PigBaby completed walking his royal road on Championship Sunday. It was a day of exciting games that opened up with a rare TvT between Bomber and Heart and a PvZ between PigBaby and Hyun. Despite Bomber winning 3-1, it was a set of very close games between the two players as they battled through different scenarios that ranged from early aggression, mid game battles to late game base trades. In the end Bomber's experience won out over Heart as he became the first player to make it to the finals. Pigbaby's win, on the other hand, was much clearer despite a similar score. After losing his Soul Train on map 1, he quickly rallied back with three different 2 base attacks to knock out Hyun and reach his very first Premier Tournament finals.
Then, the magic started. No one quite knew what to expect going into the finals as both Bomber and PigBaby were extremely stylistic players. But the end result was a surprising finals and quite easily the best WCS Season 2 Finals in all three regions. Bomber and Pigbaby rallied games back and forth and often found themselves in unique and insane situations. It was a series that could not have been prepared for, and it pushed both players to the very limits of their skill. And it all started on Waystation.
There PigBaby tried to prove that pigs do indeed fly. To the shock of everyone, (with the possible exception of sOs) Pigbaby went for a 2 base carrier build on short spawn Waystation. Not to be deterred, Bomber opted for a quick bio attack that killed 14 probes and slowed down Pigbaby enough that Pigbaby's 2 Carrier base All-in was hampered enough for Bomber to win a straight engagement. Despite a loss in the opening map, it showed that Pigbaby was not content to win like any other Protoss; if Pigbaby was going to win, he would do it his way.
Undeterred, Pigbaby continued to play aggressively with two fast all-ins. He busted Bomber on Merry Go Round with 2 base blink play, but his Soul Train was stopped dead in its tracks on Overgrowth.
In the fourth game on King Sejong Station, PigBaby once again changed tactics, choosing a proxy oracle opener to catch Bomber off guard. Well known for not scouting, Bomber was caught off guard and lost several SCVs and a lot of mining time at his natural. Pigbaby followed up this success with three quick bases, forcing Bomber to find a way to get back into the game. A move out in the middle of the map by his bio gave Pigbaby the idea of executing a large flank with his gateway units and storm, but a clutch SCV pull blocked the flank and allowed Bomber to engage only one part of the Protoss army. Now close to even, both players' armies missed the other's as they set to attack each other. This led Bomber to migrate his buildings to Pigbaby's old natural leaving Pigbaby no choice but to try to bust Bomber with his zealot stalker archon force. It failed as Bomber was able to get multiple bunkers up in time leaving the score 3-1 in Bomber's favor.
And there he was. Just 1 map win away from the championship. 1 win away from taking it all against a player he seemed to be out playing. It was the perfect setup for the law. And then the series descended into chaos. On Frost both players once again opted for a base trade as their armies completely missed each other. This time however, PigBaby had the superior army and was able to re-expand to Bomber's third in the ensuing skirmish. Bomber, realizing that PigBaby would almost certainly win the game if he got to mine more, sacrificed all of his units to kill PigBaby's last nexus. With less than 400 minerals and no gas, PigBaby had no choice but to hunt down all of Bomber's floating buildings across the map. It was an intense moment as PigBaby was just barely able to find a spot to shoot both the cc and the rax in the dead space on the left side of the map. In a twist of kismet that we can only interpret as the Law, if Bomber had swapped the floating positions of his rax and cc, he could have indeed forced a draw.
The sixth game started much slower than the rest of the series as they spawned cross spots on Alterzim. This time Bomber opted for a fast 3 cc build as he planned to do a MMMM parade push to break PigBaby's third. PigBaby played more defensively as he sat on a solid immortal HT gateway composition. He then used warp prism harass to backstab Bomber as he moved out. The backstab turned into an all out massacre as he gutted Bomber's entire economy forcing Bomber to all-in with his army. Unfortunately for the Red Bull Terran, with storm, archons, immortals and collosus on the field, he was unable to break PigBaby, forcing the series to move on to the last game.
The final game was the culmination of everything. If PigBaby won the game, he would have walked the royal road reminiscent to what Duckdeok did in WCS EU last year. If Bomber won, he would be the second Terran player this year to win a Premier tournament. The first Terran to have won WCS this season. And most importantly, he would have beaten the law once again after over a year in shackles. And their fates were decided on Habitation Station.
