We started with 16 great players, then we slowly whittled them down to two. Stork and Flash are without a doubt the premier Protoss and Terran respectively. They have already met on the finals stage before, in the GomTV Star Invitational finals. But this time, everything is on the line. They both stand in the position that every progamer dreams about, without a doubt every progamers ambition is to become the best and win an OSL.
It's time to see who can make the at final step to fulfilling their dream.
The map list is as follows;
Game 1 - Blue Storm Game 2 - Katrina Game 3 - Troy Game 4 - Fantasy II Game 5 - Blue Storm
Without further ado, lets read the final chapter of the story of Bacchus OSL...
Game 1 – Blue Storm
Stork is known as one of the most solid gamers around, and for good reason. He rarely cheeses and always plays a straight up macro game. He knows that his mechanics and game sense surpass all other and he can win on that alone. Sadly, in an OSL final 'solid' just doesn't cut it.
This marks the fourth official game on Blue Storm and as Flash and Stork have practiced together its likely that they have played many games on this map together. Their first encounter, the group stage of this OSL, Flash was dominated mercilessly by Stork. In that game Stork showcased why he has (or had) some of the best PvT in the world. Flash, at this stage, was creating his goliath build and showcased it in this game. It did the damage required, but somehow Stork still hung in there and cleaned up.
Flash's approach to the map slowly changed, he played much more to the map that simply forcing his build upon it. Meanwhile Stork has done the exact same build every game. This Final was the tipping point really, Flash abused the map so well it was ridiculous whereas Stork was stuck using his '1 size fits all' pvt build - which got demolished.
So the first set of this epic confrontation begins on the map Blue Storm. Flash spawns at the top right while Stork takes up residency in the bottom left. Both players open standard signaling their intentions for a macro war. Flash sends out a scout as he starts his Factory while Stork decides that scouting is for chumps and doesn’t bother wasting a probe. Storks first dragoon chases away Flash’s scv and he sends his goons over to pressure Flash.
Flash sends an early SCV straight to 12 to check for any funky stuff by Stork – then heads to Stork’s main to check. Stork pressures nicely with his goons and causes some minor issues for Flash – and he manages to snipe a rine. Meanwhile, both players have expanded. Stork continues to pressure, killing the odd unit but largely causing no problems for Flash. Stork goes home with his 3 goons, and shortly after Flash is one the move with 3 tanks and an SCV.
Stork adds reaver tech and prepares to follow the standard PvT pattern. Flash on the other hand is sieging up in the valley near Stork’s nat ready to kill probes. Flash is just waiting for his Barracks to float down and grant him vision. Stork becomes aware of the tanks when his goon that is blocking the small choke is hit. Immediately stork retreats his probes, just before Flash’s rax arrives. Stork brings his newly built Shuttle into play immediately and tries to break the tanks with some goon drops – sadly he doesn’t accomplish anything.
Stork’s dragoons try to clear the barracks, and eventually manage to kill it… sadly Stork loses about half his dragoons to tank fire. Flash sneaks an SCV into Storks nat which begins to build a supply depo in the corner of the natural, which is soon sniped by dragoons – but the depo remained, giving Flash vision. He then sends marines/vultures in to gain extra vision and forces Stork to retreat his probes again.
Stork is really behind right now and he knows it. His reaver is now ready and he heads off towards Flash’s nat and scores very little SCV kills. Flash is ready with Goliaths and the reaver, goon and shuttle are quickly eliminated without hassle. Stork knows that time is running out, he is down 1 base to 2, and moves his dragoons around the cliff to his high ground. Flash is not one to get cocky, and retreats his entire force back home and consolidates his position.
Stork has amassed a rather average sized army of Dragoon/Zeal off one base, and prepares to all in Flash’s natural. Flash already has +1 upgraded, and with a reinforced army he prepares to move forward against Stork. Stork has a brand new reaver ready for action and tries to break Flash – and he is horribly raped. The last remnants of Stork’s army are destroyed by some nice Vulture control and Stork concedes.
