With IEM Season 9 beginning in Shenzhen in July, it is time to decide who will represent Europe. This qualifier will send two from the European regional server to the event.
Qualifier Cup Details
You must have an active ESL Premium membership. More information here
All games are played on Europe Stacraft 2 server regardless of location!
Top 2 receive a spot in IEM Shenzhen
You must be at least 16 years of age by July 16th 2014 ( the date of the LAN event)
Hotel and flight cost are paid for in full by ESL.
SCHEDULE
Stage 1: Friday, May 30 4:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00) Stage 2: Sunday, Jun 01 12:00pm GMT (GMT+00:00)
The map pool for the qualifiers will be the new WCS/ladder map pool released soon and will include the following maps: Alterzim Stronghold TE Frost LE Habitation Station LE King Sejong Station LE Overgrowth LE Merry Go Round LE Waystation
Best of 3 in all rounds. Once the semi-finals round is reached the matches end, and the 4 players then move to stage #2.
A map veto (removal and pick) system is used. The high seeded player on the grid starts. Players take it in removing maps until only one remains in a best of 1 or until only 3 maps remain in a best of 3. Then each player picks a map. Maps are played in order they are picked. The remaining map is played last.
On May 31 2014 01:55 Niko_Thien wrote: So few players? :/
Yeah that is sad. Then again, I didn't know about this until I came home from work myself...
Yeah but I guess they notified teams/ players before?
You would hope so. The turn-up is in any case rather minimal, and no offense to the Polish caster, but a cast in English would help to make this interesting for us that don't play.
On May 31 2014 01:55 Niko_Thien wrote: So few players? :/
Yeah that is sad. Then again, I didn't know about this until I came home from work myself...
Yeah but I guess they notified teams/ players before?
You would hope so. The turn-up is in any case rather minimal, and no offense to the Polish caster, but a cast in English would help to make this interesting for us that don't play.
It will be a tournament with 1 Chinese and 15 Korean since qualifiers for different regions are all filled with Korean. Chinese qualifier would be safe as they use completely different battlenet account system.
Welmu totally deserved to lose that by leaving the Colossus there buuuuuuut it is kind of sad seeing a huge number of Stalkers getting crushed by a much smaller amount of Marauders.
On June 01 2014 22:35 WTCO wrote: Welmu totally deserved to lose that by leaving the Colossus there buuuuuuut it is kind of sad seeing a huge number of Stalkers getting crushed by a much smaller amount of Marauders.
they wouldnt crush the stalkers if there were no medivacs + the blink cool down on most of these stalkers
On June 01 2014 22:45 messioso wrote: Apologies about all the MMA games, it's just what's lining up! We'll have some different people after this for a few games!
On June 02 2014 01:28 Varroth wrote: People on twitch are saying the last game between Bunny and MC is somehow showing that protoss is ''OP as fuk sc2 dead imbalnced game''
On June 02 2014 01:28 Varroth wrote: People on twitch are saying the last game between Bunny and MC is somehow showing that protoss is ''OP as fuk sc2 dead imbalnced game''
we don't need reports from twitch chat here no offense though
On June 02 2014 01:28 Varroth wrote: People on twitch are saying the last game between Bunny and MC is somehow showing that protoss is ''OP as fuk sc2 dead imbalnced game''
People on twitch also tell me Day9 dies every other second.
On June 02 2014 01:42 coloursheep wrote: Can someone please give me a recap of MC Bunny game 3
Bunny tried to build a single in-base rax in MC's base. MC scouted it and killed the SCV. Bunny sent two new SCV:s. They both died, the last one managed to finish the rax. Then a zealot popped out and it was gg.
On June 02 2014 01:42 coloursheep wrote: Can someone please give me a recap of MC Bunny game 3
Bunny tried to build a single in-base rax in MC's base. MC scouted it and killed the SCV. Bunny sent two new SCV:s. They both died, the last one managed to finish the rax. Then a zealot popped out and it was gg.
Yikes, did Apollo and Kaelaris completely switch up their casting style or something? It feels like so much of it is just silly voices. D:
Edit: Okay, interspersed is information about the game. But geez, for a while there it just sounded like random shouts and voices were all they were doing.
On June 02 2014 02:54 Rehio wrote: Yikes, did Apollo and Kaelaris completely switch up their casting style or something? It feels like so much of it is just silly voices. D:
Edit: Okay, interspersed is information about the game. But geez, for a while there it just sounded like random shouts and voices were all they were doing.
