Coming into this tournament, ST_Lifegarnered more recognition for the prestige he brought to the event rather than his chances to win it. He was no longer the unstoppable prodigy that won five premier tournaments in the winter of 2012, but a hobbled champion looking to recover his previous form. Even his Dreamhack Bucharest run seemed like a ghost of how he conquered MLG Fall and Code S. His ZvZ was rusty like a capsized boat, he looked uncertain and desperate against terran, and even foreigners were giving him a hard time.
Make no mistake: it’s premature to say that Life is back. The competition at New York was very strong but not comparable to what he will have to face in Code S. He lost two ZvZ series against HyuN and DRG earlier on in the tournament, and his crushing victory over Curious in the semi-finals can be partially attributed to the mindgames that teammates play. He did not play a single Terran over those 4 days so no one can tell whether he regained his confidence in the matchup.
If there’s anything to take away from his victory, it’s not that he has regained his top form, but he is on the road to getting there. With the exception of his ZvZ losses, he looked nothing like the bumbling fool who tripped over his own shoelaces to throw away games in the GSL and GSTL. When Life lost at IEM New York, it was in relatively close games; when he won, it was with crushing victories that make his opponents look completely outmatched. Expect Life to work on improving his consistency and become even stronger as he prepares for Dreamhack Winter, as well as his impending match against Super in Code A.
It was a bittersweet tournament for Alliance.NaNiwa, one of the few Western players who proves the Korean-foreigner dynamic is not a one-sided affair. Being an extremely intense competitor he is not the type of player who celebrates getting second place, and losing in the finals sure didn’t help his chances to reach Blizzcon either. Yet beyond the controversy of WCS points and the decision to replace ForGG with Revival (who is also on the edge of qualification), IEM New York was a success for Naniwa. He managed to beat Hack not once but twice to advance out of his group; he overthrew popular expectations that he would lose to San and Hyun. He demonstrated that he could recognize and punish the expectations of his opponents, securing a spot in the finals with a brilliant proxy 2 gate against Hyun. While he is still completely enamored with sOs-style void ray/HT, he is willing to adapt different builds according to the situation. And even though Naniwa ultimately failed against Life, only a few of those games were obvious victories for the Zerg prodigy. Several of NaNiwa's losses came down to minuscule mistakes like a misplaced zealot or a slightly late forcefield. The weight of public expectation was almost palpable during the final, let alone personal scrutiny, and he handled it with more composure than we’ve seen anyone do in a long time.
Perhaps the most action-packed game off the night, the first ten minutes were a mad scramble as both players fiercely tried to stall the other’s economy. Life initially seemed to have the advantage when he hatch blocked Naniwa’s natural and forced an additional cancel when Naniwa tried to secure his expansion. However Naniwa showcased great defensive and offensive responses, killing off Life’s third with a zealot/oracle squad while picking off queens and overlords with his phoenix follow-up. After the aggression from both sides ceased, Naniwa looked to be in an amazing position. He had taken his third base at the same time as Life, established HT/void ray production, and rebuffed a last-ditch roach/hydra push at his natural.
From there, Life slowly took back control of the game. He kept Naniwa on the back foot with constant roach attacks everywhere while transitioning into infestor/swarm host. The protoss player dealt with the attacks well yet could not replenish the workers melted by roaches, and subsequently fell behind in economy. More importantly, he lost the overwhelming advantage he once possessed in terms of unit composition. By the time Naniwa pushed out and killed Life’s third, swarm hosts were already in play and he was forced to retreat. Instead of continuing to move around the map he decided to wait at his third for a colossus switch and Life took full advantage of that passivity. The next two fights were completely one-sided in Life’s favor as he decimated the opponent’s army with fungal growth and never-ending waves of locusts. After losing all his archons and void rays in a ill-advised push up a ramp, Naniwa quickly GGed.
