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Zest: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Road to BlizzCon 20…

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Zest: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Road to BlizzCon 2018 (#6)

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
Graphics by3StrakGames
October 15th, 2018 13:59 GMT
Photo: ESL
Zest
Joo Sung Wook
Scythe Esports

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

by Orlok


Dominance is a key theme in StarCraft II’s 2018. WCS and GSL alike were swept by a single competitor each—Serral and Maru. They each faced different opponents in every grand final, but always came out victorious. That is unusual. So unusual, in fact, that many interesting story-lines flew largely under the radar. Zest’s is one of them.

There is mystery surrounding what, judging purely by results, was not a bad year for Zest, especially compared to the atrocity that was 2017. On paper, the narrative is simple and not at all uncommon; a championship player falls off after reaching his peak, but, through a combination of talent, hard work, experience, and motivation, overcomes the slump to become a tournament challenger again. In fact, we’ve written this very story about Zest before, when he returned to peak form in 2016 after experiencing a disappointing year in 2015—by his pre-set standards, that is. What’s so special about Zest repeating the feat and reaching another GSL final?

There is a perplexing contrast of results and gameplay. Zest’s success, whether it came in 2014 or 2016, was always based on the same foundations—rock solid decision-making, clean and intelligent adjustments in macro games and near perfect ‘big picture’ game management. Players like Maru or sOs outdid him in comparatively minor facets of the game—unit control or psychological warfare, for example—but Zest, at his peak, was simply better overall. He played ‘normal’ so well he set new standards for everyone else, and always appeared to know more than his opponents, even if his execution occasionally let him down—such as his infamous macro slips.

Looking at Zest’s play now, you would struggle to identify the same player. He seems erratic at times, stubborn in the strategies he chooses, and prone to error in decision-making. What we used to identify as weaknesses in an extremely competent player—small scale execution and unit control—appear to have become strengths. It appears as if the script has been flipped on its head. In 2018, we instead get scrappy fights, sometimes accompanied (and often caused) by mind-boggling decision-making… yet ultimately still very impressive results. Zest no longer passes the eye test, but his results show a very good player nonetheless.

Zest was always steady. Not in results, perhaps, but in his approach to the game. He stuck with what worked and crafted new strategies when the old ones no longer sufficed. Why is it, then, that, after years of success, a player like Zest would so drastically overhaul himself?

We can only speculate. However, Zest always appeared to profit massively from KT Rolster’s team environment. His play was always structured, his strategies tried and true. That is the result of the support of practice partners and coaches. Living in a house with Stats, Flash, TY, and others no doubt gave Zest the opportunity to play multiple games against opponents of different races and perfectly refine himself, find any and all possible adjustments and sound out his weaknesses. He would also experience what players around him had particular success or trouble with, and could work intelligently towards exploring or countering those strategies himself. But KT Rolster no longer fields a StarCraft II division. Zest, as almost everyone else in Korea, suddenly had to adjust to life outside of KeSPA. Zest was not the only player to fall off then. Many did, and not all have picked themselves up. However, those that did rediscovered their old styles of play after getting used to a new lifestyle. Think of INnoVation, soO, Stats or Dark—players who, after a period of finding their feet in the wild, came back and had success using the same abilities they had before. Some even talk about blossoming outside a very restrictive and rigorous atmosphere.

Not Zest. Instead, he has expressed difficulty at maintaining his practice, and succumbing to laziness at times. He took longer than most. No coaches to monitor his play and point out potential issues. No teammates to practice specific strategies with over and over again. Only Zest and the ladder, with online tournaments to earn money from and try his ladder-crafted strategies in tournament settings. Zest’s approach to the game remains similar—he sticks to what works for him. However, what that is has drastically changed. Instead of the elaborate macro game, brutal execution of powerful strategies is now what brings in the money for him. Zest’s playstyle has become more abusive, but also more chaotic when the plan fails as there is no longer a finely tailored backup plan thought out with practice partners. Thinking on his feet in unexplored situations was never Zest’s biggest strength, but he finds himself in them more often than he used to, and that’s when he looks poor.


Zest talks about adjusting to life after KT Rolster.



Rank


Korea Standings
#4

WCS Points


6275

2018 Season Stats*


179–81 (68.85%) vs. Terran
170–74 (69.67%) vs. Protoss
155–130 (54.39%) vs. Zerg
*Via Aligulac.com. Matches between 2017-11-15 and 2018-10-12.


