A while ago, we promised you a list of the best games of 2012. Since then, we've been busy watching, collecting, categorizing, and rating every notable game from the last full year of Wings of Liberty. While many will remember 2012 as the year of Zerg domination, brood lord turtling, and soul trains, it was also the year where Wings of Liberty truly matured. It's easy to look back on the games of 2011 and 2010 with rose colored glasses, but you can't deny that the quality of play has improved immensely since then. The golden age for high level StarCraft games started near the end of 2011, and moving into 2012, we saw some of the greatest games ever played.
Whenever we were sometimes down in the dumps about perceived imbalances or the death of StarCraft, one of these gems would cheer us up, reminding us of how emotional, funny, nerve-wracking, and epic this game can still be. Of the many games we reviewed, 40 made the cut to have the distinction of being one of the top games of 2012. Before we begin, here are some disclaimers:
The best games ranking is a compromise between the opinions of several writers, ensuring that not even the writers are happy with the end result.
Context was weighed in. A game in the GSL finals would rank higher than if the exact same game had been played in the first round of Code A.
TeamLiquid is not responsible for rage or rage related injuries suffered as a result of reading this game ranking.
Best of 2013 and Honorable Mentions
But before we can unveil our list, there's something we must do. Due to the delay in getting this article out, a few months have passed in 2013 with a few must-mention games played in that time. It would be a travesty to leave these games out of any compilation of the best games ever, even if they don't technically meet the 2012 requirement. Here's a brief rundown of the best WoL games of 2013!
Top games of 2013
#7. FXOGuMiho vs. LG-IM_LosirA on Daybreak - Code S Season 1 Ro16 (February 14) - VOD - (Requires GomTV subscription)
Taking part in the best series of the year and perhaps one of the best series ever, Losira and Gumiho put on a show for us that we would not soon forget. For some reason whenever these two play, their styles collide to become something magical. In this game, Gumiho's twist on standard TvZ along with Losira's insistence on heading into the late game with ultralisks meant that we would have constant trading and action from every corner of the map. Lots of painful nukes too. And that's just game one.
#6. FXOGuMiho vs. LG-IM_LosirA on Cloud Kingdom - Code S Season 1 Ro16 (February 14) - VOD - (Requires GomTV subscription)
Game two of the series. See #7 but with a slight twist: fewer nukes, more queens, more cute neural parasite usage.
#5. CJ_EffOrt vs. SKT_Fantasy on Entombed Valley - SK Planet Proleague Round 3 (February 3) - VOD
Some games make it onto this list for brilliant play by one or more of its players. This is not one of those games. Fantasy and Effort represent two of the best, but at the same time, most fail-prone players within the KeSPA ranks. When both players fell into a strange and unfamiliar situation, they each tried to use the advantage of chaos to their advantage. But alas neither player's ID is Gumiho and thus the chaos took a life of its own as no one could reign it in. And while this game was not the most well-played one from either side, it was certainly unique; you can at least give it that.
#4. Woongjin_sOs vs. CJ_EffOrt on Akilon Flats - SK Planet Proleague Round 3 (February 23) - VOD
Let's face it. PvZ has not been the golden match-up of WoL. Once brood lords arrive on the field, all action comes to a grinding halt. Though we may see some minor harass from Protoss or runbys from Zerg, we all know that only the final climatic battle really matters. This game turned this expected path of the match-up on its head. Because of the particular openings by each side, both players were able to establish four to five bases each. Then it turned wild. Ladies and gentlemen, there were no established death-balls in this game, only continuous action and consistent trading.
Coming in at the last minute, one of the last games of WoL also happens to be one of its best. In the last round of Up/Down matches, these two unlikely heroes, along with KT_Crazy, found themselves in a three way tie for first place. The tension was high as this one was for all the marbles. Filled with positional play, masses of multi-pronged drops, and nukes galore, this game captured the best of classic WoL TvZ. Bboongbbong and Noblesse provided us with a great sendoff to Wings of Liberty and we hope HotS can live up to the legacy of games like this.
#2. FXOLeenock vs. 8th_TY on Whirlwind - Code S Season 1 Ro32 (January 23) - VOD
What is it with TvZs on Whirlwind? Last year, Ryung took on DRG with multi-pronged drops from every angle, pulling apart the dominant Zerg. This year presents us with Leenock against TY in a game where both players got to dish out the hurt with various forms of harass. In a completely scrappy late-game where neither side could secure a mining base, every unit would count and it would take a miracle or some incredible play for one player to tilt the scales. Though this was one of the first games played of the year, it would take another extremely special game to overcome its ranking.
#1. FXOGuMiho vs. LG-IM_LosirA on Akilon Flats - Code S Season 1 Ro16 (February 14) - VOD - (Requires GomTV subscription)
How fitting it is that after two epic games in this series, two of the best of the year, we have a third game that trumps them both. How would we describe this game? Take either one of the previous games (both of which made it to our list) and put it on a larger map that allows for even more multitasking, more expansions, and more creep spread. That still wouldn't be able to begin to portray the scope of this game.
Put frankly, this game has everything. Standard Gumiho chaos? Check. Innovative play? Check. Nail-biting situations where one or two units from either side would have tipped the scales over? There's about five of those. Drones pulled in a climatic battle, corruptors corrupting individual marines, spine forest migrations, and an endgame that looked like a micro arena? Check, check, check, and check. Quite frankly, this game had everything you could want or expect from an epic game and we won't be seeing anything surpass it for a very long time.
Special mentions from 2012
In addition, there were a couple of games from 2012 that didn't quite meet the 'best' criteria, but were so unique or special that they deserved mentioning nonetheless. We though about calling them "honorable mentions," but there wasn't much that was honorable about these games.
Some games are so bad, they're good. Some games are so bad, they're f***ing terrible. In the case of Dragon vs. Cytoplasm from DHS 2012, it's really hard to tell where it falls. Some viewers seemed to find the sheer amount of carnage, confusion, and inability of either player to finish the game to be hilariously entertaining. Others found themselves disgusted by the match, but somehow still glued to their screens like they were watching a gruesome car wreck happen in slow motion. For better or for worse, it was a truly unique match from 2012, and one that just had to be mentioned.
The most controversial game(s?) of 2012 also happens to be one(two?) of its best. MKP and Parting met once again in the GSTL Season 1 finals in Las Vegas. At the time, MKP was considered the best TvP player, using his sheer control to dominate entire Protoss armies. Parting, on the other hand, had just revolutionized the PvT match-up; his brilliant use of templar to flank his opponents single-handedly won him games. The battleground was Entombed Valley, a map with an open middle, perfect for showing off both players' trademark moves. Both players opened with their iconic builds – MKP with his double reactor barracks medivac pressure build and Parting with his fast templar build – setting this game up to be one of the best of the year.
As the game played out, it looked like we had a game of the year candidate on our hands. But as Parting looked like he would take the game in an incredible comeback from behind, disaster struck. The game disconnected and shouts of "We want LAN" were heard round the world. After a long deliberation, it was decided that there would be a regame in one of the most controversial decisions in esports history. While the regame did not disappoint, ending up being a very close repeat of the first, it was inevitably overshadowed by the events before it. After the dust cleared, we were left with not one, but two of the most talked about games of WoL.
During Taeja's insane run at the IPL TAC3 finals, he ran into many respected players such as Seed, Yonghwa, and Losira. But perhaps the most feared IM player Taeja faced that day was Nestea, one of the best Zergs to ever play this game. At this time, most Terrans were focused on either two or three base pressure against the Zerg to catch them while they were in a transition phase to hive. Taeja, in this game, chose the completely opposite approach. Knowing that Metropolis is a long map where attacks can take forever to reach an opponent's base, he opted for the macro route himself, preparing to deliver a massive knock-out blow later.
Instead of the common three orbitals dropping mules, Taeja would have ten. And instead of individual medivacs continuously dropping across the map, Taeja would have doom drops continuously raining entire armies into Nestea's main. Could Nestea defend this onslaught or had Taeja already gotten too big to fail?
IPL TAC will be forever known as Liquid`Taeja's playground. But before Taeja was recruited, Liquid was forced to live more dangerously against the best Korea had to offer. Against FXO in IPL TAC two, the weight of protecting Liquid fell on Ret, one of the strongest macro foreigners of the time, known for being able to take games off of the best Koreans, even MVP himself. Facing him was Gumiho, before his evolution into the ultimate clutch player in the GSTL, but still a force to be reckoned with. The resulting match would be an epic TvZ, one of the best matches ever in IPL TAC.
Being a macro TvZ, this game would involve infestors and brood lords. But with Terrans having been had their ghosts nerfed at the time, Gumiho would have to find another way to deal with this dreaded composition. His answer? How about four reactored starports worth of vikings? With a lack of infestors, Ret found himself without an answer to the banshees that followed and it looked all but over for him. So Ret took a page from Mondragon's guide to Starcraft and proceeded to pump nothing but roaches. As it turned out, this proved to be an oddly effective solution, and sent the game spiraling towards an ending that was as unusual as it was nail-biting.
