Sen Makes History
Wins Taiwan Open

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When the Taiwan Open was announced, no one was expecting a foreigner victory. Who could blame them? Half of the participants were Korean. Among those 5 were world class champions: Taeja, Jaedong, Leenock, Hyun and Bomber. Taeja all-killed Dreamhack Summer without dropping a map, then won the hardest IEM to date. Jaedong has been placing top 4 in his recent tournament runs and has masterful ZvZ. Hyun has had 10 top 3 finishes this year alone. Bomber just got second at WCS NA. And while TRUE may not have a championship, he got to the semi-finals of a GSL.

It was supposed to be another tick. Just one more victory before Korea closed in for a second consecutive All Kill like they had done in 2013. But it was not to be as Sen flipped the script and instead came crashing through the gates as he ran over Cheetos, Bomber, Has and Hyun to win his first ever Premier tournament and the first foreigner to do so since Snute in 2012.

Day 1 began with the greatest possible surprise: TaeJa was out in the very first match of the tournament. Yes, it was against Leenock, an adopted Taiwanese, but the Liquid terran was undoubtedly one of the picks to win another 10k. Though there had been concerns about his health since his absence from the ATC Finals, this was the first time he'd exited an event at the first hurdle for as long as we could remember. One more Korean fell later in the day when DeParture, a whipping boy in Proleague, succumbed to the experienced Ian. They traded games of fast pools against hatch first before closing the series with a macro game, and the Taiwanese zerg looked superior in ousting the new MVP recruit.

The most anticipated match of the first round, however, was Bomber vs TRUE. It was a matchup that would have belonged in the later rounds of most tournaments, but it was a Ro16 match in Taipei. Bomber would best the Jin Air Zerg in 3 games, though they would split the two macro games. As expected, TRUE won on Overgrowth when he was able to amass a frightening amount of banelings, but Bomber battered him easily when he decided to use roaches. Along with Pet's defeat at the hands of Jaedong, this meant that half the Korean contingent was already out.

By the end of the day, however, only HyuN would remain. The Spider Zerg squeaked past Leenock in the first match of the Ro8, but the successful ROCCAT zerg was the overwhelming favorite to many. But the next two series would shock everyone but the hometown crowd as Ian defeated Jaedong 2-1 and Sen swept Bomber 2-0. The two best Taiwanese players proved their mettle in their respective series, and the result was well deserved.

Against Jaedong, Ian used two early pools on Merry Go Round and Overgrowth. In game 1, Jaedong opted for the greediest possible opening with hatch, gas, and drones before his pool, and the brilliant decision from Ian not to use his banelings on drones dissuaded the EG zerg from building lings and relying on queens alone. In game 2, Jaedong held the pressure and allowed his economic advantage to overwhelm his opponent. The Flash Wolves zerg looked like a one trick pony, but he would prove his doubters wrong on King Sejong Station. After an even early and mid game, a brilliant roach sandwich by Ian caught Jaedong by surprise, and the Tyrant's army was destroyed with a whimper. Ian's superior tech with infestors and hydras contributed to his upset victory, but his positioning was decisive. Sen followed his countryman in 2 games. Merry Go Round was an intense back and forth like the best of TvZs until some meaty baneling hits irreversibly swung the momentum in his favor. Bomber looked certain to grab a game back with his proxy reaper, but he was unable to take advantage. Some poor engagements from Bomber gave Sen the leeway to take an upgrade advantage, and some excellent creep spread ensured the Red Bull terran had no avenue for attack. Sen simply stalked Bomber the entire game and drowned him in a stream of units.

To close out the day, Has played like Has and bamboozled Fist.



Looking solely at the list of semi finalists, it looked par for course for a Taiwanese tournament. HyuN was the token Korean while Sen, Ian, and Has were there. But looking at the round of 16, this outcome seemed difficult to imagine possible. HyuN continued his rampage against Ian, defeating the Taiwanese zerg in 4 games. No amount of trickery was able to save the Flash Wolves zerg, and HyuN looked like the best ZvZ player in the tournament. Sen, on the other hand, handily defeated three different races to make the finals, proving too smart to fall for Has' devious strategies. Sen managed to counter every wrench, sink and crowbar Has could throw at him with superior positioning and defensive play. It didn't matter if it was 4gate DTs, a normal 4gate, an immortal sentry push, or a fake cannon rush; Sen figured it out and held it all. It was a surprising path to the finals for one of our most experienced players in a tournament filled with zergs, but he would have to defeat one more to have his trophy.


      Game one of the grand finals was an extremely quick affair. On Overgrowth, HyuN opened with a 10 pool with a fast follow up baneling nest to bring the pressure to Sen and Sen perhaps unluckily decided to go with a hatchery first. Although there were a few times where it looked like Sen could hold the attack HyuN's pressure was relentless, Sen's zergling micro was lackluster losing several large packs to baneling detonations, and the build order advantage was too strong as HyuN put himself up 1-0 in the series.

