What do you do once you've beaten the world's best players in front of a giant audience to win $100,000?
Why, you do it again!
After winning $100,000 at last November's WCS Global Finals at BlizzCon, JinAir_sOs went on to earn his second $100,000 payday in four months with a 4-1 victory over CJ Entus' herO in the finals of the IEM Season 8 World Championship.
Heading into the finals, herO looked to be evenly matched, or perhaps even the favorite against the WCS Global Champion. He had made himself the star of IEM Season 8 by winning back to back titles at Singapore and Sao Paulo, and boasted a 70% win rate in PvP on the year. On the other hand, sOs performances leading up to IEM Katowice had sent mixed messages. Dismal performances in Proleague's round one cast a shadow over his WCS title run, but an easy run to the Code S quarterfinals had some of his fellow competitors willing to declare him a top championship contender.
It soon became clear that 'sOs playing for $100,000' was an opponent of an entirely different caliber than any herO had faced before. Having already cannon rushed Jaedong mercilessly at the BlizzCon finals, sOs had no qualms about opening up the IEM finals with a devious, in-base proxy 2-gate rush. Getting caught completely off guard by the attack, herO was forced to GG out despite putting in an admirable defensive effort.
Opening up a grand finals with a cheese rush is already a daring move. But to open up with two cheese rushes of the same kind? Surely no one would be so heartless or audacious to attempt such a thing. Or so herO thought, right before sOs' zealots suddenly appeared in the middle of his base in game two. After another spirited defensive effort, herO had no choice but to GG once more. Known for his unfaltering smile as much as his considerable skills, herO started to look visibly uncomfortable in the IEM booth for the first time.
herO was able to at least momentarily stop the bleeding in game three, recovering a point to make the best of seven series score 1-2. sOs had taken a different kind of risk with a detection-less blink all-in, but was easily countered and defeated by herO's dark templar rush. Yet, that defeat did not stop sOs from taking yet another huge risk in game four. This time it was a gamble of an entirely different kind, with sOs going for a nexus-first expansion on the wide and sprawling Alterzim Stronghold.
It seemed that herO had called sOs' bluff once more as he went for a blink-stalker rush off one base, one that looked certain to crush sOs' greedy play and tie the series 2-2. Yet, against all odds, sOs found a way to mount a remarkable defense without any knowledge of his opponent's strategy. Even with an observer as the first unit out of his robotics facility instead of an immortal, and even with his mothership core shot down after using just one instance of photon overcharge, sOs hung on. Microing his units superbly and fighting with just the right number of probes needed, sOs survived as he waited for each new immortal to be produced. Slowly, but surely, he stabilized. Once the last of the blink stalkers were forced out of sOs' base, the rest of the game was but a formality as the two-base sOs counter attacked the one-base herO to force the GG.
Though the series would go on for one more game, one could say it had already ended at 3-1 for sOs. In game five, herO went for a proxy strategy of his own, but without the full-blown, no-looking-back approach of sOs. Proxying just one gate in sOs' natural, herO looked to deal some light pressure while transitioning to a normal game back at home. Unfortunately for herO, it could only look like the nerves and pressure had finally got to him as his famed micro failed him at the most crucial of moments. sOs had no problem handling the proxy attack, quickly gaining a big enough advantage to immediately launch a counter-offensive. herO's control of his units was no better on defense than it was on offense and he quickly crumbled to just three stalkers. With sOs' stalkers dancing in his base, herO put his head in his hands, gathered himself for a few moments, and finally declared the final GG.
For the second time in four months, sOs paraded around the stage with an oversize trophy in hand, wearing a smile that could only belong to someone who had just won $100,000. For the second time in four months, sOs came into a tournament with so little hype that his Ro16 match was forced off the main stage, but made sure he was the only one left standing in the spotlight at the end. There was only one thing that had changed in four months: this time, at the end of it all, there was no doubt about who was the best player in the world.
Unofficial IEM Katowice Awards
Here's a list of notable and memorable things from IEM in award format. For the first time ever, we can say our awards are paying out just as much as getting 2nd place at IEM.
Best Comeback:herO's comeback against HyuN in the Ro16 was as much a throw from HyuN as it was a display of great play from herO. Even so, the ending was still one of the most dramatic ones we've ever seen, and herO's micro was out of this world.