What happened this game was that Stork used his “one size fits all” PvT build on a map that he has played Flash on three times and paid the price for it. Flash churned out yet another variation on his standard TvP for Blue Storm and crucified Stork. The fast tank pressure caught Stork off guard completely and because of the long travel distance between the nat and the valley, it meant that Stork really couldn’t do anything about it. There was nothing this game that Stork did any differently to any other protoss, and in an OSL final; that’s just not going to cut it.
Game 2 – Katrina
After a rather bland effort from Stork last game, you’d expect that he would change it up considerably for Katrina – a map which has seen 2 base carrier dominate the Protoss repertoire. Stork warps in at 6 while Flash opens at 12 – a nice cross positions game. Flash sends out an early SCV which promptly begins a barracks in the middle of the map (8rax), followed by a second SCV which starts a second Barracks after a supply depo.
Stork on the other hand, plays completely standard and 14nexs. Stork starts his first gateway as the first marine finishes, and it becomes painfully clear that Stork isn’t going to take this. As marines pour from the two barracks, Stork continues to play standard with Core before Zeal followed by a second gate. Flash simply rallies all his marines to Stork, along with a number of scvs and in no time he has a bunker set up.
Stork concedes.
Talk about a let down. This was a text book build order loss, and thus a rather easy point to Flash. Flash, for the second time takes advantage of Stork’s predictability and goes up 2-0
Game 3 – Troy
Stork, down 0-2, obviously must be feeling the pressure right about now. He must be remembering that fateful series in Daum when Iris destroyed him with the same 2fac timing push three games in a row. What’s going in his mind, I have no idea. The look in his eye screams ‘why’, it’s almost like he’s lost the game already. Flash looks jumpy, ready to take the fight to Stork one more time.
I have nothing to add to this game, so then why do I have something to say? Just for some pointless random things I've picked up.
The original three protoss kings, Reach, Nal_ra and Kingdom all won themselves Starleagues. Reach came along first in Sky 2002 and defeated Boxer and has ever since been loved by all. Then Kingdom won MyCube OSL over fellow King Nal_ra. Although Kingdom is now retired, he was an extremely influential and entertaining player. Then, Nal_ra made a second consecutive OSL final and won Hangame OSL. Each of them have made MSL finals, and all have lost an MSL final (all to bonjwa's funnily enough).
Then came along the next generation of Protoss - Pusan, Anytime and Stork. The Neo-Kings started strongly with Anytime taking So1 OSL, similar to how Reach defeated Boxer. However, he then slumped terribly for an entire year. Meanwhile, Pusan placed 4th in So1, then third in Shinhan 2005 then dropped off the scene - definitely no Kingdom. Anytime came back in Fall 2006 to get runner up in Shinhan 2 OSL - then slumped again. Stork rocked 2007, and then failed to covert at the last stage twice; unlike Nal_ra who won the second time.
The repeated theme amongst the Neo-Kings is 'failure to convert'. Each of those three gamers are brilliant in their own right and each have (had) huge potential. Their brilliance inspired an entire generation of Protoss users, yet they only have a number of 2nd placings (coupled with Anytime's So1) to show for their troubles.
What lies in the future for the Neo-Kings i don't know, but what i do know is that Stork's time is up and now Anytime will have to fill his shoes. By the way, does anyone else get the feeling that Stork is weak to "orange"? Think about it, Jaedong -> Lecaf -> Orange, Flash -> KTF -> Orange. Coincidence? I think not.
Flash spawns at the top right while Stork warps in at the bottom right. Neither player decides to cheese this game, meaning we may actually have a fight on our hands. Stork scouts after his gateway, and goes right for Flash and starts to annoy Flash with his probe. Flash repeats his build from game one while Stork opts for a Zealot first build. Flash takes no risks and blocks his choke with an SCV, giving him time to get his factory up.