Quietly and without much fanfare, Zest has risen from his grave and worked his way back into the limelight. Despite the mockery of your everyday LR poster, Zest was the only player next to Maru to reach the knockout stages of every GSL this year. On June 13, Zest qualified for the Grand Finals of Season 2, eliminating his former teammate TY in the semifinals. All the while he had never really looked like a championship contender. And even in this particular series, Zest never perfectly convinced the viewers. But it worked. Few moments better encapsulate the enigma of Zest.

The first two games set the tone for the series. A proxy oracle build did some damage, TY's hellions did even more as Zest was caught unprepared, only for Zest to decisively swing back at TY and take him out with a gateway push. It was scrappy, workers died all over the place, but ultimately Zest won.

Never would Zest have played this game in 2014 or 2016. Instead, TY's initial strategy would have done barely any damage, but Zest would have chosen to go the macro route afterwards and expand, advance his tech, shore up his defenses and secure the safer victory. In 2018, Zest lost 13 probes to four hellions, then lost two stalkers as he walked through two widow mines without detection, and then he killed TY.

He then held off a hellion/marine drop opening easily in game two, added a few cute micro insults to TY's injury, defended all desperate midgame aggression perfectly... and lost his warp prism with four high templars inside it to widow mines still planted after a fight. A moment of entirely avoidable badness prolonged the game by a substantial amount. Zest suddenly found himself having to think on the fly. Instead of simply winning the game with a counterattack, as was the plan, Zest took the fight to TY with a much weaker army while warping units into TY's main base. The fights on both fronts were scrappy and poorly controlled, with too few stalkers blinking into liberators, phoenixes randomly rallying into the fight after it had already been lost, and zealots in the main base fighting in liberation zones. Zest ultimately came out victorious even despite losing his entire army—as TY had lost over 40 SCVs to zealots and stalkers in his base.

Just when we thought Zest was playing like himself again, executing defense and game management near-perfectly, a silly mistake was enough to throw him off and turn the game into a complete mess that honestly made both players look bad. Zest looked stupid for attacking TY, who was a base down and set up well defensively, and TY's defensive reaction looked equally off. Bottom line: Zest won.

The final game was the least telling of the series. Zest walked into TY's third base unspotted, killed the command center, went home and defended TY's all in. It was TY's mistake to let him take position on the expansion without any resistance, and it was that mistake that ultimately won Zest the game and the series. After a full Best of 7, and a near-complete run through Code S, we still had no idea whether Zest was good and just looked bad, or whether he had played poor opposition. We only knew he was in the finals. Of course, what happened there did little to aid Zest's quest for a better image.

As the curtain closes on 2018, only two players have eliminated him from the GSL—Dark, in Zest’s notoriously weak PvZ match-up, and Maru, who has equally dominated everyone in Korea this year. Bracket luck was held against Zest, but he made his way past players like TY, Stats and INnoVation to achieve these results. And yet, when Zest came up against the very top tier of competition, he looked out of his depth. Maru made a fool of him in two Best of 7 series and seemingly confirmed the opinion of many that, while Zest keeps delivering results, he really does lack the substance. After a year of watching Zest in every GSL, in countless online tournaments, and on his stream, we are still no closer to solving the puzzle of Zest. His play looks rugged and, quite frankly, worse than a lot of the top players’. But he also outperformed most of them this year. Maru and Serral, though, look clean in everything they do and are more successful.

BlizzCon is unique as a tournament. The entire year does not matter. When sOs won it in 2013, none of his matches leading up to the semifinals were streamed on the main stream, because he was not deemed important enough. The action followed Jaedong and Dear, two big names heading into the tournament, certain to meet and decide the winner among them. sOs won the tournament. One of Zest, soO, and INnoVation was sure to win in 2014. Instead, Life, a perennial tournament winner when he wasn't losing on purpose, upset Zest in the first round and won the tournament. sOs would not even have been at BlizzCon in 2015 had Zest not forfeited his spot at MSI. sOs replaced him and scraped over the BlizzCon line—and then he won it. Strong form late in the year saw ByuN and
Rogue claim BlizzCon titles.