On June 02 2014 02:54 Rehio wrote: Yikes, did Apollo and Kaelaris completely switch up their casting style or something? It feels like so much of it is just silly voices. D:
Edit: Okay, interspersed is information about the game. But geez, for a while there it just sounded like random shouts and voices were all they were doing.
Well they've been going for like 6 hours already, might not help. =p
Really enjoying the banter anyhow, aswell as the great games ofcourse!
So after losing to First, Snute has now gone on to beat Sweden in Nation Wars, then come back and run through Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji and must now is 1 up on MC. This sound like one of those old MLG days.
On June 02 2014 05:41 stuchiu wrote: So after losing to First, Snute has now gone on to beat Sweden in Nation Wars, then come back and run through Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji and must now is 1 up on MC. This sound like one of those old MLG days.
That's prob his best day this month...so crazy, totally GOD mode
First playing a fantastic game, but Snute holding strong, considering... Edit : the time it took to write this messahe was enough for first to kill 2 bases and kill Snute... GG
On June 02 2014 05:52 lolmlg wrote: So according to LiveBotDetector, 98.8% of the viewers watching the stream are fake.
Sounds like that that thing isnt working properly
When TheOddOne hit 100 000 viewers, it claimed that roughly all but 25 000 were fake, which is reasonable considering what his usual numbers are.
Yes but 10k viewers is line of what you'd expect for a qualifier like this.
I don't know for sure what metric it uses so I can't really speak about it in depth or with any authority. However, viewbots aren't a new phenomenon. I'll try to keep an eye on the situation when the next major stream occurs.
Snute actually bringing this back, fighting against the deathball, while First skillfully dodges Snute's trenches. Good game, this. Not all Swarm Host games are bad.
On June 02 2014 07:02 Ace Frehley wrote: This reminds me of the glorious times of Wol with BL/infestors/spines turtle Urgh
I feel like there's a vast difference in multitasking in these two comps though. I mean BL/Infestor is just fungal spamming and then spreading out from vortex.
On June 02 2014 07:02 Ace Frehley wrote: This reminds me of the glorious times of Wol with BL/infestors/spines turtle Urgh
I feel like there's a vast difference in multitasking in these two comps though. I mean BL/Infestor is just fungal spamming and then spreading out from vortex.
Replace fungal with yank units into static defense?
If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
I hope Snute keeps some money to manner hatch. Get out, First !
If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
On June 02 2014 07:08 Ufnal wrote: If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
I also find this game fun to watch, I s not like First played perfectly, Snute played better and deserve the win
On June 02 2014 07:08 Ufnal wrote: If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
I also find this game fun to watch, I s not like First played perfectly, Snute played better and deserve the win
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
Snute had 0 resources because he spent it all on army. Before he had lost everything he was the one up 5k/4k to First's 1k/1k or thereabout.
Well Snute did what he had to. I guess you can't blame him for playing the way he did.
On June 02 2014 07:08 Ufnal wrote: If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
I liked this game. I know people will complain about swarm hosts, but honestly, my understanding is First defeated himself by stopping the harass. He was tearing Snute apart, and decided to put all his eggs in the Air basket.
Snute played a good "mech" game. He didn't just turtle.
That said: Snute beats Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji, MC, First. HO-LEE SHEET. Insane!
On June 02 2014 07:08 Ufnal wrote: If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
The problem isn't even about the balance of it; it's about the fact that if First had chosen to, he could have just turtled at the top of a ramp and done nothing and the game would have gone on for hours of the players doing nothing. And the player that chooses to make the game more interesting for viewers by participating is punished. It's the disproportionate favouring of defender's advantage that made ZvZ very uninteresting to watch. It's particularly disappointing from Snute who usually plays such exciting games.
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
You are wrong thinking Snute "waited". Of course he defended his only base, he had no alternative. But still, it takes some skills to do that againt such a killer composition from First. Transfusing, getting the yank timings right not to waste them, also has to match the locust waves. Sure, from your POV, maybe it's just "waiting", but not every zerg can "wait" that well.
Snute really played well to win this but i really dislike the SH style. Snute hasn't even thought about attacking this whole game. Snute just defended until the other player mined out. This isn't really what I enjoy in watching SC.I would have hoped he would have used his early game advantage to over run first with roach/hydra or something,
Overall I dislike the mentality of a player just defending with free units untill the other player gets frustarated and makes a mistake becouse of it. I would hope players would try to outplay the other with a more aggresive style.
On June 02 2014 07:13 Yonnua wrote: The problem isn't even about the balance of it; it's about the fact that if First had chosen to, he could have just turtled at the top of a ramp and done nothing and the game would have gone on for hours of the players doing nothing. And the player that chooses to make the game more interesting for viewers by participating is punished. It's the disproportionate favouring of defender's advantage that made ZvZ very uninteresting to watch. It's particularly disappointing from Snute who usually plays such exciting games.
