The Best Games of Sept, Oct, Nov and Dec 2014

by lichter and others

Well this is disgustingly late. Between our preparations for BlizzCon and the tournament density during the last couple of months, Best Games was unfortunately neglected. However the article series is back before the year ends, and this time more people are writing for it to give it more flavor and perspectives. Expect the series to have upgrades and changes next year. The Best Games of 2014 is next on our plate, and we're busy fighting* about our rankings. I'm going to say expect it within a month, but that depends on how many writers die in while debating** their opinions.

* Actual fighting not verified
** Writers debates are settles in cage fights

If you want to see the list of every great game since HotS was released, go and check out the Best Games/VODs of HoTS thread if you haven't already.

Note: Some of these games aren't so great as they are hilarious.

Stats vs soO on Nimbus - VOD

This, my friends, is a masterclass. The now 4x runner up has gone from an unappreciated bench warmer to the best his race has to offer. While it's difficult to consider him under rated after his historic 2014, the quality of his games often fly under the radar. While other zergs like TRUE, Life, and even Soulkey play in stylistically distinct ways that often earn them spots on Best Games, none of them have shown anywhere close to the consistency of the soOlver Surfer. His results clearly show that he plays zerg the right way; it's unfortunate that LR threads find it difficult to recommend one sided bludgeonings whenever he wins.

It was a pleasant surprise then, when this game received a 100% recommendation rate. On the surface, it looks just like every other ZvP bop in the GSL, like any game on ladder streamed by a pro of anonymous origin. It's exactly the type of game that urges PvZ balance whiners into a frenzy because it looked like there was no way for zerg to lose. And yet, despite the fact that it had all the signs of a 1 star game, everyone loved it.

There's this theory being thrown around that audiences wouldn't be able to tell the true quality of games if the names of competitors were blacked out. It's been discussed by the likes of CatZ, TargA, and Destiny, and my experience with best games once made me agree with them. While very few games make the cut on the final list, I review nearly every single recommended game each month. With many of them turning out to be complete wastes of time, my opinion of the audience at large wasn't very positive. But sometimes, you guys prove us wrong.

The fact that everyone was able to notice the little nuances in soO's play despite the big picture showing a methodical homicide was impressive. Everything about the game seemed normal as both players opened with reliable builds: Stats' tech of choice was a stargate, and soO responded correctly by droning more heavily. While many zergs become flustered as drones get picked off one by one, soO remained calm. He had the presence of mind to build a batch of lings, which he had scouring the map for proxy pylons and move outs. He sacrificed overlord after overlord to make sure he knew what Stats was up to behind his wall, and he identified that Stats was attempting to counter his favored muta corruptor style. So, he built mutas and corruptors.

It was a tech fake out though, as soO was already getting 2/2 on his melee units while upgrading pathogen glands. Anion pulse crystals and a second stargate were already close to finishing by the time Stats was able to spot the switch into ultralisks, and all he could do was take a fourth in response. His heavy investment into phoenixes had robbed him of an opportunity to hit before hive units, and soO was already close to finishing his ultralisk den and greater spire while upgrading 3/3. From then on it was just a matter of soO finding the right angles for attack, but it wasn't even close to a 1a flood of units.

Even while attacking, soO was spreading creep further and further towards the protoss. He pulled back zerglings against storms while ultras led the charge. He arranged his army by move speed to ensure no units were being held back. He swung left and right to pull Stats out of position, and his lings were constantly active in several places. Unlike many overeager zergs, soO was never caught attacking into a choke as he positioned his army in the open plains between the main and the fourth. He even knew when to pull back when every other zerg would have sent all his units into a vulnerable main, knowing that one poor engagement in a cornered location could be the protoss' only hope of clawing back. It was the type of display that proved his credentials as a 4x runner up, and no one else could have made zerg look so casually easy. Somehow, everyone noticed that it was anything but.