Counting Zest out would be foolish. He has the same tournament-winning credentials and experience of sOs and Life, and form is often easily acquired. If he is to impress at BlizzCon, Zest will inevitably have to face the best of the best. Serral, whose winning streak continued even on Korean soil, lurks in his group, and the road to victory will ultimately lead through either him or Maru, maybe even both. Such an encounter may truly reveal to us who Zest has become, and whether he still has it in him to win. Perhaps we will finally be able to shed some light on the Zest of 2018. Looks can be deceiving, but they can also be very telling. Has Zest been lucky, or has he been underrated? Has he just looked bad, or has he been bad? Perhaps there is a bit of truth to both extremes. In that sense, everything is possible for Zest at BlizzCon. He could drop out in the group stages, but he could also go all the way. That is what makes him truly fascinating. We have no idea what to expect.









Writer: Orlok
Editors: Olli
Photos: Carlton Beener, Blizzard, ESL, Leimmia, Bart Oerbekke, Helena Kristiansson
Graphics: 3StrakGames
Statistics: Aligulac
Facebook Twitter Reddit
TL+ Member
dummy1
Profile Blog Joined April 2018
420 Posts
October 15 2018 14:21 GMT
#2
Let me guess, Olli is ready?
https://www.youtube.com/c/DepressingStarcraft <- Maru VODs and stuff | END REGION-LOCK NOW
Orlok
Profile Joined June 2014
Korea (South)227 Posts
October 15 2018 14:29 GMT
#3
On October 15 2018 23:21 dummy1 wrote:
Let me guess, Olli is ready?


More than ready
Writer"Don't leave me hangin!"
Nakajin
Profile Blog Joined September 2014
Canada8989 Posts
October 15 2018 14:36 GMT
#4
Despite the mockery of your everyday LR poster

Hey guys we got a shout out!

The enigma part of Zest is really on point, he has just look so incredibly dumb sometime, he remind me a lot of Mana actually, really ugly play sometime but they are able to find a way to make it work.
Writerhttp://i.imgur.com/9p6ufcB.jpg
Drfilip
Profile Joined March 2013
Sweden590 Posts
October 15 2018 15:55 GMT
#5
2018 Zest is like 2013 sOs. The games look bad, but they are winning. They are playing so strange that the opponents can't play as they usually do. Zest and sOs has forced mistakes from their foes and win because of it.
Random Platinum EU
lichter
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
1001 YEARS KESPAJAIL22272 Posts
October 15 2018 16:01 GMT
#6
title obviously references http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/491356-code-s-ro32-grp-a-sheriffs-back-in-town-s3-2015
AdministratorYOU MUST HEED MY INSTRUCTIONS TAKE OFF YOUR THIIIINGS
Kurao
Profile Joined April 2018
215 Posts
October 15 2018 16:16 GMT
#7
Zest really has had a good year, even without comparing it to the 2017 slump. A lot just comes down to Maru's dominance overshadowing him because he had no premier victories (I think the Masters Coliseum counts as a major).

Still, he is showing glimps of his old self, and I hope he can keep the consistency up at BlizzCon this year
Penev
Profile Joined October 2012
28472 Posts
October 15 2018 16:53 GMT
#8
*Zest: The Best, the Best and the Best - Road to BlizzCon 2018 (#6)
I Protoss winner, could it be?
hexhaven
Profile Joined July 2014
Finland931 Posts
October 15 2018 17:21 GMT
#9
On October 16 2018 01:01 lichter wrote:
title obviously references http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/starcraft-2/491356-code-s-ro32-grp-a-sheriffs-back-in-town-s3-2015


WriterI shoot events. | http://www.jussi.co/esports
Zaros
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United Kingdom3692 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-15 17:49:56
October 15 2018 17:49 GMT
#10
Zest didn't get enough credit for his GSL runs, without Maru maybe he wins back to back GSLs
yht9657
Profile Joined December 2016
1810 Posts
October 15 2018 18:06 GMT
#11
The way Zest got so completely destroyed by Maru in 2 consecutive GSLs basically overshadows everything he's achieved this year, especially given the fact a lot of people expected much from his PVT on both occasions.

The thing about Zest is that he peaked so high in the past that people can't expect any less from him, thus his GSL silver is considered more of a failure while Stats' GSL silver is considered more of an achievement cuz people expect much less from him.
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-15 18:11:55
October 15 2018 18:07 GMT
#12
On October 16 2018 02:49 Zaros wrote:
Zest didn't get enough credit for his GSL runs, without Maru maybe he wins back to back GSLs

Mainly because he had relatively easy runs each season. In none of them did he really look like a championship contender. Though it is crazy to think if Maru had slipped up Zest might have won the last two GSL seasons even in his current form.

