The oldest and most coveted team league in the world, Proleague represents the best of the best in Starcraft 2. Beginning with Brood War, Proleague made its transition into Starcraft 2 in 2012 along with almost all professional Brood War players at the time. To maintain an even win/loss record in Proleague is a respectable achievement -- no easy feat considering the skill level of the participating players. Titans like Bisu, Jaedong, and Flash have graced their teams with many championships, with Flash holding the record for most Proleague wins. Not only does a game win contribute towards a match win, but it also counts to overall game score and acts as a tie-breaker should a tie happen.

Since the transition to SC2, new players have risen to make a name for themselves. Chief among them is INnoVation (formerly known as Bogus). Eventually making a name for himself in SC2, he earned the nicknames “the machine”, and “the robot” due to his practice habits and meticulous mechanics. Not only is he a killer in individual leagues, with multiple championships and countless top 4 finishes under his belt, he has also played a key role in his team’s success in Proleague. Starting out on STX Soul, he held the second highest win record and maintained a 68% win rate, along with a 75% win rate in ace matches. More importantly, he held a 6-1 record in the playoffs, and a perfect 2-0 in ace matches, nearly earning the finals MVP award. With this season’s Proleague well under way, INnoVation has started with a perfect 4-0 record, pushing his team to a +6 in match win/loss. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at how he wins games.






This game starts with a typical reaper opening into reactor, followed by a factory and starport for a widow mine drop. The key here is that INnoVation proxies the factory and starport at sOs’ third base, allowing the drop to happen much earlier. While most Terran players will return the proxied buildings back home once the aggression is over, INnoVation decides to play the map and starts to make tanks out of the factory. He does return the starport back home, as it has served its purpose in the widow mine drop, but the layout of Overgrowth allows for tank aggression behind the natural base. Rather than using the marines to poke the natural in conjunction with the widow mine drop in the natural/main base, he uses the widow mine drop as a distraction so that he can send his marines into the adjacent third base of sOs, and puts them in the bunker. Instead of trading marines and widow mines for probe kills, he sets up a soft contain on the natural base of sOs. The tech lab constructed from the factory also serves as a scout, as INnoVation is able to see when the third of sOs goes down.

All of these moves result in the following:

• Keeps sOs contained in his base to defend the pressure
  
• Limits sOs’ tech because he has to make units
  
• Allows INnoVation the freedom back at home to tech up or play greedy
  
• Unfavorable trades for sOs because of siege tank damage + bunker health

The drawback to this aggressive play is that there is no starport in the main base for INnoVation, so he has to float it back home which takes over 2 minutes. Needless to say this delays his medivac and viking production, but with this build that he chose he does not need any early air units to defend against potential all-ins because sOs is forced to defend back at home. With the lack of air units from INnoVation, the extra money can go into stim, combat shields, and bio upgrades. Consequently, his upgrades are significantly ahead of sOs’. INnoVation through all of this was able to deny scouting for sOs. A lucky widow mine shot in the first drop splash-damage killed an observer, and a scan in the main of INnoVation killed yet another, leaving sOs no idea if INnoVation is playing greedy behind his contain or building up a large army. This forces sOs to drop extra gateways, further delaying his tech and expansions.

The rest of the game plays out as a normal TvP would, with INnoVation ahead going into the mid-game due to his early shenanigans. The key concept to keep in mind is that INnoVation had planned to open like this all along. It wasn’t a reaction to what sOs was doing, but was premeditated and based on the fact that INnoVation knows sOs’ tendencies and playstyle. Factoring into the build choice is the map, which allows this build to work. His ability to execute a plan like this is unrivaled, with every little detail from his initial SCV scout building the proxy structures, to the timing he sends his marines to meet up with the bunker, all being precisely calculated down to the second.






