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Zest, the Meta Changer

Forum Index > SC2 General
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Zest, the Meta Changer

Text byTL.net ESPORTS
February 12th, 2021 23:34 GMT

StarCraft Brain: Zest, the Meta Changer

by Seracis

When we think of top Protoss players in the 2020/21 EPT season, Trap is of course the first one who comes to mind. Many fans will also think of Stats due to his impressive consistency and lingering hype from his clash with Serral at BlizzCon 2018. However, the player who had the biggest impact on the game was a fallen legend, a Protoss who lost his status as the best player in the world a long time ago: Zest.

(Wiki)IEM Katowice 2021

The Kingslayer didn't have the most successful career after his longtime team KT Rolster disbanded at the end of 2016. In 2017 and 2019 he didn't qualify for BlizzCon at all, and he even fell out of GSL Code S in one particularly bad season (quite the fall for a two-time Code S champion). Furthermore, Zest's image as a player changed as well since KeSPA disbanded. We all make fun of the 'Zest bank' quite a bit—long ago Zest was a solid macro player, but nowadays he floats several thousand minerals in the first 10 minutes. Where once he was known as a master of safe defensive play, he's instead become an aggressive player who relies on his micro and game sense more than ever.

But even though Zest's general reputation has changed, he still has some distinctive traits that make him a uniquely dangerous player. His refined build orders, his decisiveness, and his killer instinct—all these have become more pronounced than ever in the 2020/21 EPT season. And he has one more weapon few would have expected coming into the season: creativity.

The Unexpected Finalist: Glaive Adepts at IEM Katowice

It all started at IEM Katowice 2020 with Zest's unexpected run to the finals, where he recorded an impressive PvZ winning streak against Rogue, soO, Reynor, and Armani in the group stage, and then Serral in the semifinals.

This was largely thanks to a soon-to-be notorious new strategy which revolved around four Gateways, a Warp Prism and the Resonating Glaives upgrade. The Protoss player would attack the Zerg’s third base while constantly warping in rounds of four Adepts, shading them into the other Zerg bases. If the Zerg army was too weak or out of position, the Adepts could shade in and destroy an entire Drone line. If the Zerg overcommitted to defending the shades, the Protoss could just hold back and maybe even kill the third base. These extreme scenarios usually don’t happen anymore, but at the time, that was pretty much how most of the PvZ games looked went. It took the efforts of DRG and others to figure out an efficient response to the Glaive Adept opener that allowed the Zerg to defend without being put automatically behind in economy, or in an all-in position.

Zest was not the first player to use a strategy of this type. We saw a variation with 5-Gate Glaives in the fall of 2019 from Harstem and PartinG. However, the post-BlizzCon balance patch reworked Resonating Glaives to give a temporary attack-speed boost after completing a shade, effectively banishing this style into oblivion. While the Glaive change was reverted in a matter of weeks, by the time IEM Katowice 2020 came around, the PvZ meta had temporarily settled into normal Oracle openings combined with Protoss trickery such as 2-base Immortal all-ins or Immortal/Shield Battery contains.

The 4.11 patch had also specifically addressed the late game in PvZ, which Protoss players had wanted to avoid at all costs in 2019. But since there were no Premier tournaments until Katowice 2020, it was only there that Zest helped reveal to what extent the matchup had truly changed.

[image loading]
The beginning of the Adept printer memes

The biggest surprise came in the semifinals when Zest beat tournament favorite Serral (VOD) with, among other things, his new trademark build of 4-Gate Glaives. Just like Reynor and his Korean colleagues, Serral was unable to adapt to the new build. Not only was stopping the Glaive Adepts hard enough, but the follow-up could be anything ranging from a Dark Shrine, a Blink Stalker/Immortal push or even just a standard transition into Chargelot/Immortal/Archon.

Zest's run had an anticlimactic ending, as Rogue then absolutely dismantled Zest in the Grand Finals with early game all-ins. The Jin Air Zerg had already played Zest earlier in the tournament (losing in the group stage), and by the time of the finals, had nearly twenty games of Zest’s PvZ shenanigans to study. So instead of accepting his fate and trying to adapt to the 4-Gate Adept variations, he just killed Zest before the Protoss could play his game. Hence, the build was later optimized multiple times to make it safer against early aggression and also allowed Protoss to get its first warp in even faster at 4:20.

