WCS America's Koreans outshine their countrymen on day one of the Season II Finals
by Waxangel
Many fans predicted the usual Korean domination on the first day of the WCS Season Finals. It turns out they would only be half right. Four Koreans did emerge in first place from the four Ro16 groups, but not the Koreans that were expected. EG.Jaedong, Liquid`TaeJa, and EG.aLive, players hailing from the oft mocked WCS America region, took top honors in their groups as they marched onto the Ro8.
Meanwhile, STX_INnoVation, defending WCS champion and the symbol of the vaunted and supposedly unbeatable KeSPA training system, fell out of his group in fourth place. Although he played fantastically in a narrow defeat to TaeJa, his 0 - 2 defeat to NaNiwa could not have been more shocking. The WCS Korea champion did not do much better, as MaruPrime suffered an embarrassing 0 - 2 loss to aLive to begin the group. Though he saved face with a 2 - 0 win against MMA, he still faces elimination as he goes up against Scarlett tomorrow.
Still, no matter what WCS region the players chose to play in, it seemed like Korean training was as big a factor as ever. Leave aside the fact that Jaedong, TaeJa, and aLive all train in Korea (two of them in a team house)—the only two international players who still have a chance at advancement are the ones who have practiced for significant amounts of time in Korea. The Europe based NrS.Welmu and Grubby were eliminated in last place in their groups, while the Korean ladder tested Alliance.NaNiwa and Acer.Scarlett scored wins over INnoVation and MMA to keep themselves afloat until day two.
Cheers to the Victors: Jaedong, Bomber, TaeJa, aLive
EG.Jaedong: Jaedong gave me pretty much everything I wanted. He advanced from his group, showed overall improvement against Protoss, and still managed to throw in an epic failure game to keep the "Jaedong vs. Protoss" storyline alive. Jaedong brutalized Rain and MC in four games, and was brutalizing MC for about 50% of a fifth game before he threw it all away with an awful ultralisk attack. Never change Jaedong, never change.
ST_Bomber: It's funny that Bomber went kind of under the radar. He had an extremely good OSL run where he crushed players like Flash, INnoVation, and First. Instead of going for the silly tricks that saw him lose to Rain in the OSL semi-finals, he just stuck to his guns and SCV-pull-timing'd everyone to death for a 4 - 0, first place finish in the group. Okay, his play was more nuanced and sophisticated than that, but that's the gist of it.
Liquid`TaeJa: TaeJa tried to downplay his skill like he sometimes does, but he ended up advancing in first place anyway with a narrow victory over INnoVation and a brutal stomp of Duckdeok. Along the way he played the best game of the year.. Maybe check that out?
EG.aLive: The invisible Terran went about his usual business, attracting virtually zero attention even as he defeated much more well-known and popular players in Scarlett and Maru. Sometimes I wonder if he sold his soul for his StarCraft skill, thus rendering him half invisible to the people of the world. It's now on Chobra to make him say something memorable or entertaining.
Words for the Fallen: Welmu, Grubby, INnoVation, MMA
NrS.Welmu: Welmu had a decent showing despite being the first player eliminated from the tournament, going 1 - 2 against both MC and Rain. It was hard to say that MC or Rain looked decisively better than Welmu (well, except that one game where he kept impaling his units against Rain's force-fields on a ramp...). Welmu was able to take a game off MC in a straight up macro game, and another one off Rain through a lucky-ish DT rush, and it seemed that with one or two more lucky breaks that he could have taken a series off either player. Alas!
Grubby: Grubby's 0 - 4 and out was painful to watch, mostly because he was going up against two extremely good TvP players in Bomber and Polt. Given the level of TvP play those two have shown us, you can't really blame Grubby for the result. The worst thing we can say about him is that he didn't play wildly above expectations.
Acer.MMA: Although it was no shame to lose to a strong TvT player like Maru, MMA looked sluggish and out of sorts in his match against Scarlett. Poor anti-air defense saw him take damage from mutas in both of his losses against Scarlett, and it never looked like he was really applying effective pressure. For a player whose TvZ was greatly revitalized in HotS, it was a disappointing performance.