Stephano is known as the innovator of infestors in ZvT. When he made a name for himself using nothing but infestors-ling in ZvT, many called him gimmicky, predictable, and easily figured out. But with a few tournament wins under his belt and every Korean adopting his infestor based strategy, none would dare to call Stephano a one-trick pony again. That being said, it's still surprising whenever we see him try to use mutalisks in this match-up as it just doesn't seem Stephano-esque. But as he showed in this game, he's every bit as good with mutalisks as he is with infestors.
Using his infrequently seen mutalisk control against a surprised Ryung, Stephano grabbed a strong early lead in this game. But the lead was completely flushed down the toilet in an instant when he took an uncharacteristically terrible engagement with half his army lagging behind. Then the real game began. Stephano was suddenly thrust from a comfortable position to one where he was fighting for his life and every single unit would be worth its weight in gold minerals. Ryung, on the other hand, having found a weakness in Stephano's defenses, put on the pressure and refused to let go until one of them was forced to break.
The WCS grand finals were destined to be won by a Protoss. In one of the great mysteries of 2012, the WCS Korea qualifiers resulted in the esports juggernaut sending a motley duo of Zergs in Curious and RorO, none of their powerful Terrans, and an all-star line-up of Protosses to the WCS Global Finals. With the quadrumvirate of Creator, Hero, Parting, and Rain in power with the fast rising star herO[join] in tow, it seemed only natural that Protoss would take all the top spots. And sure enough, we saw Parting advancing to the finals first and wait for Creator and Rain to sort out the second finals spot between themselves.
Going into game two of that semi-final series, Creator found himself in a tricky situation. A sentry contain is quite a common sight in PvP; a player opening robotics is left without a way go get down his ramp and usually has to turn to either blink stalkers, a warp prism, or a colossi to counter the force-field. This sort of situation happened to Creator, and he immediately turned desperate. After some creative maneuvering to break the contain, he still found himself at a disadvantage against Rain's two base economy. As he pushed in what looked like a futile, last ditch attempt to save the game, he didn't realize that the result would end up being determined by the slimmest of margins.
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The first TvT on the list of the best games of 2012 happens to feature two of the best Terran players from 2011. While Mvp dominated just about everyone in 2011, and MMA was a painful thorn in his side, costing him two championships – once in the ace match of the March GSTL finals, and again at the finals of Code S October at Blizzcon. To add insult to injury, MMA would shut Mvp out the Blizzard Cup semi-finals to bring an ignominious end to Mvp's year of glory.
When they met again in the distant future, in September of 2012, both had seen their careers take a turn for the worse – MMA due to drama outside of the game, and Mvp due to the worsening condition of his wrists. But neither player had any trouble elevating their games for the long awaited rematch, and there was certainly no love lost between them. The first game of their series ended up being a far better game than any they had played in the past. Mvp had long since diversified from the mech-only style that bogged down his games in 2011, and took MMA head on in a fantastic display of bio-tank vs. bio-tank skill on Whirlwind.
35
MVPKeeN vs FXOGuMiho GSTL Season 3 Finals, Muspelheim (December 8)
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We all love our classic maps, our Daybreaks, our Cloud Kingdoms. They have been with us through thick and thin, providing us with consistently high quality games throughout the year. But it is on the new maps where we can truly be filled with wonder, where there is still a hint of mystery and suspense in the air about what may yet transpire. This is especially true in team leagues where preparation and sniping strategies are prevalent. And nowhere is preparation more important than in the finals of the last ever Wings of Liberty GSTL.
The score was 3-3 with Gumiho just taking the last game over Monster. In response, MVP sent out Keen to avenge his teammate. The map was Muspelheim, a GSTL specific map very few players have experience with or even ever play on. Keen was sure to have something up his sleeve. And sure enough, as soon as the game began, both players immediately ejected an SCV out of their bases to seemingly random locations. But it soon became clear that both players were attempting to execute the same strategy; we had two proxy reaper rushes on our hands. It was one of the rarest of situations to see in a broadcast game, and one that forced the players to think quickly on their feet as they both held the weapons to end the game in an instant.
In the round of 8 of the WCS Global Finals in Shanghai, Korea's HerO matched up against the local fan favorite, Taiwan's Sen. Three of the four semifinalists had already been determined as Protosses from Korea, and it seemed only natural that Hero would make it a clean sweep for the StarCraft superpower. And in game four of the series, with HerO up 2 - 1 and having a seemingly insurmountable lead, Korean hegemony looked all but certain. But with one neural parasite on a mothership, HerO suddenly found himself nervously looking at a fifth and final game.
HerO, aghast at how quickly events turned against him, went full HerO mode and did what he does best, harass like there was no tomorrow. HerO relentlessly warped entire armies into Sen's base, seemingly crippling him from every angle. Yet again, HerO seemed to have the game firmly in his grasp as his four base Protoss economy would soon overtake Sen's three base Zerg economy. But as the local Chinese fans cheered "USA USA" hoping for Sen to advance, something stirred within him. Perhaps he had a chance after all.
While ZvZ can be dull at times, it definitely has the potential to be as good as any other match-up. Zenio vs. Sen is our first ZvZ entry on the list, and it demonstrates how with the right circumstances, even the standard roach-hydra-infestor wars can take a very exciting turn.
In one the closest matches of 2012, Zenio and Sen constantly traded blows without one player able to get the better of the other. When it looked like Sen was down, he'd rally back with his trademark ZvZ sense. When it looked like Sen had taken the lead, Zenio struck back with great play of his own. At the end of it all, one of the players had to fall - though it was a shame to have to declare one player the loser.
We had a lot of Metropolis TvZ games make our initial list of nominees, but few actually made the cut. On a map that basically forces half-map, max-out army wars, the play had to especially crisp, the battles unusually epic, and the highlights particularly jaw-dropping for games to distinguish themselves. Slivko vs. Mvp meets all those criteria, featuring all the grandness of max-out TvZ with none of the drudgery.
This match is particularly unique in that it's one of the few where the players themselves seemed to realize they were a part of something special and decided to escalate things even further. It was the first game where we saw Slivko fully play along in the role of the dastardly Zerg villain, and one of the many games where Mvp showed his penchant for playing StarCraft at a grander scale than anyone else.
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In GSTL, game nine is always the most gut-wrenching for a team. Every game played beforehand leads to this point, and suddenly a best of nine becomes a best of one. This final game in a match between StarTale and MVP was an exemplary example of what a game nine should be. Two of the deepest teams in the league had met in battle, taking turns in dealing significant blows to each other. The likes of Bomber, Parting, Life, DRG, and Sniper had all fallen, and the two unlikely heroes deciding victory and defeat would be Curious for StarTale and Keen for Team MVP.
The game could not have started any worse for Curious; Keen's initial harass was devastating, and Curious' counter-harass was completely shut down. Had it been an individual league, Curious might have quit right there. But no, Curious had his whole team's hopes on his shoulders and so he persevered. Curious weathered each attack from Keen, refusing to give up while there was the smallest chance of victory left for his team. When he finally looked down for the count, he rallied for one final effort. With his scrappy play and tenacity, Curious turned a sure loss into one of the closest games of the year. Not until the very last moments of the last battle was the victor determined.
If there was a StarCraft II version of a Chinese zodiac, 2012 would surely be known as the year of the Zerg. While players like Life, Leenock, and even Sniper stole the headlines, there were plenty of other Zergs lurking in the top tier. Previously overshadowed by the bigger names, Symbol and viOLet met in the finals of the second MLG Spring Arena where they played some of the best ZvZs of their careers. For Symbol, his accession to the finals was almost expected; his play throughout the previous months had been stellar and he was one of the most hyped Zergs of the year. viOLet, on the other hand, was more of an underdog, a dark horse pick to win the tournament.
At this time, ZvZ was becoming more exciting with new strategic developments. Zergling/ultralisk unit compositions were being tested, creative infestor use among pros was adapted, but most of all, the nydus worm was beginning to be used to its full potential. Metropolis is a big map and as such, it usually takes quite a while to get to one side of the map from the other. Symbol used the nydus to its full potential in this game, showing that defying the laws of time and space can lead to some awesome games.
On Feburary 21st, Blizzard released patch 1.4.3. Among other things, this patch was notable for one big fix that would change TvZ forever: Snipe damage was changed from 45 to 25 (+25 vs Psionic). Why was this changed? Well, certainly, Blizzard most have had this game in mind with the patch.
Remember what TvZ was like before the ghost nerf? Back then, it was Terrans who seemed to have the extreme late game advantage with their sniping ghosts rather than Zerg with their lumbering air armies. As a player who plays both sides of the Terran versus Zerg match-up, Morrow understood this better than anyone. On Metropolis, he easily secured his first four bases and then attempted to cost efficiently work his way to victory with ghosts. However, in order to defeat Leenock's six base economy, it would take more than simply ghosts and a lot of fast clicking. No, it ghosts with snipe wasn't the answer. Ghosts with snipe AND nukes? Now we're talking.