While Zest finished in second place, his run had major consequences. The whole PvZ meta revolved around this one build order for the next few months, as it forced a certain response by the Zerg player to not lose the game or fall significantly behind. Players even developed a fake-Glaives, 3-Gate DT drop which looked exactly like a Glaives build, which hoped that the Zerg would skip Spore Crawlers to better defend against the Adepts. Even though 4 Gate Glaives eventually fell out of fashion as Zergs figured out optimized responses, it still shows up occasionally (alongside its variants) in major tournaments, especially on short maps.

The 2020/21 season had barely started, and Zest had already shaken up an entire match-up. But it wouldn't be the last time Zest changed the meta.

Darkness descends!… for Terran players

Zest also introduced a groundbreaking innovation in PvT with the usage of Shadow Stride-upgraded Dark Templars in a non-memey way. For this, we have to go a few months forward from IEM Katowice to May's TeamLiquid Starleague 5. Zest had fallen to the lower bracket of the tournament, and had become a bit of a running joke among casters along the way after playing a proxy Dark Shrine against Terrans in almost every game. After HeroMarine fell 3-0 against Zest's DT openings, the Protoss was confronted with a more challenging opponent as he had to face the reigning Code S champion and arguably the best player in the world in TY.

Before we get into Zest's match vs TY, some context about Zest's TvP: Zest really has a remarkable ability to be the only top Protoss player to make the heavy gateway style against Terran viable and also get deep runs in tournaments with it. I’m not talking about a mid-game gateway style that quickly techs into double-Robo Colossus/Disruptor. I'm talking about opening with limited splash damage (storm or 2-3 Colossi) and committing hard to 12+ Gateways and sticking to it without transitioning (Zest's latest series in a premier event against Bunny in the 2021 GSL Super Tournament 1 (VOD) also proves that nothing has changed in this regard today).

Back to the match. At this point in time, TY had just won his first GSL Code S, beating PartinG and Stats along the way. Both Protosses, while different in style, were well-known Colossus advocates in the matchup, be it as Stats on 2 bases defensively or as a transition after an aggressive 4-Gate Blink opening à la PartinG. Zest, on the other hand, was a big believer in early third and fourth bases which allowed him to produce more units and build a bank for more expensive and experimental transitions. One of which would be unveiled here in this revolutionary second game vs TY at TSL5 (VOD).

The Kingslayer went for the proxy Dark Shrine once again, but the early game passed without anyone taking a decisive lead. Zest got two initial Colossi, but stuck to his style and didn't tech to more splash damage options like Storm or Disruptors. He even refused to build a second forge for armor upgrades, even though he was setting himself up to rely on mass Gateway units. Who could have expected his eventual plan: mass Dark Templars with Shadow Stride (better known as DT Blink)??? Now, while this was extremely surprising for most of the global audience, word of Zest's bizarre +2 blink DT strategy was already going around in the Korean community (TY himself talked about it on an earlier stream). But this TSL game was the first time that a pro player brought this style to light in a major tournament game.

As the game went on, Zest's focus on attack upgrades, his early DT blink upgrade, and his immediate reconstruction of Dark Shrines every time TY destroyed it made a lot more sense. Zest sent run-by's with giant DT hit squads (sometimes more than 10) to destroy TY's expansions in seconds. All the while, he was defending his own bases with a Gateway army and a single Colossus that survived the early game. The DT's would suddenly pop up in the real fights, where their high single target damage proved extremely valuable against the Tank-heavy composition TY favored at the time.

[image loading]

"If you tell me that he is winning this game with 15 Gate, no armor, triple dark shrine, I'd be laughing like nah that's not a thing" - Rotterdam, moments before Zest beats TY with 15 Gate, no armor upgrades and triple dark shrine.

Maybe feardragon was right all along. Zest's direct rush to DT's and Shadow Stride never became a real meta build, since this kind of rush obviously relies on the element of surprise. However, the concept of mass Blink-DT run-by's in the late-game lived on. Not as a meme, but as a common, reliable technique to destroy the Planetary Fortress expansions of Terran that are otherwise extremely difficult to break. Every top player in the world started using this harassment option in longer PvT games, thanks to Zest’s creative approach.

Paving the Road for a Protoss Powerhouse: Void Ray Openers in PvZ

Perhaps the biggest change we have to thank Zest for, however, is the use of Void Rays in PvZ. As every Zerg player is acutely aware of right now, Void Rays received a cost reduction, a higher movement speed and a shorter build time last summer with Patch 5.0.2. After the PvZ meta was dominated by 4-Gate Glaive Adepts, few were initially inconvenienced by a breath of fresh air in the meta.

