EPT![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY//Bacchus2010.jpg )
Banner by SilverskY
by KwarK, Milkis, Swanized and Waxangel
This week's content
brought to you by Snorlax.
![[image loading]](/staff/Waxangel/snorlaxsprite.png)
Results and Battle Reports
Semi-Final Preview:
Stork vs Modesty
Retrospective:
The Missed Opportunities of
Lee Young Ho
brought to you by Snorlax.
Results and Battle Reports
Semi-Final Preview:
Stork vs Modesty
Retrospective:
The Missed Opportunities of
Lee Young Ho
Wow, that first semi-final! It really was something else altogether. Keeping spoilers to a minimum, I'll just say I recommend you guys read this week's reports before you go and watch the games. It really enhances the viewing experience. Hats off to Kwark here people, he really outdid himself, and proved why we hope he's the OSL battle report writer for a very long time.
This week we have a special guest: that happy-go-lucky cowboy swanized. The MSL team forced us to move our coverage back a day, so we figured we may as well get a writer back in return. He joins the rest of the OSL team in predicting how the next semi-final will go.
Finally, I exercised some of my editor's perks to slightly depart from the topic of the current OSL, and put down some musings about the dearly departed Flash.
In a bit housekeeping, thanks to all four of you who sent in applications to be the OSL preview box writer. We will begin the selection process shortly, so just be patient a little longer. I'm sure you guys are just bursting with anticipation to start writing less than 100 words a week.
Semi-Final: Calm vs Fantasy
Quick Results
Quick Results
+ Show Spoiler [Results and VODs] +
- Thanks to flamewheel for formatting.
Battle Reports
by Kwark
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/SilverskY/BacchusSemiA.jpg)
+ Show Spoiler [Game One - Aztec] +
Fantasy spawned in yellow at 8 while Calm got red at 12 on Aztec. Calm opened twelve hatch - eleven pool - ten gas (probably, it was 04:34 on the vod before we got a look at his main because watching a barracks slowly build is more fun for the OSL observer than what build order a player is using) while Fantasy went for depot - rax - refinery - depot - factory with a wallin a the base of his ramp. His first scout scv was killed without seeing anything of importance, which meant trouble since Calm was heading for a fast lair and hydralisk den with very few drones.
Rather than pump drones Calm made a group of speedlings and it looked somewhat dangerous for Fantasy until he got a vulture scout in. Not only did it scout the incredibly fast hydralisks hatching but it also killed all the zerglings that chased it and a few drones. It is therefore surprising that the following timeline happened.
06:28 - Fast hydralisks scouted.
06:28 - Hydralisks don't chase vulture and therefore must be rushing to Fantasy's main.
06:32 - Lair scouted.
06:39 - Very few drones scouted.
Can you tell what it is yet? (British pop culture reference)
So Fantasy responded with:
06:19 - Engineering bay started (before any of the actual scouting occured).
07:04 - Another factory started (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy).
07:22 - Lift barracks that walls the ramps (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy).
07:27 - Lurkers morph directly at the top of the Terran ramp (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy and no rewalling of the ramp)
07:46 - A FULL TWENTY SECONDS AFTER THE LURKERS STARTED MORPHING Fantasy finally begins his first turret at the base of his ramp. Rather than re-wall it to buy time he actively flies his barracks away.
07:50 - Bunker construction begins.
07:54 - Lurkers complete, run down the unwalled ramp into Fantasy's base and Calm wins.
Who could have seen that coming? I mean really? Fantasy, you are a terrible, terrible player. You are a disgrace to your team, your country, this OSL and humanity in general. If you had any self respect you'd have simply forfeited at this point and not just the series but everything you do. You should have simply apologised to your fans for their misfortune of supporting you, got up, walked out and spent the rest of your life in solitude quietly contemplating how bad you are.
There is actually nothing I can think of that you could have done worse this game. Every decision you made, from tactical choices like the un-clutch un-walling of your ramp when lurker eggs were clearly visible, to the broader strategic strokes, like no detection, were the decisions of an idiot. Fantasy fans, hang your heads in shame.