This game vs TY is a testament to INnoVation's state of mind, and focus under pressure. His team (SK Telecom T1) is down two games to one, and a loss here would be devastating against long time rival KT Rolster. The game opens up with typical gas first builds from both players. TY opts for a marine then a reaper, which is an almost guaranteed base scout if INnoVation’s units aren’t in the correct position to intercept the reaper. While not actually seeing the researching cloak and starport out of INnoVation, TY makes the correct build order read and builds a raven to counter INnoVation's opening. Even if it is not a cloaked banshee opener, the raven is still a safe opening and won’t really set TY behind - especially since he knows INnoVation has two gases.

Upon confirming it’s cloaked banshee, TY drops a command center and continues on with his anti-cloak build. As for INnoVation, he makes a hellion rather than a reaper for scouting, but unfortunately it gets killed by five marines before it can enter the main base of TY. This is enough information for INnoVation though, as 5 marines at this point in the game means no all-ins are about to hit, so INnoVation can continue on with his cloaked banshee into command center opening.

Unsure of TY’s exact opening, INnoVation gets his own raven after his first cloaked banshee, in case any banshees come his way. The first aggression comes from INnoVation when he sends the cloaked banshee to harass TYs mineral line, but only gets one SCV kill due to the viking and raven over TY's base. Although almost no damage was done immediately, the banshee survives and is able do more damage at a later time. INnoVation continues with his hybrid defense/expand build, and opts to spend his gas on earlier tanks at the cost of a later stim upgrade. The next attack comes from TY who drops six marines and a widow mine in the natural of INnoVation, and with faulty micro INnoVation loses his raven and is forced to scan to clear the widow mine. During this engagement INnoVation uses two banshees ready on the outskirts of TYs bases to harass his opponent's mineral line in return, but can only net seven SCV kills with two banshees.


INnoVations goal was to get early damage done with the banshees, but they didn't do enough. This puts his tech slightly behind that of TY's, and forces him to stay on the defensive while TY can be aggressive. This is where INnoVation's focus and genius kick in. He’s layered the left side of the map with marines and widow mines for vision and scans TY's main base. Seeing a relatively low amount of units in the scan radius, INnoVation is able to deduce that there is a drop heading towards his main base, and re-positions his units accordingly. INnoVation needs only to delay TY’s pressure until his own stim is done, and prepares his siege tanks throughout his base, covering all droppable areas. One of the ways INnoVation is able to so cleanly defend his mineral lines is by keeping a siege tank on the opposite side of the command center in siege mode, buying him time to gather reinforcements for drop defense.



An unfortunate timing on INnoVation’s part results in his army being out of position when a push from TY hits his natural, and INnoVation enters crisis mode. A total of fourteen SCVs are killed off by TY, who now has the clear lead in the game. Losing composure now would surely result in a loss, and INnoVation is able to push through it. He continues to patrol the outside of his base with marines, granting him vision of the left side of the map, and a sensor tower in the main base will give him a heads up if any drops are headed his way. Not content to play passively INnoVation begins to send out medivacs towards TY's base, while keeping just enough units at home should his opponent commit to a large attack. INnoVation continues improve his upgrades, and without making too many big or risky moves he is able to establish his own third base. Again, this all revolves around his vision control and willingness to be patient, waiting for the right opportunity to act on his game plan.

The next sequence of events immediately wins the game for INnoVation. Due to the spawn positions, INnoVation is able to get to the base of TY much faster than the reverse, and with a well placed scan, indentifies that TY’s army is far out of position and can siege the base of TY from the pocket expansion. A crucial mistake from TY allows INnoVation to put his tanks into siege mode, while a drop in the exposed third base of TY starts to kill off SCVs as well. Along with a newly placed sensor tower in INnoVation’s natural, he is able to see and then ward off any future drop from TY with ease, while he ferries more siege tanks and marines into the main base of TY from the low ground pocket expansion. A desperate counter attack from TY on the third base of INnoVation is his last move, but with another sensor tower covering the centre, INnoVation is able to reposition his rallied units and fend off the attack. Once INnoVation was able to position his army inside the base of TY, it was over.