At the beginning of 2012, MKP was perhaps at his prime. Even without a single GSL championship, some were still calling MKP the best player in the world. Perhaps most impressive was his TvP, a match-up in which he still possesses an absurdly high win-rate. Much of this TvP prowess is in his ability to micro his stimmed bio like none other, making his armies almost impossible to defeat in the open field.
But what happens when his precious stim is taken away from him? In this game, SaSe went for an aggressive gateway push, killing a few SCVs and MKP's stim upgrade but unable to immediately end the game. MKP was forced to play out the rest of the game in a strange scenario, having bio upgrades and medivacs, but no stimpak during an important window of the game. Without the most important Terran upgrade in the game, MKP was forced to adjust on the fly and show that he was a more multi-dimensional player than some had imagined.
The NASL is PuMa's turf. In 2011, PuMa won the first ever NASL without having to play in the regular season by qualifying through the open bracket. He repeated his victory again in 2011 with his second NASL title over Liquid`HerO. So going into 2012, in NASL's third season, PuMa looked to be the heavy favorite to take it all again. It seemed as if very few could stand in his way, least of all the Russian Terran BRAT_OK.
In TvT, a marine-tank-banshee all-in against an unprepared player usually means a slow and painful death. So when BRAT_OK was caught off-guard by PuMa's rendition of such a build, many would have called BRAT_OK a dead man walking. As the tanks slow encroached onto BRAT_OK's territory, he had no choice to abandon ship in an attempt to find a safe haven for his colony.
But PuMa would not let him get away so easily. With his more technologically advanced army, he would chase BRAT_OK to the ends of the earth map. But this time, BRAT_OK was ready for him. PuMa might have been a two time NASL champion, but BRAT_OK had his own tricks up his sleeve.
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When this game was played, MKP was near his prime while Yugioh was just another Zerg, albeit a rather unorthodox one. As a result, many deemed this match a mismatch. Fortunately Yugioh had an ace up his sleeve. This game was played right after after the queen/overlord patch, the infamous patch that birthed the term "patchzerg" into creation. Yugioh looked at the patch notes and decided that queens would be the future of TvZ; so he accordingly made queens.
Throughout the early game, he defended all pressure with queens. In the mid game, he incorporated queens into his army both as fighting units and to stop drops. And in the late game, ultralisks supported by queens proved to be a powerful combination. Terrans around the world watched in aghast at this effective new strategy that seemed to completely catch MKP off-guard. But this was MarineKing; he would not go down without a fight.
And for an encore presentation, check out game 3 of this series.
Grubby was not supposed to be in the semifinals of IEM Singapore. He was not even supposed to play. Originally brought in as a caster, Grubby suddenly found himself filling the role of a player after many canceled their participation at the last minute. After a few victories and fortunate turn of events, Grubby suddenly found himself closer to winning a big international StarCraft II tournament than he'd ever been. His semi-final opponent would be Slivko, an often under-appreciated and overlooked player who always quietly does well at tournaments. More importantly though, he was a Zerg.
At the apex of Zerg's defensive power and impeccable brood lord/infestor control, it was difficult for a Protoss to break a Zerg once he reached the late game. As such, Protoss often tried to play on a timer, favoring three base timings to finish the Zerg before he could realize his full strength. But Grubby chose to go against the grain and took Slivko head on in a late game war. He arrived in the late game with a sizable disadvantage and attempted to claw his way back with skillful warp prism harass and multi-prong attacks that surpassed that of even the best Koreans. But after a certain point, Slivko declared that he had finally had enough, and put his foot down to venture across the map with his invincible army. Staring death in the eye, Grubby would take his play to an even higher level to see if he could conjure up a win.
Before Life was GSL champion, he was ZeNEX's ace. And as ZeNEX's ace, he was chosen to represent the struggling team in IPL's Tournament of Champions. oGs, on the other hand, picked one of their most solid Terrans, Supernova. While this game started off looking extremely standard, a base-trade situation was eventually forced and the game instantly took a turn for the weird.
After the dust settled, Supernova was left with a much smaller army and no way to mine. On the other hand, Life was left with a superior ground army and one hatchery near minerals, but only one corruptor worth to defend against the medivacs and banshees of his opponent. It was up to Supernova to kill Life off as quickly as possible before Life could get his economy up and running.
In the beginning of 2012, MKP and DRG seemed to be forever engaged in battle, meeting each other in three consecutive MLG finals. We had a real TvZ rivalry on our hands, and as with the Brood War TvZ rivalries of yore such as Boxer vs Yellow or Flash vs Jaedong, we had a feeling that this was going to be the stuff of legends. Of course, as MKP and DRG were players of the highest quality, their games were of the highest quality as well.
This one happens to be the best one.
At MLG Columbus, MKP employed his unique bio-mech marine/hellion/thor build on close positions Entombed Valley against a dumbfounded DRG. Had a normal player tried this, it would have certainly crashed and burned (After all, there's a reason bio and mech are the standards of TvZ, but not biomech). But this was MKP. He treated each unit like gold, and microed his marines, hellions, and even his thors with precision. As the viewers watched, we were glued to our screens without an idea of how things were supposed to play out. What would be the stronger force? MKP's creative strategy and his micro, or DRG's sheer mechanics and defensive tenacity?
Play in August of 2012, these two players met at a crossroads of their careers. PuMa's stock had been falling; though he had been immensely successful in 2011 and followed that success in early 2012, late 2012 had not been kind to him. Long gone were the images of PuMa standing on the award podium as he continued to under-preform all the expectations he had set for himself. On the other hand, Ryung had nowhere to go but up. Though he never really fixed his TvP weakness, his TvZ and TvT were looking better than ever. And with MMA slumping and temporarily out of the way, Ryung saw his chance to impress as Boxer's new favorite son.
But as luck would have it, even though one player was rising up and the other was on his way down, these two players met at the intersection of their skill in one of the closest games possible. Remember BroodWar TvT and those tank lines that stretched multiple screens? This game attempts to recreate that experience as a clear line of no man's land draws itself in the middle of Entombed Valley. And as both players jostled and twisted for positioning advantages, we somehow saw two parallel vertical tank lines transform into two parallel horizontal ones.
If you are looking for the most thrilling game from one of 2012's best rivalries, then you've come to the right place. This game might not be the most technically well played game between Stephano and Polt, but it was the most joyous one to watch. As a hyper-charged version of TvZ from the earlier years, this game on Metalopolis featured constant attacking from both sides, with neither player having a second to breath in a scrappy, low income battle. Both players looked like they might lose a dozen times before coming back to stabilize, and then clashing again for the dramatic finish. From beginning to end, this was a fight where both players were throwing knockout punches at every turn.
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Losing a GSTL match is humiliating enough, but getting all-killed is an entirely different ballpark. In season 2 of the GSTL, a resurgent Losira found himself up four wins against the then rising TSL team. Of course, Losira had always done exceptionally well in the GSTL, but it had been a while since he had produced any significant results. His final obstacle was Symbol, the new Zerg ace of TSL. Winning the series seemed like an impossible goal, with saving as much face as possible the immediate concern.
By all means, we could have gotten a boring standard ZvZ, but the StarCraft gods must have been smiling on us this day. Instead of a roach/hydra/infestor turtle-fest culminating in one final battle, we got consistent counterattacks, nydus worms, infestor hit squads, and even ultralisks. The game would not be determined just by who could muster up the better army, but who could out-harass, out-position, and outplay the other player.
While many will remember IPL4 primarily for Squirtle's obscenely difficult run through the open bracket and into the final, and for Scarlett's debut on the live tournament scene, there did happen to be other players there as well.
Despite being overlooked, aLive and Nestea played one of the best matches of the tournament. In what looked a lot like a blast to the past, throwback match that might as well have been played on Crossfire, both players stayed on two bases for an extremely long time, constantly embroiled in small scale battles. 'Maybe I'll sit back and secure my economy' didn't seem to cross either player's mind, as they fought almost non-stop, with neither side able to gain a sustained advantage until the very end.
Life vs. Leenock is a battle we grew accustomed to seeing near the end of 2012. As the two most dominant Zergs in a Zerg dominant period (sorry, Sniper), Life and Leenock met often near the finals of tournaments, with the winner usually taking the whole thing. This time was no different as Leenock and Life faced off in the finals of the MLG Fall Championship.
From the very start of the competition, it seemed as if these two were destined to meet. After all, Leenock had won the previous MLG event, the MLG Summer Championship. Life, not to be outdone, had a shiny new GSL trophy in his hands. Both players were elite ZvZ players looking to lay claim to the title of best player in the world, and so stage was set for one of the highest level ZvZ finals we'd ever see.
In this game, we saw two philosophies on how to approach ZvZ collide. Life, having obtained an early lead, decided to play uncharacteristically safe and standard. Leenock, on the other hand, was on the back foot, and safe solid play was not an option for him. In that desperate time, he became the Leenoctopus, wielding his many arms to strike at Life's exposed bases while the Startale Zerg struggled to hold on to his rapidly slipping lead.
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Freaky was an artist who only painted in one color, and that color was green. Well, maybe it was more of a brownish-green with some neon splotches. Long before other players made mass infestors a popular strategy and brought it to the MLGs and IPLs of the world, Freaky was quietly showing his love for his favorite unit back at home in Korea, all the while confounding opponents and entertaining fans.