The mass Void Ray opener made its debut in a major tournament game in September of 2020, when Zest faced Solar in GSL Code S Season 3 (VOD). As with any novel strategy, it's impossible to 100% say a certain player was the sole 'inventor', but Zest was certainly the one to popularize it. Zest started with a Void Ray first to deny all scouting, added a fast third base and two more Stargates after that. He then went up to eight Void Rays before transitioning into fast Storm to survive Hydra timings, and then quickly transitioned into Skytoss with the three completed Stargates. I suppose this general outline will not be unfamiliar to readers as Protoss players all over the world copied this style and still play it today.

Void Rays hard counter older, conventional Roach/Ravager all-ins, and are also quite good against Nydus Worm strategies. They also force the Zerg player to invest a lot in anti-air, be it more Spore Crawlers or multiple rounds of Queens, as Voids inevitably fly over the map to try to snipe important buildings such as the yet-to-be-finished 4th Hatchery. And, of course, the strategy transitions easily into the fearsome Skytoss composition.

As Void Rays lose a 1vs1 against a Queen, a lot of counter-strategies have been developed that revolve around mass Queens, either walking them slowly across the map, popping them out of a Nydus in an uncommon position, or flying them across the map in Drop-Overlords (the German Taxi). Back in September however, Korean Zergs still tried to counter this new style by teching straight into Hydralisks, or they were still content to try and play late-game ZvP.

[image loading]

This was quite the new sight in PvZ

Zest was eventually eliminated from the GSL after he fell to Armani 2-3 in the quarterfinals (VOD), with the points he scored being ironically by Twilight openings and not Stargate builds (Zest reached the Skytoss phase, but hadn't quite perfected the seemingly unbeatable army of the present meta). However, the consequences that his games had were undeniable.

Just as it was the case with his other two big inventions, every Protoss player in the world started copying this Void Ray style. Obviously the build has since been modified a lot. The more modern variant with only 2 Stargates became famous in December through games of Stats in the 2020 GSL Super Tournament 2 (VOD) and Zest himself at TSL 6 (VOD). The amount of Void Rays built also started to vary between 2 and 12 but the general idea stayed intact.

The true power of this style was only realized by most spectators after DHM: Last Chance 2021 where Trap took down Serral 4-3 in the finals (VOD) by taking three maps with the 2 Stargate build, including an easy hold against a Hydralisk/Baneling bust in the deciding game. Trap also went on to eliminate current Korean Zerg hope Dark in 2021 GSL Super Tournament 1 (VOD), again thanks to the 2 Stargate build. Thus, Trap won three championships in seven weeks (including his earlier win in 2020 Super Tournament 2), and became one of the top contenders for IEM Katowice.

It appears that for the first time since the removal of the Mothership core, Protoss has the upper hand against Zerg in the late game. Without a creative player crazy enough to try and refine a strategy that allows a smooth transition into Skytoss, we may never have arrived at this place where Protoss can fully leverage this advantage. So, even though Zest himself didn’t win any championships in the 2020/21 season, he certainly played a big role in helping Protoss win championships again.

One last hurrah?

What can we expect from Zest at the upcoming IEM Katowice 2021 event? If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have told you that he might go on a decent run, but there would be no chance that he would reach the round of 4, let alone win the championship. But now, I actually give him a shot. He put up a solid run in the GSL Super Tournament Season 1, and even though he lost to Zoun’s cheeses in the semis, he looked absolutely unstoppable in his PvT matches during the earlier rounds. And then, he won the championship at WardiTV 2021, where he defeated Reynor, INnoVation, Cure, and TY in the playoffs while dropping only a single map.

There is also the possibility of another meta-changer, even though I find it rather unlikely that this will happen in PvT. He constantly shows new slight variations in his playstyle but nothing completely groundbreaking. Most of the players he plays in the countless online cups that he participates in are also Terran players, so if he showcases a new way to play this game, I would expect it in the other two matchups. But then again, maybe he has been hiding something special for the World Championship?

If Zest’s path to the finals is filled with Terrans and if he can avoid cheesy Protoss players, I can see the possibility of Zest lifting that IEM World Championship trophy once again. And even if it doesn't come to that, maybe he graces us one last time with a final meta-changer before he has to dedicate himself to the mandatory military service later this year. But the impact that Zest had on this game will never be forgotten.




