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[Spoiler, if you didnt watch the series yet and don't want to know the results, don't read the following]
In all the communities and live stream chats you see mainly 2 kinds of responses towards the RO 16 series between BoxeR and Sen.
The first group praises BoxeR and says things like "The emperor is back" etc.
The second group says they dont really see what was so great about his play.
So I just want to write up why to me this TvZ series was by far the best series in the TSL3 yet.
Going into the matches Sen was the clear favourite, performing well in the GSL World Tournament and practically in every other tournament he competes in. After BoxeR dropped out of Code S in a pretty disappointing fashion (especially his TvZ) people said he might retire soon etc. The liquibet stats also favoured Sen 5713 to 3331, despite BoxeR's fame and the many "auto-voters".
As the games went down I was really surprised how solid BoxeR's TvZ has got. His builds looked well thought-out and refined. He wasn't just going for cheesy rushes, but rather hit many intelligent timings to pressure Sen, trying to wear him down or slowing his tech down. His macro was not perfect, but he showed what he's famous for: great multi tasking, a very intelligent playstyle and all those little things like building the barracks at the mineral line to protect the SCV from drone harass and the awesome supply depot block at the Xel'Naga Tower on Terminus.
On the other hand Sen showed his great macro and great Muta control picking off tanks, drops and marines wherever he could.
This series was so fun to watch, because all the 5 games where close, there were no "lame-ass" 5 minute cheese games, there was no total dominance of the other player throughout a whole game, neither where the games full of big mistakes like the one between Adelscott and qxc. It was two players both capable of beating their opponent, there is no lag discussion (Korea <> Taiwan should be pretty good) and no big balance discussion (TvZ is probably the most balanced matchup right now) and it was pleasant to see BoxeR doing so well against such a strong player as Sen - especially considering his TvZ history in Starcraft 2.
The series was close, the games were entertaining, both players played well and BoxeR showed everybody he's still a force to reckon with.
Thanks to both players for this great series and hopefully we'll see more amazing matchups like that in the next rounds of TSL3.
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BoxeR vs Sen was definitely one of the best, if not the best, series in TSL3. BoxeR has been performing pretty well and would love to see him in the finals. 
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This series brought a tear to my eye. It was beautiful.
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hope BoxeR goes all the way, would truly be amazing TSL story
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My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
Absolutely.
Generally the series wasn't thaaaaa...at good. It was just good. Solid. Fun to watch. And good to see BoxeR's performing well again. And probably the rest of the TSL matches up to now made it look a lot better than it actually was. 
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Definitely an awesome series! I knew BoxeR vs Sen was going to be amazing just because those two players are both legends and awesome in so many manners!
I woulda said Mondragon vs Cruncher + Show Spoiler +but cruncher had to cannonrush -.-
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
Mondragon vs Cruncher
Roach/Hydra vs Deathball
etc. etc. you see where im going with this...
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Both Boxer and Sen played insanely well in the 5 games. Boxer was relentlessly aggressive and had great positioning as well as multipronged attacks for each game while Senn controlled his forces well and easily handled Boxer's early game pressure. I think both of these players would have deserved to move on to the Ro8 but in the end Boxer made it narrowly so lets see how far he goes (I'm still rooting mainly for MC and thorzain though)
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I would have to agree. I'm glad this was the series I got to see live this weekend. Great play from both players and the action was non-stop. Most of the excitment has to be from the Emporer's great play despite everyone's doubts and it coming down to a deciding 5th game though. Awesome series.
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yes it was awesome! i have to watch it again today, becouse my GF interupted the series very effective. i need at least popcorn XD
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Boxer's macro was not perfect? I am not a fan (of anyone), but all I've seen in this match was his perfect macro!
He sent wave after wave at Sen, marines+tanks. Ofc the rallies were not set to near the base, because this way Sen could have intercepted him and cut off his reinforcements.
Combine the macro + all the drop action and I guess Boxer is in a very good state atm. I'd go so far as to say that he can compete with the best once again. He knows everything about good positioning and when to attack or to retreat. This is simply all his BW experience that comes out there...
Sen could have done a few things better though, like getting Infestor + Hive tech units. Banelings aren't good enough when marines stim + run away + split. You need to fungle them asap.
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
I don't think that can be clearly blamed on the players. Boxer most likely felt that marine tank was the best composition going into late game with Sen, and Sen could only respond with ling, baneling, mutas. If anything, Sen should have included infestors, but that may have been out of his comfort zone.
