On September 14 2013 04:58 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I'm not sure if Life will be able to regain his old form. I hope that he can, but I don't realistically think he can compete with the likes of Bomber, TaeJa, Flash, INnoVation, or JD.
Bomber has seen slumps way worse than Life, Taeja is hardly worth being mentionned as a top 5 player (may want to replace him with soulkey or rain), JD is only doing so well because playing outside of Korea, and is still far from GSL championship level...
Yeah, no, Life can. Innovation may be trouble, but he beat MVP when everyone thought it was impossible and listed him as best player in the world. So who know?
Bomber has been in slumps that are bad, but he's not in one right now. TaeJa is definitely a top 5 player, I don't know what you're smoking (and neither Rain nor Soulkey are at DH, I don't know why I'd bring them up in a conversation about DH). JD also beat Rain, MC, and First, three of the top protoss players at the moment. He also beat Scarlett who's insanely good at ZvZ.
He also beat Mvp when Mvp's wrists were basically destroyed and when Zerg was...uhhh...OP (don't want to bring up balance but it's kind of widely accepted that Zerg was strong in WoL). He narrowly beat Mvp when Mvp was seriously injured and hasn't really reached any height of that sort since then. Winning MLG was cool and all, but has he really done anything else noteworthy?
1st place GSL 1st place MLG 1st place Blizzard Cup 1st place Iron Squid 1st place MLG
He did some noteworthy things that become even more noteworthy, because that's the longest streak of domination I can remember in sc2.
On September 14 2013 04:58 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I'm not sure if Life will be able to regain his old form. I hope that he can, but I don't realistically think he can compete with the likes of Bomber, TaeJa, Flash, INnoVation, or JD.
Bomber has seen slumps way worse than Life, Taeja is hardly worth being mentionned as a top 5 player (may want to replace him with soulkey or rain), JD is only doing so well because playing outside of Korea, and is still far from GSL championship level...
Yeah, no, Life can. Innovation may be trouble, but he beat MVP when everyone thought it was impossible and listed him as best player in the world. So who know?
Bomber has been in slumps that are bad, but he's not in one right now. TaeJa is definitely a top 5 player, I don't know what you're smoking (and neither Rain nor Soulkey are at DH, I don't know why I'd bring them up in a conversation about DH). JD also beat Rain, MC, and First, three of the top protoss players at the moment. He also beat Scarlett who's insanely good at ZvZ.
Maybe because they are more worthy to be in the top5 than some of the players you mentioned? I'm not saying that Life is going to win the whole thing, or become a top player again, but I could see him beating some of the players you mentioned.
He also beat Mvp when Mvp's wrists were basically destroyed and when Zerg was...uhhh...OP (don't want to bring up balance but it's kind of widely accepted that Zerg was strong in WoL). He narrowly beat Mvp when Mvp was seriously injured and hasn't really reached any height of that sort since then. Winning MLG was cool and all, but has he really done anything else noteworthy?
Did you watch the games? Yes, Life won when zerg was op, but his strength wasn't the heavy macro game zergs usually relied on, and he instead played a zergling heavy, aggressive style. If someone didn't rely on the WoL zerg opness, it's Life. (he used it to close games out, but what made him able to win isn't passively waiting for BL-infestor like most patch zergs).
Also, MVP did manage to crush everyone else in the tournament, so saying he was in an horrible shape may be a bit of an exaggeration.
Maybe because they are more worthy to be in the top5 than some of the players you mentioned? I'm not saying that Life is going to win the whole thing, or become a top player again, but I could see him beating some of the players you mentioned.
Obviously he could, just don't think it's very likely at all.
Did you watch the games? Yes, Life won when zerg was op, but his strength wasn't the heavy macro game zergs usually relied on, and he instead played a zergling heavy, aggressive style. If someone didn't rely on the WoL zerg opness, it's Life. (he used it to close games out, but what made him able to win isn't passively waiting for BL-infestor like most patch zergs).
Also, MVP did manage to crush everyone else in the tournament, so saying he was in an horrible shape may be a bit of an exaggeration.
I really don't want to talk about WoL, the games, strategy, and balance are old news and irrelevant, but Terran was forced into going a very macro oriented 3cc style. It was hard to hold off certain all ins on maps (roach, roach/bane, and ling/baneling timings were difficult to hold) and going for blind 3cc basically exposed you to those risks. Life knew to take advantage of those things on certain maps, and also knew that Mvp would be going mech for the late game.