You know, I actually feel Fantasy owes me a letter of apology for having to watch that game twice.
Wax's Take: Ah, the elusive threshold of "so bad it's good." It has been reached. When Fantasy lifted his barracks away, I actually laughed out loud, and giggled throughout the entire clean-up phase thereafter. A terrible, terrible game, which was nonetheless worth a good laugh.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Fantasy - 0/5
Calm - 2/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Fantasy - 1/5
Calm - 3/5
Game - 4/5
Rather than pump drones Calm made a group of speedlings and it looked somewhat dangerous for Fantasy until he got a vulture scout in. Not only did it scout the incredibly fast hydralisks hatching but it also killed all the zerglings that chased it and a few drones. It is therefore surprising that the following timeline happened.
06:28 - Fast hydralisks scouted.
06:28 - Hydralisks don't chase vulture and therefore must be rushing to Fantasy's main.
06:32 - Lair scouted.
06:39 - Very few drones scouted.
Can you tell what it is yet? (British pop culture reference)
So Fantasy responded with:
06:19 - Engineering bay started (before any of the actual scouting occured).
07:04 - Another factory started (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy).
07:22 - Lift barracks that walls the ramps (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy).
07:27 - Lurkers morph directly at the top of the Terran ramp (also no mine research, no bunker construction, no turret construction, no academy and no rewalling of the ramp)
07:46 - A FULL TWENTY SECONDS AFTER THE LURKERS STARTED MORPHING Fantasy finally begins his first turret at the base of his ramp. Rather than re-wall it to buy time he actively flies his barracks away.
07:50 - Bunker construction begins.
07:54 - Lurkers complete, run down the unwalled ramp into Fantasy's base and Calm wins.
Who could have seen that coming? I mean really? Fantasy, you are a terrible, terrible player. You are a disgrace to your team, your country, this OSL and humanity in general. If you had any self respect you'd have simply forfeited at this point and not just the series but everything you do. You should have simply apologised to your fans for their misfortune of supporting you, got up, walked out and spent the rest of your life in solitude quietly contemplating how bad you are.
There is actually nothing I can think of that you could have done worse this game. Every decision you made, from tactical choices like the un-clutch un-walling of your ramp when lurker eggs were clearly visible, to the broader strategic strokes, like no detection, were the decisions of an idiot. Fantasy fans, hang your heads in shame.
You know, I actually feel Fantasy owes me a letter of apology for having to watch that game twice.
Wax's Take: Ah, the elusive threshold of "so bad it's good." It has been reached. When Fantasy lifted his barracks away, I actually laughed out loud, and giggled throughout the entire clean-up phase thereafter. A terrible, terrible game, which was nonetheless worth a good laugh.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Fantasy - 0/5
Calm - 2/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Fantasy - 1/5
Calm - 3/5
Game - 4/5
+ Show Spoiler [Game Two - Icarus] +
Oh good, more Fantasy vs Calm. This should be totally fun to watch and not terrible at all. Calm got blue at 9 on Icarus while Fantasy got red at 3. Fantasy walled in his natural with a depot rax gas depot opening while Calm went for twelve hatch at his natural and possibly some gas and pool thrown in at random times the observer didn't feel like showing us. Instead we mostly got to watch Fantasy's scvs mine, although we did see him start a factory. He followed with a starport while Calm went for a quick lair.
Calmed played safely with a sunken and lings on the ramp for vultures and a fast spire for the potential mutalisks, narrowing his choke with buildings and adding a third hatch on just two bases. Meanwhile Fantasy expanded and teched to an academy, ebay and control tower with just one of each production facility. Rather than choose to scout his opponent (which he hadn't actually done since lair started) Fantasy's first wraith killed an overlord that was isolated and could have been killed at any time later.
From this we know that he'd have lost to lurkers again, had that been Calm's choice. He was sitting in his base with no units and no scvs or anything on the map so he'd have had no indication that Calm was moving out until he died but whatever, what are the odds that Calm would go lurkers. You've got to rush to kill that first overlord next to your base rather than scout the Zerg with your first air unit, ask any Protoss player.