Writer: Seracis
Editor: Wax
Images: TakeTV, AfreecaTV, ESL
Statistics and records: Liquipedia and Aligulac.com

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TL+ Member
yubo56
Profile Joined May 2014
687 Posts
February 13 2021 00:56 GMT
#2
Is this the Katowice preview series? Or is it just a random Zest piece :o Hoping for the former, though we have only 8 days left, so it might be asking for a lot :x
Jung Yoon Jong fighting, even after retirement! Feel better soon.
RKC
Profile Joined June 2012
2848 Posts
February 13 2021 04:17 GMT
#3
All hail the Clown Prince Ziesta!
gg no re thx
blooblooblahblah
Profile Joined February 2011
Australia4163 Posts
February 13 2021 06:19 GMT
#4
I definitely consider Zest one of main trend setters for Protoss in LotV, or even just LotV in general.

That said, I've seen a lot of people place the popularisation of the Void Rays onto Zest, generally citing the GSL games. I think that's an okay argument for the Korean scene, but I feel like the popularity of void rays in the foreign scene was quite organic within its own scene, and arguably earlier than when Zest pulled it out. I feel like Zest genuinely shifted the meta for both scenes when he unveiled the refined version of glaives, whereas with the Void Rays, he was just the first Korean to do something that had been rapidly bubbling under the surface anyway. I didn't get the impression from the foreigners that Zest was the big inspiration for how foreign PvZ evolved in recent months.
Ganzi beat me without stim. Ostojiy beat me with a nydus. Siphonn beat me with probes. Revival beat my sentry-immortal all-in.
Crocolisk Dundee
Profile Blog Joined October 2015
870 Posts
February 13 2021 07:09 GMT
#5
Great article! I love reading about how these strategies evolve.
Stopped watching ESL content in 2022 when the company was acquired by Savvy Gaming Group. Also object to sponsorships by the U.S. Air Force. Thanks for the lively discussions about sportswashing. StarCraft II is not for me anymore.
Aurora.dd
Profile Joined February 2021
3 Posts
February 13 2021 07:31 GMT
#6
Zest's current PvT looks suspiciously like what PvT looked like in 2019 and early 2020, where he would often pick twilight based builds (fast storms/gateway man/dts) and then be extremely greedy behind it. Zest seems to have incorporated battery overcharge into the builds from back then, allowing him to overcome the 2 base all-ins first pioneered by Maru and INnoVation. We'll see if other Protosses will start picking up on this very gateway-heavy style instead of the colossi based PvT builds that are in favour nowadays.
hightemplay
Profile Joined February 2020
5 Posts
February 13 2021 07:35 GMT
#7
he is a noob. end.

User was warned for this post.
Andi_Goldberger
Profile Joined July 2018
Germany1608 Posts
February 13 2021 08:55 GMT
#8
as someone that absolutely loves zest and his playstyle thank you for this article! cant wait for katowice
~~~~~
ExpatRights
Profile Joined February 2021
53 Posts
February 13 2021 09:26 GMT
#9
his victory over cure is super flawed. TL won't let me say anything, but watch the match, watch how cure micros and his decision making, and think about if he "was just tired" or what..

User was warned for this post.
BisuDagger
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
Bisutopia19223 Posts
February 13 2021 09:35 GMT
#10
I feel like Zest, along with the other top Protoss players, had the burden of playing a poorly balance LoTV. Zest, with his great mind as mentioned in the article, lead the pack in exploiting every possible gimmick to help the meta keep Protoss in fashion. However, he never got to take home a championship when he lead the meta shift and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say he would have won a few if the balance in PvZ was there the whole time.
ModeratorFormer Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2
Argonauta
Profile Joined July 2016
Spain4906 Posts
February 13 2021 10:42 GMT
#11
excellent piece, made me rewatch zest run again in TSL5.
Rogue | Maru | Scarlett | Trap
TL+ Member
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany15913 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-02-13 11:04:03
February 13 2021 11:03 GMT
#12
On February 13 2021 18:35 BisuDagger wrote:
I feel like Zest, along with the other top Protoss players, had the burden of playing a poorly balance LoTV. Zest, with his great mind as mentioned in the article, lead the pack in exploiting every possible gimmick to help the meta keep Protoss in fashion. However, he never got to take home a championship when he lead the meta shift and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say he would have won a few if the balance in PvZ was there the whole time.

maybe but I think it was pretty clear from watching his games that for most of LotV his play was extremely sloppy when compared to someone like Stats.
Recently he looked the strongest he has in a long time though.
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
sudete
Profile Joined December 2012
Singapore3054 Posts
February 13 2021 12:56 GMT
#13
Zest is going to go further than Stats at Katowice, I think. Hard to look past Trap as the best protoss, though
Year of MaxPax
_fool
Profile Joined February 2011
Netherlands676 Posts
February 13 2021 15:36 GMT
#14
I alway loved hating on Zest. Shaking my fist at the screen, facepalming. How dare this handsome guy destroy all the fan favorites with his silly gateway units! The semi-serious hating was something I enjoyed, so obviously I did not want him to drop out of tournament early on.

This has resulted in me always rooting for Zest, to the point where I'm now a fan (at least until the finals)
"News is to the mind what sugar is to the body"
Yaqoob
Profile Blog Joined March 2005
Canada3319 Posts
February 13 2021 15:44 GMT
#15
This was a very interesting read! I didn't know that Zest had such an influence on the current Protoss meta. I also enjoyed watching the Vods that were placed throughout the article.
김택용 Fighting!
Andi_Goldberger
Profile Joined July 2018
Germany1608 Posts
February 13 2021 17:35 GMT
#16
does anyone know when hes actually due for military? korea next year will be even more saddening without zest + TY
~~~~~
Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55510 Posts
February 13 2021 18:09 GMT
#17
On February 14 2021 02:35 Andi_Goldberger wrote:
does anyone know when hes actually due for military? korea next year will be even more saddening without zest + TY