And there, Bomber proved that Terran could fly as he lifted his cc to the gold to use the Gangnam Terran style. He had chosen to use a build he had displayed against Alicia, a 1base marine tank push that looked almost unstoppable. And in a move eerily reminiscent to game 1, PigBaby once more decided to prove that Pigs could fly as he went for a fleet beacon off two bases. But instead of carriers, his unit of choice with everything on the line was the tempest. It was Bomber's desperate offense against PigBaby's innovation. And this time PigBaby pulled through as he flew to his first ever Championship in SC2.
And yet the story of WCS NA Season 2 Finals is not PigBaby's alone. This WCS NA Finals was the best show done in WCS NA by far. From the superb casting of Rotterdam and Nathanias, to the guest casting of players such as ToD, Polt and QXC, the manstache of the ref, the QXC player introductions, the exciting matchups we saw in the ro8 onwards, and the insanely infectious and raucous crowd attending, every element created a perfect stage for the players to shine and create one of the most memorable weekends of the entire WCS system this year.
At the beginning of the season, Pigbaby was just another Kespa outcast looking to make a name for himself. No one predicted that he could have gone this far, that he could have gone toe-to-toe against some of the best players on the planet. He has traveled from well worn booths of Proleague to the bright lights of California, from the familiar to the unknown, where he's accomplished what many thought impossible. And now we know for sure, that Pigbabies can fly.
maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
I didn't get to see the games, but sounds like Pigbaby used a lot of different builds. Classic Bomber play (no scouting) and still almost won. Amazing xD
What is so surprising is that the patient defensive colossus based play that he showed in three straight games against Taeja made no appearance against Bomber, instead opting for Carriers, Oracles, Tempests, DTs, and Blink attacks. Pigbaby won with style and it was really exciting to see.
Still, its hard not to feel bad for Bomber. He played some great games and came so close - but came up just short. As much as I'm not a bomber fan, I hope he can continue to play super well because SC2 would be much less exciting without him.
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
sOs was playing on the largest stage against the greatest fan-favorite ever, Jaedong... That usually gets people biased fairly quickly People had a couple weeks to see the story of Pigbaby develop over the course of WCS AM whereas sOs took the WCS Global Championship within a weekend with most of his games played on the backstage. Only people who knew sOs from watching Proleague would've recognized the seemingly unfamiliar face when he stepped onto the mainstage in the semifinals.
Aside from that those were some great games by Pigbaby. I was kinda worried that he was relying on such an all-in heavy style during the finals but good to see that he pulled through in the end. Kudos to Bomber for that series on Frost, I was laughing so hard when he asked whether Pigbaby had 400 minerals for another nexus...
Had to leave after Heart vs Bomber ( the series was amazing) and was surprised to see Pigbaby win, hes living the american dream it seems^^ Gotta try to catch some of the madness from the finals later on youtube!
Exciting finals but to be honest I was disappointed that Bomber did not win - a Terran win is desperately needed as this year has already gone down as the equivalent (or worse) of the Winfester/GGLord period at the end of WoL and the GomTvT days of yore.
I hope Pigbaby gets a team, he is very entertaining. It takes b@lls to build carriers in a finals!
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
sOs was playing on the largest stage against the greatest fan-favorite ever, Jaedong... That usually gets people biased fairly quickly People had a couple weeks to see the story of Pigbaby develop over the course of WCS AM whereas sOs took the WCS Global Championship within a weekend with most of his games played on the backstage. Only people who knew sOs from watching Proleague would've recognized the seemingly unfamiliar face when he stepped onto the mainstage in the semifinals.
Aside from that those were some great games by Pigbaby. I was kinda worried that he was relying on such an all-in heavy style during the finals but good to see that he pulled through in the end. Kudos to Bomber for that series on Frost, I was laughing so hard when he asked whether Pigbaby had 400 minerals for another nexus...
sOs had been playing in the GSL all year including a ro4 finish and a season 1 finals 2nd place performance Pigbaby has been wayy more inconspicous also sOs only played half of his games backstage
On July 08 2014 01:00 Random_0 wrote: To my viewing, QXC did a phenomental job casting WCS America. He provided several moments of real insight that made me sit up and take pause.