Yes. First lost this game because he only cared about making this game interesting for viewers!!!
On June 02 2014 07:02 Ace Frehley wrote: This reminds me of the glorious times of Wol with BL/infestors/spines turtle Urgh
I feel like there's a vast difference in multitasking in these two comps though. I mean BL/Infestor is just fungal spamming and then spreading out from vortex.
Replace fungal with yank units into static defense?
There's a lot of Viper babysitting going on. You can't just run Vipers in b/c Feedback has the same range as Abduct. Elsewhere repositioning SHs to defend is much harder than the WOL fungal defense. Don't get me wrong I still dislike the unit, but I don't think this comeback was as easy as some people are making it out to be.
Anyone who thinks that this game was "passive" and that both players didn't play their asses off doesn't have a clue about Starcraft or is biased and delusional. Both played great, except that First lost a ton of important units in the end when it mattered while Snute didn't.
It was a great game, the player that played better in this game won, you can balance whine all you want.
On June 02 2014 07:02 Ace Frehley wrote: This reminds me of the glorious times of Wol with BL/infestors/spines turtle Urgh
I feel like there's a vast difference in multitasking in these two comps though. I mean BL/Infestor is just fungal spamming and then spreading out from vortex.
Replace fungal with yank units into static defense?
There's a lot of Viper babysitting going on. You can't just run Vipers in b/c Feedback has the same range as Abduct. Elsewhere repositioning SHs to defend is much harder than the WOL fungal defense. Don't get me wrong I still dislike the unit, but I don't think this comeback was as easy as some people are making it out to be.
On June 02 2014 07:12 vjcamarena wrote: I liked this game. I know people will complain about swarm hosts, but honestly, my understanding is First defeated himself by stopping the harass. He was tearing Snute apart, and decided to put all his eggs in the Air basket.
Snute played a good "mech" game. He didn't just turtle.
That said: Snute beats Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji, MC, First. HO-LEE SHEET. Insane!
Not trying to pick a fight but how would he harass anymore? Snute had no bases left to harass and every time first tried to attack into the turtle base he lost units for free.
On June 02 2014 07:12 vjcamarena wrote: I liked this game. I know people will complain about swarm hosts, but honestly, my understanding is First defeated himself by stopping the harass. He was tearing Snute apart, and decided to put all his eggs in the Air basket.
Snute played a good "mech" game. He didn't just turtle.
That said: Snute beats Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji, MC, First. HO-LEE SHEET. Insane!
Not trying to pick a fight but how would he harass anymore? Snute had no bases left to harass and every time first tried to attack into the turtle base he lost units for free.
On May 29 2014 22:12 Liquid`Snute wrote: Stage 2 scheduled right on top of NationWars quarterfinals day, and doing so 3-4 days before the match-date ... I know it's not easy, but ... :'(
So, you just decided to boss-mode it twice in one day? Gratz! :D
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
You are wrong thinking Snute "waited". Of course he defended his only base, he had no alternative. But still, it takes some skills to do that againt such a killer composition from First. Transfusing, getting the yank timings right not to waste them, also has to match the locust waves. Sure, from your POV, maybe it's just "waiting", but not every zerg can "wait" that well.
I guess I can see that, and obviously snute did the "right" thing. What Im wondering is what First can do to break that, unless snute messes up.
On a more positive note, I havent been this emotioanlly invested in a game of sc2 in a long time :D
On June 02 2014 07:12 vjcamarena wrote: I liked this game. I know people will complain about swarm hosts, but honestly, my understanding is First defeated himself by stopping the harass. He was tearing Snute apart, and decided to put all his eggs in the Air basket.
Snute played a good "mech" game. He didn't just turtle.
That said: Snute beats Kas, Welmu, Yoda, Jjakji, MC, First. HO-LEE SHEET. Insane!
Not trying to pick a fight but how would he harass anymore? Snute had no bases left to harass and every time first tried to attack into the turtle base he lost units for free.
The one base that kept Snute in this game, when First was harassing and had several collosus, wasn't the turtel Golg base, but the top right. The gold was being battered by collosus from the lowground and didn't actually mine for a very long time, plus he lost the mid-right base several times.
If First was able to kill top left, he wins, as easy as that.
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
You are wrong thinking Snute "waited". Of course he defended his only base, he had no alternative. But still, it takes some skills to do that againt such a killer composition from First. Transfusing, getting the yank timings right not to waste them, also has to match the locust waves. Sure, from your POV, maybe it's just "waiting", but not every zerg can "wait" that well.