Best Comeback #2: herO was so good at comebacks he deserves another award that doesn't pay anything. Facing San on Polar Night, herO conjured up yet another come from behind victory.
Craziest Strategy That Worked: sOs has been a mad scientist ever since HotS was released, but he unveiled his craziest creation yet against jjakji by going for mass carriers against bio. While this strategy probably won't be widely copied or change the meta-game like some of other sOs' innovations, it was sure damn fun to watch.
Craziest Strategy That Didn't Work: TaeJa's float to gold into not-all-in against StarDust had us scratching our heads, to put it lightly.
Sickest Nerd Shoes: Starting this season, IEM started handing out custom sneakers to the winners of its "Sick Nerd Baller" award at every tournament. HyuN and herO finally got to pick up their shoes in Katowice, and they were truly possessed a sickness worthy of their namesake. HyuN received Spider-man themed kicks to match his Spider-man ceremony at IEM New York, while herO's were themed after the national flags of Brazil and Singapore, the two countries he won IEMs in.
Most Dramatic Drama: Love him or hate him, you have to admit that NaNiwa's mid-series forfeiture was one of the most interesting things to happen on the weekend.
Weirdest Game: Against Polt, herO showed us it's possible to be winning by such a huge margin that you actually forget the rules of the game. After coming out on top of a base trade with a commanding advantage in terms of bank, army, and workers, herO somehow managed to forget that not having any buildings means YOU LOSE THE GAME. Considering how herO won against San, it was all the more perplexing.
Most Infuriating Series:Taeja vs. Life wins this award on two accounts. First off, it was a fantastically entertaining series that made us angry about all the PvP's we're going to see instead of TvZ in the upcoming months. Second, Life made some really bad manual detonation errors with his banelings, throwing away some games that could have been won. That was infuriating for both fans of Life and for people who wanted to see the series go all five games.
Best All-Around Game: In a tournament full of memorable games, there was one game that managed to stand out above the rest. Jjakji vs Revival showed that mech vs swarm hosts isn't boring by default - it all depends on how the two players want to play it. So go write Soulkey and Reality some mean letters and enjoy this match.
Also interesting that people don't hate sOs as much as they did Puma back in his 2x NASL championships. I guess it is because sOs has a better smile and carriers.
On March 17 2014 10:35 neoghaleon55 wrote: Also interesting that people don't hate sOs as much as they did Puma back in his 2x NASL championships. I guess it is because sOs has a better smile and carriers.
On March 17 2014 10:35 neoghaleon55 wrote: Also interesting that people don't hate sOs as much as they did Puma back in his 2x NASL championships. I guess it is because sOs has a better smile and carriers.
Wasn't Puma one of the first Koreans to fully commit to foreigner tournaments and start "stealing money" from poor hunger foreigners? He was also a prolific user of the 1-1-1 at a time when Protoss win rates were something like 38%-40%
When it's just the one guy (and doing a pretty abusive build to boot) he's going to get a lot more attention (hate). It's pretty common place now, not a single foreigner won a premier event in 2013.
On March 17 2014 10:35 neoghaleon55 wrote: Also interesting that people don't hate sOs as much as they did Puma back in his 2x NASL championships. I guess it is because sOs has a better smile and carriers.
Wasn't Puma one of the first Koreans to fully commit to foreigner tournaments and start "stealing money" from poor hunger foreigners? He was also a prolific user of the 1-1-1 at a time when Protoss win rates were something like 38%-40%
When it's just the one guy (and doing a pretty abusive build to boot) he's going to get a lot more attention (hate). It's pretty common place now, not a single foreigner won a premier event in 2013.
Get used to that trend unless State gets really really good in Korea and starts taking part in premier events
On March 17 2014 11:00 Scarecrow wrote: Hero vs San game 3 was the biggest comeback imo. Great tourney in terms of games it`s just a shame the final sucked.
Man it really sucks that herO had all those really great series and just gets nothing because of a shitty pvp final
like, grats to sOs for the mind games and such, but really... that was such a terrible series, and herO played so well up to that point... super disappointed with the WTA format tbh :C
Isn't there gonna be a GSL global championship after season 1 ends? What if he qualifies for that, then wins that too? Whatever the case, he just needs a GSL win for that triple crown.