Zest and Stats are similar age and they're both older than Classic was when he had to enlist. Some point this year then I would have to imagine.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
aringadingding
Profile Joined September 2010
474 Posts
February 13 2021 18:29 GMT
#18
Very nice article, good job! ^^
atchosvk
Profile Joined April 2018
55 Posts
February 13 2021 18:57 GMT
#19
On February 13 2021 18:35 BisuDagger wrote:
I feel like Zest, along with the other top Protoss players, had the burden of playing a poorly balance LoTV. Zest, with his great mind as mentioned in the article, lead the pack in exploiting every possible gimmick to help the meta keep Protoss in fashion. However, he never got to take home a championship when he lead the meta shift and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say he would have won a few if the balance in PvZ was there the whole time.


Sad but true.
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland24813 Posts
February 14 2021 02:00 GMT
#20
Great write up, as ever from you TL writing folk.

If not necessarily the outright best player, Zest surely must go down as one of the best if not the best originator of really tight and refined smart builds.
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
RealityTheGreat
Profile Joined January 2018
China564 Posts
February 14 2021 06:54 GMT
#21
I love these blink DT macro games
Betrayed, forgotten, abandoned.
Lambertus
Profile Joined February 2010
South Africa966 Posts
February 14 2021 08:24 GMT
#22
Very good read! Thx!
The only known Reverend on TL playing SC2 and BW (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=409226)
feardragon
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States970 Posts
February 14 2021 21:03 GMT
#23
On February 13 2021 08:34 TL.net ESPORTS wrote:
Maybe feardragon was right all along. While Zest's direct rush to DT's and Shadow Stride never became a real meta build, since this kind of rush obviously relies on the element of surprise. However, the concept of mass Blink-DT run-by's in the late-game lived on. Not as a meme, but as a common, reliable technique to destroy the Planetary Fortress expansions of Terran that are otherwise extremely difficult to break. Every top player in the world started using this harassment option in longer PvT games, thanks to Zest’s creative approach.

👀👀👀
Ok Starcraft 2 Commentator
IndyO
Profile Joined June 2012
390 Posts
February 14 2021 22:24 GMT
#24
What's the origin of the 'Kingslayer' nickname?
Edpayasugo
Profile Joined April 2013
United Kingdom2213 Posts
February 15 2021 08:57 GMT
#25
On February 14 2021 11:00 WombaT wrote:
Great write up, as ever from you TL writing folk.


seconded
FlaSh MMA INnoVation FanTaSy MKP TY Ryung | soO Dark Rogue | HuK PartinG Stork State
Edpayasugo
Profile Joined April 2013
United Kingdom2213 Posts
February 15 2021 08:58 GMT
#26
On February 15 2021 07:24 IndyO wrote:
What's the origin of the 'Kingslayer' nickname?