Anyway, returning from that 'Fantasy is terrible' rant. Calm got overlord speed and a group of mutalisks to counter potential cloak harass while Fantasy started adding a lot of rax and pumping mnm. Calm added a base at 11 and teched to lurkers while failing to effectively harass. He did however put a lot of scouting units everywhere and thus contained the threat of counterharass.
With his lurkers finished Calm placed them outside Fantasy's base and then microed his mutalisks to lure the mnm into them, promptly killing everything with hold lurkers. The mutalisks and lurkers then ran into Fantasy's natural and killed a lot of units and scvs and all the defences while Calm got his third base properly established.
Given Calm was now in the perfect lategame situation and the Terran had all his tech but no real units Calm knew exactly what to do. He made a lot of mutalisks and attacked the turrets Fantasy had placed in his main to protect against the mutalisk harass of several minutes ago. The reason I say several minutes ago is because Fantasy had irradiate by this point and therefore all those turrets were obsolete. So, Calm's transition at this point was to attack obsolete static base defences with the one unit that those base defences had been built to counter, despite having no chance of inflicting any real damage. In essence he had made mutalisks (obsolete because of irradiate) for the sole purpose of attacking turrets (which can't move and therefore have no role to play in this game). GO OSL SEMIFINAL. YEAH!!! THIS ISN'T A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT AT ALL!
While all this was going on Fantasy put out the fires in his base and pumped M&M while generally recovering. Two wraiths (which were seen by an overlord) managed to successfully kill a load of drones at 11 because it wouldn't have been fair if just one player refused to responded to scouting info; it's much better if neither does. Fantasy moved out with all his tanks, mnm and vessels and Calm responded with his mutalisks, lurkers and speedlings. The mutalisks moved in as a group, got irradiated and did not ungroup, instead losing the entire clump for no damage done. The lurkers and speedlings held their own against the mnm and tanks, but more importantly (and amazingly) two wraiths had killed all Calm's drones during the battle. In case any of you guys missed this I'll explain that in more detail.
The wraiths ran past an overlord to harass the 11 expansion. The mutalisks did not respond. The wraiths killed four drones at 11, the mutalisks chased them. The wraiths ran to the main at 9, the mutalisks chased them. Fantasy pushed out, the mutalisks went from Calm's main at 9 to fight Fantasy's army where every single one died for no kills, leaving the wraiths in Calm's main. Over a minute later they're still somehow there with a staggering twenty one drone kills between them. Calm has no drones left and Fantasy makes units with minerals and wins.
Wax's take: The game actually lasted a bit longer, but I think Kwark just got fed-up, stopped watching and (correctly) guessed the ending. Anyway, despite the overall silliness going on, I thought there were a few points of interest.
Fantasy opened with a truly bizarre FE into 1 rax, 1 fact, 1 port cloaked wraith build. I really don't understand what that build was supposed to achieve, but if I had to guess, it was a variation on the fast valkyrie FE where the cloaked wraiths serve as the mutalisk counter in place of valks. The valkyrie build had been getting predictable as of late, and it potentially lost straight up to mutalisks if a handful of scourge accompanied the first attack. Wraiths don't kill mutas as fast, but at least they cannot be killed while cloaked, and are potentially good harassers afterwards.
Calm's big muta-lurker attack should have done more damage early on, as Fantasy hadn't transitioned into a strong ground army. Though it looked very dangerous at first, Calm's lurkers actually spent a lot of time just shooting at the CC, not really killing many SCVs or forcing them off mining. Since Calm's economy wasn't all that great at that point in the game, it ended up being more of a straight unit trade which favored Terran.
I already thought Calm was going to struggle to stop Fantasy once he assembled a second army to push with, but two wraiths killing twenty drones pretty much decided everything prematurely.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Fantasy - 0/5
Calm - 0/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Fantasy - 2/5
Calm - 1/5
Game - 1/5
Calmed played safely with a sunken and lings on the ramp for vultures and a fast spire for the potential mutalisks, narrowing his choke with buildings and adding a third hatch on just two bases. Meanwhile Fantasy expanded and teched to an academy, ebay and control tower with just one of each production facility. Rather than choose to scout his opponent (which he hadn't actually done since lair started) Fantasy's first wraith killed an overlord that was isolated and could have been killed at any time later.