I think sOs performs better the more money is on the line, like hands down. He gives zero fucks about what people think about his play, cause, at the end of the day, they didn't just win 100,000 dollars. Seriously though, compared to sOs, MVP and MC are so honorable in their play
On March 17 2014 03:09 Master Blaster wrote: How many viewers did the final get??? I had a bet on whether it would reach 100k...
It did reach 100k
we had 122 k
+30k on the chinese stream. And add to that the SPOTV viewers (korea) but they did not give away numbers.
so 152 k + SPOTV at the peak.
That picture looks alot like the total viewers for a single game list on twitch. Still I bet 120k of it was IEM. Very nice! I thought the bad time for it may hurt but I was wrong!
And as usual, Totalbiscut was right when he said they'd break 100k easy
On March 17 2014 11:37 GTPGlitch wrote: Man it really sucks that herO had all those really great series and just gets nothing because of a shitty pvp final
like, grats to sOs for the mind games and such, but really... that was such a terrible series, and herO played so well up to that point... super disappointed with the WTA format tbh :C
Totally agree! And for a guy who's career winnings is something like 28k it's really unfortunate I hope sOs treated him to a fancy meal or bought him some shit to make up for it. WTA was nice and all in theory, but it didn't raise viewers until the finals, which Cologne actually had more concurrent viewers throughout the tournament, so that failed. And it wasn't any more "hype" than usual. The games make the hype themselves, and a winner take all format when PvP finals has been happening all but 1 tournament so far just didn't work out. Timing is usually everything, and I'm sure if there was more stability as far as balance goes, it could have been different, but all in all i think it failed in it's goal. I'm totally down for some more non-WTA formats and I hope they don't do it again next year.
Teamliquid front page stories also misuse the word 'throw'. Can we stop propagating this in the e-sports community?
To throw a game in any sense of the word means to lose on purpose, usually in reference to match-fixing and the likes. For some reason, the e-sports community has tossed this word about so it it just means 'losing a game from your own mistakes when you should not have because you were way ahead'.
Please, anyone new to esports will not only be confused, when they realize it is just people using it incorrectly, it just gives the community an immature image.
On March 17 2014 11:37 GTPGlitch wrote: Man it really sucks that herO had all those really great series and just gets nothing because of a shitty pvp final
like, grats to sOs for the mind games and such, but really... that was such a terrible series, and herO played so well up to that point... super disappointed with the WTA format tbh :C
Totally agree! And for a guy who's career winnings is something like 28k it's really unfortunate I hope sOs treated him to a fancy meal or bought him some shit to make up for it. WTA was nice and all in theory, but it didn't raise viewers until the finals, which Cologne actually had more concurrent viewers throughout the tournament, so that failed. And it wasn't any more "hype" than usual. The games make the hype themselves, and a winner take all format when PvP finals has been happening all but 1 tournament so far just didn't work out. Timing is usually everything, and I'm sure if there was more stability as far as balance goes, it could have been different, but all in all i think it failed in it's goal. I'm totally down for some more non-WTA formats and I hope they don't do it again next year.
kespa players actually receive monthly salary, so they don't have to depend on tournament winnings to survive.
So I finally got around to watching the mass carriers game, and I'm pretty sure the storms and hidden expansions did more to win that game than the carriers. Oh and the fact that he somehow held a max supply push while on 4 gateways and 90 probes. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen.
On March 17 2014 15:09 Iceman331 wrote: So I finally got around to watching the mass carriers game, and I'm pretty sure the storms and hidden expansions did more to win that game than the carriers. Oh and the fact that he somehow held a max supply push while on 4 gateways and 90 probes. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen.
Maybe he held that because had more than six +3 carriers?
On March 17 2014 15:09 Iceman331 wrote: So I finally got around to watching the mass carriers game, and I'm pretty sure the storms and hidden expansions did more to win that game than the carriers. Oh and the fact that he somehow held a max supply push while on 4 gateways and 90 probes. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen.
The storms were the support, after those were used to soften the Terran the Carriers did the rest. They Obliterated the Viking Fleet, then laid waste to the marines in no time. He lost one Carrier to a max supply push at his 3rd base. Then another max supply bio army met the fleet in the middle of the map. They were wiped out and the Protoss was at 192 supply after that fight
On March 17 2014 10:35 neoghaleon55 wrote: Also interesting that people don't hate sOs as much as they did Puma back in his 2x NASL championships. I guess it is because sOs has a better smile and carriers.
