This kind of opinion is those shared by people who don't understand how competition in general works. People play to win, even in inconsequential endeavors, and when money is involved, they DEFINITELY play to win. Playing to appease some sort of arbitrary constraints you have on "proper play" just makes you a loser.

OneOther

United States10774 Posts

August 22 2010 16:54 GMT

#42

On August 23 2010 00:48 Slow Motion wrote:
whitera and huk were supposed to carry the protoss hope. it's very disappointing that they couldn't play to their true potential, and i think the tournament was the lesser for it. it would have been awesome to see some bo5 TvP or ZvP.

This exactly, I was getting tired of TvT/ZvT. Needed some Protoss action.

Congrats Morrow, certainly well deserved.
Thanks for a great tournament.

boesthius

United States11637 Posts

August 22 2010 16:54 GMT

#43

--- Nuked ---

AskJoshy

United States1625 Posts

August 22 2010 16:55 GMT

#44

Such a thrilling tournament, I really enjoyed watching all of it and it got me super pumped up for Major League Gaming in Raleigh.

I recorded some casts of 15 games from this tournament, I'll link them here in spoilers.

+ Show Spoiler [Casts from IEM!] +

TLO vs. ClouD entire series:

TLO vs. WhiteRa entire series:

TLO vs. MaDFroG entire series:

IdrA vs. Naniwa entire series:

IdrA vs. Strelok entire series:

TLO vs. MorroW, one game:

IdrA vs. Sarens, one game:

Tarson vs. MaDFroG, one game:

DIMAGA vs. DeMusliM, one game (banelingasm):

blacktoss

United States121 Posts

August 22 2010 16:58 GMT

#45

I am disappointed in Morrow not because he won using a set of strategies that exemplify the problem with TvZ. I am disappointed because it was a terrible show. I did not see creativity, or gosu skill. I did not get excited. I woke up for nothing. I woke up to see the ugliest Starcraft 2 I've seen in a tournament of this caliber.

All of Dimaga's games impressed me, and I can give Morrow credit for that win. It was well earned and exciting. But Morrow's TvZ in the finals was not fun to watch. For that, I am disappointed. I am also disappointed that instead of sticking to his own style, he just resorted to the most insipid play for 2.5k dollars. I know that is a lot of money, but was it worth it to be a terrible showman and to basically admit "I am a worse player than you Idra, so I am going to abuse the things that make Terran so much more powerful than Zerg."

He even admitted that after he won vs. Dimaga. Honestly, take the win. I don't care, I'm not a fan anymore.

Eldest

Sweden18 Posts

August 22 2010 16:59 GMT

#46

On August 23 2010 01:02 epicfailswede wrote:
Why can't we vote for MorroW being the most disappointing for taking a final series over a better player with reaper abuse? Nothing is as disappointing as seeing a stronger player lose because of an opening which MorroW admittedly says is imba, but uses repeatedly to win because he knows he would lose without it.

Oh yeah and he denied ZvT scouting in the last game, epic skills, bravo.

Morrow for most disappointing option please.

Seriously though, I really think there are few people who would do anything differently in MorroWs situation. He found a good strategy, albeit he even himself said it was imbalanced, and why would he abandon it in the biggest SC2 pricepool tournament to date? It's like finding out muta-stacking (not exactly, but please bear with me for the sake of the example) and then not use it because people might find it overpowered. Hate the game, not the player.

Brad

2754 Posts

August 22 2010 17:01 GMT

#47

On August 23 2010 01:54 boesthius wrote:

Show nested quote +

yeah seriously, these LR thread were fucking amazing. superb quality, amazing banners/picture. good job, man.

On August 23 2010 01:54 choboPEon wrote:
props to brad for the awesome live threads

ESPORTS! But really, thanks. Just trying to do my part.

Kare

Norway786 Posts

August 22 2010 17:03 GMT

#48

Congratulations MorroW, really great play.

Vortok

United States830 Posts

August 22 2010 17:04 GMT

#49

I enjoyed watching Dimaga vs. Tarson as he got put into a lot of the same positions that he got put into against Morrow and lost, but against Tarson he made better decisions in very similar situations and turned it into a win.