Game 2 (Akilon Wastes)
In contrast to the previous game, Naniwa looked completely helpless from the start. Once again Naniwa opened gateway first (and checked his natural for a proxy hatch) while Life chose hatch -> gas -> pool. After creating his gateway wall at the natural, Naniwa applied a little pressure at Life’s third with a few zealots + MSC while transitioning into stargate. However, he made his proxy pylon near the wrong base and Life overpowered the attack with pure zerglings. Once zergling speed kicked in Life never let up on the harassment. With +1 attack completed he bullied his way through the protoss’ defense, forcing multiple cancels on Naniwa’s third and picking off sentries and probes whenever possible. Meanwhile Naniwa’s oracle accomplished nothing on the other side of the screen and his void rays did little to stop the flood of speedlings. Life comfortably took a fourth and started to amass infestors while getting his hive.
With Naniwa struggling to establish his third and the ultralisk den completed, the game was essentially over. However the foreign hope refused to leave and forced Life to attack into his natural. Despite having a smaller army Naniwa managed to hold off the onslaught of ultralisks, queens, and infestors with immaculate HT control. However more speedlings decimated his third base while the main attack was occurring and Naniwa was left with a pitiful economy. A few minutes later Life arrived with more ultralisks and Naniwa could not find an adequate response.
Game 3 (Bel’Shir Vestige)
This time the roles were reversed: Naniwa opened nexus first while Life chose 14 pool. Once again Naniwa decided to assault Life’s third with some gateway units and the mothership core; once again Life pushed him back with good creep spread and minimal losses. Once again Life went for a speedling timing to kill Naniwa’s third…but this time it didn’t work out. Naniwa had set up his sim city too well and his sentry positioning made him impervious to assault. Naniwa even managed to cancel Life’s fourth with a wandering pack of void rays. After seeing this, Life decided to end the game before protoss could take his fourth. He assembled an incredible number of roaches, 10 queens, and 6 infestors for a nydus worm push that would smash through whatever meager forces Naniwa had. By the time it reached the protoss natural, Life had double the army supply of his opponent and storm was not finished. It seemed all but certain that Life would seize his third victory; he was so sure that he threw up some manner hatches right in Naniwa’s face.
However, the wall held without bending. Despite its intimidating size, Life’s army was not very cost-efficient and Naniwa exploited that fact to the fullest. He engaged small parts of it one at a time and waited for storm. Life was unable to kill off the high templar despite some good fungals and he failed to keep the queens and roaches together to fight off the void rays. By the time storm was finished, Naniwa had repelled the attack and evened out the supply. He subsequently killed Life’s fourth and fifth bases with zealot squads, putting Life in a very bad position. The zerg tried to force a second attack with a roach/hydra army but Naniwa’s immortals and HTs drove it back with terrible losses.
All those attacks came at the expense of tech and Life found himself stuck on roach/hydra. Reading the situation correctly, Naniwa elected to go for a debilitating blow before Life has the chance to recover. Unable to gather his swarm hosts in time to put up a solid defense, Life surrendered against the power of storms, zealots, and archons.
Game 4 (Whirlwind)
Naniwa went for his standard gateway expand while Life opened hatch first. Lucky spawning positions allowed Life’s overlord to spot a pylon at Naniwa’s natural, and he responded with a third hatchery at 3:00. Naniwa anticipated this and tried to punish Life with a DT rush. The plan almost worked except for one missed forcefield (or lack of energy?). Life exploited this and streamed zerglings into his opponent’s natural before the dark shrine could complete, and was forced to warp in DTs defensively just to avoid losing the game. Since his forward pylon was picked off at the same time, NaNiwa had no chance of slipping in a DT before Life had more than enough detection ready. Naniwa bailed out of his initial strategy, getting two stargates and taking his third.
