Becoming God - Page 5

On March 24 2016 04:49 BisuDagger wrote:

That's a reasonable thought if you take how Classic changing to protoss impacted him. I think for someone who achieved a mastery of brood war though, that there were a ton of mechanical differences that worked against his habits. Bisu suffered this too. His micro control may be the best of any RTS player ever, but the faster battle pace of SC2 and micro capabilities in those battles worked against him.

On March 24 2016 12:23 Orr wrote:


I watched Flash throughout his prime when he transcended to God tier. Yes, his micro was incredible, but I never thought that was what separated him from the other greats (like others here are saying).

His 'star-sense' as it was frequently termed back then was what made him the GOAT. The meta during his reign was very mature, and since BW didn't have balance updates/patches, you were stuck with what you had (maps did their best to fix obvious unit design issues, but there were still clear flaws). As BW became increasingly figured out during the golden years where Flash, Jaedong, and the other greats pushed the basic game design (of something conceived in the late 90's) to the absolute max of human ability, there were relatively few viable strategies and the meta was understood almost down to a science at the highest level.

Flash had incredible micro (notably in his constant mech ball control and positioning of tank lines) coupled w/ amazing nonstop macro. But neither was flawless. And wasn't good enough from pure mechanics alone to accomplish anywhere near what he did. He did perfect the fast two-base, into turtling till you secure a third, while getting quick double armory and researching dual vehicle weapon upgrades, and then moving out w/ the deadly mech ball that hits right when 2/2 upgrades come online (lots of tanks supported by vultures laying mine fields, w/ typically limited goliaths for anti-air).

But the key to his immortality lay in possessing that singular extra sense, where he seemed to always know exactly what his opponent was doing (even before they did). It was almost as if he was an AI that was playing against itself. He somehow would know exactly where the hidden stacked lurkers on hold command would be, and at the last second right before having all his marines sliced up, would split and stim in while scanning. When many tried to cheese him or do crazy builds hoping for a cheap win, he would sniff it out like a bloodhound hot on the scent and send the scv scout to places on the map it would never otherwise go. Flash just had an eerie ability to see moves before they materialized.

BW was a far more technically challenging game than SC2, but there were less variables. One of the greatest things about SC2 is the fundamental game design (skewed towards amateurs), w/ all the crazy unit options/strategies/maps that give anyone a fighting chance to beat someone far better in a single game or short series. BW at its core didn't offer that constant unpredictability, and Flash was able to construct a play-style and general build that all but eliminated the minute possibilities of losing early.

As far as I could tell, Flash simply understood the game on a deeper, more intuitive level than anyone else. At the end of the day, Flash at his best, was better at Starcraft than I've ever seen anyone else at anything. Which is why a non-religious, non-believer like myself, will always consider him God.