Why were Freaky's games so entertaining, while the mass infestor games of other players were considered an affront to decency? Perhaps it was because later players discovered how to marry mass infestors with a painfully defensive style, slowing games down to a crawling pace. 'Solid' was hardly a word you would ascribe to Freaky, as he preferred to to roam around the map and force action. More so than that, it may just have been a difference in philosophy. Other Zergs used infestors as a means to an end: winning. While Freaky certainly wanted to win, he never lost sight of another important goal: having fun.
MKP is not known for mech in TvT. In fact, he famously tore through the second ever GSL with almost only bio play in TvT. But when MKP does decide to mech, you better know he can do it well. The stakes were high for this game; as it was the deciding game of the finals of the StarsWar Korean qualifier, the winner becoming Korea's only representative in the Chinese StarsWar tournament. The match-up would be MKP's infrequently seen mech against MMA's pure bio forces. But with careful defense and tactics, MKP was able to obtain an cool 40 supply lead against his opponent. MMA decided he had no choice but to turn to the dark arts, and he opened a black tome to recite three, terrible words:
"Nuclear Launch Detected"
The skies seemed to rain fire that day as nuke after nuke was dropped. In total, there were at least four nukes that would be game deciding in any normal game. But this was no normal game. Nukes were launched so indiscriminately that no one really knew where they would land. All the while, MKP's mech army seemed so strong and resilient that it might survive such a vicious barrage. Would the nukes be enough to turn it around? Or would Artosis' least favorite player prove his most favorite theorem, that mech beats bio?
The Summer of 2012 was truly Taeja's. Though he won numerous tournaments, his crowning achievement in the eyes of many was his legendary 23-3 record in IPL TAC3 where he almost singlehandedly propelled Liquid to the live finals in San Francisco. In the finals, Taeja played like his normal self, taking down IM player after IM player in a series of close and epic games. Of all the games in TaeJa's run, this one is probably the most notable and demonstrative of how unbeatable TaeJa seemed at the time.
When watching this game, you'll probably realize that Taeja was essentially dead at one point. The number of Terran players in the world who could even potentially come back from his position could be counted with one hand. But Taeja persevered. Throughout this game, you could clearly see the strength of a player who carried a team to the finals on his back. But TaeJa didn't rely on just brute force. He knew exactly what he had to do to come back into the game, and played with intelligence. Most importantly, his units just moved differently from anyone else's, microed with comparable finesse. Of all the games Taeja played during the finals, this game is probably the closest and most memorable.
Let's be honest. PvP is very few peoples' favorite match-up. After a full year and a half of seeing almost exclusively four gates, the beginning of 2012 finally looked bright for this forgotten match-up. Four gate had been nerfed to oblivion and PvP's started going beyond one base. Still, the match-up had a long way to go. Build order wins were still common and although there were macro games, these macro games usually all ended with a blinding laser show.
In modern PvP, you must get a forge at a certain timing, you must get two robos at another timing, you must consistently chronoboost upgrades, and you must switch from colossi to mass immortals at a certain point. But this game was played in the summer of 2012, before PvP became refined to a T, when anything could potentially work. Because late game PvP hadn't been standardized at all, both players were able to go separate directions in their tech choices. While HerO chose colossi/templar/stalker/mothership, Alicia went for the colossi/carrier/archon/mothership path. The resulting fights were something we'd never seen and probably will never see again, leaving even the casters speechless.
Around the time of the MLG Winter Championships, MKP and Parting were known as the best players of the TvP and PvT match-ups respectively. Parting had just revolutionized PvT with his templar based positioning play and ability to get away with spectacularly greedy builds. With PartinG leading the way, we would see an era of gateway and templar openings as opposed to the monotony of colossi based builds.
On the other hand, MKP microed his bionic units like no other Terran had at the time, sometimes relying purely on his micro instead of ghosts to effectively combat storms. With his extreme-pressure based style, every MKP game was guaranteed to be full of action.
There were no deathballs in this game, just constant fighting. No turtling, only action. The resulting clash between these two titans was exactly what we expected from them, with each side delivering their signature moves, playing in a game that would be a precursor to one of the fiercest rivalries of 2012.
WCS Korea was one of the first battlegrounds in the everlasting war between KeSPA and eSF players. In this tournament to decide the representatives of Korea in WCS, GSL champion and one of the best Korean Zergs of the time, DRG, would be matched up against BW OSL champion and one of the best Korean BW Zergs of all time, Effort.
Their game on Tal'Darim Altar turned out to be exactly what we craved, a one base versus one base slugfest where raw skill, mechanics, and micro were tested to the extreme. Both players opened with aggressive openers, eager to show their dominance, and neither was willing to back down to a defensive stance. The result was a prolonged early game full of non-stop action where each battle only provided the most minute advantage for one player or the other. This dragged on for quite a while and it would not be until the 16 minute mark that we saw one player become comfortable enough to expand.
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Between April 4th and May 27th, we were deprived of the wonderful league that is GSTL. But on May 28th, on the opening match of Season 2 of GSTL, we were quickly reminded of how great team leagues really are and how deep the talent in Korea truly is. Both Crank and Freaky were relative newcomers to the scene; Crank had only played in 2 GSTL matches before while Freaky had just played his debut game in the GSTL, defeating SlayerSMin with a surprisingly large amount of infestors.
With this game and over the next few weeks, Freaky showed exactly what kind of player he is, displaying ways to use infestors like we'd never seen before. Crank, not to be outdone, introduced to us a novel way to play PvZ. For many Protoss players, this game was a shining beacon of hope that there might be somehow, someway to defeat the dreaded infestor/brood lord composition. Before the game was over, we would see a monobattle-like situation of carrier versus infestor with only one unit coming out on top at the end.
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Two Zergs clearly stood out above the rest in early 2012. First there was Nestea, creator of the universe and three time GSL champion, undeniably the best Zerg in 2011 and seemingly invincible in the ZvZ match-up. Then you had DRG, the new kid on the block, the undisputed king of GSTL who had yet to win a GSL championship. This match would be the first time these two Zergs had ever met and expectations were high. At long last, DRG would finally be able to challenge Nestea to the Zerg throne.
As the game began, we were immediately thrust into action as DRG, in a bizarre series of events, just happened to lose his main base. But not having a main apparently isn't the biggest deal in the world as DRG eventually stabilized, enough to give him some hope yet. Still, he was up against seemingly insurmountable odds against the best ZvZ player of the time.
In Artosis' cast of this game, he called it one of the top five 2012 would ever see. We didn't quite think so, but top ten is still not quite so bad.
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Ace, you had so much promise. Though we rarely hear him these days, a few of us still remember The IEM Season V World Championship where he completely overshadowed his teammate, Squirtle, in both placement and actual gameplay. And in the third GSL season of 2013, AcE would bring us some of the best PvZ play ever seen.
Before the warp prism buff, only players like Liquid`Hero and JYP dared to use these paper airplanes in the PvZ match-up. But as the prisms received 60 more shields, they suddenly became visible to Protoss players and started seeing more frequent use. For Ace, this was his chance and warp prism play would be where he made his mark.
This spectacular game by Ace and Bbongbbong showcased some of the most iconic uses of the warp prism and the late game hit-and-run style of Protoss in Wings of Liberty history. Ace poked, prodded, and smashed Bbongbbong's bases from every direction over the span of fifteen minutes with every tool Protoss has in its harassing arsenal. Though the harassment was devestating, the brood lords remained resilient. Would Ace go out in one last big bang or but a tiny whimper? Though Ace would never rise to the level of his ex-Startale teammates, Squirtle and Parting, we can always remember this game as a demonstration of his brilliance.
Before Leenock actually learned how to play ZvP, he relied on rather gimmicky play to surprise his opponents. Most notably, he repeatedly roach/ling all-ined Naniwa in the finals to win the championship at MLG Providence 2011. Though Leenock can now play standard ZvP, some of his all-ining tendencies still linger on...
Every Protoss player knows the feeling of that nydus worm sound about 8 minutes into the game. This usually means you didn't have vision of every nook and cranny of your base, that you let a nydus worm through, and that you've already lost.
But Oz apparently didn't get the memo on that last part. As Leenock's zerglings swarmed his main base, he fought back with his paltry gateway force and even his probes were called in as militia. And though Oz's main would eventually fall, he would successfully secure his natural, and in a crucial turn of events, even kill off a few of Leenock's bases. The resulting game turned into an extremely low-econ match where every unit counts and the tiniest mistake could decide it all.
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The Man Called God enters the list at #7. Not surprisingly, he's paired with Ryung, a frequent co-star in memorable games.
Going into their clash in the Up/Downs, there couldn't have been more hype behind Flash. KeSPA had officially switched to SC2, Flash had played well at MLG Dallas (only losing to best-in-world ST_Life), and had crushed former GSL champion Seed earlier in the day. It seemed like a perfect setup for Flash to destroy his Up/Down group, go on to Code S, and show the GSL that they were just a pretender league for two years. However, he would have one, very tough hurdle in his way. Ryung, though not the most heralded player in the world, was a veteran of several Code S campaigns, and widely known as an elite TvT player.