I hope we get to hear more of him in the booth.
If I'd be the president of the USA i would sign that everyday.
On July 08 2014 00:47 DeadByDawn wrote: Exciting finals but to be honest I was disappointed that Bomber did not win - a Terran win is desperately needed as this year has already gone down as the equivalent (or worse) of the Winfester/GGLord period at the end of WoL and the GomTvT days of yore.
I hope Pigbaby gets a team, he is very entertaining. It takes b@lls to build carriers in a finals!
Look on the bright side, the more toss dominate the more likely it is that they will get a long, hard look throw their way.
Not sure what to think now. I was rooting for Bomber and was tempted to stay up and see the awesome games, but I think I'd have been heartbroken and angry at the end, so maybe its better I didn't Heart vs Bomber was however quite fantastic.
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
Soo...You mean the player that should win is the one thats most known and not the better player...?
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
sOs was playing on the largest stage against the greatest fan-favorite ever, Jaedong... That usually gets people biased fairly quickly People had a couple weeks to see the story of Pigbaby develop over the course of WCS AM whereas sOs took the WCS Global Championship within a weekend with most of his games played on the backstage. Only people who knew sOs from watching Proleague would've recognized the seemingly unfamiliar face when he stepped onto the mainstage in the semifinals.
Aside from that those were some great games by Pigbaby. I was kinda worried that he was relying on such an all-in heavy style during the finals but good to see that he pulled through in the end. Kudos to Bomber for that series on Frost, I was laughing so hard when he asked whether Pigbaby had 400 minerals for another nexus...
sOs had been playing in the GSL all year including a ro4 finish and a season 1 finals 2nd place performance Pigbaby has been wayy more inconspicous also sOs only played half of his games backstage
On July 08 2014 01:51 chipmonklord17 wrote: I think one of the more interesting parts about that final was the build pigbaby used against taeja every game was no where to be seen this set
Kespa players are known for practicing certain builds against specific players. Thats why proleague players come up with a new build/style almost every week. The mass observer strategy is to deny Taeja's early aggression, especially 15 gas widow mine drops that he often uses. I think he did marine WM drops in Dreamhack in almost every TvP. Against bomber who is a passive player that rarely scouts, it makes sense to do a different build everygame.
On July 08 2014 00:47 DeadByDawn wrote: Exciting finals but to be honest I was disappointed that Bomber did not win - a Terran win is desperately needed as this year has already gone down as the equivalent (or worse) of the Winfester/GGLord period at the end of WoL and the GomTvT days of yore.
I hope Pigbaby gets a team, he is very entertaining. It takes b@lls to build carriers in a finals!
Look on the bright side, the more toss dominate the more likely it is that they will get a long, hard look throw their way.
Not sure what to think now. I was rooting for Bomber and was tempted to stay up and see the awesome games, but I think I'd have been heartbroken and angry at the end, so maybe its better I didn't Heart vs Bomber was however quite fantastic.
True, but I hope that David Kim takes note of this finals. It was exciting to watch because of the viable number of Protoss openings used by Pigbaby. So .... give Terran some extra openings and mid-game options to put some variety into the match up from the other side as well. Maybe we will get some more exciting finals like this one.
On July 03 2014 13:50 Kitai wrote: The bottom half of that bracket is sick. Polt, Hyun, and TaeJa were the three tournament favorites to win it all imo, and now only one of them can make it to the grand final. And no, I am not giving Pigbaby a chance. At all.
Congrats to the Pigbaby i hope he will break the general trend and we will hear of him again. + Show Spoiler +
At first all this toss imba bandwagon was fun... But now i'm a bit scared O_O I realized that they might turn SC2 in to some stupid RNG directed by the Michael Bay with a lot of piw-piw and no substance just for sake of casual market
On July 08 2014 00:47 DeadByDawn wrote: Exciting finals but to be honest I was disappointed that Bomber did not win - a Terran win is desperately needed as this year has already gone down as the equivalent (or worse) of the Winfester/GGLord period at the end of WoL and the GomTvT days of yore.
I hope Pigbaby gets a team, he is very entertaining. It takes b@lls to build carriers in a finals!