From this we know that he'd have lost to lurkers again, had that been Calm's choice. He was sitting in his base with no units and no scvs or anything on the map so he'd have had no indication that Calm was moving out until he died but whatever, what are the odds that Calm would go lurkers. You've got to rush to kill that first overlord next to your base rather than scout the Zerg with your first air unit, ask any Protoss player.
Anyway, returning from that 'Fantasy is terrible' rant. Calm got overlord speed and a group of mutalisks to counter potential cloak harass while Fantasy started adding a lot of rax and pumping mnm. Calm added a base at 11 and teched to lurkers while failing to effectively harass. He did however put a lot of scouting units everywhere and thus contained the threat of counterharass.
With his lurkers finished Calm placed them outside Fantasy's base and then microed his mutalisks to lure the mnm into them, promptly killing everything with hold lurkers. The mutalisks and lurkers then ran into Fantasy's natural and killed a lot of units and scvs and all the defences while Calm got his third base properly established.
Given Calm was now in the perfect lategame situation and the Terran had all his tech but no real units Calm knew exactly what to do. He made a lot of mutalisks and attacked the turrets Fantasy had placed in his main to protect against the mutalisk harass of several minutes ago. The reason I say several minutes ago is because Fantasy had irradiate by this point and therefore all those turrets were obsolete. So, Calm's transition at this point was to attack obsolete static base defences with the one unit that those base defences had been built to counter, despite having no chance of inflicting any real damage. In essence he had made mutalisks (obsolete because of irradiate) for the sole purpose of attacking turrets (which can't move and therefore have no role to play in this game). GO OSL SEMIFINAL. YEAH!!! THIS ISN'T A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT AT ALL!
While all this was going on Fantasy put out the fires in his base and pumped M&M while generally recovering. Two wraiths (which were seen by an overlord) managed to successfully kill a load of drones at 11 because it wouldn't have been fair if just one player refused to responded to scouting info; it's much better if neither does. Fantasy moved out with all his tanks, mnm and vessels and Calm responded with his mutalisks, lurkers and speedlings. The mutalisks moved in as a group, got irradiated and did not ungroup, instead losing the entire clump for no damage done. The lurkers and speedlings held their own against the mnm and tanks, but more importantly (and amazingly) two wraiths had killed all Calm's drones during the battle. In case any of you guys missed this I'll explain that in more detail.
The wraiths ran past an overlord to harass the 11 expansion. The mutalisks did not respond. The wraiths killed four drones at 11, the mutalisks chased them. The wraiths ran to the main at 9, the mutalisks chased them. Fantasy pushed out, the mutalisks went from Calm's main at 9 to fight Fantasy's army where every single one died for no kills, leaving the wraiths in Calm's main. Over a minute later they're still somehow there with a staggering twenty one drone kills between them. Calm has no drones left and Fantasy makes units with minerals and wins.
Wax's take: The game actually lasted a bit longer, but I think Kwark just got fed-up, stopped watching and (correctly) guessed the ending. Anyway, despite the overall silliness going on, I thought there were a few points of interest.
Fantasy opened with a truly bizarre FE into 1 rax, 1 fact, 1 port cloaked wraith build. I really don't understand what that build was supposed to achieve, but if I had to guess, it was a variation on the fast valkyrie FE where the cloaked wraiths serve as the mutalisk counter in place of valks. The valkyrie build had been getting predictable as of late, and it potentially lost straight up to mutalisks if a handful of scourge accompanied the first attack. Wraiths don't kill mutas as fast, but at least they cannot be killed while cloaked, and are potentially good harassers afterwards.
Calm's big muta-lurker attack should have done more damage early on, as Fantasy hadn't transitioned into a strong ground army. Though it looked very dangerous at first, Calm's lurkers actually spent a lot of time just shooting at the CC, not really killing many SCVs or forcing them off mining. Since Calm's economy wasn't all that great at that point in the game, it ended up being more of a straight unit trade which favored Terran.
