Day[9].tv Daily - Page 48

Well I never said that flash was in a position to win. I said constantly that it was a tense situation for zerg and I was blown away at how well of a position flash could force himself into despite being so far behind. Moreover, Hyun didn't really make many blunders. He played damn well start to finish.

Hyun's micro and macro were spot on, but his positioning was mediocre, hence the efficiency of Flash's guerrilla tactics at the staging areas, and unit movement towards combat was also plain wrong at times (the massive failed lurker attack at the start being the best example). His lack of a clear strategy nearly allowed Flash back in. It was an "I've done all my game plan, now what?" moment.

The bottom line though: I don't think Jaedong would have to wait until Flash was starved out if it was an uncontested 5 bases to 2. I don't think Yarnc or Calm or EffOrt would. Not that they'd ever reach that position without an exploit Flash was unprepared for, but then again, neither would Hyun.

poor Jaedong. I'd cry as well after that.

How the hell as zerg do you deal with that constant 3rd denying? That was just ridiculous.

I have not watched the Day9 cast of this game but I will soon. I just wanted to give what I thought about this game as I was watching it (as I thoroughly enjoyed it despite being a Flash fan). I didn't think that Hyun's play was bad, I actually quite like his approach to the game. I do understand your point about positioning, when I watch the game again I will see about that but I'm sure you're right.

As for Hyun slowly bleeding Flash I thought that it was a very solid play. Hyun took a large advantage early because of Flash's mistake, akin to your chess analogy, Flash lost a piece of importance early. Hyun then decided to force Flash's hand, to fight him and to make them both take losses. Hyun started trading pieces with Flash so that when it came down to it, the piece that Flash lost early made a big difference.

Now this is not to say that this is not a dangerous thing to do with an opponent such as Flash. Whenever anybody except Jaedong, Bisu, or Stork decide to trade armies with Flash they inevitably lose a small amount of advantage. Flash is so good that unless you are S class you are guaranteed to weaken your position. The important questions then become: How big is your advantage? How quickly do you lose advantage? How long will the game last?

So it immediately comes down to this question, will my advantage hold out until the end of the game? Consider Flash v Hiya on 10/28 (a short TvT). Hiya took an advantage however it was not large enough to last to the end of the game and Flash won. Now look at the Hyun game, Hyun took a large lead and his followup play was to take Flash's fourth. This did 2 things, it capitalized on Hyun's advantage and it imposed a time limit on Flash. If Flash could not erase Hyun's advantage on three bases then he would lose. Flash played almost perfect Starcraft after his mistake and he slowly eroded Hyun's advantage however he could not do it before he exhausted his 3 bases of minerals. I know for a fact that if Flash had secured a 4th that he would have won the game. Hyun traded troops often enough to prevent Flash from taking his 4th and he won the game.

I think that had Hyun been more aggressive, had he had a plan on how to end the game before Flash ran out of minerals that it would have been even more dangerous for Hyun. Trying to force the end of the game and failing would have given Flash a better chance I think.

All he needed to do was shut down the mineral only. Not to try and Sauron-Zerg (even though that would have been cool and very well might have worked). I think that would have been safer (considering Flash's amazing play) - it doesn't pay to allow your opponent to pick up a knife when you have a shotgun. You just blast his head off.