Sorry guys, I guess you aren't always bad at rating things. :p

Trap vs Cure on Catallena - VOD

When a game involves protoss losing his natural 13 minutes into the game but still manages to drag it on for 20 more minutes, people cry imbalance. Well, normally any game involving protoss receives its fair share of balance whine. But when one's entire strategy revolves around the idea of constantly attacking with so many units that you don't even have to build depots because you're losing supply so fast, anything is possible. We've seen Cure's crazy aggressive 5-rax before CC "Don't stop til you drop every possible protoss base" build dismantle some of the best protoss before. However none of those were able to go the distance quite like this game vs Trap from Redbull DC.

While it's possible to give you a recap of the game, it would be entirely pointless to do so. After a largely inconspicuous start from Trap's seemingly immortal oracle, both players would fight for almost the entire duration of the game. A third base was at a premium for much of it because neither player would let the other keep more than one expansion, and both players were hard pressed to make it far above a hundred supply. Basically, this was 2014's version of Keen vs First on DF Atlas (last year's #5 game of the year). You owe it to yourself to see this game, especially since colossus barely make an appearance.

Whether you call it imbalance or skill is up to you, but one thing's for sure: PvT is 100x more fun when protoss open templar. Protoss may not be able to win with it, but at least it's an exciting death.

Zerg vs Protoss on Overgrowth - VOD1 - VOD2

At this point, it's getting ridiculous. Sure, these kinds of strats might not happen much on ladder unless you're playing against CatZ, but pros seriously need to start reading Best Games so they don't get embarrassed on Overgrowth. This is the third consecutive month we've featured something like this, and it looks like no one's been heeding my warnings. Sure, neither of these games was against TRUE, but it looks like zergs everywhere have made this map their cheese map. Why protoss players still refuse to be more diligent here is beyond me, and even the best of their race have looked dumbfounded in the face of Peruvian pranks.



The first serving of cheese in this installment takes inspiration from TRUE while adding a little CatZ twist. Instead of just proxying a hatchery in response to forge first, Scarlett decided to take gas before the hatch. While the uninspired would think of zergling speed, Scarlett's choice was a roach warren and burrow. PartinG was not without his suspicions as he was unable to find a building expansion anywhere on the map, but the in-base hatchery was already over halfway done by the time he was able to spot it. He pulled probes and even attempted to cannon the proxy, but it was too late. While he was able to deny the first few roaches, the queen, and the larva injection, 4 roaches were already in safely away from the cannons by the time the hatchery burst. With only a zealot and probes at his disposal, it was like playing whack-a-mole with your bare hands against moles with giant teeth and toxic spit.

Scarlett followed this delectable appetizer with an entrée of equal surprise: a swarmhost+nydus rush on King Sejong Station that turned into a long macro game. Yes, this series really did happen.



When Zest won his GSL Season 1 title, it was on the back of an impeccable defense. soO repeatedly acquired advantages from his mid game muta corruptor, and Zest pushed back until he had enough to end the game with one decisive blow. In the first two games of their rematch, Zest used gateway timings to hit before soO was able to get comfortable, and it looked like the KT Protoss was once again going to deny soO any success. Facing an insurmountable deficit, soO had to find a way to repel Zest's attacks. But why defend when you can be the one that swings first? Nothing else but a strange left hook looked likely to faze his opponent, and soO found just the right kind of crazy to spike his punch.

We've seen it before on this exact map, but soO is one of the few players who would pull off a spine crawler push in a GSL semi final, against a player who had as many titles as soO had silvers at the time, while down in a 0-2 hole. Wolf and Tasteless were busy hyping Zest as an unbeatable force of nature, but soO quietly had plans to turn things around. Sensing that Zest would go nexus first with his series lead, soO took the gold base in response. You know, Zest's gold base. By the time the Season 1 Champion was able to find it, it was too late to do anything about it. It wasn't just any gold base steal, however, as soO marched a queen and a drone towards the protoss front door. Using the hatch cancel trick, soO was able to place a tumor on Zest's front lawn, and the contain was on. This wasn't any ordinary spine crawler push, however, as soO immediately took four gas once he had locked the protoss on two bases.