Coming Up Next: Ro16 Final Matches
Winners advance to Ro8
Group A: MC vs. Rain: A best of three PvP can really go any-which-way, making this one extremely hard to call. Rain didn't look particularly convincing in victory against Welmu, even dropping a pretty disappointing game where he let DTs de-power his robotics facility. Given Rain's PvP losing streak in the last few weeks, I'm going to give MC a very narrow edge here.
Group B: First vs. Polt: After Polt had bullied every Protoss he played in his last few tournaments, it was surprising to see how thoroughly First was able to beat him in their first clash of the group stage. First was able to reach the late-game mostly unhindered in both games of his 2 - 0 victory, and Polt didn't have any answers for the deathball. I don't think Polt needs any drastic change of plans here. Just play your usual MMM style, take your new-found knowledge of First's style, and try to make a dent time around. Predicting a narrow victory for Polt.
This is quite an interesting match, with Scarlett having impressed greatly in recent ZvTs, while Maru hasn't shown us any TvZ games in about a month. His last series was a 3 - 1 victory over Symbol in the OSL quarter-finals, which was a run-of-the-mill stomp where Terran used unrelenting macro aggression to throttle the life out of a hapless Zerg. Given how well Scarlett has shown she can play standard muta-ling-bane ZvT, there's the possibility of some really exciting games if both play straight up. On the other hand, Maru is also known as one of the finest purveyors of cheese, against which Scarlett doesn't do quite as well. I'm hoping for at least one great game, but in the end I think Maru will take the series.
On August 24 2013 07:21 skyflyfish wrote: in Scarlett , I Believe
I think she just needs to recompose herself and she will be fine
You could see it on her face when she paused the game in g1 that she lost all of the composure she had, which is why i think she lost game 2 (lost 115+ drones?).
Tired of the rock paper scissors references to mirrors. There are ways to gain advantages but definitely there are also methods of deduction that can be used to weigh out your opponent. Ultimately, the better player wins he majority and duckdeok will win again.
On August 24 2013 07:16 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: STX_INnoVation: What the f***?
Pretty much sums up my impression of his play today.
Has he truly showed impressive play since the hellbat nerf?
His game 3 vs Taeja on Newkirk can be considered best game of the year, so yes he has show really impressive play, but its just so shocking that he went from playing in the best game of the year to playing so mediocre in just the span of a few minutes.
Looks like Innovation's mental fortitude really is bogus.
"and still managed to throw in an epic failure game to keep the "Jaedong vs. Protoss" storyline alive."
Hold on now. That was an incredible game, definitely the second best after Taeja vs Innovation today. Jaedong made a bad attack, but it's pretty ridiculous to just define a game which will probably be one of the top games of the year (look at the poll for it yourself) as an "epic fail". Just dumb to paint sick comebacks purely as terrible throws.
On August 24 2013 08:17 Gorlin wrote: "and still managed to throw in an epic failure game to keep the "Jaedong vs. Protoss" storyline alive."
Hold on now. That was an incredible game, definitely the second best after Taeja vs Innovation today. Jaedong made a bad attack, but it's pretty ridiculous to just define a game which will probably be one of the top games of the year (look at the poll for it yourself) as an "epic fail". Just dumb to paint sick comebacks purely as terrible throws.
But it really was a throw and Jaedong himself characterized it as a throw. Not to take anything away from MC but he should have never won that game if it wasn't for the "monk" Jaedong giving away many free units.
On August 24 2013 08:17 Gorlin wrote: "and still managed to throw in an epic failure game to keep the "Jaedong vs. Protoss" storyline alive."
Hold on now. That was an incredible game, definitely the second best after Taeja vs Innovation today. Jaedong made a bad attack, but it's pretty ridiculous to just define a game which will probably be one of the top games of the year (look at the poll for it yourself) as an "epic fail". Just dumb to paint sick comebacks purely as terrible throws.
