One of the most exciting developments during this season of SSL Premier has been the resurgence of Dear. In many ways a mythological figure, Dear is a player who has become more legend than flesh and blood. He was so good for such a brief period of time, it almost seems like we've been watching a specter over the past three plus years. The Dear of late 2013 was a dynamo in every respect. He was decisive and intuitive, incapable of making a erroneous move, perpetually a step ahead of the opponent strategically and tactically. Simply put, he looked invulnerable.
But Dear's greatest gift wasn't gracing us with his ascendant skill. It was an unintended byproduct of his magnificence, something that barely registered as he dominated opponent after opponent on the Royal Road. By being such an impregnable obstacle he brought out the best in his opponents. In victory or defeat, players had to elevate their play to new levels simply to contend with his mean.
On the edge of defeat, Maru had to play the perfect game to have a shot at toppling Dear during the 2013 Season 3 Finals. However, it was a feat he was unable to replicate as he was eliminated in the very next game. He tried ceaselessly to break Dear but the Soul Protoss proved indestructible. The 3-1 result suggests a one-sided match at first glance, but together they produced an exceptional series, one greatly undervalued in the annals of Starcraft.
It's remarkable to reflect upon Dear's success in 2015-2016 without appreciating how his achievements were immediately forgotten afterwards. He made the Round of 4 in three straight GSL's during this period; he actually came within one game of the finals in Season 3 2015, pushing three time Starleague finalist ByuL to the very brink. Down 3-2 and coming off a game 5 victory, Dear forced ByuL to adapt. He pushed the Zerg in a direction he either had not intended or specifically planned for Dear, someone so adept at dispatching standard play that ByuL frantically searched for another counter.
The move into infestors ultimately failed, but it was part of Dear’s signature. To defeat him at his peak you needed to bring something special. In the end ByuL won the final game, but it was one of his most impressive performances of the year, only possible because Dear placed so much stress on him.
When INnoVation, the current best player in the world, is in peak form he hardly makes competition seem fair. Opponents simply bow before him. He has hardly looked vulnerable in recent times (his loss to Stats a mere day after winning GSL vs The World can be forgiven by even the most cynical), but he was hopeless against Dear in SSL Premier. Dear’s 2-1 victory may not sound as one sided as some of INnoVation’s triumphs, but the same ruthlessness INnoVation exhibits was on display, albeit in a more dynamic form.
It’s not a stretch to say that Dear could have won all three games of the series. Despite losing the second game, he looked like the superior player throughout a significant portion. The fact that a has-been forced INnoVation to use his full capacity, breaking the aura of sprezzatura that usually accompanies his effortless wins, illustrates Dear’s transcendent talent when it is accessed.
Dear being good is good for StarCraft as a scene. It produces more exciting games. It means more exciting rivalries, both renewed and burgeoning, and most importantly the continuation of a legacy that saw him crowned best in the world in 2013. For 3 years he vainly struggled to reclaim the throne. Now after an uncertain start to 2017, Dear is back. He may be gone from this season of GSL, but his bid to win his second Starleague is still alive and well. And one would be foolish to look away. Because when Dear enters the booth, magic happens.
In a shrinking scene, I would've thought it was pretty obvious that any new tournament contenders would be welcomed! That being said, I do recall Dear at his best, as a terran player I felt he was frightening in that matchup especially, if only briefly!
I'm glad that someone is finally giving Dear the appreciation he deserves. As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
On August 24 2017 01:12 Mun_Su wrote: Dear vs Maru is one of my favorite TvP all time series
PS: When people wants to emphasize the skill of a player they often use a victory of that player against INnoVation
Dear vs Maru was an amazing series. I still remember a clip a friend (VaderSeven) showed me of the game on Frost where both players made the absolute best decisions possible immediately with no mistakes for like 60 seconds, and it was breathtaking. This sequence of events is honestly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in this game.
On August 24 2017 01:59 EsportsJohn wrote: As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
Except Rain maybe?
Zest and Maru are just shadows of their former form... It's what ByuN and Dear did
On August 24 2017 01:59 EsportsJohn wrote: As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
Except Rain maybe?
Zest and Maru are just shadows of their former form... It's what ByuN and Dear did
Well Zest did dominate for an extended period of time, and tbh he also looked unbeatable doing it.
It's difficult to say, especially for me since I was new to the scene in 2013 but I have huge respect for both players. I hope this resurgence of Dear continues
Ah, I assume this was the "work in progress" that you referred to in Twitch chat. Always happy to see one of the STX boys brought back into the spotlight. Also very glad you chose to focus on a less appreciated player like Dear, who despite his inconsistency can show some incredibly awesome performances from time to time.
Great job!
