EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/HereToStay.jpg)
Cover image thanks to Silversky
Here To Stay
By Plexa
TeamLiquid: Final Edits
For me, the Fantasy-Jaedong OSL Semifinal was a lock for Fantasy. The kid had come out of his shell and showed that he is mechanically perfect and strategically brilliant. He had already defeated Jaedong twice in the Proleague Finals and crushed Jaedong’s spirit. His team won the Proleague because of him – he was on top of the world and full of confidence. To top it all off, Jaedong was humiliated by Calm in the MSL. No matter how you looked at it, everything was coming up Fantasy. He was going to usher in a new age of Progaming with his victory, and with it, end the reign of Jaedong forever.
Things don’t always work out how you expect them to and the Fantasy-Jaedong OSL Semifinal was one of those occasions. The first set fell to Fantasy in a decisive victory – only to have the following three sets fall to Jaedong in ruthless and dominating fashion. The anger inside me rose; how could Fantasy lose to Jaedong? Fantasy is the better player! There is something wrong here... How can Jaedong be fighting for the Golden Mouse... This is just madness.
Then it dawned on me; these feelings that were building inside me were not new feelings. Sure, I hate Jaedong, but this was something different to hate. The feeling was so similar to one thing – the feeling I got when watching Savior play in his prime. Savior just would not lose, and it was sickening. The man had such force and power behind his play – it his games looked so dominant, but I just wanted him to lose... Just to know that Savior is mortal like the rest of us.
Destiny unfolded, and Savior went on to do great things. Every game was a question of “is he going to be the one who takes him down for good?” and every time the answer was no. That was until Bisu at least. Jaedong has been building a similar aura for quite some time now and has become the center of the Progaming world. The whole scene is revolving around his every action and the question we are all wondering is - when is Jaedong going to lose?
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Jaedong is a ruthless force in Progaming
We are at a point in Progaming history where Jaedong is transcending the level of the elite and becoming something more. While it is up to historians to say whether Jaedong is or is not a bonjwa – his force at the moment is strongly indicative of Jaedong soon being among them.
So what's different? Why suddenly has Jaedong overcome those final few barriers that had been hindering his play? Well, to be honest, there isn't anything in his play which changed at all. He is still playing brilliant Starcraft like he has been for the entire year. The thing which changed for Jaedong between the Proleague Finals and the OSL Semifinals is that he demonstrated unparalleled mental strength.
This is the one aspect about Jaedong which sets him apart from everyone else.
Fantasy dealt Jaedong a devastating blow to his spirit in the Proleague finals. The look on Jaedong's face as he typed out was one of sheer disappointment. Couple this blow with all the additional stress and pressure placed on Jaedong (like his MSL and OSL commitments) and you have enough factors to kill a Progamer’s career right there. When other Progamers were faced with similar challenges they all slumped and faded away. But that’s where Jaedong is different. He collected himself up, and fought his way back to the top of his game and destroyed Fantasy convincingly. No other Progamer has ever been able to do that.
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Nothing stands in Jaedong's path to victory
Let me cite a few examples. Iloveoov was taken back when he lost to JulyZerg in the iTv Grand Finals, it was a devastating blow to him and indeed, was his first televised TvZ loss. A few weeks later he had to face JulyZerg in the Gillette OSL Semifinals – he was not able to overcome July there either. Boxer was absolutely devastated when he lost to Iloveoov in EVER2004 – the pain crippled him and he slumped. He bounced back though, but it took him just under a year to accomplish that. Nada was stopped dead in his tracks by two things – Savior defeating his SK Terran more thoroughly than any Zerg had done before, and his father passing away. Indeed, the latter destroyed Nada’s spirit and he went into a severe slump. Nada recovered, but it took him years to return to the top. Needless to say, Savior has not yet managed to recover from his loss to FireBatHero.
In all cases, the turn-around time for these gamers was at the very least months. Remember, these gamers are the Bonjwas of Progaming and they still struggled to return to the top. Jaedong however, suffered a defeat so powerful that it rivals any of events listed above. Yet Jaedong’s turnaround time was six days.
Six days – that’s all it took for him to look as formidable as ever.
It’s important to understand that Jaedong is not a strategical genius – not by a long shot. His play isn’t overwhelmingly clever, or brilliant. His play is characterised by his hand speed – his management, micro and ability to dictate the game. If Jaedong decides how the game is going to pan out he already has the advantage of having practiced those scenarios countless times. Once in those familiar circumstances, his mechanics and micro do the rest; and since his mechanics are simply unparalleled, he wins the vast majority of the time. Jaedong’s style is all about dictating the game to his opponent.
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Jaedong's hands are an essential part of his play style
However, his strengths are also his weaknesses – because he is so used to dictating the game he struggles to adapt to new situations. Jaedong is weak when it comes to countering unconventional play or styles which are unconventional. For instance, Flash completely neutralised Jaedong in Bacchus S1 OSL by using Mech on Katrina - which was unconventional at the time. Calm completely took Jaedong out of his element in their MSL semifinal by using strategy, rather than mechanics, to beat him. Despite his decision making abilities being weak in comparison to his other traits, he is usually able to overcome this through his superior mechanics and as such looks untouchable.