Yeaaaah I was confused with that one. Honestly what lost the game for me from Jaedong was standing in storms with 39 mutas instead of popping in and out of an army in the middle of the map and threatening the counter.
But still, it was a great game from both players. Most recommended game of the day for me, though I haven't got to watching Taeja vs Innovation yet...
What i got out of watcing innovation today (combined with his 0-4 to maru) , is that he goes on tilt HARD if his confidence is shaken. im pretty sure thats what happened vs Naniwa, as well as once he was down 0-2 to maru. just to clarify: im NOT saying this is an excuse. its vital for a pro to be able to stay composed under high pressure. rather that it is a massive weakness and should be fully exploited by his opponents. (kinda like scarletts weakness to cheese sad to say)
I love Naniwa's reasoning behind his loss. The rock paper scissors was supposed to show he won based on luck? There's also a mind game in predicting what to do, and duckdeok was able to read naniwa.
On August 24 2013 07:21 skyflyfish wrote: in Scarlett , I Believe + Show Spoiler +
Great picture. :D
What a game Taeja vs INnoVation Game 3 was. So good... Really surprised to see INnoVation just drop out of the tournament. I really expected him to be a finals contender. Sad to see Scarlett lose to aLive, but I hope she pulls through against Maru so I have a foreigner to root for. I'm also glad Jaedong is finally showing what his JvP is really made of. FANTASTIC tournament so far and I can only imagine that the games get better from here.
Meh at Naniwa, PvP is not a coin flip...look at people like Elfi or MC - PvP winrates of over 70% in big sample sizes - coinflip? B&*^%# Please. I bet my left sock he loses to the Almighty Duck again.
Innovation : who knows?
Jaedong: Sweet Holy Snapdragons I was impressed.
Taeja: Oooo is this Taeja of old? Or a reincarnation of godly finesse!? Or Both...after watching these groups, he is my pick for the tourney!
Day 1 was freakin awesome. Several really fantastic games, bosstoss comeback on whirlwind against Jaedong, some upsets, good production. I could not be any happier with this tournament so far ^^
On August 24 2013 07:29 GhostFall wrote: naniwa is now 1-5 against duck.
when a pattern emerges, you might wanna reevaluate the rock paper scissors attitude.
i agree, if it really is as paper rock scissor as he claims, then everyone would be closer to 50%, but there are goood pvp players out there, he just isnt one of them
Is it THAT surprising that INnovation lost? I thought we established in the preview that his group is made of players who CAN, and WILL take advantage of his shortcomings. To me he remains indisputed best in terms of raw mechanics and TvZ micro, but he simply isn't staying at #1 of the power rank anymore if he remains weak in TvT and has weak mental fortitude.
On August 24 2013 10:03 crbox wrote: didn't see Innovation's games... What's behind the What the f*** did he really play that bad?
He played v. well vs. Taeja (despite losing). Looked sluggish vs. Naniwa, dunno how else to describe it. But Naniwa did play very well in that series too.
best game of the year? no way. Not even in just HotS. Counting WoL, Gumiho vs Losira blows it out of the water.
It needed more sub-100 supply duels, whack-a-base action, and though it was back and forth it really felt like Taeja was the one entrenched on Bogus' side of the map a lot more. I don't get to TvT much, but shouldn't Taeja have transitioned into skyterran sooner as well? Felt like he could've put the nail in the coffin sooner.
Soulkey vs Supernova g3 alone I thought was cooler.
On August 24 2013 11:26 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: best game of the year? no way. Not even in just HotS. Counting WoL, Gumiho vs Losira blows it out of the water.
It needed more sub-100 supply duels, whack-a-base action, and though it was back and forth it really felt like Taeja was the one entrenched on Bogus' side of the map a lot more. I don't get to TvT much, but shouldn't Taeja have transitioned into skyterran sooner as well? Felt like he could've put the nail in the coffin sooner.
Soulkey vs Supernova g3 alone I thought was cooler.