I guess I can see that, and obviously snute did the "right" thing. What Im wondering is what First can do to break that, unless snute messes up.
On a more positive note, I havent been this emotioanlly invested in a game of sc2 in a long time :D
Oracle: revelation and snipe everything to death with tempests
That's how most of these games go. First had abysmal oracle control
On June 02 2014 07:14 Tontsa wrote: Snute really played well to win this but i really dislike the SH style. Snute hasn't even thought about attacking this whole game. Snute just defended until the other player mined out. This isn't really what I enjoy in watching SC.I would have hoped he would have used his early game advantage to over run first with roach/hydra or something,
Overall I dislike the mentality of a player just defending with free units untill the other player gets frustarated and makes a mistake becouse of it. I would hope players would try to outplay the other with a more aggresive style.
Watch MC vs. Snute on Frost. Snute really can be aggressive, he usually plays really good aggressive Swarm Host pushes, but he played against First 6 games today, and he noticed that he is very harass-oriented player with ton of Zealot drops and you can't be aggressive with Swarm Hosts against that. He had problems dealing with that even when he played as defensively as possible, I think that Snute really played the best he could and I am pretty sure that he would've lost the game if he tried to be aggressive.
On June 02 2014 07:08 Ufnal wrote: If I read one more SH-whine post... Seriously, this is a good, exciting game, maybe long but full of emotions and back-and-forth. But you people just keep whining and whining and it makes me so angry that I think I'll have to stop reading TL every time a SH pops out, because it made me so angry that my enjoyment went out the window. Thanks a lot, folks. Have a nice whining.
I would say it could’ve been exciting and absolutely epic game because Snute and First are both awesome players. Instead we saw a mediocre game. I think that SH just takes a lot of skill out of the game. When one player can trade for free something is not right. I’m not saying that it’s OP because I don’t know that, but as a spectator I’m just disappointed. Anyway, gratz to Snute because he played like a beast today!
On June 02 2014 07:03 -y0shi- wrote: This makes me so angry First is up bases, bank, army, everything but he cant do shit do do damage :/
rofl, protoss whining Snute was ahead much of the game then First came with super lasers and gained a lead and now Snute got the lead back
Snute was miles ahead, then couldnt keep up with the constant attacks til the game was basically over, first was up like 3 bases and 5000/2500 vs no resources/no mining. Then snute sat on his one base and waited.
Maybe its a protoss perspective thing, idk, but this game pissed me off like nothing since hero vs leenock on antiga. Wouldnt mind someone explaining why im wrong though..
You are wrong thinking Snute "waited". Of course he defended his only base, he had no alternative. But still, it takes some skills to do that againt such a killer composition from First. Transfusing, getting the yank timings right not to waste them, also has to match the locust waves. Sure, from your POV, maybe it's just "waiting", but not every zerg can "wait" that well.
I guess I can see that, and obviously snute did the "right" thing. What Im wondering is what First can do to break that, unless snute messes up.
On a more positive note, I havent been this emotioanlly invested in a game of sc2 in a long time :D
Hard to tell. First got ahead with great harass/army control, he had a great eco, he switched to voids and it went downhill from here. Lots of wasteful attacks, some drops that did nothing but cost him a lot of minerals. Maybe he got a bit cocky. His voids didn't do much in the end, he couldn't engage with them. Maybe going straight for tempests to pick stuff off before Snute could get back on his feet would have won. Maybe keeping the same comp as he had when ahead would have worked too. I really feel the voids actually killed him, but it's hard to remember a 1h game in details...
The one thing that really confused me in this game was the period where Snute had a bank of about 5k/5k and had room to make a lot of units, all while First's zealot and stalker harassment was doing a lot of damage (taking down hive and at least one other base if I recall). This was right before he got both his spires destroyed which were, according to the casters, researching 3/3.
It seemed like this was the time to go for the big muta switch and I thought that's what he'd been preparing for with the twin upgrades. Ideally he'd want the 3/3 upgrades but 2/2 isn't bad. I wasn't sure why he hesitated to make this switch since his swarmhosts were not defending the harassment well. One consideration was that First was on a lot of bases and his Protoss Doom Army might mow down Snute's bases quicker than a muta pack could take down First's, and the base trade might favor First. Then First had a lot of stargates up and it was a moot issue.
So maybe Snute never planned to muta switch and the twin upgrades were just to make his corruptors more sturdy in the SH/Viper/Corruptor composition, but it looked like he was preparing for a muta switch that he never made.