You sure? A lot of people hated PuMa that even Huskystarcraft had to downplay the hate when he casted his games on his channel. Also, when Puma was doing badly in Proleague, a lot of people made fun of him for not having 1-1-1 handy anymore against Protoss.
On March 17 2014 11:37 GTPGlitch wrote: Man it really sucks that herO had all those really great series and just gets nothing because of a shitty pvp final
like, grats to sOs for the mind games and such, but really... that was such a terrible series, and herO played so well up to that point... super disappointed with the WTA format tbh :C
Totally agree! And for a guy who's career winnings is something like 28k it's really unfortunate I hope sOs treated him to a fancy meal or bought him some shit to make up for it. WTA was nice and all in theory, but it didn't raise viewers until the finals, which Cologne actually had more concurrent viewers throughout the tournament, so that failed. And it wasn't any more "hype" than usual. The games make the hype themselves, and a winner take all format when PvP finals has been happening all but 1 tournament so far just didn't work out. Timing is usually everything, and I'm sure if there was more stability as far as balance goes, it could have been different, but all in all i think it failed in it's goal. I'm totally down for some more non-WTA formats and I hope they don't do it again next year.
kespa players actually receive monthly salary, so they don't have to depend on tournament winnings to survive.
Most players receive a monthly salary, but that salary usually isn't much to speak of. Kespa is no exception.
If they had nerfed blink in the last patch, we would have seen a much different IEM outcome. its quite sad to see someone win so much just because the meta game is at a strange point because of the patch mid season.
And really, a bo7 final with 3 out of 5 games cheese.. great to watch
On March 17 2014 17:09 Sanobot wrote: If they had nerfed blink in the last patch, we would have seen a much different IEM outcome. its quite sad to see someone win so much just because the meta game is at a strange point because of the patch mid season.
And really, a bo7 final with 3 out of 5 games cheese.. great to watch
Good cheese is pure entertainment. Liked this series a lot.
Lackluster Finals, especially when you consider the caliber of games we've had throughout the tournament. However sOs played that out brilliantly, I'm fairly certain herO's 4 gate Blink and Proxy Gate, were builds he did not want to use.
One of the worst final, the worst I watched so far. Still happy that sOs made it, and pretty happy he cheesed herO twice in a row. Too bad "blinks timings" cant counter two gates proxies :D
I've been following the SC2 scene closely lately and haven't seen a player like sOs. He can play macro games, he can cheese, he has good micro, he is creative and fun to watch, he looks calm, shy and modest as well. If he was terran or zerg, I would have liked him no matter that. The image that he creates is amazing, the image of a professional athlete and champion. Props to that. He is what makes the game fun to play and watch. At least makes it appealing to me, showing its diversity at every moment he can. His performance throughout the global finals and IEM were all I need. Good Job !
Had to travel a couple hours to get to Katowice. Got to see three amazing series and the grand finals. Loved it and I'll probably return next year. Also, got to eat at the best burger place I've been to :D
On March 17 2014 10:23 NovaMB wrote: IEM wanted to crown a champion, and they did.
They crowned the player that wanted to win the most, the one that gave the least amount of fucks. sOs came to Katowice to win, and he sure did.
GG sOs.
in terms of fucks given, sOs is getting up to idra level. in terms of "lemme fuckin win", he's probably on mvp level. and above all, he's protoss, which means he plays the race where you really can tailor builds just the way you want to. protoss moved so much from "which allin is gonna hit me" to the "harass, allin, macro, i can do everything"-thing
On March 17 2014 18:20 sharkie wrote: Because so many tried to say 2nd place will be crushed and the commentators tried to make it important that 2nd place gets nothing.
Maybe add this picture to the OP?
Nice photo. :D
I hope herO doesn't get down over the loss, though if anyone is in a position to not be too upset over it, it would be herO, as he's been winning a bit lately.
My favorite part about this thread are the people mis reading neoghalleon(probably spelt it wrong, sorry)'s comment about sos being hated less then puma.
I spit my drink out when Artosis said "SOS means SOOO SICK." That pretty much sums up this tournament. He does things which shouldn't work and makes himself look brilliant while doing it. He's so entertaining to watch.