Bonus points for using my favorite word: "sprezzatura"
On August 24 2017 02:40 pvsnp wrote: Ah, I assume this was the "work in progress" that you referred to in Twitch chat. Always happy to see one of the STX boys brought back into the spotlight. Also very glad you chose to focus on a less appreciated player like Dear, who despite his inconsistency can show some incredibly awesome performances from time to time.
Great job!
Bonus points for using my favorite word: "sprezzatura"
This article may or may not have been part of a challenge to use said word correctly.
On August 24 2017 02:40 pvsnp wrote: Ah, I assume this was the "work in progress" that you referred to in Twitch chat. Always happy to see one of the STX boys brought back into the spotlight. Also very glad you chose to focus on a less appreciated player like Dear, who despite his inconsistency can show some incredibly awesome performances from time to time.
Great job!
Bonus points for using my favorite word: "sprezzatura"
This article may or may not have been part of a challenge to use said word correctly.
Dear is up there with the most inconsistant. He can be a positional god, or a Code A player. Then again every sc2 legend is inconsistant right now hehe
Althought I still stand by my statements that terran players shouldn't lose to him, just widowmine drop to victory
On August 24 2017 01:59 EsportsJohn wrote: As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
Except Rain maybe?
Zest and Maru are just shadows of their former form... It's what ByuN and Dear did
Rain during the late stages of his career did look quite unstoppable. However, it didn't quite have the brilliance that Dear showed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE Rain fan and his play during his prime was extremely solid and very hard to master. But when Rain won the GSL championship, it felt more like Rain studied his opponents, drew out a plan for victory, and just followed that plan. Quite an impressive feat undoubtedly, but for viewers (at least for myself), it lacked the kind of exhilaration that Dear brought. To me, Rain winning that season did not come as a surprise -- it was more of a nod to myself: yep, his experience came through.
But when Dear was playing in late 2013, it was totally different. His games were breathtaking to watch. It felt like he could do no wrong, and he just had no weakness. Every Protoss had a weakness up till that point. Rain was too predictable in his defensive style; PartinG's penchant for all-ins has cost him dearly before; sOs's schemes are highly intelligent, but his execution and defense definitely showed a few holes several times. They also had problems with certain race match-ups. Dear was different. His all-ins were sharp and well-timed; his defenses and multi-tasking extremely solid. He beat top Protoss, Terran and Zerg on his way to championship, showing no clear weakness in any race match-up.
Zest for me, his first peak was tarnished by the state of balance at that time. Zest was undoubtedly a highly accomplished PvP and PvZer, but his PvT was weak. I would argue that he wouldn't have won the GSL championship if not for the fact that Terrans got pooped on so hard by the infamous Oracle-Mine patch and the subsequent blink nightmares.
Personally, I'd say the pinnacle of brilliance would have to go to Life and INnoVation during their multiple periods of dominance. At their respective peaks, both of them came off as fearsomely close to utterly invincible.
That particular brand of sheer dominance was most recently displayed in Inno's run through GSL vs the World, during which he dropped a grand total of 1 map on his way to the trophy (and he was way ahead in that game too, just took one bad engagement).
On August 24 2017 14:24 pvsnp wrote: Personally, I'd say the pinnacle of brilliance would have to go to Life and INnoVation during their multiple periods of dominance. At their respective peaks, both of them came off as fearsomely close to utterly invincible.
I think for that brief period of time Dear was THAT GUY for P
Definitely one of the more over-looked Protoss during 2016-2017 as majority of attention was on Stats, sOs and Classic. I was always rooting for Dear to crack into the finals each time he made it to the ro4.
It's indeed great to see Dear playing this good again. But I'll probably never be fully confident liquibetting him. Did he really succeed in excorcising the derping demon?
I am so happy to see such an article. Dear still remains one of the very underrated great players. He was the first protoss who gave me hope that after so many terran and zerg Code S champions by then, there is a Top Protoss who can dominate with macro management and well balanced skill in all aspects of the game. When he started his rising in that GSL three years ago I already knew that he will be the champion after he got out from Round 32. Dear seems less charismatic than the other tosses like herO or Zest and I guess he never reached such a fan base like the rest. And almost nobody really cared that Dear made four Code S semifinals which is terribly unfair. His biggest mistake was that he went to e foreign team in the end of 2013 I think and he got into a swamp. Then his co-work with Stork I think made his slowly return to his top shape. I won't forget those matches against Maru, epic games!
To be honest I can't see Dear as a better player than Zest, seriously people, watching Zest play at his prime was almost an illusion, nobody could beat him, everything wrote about Dear here fits more an article about Zest IMO.
Still, about the main message in the text I agree, the best from each player push the other ones to improve even more if they want to win, and that give us the best games (unless a horrible meta is settle and whatever they do we can't enjoy it)
On August 24 2017 01:59 EsportsJohn wrote: As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
Except Rain maybe?