The fact that Jaedong’s turnaround time is six days and the fact that his mechanics are unmatched are fundamentally intertwined. Both of these aspects about him come from his personality traits – Jaedong hates losing and he is determined to do anything to stop that from happening. This leads to Jaedong practicing more than any other Progamer in Korea, and it leads to him being the best. Indeed, when Jaedong was still a rookie he practiced so much he almost went insane; fortunately he realised this and took the appropriate measures to stop himself going crazy.
Jaedong’s determination and drive to succeed allow him to practice so much and it is also this determination and drive to succeed which allow him to come back so quickly. After losing to Fantasy I suspect that Jaedong returned to the practice room and practiced as hard and as thoroughly as he could for his upcoming OSL Semifinal. Where others would feel terrible and be broken for days, Jaedong was able to take this pain and turn it into fuel for more practice. This is just sickening, really.
Indeed, both Nal_rA and Kingdom share a similar opinion about Jaedong as I do;
Nal_rA= Jaedong's strength is his desire to win. I never was in the same team as him so it's a bit awkward, but when I talked to him in the waiting room he smiled. However, whenever he sits on the booth, his eyes change to those of a lion seeking prey.
Kingdom= You stressed his eye but I want to pick his physical as his strength. Even though Bisu's hands are fast, but Jaedong has an amazing physical. When Coach Park Yong Oon told the Zerg players to research the uses of queen in ZvT in preparation for fantasy vs Jaedong match. The players told us that the queen was too difficult to use queens and defilers at the same time. Not too long after that, Jaedong used Dark Swarm and Ensnare together to defeat fantasy. I learned that Jaedong is a scary player from that.
- Translation thanks to l10fKingdom= You stressed his eye but I want to pick his physical as his strength. Even though Bisu's hands are fast, but Jaedong has an amazing physical. When Coach Park Yong Oon told the Zerg players to research the uses of queen in ZvT in preparation for fantasy vs Jaedong match. The players told us that the queen was too difficult to use queens and defilers at the same time. Not too long after that, Jaedong used Dark Swarm and Ensnare together to defeat fantasy. I learned that Jaedong is a scary player from that.
Jaedong truly is The Tyrant of the Progaming world, and I think it is safe to conclude at the point that he is the most dominant Progamer right now. Nevertheless, one must think about other Progamers in relation to Jaedong. Where is Flash? Well he just won the most worthless league of the lot, and was crushed by Jaedong in the OSL. What about Fantasy? He’ll be having nightmares for months about his crushing losses to Jaedong. Leta? Leta can’t win a real game without cheesing.
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Even Bisu is in awe when Jaedong plays
Special mention should be given to Bisu since many people consider the Jaedong-Bisu rivalry to be the defining match up of today. Last season Bisu fell out in spectacular fashion through his own sloppiness in both the MSL and OSL. There really is no excuse for how poorly he played against Iris - he held solid advantages in both games three and five yet was not able to convert due to carelessness and poor decision making. In the OSL he was taken out through strategic plays. While every player is bound to lose to strategic plays every now and then, this has become a recurring theme for Bisu which is indicative of a deeper problem in his play.
Despite this, he recently came back and won WCG Korea. Ultimately though, Bisu at the moment can't hold a flame to Jaedong since he still makes too many mistakes in important matches. For instance, when Bisu lost to Jaedong in the GOM Final it was due to a basic mistake, his loss to Iris came from sloppy play and so on. When Bisu stops making those basic errors maybe he will be able to challenge Jaedong. Until then, Bisu just has far too many gaps in his play.
Jaedong stands head and shoulders above his competition as a true champion, and the moment he raised the Golden mouse there could be no more doubts about him. Jaedong is the real deal, and he’s not going away anytime soon.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Here_To_Stay/5.jpg)
Jaedong’s rise to the top reminds me of Nada in so many ways. On a really basic level, there is a clear similarity between their styles. Nada made a name for himself as the fastest progamer when he debuted since he had well over 400 apm. As a result, his mechanics were unmatched by his contemporaries. He was able to harass with Vultures while mass producing Tanks at the same time without missing a round – his opponents were simply unable to keep up with this Terran phenomenon. Similarly, Jaedong’s play can be characterised in almost the exact same way. There is a strong focus on mechanics, as well as a focus on Mutalisk harass.