Obviously Life did amazing things. His blue-flame hellion hold with pure lings and queens comes to mind, but I just don't think he's in any shape to be placing in the top 4 of this tournament. Maybe I'll be surprised, but past experience makes me think I won't be.
Maybe because they are more worthy to be in the top5 than some of the players you mentioned? I'm not saying that Life is going to win the whole thing, or become a top player again, but I could see him beating some of the players you mentioned.
Obviously he could, just don't think it's very likely at all.
Did you watch the games? Yes, Life won when zerg was op, but his strength wasn't the heavy macro game zergs usually relied on, and he instead played a zergling heavy, aggressive style. If someone didn't rely on the WoL zerg opness, it's Life. (he used it to close games out, but what made him able to win isn't passively waiting for BL-infestor like most patch zergs).
Also, MVP did manage to crush everyone else in the tournament, so saying he was in an horrible shape may be a bit of an exaggeration.
I really don't want to talk about WoL, the games, strategy, and balance are old news and irrelevant, but Terran was forced into going a very macro oriented 3cc style. It was hard to hold off certain all ins on maps (roach, roach/bane, and ling/baneling timings were difficult to hold) and going for blind 3cc basically exposed you to those risks. Life knew to take advantage of those things on certain maps, and also knew that Mvp would be going mech for the late game.
Most of the builds Life used were valid before the queen patch. If you want to talk about a player who exploited the ZvT metagame to punish greedy terrans, look at Leenock.
On September 14 2013 10:00 Jerom wrote: This recent very big slump of Life makes me believe that Life might in fact have been a patch zerg
Is this a joke? Can't tell if the smiley is indicating sarcasm or not.
If serious, wtf. I mean sometimes I wonder if people just look at results and not the games. Life was one of those guys who's understanding of the game, mechanics, and diversity of play could shine through no matter what he did (and he wasn't the most standard Zerg either).
Even Symbol, who I'll continue to passionately defend was distinguishable even though he loved his roaches and BL/Infestor turtling. Never mind that he was breaking out prior to the queen patch still playing a similar style (he never liked mutas much).
Scarlett was even called a patchzerg at one point....yeah..
Vortix was one I thought would fall off into obscurity admittedly, but he's still doing great in HotS.
On September 14 2013 09:30 Brutaxilos wrote: Any reason why Bomber isn't going to Dreamhack?
Bomber hasnt really been going to foreign events for a little while now. And even after that DH isnt normally korean heavy at all. Remember that everyone was really shocked when Life was announced to be going to DH Summer. This DH is more the exception than the rule with so many koreans going.
Still the only Zerg I've ever respected in the BL/winfestor era. Life's games made the otherwise horribly boring and imbalanced TvZ matchup fun (it was still imbalanced, just cuz he was so much better).
On September 14 2013 11:01 Whatson wrote: Still the only Zerg I've ever respected in the BL/winfestor era. Life's games made the otherwise horribly boring and imbalanced TvZ matchup fun (it was still imbalanced, just cuz he was so much better).
this. From the games I've seen, his gameplay was better than most zergs in WoL. He's definitely not the same in HoTS though.
On September 14 2013 04:58 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I'm not sure if Life will be able to regain his old form. I hope that he can, but I don't realistically think he can compete with the likes of Bomber, TaeJa, Flash, INnoVation, or JD.
Bomber has seen slumps way worse than Life, Taeja is hardly worth being mentionned as a top 5 player (may want to replace him with soulkey or rain), JD is only doing so well because playing outside of Korea, and is still far from GSL championship level...
Yeah, no, Life can. Innovation may be trouble, but he beat MVP when everyone thought it was impossible and listed him as best player in the world. So who know?
Bomber has been in slumps that are bad, but he's not in one right now. TaeJa is definitely a top 5 player, I don't know what you're smoking (and neither Rain nor Soulkey are at DH, I don't know why I'd bring them up in a conversation about DH). JD also beat Rain, MC, and First, three of the top protoss players at the moment. He also beat Scarlett who's insanely good at ZvZ.
He also beat Mvp when Mvp's wrists were basically destroyed and when Zerg was...uhhh...OP (don't want to bring up balance but it's kind of widely accepted that Zerg was strong in WoL). He narrowly beat Mvp when Mvp was seriously injured and hasn't really reached any height of that sort since then. Winning MLG was cool and all, but has he really done anything else noteworthy?
1st place GSL 1st place MLG 1st place Blizzard Cup 1st place Iron Squid 1st place MLG
He did some noteworthy things that become even more noteworthy, because that's the longest streak of domination I can remember in sc2.