Look on the bright side, the more toss dominate the more likely it is that they will get a long, hard look throw their way.
Not sure what to think now. I was rooting for Bomber and was tempted to stay up and see the awesome games, but I think I'd have been heartbroken and angry at the end, so maybe its better I didn't Heart vs Bomber was however quite fantastic.
True, but I hope that David Kim takes note of this finals. It was exciting to watch because of the viable number of Protoss openings used by Pigbaby. So .... give Terran some extra openings and mid-game options to put some variety into the match up from the other side as well. Maybe we will get some more exciting finals like this one.
Or, alternatively, literally any transition to lategame play (read: something that doesn't use 75% bio units with no mech/sky support) that doesn't rely on the Protoss fucking up in order to accomplish it safely.
On July 08 2014 02:16 Cheeseling wrote: Congrats to the Pigbaby i hope he will break the general trend and we will hear of him again. + Show Spoiler +
At first all this toss imba bandwagon was fun... But now i'm a bit scared O_O I realized that they might turn SC2 in to some stupid RNG directed by the Michael Bay with a lot of piw-piw and no substance just for sake of casual market
We have seen 13 different big tournament winners so far this year and only three of them are one time champions (as far as I can remember). Not feeling that "general trend" of yours.
Congrats to the baby pig. Little sucky for Bomber but second isn't bad. It really was his series to win, but Pigbaby is great at responding to his opponents builds. (not so much at executing his own, carriers anyone?) Awesome finals none the less.
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
Soo...You mean the player that should win is the one thats most known and not the better player...?
absolutely not, what i am saying is that i believe it is hypocritical for the community to QQ about sOs because he was "unknown" which he wasn't vs everyone instantly falling in love with pigababy. Does any1 remember that code s ro32 group with Killer Pigbaby Parting Soulkey? Of course not. Pigbaby won, which is completely fine, I am just a little bothered by the reaction of teh community
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
Soo...You mean the player that should win is the one thats most known and not the better player...?
absolutely not, what i am saying is that i believe it is hypocritical for the community to QQ about sOs because he was "unknown" which he wasn't vs everyone instantly falling in love with pigababy. Does any1 remember that code s ro32 group with Killer Pigbaby Parting Soulkey? Of course not. Pigbaby won, which is completely fine, I am just a little bothered by the reaction of teh community
You are bothered that people are happy for the guy that won?
I get that you are annoyed by the apparent hypocrisy, but being happy for the champion is a good thing so it means that things are improving and there is nothing at all to be upset about. I'd be much more bothered if we bitched and whined about Pigbaby just like we did to sOs as if we were as bad as we were 8 months ago.
On July 08 2014 00:04 Cricketer12 wrote: maybe im QQing, and not to offend Pigbaby, but im surprised people see Pigbaby win WCS AM and instead of asking who is pigbaby, bomber totally should have won, they love him, but when sOs won blizzcon people were bitching like no tmrw cause they thought HE was an unknown, very hypocritical if you ask me
Soo...You mean the player that should win is the one thats most known and not the better player...?
absolutely not, what i am saying is that i believe it is hypocritical for the community to QQ about sOs because he was "unknown" which he wasn't vs everyone instantly falling in love with pigababy. Does any1 remember that code s ro32 group with Killer Pigbaby Parting Soulkey? Of course not. Pigbaby won, which is completely fine, I am just a little bothered by the reaction of teh community
People are cheering for him because of the way that he won. His victory against TaeJa was interesting because of the huge upset that it was. But if he had simply played a standard style in all matches against bomber, no one would have gotten excited.
Instead this: 2 base carriers, base trades, 2 base tempest.
The finals were just that good, and so people are cheering for both contestants.
On July 08 2014 01:00 Random_0 wrote: To my viewing, QXC did a phenomental job casting WCS America. He provided several moments of real insight that made me sit up and take pause.
I hope we get to hear more of him in the booth.
Completely agree. Not only great insights, but also good showmanship and funny jokes. I was really impressed with him.
Also the finals are pretty cool for anyone for who haven't watched them yet ^^
Anyone know if Pigbaby is staying in the US for Redbull Atlanta in a couple days? Actually, does anyone know anything about Redbull Atlanta in general? Did I miss a player list? Because I havent heard anything really... and its less than 4 days away.