This win doesn’t stem from a build order advantage or a lucky drop, and in fact INnoVation was behind for arguably most, if not all of the game. His early investment in cloaked banshee didn’t pay off as well as it should have, and his late stim upgrade prevented him from getting any other form of damage done. His win came from careful positioning of his units for vision and defense, delicate patience waiting for his tech to finish, and reacting correctly to the moves TY was making. An unlucky break did happen when INnoVation went to doom drop TY and TY attacked his natural, but an unfazed INnoVation reacted to the situation appropriately and was able to hold with only a moderate amount of losses. Through more detailed positioning of his vikings and siege tanks, INnoVation was able to hold all parts of his base without any further losses, and waited until TY made a mistake then punished him dearly for it.





This next game is a textbook example of a player being superior to another skill-wise. Both players open up normally, with MyuNgSiK going for a one gas expansion build, and INnoVation going for a reaper expand. Upon scouting vertical spawns, INnoVation goes for a harass based build in the form of a widow mine drop. Should it have been cross spawns, the opening for INnoVation could have been different. INnoVation continues to be active with his reaper, scouting the geysers and amount of pylons in the base of MyuNgSiK, and with this information he knows that no proxy play from MyuNgSiK is possible. This allows INnoVation to be aggressive with his initial marine force, moving out on the map with six marines and taking the watch tower. Known for his deadly TvP timings, INnoVation sets up his mid game plan in the form of different aggressions:

• Initial marine poke at the front and reaper in the main base
  
• Widow mine drop in the main
  
• Dual pronged drop in the main and natural with widow mine
  
• A large drop in the main base to trade efficiently for the terran

Each of these plays compliments the next play in some way, by either killing off specific units or displacing the army of MyuNgSiK. The first step outright kills the mothership core and a few probes, while the reaper jumps into the main base acting as a scout, and netting a probe kill. No mothership core means no photon overcharge for a while, which sets up INnoVations next play which is the marine and widow mine drop in the main base. The reduced damage output from MyuNgSiK’s army isn’t enough to effectively clear the drop while the medivac is healing the marines, and this delays a massive amount of mining time for MyuNgSiK. A secondary objective from this drop is the continued scouting of MyuNgSiK’s build, as INnoVation see’s the stargate going down along with colossus tech on the way. The third stage of aggression yet again delays a massive amount of mining time in both the main base and the natural of MyuNgSiK, and further acts as a scout by seeing the third base going down, a void ray and the infrastructure count for MyuNgSiK.



Up to this point, the aggression out of INnoVation has been low risk, low reward pushes and drops. Behind these early aggressions INnoVation continued to tech up and build up his own infrastructure, while adding a third base. The last stage of the aggressive mid game plan comes in the form of a three medivac drop. This is somewhat risky due to the stargate on the map which could result in phoenix in the air, but this also means that MyuNgSiK has been spreading his resources too thinly across too many tech paths. With all the damage done to the economy, and seeing a third base, stargate and robo tech, this tells INnoVation that he has the go-ahead to make a big drop happen.

His options are: drop in the main base, drop in the natural, or drop at the third. He decides to drop the main base where all of the tech is, and cashes in on a huge micro mistake out of MyuNgSiK. MyuNgSiK mis-micros two colossi attack moving his defenses into his main, to fend off the drop, and INnoVation capitalises on this mistake picking them both off at the cost of almost nothing. Losing two colossi at this stage in the game with three bases, it will be almost impossible to hold any follow up push out of the Terran, which is exactly what INnoVation does. There are three plays here which INnoVation can do: SCV pull for a guaranteed win, play a macro game and mass an army, or straight up push with your bio force and probably win anyway. INnoVation goes for the latter, which crushes MyuNgSiK’s remaining forces.

Through superior micro and macro, INnoVation was able to systematically dismantle MyuNgSiK one step at a time, starting by crippling MyuNgSiK's economy and later crushing his tech. Despite the fact that MyuNgSiK played relatively greedy and spread out, the fact that INnoVation was able to not only continue on with his successful harass, but doing it so seamlessly and correctly while maintaining his own base sets him apart from not only other Terrans but other StarCraft 2 pro players as well. To consistently recognizing points of weakness and abusing them, while constantly having reinforcements available for further harassment are key in INnoVation’s plan to win. This is a classic example of INnoVation outplaying his opponent all throughout the game.