It was a precarious move and quickly punished. Life swarmed Naniwa’s third and natural with roach/ling, killing the third and the wall to the natural. Seeing his huge economic advantage, he decided to gear up for a killing move. Like in Game 3 Life used all his larvae to build a huge roach/hydra force, backed up by mass queen and utilizing a nydus worm to bypass the map. And just like in Game 3 it failed. By the time Life reached his destination and queued up the manner hatches, Naniwa had 9 void rays and plenty of energy on his sentries. Naniwa slaughtered the zerg army and decided to go all-in with a counter push. Despite running out of minerals in his main, Naniwa’s final army (with some great control) looked like it might be strong enough to end the game.
Life conceded his third and scampered back to his natural to attempt a final hold. At the same time he sent a pack of roaches into Naniwa’s natural, killing off all the probes there and cutting off all of NaNiwa's income. Naniwa continued to superbly micro his void rays, but without an economy to back it up, his push eventually ran out of steam. A ragtag squad of hydralisks, drones, and infestors killed off his remaining void rays and Naniwa conceded the match.
Game 5 (Yeonsu)
Life went 14 pool -> hatch while Naniwa opened standard. Due to the architecture of the map Life decided to stay on two bases and went for double upgrades along with lair. This worked somewhat well against Naniwa’s stargate transition as Life’s mass queen follow-up was too much for the phoenixes to fight head-on. However, Naniwa still made his phoenix fleet useful and garnered 13 drone kills while taking his own third. Unlike his previous games Life did not try to stop this besides sending a few token zerglings for harassment. Instead he started producing swarm hosts and more queens.
This straight-to-swarm-hosts strategy did not work out as well as Life had planned. Naniwa was able to scout out Life's plan early and immediately threw down two robotics facilities. With some excellent zealot harassment Naniwa kept Life’s army occupied while he built up a sizable colossus count. This allowed him to snipe Life’s fourth and fifth bases while giving him the space to take his own fourth. By the time Life finished his greater spire, Naniwa had assembled the ultimate Protoss army and was itching for a fight. Naniwa seized his opportunity when Life moved his entire army forward to pressure the opponent’s fourth. Naniwa’s army cleaned house and Life was left with nothing to defend the counter-push. Naniwa promptly walked to Life’s fourth and forced the GG.
Game 6 (Frost)
With a chance to tie things up at 3-3, Naniwa went back to the tried-and-true DT build that walloped Hyun on the same map. Naniwa knew that Life hadn't been prepared for DTs back in Game 4 and wouldn’t have found out if he didn’t succeed with his big zergling runby. Sadly, Naniwa’s gambit was figured out before it even got into play. Due to the spawning positions Life snuck an overlord behind Naniwa’s natural and was able to scout the dark shrine finishing up. To make matters worse, Life’s zerglings found and killed the forward probe.
Once again in a tough spot, Naniwa selected to take a quick third and use his DTs to defend it. This appeared to be the proper decision as his DTs stalled the subsequent ling runbys long enough for the nexus to finish. However Naniwa immediately dropped two stargates afterward, and lacked the production to hold off the next wave of attacks. Life crushed the third with a massive number of zerglings and broke into the main base for some probe kills. By the time Naniwa cleaned up his main hydralisks are already being pumped out and rallied to his natural. The number of hydras proved too much for Naniwa’s scanty army to handle and he surrendered the championship to Life.
"And even though Naniwa ultimately failed against Life, only a few of those games were obvious victories for the Zerg prodigy. Several of NaNiwa's losses came down to minuscule mistakes like a misplaced zealot or a slightly late forcefield." a little bias don't you think? Life lost that third game against Naniwa because he got cocky and decided to start playing around. How do I know? We saw him manner hatchery during his attack and then proceed to lose right after. Even life himself was laughing after that game. He knew that he overdid it with the cockiness lol. He almost lost game 4 as a result of that as well XD Game 5 was lost by life also due to his mistake. His greater spire finished but he was too hasty in setting up a contain before he started morphing his corruptors so Naniwa moved in right before he did. Honestly, I feel like Naniwa got lucky otherwise life would've taken that too lol.