Zest and Maru are just shadows of their former form... It's what ByuN and Dear did
Rain during the late stages of his career did look quite unstoppable. However, it didn't quite have the brilliance that Dear showed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE Rain fan and his play during his prime was extremely solid and very hard to master. But when Rain won the GSL championship, it felt more like Rain studied his opponents, drew out a plan for victory, and just followed that plan. Quite an impressive feat undoubtedly, but for viewers (at least for myself), it lacked the kind of exhilaration that Dear brought. To me, Rain winning that season did not come as a surprise -- it was more of a nod to myself: yep, his experience came through.
But when Dear was playing in late 2013, it was totally different. His games were breathtaking to watch. It felt like he could do no wrong, and he just had no weakness. Every Protoss had a weakness up till that point. Rain was too predictable in his defensive style; PartinG's penchant for all-ins has cost him dearly before; sOs's schemes are highly intelligent, but his execution and defense definitely showed a few holes several times. They also had problems with certain race match-ups. Dear was different. His all-ins were sharp and well-timed; his defenses and multi-tasking extremely solid. He beat top Protoss, Terran and Zerg on his way to championship, showing no clear weakness in any race match-up.
Zest for me, his first peak was tarnished by the state of balance at that time. Zest was undoubtedly a highly accomplished PvP and PvZer, but his PvT was weak. I would argue that he wouldn't have won the GSL championship if not for the fact that Terrans got pooped on so hard by the infamous Oracle-Mine patch and the subsequent blink nightmares.
Ok, I agree that Dear when he hit his peak was totally off the charts, but I gotta say this about Rain: When Rain first hit his peak, he also looked invincible for a while, and it was incredible to watch. He seemed to be everywhere all at once. He defended against drops with a high templar because he knew he could feedback instantly no matter what. From memory, Rain's weakness that season was a little-known player called MVP. But I'm bringing this up because for me, that was when Rain was really exhilarating, and I think that was true for a lot of other viewers.
The difference between Zest and Dear is hard to describe for me. Zest always reminded me of one time I watched an International Master in chess play in person: his play was so CLEAN. It wasn't super flashy, it was just a series of moves that were correct and put him in a better and better position. Dear on the other hand didn't look clean to me in the same way. Dominant, amazing, yes.
Also, didn't Dear achieve dominance during the era when Maru and BByong were pretty much the only two terrans in GSL the whole year? I seem to remember a number of Protoss champs around that time, and it always felt like that was Maru's peak and he was robbed by the state of balance... Is my memory off here? I don't always trust it with this kinda stuff.
On August 24 2017 01:59 EsportsJohn wrote: As much as Zest is tauted as the greatest SC2 Protoss, I still believe that Dear's short period of domination was the best anyone has ever played the Protoss race. Everything he did was unreal.
Except Rain maybe?
Zest and Maru are just shadows of their former form... It's what ByuN and Dear did
Rain during the late stages of his career did look quite unstoppable. However, it didn't quite have the brilliance that Dear showed.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE Rain fan and his play during his prime was extremely solid and very hard to master. But when Rain won the GSL championship, it felt more like Rain studied his opponents, drew out a plan for victory, and just followed that plan. Quite an impressive feat undoubtedly, but for viewers (at least for myself), it lacked the kind of exhilaration that Dear brought. To me, Rain winning that season did not come as a surprise -- it was more of a nod to myself: yep, his experience came through.
But when Dear was playing in late 2013, it was totally different. His games were breathtaking to watch. It felt like he could do no wrong, and he just had no weakness. Every Protoss had a weakness up till that point. Rain was too predictable in his defensive style; PartinG's penchant for all-ins has cost him dearly before; sOs's schemes are highly intelligent, but his execution and defense definitely showed a few holes several times. They also had problems with certain race match-ups. Dear was different. His all-ins were sharp and well-timed; his defenses and multi-tasking extremely solid. He beat top Protoss, Terran and Zerg on his way to championship, showing no clear weakness in any race match-up.
Zest for me, his first peak was tarnished by the state of balance at that time. Zest was undoubtedly a highly accomplished PvP and PvZer, but his PvT was weak. I would argue that he wouldn't have won the GSL championship if not for the fact that Terrans got pooped on so hard by the infamous Oracle-Mine patch and the subsequent blink nightmares.
Ok, I agree that Dear when he hit his peak was totally off the charts, but I gotta say this about Rain: When Rain first hit his peak, he also looked invincible for a while, and it was incredible to watch. He seemed to be everywhere all at once. He defended against drops with a high templar because he knew he could feedback instantly no matter what. From memory, Rain's weakness that season was a little-known player called MVP. But I'm bringing this up because for me, that was when Rain was really exhilarating, and I think that was true for a lot of other viewers.