Both players were able to display their strengths to the fullest, and thus created an amazingly entertaining game. Flash's already famous macro looked even more formidable that night, with endless waves of marines and tanks marching on Ryung's territory. On the other hand, Ryung showed his mastery of positioning, map control, patience, and engagement selection – all fundamental aspects of TvT strategy. It was one of the finest demonstrations of contrasting styles in a mirror match-up, and one of the finest games of the year as well.
Whoa, Ryung, slow down! How many top ten games do you plan to be a part of?
DongRaeGu vs. Ryung came at a time when DRG couldn't look any stronger, a time when Whirlwind couldn't look any more imbalanced in favor of Zerg, and thus at a time when Ryung couldn't look any more dead. Given the position of this game on this list, you can guess things ended up being a lot closer than it was predicted at the time.
It turns out that while Whirlwind's immense size means it's easy for Zerg to take an economic advantage, it also means that they start facing some very annoying mobility problems in the super late game. Sitting on multiple bases and a formidable brood lord army, DongRaeGu must have thought he had the game won. Instead, Ryung decided that it would be much wiser NOT to fight the Zerg army when at all possible, and frustrated DRG with a highly mobile army (including ghosts and nukes). DRG ended up having to fight a lot harder than he ever expected, and found himself stretched to his limit as he scrambled to put out the fires Ryung was starting everywhere.
Whirlwind might not be the most popular map among players, but a game like this alone makes you think that it's worth keeping around.
It's all about the context. We could see the most unlikely comeback, a borderline inhuman display of micro, or an epic back and forth duel that lasts over and hour, but it wouldn't be meaningful at all if we didn't care about the players involved, and if there wasn't anything on the line.
Grubby vs. Nerchio was not only an amazing game in StarCrafting terms, but it was one of the greatest matches of the year for all the factors outside the game. Grubby, a legend of WarCraft III and one of the most respected professionals in the world, had slowly but surely worked his way up the StarCraft II ranks, but needed a real, tangible result to truly validate himself. Nerchio, long considered one of the top online players in Europe, had finally emerged from underneath Stephano's shadow, but still struggled to receive recognition commensurate to his skill. Only one of them could prevail as they collided head on in the losers bracket of WCS Europe, with a spot in the WCS Global Finals, and the right to be called Europe's representative on the line.
Both players wanted the win, and it showed as they went to an excruciatingly close final set. Hard fought from beginning to end, the game closed with one of the closest finishes of the year.
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While Metropolis got a bad rap for creating plodding, map-splitting stalemates, Sculp and Symbol bucked the trend and showed what was possible when two excellent players decided that playing passively was for losers. Instead of using the easy access to resources and vast distances as an excuse to sit back and wait, they used it as the economic base to wage war on an epic scale.
As awe inspiring as the battles between maxed-out armies were, the best part of the game came at the end, after resources were depleted and both players desperately tried to control the remaining bases. In an amazing, edge of your seat finishing sequence, both Symbol and Sculp were stretched to their absolute limits as they tried to outpace and outsmart their opponent. It was chaos on scale never seen before, but both players handled it with inhumane composure. At the end of it all, one player proved to be just slightly more brilliant than the other, earning a GG worth its weight in gold.
For many, WCS Europe was the best tournament of the year. It had star players, popular casters, and slick presentation, all tied together by a brilliant DreamHack organization. However, no matter how well prepared a tournament is, its ultimate success is at the mercy of factors out of their control. The right players need to make it far, and they must play entertaining games.
Fortunately, and very deservedly for WCS Europe, Lucifron and Stephano did all the things required to elevate the tournament from merely very good, to truly unforgettable. Lucifron found success at a time where European Terran were painfully bound to the bottom of tournament tables, while Stephano, the world's most popular player, dutifully rose his way through the bracket to give the viewers the match they so desired. Lucifron brought his excellent mech play to the match, and proved to be more than a match for Stephano, who had been dominating his European for so long. To say the ensuing match was amazing would be an understatement, and it's one for the ages.
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For the longest time, the GSL finals had never been known to produce epic games or even remotely exciting games. Especially in 2010 and 2011, finals were known to be one-sided affairs, usually consisting of one obviously superior player 4 - 0ing his way through an outmatched opponent.
But 2012 would be different.
MVP's path to these finals consisted of going through two of Squirtle's teammates, then StartaleQ_Naniwa and StartaleQ_Parting. Against these opponents, MVP had used early game tactics to finesse his way to victory and many suggested that MVP had no more tricks in his bag against the third StartaleQ Protoss. That was all proved wrong as we saw MVP up 3 - 1 going into the fifth game of the finals. But MVP wanted to prove something more, prove that he was more than just early game all-ins and tricks, so he took it all the way to the other end of the spectrum. In possibly the best demonstration of true late game TvP to date, MVP turtled behind planetary fortresses to obtain the strongest army known to man, the rare and elusive 3-3 maxed BC ghost composition. In this lengthy PvT, we saw a whole host of tactics and units never before seen in this match-up, all culminating in one last epic battle, perhaps the single most anticipated battle of SC2 history.
In terms of gameplay, 2010 was the year of one base all-ins. 2011 naturally followed that up with a year of two base all-ins. And although there were plenty of three base all-ins in 2012, the game finally started to stabilize into the predictable macro-fests we know it to be now. PvZ became so rigid that you could easily predict action to only occur around the 10 and 15 minute marks; this match-up would always inevitably end in Protoss trying to outmaneuver a turtling infestor-brood lord army. PvP was marked by 8 minutes of early game action followed by 8 minutes of building up an army culminating in one decisive fight. And TvZ was a lot like PvZ. SC2 was becoming stale and it would take a special player and a special game to shake things up and turn that perception around.
The finals of Season 2 of GSTL were hyped and set up to be the best of the year. While the Season 1 finals shared a stage with IPL4 and the Season 3 finals were held humbly in the GSL studios, the Season 2 finals had its own stage built at Busan Haeundae, the beachfront location of FBH's most infamous ceremony. The opening match of the finals had much hype around it as well, as it seemed like both teams were sending in their big guns. The dark horse team of FXO fielded Gumiho, one of their two aces, in a gutsy gamble that would decide the entire outcome of the match. SlayerS, on the other hand, choose MMA as their champion, a player who had been conspicuously absent from SlayerS' lineup lately; rumors of internal SlayerS drama and his demotion to the B team abounded, and many wondered if MMA would return to form in time for the finals.
The game started out rather normally with MMA opening up biomech while Gumiho choose mech as his composition. But soon enough, the game took a turn for the strange. In the preview article I wrote of this game: "A brilliant yet deluded man once said, "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos." Gumiho is that agent of chaos."
And sure enough, everything became chaos. 40 supply swings became commonplace. Bases popped up and were dropped like whack-a-moles. Manner mules were dropped prematurely. Base trades abounded. And strange new unit compositions, normally ineffective, appeared from nowhere and dominated. We laughed, we cried, but most of all we were entertained, on the edge of our seats waiting for the next turnaround. This game represented the best of what SC2 could be, a wake-up call and a stark contrast to some of the humdrum games we've become accustomed to seeing. But in the end, after all the dust had settled, who would have the last laugh in this best game of the year, the hero or the joker?
Nice list. Was scrolling through and about to flip a chair if I didn't see Symbol vs Sculp, that one never gets much attention despite being epic as all hell.
and yeah...Gumiho vs Losira g3 has got to be the best game of sc2 I've seen to date. Better than Nestea vs sC game 5, better than DRG vs MMA g7.
RIP WoL, you will be forever remembered despite the ups and downs. No matter what, despite all the complaints about BL/Infestor, or Protoss all-ins and "Terran OP" in the beginning, we've had some incredible games in WoL.
Hardly seen any of these games since I only started watching Starcraft 2 after Brood War ended. Effort vs DRG was probably my favourite game of 2012, though.
very impressive! the picture of #20, Losira vs Symbol looks badass. i am happy that a gumiho game topped the list, and i think the ones i remember deserve to be on it to.
did you also consider the korean weekly games? i think there were quite a number insane games played in it when taeja was just ripping everything to shreds and doing insane tvt comebacks...
Gumiho vs MMA, well deserved. Pissed as fuck about #2, LULZ XD VORTEX HAHA ROFL... no literally any other game from that series were better but that fucking vortex...
Sleep well WoL, you were not so entertaining the last 8months because of something that could have been fixed so damn easily. At least some games wasn't destroyed.
Hoping to see an entire article on MVP, but this is fantastic, i loved so many of these games and its so good to know that i was their to see most of these games being played out.
Finally this is out! With Hots out though, I don't think I'll get to many of these. Of the top ten, 6, 2, and 1 are incredible. I'll check out 3 and 5 since I haven't seen those myself IIRC, but I can definitely agree with the top 2. I've never had so many "holy shit" moments as I did while watching those two games.
So many gstl matches I never saw but checked up on liquipedia as they happened, many of these are great indeed, yet only 1 MKP v DRG game? wat about all the others, or DRG MC?
