It's a shame I didn't listen to my past self, before the group of death, when I voted for Innovation to win this. When I was thinking about Flash vs. Innovation and who was better, I felt like Flash would be better in a prepared match because of how amazing he is at preparing and giving wrong ideas before the games, but Innovation would be better if they suddenly had to play on the spot. People like Life, MVP, Flash and BW-Jaedong are all amazing series players because of how well they meta-game. Neither Innovation nor Soulkey is at that level yet, though Soulkey proved to be superior in this regard. This finals wasn't great gameplaywise, but it was absolutely amazing to watch two people mindgame each other this much during the games.
When Innovation started off with a 12/12 and easily winning the first game, I felt like he made a brilliant move. No one really expected him to do this right away, definitely not Soulkey, so he took a quick 1-0 lead. Not only that, now Soulkey had to keep this in mind for every other game of the series, even if Innovation wasn't doing it again. It seemed that 1-0 would make Innovation snowball to victory... but then when Soulkey won his first game I felt this could be his shot. Innovation seemed to be one step behind after that and unsure of what to do. The next game he seemed to prepare for a 3-base timing.. but then it was 2-base. He then started feeling the pressure, and he probably didn't want to 11/11 the final game, so he had to 11/11 the next map. Soulkey had to have this in the back of his mind for how thoroughly he scouted everywhere, and so he deserved the win yet again. The final map was basically Innovation trying anything to not lose, while Soulkey was playing to win.
It's hard to define what makes a "best player in the world". A few months ago it was easy, because Life was basically winning every single thing he entered. But during a final, it's not just micro/macro/in-game strategy that determines the winner. If it was, I feel Innovation would have won. But there's a reason players like MarineKing and Squirtle have never won a GSL and Mvp/Life won so many titles. It's that mental fortitude, the meta-gaming all around which defines who becomes champion and who doesn't.
Congrats to Soulkey, that was one well deserved victory (:
The worst gsl finals i ever seen i think. The games were awful :l , only cheeses and all ins, except by the last game which was not too good even being a macro game. The cheeses consist in 2 proxy rax, which is so..well, the only viable cheese right now against Z. That hellbats drops delayed too much the innovation pushes, i think it was a bad choice in 2 of the games
The level of play was really bad compared to earlier rounds. Innovation makes no siege tanks and gives Soulkey game 7 with those free drops. I can't tell who was the better player because of the screw-ups on both sides. Still worth watching though.
On June 01 2013 21:18 SupaDupaFlyPro wrote: When he was down 0-3 I told myself ''Ok it's over'' and I was about to go back to sleep. I'm glad I didn't :D Soulkey's tears were really touching...
... I did :-(
It was almost 5 here and I was practically sleeping in the comp chair... Oh how I regret it .........
I don't know, if anything I was rooting for Soulkey, but I was still a bit disappointed with the quality of the games. I understand why they would want to pull out so many cheeses in a long series, but it was a bit of a letdown as a viewer. The real shame was that both players played really well in individual games, like game 3 for innovation, and game 7 for soulkey, but they never both really turned it on at the same time for one game. Maybe game 2, but they both made some silly mistakes there, and its a bit depressing when the best game in a tvz series has the zerg going roach-hydra. You would expect them to both bring their a-game for game 7, but innovation seemed to have lost already, and was way to desperate to make something happen. Yeah, the 3 medivac thing could be chalked up to bad luck, but even besides that, he went for hellbat drops when it seems pretty clear that Soulkey knows exactly how to defend them, and he overextended himself on the map more than once.
On June 01 2013 23:01 Shinta) wrote: Really pathetic finals. I was hoping for some good games from two awesome players.
They are both such awesome players, but they decided to cheese and get extremely nervous to ensure some poor games. Almost all games were decided by poor micro mistakes and bad decision making that is completely uncharacteristic of them both. The level of play INoVation showed was less than 69% of his potential play, and Soulkey was also playing so poorly.
Although this was the GSL finals and they are the two best players in the world right now, I can't believe how many people are saying that was a good series. The fact that it was close doesn't make it good when you consider the fact that even top NA players could take games off of these "best players in the world".
Honestly, if SEn, Scarlet, DIMAGA, (name any other top formed foreigner) had played against these guys when they were playing like they did today, I'm sure they would have made it a close/exciting series, and possibly even upset.
Regardless, looking forward to watching them play like their normal, awesome selves next season!
Sorry, I don't think you follow enough sports enough. Seldom do you see "standard games" or "beautiful games" in finals. There is so much meta-gaming involved. And even in football finals, goals (if there is even one, in normal time) are often crafted out a single oversight or slip-up, or rather, there is something can be done to prevent the goal. Just because a game is not flawless, doesn't mean the players are not giving their best. Sometimes, a mistake is magnified just because it happens in a final, whilst on any other ocassion it would be accepted.
If you want purely visually entertaining finals, maybe pro-wrestling is your cup of tea.
For me, the series was entertaining, because of the meta-game behind the actual plays on screen. Maybe it's just me.
Couldn't have said it better myself. I was surprised reading some people being disappointed, then it occurred not everyone looks at the game at the same depth.
I was more focused on the amount of care put into their micro while extensively multi-tasking throughout the games alone, not to mention the amount of meta going on. Games where more mistakes are made by players are games that are more likely to last longer and go dramatically back and fourth. Games at this level where one mistake can almost definitely secure a victory and both players have a great game sense are not surprising to see be quick and concise.
On June 01 2013 21:18 SupaDupaFlyPro wrote: When he was down 0-3 I told myself ''Ok it's over'' and I was about to go back to sleep. I'm glad I didn't :D Soulkey's tears were really touching...
... I did :-(
It was almost 5 here and I was practically sleeping in the comp chair... Oh how I regret it .........
im sad i didnt go to sleep. not much was missed in the finals =_= 2 decent games out of 7, none even came close to the FPL game of last week :S
EPT
