EPTLink to my Part II post which covered PvT and PvP.
Link to Part III which covers TvT and ZvZ
My criteria and principles:
The visual spectacle: I enjoy the games that has fast paced constant action across the map, intense back and forth battles, good mix of large scale battles and multitask harassments, etc. The quality of the whole game is more important than a single highlight moment. If a game feature an epic and memorable end fight but only after a very bland 30 minutes of turtling around, it's not the type of games I value the most.
The strategic factor: I enjoy games where players make smart strategic decisions instead of just clashing of standard macro/micro fundamentals.
Skill level: the games should be played by the best of pro players when they are at their top form. I only want to feature games where both players played brilliantly, and the winners only won because they played slightly better, not because his opponent made a huge mistake.
The surprise value: there are many, many incredible games that have highest skill level and great spectacles, but at the core it's no more than two players poke and jab with each other the whole time, dealing non-lethal damages and trading evenly, until one gradually wins out. These are good games, but there are just way too many of them to choose from. For me what pushes good games to true greatness are when pendulums of winning actually swings back and forth, where you get to see players facing impossible odds but somehow digging themselves out of hopeless situations. You will find almost every game I list here involved some form of comeback.
Context matters: Some of the best games by my above criteria might be played on ladder or small online weeklies. While I appreciate their existence, this list will focus on games played by best players on big tournaments. An epic comeback only feels more epic when it happens at an elimination match point compared a group stage game, an upset is only more shocking when it happens on global championship compared to a random ESL open cup. The drama outside of the game will inevitably contribute to the viewing experience itself.
Rewatch Value: There are a lot of awesome games that gave me whiplash when I watched it for the first time or experience it live, but after that I have no interest in revisit it again. Only the truly great ones will stand the test of multiple rewatches and make me go "fuck yeah let's watch that game again!" every time.
TvZ:
If the three games I picked here are 10/10 games, then there are at least fifteen other 10/10 TvZ in LotV that I couldn't fit in, and another fifty 9.8/10 games that's probably just as good in another people's eyes. We are spoiled by so many epic TvZ in last few years, mostly because the top Terran and Zerg like Maru, Byun, Dark, Serral, Reynor, Clem run into each other so frequently in all kinds of tournaments and produced bangers almost every time. Out of all of them, these four games stand out for me because they include the six best T/Z players I mentioned above at their best form, had all the spectacles and in-game dramas one could ever ask for in an RTS, and they also happened on some of the most important matches in biggest tournaments. These are just peak Starcraft II, simple as that.
Byun vs Dark,
2016 WCS finals G5, King Sejong Station, Within Chinese SC2 circle, this particular game even has its own nickname "King Sejong Meat Grinder" (世宗绞肉机）, which speaks to how famous and memorable it is. Byun, the best offensive TvZ player at the time, unleashed his full arsenal on this map and it's truly a sight to behold, every wave of frontal attack he launched since 5min mark could straight up kill any Zerg in the world, but Dark managed to meet it with the most flawless and resilient Zerg defense you could imagine. There are many points in the game where you would think "oh there's no way Dark/Byun wins this battle" and they somehow did, with the last sliver of units survive through sheer perfection in macro and micro, making the offense swings the other direction. It's an absolute bloodbath from start to finish. both players fought tooth and nails until the very end.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
textbook quintessential TvZ of early LotV, still arguably the greatest TvZ between Korean players. At the edge of elimination, Dark gave his all and fought back like a cornered beast one last time.
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Maru vs Reynor
2021 IEM Katowice Semifinals G5, Pillars of GoldMaru won first two games dominantly in the Bo5 series, showing his unrivaled TvZ late game mastery, but Reynor refused to give in and took next two games to even the score. We ended up with this matchpoint for both players in semifinals, probably one of the most important game in the whole tournament.
