Please rise and welcome the venerable stuchiu, who will deliver the opening address on this historic day.
Welcome, ladies and gentleprobes, to the grand opening of the Has of Fame. In these dark times where the cannon rush has fallen into obscurity, it is our duty to keep the faith and remember the wondrous days of yore. To that end, we have built a sacred place in which future generations can stare in awe and be inspired by their fore-rushers. We must never forget the time when Probes alone could not only win games, but cause countless keyboards and monitors to be smashed by infuriated opponents. Only the greatest cannon rushes will be enshrined here on this consecrated ground. And all who make the pilgrimage to this divine sanctuary will know the grace of Has.
Now let us all pray in his name. Has of the House of Yoe, first of his name, Lord of the Pylon Walls, the Most Forward of Proxies, the Most Clairvoyant Oracle, the Great Wolf of the East, Breaker of Kaelaris, Humbler of Tyrants, son of InCa, brother to sOs, The Prism That Aligns All Light.
May our Pylons be secret, our Cannons be forward, and our walls impenetrable. Bless us with cunning and guile, and blind our opponents with overconfidence and greed. When we are turned upon by the malignant gaze of the SCV, Drone, and Overlord, may we be hidden by your benevolence. We shall hold no third bases, see no late games, and receive no GG's. May the Oracle be our light, the Cannon our fury, and the Probe our soul.
Amen.
Enter now and know that you walk upon hallowed ground.
The Inaugural Class of Inductees
Classic vs soO on Frost – 2014 Code S Season 2
We had a few things to say about the game, but someone else already put it best:
"YES! YEEEESSSSSS! THIS IS THE CHEESIEST GAME OF ALL TIME"
- Nick "Tasteless" Plott
Ruin vs. Sleep on Daedalus Point – 2014 Code A Season 1
For a few disastrous weeks in 2014, the infamous Daedalus Point was a part of the competitive map pool. Ladder play showed that it was one of the worst PvZ maps in the history of the game, and Protoss players were despondent about their chances of surviving the upcoming Code A tournament.
However, all-consuming despair is sometimes the spark for true ingenuity, which Ruin demonstrated in a crucial Code A match against Sleep. After carefully studying Daedalus Point, Ruin discovered a delightfully cheesy, map-specific combo: a cannon rush combined with an offensive wall-off. In a rare case where two wrongs ended up making a right, Ruin was able to conquer Daedalus Point with his creative strategy, earning a spot in Code S.
MC vs. IdrA on Tal'Darim Altar – MLG Columbus 2011
The full glory of cannon rushing cannot be realized without the rage of its victims. And who better personified rage in StarCraft 2 than the legendary IdrA? The American Zerg was many things—foreigner pioneer, public face of esports, a champion—but above all he was someone who hated losing to stupid shit. His tirades, no-GG's, and general aura of smoldering fury elevated not only cannon rushes, but all sorts of cheese builds and all-ins from around the world. It's only right that we honor him for the joy he brought us.
While IdrA has lost to plenty of cannon rushes, one of them is particularly iconic. At MLG Columbus 2011, IdrA faced MC in StarCraft 2's most hyped showdown up to that date. Koreans had yet to start their mass invasion of the American tournaments, and a clash between top players from their respective scenes was a hugely anticipated event.
For most fans, the series was a letdown. MC stomped IdrA 4-0 in games that weren't particularly interesting or close. But for a... ..'special' subset of viewers, it had everything one could want from StarCraft. The fan-favorite lost, foreigner hope was crushed, mountains of salt were raised—and it was all topped off by a brutal and abusive cannon rush.
Genius vs. Grubby on Yeonsu – WCS Europe 2013, Season 3
(Match starts at 52:00)
Though Yeonsu is mostly remembered as a map that allowed one-trick-wonder Protosses to blink their way to victory, it was also a one-of-a-kind map where cannon rushing the main somehow became a standard strategy in PvP. It's hard to give credit to one player for creating the strategy, so we've chosen Genius as the honorary recipient of the award for introducing it to the most people in the most painful way possible.