Maybe given a little more time, we'd see Boxer do what he does in TvT; innovation on the fly. That would be amazing.
On April 18 2011 23:23 lifecanwait wrote:
Boxer's macro was not perfect? I am not a fan (of anyone), but all I've seen in this match was his perfect macro!
He sent wave after wave at Sen, marines+tanks. Ofc the rallies were not set to near the base, because this way Sen could have intercepted him and cut off his reinforcements.
Combine the macro + all the drop action and I guess Boxer is in a very good state atm. I'd go so far as to say that he can compete with the best once again. He knows everything about good positioning and when to attack or to retreat. This is simply all his BW experience that comes out there...
Sen could have done a few things better though, like getting Infestor + Hive tech units. Banelings aren't good enough when marines stim + run away + split. You need to fungle them asap.
Game 5 showed how this intelligent rally would ensure Boxer his win. After failing to break Boxer's middle contain, Sen tried to wipe out reinforcements in the middle of the map with ling/bling/mutas to even the ground while losing his 7'oclock. When his units swung into the middle and waited, it could be seen that boxer's reinforcements were in front of his natural. Sen realized he couldn't pick off the reinforcements moving in one by one, so his last resort was to hit the 4th of Boxer (which would then be fended off by the mass of marines and tanks sitting outside his natural).
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Boxer's macro was far from perfect. He was sitting on 2k minerals at several times during the series.
Well played and i'm glad boxer won though.
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
hehehehe welcome to TvZ
Marine Tank is used due to the fact that you can sit on your ass and shell out huuuge amounts of damage once you are sieged, and marines destroy mutas once they reach a good number.
Muta/Ling is highly mobile and can pretty much run around tanks and do huuuge harassment style.
so thats a quick explanation of why its always marine tank vs muta ling.
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On April 19 2011 00:01 excal wrote:
Boxer's macro was far from perfect. He was sitting on 2k minerals at several times during the series.
Well played and i'm glad boxer won though.
Especially on Xel Naga he often had just 1 Marine in production while sitting on 1.5k mins and having like 4 Barracks with Reactors.
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Definitely my favorite match so far in the TSL as well. Boxer played so much better than any of the SC2 games I've seen of him so far. I hope he can keep this up in Code A as well.
And it was great to see all the little touches like funky barracks placements at the start and the depot wall for a few marines to secure a watchtower against zerglings. I can't wait to see what he comes up with next!
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Best series I've ever seen live. Hands down.
It was so exciting.
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I was on pins and needles that fifth game. I went into the first set apathetic, FULLY expecting that boxer would lose and lose horribly, but when he won it.... man... my anticipation levels skyrocketed!
Boxer's macro.. I'd agree.. is far from perfect, but it's GREAT to see that he's finally making a serious effort at improving it. A Boxer willing to go into the late game, every game, is a Boxer I want to see more of.
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I was watching it while chatting with friends and I have never seen them so giddy and happy about games before
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For me it was the best series I've seen live in SC2 so far...the combination of skill involved and the back and forth action each game was top notch. But what puts it over the top of other great series is Boxer showing the ingenuity he showed back in his prime BW days when pretty much everyone's started to count him out. U can't beat that excitement level. The only bad thing is that all the other series this past weekend seemed like crap after starting off with that -_-
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for me there were two key improvements to boxer from his previous games.
first was harass. when i watched QXC, first thing that came to mind was: boxer needs to play like qxc.
and sure enough, he harassed with dropships and worked out. (i posted "boxer needs to play like qxc" in one of the livethread when qxc was playing, maybe gayeon-noomnim read it? )
second was stimming. previously, like all bw terran players(myself including), they had the stim syndrome(stim everything in hotkey and MEDICS will heal them np) that stuck with them. boxer finally overcame this much better vs sen. i saw him stim only the first few marines against muta harass, he certainly wasn't doing this during his previous games.
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I wasn't able to watch it live, but I watched most of the VODs twice. The games were so intense
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
So then don't watch it for the unit compositions. Watch it for the army positioning, the denial of lines of communication, the terrain usage, and the reinforcement strategy (large groups together instead of a stream of units).
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Honestly, I thought it was one of the most thrilling matches of any tourney on the year.