After some exchanges in early to mid game, Maru took a great engagement at 14min mark and killed all Reynor's Mutas, then immediately launched a masterful multi-prong attack to snipe four of Reynor's fresh mining bases within a couple minutes with little to no army loss, suddenly knocking Reynor back to a little more than one base mining economy against Terran's three bases. Almost any other Zerg will gg at this point, but Reynor, who made his name as the clutch comeback kid, fought back with everything he had to try to save his chance at the tournament. But let's not forget that Maru is also the ultimate comeback Terran, will he allow it to happen? What followed was probably 10 minutes of most chaotic, scrappy and unpredictable TvZ fights ever, both player tearing each other apart simultaneously, waging battles across the map without stop, and to this day, even after rewatching it so many times, I still couldn't quite pinpoint how exactly did the winner made it out in the end. But he did, and he made history.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
This is Reynor's signature win in his 2021 Katowice championship run, the whole reverse sweep against Maru is still the best series of his career and arguably one of the greatest TvZ series of all time.
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Serral vs Clem
ESL SC2 Masters 2023 Winter Semifinals G3, AlcyoneSerral has been practically unbeatable in ZvT for the entirety of 2023, scoring an insane 46-2 (96%) match record against Terran the whole year up until this match. The player that gave him the only two losses? Clem. I mean, yeah, his overall score is actually 2-8 against Serral but let's take into account that the entire squad of Korean Terrans including Maru couldn't make a single dent on Serral this year. That speaks volume of the of the background of this game: the highest level of TvZ at this point of time, bar none.
Content creators like Winter and Lowko has made so many "Incredible TvZ! Serral vs Clem" videos that it's honestly hard to distinguish each video from others at this point, but it's true that every time these two meets, we are always graced with the most epic TvZ one could ask for, and it's so damn hard to pick out one game to represent years of rivalry between them. I had to decide on this one because it just has everything: the fast paced skirmishes, the epic battles, the jaw-dropping mind read, the unstoppable offense meets the unbreakable defense, the impossible comeback, and the stage it's on. As expected, its replay appeared with "game of the year" in title for multiple content creators immediately after the tournament, and who could blame them.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
This is Clem's hardest fought game in the entire tournament, after winning it, he just smooth sailed all the way to finally won his personal first offline premier tournament. Considering his reputation of online monster that could never bring it all the way offline, he might agree that this is probably the most meaningful game of his career.
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Clem vs Reynor, 2020 Dreamhack Fall Semifinals G1, Golden Wall
Reynor and Clem is another rivalry that brings out banger every time. They are both macro oriented, extremely fast and aggressive players that are practically equal in skills, so you are just guarantee to have late game slugfest between them almost every game. They run into each other like 20 times a year and produced so many TvZ masterpieces that I honestly just lost count at this point, I picked this particular one because personally, it just intuitively what jumps into my head every time I think of Reynor vs Clem.
To put it simply, this is the ultimate spectacle TvZ. You can pause the game at any moment past 5 minutes and there are always at least two or three battles happens simultaneously on different parts of the map, with both players actively micro every unit perfectly. I honestly think they played exactly like what Blizzard designers envisioned how TvZ should be played when they originally designed two races. Certain part of this game look straight out of the single player campaign.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
Reynor went on to win the whole tournament, although for me the real legacy of this game is this: If someone that are not familiar with SC2 asked me to give them one game to showcase what's great about its multiplayer, I would probably pick this game. Those endless Nydus in later stage of this game are so cinematic it should be put in a trailer somewhere.
Honorable Mentions:
There are a few incredible TvZs that I think are just a liiiiittle short of the three games I listed here, the gap is so close that I would like to give them a shout out but also list my reasons for not including them.
Innovation vs Rogue, 2019 WESG Korean Qualifiers G5 (Youtube/Twitch VOD unavailable, unfortunately): Probably the second greatest TvZ between Korean players, one of the most unbelievable comebacks. (reason against: loser made crucial mistake of forgot mining gas and stayed on suboptimal unit combination for too long)
Serral vs Maru, 2024 IEM Katowice Finals G2: probably one of the closest and highest level late game TvZs ever with both players played closed to perfection. (reason against: map design benefits winner a bit too much)
Serral vs Byun, 2020 Homestory Cup G5: Half an hour of most exhausting and grueling battle possible (reason against: loser made famously huge mistake in the end)
Also shout out to 50 other Reynor vs Clem, Reynor vs Maru, Serral vs Maru, Serral vs Clem, Dark vs Maru, Dark vs Clem games out there that I missed or forgot but totally on the same level as the games I listed here.