Playing cross-server from Korea in the online leg of the WCS Europe tournament, Genius took fan-favorite Grubby completely off-guard with the novel strategy to win a decisive victory. It was a transcontinental gut-punch to fans all over Europe, reminding them that not even crippling lag could stop cannon rushes from crushing their dreams.
Sase vs. Polt on Daybreak – 2012 MLG Spring Championship
(Match starts at 01:50)
While cannon rushes are celebrated for being so deliciously sinister, they're also beloved because they often lead to incredibly funny, stupid, and bizarre games. Perfectly executed cannon rushes that force five-minute GGs possess their own sort of beauty, but the most entertaining games arise when the game drags on and both players are forced to adapt to a rapidly changing situation.
In this cannon rush from MLG, SaSe begins with what seems like a carefully planned cheese. However, things start to get screwy, and he quickly changes his mindset to "fuck it, MORE CANNONS." Polt, to his credit, responds with surprising aplomb, forcing SaSe to take his cannon rush to its natural(?) conclusion. They say it takes two to tango, and SaSe and Polt certainly combined for one hell of a dance.
sOs vs. Jaedong on Derelict Watcher – BlizzCon 2013 Grand Finals
Even as we gather to extol the virtues of cannon-rushing, we must acknowledge that by no means does it ensure a win. Cannon rushing is an extremely risky strategy, one that's as likely to result in embarrassing defeat as it is in glorious victory. Only the boldest, experienced, and most shameless artisans are willing to ply their craft in high-stakes matches.
In 2013, in the BlizzCon WCS grand finals, sOs reached the pinnacle of cannon-rushing. Facing StarCraft legend Jaedong with a whopping $100,000 on the line, sOs showed absolutely no hesitation in bringing the cheese. Not only did he successfully cannon rush Jaedong in two winning games, but he used the mere threat of a cannon rush to reduce the tyrant to a quivering wreck. While sOs has had many storied exploits in his career, his photon bombardment of Jaedong might still be his finest moment.
At this time, please welcome stuchiu back to the podium, to present the final, most honored inductee of the inaugural class.
Has vs. Jaedong on Polar Night – WCS America 2014, Season 1
Look back upon the greatest moments of WCS history. Stephano versus Mvp in long awaited showdown between Europe and Korea. Polt winning his 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th titles. NaNiwa winning the tie-breaker to win a spot at BlizzCon. Duckdeok's tearful victory. All great moments, but for my money the two best moments in WCS happened within two days of each other in 2014.
The first moment was when ByuL played Revival in the funniest series to have ever existed. Here's a quick recap for those who never watched it:
That was like watching Revival cross the street and then a car is about to hit him. Then BAM, the car explodes, but the debris are flying everywhere, but Revival fucking dodges only to hit his head into a fire hydrant. He then gets up and is mugged by guys with guns and is about to get shot but then one of the thugs backstabs his friends and Revival gets the fuck out of there, but is then chased by a pack of ravenous dogs. He crashes through a butcher shop, throws the meat at the ravenous dogs to only have the butcher try to stab him, only to have the previous thugs start shooting up the butcher and the police coming in to shoot the thugs. After surviving all of that Revival walks home to only have a piano fall out of the sky and almost land on top of him until mutas swoop in from nowhere and die for him.
After that day I believed in my heart, that nothing could ever match the sheer comedy and pure joy of that moment in competitive SC2. I was wrong. The very next day, WCS America's Ro32 broadcast continued. In that group Bomber, Jaedong, Arthur and Has were set to play.
Now you had to understand at that moment Jaedong was still a great player. He had gotten second at BlizzCon the previous year, and had won ASUS Northcon not long before. Arthur was just some cheesy Protoss whose biggest claim to fame was nicknaming himself SadArthur on the ladder. Bomber was Bomber, forever going up and down on the roller coaster that was his career.
Has was no one. Records prove (or not, but it's funnier this way) that only four people in the foreign scene knew about Has at all. MMA himself, the first to be baptized in Has' incandescent cheese. Iaguz, who watched the legendary Has vs. MMA game first hand. Sen, a fellow Taiwanese player who played with Has. Finally, Suppy, who had been a foreign guest in Taiwan's leagues.