Game 5 was incredible. As a Terran, player I found Boxer's drops and tank positioning positively inspirational. Sen's Muta harass was textbook. At any point it felt like the game could go either way. And being a huge Boxer fanboy who really wants to see the Emperor return to the top of the tables, I was on the edge of my seat.
Great show, TSL, Boxer and Sen!
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It was incredible to watch Boxer play.
Feels like he upgraded his play by at least 2 levels.
Very entertaining games & very happy for Boxer!
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I am a die hard Boxer fan for life and this just totally blew me away defiently some of the best games I have ever seen. The only other series that comes close to this was the revolutionary series between MKP and Kyrix. Great to see the emperor back and plenty of more exciting Boxer games coming up in the TSL, NASL, and GSL!
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I agree that this is the best TSL3 series yet, happy to see boxer doing well. That said, as others have pointed out, Boxer's macro was never his strong point and this is showing again here but the macro monsters that eventually surpassed him in BW dont exist yet in SC2, so we get to enjoy his aggressive drop heavy play again!
Also, if we continue with the BW comparison, is MMA the next oov?
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Really? I found it to be a bit boring actually. Game 1 was good, as was game 2. After that I knew what army composition both would go and watching them inefficiently trash each other armies before rebuilding and doing it all again was not really exciting :S
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On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks.
...isn't that every ZvT?
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On April 19 2011 14:42 Ownos wrote:Show nested quote +On April 18 2011 21:40 Jojo131 wrote:
My only real gripe about this series (from my recollection) is that all the games were pretty much Marine/Tank vs Muta/Ling with some variants here and there. The back and forth action was really fun to see, but every battle felt like:
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 1.... FIGHT!"
up until
"Mutaling vs Marine/tank round 7.... can someone switch things up a bit pls?"
I'd say that Mondragon vs Cruncher games were my favorite, if only for the reason that Mondragon has some really cool multi-pronged roach attacks. ...isn't that every ZvT?
Other units you often (more or less) see in ZvT:
Hellions, Banshees, Thors, Roaches, Infestors, Brood Lords
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Agreed. It was my favorite series thus far in TSL
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Fave series so far in TSL 3 for me as well.
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Definitely the best series in recent memory, one of the best of any SC2 tournament I've seen so far.
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For me it was the best series because the games had a strong broodwar "taste". And that just proves, that sc2 is evolving and high class games will become more and more similar to bw, i think.
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Best series EVAR! man i love the TSL! Boxer is just sweeping me off my feet yet again.
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Most exciting match for me of TSL so far.
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Don't think them going the same compositions is a problem. It'd be like playing BW and complaining TvP is zeal/goon vs vulture/tank every game - it's what get done with those units that makes the game.
I found it pretty damn exciting and was shocked Boxer played that well.
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i mean. boxer might not be what he once was.
but if you look at recent results...
win at TSL and win at NASL
vs sen he played really great. I don't think he is going away anytime soon. After all, he already made money for life and he loves playing the game .
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Wow, what a great match. Boxer's unit placement is such a marvel to behold.
I'm a Bronze player, and I'd like to ask you more experienced players how come Sen didn't make Infestors to FG the marines. From watching Day9, my unevolved SC2-brain is telling me that Sen got stuck in "mid-game mode." Did he get forced into this position by Boxer's pressure? (e.g. "Stop making units and die."?
It's my first TL post, so please be nice!
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Best TvZ series, and I've seen nothing in the GSL so beautiful or anywhere else. The TSL really offers so much to the community, and I really still don't care if Korean's dominate.
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On April 20 2011 00:14 Inn0cu0s wrote:
Wow, what a great match. Boxer's unit placement is such a marvel to behold.
I'm a Bronze player, and I'd like to ask you more experienced players how come Sen didn't make Infestors to FG the marines. From watching Day9, my unevolved SC2-brain is telling me that Sen got stuck in "mid-game mode." Did he get forced into this position by Boxer's pressure? (e.g. "Stop making units and die."?
It's my first TL post, so please be nice!
I'm also Bronze but I just want to reply that you are probably right in that assumption (that he was pressured)
OT I'm glad BoxeR won, I want him to be able to be on the top once more.
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I thought this was the best series for a few reasons. The first is that the games had clear and interesting narratives. I just recently rewatched the metalopolis game and you could see that Boxer was trying to deny Sen expansions while doing multipronged attacks into the main. Every time, it seemed like Sen could just barely hold it off, but then came another army. It was intensely dramatic because there was non-stop action moving in an understandable direction. Games that have turtling and death balls tend to lack that story-line element.
