The second Korean final of the year appeared on paper to be the most lopsided in recent memory, with GSL Global Tournament champion herO the heavy favorite against ladder hero Impact in the Bo5 finals of the VSL Season 1.
herO forced a large number of lings through adepts, oracles and a pylon rush in game one, but did no economic damage. Meanwhile, he lost six probes to lings which enabled Impact to pull ahead into a roach composition that attacked herO's third and put Impact up 1-0.
Game two started similarly, with herO again washing against Impact’s defenses. Impact postured with ling/bane/hydra, but it was a flock of mutas that crippled herO’s economy and forced him all in. Impact held the immortal/archon/charge attack to put him one game away from victory.
herO’s adepts and oracles got more done against Impact’s large queen count on Bel'Shir Vestige, but Impact still powered into a massive army. Banelings drops got damage done while lurkers, lings and banes killed herO’s third. herO's desperate counter attack saw his army get wiped out, making Impact the champion by a 3-0 score.
VSL Season 1 is Impact's first tournament victory, in his second finals appearance. He had previously lost 0-3 to Life at Dreamhack Bucharest in 2014. His VSL win earns Impact roughly 4420 USD.
On April 20 2017 21:44 esReveR wrote: Just wow. herO 3-0's Rogue and then can't take a game off Impact. Very surprising.
Not that surprising. Nerf the only thing Protoss has left and it's bound to happen.
I wouldn't even blame the nerf. The Adepts nerf might have made herO's harass less effective but herO played very poorly in all 3 games. Horrible decision making. He couldn't even win vs Armani with that performance, let alone Impact.
Usually I want to just give full props to the winner because anything can happen at the top level, even when there is a heavy favorite, but Hero played really badly, like shockingly badly when I know he can play so godly.
Impact still played clean and perfect though, not taking anything away from his skill he's a great Zerg player but yea Hero definitely wasn't on point that series.
On April 21 2017 00:49 pvsnp wrote: Impact 3-0s herO but couldn't beat sOs or Losira in GSL? Wtf man.
He knew he was gonna be the champion and star league champions always disappoint after their win, so he got eliminated from GSL so people can't say he is slumping after his VSL win .
Kinda happy that he won, I think the adept nerf wasn't the direct cause of herO loss, but it probably affected his mentality to have it right before the finals.
On April 21 2017 03:30 c0sm0naut wrote: when are ppl going to figure out that hero just makes random decisions and micros well
I honestly feel like a lot of top level pros are this way - they have crazy high apm and god-tier micro which cushions their random/questionable decisions. If they didn't have BOs to copy from other pros who are good at strategy they would struggle (relatively speaking of course. They'd still be 10x better than me or you).
On April 21 2017 03:22 Fango wrote: herO can't win without adepts being broken?
not having this massive crutch likely didnt help
This is a rather inadequate explanation of herO as a player.
Besides his anti swarm host play, herO's never been one to revolutionize the way a match up is played. Few players are better at optimizing existing builds and strategies, though. This can be evidenced by his adept play as of late or his usage of three base blink builds in HotS. He's not as intelligent as Classic, but he always has a clear game plan going into a series. There have been times where he has been slow to deviate when things don't go as expected, but he has a very high cerebral understanding of how the game operates.
herO is more than just good micro. We typify PartinG as that type of Protoss. herO is adept at comprehending how units should move in order to attack where the opponent is vulnerable. Where to shade, when to blink, these are elements of micro that require decision making and not just selecting units quickly.
herO might not be as sound defensively as Rain or as obviously robust as Stats, but he has been an elite player for more than three years at this point. His playstyle has adapted with balance patches and expansions, hallmarks of a player who has a very deep understanding of how Starcraft works and what it takes to be successful.
PS: herO is also the type of player who will abuse whatever advantages Protoss have at any given time to their fullest extent. It's amazing that he's such a fan favorite given the style he employs.
not surprised, blizzard keep buffing zerg units, banelings, hydras, corruptors, (the broken swarm host unit), then nerf protoss units: Oh lets nerf adepts because is the only thing protoss do!, OFC because the other gateway units sucks so hard, rip profesional protoss scene.
On April 21 2017 03:22 Fango wrote: herO can't win without adepts being broken?
not having this massive crutch likely didnt help
It's not true at all tho. You don't play at such high level with random decisions ^^. Even sOs is not randomly doing things. edit: yeah what mizenhauer said basically
On April 21 2017 03:30 c0sm0naut wrote: when are ppl going to figure out that hero just makes random decisions and micros well
On April 21 2017 03:22 Fango wrote: herO can't win without adepts being broken?
not having this massive crutch likely didnt help
This is a rather inadequate explanation of herO as a player.
Besides his anti swarm host play, herO's never been one to revolutionize the way a match up is played. Few players are better at optimizing existing builds and strategies, though. This can be evidenced by his adept play as of late or his usage of three base blink builds in HotS. He's not as intelligent as Classic, but he always has a clear game plan going into a series. There have been times where he has been slow to deviate when things don't go as expected, but he has a very high cerebral understanding of how the game operates.
herO is more than just good micro. We typify PartinG as that type of Protoss. herO is adept at comprehending how units should move in order to attack where the opponent is vulnerable. Where to shade, when to blink, these are elements of micro that require decision making and not just selecting units quickly.
herO might not be as sound defensively as Rain or as obviously robust as Stats, but he has been an elite player for more than three years at this point. His playstyle has adapted with balance patches and expansions, hallmarks of a player who has a very deep understanding of how Starcraft works and what it takes to be successful.
PS: herO is also the type of player who will abuse whatever advantages Protoss have at any given time to their fullest extent. It's amazing that he's such a fan favorite given the style he employs.
This is very well-written post. Big applause. I find herO is one of the few Protoss can both macro and micro very well. He doesn't seem to miss a bit in both fonts.
Talking about abusive, I find sOs is the most abusive player. He will abuse Protoss advantages to its core. Multiple proxies, mass this mass that. Abusive and all I love his style sometimes. It looks ridiculous to the point it looks amazing.
This is very well-written post. Big applause. I find herO is one of the few Protoss can both macro and micro very well. He doesn't seem to miss a bit in both fonts.
Talking about abusive, I find sOs is the most abusive player. He will abuse Protoss advantages to its core. Multiple proxies, mass this mass that. Abusive and all I love his style sometimes. It looks ridiculous to the point it looks amazing.
sOs is ridiculously abusive, yes, but he does it so boldly, so audaciously, that you have to give him massive props for the sheer balls of doing what he does. Say what you will about him abusing the meta, but the man's got style.
On April 21 2017 06:03 wiNgiAN wrote: not surprised, blizzard keep buffing zerg units, banelings, hydras, corruptors, (the broken swarm host unit), then nerf protoss units: Oh lets nerf adepts because is the only thing protoss do!, OFC because the other gateway units sucks so hard, rip profesional protoss scene.
so what you're saying is you didn't actually watch the games, just wanted to balance whine
because adept nerf was not the reason why herO lost
On April 21 2017 06:03 wiNgiAN wrote: not surprised, blizzard keep buffing zerg units, banelings, hydras, corruptors, (the broken swarm host unit), then nerf protoss units: Oh lets nerf adepts because is the only thing protoss do!, OFC because the other gateway units sucks so hard, rip profesional protoss scene.
so what you're saying is you didn't actually watch the games, just wanted to balance whine
because adept nerf was not the reason why herO lost
Just because it wasn't THE reason doesn't mean it wasn't A reason.
EPT
herO the heavy favorite against ladder hero 
Impact in the Bo5 finals of the VSL Season 1.
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