HSC X Recap- Parting Steals Fire from God

by stuchiu
HomeStory Cup X - Parting Snatches the Championship Out of God's Hands

Going into Championship Sunday, many were hoping and praying for a reunion match between Flash and Jaedong. Ever since the KeSPA transfer, fans had eagerly anticipated the impending showdown between these two BW legends. Despite hundreds of individual high-profile matches, they had never met on-stage in any way: Jaedong's initial reign of terror occurred when Flash was still struggling to adjust and by the time the latter finally came into his own, Jaedong had long departed to the states. Sadly, it was not to be as PartinG eliminated Jaedong 3-0 in the Round of 8.

What we did get was even better.

In one of the most intense finals of the year, God battled the Train to decide who would become the first non-Liquid player to win HomeStory Cup since 2012. PartinG struck first with two blink all-ins on Catallena and King Sejong Station, displaying a level of blink stalker micro that most pro-players can only dream of.



In Game 3 the brazen protoss tried to get cute with colossus drops, reminiscent of Classic's shenanigans versus Polt at Blizzcon, and was promptly punished. Flash swiftly counterattacked as PartinG attempted to transition into DTs, shutting his opponent down. Still, PartinG fought to the bitter end. Despite his huge deficit, he made you believe he could actually steal the game from Flash.

That set the tone of the series. Flash was a wild bonfire, constantly trying to incinerate PartinG with dauntingly strong aggression and attacks. Each time PartinG barely held on with insane micro and battle sense. Perfect forcefields, perfect probe pulls, perfect unit targeting, perfect blinks, perfect warp-in compositions, PartinG was forced to pull out every ounce of skill to fight off what felt like overwhelming armies.

The series became a matter of trading wins. Parting took game 4 with a pitch perfect transition into late game PvT, diverting Flash's attacks along the way. The next game was Flash's turn to look superhuman as he sequentially sniffed out all of Parting’s tricks (early MSC harass accompanied with zealot/stalker, a proxy nexus planted on the opposite side of the map, a desperate 5 gate attack on effectively 1 base) and smashed them mercilessly into the ground. In the 6th game on Deadwing, Flash hit a massive SCV pull timing that Parting barely held the first time...and the second time...and the third time. He stubbornly refused to die until the sheer weight of Flash’s supply train finally pushed him over the cliff.

Once more, PartinG found himself going from a near secured up win to a tenuous final game. It was a do or die situation for PartinG, one he was intimately familiar with by now. Both the GSL Global Championship and MSI Beat started out the same way, but rapidly turned around as Zest and Solar got their bearings. It looked like kismet had written the script already as PartinG’s proxy oracle was scouted very early by Flash and he effortlessly held it off. PartinG tried to transition into San’s Blink Stalker Oracle contain but Flash took the low ground too quickly, leaving PartinG in a terrible position.

Desperate to find any way back into the game, PartinG expanded to the gold while constantly putting on pressure with his oracle/stalker force. PartinG’s constant harassment slowly paid dividends. His oracles and stalkers ravaged and held back Flash’s army; each time they engaged, Flash was baited into constantly stimming his army with few dividends. Even then Flash retained the stronger standing force with mass bio, a few mines and medivacs against PartinG’s pure gateway units. He had even snuck out a WM drop to Parting’s gold, putting Parting on a timer to attack him before he was starved out. With no choice, PartinG attacked and pulled off the impossible. With incredible forcefield and blink control, he killed Flash’s bio/medivac army and pushed his way up into the production.

It was the grand culmination of HSC X and the rivalry the two players had built from their Proleague encounters. Although they weren't frequent opponents, most of their meetings were memorable. From PartinG sniping Flash


To the latter symbolically kicking PartinG out of the stadium


The two developed an admirable camaraderie along with an intense enmity rooted in skill. With Parting’s participation in Proleague up for question, this could be the final hallmark of one of the great rivalries and as fitting an end as any. In terms of personal accomplishments, HSC X marks Parting's 4th Premier Championship and the first championship he's won this year. It is also the second finals he's been in since joining YoeFW.



Yet despite the amazing finals the glory of the weekend is not theirs alone. In the most massive Homestory Cup to date the casters, Take and his entire crew, the club and everyone there made the experience an unforgettable one from beginning to end. No other tournament gives as much insightful and hilarious casting or such a strong sense of casual fun as Homestory does. Without further ado here are the HSC X Awards:

Best Games: Flash vs Parting, MC vs Taeja
Best Host who should have been at Blizzcon: Incontrol
Most entertaining player: PartinG
Breakout player turned caster duo: Miniraiser/Kane
Best observer turned caster: Funka
Best caster turned observer: Rotterdam
Most missed caster: Nathanias
Favorite person to exist: White-Ra
Best driver: Armin
Best Restaurant: Mcdonalds
Best 6 time EPS Champion: Hasuobs
Best Song: Hey Kappa Kappa Hey
Best Indiegogo campaign not including Waxangel: this one