Good writeup otherwise. Life stomped Naniwa and probably would've won 4-0 if it wasn't for game 3. That game 1 though, I would recommend over the rest. Life came back for what seemed like a deficient with amazing money fungals on some zealots effectively cutting a good chunk of Naniwa's army and then proceeded to demolish him afterwards. Nevertheless, the games were good to watch
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
To be fair, Nani got to study Hero vs Life bo5. I think his PvZ style is got figured out by life. Should have toss in some immortal sentry in or something lol.
On October 16 2013 09:38 BigFan wrote: "And even though Naniwa ultimately failed against Life, only a few of those games were obvious victories for the Zerg prodigy. Several of NaNiwa's losses came down to minuscule mistakes like a misplaced zealot or a slightly late forcefield." a little bias don't you think? Life lost that third game against Naniwa because he got cocky and decided to start playing around. How do I know? We saw him manner hatchery during his attack and then proceed to lose right after. Even life himself was laughing after that game. He knew that he overdid it with the cockiness lol. He almost lost game 4 as a result of that as well XD Game 5 was lost by life also due to his mistake. His greater spire finished but he was too hasty in setting up a contain before he started morphing his corruptors so Naniwa moved in right before he did. Honestly, I feel like Naniwa got lucky otherwise life would've taken that too lol.
Good writeup otherwise. Life stomped Naniwa and probably would've won 4-0 if it wasn't for game 3. That game 1 though, I would recommend over the rest. Life came back for what seemed like a deficient with amazing money fungals on some zealots effectively cutting a good chunk of Naniwa's army and then proceeded to demolish him afterwards. Nevertheless, the games were good to watch
Naniwa lost Game 1 and 4 also due to his own mistakes (played too passive Game 1 when having a lead, did not kill the Hydra Den in Game 4) . Also, there is barely a foreign protoss (and not many korean either) who would have been able to hold Lifes Attack in Game 3 and 4.
DT are insanely effective vs Life's style of play with counters everywhere. When there's a DT in the choke, roaches can't kill the zealot and runby. He could have warped in DTs as well instead of zealots which couldn't hold off the roaches and would eventually burrow and regen. I thought that was above and beyond Naniwa's biggest flaw in play throughout the entire series in the games he had DT Shrine and the games he didn't.
On October 16 2013 10:31 Whatson wrote: If Life hadn't spent most of the last half of game 3 trolling around it would've been 4-0.
Oh well...Life still showed he was the superior player, even though at times he tried his hardest to go full-foreigner.
If Naniwa had killed the hydra den in game 4, or warped in 1-2 DTs in his natural, he would have won game 4 and it would have been 2-2. If game 5 would have gone the same it would then be 2-3 in favour of Naniwa. And we will never know how game 6 would end with different spawn positions, but at all other spawn positions Life wouldn't have been able to scout the dark shrine.
I don't see how people can possibly say that Life won this easily when it was damn close, besides by being terribly biased. Is it so hard to accept Naniwa could beat Life?
On October 16 2013 17:01 Zealously wrote: You can't talk about how close Naniwa was to winning both games without talking about Life's Tefel-level throws
I also don't want to imply that Naniwa should have won it, I just think it is really biased to act like Life won it easily and it wasn't really a challenge for him.
I really enjoyed following Naniwa through the tournament, the great series against San, and I simply couldn't believe how he could get back in the semis against Hyun after being down 2-0. I had given up all hope myself. I expect that anyone would be a bit low on adrenalin in the final after having gone through such an intense match series in the semis.
Amazing tournament and 2 players I like won so I was really happy about everything except the final result in which I would have wanted to see NaNiwa win instead, but hey Life deserved to win and played amazingly all tournament
Even though I'm Swedish and even though I like Naniwa, I'm so happy Life finally got another title! He was my all-time favourite WoL player and I've missed watching him kill.
