Power Rank 05/03/2010 - Page 35

On May 26 2010 01:25 o[twist] wrote:
effort demonstrated good management against flash - he MANAGED to throw away a huge number of ultralisks in their PL game

On May 26 2010 01:40 tree.hugger wrote:

I think you're forgetting that while EffOrt was holding Flash's army in check at the bottom left, he was also dropping Flash's main and natural, and also taking every goddamn expansion on the map.

In fact, that game is a fantastic example of how solid EffOrt's management is; fighting two ongoing battles, expanding, and keeping his resources low on 12 base... against Flash, who had considerably less to control. When you say something like "throwing away ultralisks" you're assuming that A) Zerg has a better option against Flash's set up than ultra drops, and B) EffOrt couldn't afford to make a ton of ultras, both of which are untrue.

But JD and EffOrt are both excellent, but you can see it in their styles; Jaedong loves to finish games in the midgame with aggression and micro, whereas EffOrt's strengths lie more in his hive management. EffOrt's OSL run was actually amazing because EffOrt completely changed up his strategy in ZvT and ZvP to a more Jaedong/Kwanro style.

But watch some of EffOrt's recent games, his multi-task and game management are astounding.

On May 26 2010 02:25 n.DieJokes wrote:

Effort accumulated an enormous advantage early game in his match against FlaSh in pl; it's not that hard to play well with a crushing lead and a strong contain. And more importantly, thats the only game in recent memory I can think of that showcases good management from Effort. On the other hand, games 1 and 2 of the OSL are a great counter example to your point.

His army management in game 1 was awful, he let himself get horribly out of position and then threw the game away wavering between sacking his third and blowing his whole army eventually managing to do both. Then there was the fiasco of game two where Effort took a substantial advantage early game and then blew his lead away with poor poor management mid-game bringing the game back to equal. And then late game, Effort for a moment stabilized things when his first deflier came out and then fell apart. He didn't nydus to his third which literally has zero routes to reinforce; he couldn't handle his lings or FlaSh's drops and missed every opportunity to scourage vessels. FlaSh didn't even have to walk his army into one of Efforts bases, Effort was outplayed so hard he gg'd before FlaSh delivered the death blow.

To summarize, his late game was junk and you can say "oh but it's FlaSh and I already said his management was number one ect. ect.". You can look good against FlaSh late game and still lose, action vs FlaSh is the quintessential example. It's not astounding that Effort won by midgame aggression and micro. it's the only way he could win. I've seen all of Efforts ZvT's, not a single one (post massive streak) where I think to myself "wow his management is good, it might even be better than Jaedongs". It's not

On May 26 2010 02:36 Severedevil wrote:
A year ago I might have believed that Effort's management was better than Jaedong's, back when Jaedong's ZvT was almost exclusively 2 hatch muta openings, often as an all-in, and Effort was reviving three hatch muta which had fallen by the wayside.

This is 2010.

On May 26 2010 02:43 Mortality wrote:
Effort's management does rival Flash's and Jaedong's as well. I've never seen someone so all over the map before. That said, Flash and Jaedong have more consistent management. Effort when playing his best looks every bit as good as Jaedong. Effort at his worst is not pretty.



As for the next PR:
1-2. Flash and Jaedong
3. Effort (and a surprisingly close third)
----BIG GAP----
4-5. Kal and Baby

On May 26 2010 02:25 n.DieJokes wrote:To summarize, his late game was junk and you can say "oh but it's FlaSh and I already said his management was number one ect. ect.". You can look good against FlaSh late game and still lose, action vs FlaSh is the quintessential example. It's not astounding that Effort won by midgame aggression and micro. it's the only way he could win. I've seen all of Efforts ZvT's, not a single one (post massive streak) where I think to myself "wow his management is good, it might even be better than Jaedongs". It's not

On May 26 2010 03:18 tree.hugger wrote:

So wait, you're saying that EffOrt's management dropped a notch after his massive streak, when he went into a slump. Well yeah, when he slumped, he slumped—I'll agree with you there.

But game two of the OSL, it's easy to admit; EffOrt did get out multi-tasked badly in that game. It can happen, just as how Calm out-micro'd Jaedong in the third game of their MSL semi-finals series, even though Jaedong's micro is on the whole better than what he displayed that game.