That was my first eSport event I've attended to and man it did deliver :D Awesome games, professional production and great crowd. Really happy to be there and see it all live! Big thanks to whole crew and all the people that made it possible, it was a blast! :D Congrats to sOs, my beloved Pro I knew it from the start! :D
On March 14 2014 18:03 egrimm wrote: Prediction Time
On March 17 2014 20:13 egrimm wrote: That was my first eSport event I've attended to and man it did deliver :D Awesome games, professional production and great crowd. Really happy to be there and see it all live! Big thanks to whole crew and all the people that made it possible, it was a blast! :D Congrats to sOs, my beloved Pro I knew it from the start! :D
On March 17 2014 21:03 SeriousLus wrote: just another pathetic 4-1 finals.. and they spent an ENTIRE day for that shit... oh and it was PvP so..... fuck it
It was not all for Starcraft though. I watched the Swedes getting second place in CS:GO, herO get second place in sc2, Fnatic get second place in LoL and Artosis get second place in Heartstone. It was a packed day.
On March 17 2014 21:03 SeriousLus wrote: just another pathetic 4-1 finals.. and they spent an ENTIRE day for that shit... oh and it was PvP so..... fuck it
It was not all for Starcraft though. I watched the Swedes getting second place in CS:GO, herO get second place in sc2, Fnatic get second place in LoL and Artosis get second place in Heartstone. It was a packed day.
I watched Poles getting first place in CS:GO and Gnimsh first in Heartstone, sOs first place in sc2 and KT rolster in LoL
sOs deserved the title, no doubt about it. He's a hardworking innovative man and he handled the pressure very well. I'm sure his future matches in the R16 will be featured this time ^^ But I felt really bad for herO. He provided so many awesome games, comebacks and smiles even in defeat, and going home empty like this is really painful. I hope he finds relieve somehow and this doesn't affect him in his future SPL/GSL matches. He has to be happy with his performances, and with the 800 WCS points gained he's close to secure a spot in the World Finals.
This was quite a nice tournament in the end. Mainly because of the good games. I only missed more an better interviews.
On March 17 2014 20:13 egrimm wrote: That was my first eSport event I've attended to and man it did deliver :D Awesome games, professional production and great crowd. Really happy to be there and see it all live! Big thanks to whole crew and all the people that made it possible, it was a blast! :D Congrats to sOs, my beloved Pro I knew it from the start! :D
On March 14 2014 18:03 egrimm wrote: Prediction Time
On March 17 2014 10:26 lichter wrote: sOs, the $100K Man
Im waiting for one of you to become as big an sOs fanboy as me, i.e. zealously life level, and then write some ungodly long article about how it doesnt make sense no one knew about him at blizzcon etc
On March 17 2014 21:03 SeriousLus wrote: just another pathetic 4-1 finals.. and they spent an ENTIRE day for that shit... oh and it was PvP so..... fuck it
It was not all for Starcraft though. I watched the Swedes getting second place in CS:GO, herO get second place in sc2, Fnatic get second place in LoL and Artosis get second place in Heartstone. It was a packed day.
I watched Poles getting first place in CS:GO and Gnimsh first in Heartstone, sOs first place in sc2 and KT rolster in LoL
Yeah some had a batter day than others. It was a great event and the Polish crowd was amazing so they deserved to have the best day. Sounded like they were not really feeling the LoL outcome but it's ok.
On March 17 2014 20:13 egrimm wrote: That was my first eSport event I've attended to and man it did deliver :D Awesome games, professional production and great crowd. Really happy to be there and see it all live! Big thanks to whole crew and all the people that made it possible, it was a blast! :D Congrats to sOs, my beloved Pro I knew it from the start! :D
On March 14 2014 18:03 egrimm wrote: Prediction Time
Another PvP Finals. You could tell the crowd was amazing at the start of the tournament but after sOs won I didn't hear that much cheering from them at all. I think everybody has just about had it with PvP. incontrol can say "PvP is an awesome match-up" as many times as he wants, it doesn't change anything. The facts are clear. it's an uninteresting matchup to watch and mirror matches will always be less appealing for the viewer at home. I seriously hope with the latest patch, the pro's will be changing the meta but if it doesn't change from here to 2 months than maybe another patch might be in order here.
sOs is looking like protoss Mvp like many others have said. Terran was the most versatile race in Mvp era. Protoss is even more versatile than that now, and with a very strong late game army as bonus. There are 10+ ways sOs can kill his opponents, evident from his series against Jjakji and Taeja. That said, I believe Maru will stop him in GSL when they meet. Maru is the terran cheese master himself besides having the best micro.