Flash pressures with his Marines, and forces the Zealot to run – but reinforcements in the form of a Dragoon force Flash to run home. With some nice micro, Flash manages to kill off the Zealot, but not the Dragoon. Flash waits for some factory units to pop while Stork has 2 dragoons hitting the left Assimilators. Once Flash has a tank ready he moves out and chases the dragoons away. Stork has also started an expansion.
Stork decides to show his balls, and with 3 dragoons storms up Flash’s natural ramp, takes out the tank and backs off. Stork starts his robo and a second gate while Flash takes his natural expansion. Flash mines up his ramp and runs his vultures around checking for any hidden buildings. Stork moves up into 3gate with obs tech while Flash continues to mass up vultures and tanks.
Stork, with about 12 goons, moves out across the map just as Flash decides to move out. The armies collide outside 3, and Flash with superior troops count and micro easily defeats the measly army of Stork’s. Flash presses forward, Stork pulls his probes, siege tech finishes and after flailing around for a couple more seconds Stork concedes for the third consecutive time.
Flash and KTF look so happy with this monumental result. Stork simply looks dumbfounded, as his OSL dream has slipped away for the second time. Flash had perfect timing in that last set, and Stork was just left for dead – there is no other way to describe it. Flash was on a different level to Stork and he was playing like an OSL Champion. Stork, was not.
With that defeat, Stork became the only player to ever lose two consecutive OSL finals. As much as I hate to admit it, Stork's time is up. The look in his eye and the look in his games just reek of exhaustion. Stork is burnt out. What does this mean? Well, the golden age of the Protoss is over in my opinion. Bisu and Stork won't ever get back to their levels of dominance, they will linger in the top 6 for a while then drop off. Which is rather sad really.
While the games sucked really badly for this final, it will be an historic final. This, along with GSI and GomTV S3 will inspire a new generation of Terrans. The wheel has come full circle and we are looking at the 2nd Golden age for the Terran race. Flash is leading the way against his bitter rival Jaedong and carving the victory path for future Terrans in the process.
For OGN the question must be what can we learn from this OSL? My immediate reaction is the map pool. Lets have one last look at it;
Katrina
Blue Storm
Troy
Demons Forest
Fantasy II
For the first time ever the OSL had a map removed, not even Mercury was removed from the OSL, nor Alchemist, nor Dream of Balhae. On top of Demons Forest being one of the worst promaps ever made, we have two maps which quite frankly I'm sick to death of.
Katrina and Blue Storm are two maps I could do without seeing next season. Katrina invariably to 2base carrier (which now simply gets raped by an uninteresting timing push) on top of that, the more exciting alternative on the map (arbiter) has met with limited success. TvZ hasn't seen that much inspiring play either.. Flash's mech build is actually really boring to watch despite its ingenuity. Lastly PvZ is as bad as PvT as it is just so terribly predictable.
Blue Storm on the other hand has become formulaic. All protoss go 2 base -> reaver -> 3rd base, sometimes gas rushing the Terran. And Terrans [read: Flash] responds with a simply fast goliath/+1 counter which leaves the protoss helpless. Zerg vs Terran basically comes down to godly Mutalisk harass, which is always nice to see - but I'd some variation at the very least. And PvZ tends to favor long games in which the Zerg somehow wins.
Troy is a worthy map, the caliber of games weren't that high; but if you glance over to Mani's excellent list of top games from Bacchus OSL you'll notice 2 of the games were from Troy. This map has untapped potential, unlike the other maps. Fantasy II was a decent filler, but it never really convinced me as a 'real' OSL map because of it being called in for the Ro8.
In my honest opinion, stale map pool = stale gaming. Being a mathematician, that equality means a lot. OGN need to go back to the drawing board and get themselves a DECENT map pool. Honestly, the whole KeSPA/IEG proleague maps have really hurt this years progaming more than they could have dreamed of. Hopefully OGN create 2 new maps, leaving Troy, and taking one of the new Proleague maps (not Katrina v2) and thus creating a fresh exciting map pool.
What else can we take from this OSL? Not a heck of a lot to be perfectly honest. Except that perhaps that despite having a huge talent base is by no means a guarantee that the game quality will be high. With that in mind, let's check out whats in store next season.