On October 16 2013 17:01 Zealously wrote: You can't talk about how close Naniwa was to winning both games without talking about Life's Tefel-level throws
Throwish, but Tefel-level is definately pushing it..
On October 16 2013 16:07 FabledIntegral wrote: DT are insanely effective vs Life's style of play with counters everywhere. When there's a DT in the choke, roaches can't kill the zealot and runby. He could have warped in DTs as well instead of zealots which couldn't hold off the roaches and would eventually burrow and regen. I thought that was above and beyond Naniwa's biggest flaw in play throughout the entire series in the games he had DT Shrine and the games he didn't.
And if he brings an overseer this doesn't work. It's the reason why Naniwa lost Game 6 as he tried to transition to double stargate.
Starcraft is a game of Strategy and well placed attacks. Naniwa could of made this a 7 Game series but out off all the races Protoss is the race you cant make mistakes with and win. Some of the mistakes that Naniwa did to me, cost him some games. Now i know if you make a mistake with Zerg or Terran it can cost you the game but when looking at all races Protoss is the one where if you lose your main army or if you allow lings to run in and do damage you are extremely behind.
I was in love with the gameplay and PvZ is my Fav match to watch. I give Naniwa SO much credit for holding off incredible attacks from Life. My Jaw was dropping when i saw Naniwa hold off a massive attack. Personally Naniwa is the Best foreigner out there right now. Scarlett is just a tad behind him currently due to the break she had.
I think this game is pretty well balanced and although i was sad to see my Protoss brother go down by a Zerg i enjoyed all the games played.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
Lol believe what you want, but you obviously weren't watching the same games and didn't see life manner hatch two games in a row. You try to be cute by editing the quote, however your editing has no basis in reality as naniwa wasn't goofing around, whereas life goofing around is fact. Let me know when naniwa was throwing down manner nexi and goofing around.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
Lol believe what you want, but you obviously weren't watching the same games and didn't see life manner hatch two games in a row. You try to be cute by editing the quote, however your editing has no basis in reality as naniwa wasn't goofing around, whereas life goofing around is fact. Let me know when naniwa was throwing down manner nexi and goofing around.
Players at GSL level throw down manner hatches/nexi/cc's all the time, but it doesn't necessarily mean they're goofing around. They're just trying to get in their opponent's head.
The fact that Life dropped 2 games, and that game 4 came down to the wire and was really anyone's game, shows that the series was quite close and Naniwa gave Life a run for his money. Had Life had one less spore or hydra in game 4, we might have gone on to game 7, and game 7 might have ended with a Protoss victory.
I was legitimately excited, as that was one of the closest series we've ever had between a tip-top Korean pro and a foreigner. No need to downplay it by saying Life was messing around and not giving it his all. Naniwa is for real, and showed ballzy, Mvp-like nerves of steel when he went for that proxy against Hyun in their 5th game. Naniwa is the Stephano, or foreign hope, for Protoss.
However, congratulations to Life, his ability to abuse zerglings is impressive to watch. Hope to see him back in action in Code S soon.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
Lol believe what you want, but you obviously weren't watching the same games and didn't see life manner hatch two games in a row. You try to be cute by editing the quote, however your editing has no basis in reality as naniwa wasn't goofing around, whereas life goofing around is fact. Let me know when naniwa was throwing down manner nexi and goofing around.
There are two ways to read the manner nexi: Either it was what the previous poster said just a form of mindgames.
Or option B: Life thought he already won the game. Which means he seriously misread the game, twice. That doesn't mean he was easily winning, it means he was making a real mistake.
Can also be a bit of a combination of those two. But saying putting down manner nexi when your attack is getting slaughtered is a sign you are winning is a bit weird.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
Lol believe what you want, but you obviously weren't watching the same games and didn't see life manner hatch two games in a row. You try to be cute by editing the quote, however your editing has no basis in reality as naniwa wasn't goofing around, whereas life goofing around is fact. Let me know when naniwa was throwing down manner nexi and goofing around.