Now I remember for a fact (or not, but it's funnier this way) that Suppy warned his teammate Jaedong about what was coming. He told him firsthand that has was someone who defied all logic and reason, someone who didn't care about gods or tyrants. But Jaedong in his infinite wisdom ignored the warning. He was, after all, the runner-up of Blizzcon, winner of Northcon and the 2nd best Zerg in the world at that time. His opponent, he was just a silly foreigner.
But there's a reason David beat Goliath, Sjow beat Life, duckdeok whooped Innovation, and DIMAGA took down Flash. In a tournament, no one is infallible. Anyone can be dragged down kicking and screaming if they're not careful. In the first game Has did a cannon rush on fucking Alterzim Stronghold. Look at that map. That map is so goddamn huge it could fit in twelve Steppes of War. In my completely unbiased and objective opinion, Jaedong was lucky that map was so inexcusably terrible or he'd be dead in the water. Despite the incredible ingenuity and tenacity Has showed that game, Jaedong took an undeserved victory.
In the next game, Has presented his ode to the classics as he made 4-5 DT's at once, calculated perfectly that Jaedong's arrogance and greed meant he wouldn't make a single spore or overseer despite not scouting a single thing, and InCa'd the shit out of Jaedong.
The series came down to game three, where everything appeared normal at first. Has made one pylon and one forge, but for some reason he was slowly building up minerals. But no-one knew what he was planning, as he didn't attempt to place pylons at any of the traditional sports.
And then, he built the wall.
The six-pylon wall that made Protoss Great Again, a wall Has made Jaedong pay for with his life. You could hear the sheer disbelief in Mr. Bitter's voice, which was soon replaced with unfathomable sadness. You could taste the saltiness of Jaedong fans everywhere as they watched their idol get humiliated, and feel their rage as they complained about that cheesy Protoss bastard.
When all was said and done, Goliath was dead. David had beaten him with seven pylons and a dream. A boy from Taiwan had set out on a journey to prove that no odds were insurmountable, that anyone could be defeated, that a foreigner no matter how lowly could topple the best Korean player, that hard work and dedication could beat any amount of differential in talent and skill. He had brought down Jaedong to levels not even sOs could manage, and with that single game became immortal.
Here's to Has, a true hero, and an inspiration to all of us.
On September 05 2016 23:00 opisska wrote: I am seeing the cannon background through the videos, how did you did that and is that intentional? Because it's really annoying ...
On September 05 2016 23:00 opisska wrote: I am seeing the cannon background through the videos, how did you did that and is that intentional? Because it's really annoying ...
yes it's intentional and no I will not change it
If you don't change it, I am gonna hunt down all your future articles and make the first comment a complaint about something
On September 05 2016 23:03 Thouhastmail wrote: No Zest? Zest is guest.
This is the hall of fame for canon rushers, Zest by far is the worst canon rusher ever in Protoss history. He uses this beautiful strategy only when big events arise, then fails, thus not deserved to be here. But ofc you will see him in the next "the last Titan" article, so no worry
Maybe it's the right place to ask, it's been a long time I've been looking for game that taught me how to defend canon rush as a Protoss (well I don't play protoss anymore so I've not been looking for it lately...)
The map is Ohana <insert Rotterdam explaining how it means family> The date is "around the end of WoL" The canon rusher is MC The defender is ??? (super? creator? I don't remember, it was I think an eSF protoss, not an extremely hyped one, but not sure) The tournament is Code A (or up and downs? 2013 season 1? 2012 season 4? WCS 2013? a totally different tournament?) all I'm (kinda) sure of is it's casted by Wolf and Khaldor (maybe not?)
The defender does a brilliant stalker micro, MC is totally dominated, I've never lost vs canon rush as a protoss after watching that.
I ve skimmed through liquipedia and never could find that game which means there is something false about what I think I remember.
On September 05 2016 23:00 opisska wrote: I am seeing the cannon background through the videos, how did you did that and is that intentional? Because it's really annoying ...
I thought it was a really cool addition :D.. Thanks for the writeup great stuff
On September 06 2016 02:16 Gwavajuice wrote: Maybe it's the right place to ask, it's been a long time I've been looking for game that taught me how to defend canon rush as a Protoss (well I don't play protoss anymore so I've not been looking for it lately...)