On June 02 2014 23:21 LordYama wrote: The one thing that really confused me in this game was the period where Snute had a bank of about 5k/5k and had room to make a lot of units, all while First's zealot and stalker harassment was doing a lot of damage (taking down hive and at least one other base if I recall). This was right before he got both his spires destroyed which were, according to the casters, researching 3/3.
It seemed like this was the time to go for the big muta switch and I thought that's what he'd been preparing for with the twin upgrades. Ideally he'd want the 3/3 upgrades but 2/2 isn't bad. I wasn't sure why he hesitated to make this switch since his swarmhosts were not defending the harassment well. One consideration was that First was on a lot of bases and his Protoss Doom Army might mow down Snute's bases quicker than a muta pack could take down First's, and the base trade might favor First. Then First had a lot of stargates up and it was a moot issue.
So maybe Snute never planned to muta switch and the twin upgrades were just to make his corruptors more sturdy in the SH/Viper/Corruptor composition, but it looked like he was preparing for a muta switch that he never made.
i thought of that too, and i figured it was possible that he didn't realize the double spire was dead, or maybe forgot to remake it? lots of pressure. it sure didn't seem to make much sense to go down to 130 supply with 5k/5k and then make swarm hosts... or maybe he was afraid first would have enough time and money to hide a bunch of stargates and make phoenix while base trading?
anyway, i LOVE kaelaris and apollo, but they called this series abysmally, terrible gamecalling from start to finish. i'm sure they were tired, but in games 1 and 3 particularly they were clueless and lost. g1 first had a killing position up 4 bases to 3 with a better army but waffled around, let snute build an army and almost went full tod by being too passive, meanwhile apollo was creaming himself over how insanely well first was playing? he had bad army control and unnecessarily lost quite a few units while he had a significantly better standing force. it was a solid meta build, but if snute clues in on the hidden base faster it's a pretty different game IMO. not saying snute deserved to win, but first almost threw.
in the infamous game 3, snute was never even close to dead. a zerg with 5k/5k and swarm/static is not dead. they made first's air switch seem unstoppable and game-ending and talked like his army was infinitely better - it wasn't. snute countered voids properly with a few fungals and abducts and then the game moved into endgame, where each player had pretty much their ideal army maxed out. SH/corruptor/viper/queen/static D vs colossus/airtoss/templar is an equal scenario, and first didn't keep up economically. by the time he started banking gas snute was already almost maxed and back to a good defensive position. sure, overgrowth is GREAT for the style snute used. sure, the style is strong in the metagame. but so is mass tempest. he overbuilt void rays, engaged too poorly and too often, and didn't have enough money to pump up to the nearly untouchable number of tempests he wanted. snute also had great transfuse control onto his corruptors to get the most out of them, which is actually VERY hard especially with air clumping. the way they called the game reinforced the common idea that SH/static D is overpowered. it's not, it's just a stage of the game that's horribly designed for both races.
snute showed that he has an unbelievable level of knowledge of how to play swarm host style in the lategame. sure it's strong on its own, but you have to take it to the level snute did with transfuses, defensive swarm host placements, sick viper control, etc. if you want to beat a korean with airtoss and tempest coming out.
talking about the "defensive mentality" of snute or that he's "abusing" SH is absurd. it's like saying a protoss who turtles to void ray/colossus instead of doing an immortal sentry all in is abusive and afraid to attack. lair attacks have to do a minimum amount of damage, and if protoss defends perfectly you are incredibly fucked for tech, you usually lose your whole army and then have to rebuild army to defend WHILE teching, wait for the tech you need to defend the counter push... it's nearly impossible, and korean protoss know how to turtle against lair just like snute knows how to turtle against deathballs. lair aggression is very very close to all-in other than very tight ling/hydra timings. essentially this argument is "i don't like swarm hosts and i don't like zerg, so i want snute to walk out into the middle of the map with weak units and die for my entertainment." are swarm hosts the most exciting style? no. do we have other options in the lategame? no.
if you don't like zerg having "free" units and abilities then you jsut don't like zerg. zerg units aren't strong enough to fight protoss units or terran mech units without adding static D and casting spells. or using timed units (not "free" units) like locusts and broodlings to tank so the zerg army doesn't just evaporate instantly. our units are cheaper, faster, less efficient and get hardcountered MUCH more easily. there is NO single zerg unit that can be massed against a well-teched deathball, certainly not swarm hosts. you need swarm hosts, vipers, corruptors, often infestors or queens, and often static defense, AND good control on top of it to win against an equally skilled toss in the lategame. snute played better. he had a small map advantage, that's it.
EPT
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