Trapped and perhaps a little flustered, Zest knew that he had to break free before the zerg could take the entire map. His choice of composition--zealots, sentries, and immortals--turned out to be a poor one, though, because soO was already upgrading hydralisks. Even with some clever forcefields, Zest's puny force was engulfed by soO's army. It was an excellently executed build order that was in no way an all-in.



2 top protoss, 2 hilarious losses. See you in a future #DreamPool ladder season, Overgrowth.

herO[jOin] vs Stats on Nimbus - VOD

In the WECG South Korea National Finals, KT Stats and CJ herO got off to a largely underwhelming start. Stats went up quickly to 2-0, thirsty to deny herO another Korean title. In the first do-or-die game of the series, Nimbus set the stage for one of the best PvP games of the month.

Nowadays we are seeing more and more highly recommended PvP games. However, unlike many of the modern PvP brawls of immortal chargelot archon, this game featured multiple colossi for both players without recreating a scene from War of the Worlds and ending in a matter of seconds. Particularly intriguing about the game was the unique vibe it created throughout. It was distinctly a protoss mirror match from Heart of the Swarm. Yet, it brought back some of the more fond memories of the matchup from Wings of Liberty (assuming you have any). It was a PvP cocktail of the new-age prevalence of phoenixes and early expands, while giving a nod to the colossus micro wars that epitomized nearly every game from the old days.

The game started normally with quick expansions from both players, but Stats, who had opted for robo, threw a curveball by responding to herO's phoenix opener with proxy double stargates. To keep his tech switch a secret, Stats positioned his stalkers and sentries in such a way that deterred herO's phoenixes from scouting the natural, while using photon overcharge to shroud his main base in mystery. This left herO in the dark long enough, despite his excellent scouting tool, for Stats to accumulate seven phoenixes of his own before killing some probes of the startled CJ Protoss. Stats followed up his zany deviation with a proxy base in the bottom left near his stargates. Shortly thereafter, he added a base at his normal third. When herO finally sniffed out Stats' schemes and saw the secret base, he was forced to attack it with his blink stalker army to snuff out his opponent's threatening economic advantage. Although Stats thwarted the attempt to snipe his proxy base, herO managed to slip in a warp prism backstab that racked up double-digit probe kills, all while getting +3 attack, a second robo for colossus production, and a fourth base.

Unwilling to pull back and stabilize his economy, Stats pressed herO at the front to try and finish him off with a 30 supply lead. Although Stats had those initial numbers, he decided to wait for his own +3 attack upgrade to finish while warping in more archons; it was probably the only questionable decision in the entire game. Fully taking advantage of the temporary armistice, herO sent a warp prism to the now-unprotected hidden base with his dark shrine about to complete, as well as a zealot squad to Stats' "natural" third base. Stats moved in between herO's third and fourth as soon as his upgrade completed, and the nostalgia of WoL PvP made a beautifully laser-ful resurgence. However, unlike many PvP deathball fights, it was not anticlimactic but captivating, drawn out long enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. The only disappointing aspect of the battle is that watching the two armies posture made it impossible to marvel at the multitasking of Stats and herO, instead letting peripheral vision absorb the flashes all around the minimap as the players stuttered and shuffled their colossi. Charging down the ramp from his fourth and fanning out, herO's colossi pulled off some Dance Dance Revolution moves that would make Snute proud, while two flanked from his main and zealots and dark templars ravaged Stats' bases. herO took both the economic and army lead, and both players dropped below 100 supply. herO had finally gained the edge that could win him the game. Stats was all-in: down to a measly thirty probes, inferior colossus count, and no new mining bases, he threw his emaciated army at herO's third. It was to no avail, and the KT Protoss tapped out.

Bunny vs San on Catallena - VOD

At its best, TvP is as full of action as TvZ, every attack evolving into a more and more chaotic war of army control and economic harassment. At its finest, TvP puts both players' full set of skills on display, letting their drop defense, bio splits, and late game spell casting do the talking. At its most brilliant, TvP is a war of position, micro, and attrition, featuring battle after battle, drop after drop, skirmish after skirmish, stretching both armies to their limits, taxing FunKa's zoom control. Bunny vs San is TvP at its greatest.