On July 08 2014 05:36 Dragoonstorm7 wrote: Anyone know if Pigbaby is staying in the US for Redbull Atlanta in a couple days? Actually, does anyone know anything about Redbull Atlanta in general? Did I miss a player list? Because I havent heard anything really... and its less than 4 days away.
I was absolutely crushed when he beat TaeJa, but that was one heck of a finals. That last game, as clowny as it was, will be remembered for a long time in the "remember that finals where ___?" kind of way.
Congratulations to Pigbaby! The first WCS AM royal roader!
On July 08 2014 00:00 nkr wrote: It took some time but finally NA got a decent WCS!
:D because everyone that left Korea avoided EU and now there are lots of Koreans again in one League But... the finals profited GREATLY from having Terrans there. That is something you just cannot denie, ZvP has become boring again, not to mention the mirrors of these 2.
On July 08 2014 01:00 Random_0 wrote: To my viewing, QXC did a phenomental job casting WCS America. He provided several moments of real insight that made me sit up and take pause.
I hope we get to hear more of him in the booth.
Let's hope he stepped it up since 2011. It seems like he improved. It was UNBEARABLE in 2011, so much so I even remember unsubscribing until he was gone. I wish I had some of that casting out of my memory, but it was so bad I remember QXC basically not even looking at the game. Instead he was trying to be funny, which was far far from the truth.
EDIT: Actually after watching a few of the Vods, he improved a lot and looks pretty solid. But I don't know what was going on in 2011, college apathy? It will be a while for him to overcome that indelible casting performance in my memory.
This finals made me like Pigbaby and dislike the current state of the game in just about equal measure. Fantastic reads of two very different opponents (Taeja and Bomber), some truly creative builds and responses, and an over-all sense of showmanship and sportsmanship made Pigbaby a worthy and likable royal roader. Even Bomber seemed to be in great spirits after that finals, and it's hard to blame him. Those were some fun games.
On the other hand, that's yet another new Protoss suddenly able to take games off top Terran players, despite being so rough at times that his engagement on Akilon was hands down the worst positioning blunder I've seen from a Korean player in around a year. The last time I saw something so bad was a PvP on Belshir Vestige.
For fans of consistent results, the last year has been a very frustrating one.
On July 08 2014 05:46 PinoKotsBeer wrote: QXC did great, a fantastic addition to the WCS NA team.
I wish Bomber would have won the ZPcraft tournament....
User was warned for this post
So wait, TL advocates a whole article on emphasizing "ZParcraft II" and warns a user by simply using TL's very own jargon? I like that there are no balance whines on this thread to congratulate Pigbaby's win, but this is just hypocritical. PinoKotsBeer didn't go on a raging rant of how Bomber should've won, but just used a term coined by TL's own staff, and BOOM goes the punishment. Good laugh
On July 08 2014 05:46 PinoKotsBeer wrote: QXC did great, a fantastic addition to the WCS NA team.
I wish Bomber would have won the ZPcraft tournament....
User was warned for this post
So wait, TL advocates a whole article on emphasizing "ZParcraft II" and warns a user by simply using TL's very own jargon? I like that there are no balance whines on this thread to congratulate Pigbaby's win, but this is just hypocritical. PinoKotsBeer didn't go on a raging rant of how Bomber should've won, but just used a term coined by TL's own staff, and BOOM goes the punishment. Good laugh
He has a history of offensive balance whining, which he just got banned for. Also, back seat moderation is a warnable offense.