On October 16 2018 03:06 yht9657 wrote:
The thing about Zest is that he peaked so high in the past that people can't expect any less from him, thus his GSL silver is considered more of a failure while Stats' GSL silver is considered more of an achievement cuz people expect much less from him.

It's less about expectations and more about their actual performance I think. Stats beat guys like Classic and soO when they were in ridiculous form, and only lost 4-2 to Maru. Zest made the final partly of bracket luck and lost in one of the most one-sided finals ever.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
Zaros
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United Kingdom3692 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-15 18:33:19
October 15 2018 18:32 GMT
#13
On October 16 2018 03:07 Fango wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2018 02:49 Zaros wrote:
Zest didn't get enough credit for his GSL runs, without Maru maybe he wins back to back GSLs

Mainly because he had relatively easy runs each season. In none of them did he really look like a championship contender. Though it is crazy to think if Maru had slipped up Zest might have won the last two GSL seasons even in his current form.

Show nested quote +
On October 16 2018 03:06 yht9657 wrote:
The thing about Zest is that he peaked so high in the past that people can't expect any less from him, thus his GSL silver is considered more of a failure while Stats' GSL silver is considered more of an achievement cuz people expect much less from him.

It's less about expectations and more about their actual performance I think. Stats beat guys like Classic and soO when they were in ridiculous form, and only lost 4-2 to Maru. Zest made the final partly of bracket luck and lost in one of the most one-sided finals ever.


The bracket luck thing seems silly to me, Zest had as dificult a path as Maru in S3. Parting vs Forte and Leenock in the ro32 probably favour Parting over Forte and Leenock over Parting, in the ro16 Maru faced Neeb and Reynor while Zest faced Leenock and Trap, Marus opponents were slightly better. In the Ro8 Maru faced Gumiho while Zest faced stats who is better than Gumiho.

In Season two ro32 Maru played Zanster and Dear while Zest played Sortof and lost to Trap fairly equal lineups but Zest was very sick so I think we can excuse his loss to Trap. In the RO16 they were in the same group. In the Ro8 Maru had Rogue while Zest had Dear obviously Maru has the better opponent in this round. In the round of 4 Maru had Classic but Zest has TY I would say these are fairly equal opponents.

So overall I would say the bracket luck is about equal to Maru's bracket luck maybe Zest had it slightly better but nothing too significant.
Fango
Profile Joined July 2016
United Kingdom8987 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-15 19:06:28
October 15 2018 19:04 GMT
#14
On October 16 2018 03:32 Zaros wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2018 03:07 Fango wrote:
On October 16 2018 02:49 Zaros wrote:
Zest didn't get enough credit for his GSL runs, without Maru maybe he wins back to back GSLs

Mainly because he had relatively easy runs each season. In none of them did he really look like a championship contender. Though it is crazy to think if Maru had slipped up Zest might have won the last two GSL seasons even in his current form.

On October 16 2018 03:06 yht9657 wrote:
The thing about Zest is that he peaked so high in the past that people can't expect any less from him, thus his GSL silver is considered more of a failure while Stats' GSL silver is considered more of an achievement cuz people expect much less from him.

It's less about expectations and more about their actual performance I think. Stats beat guys like Classic and soO when they were in ridiculous form, and only lost 4-2 to Maru. Zest made the final partly of bracket luck and lost in one of the most one-sided finals ever.

So overall I would say the bracket luck is about equal to Maru's bracket luck maybe Zest had it slightly better but nothing too significant.

Except Maru actually won the season, Zest didn't. You were comparing Zest finals run to Stats. I was saying that Stats is more impressive because he beat better opponents on the way and didn't get completely embarassed when he got there.

Also in season 2 Zest had a waaay easier time making the final than Maru. Maru beat Rogue and Classic, who were considered by everyone to be the #2 and #3 players at the time. Zest had a much easier side of the bracket, Dear is weak in PvP and TY (while strong) wasn't unbeaten in TvP like Classic was.
Zest, sOs, PartinG, Dark, and Maru are the real champs. ROOT_herO is overrated. Snute, Serral, and Scarlett are the foreigner GOATs
Rodya
Profile Joined January 2018
546 Posts
October 15 2018 21:58 GMT
#15
On October 16 2018 03:07 Fango wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 16 2018 02:49 Zaros wrote:
Zest didn't get enough credit for his GSL runs, without Maru maybe he wins back to back GSLs

Mainly because he had relatively easy runs each season. In none of them did he really look like a championship contender. Though it is crazy to think if Maru had slipped up Zest might have won the last two GSL seasons even in his current form.