Firstly, we have ODT to go through to get ourselves another 12 players to compete against our 4 seeds for the OSL trophy. These players are; + Show Spoiler +
So there is the potential for some great games in there, so be sure to check that out. Be on the look out for the return of Casy to the OSL as well as the return of Daezang!
Lastly, I have enjoyed writing for this tournament very much! And i hope you've enjoyed reading it and i look forward to the next OSL where TL will bring you, yet again, premium coverage of the progaming scene.
I haven't read the battle reports, but the notes and the final section was as insightful and awesome as always. I've been complaining about the map pool so much now, I'll just say I agree.
Casy in the ODT/OSL = more nuke rushes (hopefully)
It's time to see what Flash's time (lulz) brings. Stork certainly seems to be broken, and Jaedong dethroned for now. I don't think we'll see Stork resurgent again, but Jaedong definitely, and Bisu .. who knows?
don't retire blue storm but make some small changes, some fix
look at monty hall it was favoring zerg a lot but with small changes it became perfectly balanced, sadly it was not in the future individuals leagues but this is an awesome map
Blue storm need some fix and it will be ok, there are ben a lot of good games on and even pro agree that the better player win in this map
troy is good i like the concept and i have seen good games on it
katrina out fantasy 2 i dont know its hard to balance an assymetric map
You say that the golden age of Protoss is over. I hope you're wrong there, but I'm afraid that you're right. At the least, watching Stork lose like that will undoubtedly influence race choices for young gamers everywhere.
On March 20 2008 21:11 trollbone wrote: look at monty hall it was favoring zerg a lot but with small changes it became perfectly balanced, sadly it was not in the future individuals leagues but this is an awesome map
Wasn't MH a Zerg graveyard? If I remember correctly P owned T owned Z.
Update: Yep, MH was indeed Zerg doom. MH SE was slightly better, but not much.
the fact that the leagues were won by zerg and terran doesnt mean bisu and stork are done. in fact they are doing not bad at all. both of them have minor things to fix- bisu to be more focused and stork to make some zealots in fact the bisu vs flash MU was the most epic i've ever seen and I'm sure that the tosses have more to give. Flash has his moment of glory, the time will show if it will last long or if it be 2-3 weeks moments of pure brilliance... i just wonna say that next season we will have again toss as a champ...and it wont be bisu or stork
On March 20 2008 22:01 Sunyveil wrote: according to Baezzi's youtube video, they're using a 32 player system next OSL
can this be confirmed?
i hope fucking not.
if they want to have 32 players, fine have 32 players. but dont just take the last round of ODT and call it part of your tournament (msl style) and dont expect people to actually give a shit about the entire first round
On March 20 2008 21:45 disciple wrote: the fact that the leagues were won by zerg and terran doesnt mean bisu and stork are done. in fact they are doing not bad at all. both of them have minor things to fix- bisu to be more focused and stork to make some zealots in fact the bisu vs flash MU was the most epic i've ever seen and I'm sure that the tosses have more to give. Flash has his moment of glory, the time will show if it will last long or if it be 2-3 weeks moments of pure brilliance... i just wonna say that next season we will have again toss as a champ...and it wont be bisu or stork
I have the same feeling. It doesn't just apply to OSL, between that and the MSL and GSL, a protoss is very likely to triumph.
On March 20 2008 21:45 disciple wrote: the fact that the leagues were won by zerg and terran doesnt mean bisu and stork are done. in fact they are doing not bad at all. both of them have minor things to fix- bisu to be more focused and stork to make some zealots in fact the bisu vs flash MU was the most epic i've ever seen and I'm sure that the tosses have more to give. Flash has his moment of glory, the time will show if it will last long or if it be 2-3 weeks moments of pure brilliance... i just wonna say that next season we will have again toss as a champ...and it wont be bisu or stork
With Jaedong , Flash and Mind who too is a monster in TvP out there , the only chances for Protoss will be for them to fight each other , all thought the map pool will be the decideing point !