It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
On July 08 2014 13:28 [Droids]StarCreator wrote: It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
On July 08 2014 13:28 [Droids]StarCreator wrote: It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
How was it that bomber clearly outplayed pigbaby? Game 1: Carrier rush, failed. Bomber won, spamming marines against carriers. Game 2: When Pig baby attacked, he had 16 stalkers, 4 sentries, 1 MSC, 1 oracle on +1 armour upgrade vs bomber who had 20 marines and 2 marauders and 1 widow mine and 2 low energy medivac. Bomber refuse to build bunker even when he saw what was coming. When the attack come, his only bunker wasn't even complete. Game 3: Immortal bust. 3 bunkers up for bomber. unstim marines, no medivac. Easy hold by bomber. Game 4: Pigbaby on 3 base for the majority of the game. Bomber on 2 base.20 workers killed by bomber hellion runby with photon overcharge active, bomber had nothing at home vs the 2 oracles. Pigbaby outplayed bomber in this game, until a bad engagement against MMM ball and his entire army was decimated. Game 5. Bomber did not scout, totally unprepared against DT. Bomber respond by going across the map with 2 medivac and about 20 units, with photon overcharge active and pigbaby's army being around. Bomber was still able to kill the nexus and get away with 1 medivac full of unit. After being behind the whole game, bomber would have forced the draw if he swap the dead space between cc and rax. Game 6. Again Pigbaby clearly outplayed bomber by far. Bomber does not scout. Some storm drop. When bomber was attacking with MMMM, pigbaby out-multitask him with more storm drops and zealots warpin. Bomber just let his scv dies at home. Against Marauder, archon and HT storm composition, Bomber just had MMMM, no ghost. Game 7. Gangnam Terran. Pigbaby clearly was well prepared for this with the tempest build.
Overall. Pigbaby had the benefit of knowing he would play a Terran if he got past Hyun. Bomber could not prepare as well. It was obvious in the games. Pigbaby came in very well prepared, knowing exactly how he wanted to play each map.And I think throughout all 7 games, IIRC, not a single ghost or viking(except on Habitation station for the 1-1-1) was made by bomber. He did not scout what was coming in the games. Bomber play every game using one strategy. Build MMM, go across and win. In fact, if anything, the games prove that MMM is far OP than protoss. MMM all day, everyday, and Bomber nearly won, despite Pigbaby being far more prepared with builds, outplaying Bomber by far in most games and yet it was so close that Bomber could have won. Indeed, bomber would have won if it was a BO5 and he would have done it playing nothing but MMM.
I think that is the problem of balance today. Most Terran players do not try new things, and are still stuck on 2011 mindset. I make MMM and I will auto-win. There was a recent game where Major played, he just swap the tech lab onto the starport, make 1 raven to support his army and it made a lot of difference in the game. Unit tech for Terran is so much easier than protoss because you can swap the buildings onto tech lab except for BC and Ghost. But yet, all we see is MMM everyday. The ghost is such a powerful unit against protoss and yet we only see them being built if there are HT.
On July 08 2014 13:28 [Droids]StarCreator wrote: It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
(Snipped)
Excellent response and breakdown. If this is the quality of post you make, you'll be a valuable asset to the forum.
I didn't think about it when I was in the studio, but this series might have actually been the ultimate enforcement of Bomber's Law. After the game where Pigbaby made the bad Blink, I honestly thought it was over - most people did, they got the translator on standby, they were instructing us on rushing the stage, and the general consensus in the room was that the people's champion would fall short. It's a credit to both Pigbaby's tenacity and Bomber's Law that this result happened.
On July 08 2014 15:34 Daswollvieh wrote: So, was there some good Pigbaby hype during the tournament or was it "some guy" winning?
Poor Bomber, he would have been a glorious champion.
There was more Pigbaby hype than Bomber hype. I'm pretty sure the majority of the crowd wanted him to win after his mass observer play, carrier play, etc. He may have been unkown before the tournament but he comes away with a lot of fans. And this is coming from a terran player who really wanted Bomber to win.
After this tournament, I was actually more dissapointed with soO losing the GSL than Bomber losing to Pigbaby.
How can you dislike someone who tries a 2 base carrier build in his most important series (till now). I hope Pigbaby can bring some madness to Blizzcon aswell (hes pretty much guaranteed to be there with a WCS win, right?)
admin's moustache is the most epic thing on this picture. great write-up, stuchiu! Pigbaby deserved it, the games were not perfect but they were more than exciting, congratz GGWP. + Show Spoiler +
On July 08 2014 15:34 Daswollvieh wrote: So, was there some good Pigbaby hype during the tournament or was it "some guy" winning?
Poor Bomber, he would have been a glorious champion.
