck. Randomly throwing far expansions completely undefended and then not cancelling them when he has like 10seconds on him isn't luck, it's just bad play. I've seen good games off of haypro, but this was just disaster.
On February 24 2011 23:26 Healingproof wrote: I don't think its luck. Randomly throwing far expansions completely undefended and then not cancelling them when he has like 10seconds on him isn't luck, it's just bad play. I've seen good games off of haypro, but this was just disaster.
regardless of his play, the bad luck is that he got matched up against the best code A terran out there. that's the bad luck people are referring to. Ganzi is a pretty amazing player, and Haypro still managed to survive his ridiculous drop harassment for quite a long time which isn't easy. If he had been matched up against a different it's much more likely he would have advanced so luck is definately playing a factor..
Actually, this foreigner special shows how TL loves all foreign players that are good and Idra is really really gooood. This proves how TL cares for the foreign scene and there forum member Idra
On February 24 2011 22:04 DennizR wrote: I really don't get the "idra trolling lolol" thing and "Idra gets his revenge!!" at all. What's the difference from just staying and losing 0-3? It looked to be a pretty even group skill-wise to me, with idra probably the one most likely to not make it out. Zenio lost to both Byun and Clide, so he played and lost 2 matches, don't see how he was affected by idra not being there. And the whole "lolol now he has to face mvp/mc!!" thing is also something I don't get... I mean, if you go through to the round of 16 you are bound to face some good players. Its the top 16 of the hardest league in the world, and it gets harder every year, we will be seeing less fluke top finishes a la Rain.
I'm far from being Idra fan, but I think he was capable of taking that group without a single loss. Of Course, that would depend on luck a little. We already saw Idra playing really solid ZvZ (Like the game versus Sen on Close Metalopolis, that was freaking impressive from Idra's side) and beating IMMVP few times (like the one on Shakuras), in a really skilled games. It's sad to see him leaving GSL.
On February 24 2011 22:04 DennizR wrote: I really don't get the "idra trolling lolol" thing and "Idra gets his revenge!!" at all. What's the difference from just staying and losing 0-3? It looked to be a pretty even group skill-wise to me, with idra probably the one most likely to not make it out. Zenio lost to both Byun and Clide, so he played and lost 2 matches, don't see how he was affected by idra not being there. And the whole "lolol now he has to face mvp/mc!!" thing is also something I don't get... I mean, if you go through to the round of 16 you are bound to face some good players. Its the top 16 of the hardest league in the world, and it gets harder every year, we will be seeing less fluke top finishes a la Rain.
I'm far from being Idra fan, but I think he was capable of taking that group without a single loss. Of Course, that would depend on luck a little. We already saw Idra playing really solid ZvZ (Like the game versus Sen on Close Metalopolis, that was freaking impressive from Idra's side) and beating IMMVP few times (like the one on Shakuras), in a really skilled games. It's sad to see him leaving GSL.
Yes, I believe so too, but I also believe all the other players in that group was _capable_ of the same thing. It was an even group. I just don't see how anything idra did affected zenio, or clide. We only got to see less games, thats about the only ramification.
Haypro's games were excellent, well played, sir. And IdrA's devious masterplan with zenio and clide proved his status as evil genius once again. What personality. The gracken does indeed see so much beauty.
Haypro played well, that GanZI guy is pretty sick! I was very impressed with his play.. And LOL @ tasteless first introducing the Terran.. "Over here we have the terran warping in... none other than... GANJI?!?
Can anyone explain or link to the GSL rule that allowed IdrA to "pick" players for his group? I pretty much followed GSLs 1-4 but don't understand how this works/what this means. Checked Liquipedia but didn't find anything. Thanks!
GanzI played very very well against HayprO. Terran fast expanding with 1 marine and then floats his barracks.. HayprO gave him too much space imo. He should've pooled first in the second game.
Love that writeup on greg, good job guys, I'm sure if the opportunity truly is better in Korea that he will be back there, as long as he keeps practicing (or switches races and keeps practicing) he'll be top 25 in the world.
I was really pulling for HayprO. I really really want all foreigners to succeed, especially Hayder, who seems to have issues with nerves in the booth. I think all he needs is a GSL win or two to start building up confidence. Then we'll really see what he can do.
That all being said, GanZi outplayed HayprO quite badly. I found myself thinking, during the second game after HayprO's twenty thousandth Hatchery got killed without a cancel, that GanZi really deserved to win the series. He was just playing better. The guy is also kind of a monster.
GL to Hayder in coming seasons. We all know he has the talent to play in Code S.
Idk, personally HayprO did have some mistakes in his play. I think it was from nerves, because i could see overall his macro was very good. But if he could have eliminated those mistakes, he might have won it.
I dont get it, why would idra choosing 3 other players in his group then withdrawing make the group more competitive? wouldnt it get rid of a competitor and make it less competitive?