The difference between Zest and Dear is hard to describe for me. Zest always reminded me of one time I watched an International Master in chess play in person: his play was so CLEAN. It wasn't super flashy, it was just a series of moves that were correct and put him in a better and better position. Dear on the other hand didn't look clean to me in the same way. Dominant, amazing, yes.
Also, didn't Dear achieve dominance during the era when Maru and BByong were pretty much the only two terrans in GSL the whole year? I seem to remember a number of Protoss champs around that time, and it always felt like that was Maru's peak and he was robbed by the state of balance... Is my memory off here? I don't always trust it with this kinda stuff.
Dear became a God just before the blink era, joined a foreign team and kinda disappeared when Zest first showed up.
The protosses that were dominating in that era were Zest, Classic and to an extent herO.
I never stopped thinking of Dear as a good player, but he just stopped winning matches. Lost so many of my liquibets by just assuming Dear would play well
that dear vs maru series was awesome and the game on frost is still one of my all time favorites. its especially interesting to look back at that series as it serves as a good example for marus developement. you see his great control and trademark aggression, but you also see the big flaws in his macro / transitions vs an overall more solid player in dear at the time. disregarding the general increase in skill over time i'd love to see how this series plays out with 2015 maru macro, might have been even more epic and gone to game 5 with a possible maru victory ^^
not sure how much i agree with the overall point of the article though. in that game 3 of maru vs dear, maru was basically ahead for the whole game after his impressive initial hold and he pushed that advantage. it was kinda competitive, but maru was never really in any danger of losing despite his lackluster macro. its just what happens when an (over)aggressive player meets a solid, defensive player, so i guess its good to have these in somewhat equal numbers :D
By being such an impregnable obstacle he brought out the best in his opponents
meh, he crushed more than enough people with his immaculate builds and timings (just look at the two finals he won). most of the times he played vs defensive players, he picked the right allin to punish them or he actually lost in a long, drawn out macro game (look at dear vs taeja at blizzcon, total opposite of his series vs maru). he wasnt an impregnable obstacle vs maru either, he defended just good enough so he could punish maru for not expanding / transitioning properly behind his aggression.
Down 3-2 and coming off a game 5 victory, Dear forced ByuL to adapt. He pushed the Zerg in a direction he either had not intended or specifically planned for Dear, someone so adept at dispatching standard play that ByuL frantically searched for another counter.
dear countered mutas with phoenixes and pushed after the mutas died, wow :D byul just got punished for a too greedy hive rush on a big map, so i have a hard time specifically celebrating this too much. yes, it was a good, sharp push, but not all that special.
i like dear and he is probably underrated, but i wouldnt say that he produces an unusually high amount of good series' compared to other top players
On August 26 2017 09:39 Executer08 wrote: i have a hard time specifically celebrating this too much. yes, it was a good, sharp push, but not all that special.
Wasn't the magical thing about dear in those tournaments that he somehow seemed to have good, sharp pushes against everyone? He played defensively very well and then he smelled blood in the water and just attacked with a crisp blow at an unusual timing that was just barely enough to win. And then he did the same in the next game and to the next opponent!
On August 26 2017 09:39 Executer08 wrote: i have a hard time specifically celebrating this too much. yes, it was a good, sharp push, but not all that special.
Wasn't the magical thing about dear in those tournaments that he somehow seemed to have good, sharp pushes against everyone? He played defensively very well and then he smelled blood in the water and just attacked with a crisp blow at an unusual timing that was just barely enough to win. And then he did the same in the next game and to the next opponent!
yes exactly, but thats not what the article is highlighting about him because that doesnt actually make for good games :D that byul series specifically wasnt all that entertaining despite being a 4-3 and i disagree with the article that dear forced byul to adjust. byul kinda did the same thing every game anyway and just made small adjustment towards the maps moreso than towards dear.
EPT
Dear. In many ways a mythological figure, Dear is a player who has become more legend than flesh and blood. He was so good for such a brief period of time, it almost seems like we've been watching a specter over the past three plus years. The Dear of late 2013 was a dynamo in every respect. He was decisive and intuitive, incapable of making a erroneous move, perpetually a step ahead of the opponent strategically and tactically. Simply put, he looked invulnerable. 
Maru had to play the perfect game to have a shot at toppling Dear during the 2013 Season 3 Finals. However, it was a feat he was unable to replicate as he was eliminated in the very next game. He tried ceaselessly to break Dear but the Soul Protoss proved indestructible. The 3-1 result suggests a one-sided match at first glance, but together they produced an exceptional series, one greatly undervalued in the annals of Starcraft. 
ByuL to the very brink. Down 3-2 and coming off a game 5 victory, Dear forced ByuL to adapt. He pushed the Zerg in a direction he either had not intended or specifically planned for Dear, someone so adept at dispatching standard play that ByuL frantically searched for another counter. 
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PFmEaPh.png)