There was more Pigbaby hype than Bomber hype. I'm pretty sure the majority of the crowd wanted him to win after his mass observer play, carrier play, etc. He may have been unkown before the tournament but he comes away with a lot of fans. And this is coming from a terran player who really wanted Bomber to win.
After this tournament, I was actually more dissapointed with soO losing the GSL than Bomber losing to Pigbaby.
Was at the venue during the Top 8, can confirm the level of Pigbaby hype. There was already a bit of it before he played Taeja, just because he was the underdog who nobody had ever heard of, going up against a seemingly-unstoppable force. Then the observers happened. At first, that hype was just a couple of guys. But the observers kept coming. And it kept working. And by the end of the Ro8, he was the People's Champion. His PvZ was pretty formulaic, but the hype he had already generated carried him through - long enough for Carriers to seal him as the crowd favorite FOREVER.
On July 08 2014 13:28 [Droids]StarCreator wrote: It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
Pigbaby is not unknown for those following korean scene. He definitely prepared his match well, kind of surprise the difference in play style againts taeja and bomber.
It also shows that top players in wcs am get a bit 'lazy' or too comfortable winning without needing to prepare well against specific players. All of a sudden a mid level player from korea arrived and well prepared in all his matches and won the tourney.
On July 08 2014 13:28 [Droids]StarCreator wrote: It's so upsetting to see a player like Bomber, who so clearly outplayed his opponent, lose because of the game balance. It's becoming increasingly obvious that even the Korean terrans now understand that they have a better chance at base racing in late game TvP than they do in engaging their opponents army. Everyone knows the game needs some serious reworking, and i'm afraid if something isn't done to help the game balance to make things more interesting, and fun, starcraft will most certainly lose what's left of its already fading fan base
How was it that bomber clearly outplayed pigbaby? Game 1: Carrier rush, failed. Bomber won, spamming marines against carriers. Game 2: When Pig baby attacked, he had 16 stalkers, 4 sentries, 1 MSC, 1 oracle on +1 armour upgrade vs bomber who had 20 marines and 2 marauders and 1 widow mine and 2 low energy medivac. Bomber refuse to build bunker even when he saw what was coming. When the attack come, his only bunker wasn't even complete. Game 3: Immortal bust. 3 bunkers up for bomber. unstim marines, no medivac. Easy hold by bomber. Game 4: Pigbaby on 3 base for the majority of the game. Bomber on 2 base.20 workers killed by bomber hellion runby with photon overcharge active, bomber had nothing at home vs the 2 oracles. Pigbaby outplayed bomber in this game, until a bad engagement against MMM ball and his entire army was decimated. Game 5. Bomber did not scout, totally unprepared against DT. Bomber respond by going across the map with 2 medivac and about 20 units, with photon overcharge active and pigbaby's army being around. Bomber was still able to kill the nexus and get away with 1 medivac full of unit. After being behind the whole game, bomber would have forced the draw if he swap the dead space between cc and rax. Game 6. Again Pigbaby clearly outplayed bomber by far. Bomber does not scout. Some storm drop. When bomber was attacking with MMMM, pigbaby out-multitask him with more storm drops and zealots warpin. Bomber just let his scv dies at home. Against Marauder, archon and HT storm composition, Bomber just had MMMM, no ghost. Game 7. Gangnam Terran. Pigbaby clearly was well prepared for this with the tempest build.
Overall. Pigbaby had the benefit of knowing he would play a Terran if he got past Hyun. Bomber could not prepare as well. It was obvious in the games. Pigbaby came in very well prepared, knowing exactly how he wanted to play each map.And I think throughout all 7 games, IIRC, not a single ghost or viking(except on Habitation station for the 1-1-1) was made by bomber. He did not scout what was coming in the games. Bomber play every game using one strategy. Build MMM, go across and win. In fact, if anything, the games prove that MMM is far OP than protoss. MMM all day, everyday, and Bomber nearly won, despite Pigbaby being far more prepared with builds, outplaying Bomber by far in most games and yet it was so close that Bomber could have won. Indeed, bomber would have won if it was a BO5 and he would have done it playing nothing but MMM.