I think it goes back to his 2014 all kill vs SKT and then subsequent GLS Royal road, where he beat/eliminated a lot of better known and more favoured players, prior to this Zest was not an A list player
FlaSh MMA INnoVation FanTaSy MKP TY Ryung | soO Dark Rogue | HuK PartinG Stork State
ZugzwangSC
Profile Joined October 2019
87 Posts
February 15 2021 12:27 GMT
#27
A really great article. Well researched and written. Thank you Seracis and Wax.

Zest rocks!
www.youtube.com/c/zugzwangstarcraft
seemsgood
Profile Joined January 2016
5527 Posts
February 18 2021 08:34 GMT
#28
On February 13 2021 13:17 RKC wrote:
All hail the Clown Prince Ziesta!

HERESY!!!!!!
InvXXVII
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada242 Posts
March 01 2021 01:23 GMT
#29
On February 13 2021 18:26 ExpatRights wrote:
his victory over cure is super flawed. TL won't let me say anything, but watch the match, watch how cure micros and his decision making, and think about if he "was just tired" or what..

User was warned for this post.


Why was this user warned?
A good loser is still a loser.
Obamarauder
Profile Joined June 2015
697 Posts
March 01 2021 04:27 GMT
#30
On March 01 2021 10:23 InvXXVII wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 13 2021 18:26 ExpatRights wrote:
his victory over cure is super flawed. TL won't let me say anything, but watch the match, watch how cure micros and his decision making, and think about if he "was just tired" or what..

User was warned for this post.


Why was this user warned?


this guy has been accusing cure of matchfixing since that game, he spams every twitch chat with that as well
pzlama333
Profile Joined April 2013
United States276 Posts
March 01 2021 04:53 GMT
#31
In Chinese sc2 community we call him "王者归来“, literally translated as "the return of the king" which describes Zest's return to unstoppable performance after a period of poor play. However, a lot of times when he played too fancy and appeared to did a lot of damage in early time then lost the game to the opponent's first attack, his nickname changed to ”亡者归来", translated as "the return of the dead", which the character "王" and "亡" have the same pronunciation.

Who would know his next game is king or dead?
sneakyfox
Profile Joined January 2017
8216 Posts
March 01 2021 09:06 GMT
#32
On March 01 2021 13:53 pzlama333 wrote:
In Chinese sc2 community we call him "王者归来“, literally translated as "the return of the king" which describes Zest's return to unstoppable performance after a period of poor play. However, a lot of times when he played too fancy and appeared to did a lot of damage in early time then lost the game to the opponent's first attack, his nickname changed to ”亡者归来", translated as "the return of the dead", which the character "王" and "亡" have the same pronunciation.

Who would know his next game is king or dead?


This is excellent stuff, perfectly captures Zest. Thanks for posting.
"I saw what sneakyfox wrote on TL.net and it made me furious" - PartinG
phodacbiet
Profile Joined August 2010
United States1740 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-03-01 19:39:05
March 01 2021 19:34 GMT
#33
On March 01 2021 13:53 pzlama333 wrote:
In Chinese sc2 community we call him "王者归来“, literally translated as "the return of the king" which describes Zest's return to unstoppable performance after a period of poor play. However, a lot of times when he played too fancy and appeared to did a lot of damage in early time then lost the game to the opponent's first attack, his nickname changed to ”亡者归来", translated as "the return of the dead", which the character "王" and "亡" have the same pronunciation.

Who would know his next game is king or dead?


When you play the game of clowns you win or you die. There is no middle ground.
filewi2233
Profile Joined March 2025
3 Posts
April 09 2025 08:02 GMT
#34
--- Nuked ---
clutchstarc
Profile Joined April 2025
1 Post
April 12 2025 23:20 GMT
#35
--- Nuked ---
FataLe
Profile Joined November 2010
New Zealand4492 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-04-13 06:27:32
April 13 2025 06:23 GMT
#36
Weirdly, I'm grateful for these bots because I get to enjoy posts again that I've totally forgotten about.
hi. big fan.
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom895 Posts
April 14 2025 10:52 GMT
#37
On April 13 2025 15:23 FataLe wrote:
Weirdly, I'm grateful for these bots because I get to enjoy posts again that I've totally forgotten about.

Same. It's nice re-reading some of these retrospectives.
British Protoss || "You have to play for yourself, you have to play to get better; you can't play to make other people happy, that's not gonna ever sustain you." - NonY
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