Bunny opened with a CC first build that went unscouted for almost seven minutes. San had chosen a safe expand and, recognizing that he had to deal some economic damage, opted to tech to charge and templar archives, using archons to defend Bunny's bio moveout while dropping zealots with a warp prism to deal some economic damage. As soon as Bunny realized the less-common army composition of his opponent, he began to churn out widow mines and crank up the aggression. Abusing the terrain of Catallena, Bunny sent a parade of drops to San's main while pressuring his third. San remained resilient, splitting his army immaculately, shutting down the occasional marauder-heavy drop with a barrage of water balloons from the Mothership Core-Laser Nexus tandem. However, Bunny continued to trade efficiently.

The more San tried to deal with drops, defend his third, do his own economic harassment with storm drops and zealot warpins, he did each with regressive effectiveness. The Liquid terran picked and pulled apart San's defenses, poking and prodding here and there. Living up to the theme and aesthetics of the map, Bunny the Octopus extended his tentacles through every choke, into every base, slowly constricting San to death. Widow mines poofed in fireworks, sometimes colored with the smokey cloud of probes, sometimes the purple psionic puff of high templar, and frequently with blue vapor of zealots. Storms rained down in Biblical proportions, but Bunny stood strong with medivac umbrellas and by keeping his army in an arc. San's bases were on thin ice, ice that his army movement finally cracked. Bunny took a beautiful engagement, throwing one tentacle into San's natural, reaching another around from the third, and pushing yet another down below the natural, closing in on the fractured protoss army. Scattered storms thundered about, mines exploded in sporadic bangs, colossi writhed about, taking pot shots at the shifty bio before making a statuesque collapse. Probes scurried to salvage what was left of the army and tase the remaining terran forces. Bunny withdrew, gathering his troops for the knock out punch, trapping the region between San's natural and third with mines, and took a fourth base. Moving in once again, a squad of marauders sniped San's third. The confused protoss army trudged over to retaliate and attempt to re-establish the fallen base, allowing another tentacle to slap at his natural. High templar vaporized immediately upon warpin, zealots and archons tumbled clumsily over mines, and San finally offered the olive branch.

Dark vs TY on KTV Foxtrot Labs - VOD

TvZ nowadays certainly seems like a matchup that ends up with the terran pushing and killing the zerg instead of the other way around. From Cure vs Scarlett to Bomber vs Jaedong, it's a tale of survival for zerg and a story of action for terran. The two/three base terran right now is incredibly strong, and micro benefits the 4M army so well that in high-level games armies almost look unkillable with perfect micro. So, when the zerg decides to be aggressive with early flanks and (via some miracle of mis-micro) dedicates 15 banes to killing a CC that doesn't end up even in flames, you'd expect the zerg to die soon after. After all, how can you hope to hold the inevitable parade push when you just gave up half of your banelings? However, in Dark vs TY, that was not the case.

After the first colossal misstep by Dark, TY chose to take his advantage slowly. Whether due to style or just the fact that it was game 5 of a Bo5, it's hard to say. Focusing on killing the crucial fourth, TY didn't actually take many head-on fights, unlike, say, TaeJa or Bomber. Rather, he played his drop-heavy style, macroing up to four bases on the back of it. With great micro, it seemed like even the maybe-too-safe TY would close it out. Oddly, Dark kept barely repelling the terran army while getting the mutas needed to try and pressure the terran, and eventually managed to claw his way back to four bases. With TY starting to take poor trades across the map, it looked like Dark was back on his feet. Foxtrot Labs, even being the oddity that it is, was eventually split fully - if the terran stepped on creep, he'd be crushed. If the zerg stepped too far, he'd risk loses his mutas to mines ala jjakji vs Revival. With both players' control waning in an exhausting set, both armies were battered and nearly shattered time and time again. Dark had a bank of almost 5k gas, yet no minerals.TY had a solid base of minerals, yet no gas.