I have to agree. I just watched the game and it never looked liked Inno's mech army could take the initiative versus Taeja's bio army. The only hope he had was to map split, keep defending, and hope Taeja mines out his side of the map first. The few minutes Taeja was able to mine on the top right expansion on Inno's side was decisive. Marines being able to shoot medivacs was just so advantageous for Taeja because thors are terrible against medivacs.
I called it! The fall of Innovation :D I don't mind being called the only person who didn't like Innovation but I predicted that he would have a massive downfall and a slump :D Still, game 3 between Innovation and Taeja was like a war between gods
On August 24 2013 07:29 GhostFall wrote: naniwa is now 1-5 against duck.
when a pattern emerges, you might wanna reevaluate the rock paper scissors attitude.
I never lose Rock, Paper, Scissors when I play with people I know, that doesn't mean it's not Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Finale is better than Naniwa though, so if they both pick rock Naniwa would not be favoured to win.
On August 24 2013 11:45 astray71 wrote: I called it! The fall of Innovation :D I don't mind being called the only person who didn't like Innovation but I predicted that he would have a massive downfall and a slump :D Still, game 3 between Innovation and Taeja was like a war between gods
Innovation didn't so much fall as get nerfed. He was a the best hellbat abuser and has openly said he's not sure what to do in most matchups at the moment. Once he figures it out he'll probably begin to rape face again (also he's still incredible in not-TvT).
On August 24 2013 07:16 TeamLiquid ESPORTS wrote: STX_INnoVation: What the f***?
Pretty much sums up my impression of his play today.
To be fair, G3 between him and taeja was totally amazing, but vs Nani he was really mediocre.
Honestly him and Taeja played a pretty close to perfect game. I would be amazed if that didn't seriously affect him going into the match vs Naniwa. I would bet that he was still thinking about that g3 and what he could have done differently. There is no way someone whose worst matchup is prolly his tvt plays that game and then just looks like an ordinary terrain the next 2.
On August 24 2013 11:26 FrostedMiniWheats wrote: best game of the year? no way. Not even in just HotS. Counting WoL, Gumiho vs Losira blows it out of the water.
It needed more sub-100 supply duels, whack-a-base action, and though it was back and forth it really felt like Taeja was the one entrenched on Bogus' side of the map a lot more. I don't get to TvT much, but shouldn't Taeja have transitioned into skyterran sooner as well? Felt like he could've put the nail in the coffin sooner.
Soulkey vs Supernova g3 alone I thought was cooler.
Taeja was on Innovations side more because it was mech vs bio. He had to keep the pressure on so Innovation couldn't just build up the death army again and push to end the game.
Also I have seen a lot of people mentioning how either side should have gotten air faster. It really isn't that simple. Neither one of them ever had the opportunity to. Both were on relatively low econ for much of the game. If Taeja backed off on the aggression at all Innovation would have been able to stabilize and start to build up that super strong mech army. If Innovation started to build up skytoss at any point those super close fights on his side wouldn't have been super close. They would have been taeja ending the game.
And on the point about sub-100 battles. I don't see why constant large army engagements is worse than small army engagements. As long as it is super tense and constant action its just as good if not better.
On August 24 2013 10:16 LeapofFaith wrote: Sad how even if MC gets out he has to play Taeja in the first round of the quarterfinals, why can't I have both of them advance
How do you know who they play? And does that mean Taeja plays Rain otherwise? Should be a sick match either way.
Hope Innovation gets through this rough phase, I mean, he won WCS Finals after being reverse swept, he should be able to get through this, the question is how long it'll take
Ahh, Day 2 starts so early. I might miss the entire thing. :\ It's one thing to wake up for one or two matches for KR then going back to sleep, but waking up at 4 am and then watching an entire tournament is a little out of reach.
On August 24 2013 10:16 LeapofFaith wrote: Sad how even if MC gets out he has to play Taeja in the first round of the quarterfinals, why can't I have both of them advance
How do you know who they play? And does that mean Taeja plays Rain otherwise? Should be a sick match either way.