Hi, i always enjoy your analysis Plexa - they are really great. But i was kinda hoping you would also analyse the last MSL final with Jaedong vs. Kal. I think it would really deserve it.
Its funny. Toss had maps which favored them, but due to unfortunate circumstances, failed to deliver.
Hmm, is it that Terran's are too powerful after a certain threshold of skill is passed? Or is it just the remarkable coincidence that the neo Protoss have just lacked the X factor of their predecessors?
Bisu might have had a chance, however he was cheesed out by a future OSL champion who wasn't even in his prime.
Great writeup. And i agree with the maps, i think we all do. Troy is the one i think should stay too, let's hope for OGN to open their eyes and bring us some awesome maps, because the playerbase is there.
On March 21 2008 00:34 FeArTeHsCoUrGe wrote: Bisu might have had a chance, however he was cheesed out by a future OSL champion who wasn't even in his prime.
Protoss can only Dream now.
Bisu's recent play tells me he still has a pretty good shot at the next OSL. I'd consider him, Jaedong, and Flash the frontrunners at this point. His recent games have shown he can put up a very solid fight against Jaedong and Flash, so if he steps his game up just a bit, it's certainly possible.
On March 20 2008 21:45 disciple wrote: i just wonna say that next season we will have again toss as a champ...and it wont be bisu or stork
So I'm not the only one that thinks Spear and BestGod are favourites to win next OSL?
I think that bestgod has potential, but I don't favor him for next OSL. Maybe the one after this one, but Flash's play is some of the best we've seen in a very long time, and after that, Jaedong is still dominating basically everyone but Flash.
On March 21 2008 00:34 FeArTeHsCoUrGe wrote: Its funny. Toss had maps which favored them, but due to unfortunate circumstances, failed to deliver.
Hmm, is it that Terran's are too powerful after a certain threshold of skill is passed? Or is it just the remarkable coincidence that the neo Protoss have just lacked the X factor of their predecessors?
Bisu might have had a chance, however he was cheesed out by a future OSL champion who wasn't even in his prime.
Protoss can only Dream now.
i see what you might have done there. but i disagree. at anytime, a protoss can claim the throne
On March 20 2008 23:56 Hyperionnn wrote: Only 2 players has 3 consecutive OSL seeds, they are YellOw and Stork, both won NO OSL or MSL, both lose 2 OSL finals.
PS:I don't want to talk about games, they're trash and imo there's no need to talk about these jokes.
The fall of Protoss? I dunno. I like Stork, but he just never much impressed me... maybe he comes across as too one dimensional. Bisu, on the other hand, seems to handle wildly different situations very well. His flaw against July's hydras is just one of the bad guessing games we are left with in that matchup now. But if any Protoss can figure out that game, I'd bet on Bisu.
On March 20 2008 23:56 Hyperionnn wrote: Only 2 players has 3 consecutive OSL seeds, they are YellOw and Stork, both won NO OSL or MSL, both lose 2 OSL finals.
PS:I don't want to talk about games, they're trash and imo there's no need to talk about these jokes.
Zergman
Nope, I recheck again and he has a seed on Shinhan 2 and 3. And yeah, he granted a seed to Daum, but he can not have that seed, as OSL's format changed back to 16 men tournament.
Im amazed at Daezang an ACE player to get in the OSL hopefully he does his best on the way :D and Casy hmm his still seems amazing against Z too bad theres only 6 Z and 7 P & T
On March 21 2008 16:49 Darkmole wrote: Im amazed at Daezang an ACE player to get in the OSL hopefully he does his best on the way :D and Casy hmm his still seems amazing against Z too bad theres only 6 Z and 7 P & T
Ow, after the uninspired play of stork vs flash at gomtv finals I didn't want to watch the osl finals cause I just felt stork lost all of his confidence after that 3-2 loss. Damn I was right! I like stork, but his P is pretty boring to watch. Next season osl looks iffy, lots of my fav oldies are there, but I have to agree with plexa, toss domination is over. I don't see anytime getting any better, and the new toss blood does not look promising.