With his drops finally paying off, TY hit Dark where it hurt: an ambitious gold base, the primary source of minerals for the zerg warmachine. Dark tried to force a trade near the top of the map, and for a few seconds it seemed like it would work. The terran was down to twenty workers, the zerg? Up at a cozy fifty. But the terran army was too big. Tied at supplies fourty workers behind, TY took a big sigh to gather his strength and pushed for the victory. One last hail mary would be thrown in a back-and-forth, scrappy, messy massacre of a game - a Scarlett Burrowed Baneling Trap. It sorta worked, killing a fair share of marines, but not even close to enough for TY to lose. Dark GG'd out, and TY would go on to lose two TvPs and get nothing despite his victory in one of the many amazing games of WECG. Better luck next time, Mini-Flash.

TaeJa vs INnoVation on Nimbus - VOD

TaeJa vs INnoVation is a fascinating rivalry to follow, as these two players illustrate how playstyles can become wildly different with only minor alterations. While they both favor safe, solid macro play in most games, TaeJa’s style is best described as strategic; INnoVation, meanwhile, favors an extremely mechanical approach to playing terran. They also thrive in completely different environments and win entirely different types of tournaments. Despite this, the two have managed to play each other thirteen times, with TaeJa winning in nine of these encounters. Their most famous battle was at the WCS 2013 Season 2 Finals, where TaeJa and INnoVation engaged in all-out war. After fifty minutes of non-stop action, TaeJa confirmed that he was barely the superior terran. This game from Blizzcon was a similar installment in their rivalry.

The game initially looked like it was going to be the same sort of one-sided, quick TvT we had endured for the last few months as TaeJa quickly grabbed eight worker kills with his perfectly normal cloaked banshee opening. TaeJa’s plan in this game was to quickly take to the skies with a large group of vikings in order to win a positional battle, but INnoVation’s hellbat drops delayed the attack and he was able to set up turrets in time to defend. From there, both players began an elaborate game of chess that revolved around the center of the map and required intelligent usage of the central bases. TaeJa successfully secured a position that forced INnoVation to focus on defense; however, INnoVation eventually had enough of this, and he secured a fifth base on the other side of the map with brute force. That move allowed him to crash into TaeJa’s fourth before TaeJa could switch into battlecruisers. While TaeJa attempted a counterattack with everything he had including landed vikings to equalize the economy, INnoVation had retained enough units to defend while threatening TaeJa’s third base.

With the clock ticking and a lagging military and economy, TaeJa successfully re-took air control in order to destroy INnoVation’s fifth base while taking a positional hidden base. INnoVation declined to defend in favor of killing TaeJa’s fourth base again, which allowed TaeJa to walk right into the main base to snipe tanks and factories. Despite this, INnoVation stabilized on five bases and began his own air transition. TaeJa tried an assault on the fifth base again, but INnoVation had already taken TaeJa’s air control away. Eventually, TaeJa’s latest choice of a fifth base in the bottom right left it open to a tank drop on the cliff above it, forcing him to try to break INnoVation’s position. TaeJa opted to split his army into two and pressure the fourth and fifth base, and while he did force one command center to be lifted, half of his mainly tank/marauder force was cleaned up by banshees before it could do lasting damage. TaeJa could not overcome this air disadvantage in order to take another favorable engagement and eventually surrendered.

Just another day at the office for these two players.

herO vs MC on Catallena - VOD

PvP has a notorious reputation for often being quick and brutal, with one or both players attempting some sort of one or two base aggression. At best these strategies can crush one's opponent; at worst, they fail horribly and give us something to laugh at. Sometimes, these deadly exchanges can even lead to an even game. The outcome often depends on the smallest details that many of us don't notice. These nuances are carried over into the macro games that many would call stale; just about every unit and composition sees use in PvP before culminating in a battle of AoE. MC vs herO on Catallena was PvP at its most divisive: an exciting clash between an aggressive style that wanted to be defensive and defensive play that yearned to be aggressive.