Final 8 groups have been released:
JD vs Naniwa/DD Taeja vs MC/Rain Bomber vs Scarlett/Maru Alive vs First/Polt
On August 24 2013 13:01 tuho12345 wrote: damn Taeja vs Innovation was truly the best game of the year and the best TvT so far in HoTS
I loved the shit out of it, but MVP vs Innovation (on Aikilon Wastes?) was far, IMO.
The quality of play has probably never been higher in a TvT than Inno vs Taeja (both players made barely any mistakes), but MVP going down to 9 SCVs then winning anyway in a battle that lasted for basically the entire game? Bloody brilliant.
On August 24 2013 12:31 FlyingSteaks wrote: Hope Innovation gets through this rough phase, I mean, he won WCS Finals after being reverse swept, he should be able to get through this, the question is how long it'll take
I'm sure he'll bounce back. He just tend to lose his cool on the spot. He is probably back to normal already...
The title of this article is exactly how I felt lol. None of the Regional Champions advancing first. Only one regional finalist makes out as first. Innovation out in 4th. aLive who is only here because of Jim's visa issues 4-0s the group with the KR champ. The dong giving two of the best protosses a beat down.
Upset galore man. I'm hoping Scarlett gets through. I'm cool with either Rain or MC. Same for Nani and duck. Hope Polt gets through.
On August 24 2013 14:15 Holdenintherye wrote: As much as I want JD to win it all, I kinda want to see him take another 2nd place for the novelty of it. Does that make me a bad person?
Yep. Almost as bad as wanting him to lose to Naniwa (NO).
Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
hmm so Innovation pretty much done for. After this performance I won't expect to see him in any top 4 rounds from now on he pretty much hitting rock bottom with his losing streak his play style and builds are broken and his all too many weakness are very apparent that it easy to take games off him like both maru and nani did.
On August 24 2013 12:40 VisonKai wrote: Ahh, Day 2 starts so early. I might miss the entire thing. :\ It's one thing to wake up for one or two matches for KR then going back to sleep, but waking up at 4 am and then watching an entire tournament is a little out of reach.
ESL seems to be pretty quick with the uploads on Youtube, so you could just get up whenever you want, NOT look up any of the results on TL and proceed to watch the whole recording.
The "early start" reminded me of one of the IEM tournaments they held at a game convention here a few years back where they had a three-way-tie three times in a row ... they ended up with a lot of lights already turned off iirc. So better start early, because the live viewers will be thrown out when the convention closes for the night.
On August 24 2013 15:09 Finalmastery wrote: I hope Scarlett wins vs Maru that would be a huge confidence boost for the NA scene.
Well its the only chance we have of a foreigner getting through on pure skill alone ... because Naniwa has his chance-driven rock-paper-scissors matches to play.
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
yeah rain is 6-0 vs taeja. for some reason, even though taeja is a multi-tasking monster, it seems like rain just reads him like a book.
Naniwa is the worst mannered pro. Yeah it's duckdeok's fault you don't scout every game and a person mind games you with nexus first ..rock paper scissors my ass.
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
yeah rain is 6-0 vs taeja. for some reason, even though taeja is a multi-tasking monster, it seems like rain just reads him like a book.
Oh wow. I will say Taeja use to have HORRENDOUS tvp. If the GSL had even a reasonable number of tosses in the tournament there is a good chance he wouldn't have made nearly has many ro8s. For some reason I just feel different this time. Taeja has started to play a TON more aggressive in tvp and it has really helped him out. Hopefully we will see because he is either facing the most unpredictable and aggro toss in MC or the most cautious standard toss in rain lol
Omg Inno... He wasnt himself yesterday I even saw him lying on the table in the player area. It was really weird like he was ill or tired :/ Lets go Polt and Maru!!!
On August 24 2013 16:32 Sakkreth wrote: Ehh poor JD fans, even if he gets to the finals he'll lose there.
That's what they said in his first match against Rain too.