Can also be a bit of a combination of those two. But saying putting down manner nexi when your attack is getting slaughtered is a sign you are winning is a bit weird.
We'll never agree on this because we don't see the games the same way. Life was easily winning and then he got overconfident, cocky and started messing around. He started throwing down manner hatches and then basically stopped playing and just a-moved his army up the ramp repeatedly and kept getting ff and rocked by voids on the high ground.
This happened 3 games in a row. He lost the first manner hatch game, barely won the second manner hatch game and then in the last game he lost he stopped manner hatching, but instead just chose to throw his army away. He had a huge bank and broodlords morphing. Does he wait for them? No he decides to move his army up a ramp again to get ff and destroyed by col from high ground.
His overconfidence and misread of the games were a mistake. That is not in dispute. The two are mutually exclusive. He was easily winning up to that point, then decided to troll and stop playing seriously. The series showed that naniwa is good enough where life can't troll him like dragon does his opponents during his troll streams and I give naniwa credit for that. As much as I don't like naniwa, I do admit he is a good foreigner.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
To be fair, Nani got to study Hero vs Life bo5. I think his PvZ style is got figured out by life. Should have toss in some immortal sentry in or something lol.
Man are you kidding life was the only one able to stop the soul train back when the conductor was basically undefeated with it, parting use to tell his opponents in the lobby before the game would start that he was going to use it and they were still helpless lol
i dont know about the goofing, but it was good for me after a few months away from sc2 to see life hit the wall and still manage to climb it, heres hoping his form is on the up. Also Nani is a very emotional player and a try hard, i just dont see him goofing around very much....ever. Either way if Nani won id have been happy to see him win (always go for the foreigner) but imo despite his poor form recently and his age life is a far better player and should have won anyway. just my opinion.
On October 16 2013 16:07 FabledIntegral wrote: DT are insanely effective vs Life's style of play with counters everywhere. When there's a DT in the choke, roaches can't kill the zealot and runby. He could have warped in DTs as well instead of zealots which couldn't hold off the roaches and would eventually burrow and regen. I thought that was above and beyond Naniwa's biggest flaw in play throughout the entire series in the games he had DT Shrine and the games he didn't.
And if he brings an overseer this doesn't work. It's the reason why Naniwa lost Game 6 as he tried to transition to double stargate.
Except it does. It's a completely different style, they aren't different whatsoever. DTs are strong vs multipronged harassment, counter attacks, etc. Not easy to bring overseers constantly with those. Completely different when you're doing an entirely different strategy as in game 6, where he was going for a concentrated bust and not shooting for chaotic pulls in every direction.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
<3
P.S. Enjoyed the write up THanks!
Kiddin' right? 4-2 in bo7 with close games, nani coming from a really tense semifinal bo5.
Life road in brackteplay 3-0 bo5 and semifinals 3-0 bo5. He looks like a different player in bo5 compared to bo7 i think you meant to say.
Naniwa was never going to win the finals, and I say this as a Naniwa fan as well. He played insanely well, but I just don't see how Naniwa is on Life's level.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
<3
P.S. Enjoyed the write up THanks!
Kiddin' right? 4-2 in bo7 with close games, nani coming from a really tense semifinal bo5.
Life road in brackteplay 3-0 bo5 and semifinals 3-0 bo5. He looks like a different player in bo5 compared to bo7 i think you meant to say.
Naniwa was never going to win the finals, and I say this as a Naniwa fan as well. He played insanely well, but I just don't see how Naniwa is on Life's level.
I know Life was dominating hard during a period in WoL but in hotsLife has been mediocre (korean code s level mediocre that is) for quite a while now. Nobody was really talking about him until this IEM and now he is the best again all of the sudden?... I would say Naniwa winnig against Life in a bo7 is as likely as Naniwa winning vs Hyun after being 0-2 in a bo5.