My secret wish is to see july wreck all the macro gamers with brutal rush play again.
y are everybody saying that bisu can beat flash? bisu stands no chance against flash, even lesser chance compared to stork. stork has the best PvT ever while flash has currently the best TvP. these games actually shows how good is flash but not how bad is stork. i actually agree that stork eventually lost his confident after his lose against flash especially is katrina. i am not bias, i dint mean to be just talking good about some players because i am not a fan of they 3 though, i am just saying what i am thinking.
The thing I keep wondering is what this "Protoss" domination was... I mean, looking at the recent great players, its basically Zerg and Terran. Bisu did not last that long, and there wasn't a slew of Protoss players right behind him in skill either. Stork was starting to get good when Bisu was on top, but thats about it. I really cant see two players being in the top tier [for a short period] anywhere resembling "protoss domination". If anything, the last couple years have been Zerg domination. Savour, and then Jaedong, with only a brief period in between.
On March 22 2008 12:14 weiliem wrote: y are everybody saying that bisu can beat flash? bisu stands no chance against flash, even lesser chance compared to stork. stork has the best PvT ever while flash has currently the best TvP. these games actually shows how good is flash but not how bad is stork. i actually agree that stork eventually lost his confident after his lose against flash especially is katrina. i am not bias, i dint mean to be just talking good about some players because i am not a fan of they 3 though, i am just saying what i am thinking.
Watch the Bisu versus Flash series.
Hint. Bisu, despite being on form that was clearly not his best, not only forced mistakes and stood up to flash in three huge macromanagement games, but also had advantages at points in them. Stork just got rolled. As Nony stated (and I'll go with his thinking over yours), better mid + lategame play that Bisu is normally capable of would have been enough to take the series.
Great write up and interesting games. Too bad for Stork. In the last game I watched when Flash won his third and for the first time I see him celebrating, funny I always thought they forbid themselves to express that much emotion. One thing that the producers overlook or maybe in the mayhem of the celebration got mixed up is to acknowledge both players, Flash and Stork. Most of the stage flood with Flash supporters and the OSL organizers totally forgot that Stork actually played the 3 games with Flash and they left him in stupor inside his boot. Then this lady (Stork's mom?) kind of like pulling him on the sleeve "cmon honey its over". Its a small but important detail, they should have like taken both players to stage and announce the winner and thank Stork for participating, maybe a handshake or a hug Flash/Stork and then follow up with the celebration. I don't know what was happening in Storks head at that time but he looked really perplexed. Myself I am 100% with Flash and terrans.
On March 22 2008 16:09 konstantin wrote: Great write up and interesting games. Too bad for Stork. In the last game I watched when Flash won his third and for the first time I see him celebrating, funny I always thought they forbid themselves to express that much emotion. One thing that the producers overlook or maybe in the mayhem of the celebration got mixed up is to acknowledge both players, Flash and Stork. Most of the stage flood with Flash supporters and the OSL organizers totally forgot that Stork actually played the 3 games with Flash and they left him in stupor inside his boot. Then this lady (Stork's mom?) kind of like pulling him on the sleeve "cmon honey its over". Its a small but important detail, they should have like taken both players to stage and announce the winner and thank Stork for participating, maybe a handshake or a hug Flash/Stork and then follow up with the celebration. I don't know what was happening in Storks head at that time but he looked really perplexed. Myself I am 100% with Flash and terrans.
yeah i felt kinda bad for stork, i mean he could still pwn most of the players out there any day of the week. but gogogogo flash. i was a fan of him before i saw him winning, this and the GSI made me really happy.
EPT
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![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/B_Final/2.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/B_Final/3.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/B_Final/5.png)
in fact the bisu vs flash MU was the most epic i've ever seen and I'm sure that the tosses have more to give. Flash has his moment of glory, the time will show if it will last long or if it be 2-3 weeks moments of pure brilliance... i just wonna say that next season we will have again toss as a champ...and it wont be bisu or stork