But your analysis about game one is off the mark, EffOrt was very very behind when he tried to break Flash's metal ball at 12. Not to mention, EffOrt was absolutely killed by Flash's upgrade timing, which was just brilliant. He really had little choice, he had to break Flash's push, and he had no time in which to do it. That doesn't have a lot to do with management.

Take a look at his games from last summer, and take a look at his recent games against fantasy, Kal, and even Action.


The year in which EffOrt has described himself as better, and won the OSL.

On May 26 2010 04:18 jalstar wrote:


+ Show Spoiler +
Not better than Jaedong but not as terrible as you say it is.

On May 26 2010 03:18 tree.hugger wrote:

But game two of the OSL, it's easy to admit; EffOrt did get out multi-tasked badly in that game. It can happen, just as how Calm out-micro'd Jaedong in the third game of their MSL semi-finals series, even though Jaedong's micro is on the whole better than what he displayed that game.

On May 26 2010 02:25 n.DieJokes wrote:

Effort accumulated an enormous advantage early game in his match against FlaSh in pl; it's not that hard to play well with a crushing lead and a strong contain. And more importantly, thats the only game in recent memory I can think of that showcases good management from Effort. On the other hand, games 1 and 2 of the OSL are a great counter example to your point.

His army management in game 1 was awful, he let himself get horribly out of position and then threw the game away wavering between sacking his third and blowing his whole army eventually managing to do both. Then there was the fiasco of game two where Effort took a substantial advantage early game and then blew his lead away with poor poor management mid-game bringing the game back to equal. And then late game, Effort for a moment stabilized things when his first deflier came out and then fell apart. He didn't nydus to his third which literally has zero routes to reinforce; he couldn't handle his lings or FlaSh's drops and missed every opportunity to scourage vessels. FlaSh didn't even have to walk his army into one of Efforts bases, Effort was outplayed so hard he gg'd before FlaSh delivered the death blow.

To summarize, his late game was junk and you can say "oh but it's FlaSh and I already said his management was number one ect. ect.". You can look good against FlaSh late game and still lose, action vs FlaSh is the quintessential example. It's not astounding that Effort won by midgame aggression and micro. it's the only way he could win. I've seen all of Efforts ZvT's, not a single one (post massive streak) where I think to myself "wow his management is good, it might even be better than Jaedongs". It's not

On May 26 2010 04:56 TwoToneTerran wrote:


I like how Effort is Jaedong while Flash is Calm in this analogy. It's so utterly wrong that I actually giggled.

On May 26 2010 06:07 TwoToneTerran wrote:
I'm not skeptical of Effort, I'm skeptical of your analogy of game management where Effort is > Flash.

I know I'm a raging Flash fanboy, but that's just wrooooonnnnnnggg.

On May 26 2010 05:12 tedster wrote:


Saying "his lategame was junk because he threw away ultras" is absolutely ridiculous. Effort had near-infinite resources and total map control - he simply needed to starve flash out and keep him from pushing out. Streaming and dropping ultras nonstop did that in a way that was virtually impossible to push back against and since Effort was guaranteed to win the game if the state didn't change dramatically it was the correct and safe play.

Yes, he could have probably busted in with Defilers/Plague/Mutas/drops combod and such, but the point is there was no need to and nothing was going to go wrong if he just kept making and attacking with ultra/ling drops. It was the boring and inevitable play, and while he certainly lost a million ultras he prevented flash from doing ANYTHING other than defend against ultras.

Effort's management is inconsistently brilliant, as is his general multitask. If Effort constantly played up to his potential he is a repeat threat for sure, but for now he still has lots of bad games in addition to his exceptional games.


And just to throw this in there, making 2 simultaneous finals is more impressive than winning 1. Flash should be consensus #1 regardless of who wins MSL unless he literally loses a hand or something.

On May 26 2010 06:12 darktreb wrote:
I'm actually really sad that Effort's late game management hasn't fully revived. Hopefully his win over Flash will give him even more confidence and propel him back to that level.

Back in 2009 Effort's late game ZvT was simply fantastic, and a total treat to watch. Perhaps it's Flash's late game skills that prevented Effort from trying to do that in the OSL (doesn't matter what you do when you win) but either way I'd like to see a return.

I remember one game, can't remember if it was at the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010 when Effort just WORKED Hiya on Tornado, in spite of it being closest possible positions Hiya didn't even come close to pushing out until far too late because Effort just controlled that game stalling perfectly until Hive. That's the player I'd like to see again!