MC, who was down 2-1 in the WCS Global Finals Ro16, opened with what was supposed to be a very aggressive 3gate build. However, MC accidentally lost the only probe he had sent out on the map before he could warp in reinforcement pylons, and he made the decision to retreat, allowing both players to expand. herO, in the meantime, opened with oracles, and used two at once in order to force MC to play defensively. Although he killed twelve workers, herO had sacrificed probe production to keep up with MC’s army, and both players eventually transitioned into a very even mid-game, as they eventually built up armies of immortals and archons. Although both players took their third bases at about the same time, herO was the one who moved out with his army and a warp prism, while MC set up a defensive position at home.

herO’s plan was to build up his economy at a reasonable rate and tech to colossi defensively while being active with his army and dropping zealots in MC’s bases. MC, however, was looking for any excuse to pick a reasonable fight on the map, and attempted to retaliate with an immortal drop of his own. Unfortunately for the Boss Toss, herO cleaned it up with ease and continued to harass. Meanwhile, herO had used his freedom of movement to transition into colossi faster than MC, and he temporarily played defensively to finish this transition. Although MC quickly started a second robotics facility as he discovered herO’s army composition, herO was already moving out to attack as MC finished his first colossus, and with a colossus and army value lead it seemed he was going to be victorious.

Although herO repeatedly attempted to take a position between MC’s natural and third base, MC was continuously aggressive on the defense, forcing undesirable engagements for herO without losing probes to zealot harass. herO attempted to retain some position on the map while taking his fourth base, but MC had intelligent army movement and continued to match herO’s moves. herO then attempted to cancel MC’s fourth base while his opponent was out of position, but MC took a favorable engagement and successfully trapped herO’s colossi. A quick counterattack allowed MC to ravage herO’s expansions and take the game.

*** No actual December games were written about, because none were really that great

Full List of Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec 2014 Games

September

September 5: Code S Ro16
soO vs Flash - VOD

September 12: KeSPA Cup
Zest vs sOs - VOD

September 18: WCS AM Ro16
TaeJa vs HyuN - VOD

September 19: Code S Ro8
Stats vs soO - VOD

September 19: Code S Ro8
Zest vs Rain - VOD

September 20: Red Bull Battlegrounds DC
Scarlett vs PartinG - VOD

September 20: Red Bull Battlegrounds DC
Scarlett vs PartinG - VOD

September 20: Red Bull Battlegrounds DC
sOs vs Trap - VOD

September 21: Red Bull Battlegrounds DC
Cure vs Trap - VOD

September 24: Code S Semi Finals
Zest vs soO - VOD

October 2: WCS EU Ro8
Bunny vs San - VOD

October 2: WCS EU Ro8
MMA vs ForGG - VOD

October 3: WCS EU Finals
YoDa vs MMA - VOD

October 13: WCS AM Ro4
Bomber vs Polt - VOD

October 13: WECG KR
Dark vs TY - VOD

October 20: WECG KR Finals
herO vs Stats - VOD

November 2: WCS Global Finals
herO[jOin] vs MC - VOD

November 2: WCS Global Finals
soO vs TaeJa - VOD

November 7: WCS Global Finals
Bomber vs MMA - VOD

November 7: WCS Global Finals
TaeJa vs INnoVation - VOD

November 8: WCS Global Finals
Life vs TaeJa - VOD

November 14: Homestory Cup X
KangHo vs jjakji - VOD

November 15: Homestory Cup X
TaeJa vs MC - VOD1 | VOD2 | VOD3

November 16: Homestory Cup X
Flash vs PartinG - VOD

November 17: Hot6ix Cup
Flash vs sKyHigh - VOD

November 29: Dreamhack Winter
ForGG vs Life - VOD

December 3: Hot6ix Cup
Bbyong vs sKyHigh - VOD

December 8: IEM San Jose
herO[jOin] vs Rain - VOD

December 24: Starcraft II Starleague
sKyHigh vs GuMiho - VOD

December 29: SK Telecom Proleague
Maru vs soO - VOD

December 29: SK Telecom Proleague
Rogue vs Classic - VOD

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Grand List Compiler: lichter.
Photos: ESL