Second, Boxer is kind of the face of Starcraft, but that goes without saying.
Third, because of the above two reasons, this was absolutely a series that I could recommend to very casual viewers and players. I recommended this series to my buddy, not really sure if he would even watch it since he doesn't watch SC2 very often, and I got this message on skype today:
"dude that series boxer vs sen, my god."
To me, this is exactly the kind of match that can make SC2 a legit spectator event.
Edit: About macro mistakes and the like, I mean even the Superbowl has stupid penalties, interceptions, (wardrobe malfunctions?) etc. It happens. What really matters is that they don't detract from the ability to enjoy the game overall. And honestly, Boxer was able to take 3 of 5 games off of a premier player, so his macro couldn't have been awful.
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I competly agree.
I watched the series today and was really stunned of their performances. Especially Boxer brought many fresh ideas in his play. Sen was just over all unbelievble calm and solid. The ONLY criticism I have is Sen infestor usage/control. I think he can work on that.
But lets not make them look bad. In fact the games were GREAT.
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I couldn't agree more.... Boxer has been tearing it up lately and it's nice to see that his TvZ has improved so much. His games in the NASL vs. Drewbie were pretty exciting as well.
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Boxer vs MC finals, Boxer takes it in an epic show of TvP that shames his TvZ.
:')
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Agree agree agree!
BoxeR effect aside, the games were fantastic, close, and exciting, just like you mentioned. BoxeR effect included and you have an epic series, not to mention Sen is an outstanding player as well.
Crazy good series :D
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Beautiful games. Sen played great and really solid, and BoxeR only took the series by the tiniest of margins.
What this series really cemented in my mind is that BoxeR is just one of the most fun players to watch. He's not perfect, he's not unstoppable, but he constantly does interesting and clever little things, takes risks, pushes aggressively, divides his attention all over the map, makes really smart decisions. Some of what I'm talking about:
1. He "proxies" barracks nearly every game, but somehow makes it work. Most players would be content to build them at the front where they can be part of a wall-in and don't have to float slowly back to where they're safe, but BoxeR is willing to sacrifice that production time in order to put on more pressure at the outset -- even though, a lot of times, the only thing that early pressure accomplishes is to shield his first expansion.
2. The "cute" little supply-depot wall-in with 2 marines and an SCV at the watchtower on Terminus:Re. With the SCV set to auto-repair, this means that he's basically got uncontested control of that watchtower until the Zerg brings Lair tech or an excessive investment of units. Very clever use of terrain.
3. Constantly taking advantage of mineral patches to create extremely narrow chokes for his dropped marines. Showcases both his excellent control and his tactical command.
4. On that subject, nonstop drop aggression, focusing down important buildings, and coordinating this with aggression in the front. There's no doubt that he took game 3 because he was able to successfully focus down the Spawning Pool and Baneling nest with the marine drop, destroying Sen's ability to successfully reinforce.
5. He doesn't give up until it's over. In fact, this series had some of the most appropriate gg's from either player. There were 1 or 2 places where I think Sen might've gg'd just a tiny bit early, but overall, each player tapped out pretty much the instant that the fight was clearly over, neither dragging it on past the point of no return nor giving up prematurely (*cough*idra*cough*). I can't help but love BoxeR's dogged determination to fight it out when he's at a disadvantage -- this perseverance is a big part of what made him a champion before, for sure, and it's part of how he's still in the scene now.
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I agree, TvZ is such a fun matchup by itself (Easily the most entertaining one) and we got to see the Emperor himself play brilliantly against a equally great opponent.
So sad that there are no more Z in the TSL =/.
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agreed :D best series yet!
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i stood up and cheered when boxer took the last game, no sc2 has made me more excited to date
however i am a huge boxer fan boy
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The games were great that is to be expected..., but I don´t really see why it was entertaining. I became rather bored after the third game and watched the vods of the last two games afterwards...that were the same...
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OP kind of forgot that Boxer macroed so well, what he is not known for in BW and was poor at in SC2 (by looking at previous tournaments).
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I skipped this match for no real reason(was just busy and being a toss player favoured some toss matches that day when watching vods on sc2casts) and this post made me revisit it... Indeed it was a most exciting match and both players played really well and provided a really tense series...
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I loved the series. Sen played so good! Boxers play was great to watch. Overall all were great games to watch.
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EPT