The similarities extend further than that as well. Nada was the second great Terran player after Boxer. Boxer revolutionised Terran and made Terran a competitive race at the top level. His influence on the Progaming world is unmatched, and is beloved by all. Without doubt, Boxer is more loved than Nada despite the fact that Nada has won more titles. Nada is forever living in Boxer’s shadow, and as a result will only be known as the second best Terran ever.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Here_To_Stay/6.jpg)
Zerg never really had a champion they could follow and copy. YellOw was incapable of winning anything of meaning, while July’s style was tuned specifically to him so that no one else could replicate it effectively. Nevertheless, if you had to pick someone to have influenced the Zerg race more than anyone else before Savior, it would be GoRush. But GoRush only ever won one MSL. So really, Zerg never had their Boxer-like figure which revolutionised Zerg. That was, until Savior. Savior truly made Zerg a competitive race and he did so by developing 3 Hatch Zerg, a style which everyone could use. Just compare the number of titles won by Zergs before Savior and after Savior to see the difference he made.
Everyone still has a soft spot for Savior and every time he gets a pity spot on the CJ lineup we cry out in joy and go crazy. Jaedong is the second great Zerg, and has to live in Savior’s shadow, just like Nada had to live in Boxer’s. There is no doubt in my mind that Jaedong is going to go on and become more successful than Savior in every way, but with that said he is never going to receive the appreciation that Savior gets. Similar to how Nada can never pass Boxer, no matter how successful he is.
This is not just conjecture, just take a look at the All-Star 2009 Poll Results
Terrans
1.
BoxeR - 6120 - 17.46%
2.Flash - 5549 - 15.83%
3.fantasy - 4751 - 13.55%
4.NaDa - 2280 - 6.5%
5.Hwasin - 2168 - 6.19%
Zerg
1.
sAviOr - 6522 - 18.61%
2.YellOw - 6203 - 17.7%
3.Jaedong - 5756 - 16.42%
4.EffOrt - 2940 - 8.39%
5.Hyuk - 2145 - 6.12%
- Translation thanks to l10f1.
BoxeR - 6120 - 17.46%2.
Flash - 5549 - 15.83%3.
fantasy - 4751 - 13.55%4.
NaDa - 2280 - 6.5%5.
Hwasin - 2168 - 6.19%Zerg
1.
sAviOr - 6522 - 18.61%2.
YellOw - 6203 - 17.7%3.
Jaedong - 5756 - 16.42%4.
EffOrt - 2940 - 8.39%5.
Hyuk - 2145 - 6.12%Let me briefly discuss the significance of these results. Firstly, it's important to remember that Savior and Nada were both finalists for the Starcraft Heritage League meaning that of the old school players on the list - those two are the most skilled. Boxer, indeed, was destroyed by Nada 2-1 in the Heritage League. Despite this, Boxer placed significantly higher than Nada simply because he is loved so much. Similarly, Jaedong is in his prime right now. It is difficult to comprehend him being more popular at any other point in time. Despite this, Savior, who is still very much in a slump, edged him out by 2% of the total vote. Surely if Savior was in form this poll would have been even more one sided.
The similarities continue; Nada is the most successful player of all time, and Jaedong is going to seriously challenge that in the coming months. Both Nada and Jaedong are born for success; both were winning titles at a young age and making huge waves in the Progaming scene for various feats. Jaedong generated hype when he was the most successful player in the 2006 Proleague, while Nada rose to prominence after defeating ChRh in a Pros vs Amateurs showmatch (Nada was the amateur). Nada was the first player to win the Golden Mouse, and Jaedong was number three. As already mentioned, Jaedong’s success comes from his inhuman amount of practice. Not surprisingly, Nada too practiced a lot in his younger days.
The parallels between Nada and Jaedong go on, like how they both carried their respective teams (P&C and Hwaseung) throughout the Proleague. Both players never really had the support of a second ace during their primes. Nada sort-of had Goodfriend before he was bought by KTF and Jaedong had Anytime before he enlisted into the Airforce. Nevertheless, their sole efforts were enough to boost their respective teams to a competitive level.
Both Nada and Jaedong have had a profound influence on the TvZ matchup. Jaedong's crazy-zerg style has had a massive influence on the results in this matchup. Stryker translated an amazing article detailing the exact influence of this strategy here and I implore you to go read it. Similarly, Nada developed SK Terran into the ultimate TvZ weapon. His TvZ was once dubbed 'perfect' since his Vessel Cloud would just irradiate anything that moved. It come as no surprised as well, that both these styles work so well for Jaedong and Nada because of their incredible mechanics.
I could go on for more, but I think I’ve made the point rather clearly by now - Jaedong is to Zerg as Nada is to Terran.
![[image loading]](/staff/Plexa/Here_To_Stay/7.jpg)
Jaedong is an amazing individual. If he is ever classed as a bonjwa by future generations, then the trait he should be remembered for is his unwavering determination to succeed against all odds. A long time ago I argued that Flash was going to become the greatest player alive because of his ability to manipulate people’s mindsets – little could I have imagined that there would be a player that has mental toughness like an ox and does not give in – ever.
Jaedong is the player that is defining this generation of Progaming. Whether you want to accept that fact or not is up to you. As TL's #1 Jaedong anti-fan I’ve been trying to convince myself that he will never truly be the best, but I can’t run from the truth anymore.
No one can stand in Jaedong’s way - he's here to stay.