Man I wanted this one for Nani. I really thought if Nani and Scarlett could make it to Blizzcon it would be one of the greatest stories to date. Now Nani still might make it and Scarlett is down and out.
On October 16 2013 12:28 tili wrote: Life is so dominant in bo7. He looks like a different player compared with bo3.
He watched a foreigner (albeit Nani is amazing) play a 5 game PvZ semi then beat him in a close Bo7. You're not making sense.
It was only close because life was overconfident and playing around. Had life tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watched that series would know that. It only looked close because life let it look like that with his fooling around.
Naniwa only lost because he was overconfident. Had Naniwa tried his best it would have been a 4-0 bopping. Anyone who watches that series would know that. It only looked close because Naniwa let it look like this with his fooling around.
Because of course, imagine that a non-Korean would beat Life, impossible. In the end it doesn't even matter, if Life would have lost due to overconfidence he would still have lost because he couldn't handle it.
Lol believe what you want, but you obviously weren't watching the same games and didn't see life manner hatch two games in a row. You try to be cute by editing the quote, however your editing has no basis in reality as naniwa wasn't goofing around, whereas life goofing around is fact. Let me know when naniwa was throwing down manner nexi and goofing around.
Can also be a bit of a combination of those two. But saying putting down manner nexi when your attack is getting slaughtered is a sign you are winning is a bit weird.
We'll never agree on this because we don't see the games the same way. Life was easily winning and then he got overconfident, cocky and started messing around. He started throwing down manner hatches and then basically stopped playing and just a-moved his army up the ramp repeatedly and kept getting ff and rocked by voids on the high ground.
This happened 3 games in a row. He lost the first manner hatch game, barely won the second manner hatch game and then in the last game he lost he stopped manner hatching, but instead just chose to throw his army away. He had a huge bank and broodlords morphing. Does he wait for them? No he decides to move his army up a ramp again to get ff and destroyed by col from high ground.
His overconfidence and misread of the games were a mistake. That is not in dispute. The two are mutually exclusive. He was easily winning up to that point, then decided to troll and stop playing seriously. The series showed that naniwa is good enough where life can't troll him like dragon does his opponents during his troll streams and I give naniwa credit for that. As much as I don't like naniwa, I do admit he is a good foreigner.
What you say here is true, but a lot of these mistakes are the trade off for Life being such an aggressive zerg. He plays an impatient style, sometimes attacks at the wrong angle or time, it is to be expected.
That said, game 3 was a super throw, however game 1 was also a throw on Naniwa's part. The first game is also the most important game in any series.
But this IEM was insaaaaaane, so well commentated, so much spectacle for the semi adn final. Like WTF naniwa's run and Life craaaaazzy stances in his gameplay. I need to watch the other games, any advices or favorite games to watch?
Starcraft I am sorry for having doubting you. My life for Sc2! People should spread the word about those ZvP games, insane, unbelievable.
EPT
ST_Life garnered more recognition for the prestige he brought to the event rather than his chances to win it. He was no longer the unstoppable prodigy that won five premier tournaments in the winter of 2012, but a hobbled champion looking to recover his previous form. Even his Dreamhack Bucharest run seemed like a ghost of how he conquered MLG Fall and Code S. His ZvZ was rusty like a capsized boat, he looked uncertain and desperate against terran, and even foreigners were giving him a hard time. ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/iem/nyc2013/iemnybracket_full.png)
Super in Code A. 
Life lost that third game against Naniwa because he got cocky and decided to start playing around. How do I know? We saw him manner hatchery during his attack and then proceed to lose right after. Even life himself was laughing after that game. He knew that he overdid it with the cockiness lol. He almost lost game 4 as a result of that as well XD Game 5 was lost by life also due to his mistake. His greater spire finished but he was too hasty in setting up a contain before he started morphing his corruptors so Naniwa moved in right before he did. Honestly, I feel like Naniwa got lucky otherwise life would've taken that too lol.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/UcJ5UFH.jpg)