The map is Ohana The date is "around the end of WoL" The canon rusher is MC The defender is ??? (super? creator? I don't remember, it was I think an eSF protoss, not an extremely hyped one, but not sure) The tournament is Code A (or up and downs? 2013 season 1? 2012 season 4? WCS 2013? a totally different tournament?) all I'm (kinda) sure of is it's casted by Wolf and Khaldor (maybe not?)
The defender does a brilliant stalker micro, MC is totally dominated, I've never lost vs canon rush as a protoss after watching that.
I ve skimmed through liquipedia and never could find that game which means there is something false about what I think I remember.
Anyone knows what I m talking about???
The only Ohana game MC lost in WOL was against PartinG during OSL 2012. Not sure if you can still find this game
On September 06 2016 02:16 Gwavajuice wrote: Maybe it's the right place to ask, it's been a long time I've been looking for game that taught me how to defend canon rush as a Protoss (well I don't play protoss anymore so I've not been looking for it lately...)
The map is Ohana <insert Rotterdam explaining how it means family> The date is "around the end of WoL" The canon rusher is MC The defender is ??? (super? creator? I don't remember, it was I think an eSF protoss, not an extremely hyped one, but not sure) The tournament is Code A (or up and downs? 2013 season 1? 2012 season 4? WCS 2013? a totally different tournament?) all I'm (kinda) sure of is it's casted by Wolf and Khaldor (maybe not?)
The defender does a brilliant stalker micro, MC is totally dominated, I've never lost vs canon rush as a protoss after watching that.
I ve skimmed through liquipedia and never could find that game which means there is something false about what I think I remember.
Anyone knows what I m talking about???
The only Ohana game MC lost in WOL was against PartinG during OSL 2012. Not sure if you can still find this game
From what I can read in the live report thread, this game was more abou tcolossi war, so no....
Btw exclellent article, even better seasoned with KT/Zest fans salt, but as much as I love Has vs Jaedong, MC vs Idra is so hilarious it will be forever the best...
Great article, but now all I am left with is the pain of losing the WCS Leagues of 2014/2013:
You come home, you open up your PC, you let run WCS stream and boom, 4-5 hours of great starcraft during the week with great players from Korean and the West.
Back in 2008, i played in a tourney and did a canon rush (PvT on Colosseum) vs one of the favorite player of the tournament. That was very satisfying moment
And on the sixth day, God created the cannon and it was good. It gave protoss dominion over the thirds of zergs and the ramps of terran. Everything was quiet and peaceful and perfect. And on the seventh day God rested and hit the liquor cabinet and he said: "fuck it, let's overcharge pylons!"
On September 06 2016 05:17 Daswollvieh wrote: And on the sixth day, God created the cannon and it was good. It gave protoss dominion over the thirds of zergs and the ramps of terran. Everything was quiet and peaceful and perfect. And on the seventh day God rested and hit the liquor cabinet and he said: "fuck it, let's overcharge pylons!"
And on the eighth day God was hungover, saw what he did and created the man who could take full advantage of both.
Our Lord and Savior. The Most Exalted Has of House Yoe.
It wasn't a huge tourney but this was probably the cleanest cannon rush I ever saw. The way he reallocated the resoucres by cancelling pylons in order to block drones was superb, I dunno how the Zerg was supposed to defend
The Rogue classic game from SPL 2015 on , actually I have forgotten the map - the ones terran loved to mech on and Maru and INno played that great game, was also great
My standby pvz opening after tsl 3 always included a pylon on their natural FFE with dropping a cannon on that pylon to stop them from doing anything but pool first and making a lot of lings at the start. SO much tears when they though it was a shitty opening when I had a safe expand before they did.