I think that is the problem of balance today. Most Terran players do not try new things, and are still stuck on 2011 mindset. I make MMM and I will auto-win. There was a recent game where Major played, he just swap the tech lab onto the starport, make 1 raven to support his army and it made a lot of difference in the game. Unit tech for Terran is so much easier than protoss because you can swap the buildings onto tech lab except for BC and Ghost. But yet, all we see is MMM everyday. The ghost is such a powerful unit against protoss and yet we only see them being built if there are HT.
My comment is regarding the "bolded" quotes you made. You really need to consider what new units Terran's received in HoTs versus Protoss: There is nothing substantial past the 10 minute mark, unless you count Hellbats going mech (and not many go mech for obvious reasons). And most are shut down before 10 minutes b/c of the MSC (i.e. Helbat or WM drops). The fact you said BC versus Protoss made me laugh. Tempest is a HARD counter to BC. Not only does the Tempest significantly outrange the BC and deals more damage but it costs 400 minerals/ 300 gas and 6 supply versus 300 minerals/200 gas and 4 suppy. In addition, against Battlecruisers, an un-upgraded Tempest will take eight shots to kill a single ship, with +1 Weapons, a Tempest needs only seven (even against +3 armor upgraded BCs). So to recap: Not only is Terran stuck in WoL with the HoTs expansion, but there are new hard counters to older units (like the BC). Don't get me wrong, I play mech versus Protoss in Masters and I've tried proxy BC. Its fun, but you won't win. One Photon Overchange and 1 stalker shut it down. At least my opponent commented I was innovative, but in the end i still lost.
Anyway, this is not the place for a balance discussion. Pigbaby won and the games were at least entertaining to see the different, innovative ways Terrans can lose to Protoss.
EDIT: I see you were talking about BC and Ghost with tech labs. I'm not sure you were implying this style or just commenting. But I'm not seeing what new "innovative" examples you are suggesting; especially, with my comments above regarding Terran's options.
On July 08 2014 22:23 pichoo wrote: Pigbaby is not unknown for those following korean scene. He definitely prepared his match well, kind of surprise the difference in play style againts taeja and bomber.
It also shows that top players in wcs am get a bit 'lazy' or too comfortable winning without needing to prepare well against specific players. All of a sudden a mid level player from korea arrived and well prepared in all his matches and won the tourney.
Exactly. We also need to realise that PigBaby is a former Kespa player. As it stands, their mechanics are clearly better than non-kespa Koreans (at least half of them) and this is demonstrated by him. Compound the fact that he comes prepared well and probably with some assistance from his former team-mates and friends who are from Kespa Teams, it shouldn't be a surprise to see him handle his matches so well. Still sad to see Bomber lose though, but we shouldn't disregard PigBaby's achievement.
On July 08 2014 17:38 BlackCompany wrote: How can you dislike someone who tries a 2 base carrier build in his most important series (till now). I hope Pigbaby can bring some madness to Blizzcon aswell (hes pretty much guaranteed to be there with a WCS win, right?)
Not necessarily. He's in now but he's right on the fringes of the Top 16. This tournament is the only one he has points from and even with the win, he'll have to do more to guarantee a Blizzcon spot. That said, I think he can do it.
On July 08 2014 01:00 Random_0 wrote: To my viewing, QXC did a phenomental job casting WCS America. He provided several moments of real insight that made me sit up and take pause.
On July 08 2014 17:38 BlackCompany wrote: How can you dislike someone who tries a 2 base carrier build in his most important series (till now). I hope Pigbaby can bring some madness to Blizzcon aswell (hes pretty much guaranteed to be there with a WCS win, right?)
Not necessarily. He's in now but he's right on the fringes of the Top 16. This tournament is the only one he has points from and even with the win, he'll have to do more to guarantee a Blizzcon spot. That said, I think he can do it.
I think he can do it too, he does play protoss after all.....
I have no idea how this thread went 4 pages before "Bomber's Law" was mentioned.
Bomber's Law: Bomber will always disappoint. Corollary to Bomber's Law: If Bomber does not disappoint, it will be in order to set up a bigger disappointment later.
EPT
Bomber <Waystation> 
Pigbaby
![[image loading]](http://www.lindakeithcpa.com/img/sidepic-zippy.gif)
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/1/1d/DRG_GSLS1_Champion.jpg/370px-DRG_GSLS1_Champion.jpg)