On March 17 2014 15:09 Iceman331 wrote: So I finally got around to watching the mass carriers game, and I'm pretty sure the storms and hidden expansions did more to win that game than the carriers. Oh and the fact that he somehow held a max supply push while on 4 gateways and 90 probes. Pretty sure that's not supposed to happen.
Maybe he held that because had more than six +3 carriers?
That was a great tourney. Underwhelming finals if only for the fact sOs was in complete control. I was cheering for Taeja the entire way through but must say that sOs has a command of sc2 that I've rarely seen. He goes beyond executing build orders crisply and seems to understand a way to win with unique unit sets. He's made a fan of me,
On March 17 2014 17:09 Sanobot wrote: If they had nerfed blink in the last patch, we would have seen a much different IEM outcome. its quite sad to see someone win so much just because the meta game is at a strange point because of the patch mid season.
And really, a bo7 final with 3 out of 5 games cheese.. great to watch
What is that sound ? Is that 111 Terran and BL/Infestor Zerg ? Come on, this happens all the time... Nerf something, and something else is going to get indirectely buffed, its quite hard to balance a game like sc2
sOs, besides being a godlike player, was in the right place at thE right time... Like many champions of many sports
Yeah I have to say that Jjakji v Revival or Polt v herO were the best series all weekend, though Life v Taeja was also fantastic barring the mistakes made. All around great weekend!
On March 18 2014 00:41 Aserrin wrote: So did they split the prize or what
sOs took herO out to dinner using the prize money. While they were at the restaurant, sOs went to the toilet but after a while he still hadn't come back. herO went to see where he'd gone but when he looked round the corner, all he saw were two gateways and a zealot coming out. GG
On March 18 2014 00:41 Aserrin wrote: So did they split the prize or what
sOs took herO out to dinner using the prize money. While they were at the restaurant, sOs went to the toilet but after a while he still hadn't come back. herO went to see where he'd gone but when he looked round the corner, all he saw were two gateways and a zealot coming out. GG
Thanks for that, Totally not what I expected; that actually made me giggle.
On November 10 2013 10:15 TheR1pper wrote: If sOs wins this it is just another "random" korean player who won one Premier tournament and that's it. Of course he deserves the win but it is so boring. One time wonder like Rain, Parting, Dear, Innovation, Soulkey and and and. Yea ok some of them won "two" premier Events but that's it. Hype Hype Hype and those koreans can't repeat a Major win. So boring. Hopefully Jaedong manages to come back!
On March 18 2014 00:41 Aserrin wrote: So did they split the prize or what
sOs took herO out to dinner using the prize money. While they were at the restaurant, sOs went to the toilet but after a while he still hadn't come back. herO went to see where he'd gone but when he looked round the corner, all he saw were two gateways and a zealot coming out. GG
On March 17 2014 20:13 egrimm wrote: That was my first eSport event I've attended to and man it did deliver :D Awesome games, professional production and great crowd. Really happy to be there and see it all live! Big thanks to whole crew and all the people that made it possible, it was a blast! :D Congrats to sOs, my beloved Pro I knew it from the start! :D
On March 14 2014 18:03 egrimm wrote: Prediction Time
Sometimes when sOs plays, he looks completely unbeatable. This was one of those times.
Poor Life... he looked so bad against Taeja.
actually Life played overall better than Teaja but he lost because of useless mistakes like self baneling explosions or bad broodlord switches when he was ahead.. the only game were he was really just worse than teaja was the last one to be honest
For me, even finals were really good. Ye, it was quick, cheesy and not so "epic" as expected, but in my eyes it was display of pure skill, cold blood and ability to win. Sos absolutely raped Hero. And Hero wasn't some underdog, but in the end he were absolutely rekt. Since his finals vs. Jd, I have big respect for his play, but after IEM Katowice, I see him as the scariest force out of SPL. Congratz to sOs.