I remember a 2v2 I had with a friend (who was Protoss himself) when we were up against double Protoss and I scouted double early Forge. They had the choice of cannon rushing me (a Terran who could lift his buildings) and my Protoss ally who would've died on the spot. They chose me. Guess they didn't want to cannon rush a fellow Protoss. I just lifted my buildings and they raged like mad while my ally built Immortals. Rage was still on going when we came knocking with Marauder/Immortal a few minutes later. (they kept building cannons at home)
My own personal funniest game was Viking rushing (no joke) a Zerg on Scrap Station during WoL. I was Platinum at the time and just lost to three Diamond Zergs in a row. Wasn't feeling happy about it. So what does the game do? Put me up against a Master Zerg. That should change things up! *flip table*
Annoyed, I figured I would just 2port Banshee the fucker since it was Scrap Station and I was not in the mood at all for another drawn out TvZ, least of all against a Master Zerg. But...somewhere a voice said 'but he's a Master. he'll know...', of course I only realized this when my Starports were already building so in a moment of randomness I figured....mass Vikings!
I'll just murder every Overlord I can find and perma-supply block him! Scrap Station is so close by air and has so much open space, I can just keep sniping Overlords! And....well...it....actually worked. He never got above ~70 supply the entire game. Keep in mind this was in WoL where Zerg still needed an Evolution Chamber to built Spore Crawlers. And I knew Overlords always spawn near Hatcheries and Viking range was long enough to snipe them quickly.
And since Queens required supply and didn't mass spawn from larvae, all I had to do was keep an Evolution Chamber from finishing by landing enough Vikings to destroy it when he tried to build one. Which I did. He only had a handful of lings and two Queens when the first bunch of Vikings showed up and he never got to build more Queens. I won that game, utterly choking from the hilarity, against a Master Zerg with mostly just mass Vikings and some Marine/Tank back home defended by a Planetary at the natural (because why not).
I think I still have the replay (labeled HAHAHAHAHAHA.sc2replay if I recall correctly) somewhere. Oh, and it wouldn't be complete without an OP hate call so the Zerg player stated Viking range was OP at the end. Heh.
On September 06 2016 14:32 cutler wrote: Perfect example of Team Liquid nowadays in a nutshell. Big article about an cheese strat...well thank you for the effort.
On September 07 2016 00:46 andrewlt wrote: Appropriate that this thread is the first time I saw a Donald Trump campaign ad on TL. Make protoss great again.
We're gonna build a wall, and make Jaedong pay for it with this WCS ro16 spot.
On September 06 2016 21:47 NKB wrote: The most memorable part of this was hearing loads of the old casters who I haven't heard in ages
Agreed, I forgot BitterDam casted the Has v JD game. I always enjoyed those 2 casting together, they never had a problem disagreeing with one another and brought perspective to the games they casted. Good memories
in proleague finals Zest tried to cannon rush trap a player who he is 20-7 against and who is very good against cheese. Zest being the better macro player, many believe he should have just played standard as he botched the rush.
I still remember the JD vs Has game. I was watching it with my nerd buddy and we were some beers in. When Has built the wall, we both were screaming like idiots. "No, he isn't doing that." "JD can't lose to this bullshit." "This is insane." "Has is a genius." All glory to Has, builder of pylons, gates and cannons.
On September 06 2016 17:50 RPR_Tempest wrote: No mention of the time gaulzi made a deep MLG open bracket run and even ended up taking a game off DeMusliM?
The thing that was so special about this is that everyone knew gaulzi was going to cannon rush, and they still lost.
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." - Bruce Lee
I can't believe that MC vs Idra game was five years ago, I remember seeing that live on stream and being so hyped about MC's win. It wasn't PvZ, it was MC v Idra, and MC played Idra like a fiddle.
a bit late to the party, I know. But the one thing I miss in this great article is an example of a brilliant hold. An honorable attempt that failed equally deserves a spot in the has of fame. Because the unique quality of a cannon rush is not so much a guaranteed win as a guaranteed deviation from standard game, which can go either direction while both players are forced to come up with answers ad-hoc. To be in-line with the story telling I would probably insert such an example at the second-last spot
In fact,Chinese Protoss Jim used to make Gold Pro League into Gold Cannon Pro League,he defeat many chinese zerg with cannon rush,and he defeat Jaedong with it too.Poor Jaedong,he has been defeat with connon rush by "the Three dogs(cheese player) sOs Jim Has"
What has puzzled me about pro level cannon rushes in LotV is that they always seem to be against Zerg and never against Protoss even though cannon rushes against Protoss seem equally good (to my untrained eye).