Have nothing against Morrow. It was a tournament and he played to win, which meant finding the most effective build and then performing it well. The neverending balance argument will continue (personally, I find TvZ to be fucking ridiculous after watching those games), but the fact is that Morrow capitalized on Idra's mistakes and performed his build well.

In the game on Desert Oasis I really wanted to see Idra burrow some banelings on his side of the hedge next to his third, since he knew a bio army would walk across it. Taking that expo instead of the gold (or rather, not taking it and the gold since Morrow took his gold) didn't make much sense and building his ultra cavern there instead of his main or nat was a bit of a mistake.

bjornkavist

Canada1235 Posts

August 22 2010 17:07 GMT

#50

Despite a protossless final 8, it was still a cool tournament. Congratz to MorroW and Idra. And great casting by Apollo and Day[9]

MaleficOR

United States315 Posts

August 22 2010 17:09 GMT

#51

On August 23 2010 00:50 AyJay wrote:
Morrow disappointed me in the finals.

Skeyser

Canada219 Posts

August 22 2010 17:10 GMT

#52

Congrats to Morrow! I hate reapers, but can't blame him for using them when there's 5000$ on the line.

TheAngelofDeath

United States2033 Posts

August 22 2010 17:10 GMT

#53

Great series, although I still wish IdrA won.

Grettin

42400 Posts

August 22 2010 17:11 GMT

#54

Morrow disappointed me in the finals aswell. I seriously thought he could beat Idra without such a one-base build in every game, but since its a tournament and winning is the goal, you gotta do what you have to do to win.

White-Ra's drop was a huge surprise.

Gg's Idra & Dimaga.

SnowB

Poland18 Posts

August 22 2010 17:14 GMT

#55

I guess this shows how much work SC2 still needs in terms of tweaks and ballance. The truth is the game it not nearly as cheese/all in proof as it should be to be truly competitive.

knyttym

United States5797 Posts

August 22 2010 17:16 GMT

#56

3 brood war terrans in top 4! Congrats Morrow on your 5k.

Latham

9580 Posts

August 22 2010 17:19 GMT

#57

On August 23 2010 02:11 Grettin wrote:
Morrow disappointed me in the finals aswell. I seriously thought he could beat Idra without such a one-base build in every game, but since its a tournament and winning is the goal, you gotta do what you have to do to win.

White-Ra's drop was a huge surprise.

Gg's Idra & Dimaga.

I'm not disappointed in MorroW at all. It's EXACTLY what I expected of him. He also didn't lose any of my respect, because he never had any of it from the start. Seriously the finals were super bad, and not just because of MorroW. It's that Dimaga and Tarson put on such a show in those 2 epic game 4's that those games completely out shined every other RO-X. They are the true winners here.

SmoKim

Denmark10305 Posts

August 22 2010 17:20 GMT

#58

TaKe was freaking awesome

and Brad did epic jobs with the live threads(loved all those lol troll pics he used ^^)

Amazing event, looking forward to next time, hopefully with less "OMG imbalance whine(yeah not gonna happen)" and more Protoss that don't disapoint

Zocat

Germany2229 Posts

August 22 2010 17:22 GMT

#59

I didnt like the reaper style of Morrow. But I would've to call Morrow names, if he didnt use reapers, which seemed to work very well, when his other strategy failed, just for the sake of "not using reapers".
But it wasn't very fun to watch. A friend of mine and me watched the games and "ooh... reapers again. Gonna go getting something to drink". And then those SCVs allins... meh. Yeah sure, with that much money at stake I'd do the same thing

but wasnt fun to watch in my opinion.

For me Dimaga was the most likable person in the final four. He seemed way happier than Idra/Morrow even though he "only" got 3rd. And he didnt have this "awkward aura" around him. Big props to him, he now has a new fan

BattleSheen

United States58 Posts

August 22 2010 17:29 GMT

#60

the best part was the look on morrows face when he was walking out with those two hotties.

But seriously, if the next patch nerfs 5-rax reaper in any way, i consider morrow an abuser, although a very talented abuser.