Right off the bat, both players opened with mirror builds, yet INnoVation was slighty ahead in his timings. INnoVation chose to open with a cloaked banshee build (similar to his game against TY) as his preferred play style is early aggression. Center, on the other hand, opens with an early reaper and gets a full scout on INnoVation’s base, seeing the double gas with cloak being researched. Nevertheless, INnoVation continued on with the banshee opening, but unfortunately loses the banshee to a marine and a well placed widow mine outside of Center's base. This abruptly ended the early banshee play that INnoVation wanted to do. Undeterred from his plan, INnoVation continues producing banshees and begins his second command center. Just like his game against TY, this build relies on getting economic damage done with the banshees while taking an expansion, and sacrifices a later stim for earlier tanks to defend drops. With his next banshee, INnoVation succeeded in killing off enough SCVs to take the harvester lead.

Center eventually takes a position at the adjacent third base of INnoVation, shelling a refinery with his siege tank. This prompts INnoVation to counter with a four medivac drop containing three tanks, and boosts them across the map. Good map vision allows Center to spot this early, and he prepares his own drop defense. In a situation like this, INnoVation has an advantage due to his practice and experience. He is able to successfully deny any further harassment on his natural with rallied marines and tanks, and in turn drops his army into the main base of Center. Even though Center was seemingly prepared for this, INnoVation scans ahead and see's a small gap in the back of Center’s base, so he abuses this location to siege up his tanks and unload his marines. The trade easily goes into INnoVation’s favor, killing off nineteen SCVs and even marines, while losing only three tanks. This is a huge blow to Center’s economy, and forces him to take risks if he wants to get back in the game.


After INnoVation’s pressure play it is Center’s turn. He still has the force in INnoVation’s third base, which has now become a distraction rather than a harassment group. INnoVation goes to kill off the contingency force, and Center uses this time to boost his own four medivacs into INnoVation’s base. True to INnoVation’s style, he’s already got a sensor tower set up in his main base to detect incoming drops. Center's drop does eventually kill 24 SCVs, but he was not able to trade efficiently with INnoVation's army, and this proved to be his downfall. This drop only evened up the economy, and INnoVation’s army is much larger and now in a position to make a frontal assault against Center. Coupled with main base coverage from the sensor tower and a rally point of marines and siege tanks into his natural, INnoVation moves in for the killing blow.

Underestimating the size of INnoVations army proved to be a critical mistake from Center. Incorrectly assuming the size of INnoVation's army gives Center a false sense of security and Center keeps his army outside of his natural until it’s too late. INnoVation recognizes this, and casts seeker missiles on Center's tanks. Center must then choose to either siege up and fight on the spot taking the seeker missile damage, or retreat, not only limiting their damage output, but also gives position to INnoVation and stops the majority of his army from initiating a fight. Even without seeker missile, INnoVation was probably going to win the fight due to sheer numbers, but it's his attention to detail that wins him games so fluently.

INnoVation's experience and reactions to all of these in-game situations are all a cut above the rest, his decision making is as good as it gets.





It’s no surprise that the defending GSL code S champion has opened up Proleague with a perfect 4-0 record. His mechanical perfection backed up by rigorous practice habits makes him one of the best players in the world, and it’s only a matter of time before he wins another championship. His ability to remain calm in high pressure situations, devise a workaround to the problems presented to him, and execute plans so flawlessly is a feat few have ever been able to replicate and consistently apply to their games over a long period of time. He can cheese, macro, and can even come up with his own builds and make them as perfect as possible. He is the quintessential Terran right now, as he continues to master the race and innovate the way they are played.

And finally, special thanks to Ver and his article for inspiration.

Brought to you by the TL Strategy Team
Writer: Jer99
Graphics: InsidiA
Editors: NovemberstOrm,thecrazymunchkin banjoetheredskin, The_Templar, Soularion, ZeromuS,