On March 07 2013 11:32 Arceus wrote: it sucks that many people would miss most of these games due to subscription requirement -_- GOM should make all WoL free in the eve of HotS imo :p
Gom always makes the previous year of vods free, all the 2012 stuff should be possible to watch without a subscription, im pretty sure.
On March 07 2013 11:32 Arceus wrote: it sucks that many people would miss most of these games due to subscription requirement -_- GOM should make all WoL free in the eve of HotS imo :p
Gom always makes the previous year of vods free, all the 2012 stuff should be possible to watch without a subscription, im pretty sure.
They have never done that. You might be thinking of the open seasons they made free last year. They will make them free eventually but not 1 year later. The 2010 seasons weren't free till some time in 2012.
While this is a good list overall, I don't like how people tend to consider games 'good' based on how many late game units get produced.
There are alot of end game blob v blob here, I can understand that some people find say Mvp/Squirtle or Crank/Freaky exciting, but are they really better games than Yonghwa/Taeja at IPL TAC or Ryung/Flash. Also, Mvp/Slivko was a really terrible game in my opinion.
I'm really glad of the choice for #1 instead of mvp/squirtle though.
On March 07 2013 11:32 Arceus wrote: it sucks that many people would miss most of these games due to subscription requirement -_- GOM should make all WoL free in the eve of HotS imo :p
Gom always makes the previous year of vods free, all the 2012 stuff should be possible to watch without a subscription, im pretty sure.
They have never done that. You might be thinking of the open seasons they made free last year. They will make them free eventually but not 1 year later. The 2010 seasons weren't free till some time in 2012.
Actually I believe they have up to March 2011 GSL free now? I don't know exactly how to check though...
But yeah I would love to see Gom make some more games free. They have the ocassional good one on their youtube channel also. Some of the games here are also on youtube perhaps. Maybe someone (or myself later) can do a list of those?
I have to agree with number #1...it was on par with some of the very best brood war games I have ever seen. I can't believe how action packed this game was...just a must see.
Nice comprehensive list. Disagree with some of the choices/positions, though - #27 (Puma vs. Bratok at NASL) is a unique but incredibly sloppy game. Not a fan. In contrast #37 (MVP vs MMA on Whirlwind from GSL) was one of the 10 best games of the year in my mind. Just a beautiful game.
On March 07 2013 12:18 horsepire wrote: Nice comprehensive list. Disagree with some of the choices/positions, though - #27 (Puma vs. Bratok at NASL) is a unique but incredibly sloppy game. Not a fan. In contrast #37 (MVP vs MMA on Whirlwind from GSL) was one of the 10 best games of the year in my mind. Just a beautiful game.
On March 07 2013 10:25 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: Nice list. Was scrolling through and about to flip a chair if I didn't see Symbol vs Sculp, that one never gets much attention despite being epic as all hell.
and yeah...Gumiho vs Losira g3 has got to be the best game of sc2 I've seen to date. Better than Nestea vs sC game 5, better than DRG vs MMA g7.
Eh, I still think Mvp vs Leenock GSL November 2011 Code S Semi-Finals game 3 is still better
EDIT: I'm surprised Mvp vs Squirtle game 7 didn't make it on the list.
I think MMA/Gumiho is overrated. MMA actually lost to like 3 ravens.. I think Mvp/Squirtle vortex game is more overrated (turtlefest into run into my vortex mvp) and I think game 7 of that series was way better.
Really good list though, thanks for bringing back great memories
Damn, I remember being almost unconscious from being tired, and then seeing that Mvp vs Squirtle game, and just going nuts. My favorite Starcraft moment of all time :3
I personally feel that 1). MMA vs DRG game 7 of the Blizzard cup was the most amazing game of all time 2). MVP's all in vs Squirtle in GSL final was so nerve racking - amazing 3). Parting beating life in this seasons GSL by hard countering Lifes hard counter against his sentry immortal with hydras. Parting hard counters that with a sentry colossus all in... so genius so amazing - the mind games and the ex-teammate rivalry - was flat out awesome. 4) MVP finally beating MMA in GSL. That series was overlooked. The amount of positional play in that short series and the emotional victory was awesome to see. 5)Gumiho vs Losira - that was a good game - super tense. Loved it.
Monk, you always deliver on the content. Fionn, you always bring such a great writing style to the table. Congrats on officially eating up all of my March break with this. Time to go hunker down and connect my laptop to the TV...
In all seriousness, thanks for giving us yet another window with which to look back on the great times of WoL.
Whoooa actually really surprised Mvp vs Squirtle game 7 isn't on there, especially after the spiel about context. That is in my top 3 of the most intense experiences watching Starcraft 2 ever (only passed by sC vs Nestea and MMA vs DRG). God, the emotions I felt, was a rollercoaster. From freaking out that Mvp had the audacity to 11-11, to being incredibly sad (as an Mvp fan) that Squirtle held it off, to watching in disbelief as Mvp laid a trap and killed off 2 stalkers, to actually shouting with joy. Yeah, it was an 11-11, but it was the greatest 11-11 in history in terms of how it played out and the context.
Also, Gumiho vs Coca from the GSTL final was also a crazy tense game, but I guess it isn't necessarily top 40. Probably in part because of how overshadowed it was by Gumiho vs MMA.
Wow that is an awesome right up! Great work and thank you to the people involved. Of course, I also have to say that I dislike you greatly for making me want to watch every single one of these games (most of them again) when I have plenty of other things to do!
When we look back we sure got some epic moments and matches for sure, may HotS deliver us many many more, seeing these games just gets me excited for the years ahead and the improvement of level even going higher.
Hmmm if we are picking a game from Mvp vs Squirtle it has to be game 7. Game 5 was only noteworthy because of the vortex, everything else before that was not super exciting, and actually somewhat boring because of turtling on Metropolis. There should be a list for best WoL games of all time, or best games in 2011.
I've totally been out of the pro SC2 loop but I have to say I'm not surprised one bit that TvZ was the 'best' matchup. For me, that was the last matchup that really held my interest at all unless it was some epic foreigner vs korean match.
Wow great list! I remember so many of these games (most of them) and I have to agree with everyone one of them! That Ace vs BBoong game in GSL was brilliant. And how crushed MKP was that he could not help BBoong into code s because Ace won him too I want to watch these games again...Hopefully HotS will produce us even greater games in the future, I have faith.
Oh fuck I was at barcraft for MVP VS Squirtle and the whole bar went crazy and people were close to jumping out the windows and breaking the whole bar stampeding. SOOOOO CRAZY. Chills thinking about it now
Lots of amazing games. Many I remember, but a lot I still have to watch, too. I sort of wish there were something like this for the entirety of Wings of Liberty. I'm pretty sure TT1 vs. MasterAsia would've made the cut. Yeah, it's not the same context as a GSL finals, but that game had more twists than an M. Night Shayamalan movie and was almost as long, too.
There should be an asterisk with Noblesse vs. BBoongBBoong saying it's a shame IEM was on at the same time with the first HotS tournament so not everyone got to see the final good game of WoL... Could be good games in the finals on Saturday... but not really.
What an amazing article - fantastic work Team Liquid writers. I approve of a lot of these games, and there are many I havent seen (including the #1)
The #2 though, was the most epic thing I've ever witnessed in all my time as a Gamer. I've never felt like that ever, the closest since then was Game 3 LosirA v Gumiho
On March 07 2013 18:12 IcookTacos wrote: I would like to see Ryung vs DRG Game 1 from whirlwind on the list. Honestly that game shows some next level SC2 play right there.
Appreciate the article, well done. It's funny when I think of WoL the games that come to mind are all from 2011 - so this list is especially useful for me.
I think the context of where the game in the whole series is almost as important as the round or tournament. MVP v Squirtle - had both - squirtle had to win and it was the final.
I think LG-IM MVP vs LG-IM Nestea at IEM Cologne has to be here and LG-IM MVP vs (back then) Startale_Squirtle in Code S final, the game with battlecruisers and mothership^^
On March 07 2013 18:48 Marula wrote: I think LG-IM MVP vs LG-IM Nestea at IEM Cologne has to be here and LG-IM MVP vs (back then) Startale_Squirtle in Code S final, the game with battlecruisers and mothership^^
So many great games. I'm happy to say that I've seen most of them (all of the games from 2013) but I'm going to have to go take another look at some of them just because of how amazing they were.
On March 07 2013 18:54 NuclearJudas wrote: Very sad that no Jjakji vs Leenock games are in the top 10. Game one and two were definite top 5 for me, at least.
It's because they were played in November 2011. But good choice regardless, best series ever imo
Great, great list, so many memories (and so much forgotten). I sorta miss a MC vs Stephano-map, but I think you've done an excellent job with a pretty difficult task. Thanks!