      In game two on King Sejong Station HyuN apparently thought, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". Sen countered with, "If it is broke, fix it and break the thing the other guy is doing". HyuN went for the same 10 pool baneling build while Sen went hatch first. This time, however, Sen's micro was immaculate as he brushed aside HyuN's attack with drones and lings of his own. From there, Sen's vastly superior economy snowballed out of control and he was able to win the game with a large pack of zerglings.

      Game three on Merry Go Round held the first roach sighting of the series, as Sen opted to go for a low tech mass roach attack early on. HyuN only needed to hold on for a short time, as his lair and his upgrades were well ahead of Sen's, but Sen had the much larger army. HyuN decided to make a high number of zerglings to keep his opponent on his own side of the map for as long as possible. When Sen's attack came, HyuN's queens provided much needed transfusions and he was able to push Sen back despite losing his third, and counterattacked with his well upgraded roaches to take the series lead right back.

      Once again Sen innovated quickly in game four. Both players opened hatch/pool and moved towards roach play, but Sen hit an interesting timing with a huge amount of zerglings that killed HyuN's third hatch, took out a ton of queens, and decimated HyuN's early roach and zergling numbers. After that, Sen prepared for a 2/1 mass roach push. When Sen's push arrived, HyuN was still trying to recover from his earlier losses and couldn't cope with Sen's maxed out roach force, and conceded the game and the series was tied up 2-2.

      In game five the games continued to be traded back and forth as HyuN opted to get aggressive once again. Both players opened hatch first, but Sen went for a third prior to getting a baneling nest and HyuN was having none of it. With a crisp and quick two-base baneling bust, HyuN rapidly killed off queens, drones, and zerglings alike and Sen tapped out to give HyuN match point with the series at 3-2.

      Game six progressed as many ZvZs do into the roach vs roach phase. Sen and Hyun traded blows with neither player seeming to get the edge. Then two key events happened back to back: Sen cornered a large portion of HyuN's roaches burrowed and unable to escape, and then HyuN elected to send his remaining roaches into the main and third of Sen to snipe tech and kill drones. Although he was able to kill the roach warren, the move left him drastically behind in army supply. HyuN attempted to go for banelings to counter the hydras of Sen, but Sen pushed too quickly for HyuN to pull it off and his superior army won out in the end, and the series was tied at 3 games each.



      In the final game Sen did what he had done in so much of the series to that point: adapt and improve. Faced with the same baneling bust that demolished him so quickly in game five, Sen canceled his third base, built spine crawlers, and showcased excellent micro to hold all of HyuN's aggression. With a faster transition into roaches and a stronger economy off the back of that hold, Sen was able to push out with a massive army to attempt to kill a crippled HyuN. HyuN put up a wall of eight spine crawlers to try to hold on, but Sen walked right past them into HyuN's main and HyuN had no choice but to GG and concede the finals to Sen with a score of 4-3!


SC2 is a harsh competitive scene that is in a constant state of flux as strategies develop, mechanical skill increases, patches come and go, expansions are added and maps are cycled in and out. Because of this most players find it all but impossible to stay consistent over a long period of time. Most find it hard to stay consistent over a matter of months. Just look at the most recent GSL Champion, Classic. In the span of one season he went from the winning GSL to getting kicked out of the ro32 by Shine. And the foreigner scene is no exception. The longest period of dominance any foreigner player has had was Stephano's 1.5 years from mid 2011 to the end of 2012. Beyond him were players like: Idra, Jinro, Huk, Thorzain, Naniwa, Vortix, Snute and Scarlett. Players who for the most part have gone through waves of success and slumps. No one can stay at the top forever, it is literally and figuratively impossible.

And that is what makes Sen an anomaly. Sen never reached the extreme heights of success those foreigners have. He just never had the chance or support to travel all over the world and participate in events like DH or MLG or IEM. Yet when he could go, Sen has proven time and time and time again that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with players like Stephano or Naniwa or Scarlett. Third place in NASL 1 and NASL 2. Third at Blizzcon. 4th in WCS 2012. 1st in ECL and now 1st place in the Taiwanese Open.

And Sen has been here since the beginning. He was one of the few foreigner players to have qualified for the original GSL Open Seasons and one of the oldest players in the game today (27). With his victory at the Taiwan open, Sen is now the first foreigner player in 2014 to have won both a Major and Premier tournament. A testament to the amount of time and effort Sen has put into this game and a victory that will permanently cement his place as one of the best foreigner players SC2 has ever produced.

Today on 8.8.2014, Sen stopped the atomic clock and prevented the 2014 Korean All-Kill.

Writers: Darkhorse, stuchiu, lichter.
Graphics: lichter.
Photo: TWOP.
Editor: lichter.