Super glad Jaedong is doing so well in this tournament. Exceptionally disappointed in Innovation, but Jaedong's success really trumps that. Hope JD can go all the way.
I don't get how people can think Innovation played well vs Taeja. He f**** up game 2 by not scouting a simple attack by Taeja (and reacting properly). In game 3, he didnt take advantage of the battles he won, then proceeded not to build a single viking and let Taeja drop on his tanks over and over again (main reason why he lost btw). He forced unfavorable engagements. Also his late expansions were constantly denied. Innovation played terribly compared to what he has showed us in the past.
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
yeah rain is 6-0 vs taeja. for some reason, even though taeja is a multi-tasking monster, it seems like rain just reads him like a book.
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
yeah rain is 6-0 vs taeja. for some reason, even though taeja is a multi-tasking monster, it seems like rain just reads him like a book.
to be fair for me was JAEDONG the favorite for the whole tournament and i really dont understand why some predictions say him last even behind welmu, his bad zvp time is long gone and he is a monster! but jaeh innovation loosing was crazy (even if some predicted him 0-2 again i dont rly get the new predics anymore)
On August 24 2013 14:08 bokchoi wrote: Travel + jet lag getting the best of INnoVation? Remember he hasn't traveled as much as these guys esp. to Europe.
I know he went to MLG Dallas and made ro4 there. Plus I'm sure an event of this quality would warrant more of his focus than that MLG. I doubt that played any role in it. Taeja has always been capable of pushing Innovation to the limit. Almost all of their games have been very close. The Taeja lose shouldn't be a huge surprise. The naniwa lose is probably just a result of having to play right after that insane series with Taeja. It was likely hard for him to even focus on his games. He was most likely still going over what went wrong or what he could have done differently in the games with Taeja. Against Naniwa he just looked like some normal terran which he clearly isn't.
On August 24 2013 14:28 dyDrawer wrote: Hoping for Rain and First to advance. Honestly with the number of Terrans we have in this tournament, Rain and First with their superb PvTs, should make it farther than MC (whose PvT is troubling him).
Rain would have to play Taeja and he is looking unstoppable so far. It would be close but I think Taeja can take it and should be the favorite at this point to win the whole thing. First I think will make it for sure. He kind of crushed Polt the last time they played and I doubt it will be any different.
Except that Taeja always lose to Rain. In fact I don't remember Taeja taking any game off Rain at all.
yeah rain is 6-0 vs taeja. for some reason, even though taeja is a multi-tasking monster, it seems like rain just reads him like a book.
On August 25 2013 03:04 Provok wrote: Terrans finally figured out that a pack of ~20 ghosts is strong, welcome to SC2 !
Taeja got a big lead in mid game and then made a shitload of OCs. About 1% of TvP lategame looks like that. Still it took him 40 minutes to capitalize on that lead.
Watching Jaedong in this tournament so far has made it the most exciting competition in ages. Production value and quality of games has been great. Can't wait for tomorrow!
So is he going to stomp his way to the finals, then go 0-4?
This man must be psychic. That being said, I learned a few incredible things about Jaedong. One, his JvP has gotten MUCH better... 70+ win % vs Protoss, 92 (!) vs Zerg, and still over 50% (I think 57?) vs Terran... really much stronger than I expected.
But HOLY SH*T Bomber's TvT is up there with Rain's PvT ... low 90s win percentage at that level of play is simply impossible to fathom. They're all monsters :D Loved watching these games.
EPT
EG.Jaedong, 
Liquid`TaeJa, and 
NaNiwa could not have been more shocking. The WCS Korea champion did not do much better, as 
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/dY2aD.jpg)
Really surprised to see INnoVation just drop out of the tournament. I really expected him to be a finals contender. Sad to see Scarlett lose to aLive, but I hope she pulls through against Maru so I have a foreigner to root for. I'm also glad Jaedong is finally showing what his JvP is really made of. FANTASTIC tournament so far and I can only imagine that the games get better from here. 
I do hope Scarlett goes through!