Show nested quote +
On October 16 2018 03:06 yht9657 wrote:
The thing about Zest is that he peaked so high in the past that people can't expect any less from him, thus his GSL silver is considered more of a failure while Stats' GSL silver is considered more of an achievement cuz people expect much less from him.

It's less about expectations and more about their actual performance I think. Stats beat guys like Classic and soO when they were in ridiculous form, and only lost 4-2 to Maru. Zest made the final partly of bracket luck and lost in one of the most one-sided finals ever.

Funny how it's fine to talk about lucky seeding when it benefits Koreans but not when it catapults Neeb into a ro8 match against a serial GSL choker.
Banned for saying "zerg players are by far the biggest whiners in sc2 history" despite the fact that this forum is full of such posts about Terrans. Foreigner Elitists in control!
tennisl
Profile Joined March 2018
United Kingdom44 Posts
October 15 2018 22:46 GMT
#16
Zest has a shot if he avoids Maru
blooblooblahblah
Profile Joined February 2011
Australia4163 Posts
October 15 2018 22:59 GMT
#17
I don't think it's fair to talk about bracket luck that much. There's no doubt that Zest's runs could've been a bit harder but that's how the cookie crumbles and he really did deliver some good results this year.

If we're talking about his actual play though, wow. Boy does he look so sloppy right now. He's always had the macro of a potato during big engagements but his decision making used to be amazing, and now it always seems like his biggest liability. I actually face palm in many of the games Zest plays, whether he wins or loses, it always looks really rough. In many ways, it seems like he overperformed this year given his actual form.

At the same time, Zest was quietly one of the most influential players in terms of the 2018 meta. 2SG phoenix in PvZ really shook up the meta and just the existence of the build is such a huge deal because otherwise Zerg could safely go roaches in every single game. 6 Adept in PvP has also had a big impact on the matchup. I'd say Zest's best games this year were when he introduced some strong meta-influencing new builds, cos he looked surprisingly clean and refined.

Despite being high in points this year, I don't really give Zest a big blizzcon chance, but he seems to do way better than his play would suggest so you can never count him out. He could always pop out some new revolutionary plays and he is always dangerous, no matter how sloppy he looks

Ganzi beat me without stim. Ostojiy beat me with a nydus. Siphonn beat me with probes. Revival beat my sentry-immortal all-in.
dummy1
Profile Blog Joined April 2018
420 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-16 01:09:42
October 16 2018 01:07 GMT
#18
btw, Hey, post my clip here about Zest, it's aesthetically pleasing. Do not be afraid to fall in love with Zest.
https://www.youtube.com/c/DepressingStarcraft <- Maru VODs and stuff | END REGION-LOCK NOW
TheDougler
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada8304 Posts
October 16 2018 05:14 GMT
#19
In that sense, everything is possible for Zest at BlizzCon. He could drop out in the group stages, but he could also go all the way. That is what makes him truly fascinating. We have no idea what to expect.


Given this quote I can only conclude that the entire writeup for sOs is going to be a long series of question marks.

Like, sOs is looking at least as shaky as he did in 2013 and 2015. Which, I guess means he's going to win?
I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss)
Veluvian
Profile Joined December 2011
Bulgaria256 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-10-16 07:43:06
October 16 2018 07:41 GMT
#20
Not a bad year for Zest, but he is so far from his top form. He usually likes such weekend based tournaments rather he always performs terrible in Blizzcons. I guess he could eventually reach a final depends from other matches and probably some PvP's where anything could happen between top players. I miss the old Zest rather he was not my top favorite toss, but he was the ultimate proof for total dominance and macro play only in specific periods. Only Innovation from this caliber is more constant than Zest. I much prefer Classic's style and play rather Zest is a bit more successful than Classic by trophies.
In general, Blizzcon does not belong to many great pro-s in the scene because they are bit of tired and switching to new patches or just taking long rest. Especially protosses. sOs is something entirely different from any other psychology and character, that is why he is unique. Zest, Stats never impressed in november. Classic reached two semi-s untill now, but we'll see. Zest is not a favorite at all but I'd be glad if he can brake the curse and expectations.
Oz; MMA; Rain; sOs; Classic, Soulkey, TY, Dark
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