You shouldn't use the word 'bonjwa'; people don't like it unless you're being facetious.
Comparing Symbol and Life is interesting. I consider Symbol more strategically astute with weaker micro and army control. But his ability to adjust to the metagame and come up with new ways to win is the reason why he is so consistent. Not having that world beating control and micro means he probably won't ever be a champion, but he's not in Ro8 every season just because of luck. Life on the other hand has that micro and battle command that can separate him, and it did separate him from the pack during his period of dominance, but as I mentioned earlier he is strategically naive. He hasn't adjusted his play along with the metagame and that is why he hasn't succeeded as much as his fans would like.
Anyway that's all I have to say about Life, don't really care to say more
On August 08 2013 12:13 lichter wrote: You shouldn't use the word 'bonjwa'; people don't like it unless you're being facetious.
Comparing Symbol and Life is interesting. I consider Symbol more strategically astute with weaker micro and army control. But his ability to adjust to the metagame and come up with new ways to win is the reason why he is so consistent. Not having that world beating control and micro means he probably won't ever be a champion, but he's not in Ro8 every season just because of luck. Life on the other hand has that micro and battle command that can separate him, and it did separate him from the pack during his period of dominance, but as I mentioned earlier he is strategically naive. He hasn't adjusted his play along with the metagame and that is why he hasn't succeeded as much as his fans would like.
Anyway that's all I have to say about Life, don't really care to say more
Agreed. Anyway, I meant "Zerg bonjwa" as a running joke. And I actually like all your previous analysis, because you didn't really start off with the premise of "OMG, Life has fallen! What has the world come to?", unlike some of the others.
On August 08 2013 12:06 RKC wrote: Seriously, what's there to analyse and speculate? Life simply isn't as great as many think. He had a brief spell of dominance (3 months?) after he won the GSL, but has showcased Code S RO16 results ever since, towards the end of WoL, losing to the superior likes of roro and Soulkey (nothing to do with HoTS).
Also consider this: - Laugh at Innovation and Soulkey all you want, but making to RO8 and RO4 in the second WCS Korea tourney after their epic finals is a mean feat. How many champions have fallen at the group stages after a strong performance? Nearly all. Also, Innovation and Soulkey have been producing consistent results even before 2013, during the end of WoL. And their play was just as impressive as, if not more than, Life's. - Much as I dislike him (for his all-ins and his apparent stroke of luck), Symbol is arguably a stronger player than Life in terms of fundamentals. Again, I don't want to be psycho-analytic, but fundamentals for me means all-round abilities (mechanics, tactics, strategy, etc.) Suffice to say if you are strong fundamentally, you will never falter to far off the perch. Symbol hasn't, but Life has.
Sure, Life may be the top Zerg bonjwa for about 3 months during WoL. But more than half a year has passed since then. It hurts to be his fanboy, just as it hurts for me to be MC's fanboy (once), but we just gotta move on and accept that there are simply other players better than Life and MC.
I'm not saying analysing about Life's decline is necessarily a bad thing. But I just think the time has long passed in analysing why a "top zerg bonjwa has fallen". He's fallen some time ago (and I daresay he never even climbed to the top spot like Innovation and Soulkey have), and people should acting surprised of his poor performances and results.
Sorry if I offended anyone, but that's how I feel.
Life always got the benefit of the doubt for falling out of the ro16 because he usually got the group of death. In addition, while he would fall out of the gsl earlier than expected, he'd make waves elsewhere in dominating fashion, like MLG.
Fell out of 2012 season 5 in ZvZ -> stomped a zerg infested Blizzard Cup -> Won Iron Squid II (coming back from a 0-3 deficit against DRG)
Fell out of the final WoL season -> Crushed MLG in HotS while other Zergs faltered -> Qualify for a stacked Asian Indoor Tournament
Soulkey and RorO took him out in WoL, but overall I found Life's play outside of ZvZ to be far more impressive. Not only that, but I'd credit Life for also spearheading the more offensive Zerg we've come to know. I had never seen a Zerg expertly distract so well while macroing and comfortably transition out of so many early pools up until Life's gsl run (which was also one of the most dominant ever). I mean initially, nearly every top zerg at the time admitted they had trouble replicating his play. Even DRG who's comparable mechanically.
So even in retrospect, I think Life deserved his position at the top of the totem pole. For longer than 3 months too. He lost his crown in my eyes, when Bogus and PartinG took him out in the group of death (Bogus pulled ahead at that point).
Oh and I still think Life is at least better than RorO (bet he won't make it out of his up/down group either).
I feel for Zerg now. Besides SK (who is the undisputed No. 1 Zerg imho), there is no other that comes close to the throne. Symbol? Certainly not Life or RorO, judging by recent performance and form.
Contrast this to the dominance of Terran and resurgence of Toss.
On August 08 2013 15:17 Severian wrote: Just finished reading it, doesn't look too complicated. I'm happy to do it if NovemberstOrm isn't able to.
It's fairly easy once you get the hang of it. It's just really time consuming unless you already plan to watch all the games.
The Up and Downs are the easiest type of LR to do since everything is set and all you need to do is bold names, write down scores and put up polls. If you are interested in trying, I suggest taking this opportunity. NovstOrm won't mind. :p
EPT
