Soulkey 4 - 3 Innovation - WCS KR Finals Recap - Page 3

On June 01 2013 21:49 RKC wrote:


Yeah, but we just watched an epic comeback, and a well-planned and well-executed one by Soulkey. Painful as it to be an Innovation fan, it was a massive victory for e-sports. A bit sad if fans can't appreciate the ocassion.

On June 01 2013 22:11 Hryul wrote:

It surely was well executed by Soulkey but the third roach/ling/bling allin in a row shouldn't have won that easily. Also Daybreak is a terrible map for dropplay since the layout allows for just two angles: main and third.
So Soulkeys "waiting" mutas were a flash of brilliance and innovations didn't pay attention.

On June 01 2013 22:15 RKC wrote:


Honestly, for all the hype about Innovation, all he basically did besides proxy-rax was fast-expands and drops. It was just wired in his mind, and gameplan for all non-proxy games. Whilst being solid, he wasn't innovating. In contrast, Soulkey reacted quite well, in all games, and showed diversity in his play (his roach/bling/ling had slightly different subtle timings - which made it harder for Innovation to anticipate). That's why, in my mind, Soulkey was the true innovator in the series, and his innovation was key in beating Innovation.

On June 01 2013 21:25 RKC wrote:
Honestly, I don't know why people in the LR thread were so critical about the games, and saying that Innovation threw it. The way I saw it, it was a great series, and eventually Soulkey was the stronger player, throwing Innovation off with his preparations and mind games. So I'll respond to the negativity with what I saw as the positives:

1. Soulkey's drone scout and proxy 2-rax defence

Saw how Soulkey drone scout in the games after dying to a proxy 2-rax in Game 1? Now, that's called learning, and the fact that it paid off in Game 6, showed how disciplined Soulkey was.

And that hatch cancel in Game 6? That was also Soulkey learning.

And why shit on the games? JD early pool rush Flash in one of the finals, winning one, losing one. It may be disappointing how short the games were, but I thought it was brilliantly played by both players. I think at high levels of plays, pro players are so of equal skill that they need to throw cheesy builds at each other. It's all about the mind games. Soulkey won today, fair and square, when it mattered. And I enjoyed the beauty of it; not by what played out in the screen itself, but what played in the players' head. The true beauty lies in the meta-game.


2. Soulkey's drop defence

We saw glimpses of this in Game 2 which he lost, and we saw it repeated in game 7. It completely nullified Innovation's harassment, wasted his precious resources, and allowed Soulkey to tech up and expand safely. Even before the mutas were out, Soulkey had the slight supply advantage, and more importantly, the psychological advantage (of shutting down the hellbat drops that others would just roll over and die too completely). Innovation knew this, and he had to make something happened, hence the medivac drop.

While people scoff this as being foolish, I think it was a fair calculated risk, given Soulkey's lead, and that such a lead on a map like Daybreak would build up exponentially. He moved in when he thought Soulkey's muta was attacking his main. Innovation believed that his drop at Soulkey's main would deal more damage, or at least force the mutas to come back (and by that time, his medivac boost would be ready). But Soulkey saw this coming, and intercepted with his mutas.

'Doom drops' like this happened all the time in games like this. If Innovation had pulled it off, we would all be going ga-ga over it. It was almost like Jangbi 2-base carrier comeback against Fantasy in the 2nd last OSL. His sneak attack at Fantasy's main was a gamble, but he knew it was the only way he could break Fantasy's contain and get back into the game. Pro players make risky moves all the time. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. If we regard all failed risky moves as silly, then we wouldn't have epic games, pimpest plays, and the game would be much less richer and exciting. Be glad, rather than sad, that Innovation did what he did.

On June 01 2013 22:29 Hryul wrote:

Fair point. Soulkey was quite unpredictable while Innovation had a quite narrow textbook of builds to choose from. Seems like solid play only gets you this far.

On June 01 2013 22:45 RKC wrote:


I was torn between the two. I wanted to root for Innovation, because I wanted to finally see someone replicating Flash's solid dominant "I'll just do my own shit and there's nothing you can do about it" play in BW. But alas, Innovation failed the test. Maybe the true God will rise and take His rightful place on the throne...

On June 01 2013 22:44 Bam Lee wrote:


This should have been posted in the LR thread. This is exactly what i thought and what i saw. One could see Soulkeys sheer intelligence in game 1 and 6. The way he learned/adapted was really a beautiful thing to watch. Both players have huge respect towards each others macro game, which is why it was obvious that both would use cheeses. But the way soulkey kept playing better and better after going down 0-3 was really exciting to watch and the final game was really satisfying to watch since innovation looked just as helpless as all of his previous zerg opponents who made a few too many bad trades and got overrun, the same way innovation was overrun after loosing his medivacs.

On June 01 2013 23:01 DaddyX wrote:
Why oh why did I go to bed when it was 3-0??? FML