EPTOn May 08 2009 14:45 Plexa wrote:
Who originally made PvZ winnable? Nal_ra
Nal_ra's CV trumps all of these players imo. He is the Protoss parallel of Boxer, doing such crazy moves as the Recall rush vs Goodfriend on Parallel lines, 4 probe rushing some poor zerg on LT, and cannon rushing vs terran. He also dominated the shit out of Neo Guillotine, arguably creating the first highly successful FE PvZ build. As time went on, though, he moved onto developing "Splash Protoss" i.e. Sair/Reaver from island only play to standard maps. It became considered the perfect PvZ strategy, and usually opened with a fast expand. Sair/Reaver became a difficult weapon to stop (see Ra vs July on Raid Assault) and it was probably the first big macro revolution in PvZ as well (considering the success of the is semi-dependent on a fast 3rd). But Nal_ra's contribution to PvZ dont end there, Nal_ra also pioneered the use of Reavers in the lategame in PvZ (see the holywars between Nal_ra and savior, check my blog for more details).
His work in PvT is lesser than his PvZ contribution, but nevertheless it is evident. He was one of the first protoss to explore the use of arbiters in PvT (basically unheard of before 2005) which was later developed by Pusan/Anytime/Stork. And then in 2005 he became the first Protoss to successfully execute the 12Nexus on a land map (R-Point) and win. 12Nex quickly became a part of the standard PvT arsenal on big maps (still regularly used today, thx ra!). He is an icon for the Protoss race and is the epitome of everything great about Protoss.
Stork's contributions are quite subtle, and indeed is probably the least influential. In his 2005 days he was one of the best users of Sair/Reaver (see Stork vs Gorush, Stork vs Savior) and assisted in developing the Arbiter (see Nada's tour of Aiur courtesy of Stork) but it wasn't until 2007 when he made significant contributions. His only contribution, really, is the standardization of Modern PvT (ie use of Reavers religiously as an opening after a fast expo). Which isn't quite that impressive.
Bisu's contributions lie in his PvZ ability which lead Protoss onto a great era. His PvT contributions are near zero, although he did assist in developing modern PvT. His use of Corsairs and DT in PvZ is his contribution really.
Reach has done a lot for Protoss over the years. He is the father of Modern Macro Protoss and was the only protoss who could push oov to his limit. In PvZ i'm not quite sure what he did.. My memory gets a little fuzzy before 2005 xD
Who originally made PvZ winnable? Nal_ra
Nal_ra's CV trumps all of these players imo. He is the Protoss parallel of Boxer, doing such crazy moves as the Recall rush vs Goodfriend on Parallel lines, 4 probe rushing some poor zerg on LT, and cannon rushing vs terran. He also dominated the shit out of Neo Guillotine, arguably creating the first highly successful FE PvZ build. As time went on, though, he moved onto developing "Splash Protoss" i.e. Sair/Reaver from island only play to standard maps. It became considered the perfect PvZ strategy, and usually opened with a fast expand. Sair/Reaver became a difficult weapon to stop (see Ra vs July on Raid Assault) and it was probably the first big macro revolution in PvZ as well (considering the success of the is semi-dependent on a fast 3rd). But Nal_ra's contribution to PvZ dont end there, Nal_ra also pioneered the use of Reavers in the lategame in PvZ (see the holywars between Nal_ra and savior, check my blog for more details).
His work in PvT is lesser than his PvZ contribution, but nevertheless it is evident. He was one of the first protoss to explore the use of arbiters in PvT (basically unheard of before 2005) which was later developed by Pusan/Anytime/Stork. And then in 2005 he became the first Protoss to successfully execute the 12Nexus on a land map (R-Point) and win. 12Nex quickly became a part of the standard PvT arsenal on big maps (still regularly used today, thx ra!). He is an icon for the Protoss race and is the epitome of everything great about Protoss.
Stork's contributions are quite subtle, and indeed is probably the least influential. In his 2005 days he was one of the best users of Sair/Reaver (see Stork vs Gorush, Stork vs Savior) and assisted in developing the Arbiter (see Nada's tour of Aiur courtesy of Stork) but it wasn't until 2007 when he made significant contributions. His only contribution, really, is the standardization of Modern PvT (ie use of Reavers religiously as an opening after a fast expo). Which isn't quite that impressive.
Bisu's contributions lie in his PvZ ability which lead Protoss onto a great era. His PvT contributions are near zero, although he did assist in developing modern PvT. His use of Corsairs and DT in PvZ is his contribution really.
Reach has done a lot for Protoss over the years. He is the father of Modern Macro Protoss and was the only protoss who could push oov to his limit. In PvZ i'm not quite sure what he did.. My memory gets a little fuzzy before 2005 xD
Plexa, you are my new favourite person. Great brief history of my favourite pro gamer of all time. I would say something about how I can't believe rA isn't rightfully winning this poll, but that'd be a lie; I know why he's not: People are ignorant, but vote anyway. Oh well.
Meanwhile, Garimto being on this poll is understandable, I suppose. He's OLD school. But, although I've been following SC/BW pro-gaming since before Grrrr... defeated H.O.T.-Forever, I don't really remember Garimto for anything except his exceptional Zealot micro. And I have more than 200 replays of the guy. If anyone with a better memory than me could do a brief write-up of Garimto, I'd highly appreciate it.
Here's Garimto's achievements:
- Winner of 6th Sky OnGameNet StarLeague, beating Boxer 3-2 in the Final (http://www.progamer.ru/champs/ongamenet.html) 2001 - 2002
- 5th Place at 2001 OnGameNet King of King, finished the season with the best win ratio (72,22%) followed by Grrrr... who wins
- 3rd Place at 1st OnGameNet Habisoft Sky League (http://news.ega.com.cn/html/wz_24/zh_30/2004-05/1083940727.html)
- Winner of 2000 Freechal OnGameNet StarLeague wining 3-0 over Skelton
- 2nd Place at 1st Hansolm.com Kingdom Under Fire Tournament
- Winner of 1st Miracle StarCraft Tournament
- 2nd Place at Gamei
- 2nd Place at 2000 SBS PKO Kingdom Under Fire Tournament
- Winner of JunJoo Game Festival StarCraft Tournament
Speaking of which, wow, I haven't seen the word "Gamei" in a while. I remember when all my maps had that in the name.
Welp, I'm off to watch old Garimto replays.