Don't hurt me, but as the casual watcher any links to English commentated VODs? I'm at work and like streaming some matches but only YouTube (Jasmine) works on the smartphone.
monk and waxangel just lost all credibility with me, the best game of the year was gsl season 2 finals game 5, mvp vs squirtle with a battlecruiser vortex. best game in starcraft...period
On March 07 2013 22:52 SDnNs wrote: monk and waxangel just lost all credibility with me, the best game of the year was gsl season 2 finals game 5, mvp vs squirtle with a battlecruiser vortex. best game in starcraft...period
You have no idea what you are talking about that game was beyond terrible.
Gumiho vs MMA on Antiga was indeed the best WoL game I've ever seen, by quite a large margin. A fast expand vs a banshee build where MMA intelligently uses his tech advantage to take a quick 3rd. From there it's bio/mech vs mech and a never ending amount of action, intelligent plays, sick micro, and constant tech switches. Oh, and not just one player slaughtering the other, it was close all the way until the very end.
On March 07 2013 22:52 SDnNs wrote: monk and waxangel just lost all credibility with me, the best game of the year was gsl season 2 finals game 5, mvp vs squirtle with a battlecruiser vortex. best game in starcraft...period
You have no idea what you are talking about that game was beyond terrible.
Yes it was zzzzzz. The only interesting games from mvp vs squirtle were when mvp cheesed >.>
On March 08 2013 00:20 Ahuka wrote: So few protoss
Blame warpgates imo. It's a race of extremes in WoL. I'm thinking the mothership core may help with that in HoTS, or at least I assume that's the plan.
I thought I would know so many of these games, but unfortunately, just saying "players X and Y gave us an incredible fight!" is not enough most of the time (for me to remember that particular game)
Apart from that, yes, Gumiho vs Losira is the best series I have ever seen.
Actually now that I think about it, why wasn't PartinG vs Jjakji g3 from season 1 (cloud kingdom) on here? I know it's hard to recollect every game from 2012 and compress it into a top 40, but I really thought that one stood out, it's surely at least better than Taeja vs Nestea.
Not only was it a sick back and forth game with storms everywhere, but I saw it as the point where PartinG truly began to establish himself as a top-tier protoss what with Jjakji being a recent champ and having one of the best TvPs out there at the time.
For me, the game that made me begin to realise just how far the mind games went in SC2 was Nestea vs Anypro in the round of 8 GSL. It wasn't just that Nestea introduced the spinecrawler rush. It was that the timing he hit was so perfect and developed with previous knowledge about Anypro on that specific map. On top of that, the timing of the Hydras popping out as the voidray reaches his base and the follow up of taking down the expansion a second time with hydras who at the time were the subject of so much hate.
That game was the moment I realised I would watch eSports forever.
On March 08 2013 02:45 Abacus1 wrote: For me, the game that made me begin to realise just how far the mind games went in SC2 was Nestea vs Anypro in the round of 8 GSL. It wasn't just that Nestea introduced the spinecrawler rush. It was that the timing he hit was so perfect and developed with previous knowledge about Anypro on that specific map. On top of that, the timing of the Hydras popping out as the voidray reaches his base and the follow up of taking down the expansion a second time with hydras who at the time were the subject of so much hate.
That game was the moment I realised I would watch eSports forever.
Very awesome, I know what I'll be doing all weekend! I know ZvZ isn't a popular matchup, but I think NesTea vs DRG and Life vs DRG at the Iron Squid 2 were both awesome games too. NesTea vs DRG had NesTea doing these drastic changes in playstyles and unit compositions, and DRG either got thrown too far off balance from them or persevered through them. The last 2 games between Life and DRG had a queen being killed by 2 lings in a straight up fight and an all in being held off, which in itself isn't remarkable, but the fact that the spawning pool for Life finished halfway though the battle was pretty inspiring to watch as a zerg.
Edit: Game 2 of jjakji vs MMA for the IPL... um... either 4 or 5? qualifier was amazing too.
Awesome thread, but the part where "it requires a GOMTV subscription to view" felt like a huge kick to the balls. The other games that don't require a subscription to be viewed, I will proceed to watch during this weekend to bid farewell to WoL
Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
On March 07 2013 22:52 SDnNs wrote: monk and waxangel just lost all credibility with me, the best game of the year was gsl season 2 finals game 5, mvp vs squirtle with a battlecruiser vortex. best game in starcraft...period
You have no idea what you are talking about that game was beyond terrible.
Gotta agree with Kefka, How anyone would like that match is beyond me.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Look, I love MVP. I love his play. But that wasn't defensive, it was a player taking completely uncessary time to build a ridicolus advantage in order to win a match with 'style' instead of just ending it and then losing to an mechanic that has zero strategic depth. Series was awesome, MVP is awesome, Squirtle is awesome, Match was absolute shit.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Look, I love MVP. I love his play. But that wasn't defensive, it was a player taking completely uncessary time to build a ridicolus advantage in order to win a match with 'style' instead of just ending it and then losing to an mechanic that has zero strategic depth. Series was awesome, MVP is awesome, Squirtle is awesome, Match was absolute shit.
You have to remember that at the time, lategame TvP was considered heavily favoured towards the Protoss. On top of that, Mvp had wrist injuries and most likely wanted to make sure he could win rather than risk his hands performing where his strategic skill wouldn't.
Please keep in mind that gameplay alone is not the single criteria used to determine the games on this list. The Mvp vs. Squirtle game is one of a kind, and to think that it was match point for a three-time GSL champion vs. a potential royal roader in a GSL final, coupled with the tension building over the ten-or-so minutes leading up the engagement... The game in and of itself was not great, but it is the most memorable Starcraft II game of all time which should say something.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
On March 08 2013 04:29 Mhax wrote: Where are the series between ThorZaIN And MC at TSL 3!, The game at Taldarim Altar was just brillinat!
that was 2011
Someone should make a list of ALL the greatest games from WoL. Surely thorzain vs MC on taldarim, scfou vs nestea gsl semi finals, nestea vs anypro on dual sight, and one little gem of a game that surely lots won't remember, check vs ensnare on scrap station, surely these would make the list :D.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
Which he does....
Let me rephrase. I mean 4 drops in different places while pressuring all over the map. Mvp doesn't do that. EDIT: Well he did in his prime, but even then he did that while turtling behind a planetary and making a ghost tank army.
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
Which he does....
Let me rephrase. I mean 4 drops in different places while pressuring all over the map. Mvp doesn't do that. EDIT: Well he did in his prime, but even then he did that while turtling behind a planetary and making a ghost tank army.
it's pretty rare for a terran to drop in more than two places at once; only people like gumiho and mma do that often
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
Which he does....
Let me rephrase. I mean 4 drops in different places while pressuring all over the map. Mvp doesn't do that. EDIT: Well he did in his prime, but even then he did that while turtling behind a planetary and making a ghost tank army.
it's pretty rare for a terran to drop in more than two places at once; only people like gumiho and mma do that often
And you would call those Terran's styles aggresive macro styles
On March 08 2013 03:31 IcemanAsi wrote: Wow, great article and amazing work. Thank you very much!
But "LG-IMMvp vs StarTale_Squirtle" is in my mind one of the worst games I've ever seen. Bunkerish verging on showoffish play by MVP being counterd by the most deeply broken ( and thankfully removed ) mechanic in the game. Deplorable game, can't imagine why anyone would think it was bearable let alone good.
You mean Mvp used his trademark defensive play and then Squirtle against every single prediction got the perfect engagement and won? Not to mention the story surrounding the tournament...
Trademark defensive play, mvp, what? His trademark is his unpredictability. He uses any and all builds Terran has left.
Yep, trademark defensive play. That's the general pattern of his macro games, though obviously he does play to win and will mix it up with anything and everything.
Hmm, I don't really agree with that at all. MVP cheeses a lot. I mean, if you're saying when he plays macro games he plays defensive, well that's a given no?
No you can play very aggressive macro games. Drops and stuff...
Which he does....
Let me rephrase. I mean 4 drops in different places while pressuring all over the map. Mvp doesn't do that. EDIT: Well he did in his prime, but even then he did that while turtling behind a planetary and making a ghost tank army.
it's pretty rare for a terran to drop in more than two places at once; only people like gumiho and mma do that often
And you would call those Terran's styles aggresive macro styles
I see...Well anyways, I wouldn't say that is his trademark, not by a long shot. It's his versatility and unpredictability that he is so famous for (not to mention, that's why he has seen so much success in sc2).
the mma vs gumiho game was absolutely incredible, really glad to see it in the #1 slot. anyone who hasnt watched it yet really should do themselves a favor, it totally shatters the stereotype of TvT
Such a great write-up that gives proof that starcraft 2 really is an amazing game and worthy of following. That being said I'm deeply disgusted with hots and I'm not going to buy it in the near future anyways. With this article I can bask in my misery!
On March 08 2013 05:27 buckKeefe wrote: the mma vs gumiho game was absolutely incredible, really glad to see it in the #1 slot. anyone who hasnt watched it yet really should do themselves a favor, it totally shatters the stereotype of TvT
It totally shatters the stereotype of sc2 in general lol. I've followed esports since the very inception of it all (cs 1.3-1.6, bw, war3 tft, quake3, etc etc) and that game is easily one of the most intense matches I've ever witnessed. It's a shame we didn't get more games of that quality out of WoL (i mean we did, but not a huge amount).