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PvZ:
It's harder to pick the PvZ games for me, compared to the luxury that is TvZ. Vast majority of PvZ games fall into two categories of games that I don't particularly enjoy the most: the all-in timing attack that just win or lose the game on the spot, or the turtling games that drags on way too long because both players are afraid of taking bad engagements. Luckily, there are a few great games that players are evenly matched and not afraid to go all out at each other the whole time, so we ends up with awesome exciting games that rivals the best of other matchups. Also, even if I personally have a preference for macro games, PvZ as a matchup has been largely defined by various kinds of all-ins through out SC2's life span, and there's this one game that's just too iconic for me to not include.
Reynor vs Classic,
2018 GSL Season 3, Group A Match 5 G2, Lost and FoundIn GSL group, 16 years old Italian prodigy Reynor had to face against Classic, one of the best Protoss players for years and recent GSL semifinalist. This is as intriguing a context as any, but what really sets this game apart is what happened in it.
Zerg massed up a larger army and launched a attack that seemed impossible to hold; Protoss, with proper army separation and immaculate micro, managed to fend of waves of swarm from multiple directions, and gradually built up an large force that could crush the Zerg army. Facing the imminent Protoss push, Zerg had to rely on the mobility to create chaos..... after all the craziness settles, the last battle was decided with two groups of 20 supply army with workers in them
This game for me, is the blueprint of how I want every standard macro PvZ to be like. They almost never turn out quite like that, but I will always have this gem to cherish.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
Reynor's best game in his short and underwhelming GSL journey.
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Reynor vs herO, 2024 Master's Coliseum 7 LB finals G7, Site Delta
It's always a good day when two players famous for their aggressive style meet, because you know no matter the outcome, the game itself will be bangers. The most optimal way of playing ZvP late game is probably amassing deathball army and carefully avoid bad fights, and that's indeed how most top players play this matchup, as they should be. But we have to appreciate players like Reynor and herO, who are both among the best players within their race, but they are not afraid to do things that are riskier, probably less optimal, but definitely much more exciting to watch for the viewers. The urge of aggression is in their blood, they are always throwing everything including the kitchen sink at each other. This game feature a rare double come back, both players were placed at a very disadvantageous position at some point, one of which could even be described as hopeless, but they never gave up, kept on fighting, and at the end of the day, the better player won with one of the most brilliant tactical maneuver of his career.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
With this win, herO won the series against Reynor, accomplished one of the most impressive PvZ runs in quite a few years. He took down No.4, No.3 and No.2 best Zergs in the world consecutively in one Bo5 and two Bo7 series. In Protoss' darkest days, he's often the only one brings a slimmer of hope.
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Classic vs Rogue,
2019 WCS Global Finals Quarterfinals, G5, World of SleepersThis is the only relatively short game that ends on a two base timing attack in my entire selection. And anyone who experienced this game live won't disagree with the choice. Even if it's just a quarterfinals game, even if the outcome of it didn't drastically change how the tournament turn out in the end, but when you watch the VOD from start to finish with understanding of its context, hearing commentators losing their mind and crowds cheering like crazy in the background, you will understand why it's considered by many to be one of the most iconic PvZ games ever.
The context: 2019 WCS global finals, in a year when Zerg was unusually strong, It looked increasingly likely that we might end up with an all Zerg semifinals. Participating his last tournament before heading for military service, Classic was the last hope of Protoss left in the tournament, and let's be honest, basically all the viewers and commentators were rooted for him to stop total Zerg domination from happening. But he's facing against Rogue, one of the greatest Zergs of all time, especially known for killing Protoss players on biggest offline events with his endless bag of wild strategies, and Classic was down 1-2 facing elimination. Amidst the hopeless situation, Classic honored us with the dirtiest trick in Protoss' book, Cannon Rush, to win G4 and forced the series into a decisive game 5. And what a game 5 it was. No one, not a single soul on Earth could've predicted what ended up happening in that last game. The result was glorious, and amusingly, actually pretty lore accurate.
Legacy of this game(spoiler): + Show Spoiler +
"The brave, who generation after generation, choose the mantle ...of Dark Templar" The Starcraft Gods deemed that outcome. The greatest cheese game in the history.
My picks for other matchups will be posted in the following days!
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