MVP didn't win Iron Squid, MMA did. MVP's kryptonite.
I think a fair amount of losing is healthy to Life in his road to become the best zerg player. He still has time. He will get there so long as he puts in the hard work.
On September 14 2013 10:00 Jerom wrote: This recent very big slump of Life makes me believe that Life might in fact have been a patch zerg
User was warned for this post
This. Just because Life plays interesting aggressive Zerg style doesn't mean he did not benefit greatly from the OPness of Zerg. Infestors saved his ass so many times in his series agains Mvp , one infestor killed like 6 vikings.
P.S. : I will never forgive Life for taking that 5th trophy of Mvp.
On September 14 2013 08:00 FlukyS wrote: Its a real shame but I think it has something to do with the current balance of the game not allowing for his specific style of play at all. Like he was known for doing random attacks and just winning games specifically against terran things like ling bling timings at the right time did so well even against the best terran players but in HotS there is widow mines to stop that as well as the old faithful counters like planetaries and even tanks if they are feeling nostalgic. So yeah I think he is still one of the best players in the world but the balance currently is slightly affecting him more than anyone else.
That isn't his biggest problem, his biggest problem is his completely perplexing and unreliable ZvZ,.
On September 14 2013 04:58 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I'm not sure if Life will be able to regain his old form. I hope that he can, but I don't realistically think he can compete with the likes of Bomber, TaeJa, Flash, INnoVation, or JD.
Bomber has seen slumps way worse than Life, Taeja is hardly worth being mentionned as a top 5 player (may want to replace him with soulkey or rain), JD is only doing so well because playing outside of Korea, and is still far from GSL championship level...
Yeah, no, Life can. Innovation may be trouble, but he beat MVP when everyone thought it was impossible and listed him as best player in the world. So who know?
Bomber has been in slumps that are bad, but he's not in one right now. TaeJa is definitely a top 5 player, I don't know what you're smoking (and neither Rain nor Soulkey are at DH, I don't know why I'd bring them up in a conversation about DH). JD also beat Rain, MC, and First, three of the top protoss players at the moment. He also beat Scarlett who's insanely good at ZvZ.
He also beat Mvp when Mvp's wrists were basically destroyed and when Zerg was...uhhh...OP (don't want to bring up balance but it's kind of widely accepted that Zerg was strong in WoL). He narrowly beat Mvp when Mvp was seriously injured and hasn't really reached any height of that sort since then. Winning MLG was cool and all, but has he really done anything else noteworthy?
1st place GSL 1st place MLG 1st place Blizzard Cup 1st place Iron Squid 1st place MLG
He did some noteworthy things that become even more noteworthy, because that's the longest streak of domination I can remember in sc2.
Longest streak of domination in sc2? What about Mvp? NesTea? MMA? DRG?
On September 14 2013 04:58 MtlGuitarist97 wrote: I'm not sure if Life will be able to regain his old form. I hope that he can, but I don't realistically think he can compete with the likes of Bomber, TaeJa, Flash, INnoVation, or JD.
Bomber has seen slumps way worse than Life, Taeja is hardly worth being mentionned as a top 5 player (may want to replace him with soulkey or rain), JD is only doing so well because playing outside of Korea, and is still far from GSL championship level...
Yeah, no, Life can. Innovation may be trouble, but he beat MVP when everyone thought it was impossible and listed him as best player in the world. So who know?
Bomber has been in slumps that are bad, but he's not in one right now. TaeJa is definitely a top 5 player, I don't know what you're smoking (and neither Rain nor Soulkey are at DH, I don't know why I'd bring them up in a conversation about DH). JD also beat Rain, MC, and First, three of the top protoss players at the moment. He also beat Scarlett who's insanely good at ZvZ.
He also beat Mvp when Mvp's wrists were basically destroyed and when Zerg was...uhhh...OP (don't want to bring up balance but it's kind of widely accepted that Zerg was strong in WoL). He narrowly beat Mvp when Mvp was seriously injured and hasn't really reached any height of that sort since then. Winning MLG was cool and all, but has he really done anything else noteworthy?
1st place GSL 1st place MLG 1st place Blizzard Cup 1st place Iron Squid 1st place MLG
He did some noteworthy things that become even more noteworthy, because that's the longest streak of domination I can remember in sc2.
MVP didn't win Iron Squid, MMA did. MVP's kryptonite.
I don't think MVP ever won a second MLG after Anaheim. And MMA 3-0d MVP in the semis of Blizzard Cup 2011
EPT