On March 18 2014 04:44 Drake wrote: only sad thing is that this final watched 50% of people never watched sc2 before, and that was bad commercial for sc2 still sure he deserves it
Where does that number come from? I find it somewhat hard to believe that more than 50,000 people who have never before watched SC2 would spontaneously tune in to watch one particular finals
Part of me can't help but feel that the winner-take-all prize distribution method is crueler than giving prizes to 1st-12th (or whatever place). I can't say that I fully support a system that leaves the vast majority of players high and dry. It's almost too "coliseum-ey" for me, like the movie Gladiator. I don't want to see people suffer for my amusement.
Did anyone else feel a little bad for the players this time around because they were dealing with such a harsh format?
On March 18 2014 05:54 BrieFanFiction wrote: Part of me can't help but feel that the winner-take-all prize distribution method is crueler than giving prizes to 1st-12th (or whatever place). I can't say that I fully support a system that leaves the vast majority of players high and dry. It's almost too "coliseum-ey" for me, like the movie Gladiator. I don't want to see people suffer for my amusement.
Did anyone else feel a little bad for the players this time around because they were dealing with such a harsh format?
I don't think so, many players will be disappointed right after they lose. But after a good nights sleep, they forget everything and look forward to the next tournament. time heals everything. jjakji even said it in his interviews
On March 18 2014 05:54 BrieFanFiction wrote: Part of me can't help but feel that the winner-take-all prize distribution method is crueler than giving prizes to 1st-12th (or whatever place). I can't say that I fully support a system that leaves the vast majority of players high and dry. It's almost too "coliseum-ey" for me, like the movie Gladiator. I don't want to see people suffer for my amusement.
Did anyone else feel a little bad for the players this time around because they were dealing with such a harsh format?
I don't think so, many players will be disappointed right after they lose. But after a good nights sleep, they forget everything and look forward to the next tournament. time heals everything. jjakji even said it in his interviews
On March 18 2014 04:44 Drake wrote: only sad thing is that this final watched 50% of people never watched sc2 before, and that was bad commercial for sc2 still sure he deserves it
Where does that number come from? I find it somewhat hard to believe that more than 50,000 people who have never before watched SC2 would spontaneously tune in to watch one particular finals
He probably means the live audience since a majority of them were middle school kids keeping their seats for LoL finals.
On March 18 2014 05:54 BrieFanFiction wrote: Part of me can't help but feel that the winner-take-all prize distribution method is crueler than giving prizes to 1st-12th (or whatever place). I can't say that I fully support a system that leaves the vast majority of players high and dry. It's almost too "coliseum-ey" for me, like the movie Gladiator. I don't want to see people suffer for my amusement.
Did anyone else feel a little bad for the players this time around because they were dealing with such a harsh format?
That's why IEM did this as one off, I think it was correct move from them to hype the tournament. Keep in mind they have one of the flattest prize distributions rest of the time.
On March 18 2014 08:34 Caladan wrote: I didn't see the finals and reading this makes me think it was the right choice. Maximum awkward finals for one of the highest prices ever in SC2.
So... this is the highest possible play in this game, from the best players in the world... cheesing with double proxy rax in 3 games out of 5?
So bad advertisement for this game.
Most famous BW finals of all time is Boxer bunker rushing yellow THREE times.
On March 18 2014 08:34 Caladan wrote: I didn't see the finals and reading this makes me think it was the right choice. Maximum awkward finals for one of the highest prices ever in SC2.
So... this is the highest possible play in this game, from the best players in the world... cheesing with double proxy rax in 3 games out of 5?
So bad advertisement for this game.
Most famous BW finals of all time is Boxer bunker rushing yellow THREE times.
That was the semi finals not the finals when Boxer faced iloveoov. OT: Good job sOs on stopping the IEM monster known as CJ herO!
On March 18 2014 08:34 Caladan wrote: I didn't see the finals and reading this makes me think it was the right choice. Maximum awkward finals for one of the highest prices ever in SC2.
So... this is the highest possible play in this game, from the best players in the world... cheesing with double proxy rax in 3 games out of 5?
So bad advertisement for this game.
Most finals of every sport arent as good as normal games, theres a lot of nerves and the desire to win no matter what... even the CSGO finals were crap, VP was the only team playing, they looked cool because VP its a polish team and the crowd was very supportive, Dota 2 Dreamhack finals were bad also, NaVi dominated them from start to finish, the last game wasnt even worth watching, and so a lot of other finals
Finals are about to win, not to entertain the crowd... Greece winning the Euro 04 was an awful final, a lot of Champions finals are boring too, this year Super Bowl was completely forgetable...