On March 08 2013 04:12 Zealously wrote: Please keep in mind that gameplay alone is not the single criteria used to determine the games on this list. The Mvp vs. Squirtle game is one of a kind, and to think that it was match point for a three-time GSL champion vs. a potential royal roader in a GSL final, coupled with the tension building over the ten-or-so minutes leading up the engagement... The game in and of itself was not great, but it is the most memorable Starcraft II game of all time which should say something.
On March 08 2013 06:20 FoXeRpl wrote: There is no game between Alicia and MKP with sick orbital landing block with dt? that was the game i somehow remamber very well
On March 08 2013 06:44 SultanVinegar wrote: Are there 2010, 2011 lists anywhere?
Yeah, wondering that too... MMA vs DRG in the GSL finals at the end of 2011 will forever be the best series of Starcraft 2 of my life (especially game 7). That game beats everything on this list imho.
On March 08 2013 06:44 SultanVinegar wrote: Are there 2010, 2011 lists anywhere?
Yeah, wondering that too... MMA vs DRG in the GSL finals at the end of 2011 will forever be the best series of Starcraft 2 of my life (especially game 7). That game beats everything on this list imho.
Yeah, that series had everything in it: the rivalry, a comeback from match point and a clutch final set that could have gone either way until the last minute. I remember watching it live while eating leftovers from the christmas ham. I was just shaking in my chair, it was so awesome. I've had a similar vibe only during the TSL3 finals.
On March 08 2013 06:44 SultanVinegar wrote: Are there 2010, 2011 lists anywhere?
Yeah, wondering that too... MMA vs DRG in the GSL finals at the end of 2011 will forever be the best series of Starcraft 2 of my life (especially game 7). That game beats everything on this list imho.
That tal darim game....the tank drop on the infestors...nuff said. I still prefer gumiho vs mma overall though.
On March 08 2013 06:44 SultanVinegar wrote: Are there 2010, 2011 lists anywhere?
Yeah, wondering that too... MMA vs DRG in the GSL finals at the end of 2011 will forever be the best series of Starcraft 2 of my life (especially game 7). That game beats everything on this list imho.
The game itself was incredible, but what makes it absolutely unmatched was the context. Considering how rarely GSL finals go to a Game 7, the fact that this game would have decided who won the Blizzard Cup, as well as the fact that the balance of the game swung back and forth so many times. It was beautiful because the outcome was obvious until the very end, when DRG's deathball that was camping MMA's production, yet MMA was killing the last mining base of DRG at the same time.
That's why I'm somewhat disappointed that MVP vs Squirtle Game 7 was omitted. Sure it was a proxy 2 rax, but considering that the context was game 7 of a GSL finals, and that Squirtle held off the first wave and should have won had MVP not set up an amazing flank, it really was an amazing game, where MVP pulled off a miracle comeback in the highest pressure situation ever. Cheese can create amazing games as well :p
Last game of Iron Squid deserved a spot in one the best 2013 games. Because the last minute of this game may be one of the most intense, important and surprising minute of Starcraft 2 ever. Watch it.
Dream vs Daisy at Katowice were also great series. Dream vs Parting was also cvery nice, especially the game on Entombed Valley.
Bam, you have your 2013 top ten (a top 7 is weird)
In 2012, Maru vs EffOrt in gsl code A, the game on Entombed Valley deserved to be in this spot, Maru with the best defense ever, during 3 minutes he made only perfect click, and only one or two bad clicks would made him lose the game, but he made only perfect clicks.
Nice list! WoL brought us a ton of amazing games... I hope it gets better with HotS!
In addition, I miss VortiX vs Supernova @ IEM Cologne. It was an amazing series, specially games 4 and 5 I recommend everyone to watch this if you missed it!
For those of you that missed GuMiho vs. LosirA this last GSL season I checked the http://www.gomtv.net/ homepage and the group that series happened in is free to watch for everyone (The picture with MC and Curious. Click it.). Don't miss your chance.
The title is Best games of 2012, not 2011, not Wings of Liberty... 2012. There's only 2013 games because Wings of Liberty is over. There won't be Wings of Liberty games in the list of 2013 HotS games.
On March 10 2013 08:08 Qikz wrote: Was Flash vs Baby in the up and downs this year? I thought it was in 2012 and that was by far one of the best TvTs I've ever seen o_O
Amazing list though <3
Baby has never been in the Up & Downs... He made it to Code A, lost to Bomber in the ro48, got seeded into Code S, edit - lost to Life and Vampire, won against Brain, Flash and Symbol to make it back to Code S, lost to Leenock and Curious, fell to Code A, lost to Avenge in the ro48... You might be thinking of Flash vs. Ryung... Which is on the list...
Nevermind, checked his page... They met in Code A ro32 once... but that was still not in the Up & Downs... I remember the games though. They were good... but Game one was a classic mech vs. mech except Flash refused to make anti-air and eventually died to banshees, nothing special about it. Game two was Flash making a tech switch to battlecruisers to win because BaBy didn't make enough anti-air... it was a cool move, but one cool move doesn't make it one of the best 40 games of 2012... and I can't remember game 3... so it probably wasn't as good as the other two...
While I appreciate this article, I believe it is clear to everyone how horrendous WOL was in 2012. This article states how the game progressed and was more advanced in 2012/2013, but the reality is that the game was Turtle to broodlord/infestor combo. That was the entire game period. There was no dynamic back and forth, or any other kind of kind of risk/reward/punish dynamic. Explaining the game in any other fashion is unfair to the players and the community as a whole.
I feel you Iron but these games were notable examples of what SC2 could be not really what it was. Kinda seems like you want a list that captures the zeitgeist if you will. You are the new kids of the internet who can't handle a lack of negativity and need everything to have a black coat of paint. They were going for the glory and good times of the game not trying to be negative and make some balance point.
If you want any nod to what you are saying, the best games did not feature Life or Zerg and this shows how more fun TvT was than anything. I think that shows something.
the list is rendered invalid due to the lack of bomber v leenock on antiga (where leenock goes his classic muta/ling/bane mine style and makes an epic comeback) TT
On March 10 2013 18:40 WoodLeagueAllStar wrote: If you want any nod to what you are saying, the best games did not feature Life or Zerg and this shows how more fun TvT was than anything. I think that shows something.
Can't wait to watch the few I haven't seen. :D
On the other hand of the whole list 27 games feature at least one zerg while 26 feature at least one terran so everything with zerg in it clearly wasn't terrible :p For the record only 12 games feature Protoss so that paints a pretty clear picture about which race was truly boring in 2012.
Wow, didn't see this, incredible thread, thanks a lot, there are some games I missed because I quit SC2 time ago, and now I am back to enjoy it again. After WCS I will see them all on the thread <3
On June 07 2013 15:01 Sogetsu wrote: Wow, didn't see this, incredible thread, thanks a lot, there are some games I missed because I quit SC2 time ago, and now I am back to enjoy it again. After WCS I will see them all on the thread <3
Seriously... how the hell did I miss this thread? This is friggin' epic!
This is an amazing thread! I don't know about that end of 2011 being the great jump in skill though man. Maybe it's true for the metagame on the whole but there will always be these moments that when seen, no one can deny the awesomeness of starcraft. http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=141021
I agree with #1 for sure. In my opinion that was the best game of Starcraft 2 I ever saw. There was just constant action from the beginning to the end of that game.
While these games are amazing, I am reminded that they are the best games of an era that was dominated by somewhat uninspiring play. I am a "newbie" to the scene and I got into e-sports right around 2010. The level of play in WoL around that time was UNREAL. The tactical depth and overall excitement level of GM ladder games was beyond what you saw in the GSL by 2012 (these games and many others obviously not included). I think HotS bring many new exciting elements, but am I alone in thinking that WoL got stale much quicker than BW?
I just tried to see some of these videos for nostalgia, and the ones that require a GOM subscription (the Code S/Code A games) do not work. Since the videos were moved to their YouTube channel, the links simply take you to a screen telling you to go their YouTube channel.
Even though these videos are old, I am sure some people (such as myself) would love to see the best games from 2012 that used to require a GOM subscription. Can someone please update the links to the YouTube page so people can see these epic games?
EPT
FXOGuMiho vs. 
LG-IM_LosirA on Daybreak - Code S Season 1 Ro16 (February 14) - VOD - (Requires GomTV subscription)
Woongjin_sOs vs. ![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/GumihoLosira_1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/monk/bestgames2012/MKPPartingGSTL.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/MMAMVP.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/GumihoKeen.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/CuriousKeen.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/MKPYugioh.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/LosiraSymbol.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/BomberFreaky.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/MKPParting.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/CrankFreaky.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/DRGNestea.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/AceBbongbbong.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/FlashRyung.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/SculpSymbol.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/MVPSquirtle.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/NesteaTaeja.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/GumihoRet.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/RyungStephano.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/CreatorRain.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/SenHero.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/monk/bestgames2012/ZenioSen.jpg)
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![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/gumihommamontage.jpg)
, don't know what happened here !]
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nuNepP8.png)