I gave these finals a miss because Protoss, but now I really regret it. I love cheesy nonsense, especially when there is a lot on the line. HongUn has been my favorite Protoss so far (some Prime cheddar), but $O$ is doing his very best to win me over. 100,000 dollars and he does back-to-back proxy 2-gates? So good.
Flash/Jaedong cheese, people thinks they are heroes and courageous for doing that. SOS cheese, people thinks hes an asshole. I am getting really annoyed at all this hate going around here. SOS did what he needed to win. and people should respect him for that. not downplay him
On March 18 2014 05:54 BrieFanFiction wrote: Did anyone else feel a little bad for the players this time around because they were dealing with such a harsh format?
Absolutely not, given that they almost certainly will have cut a deal
[q]Most Dramatic Drama: Love him or hate him, you have to admit that NaNiwa's mid-series forfeiture was one of the most interesting things to happen on the weekend.[/q] I don't agree. That was just weak of NaNi and as much as I enjoyed probe rush in Blizzard Cup, I can't comment his forfeit with anything but "meh, just retire already".
I think this is one of the most exciting tournaments, because of the things that happened. The only European to be forfeiting his match for in my opinion a bad reason. Players being lucky on winning their matches, such as herO versus Hyun and Revival versus Jjakji. And sOs showing how to win a 100.000 tournament in style, coming there to win, and not to impress, but that's how he impressed most.
On March 19 2014 01:05 Tanzklaue wrote: not even a mention of hasuobs great run in the open bracket that almost net him a palce in the championshipbracket?
On March 18 2014 10:38 M.R. McThundercrotch wrote: I gave these finals a miss because Protoss, but now I really regret it. I love cheesy nonsense, especially when there is a lot on the line. HongUn has been my favorite Protoss so far (some Prime cheddar), but $O$ is doing his very best to win me over. 100,000 dollars and he does back-to-back proxy 2-gates? So good.
On March 18 2014 14:02 ukiya2004 wrote: Flash/Jaedong cheese, people thinks they are heroes and courageous for doing that. SOS cheese, people thinks hes an asshole. I am getting really annoyed at all this hate going around here. SOS did what he needed to win. and people should respect him for that. not downplay him
Ya, thanks for that! I liked the finals and the whole tourney itself a lot. What crazy and close games where these by herO against Hyun and Polt! Cheese is a big part of the game, it brings variety to longer series like Bo5 or Bo7.
And if all the terran whiners (sorry for that, but there was a time when Terrans dominated Code S, now it's just Protoss, every race has its time) watch closely, then you could realize, that a cheese build is NOT a free win, specifically at this high level of play. Best examples came in the finals: sOs won his cheeses, herO did not.
And yes, it even hurts me as a (most likely) protossfan to watch opponenty die to blink-all-ins, BUT then watch e.g. Maru and you must admit, that even blink-all-ins are not free wins also.
Plus: I like the variety Protoss brings to the game, in the moment it is the race with the most diverse build opportunities.
i, for one, don't like the winner-takes-all format... if the 1st place prize had been 50k, the winner would have been just as happy (given that it started at 50k, and not changed from 100k), but then 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. would still get some money, so they'll at least feel slightly rewarded for their efforts.
Unfortunatley NaNiwa took away a huge deal of the epicness in this tournament, it was a real killer for me at least, fanboy that i (was). At least he could have tried his best and do one final attempt at bringing home the big price and then quit, simple put, being professional. But NO, he didnt even train for it at all, and the tweet about playing LoL at his hotel was too much, fuckenoh! And then the forfeit on top of that, GG NaNiwa!
Anyway, the tornament had a few really good games and my top pick is the same as everyone elses i guess, jjakji vs revival, that's a top 5 all times for me i guess. The final was the worst match ever tbh, if he had cheesed him a third time in a row, i would have turned off the stream tbh.
EPT
JinAir_sOs went on to earn his second $100,000 payday in four months with a 4-1 victory over CJ Entus' ![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/iem/wc2014/sos2gate.jpg)
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/iem/wc2014/sosfingerwag.jpg)
Thanks
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BHWULq6.png)
![[image loading]](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bi3Q_YGCAAE6WX9.jpg:large)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/tJK4sLH.png)