I already thought Calm was going to struggle to stop Fantasy once he assembled a second army to push with, but two wraiths killing twenty drones pretty much decided everything prematurely.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Fantasy - 0/5
Calm - 0/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Fantasy - 2/5
Calm - 1/5
Game - 1/5
+ Show Spoiler [Game Three - Gladiator] +
The travesty continued on Gladiator with a four pool. Calm got red at 11 while Fantasy got white at 2. Amazingly Calm was showing a new level of intelligent play at this point. He made a pool, used that to make zerglings and then used the zerglings to attack.
The build had a purpose, a transition and most of all, it made sense. It was clear that Calm had thought this through. His scout drone immediately found his opponent who had opted for a fast gas rather than a complete wallin and the drone blocked the depot placement for long enough for Calm to win.
GG
This is the first game good enough to actually deserve a sum up. Calm noticed that Fantasy kept going depot rax refinery depot rather than the two depots he needed to wall a natural. Therefore he four pooled. He got a bit lucky but it worked. Well done Calm, in the three minutes this game took you managed to not lower my estimation of you.
Wax's Take: I really appreciate the 4 pool in ZvT series, and I'd actually like to see it more often. The best Protoss and Terran players have always used cheese builds just often enough to keep their opponents constantly guessing, so it's surprising that Jaedong is the only Zerg player to really embrace the usefulness of the occasional cheap shot.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Calm - 3/5
Fantasy - 2/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Calm - 4/5
Fantasy - 2/5
Game - 1/5
The build had a purpose, a transition and most of all, it made sense. It was clear that Calm had thought this through. His scout drone immediately found his opponent who had opted for a fast gas rather than a complete wallin and the drone blocked the depot placement for long enough for Calm to win.
GG
This is the first game good enough to actually deserve a sum up. Calm noticed that Fantasy kept going depot rax refinery depot rather than the two depots he needed to wall a natural. Therefore he four pooled. He got a bit lucky but it worked. Well done Calm, in the three minutes this game took you managed to not lower my estimation of you.
Wax's Take: I really appreciate the 4 pool in ZvT series, and I'd actually like to see it more often. The best Protoss and Terran players have always used cheese builds just often enough to keep their opponents constantly guessing, so it's surprising that Jaedong is the only Zerg player to really embrace the usefulness of the occasional cheap shot.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Calm - 3/5
Fantasy - 2/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Calm - 4/5
Fantasy - 2/5
Game - 1/5
+ Show Spoiler [Game Four - Pathfinder] +
Calm got blue at 4 and immediately four pooled on Pathfinder against the yellow Terran at 8. I loved this play, mainly because it would make this nightmare end faster. Also the longer a game lasted the more likely it was that Calm would humiliate himself further, and thus short games would make Calm look better. That Calm guy, he's pretty smart.
Fantasy went for the same opening again but this time there was no drone scout to block the completion of the wallin (with only three starting spots, a single overlord scout was enough to determine Fantasy's position). By the time Calm's zerglings arrived, the ground path was already blocked by a barracks and two supply depots (one finished, one half building).
Calm's zerglings tore at the second supply depot that had not yet finished building, and Fantasy was forced to let it go as zergling damage outpaced the depot's build speed. Still, it bought Fantasy the valuable time to get a single marine out and clog the gap in his wall with SCVs. Calm tried to focus fire his way through the SCV blockade, but did not have enough zerglings left over by the end. The result was that Fantasy held and was able to replace the depot.
If Calm was really smart he'd have sent a drone to scout early and then another drone with the four pool, glided it through the egg and therefore below the barracks, trapping the marine (which always appears below the rax) into a corner in which two drones could kill him. But Calm's not quite smart enough to know that a Terran wallin at places a rax at the bottom, that drones can glide through egg at the bottom, that marines always appear at the bottom and that the above can be used together in order to win.
After the failed rush, Calm tried to play catchup under the assumption of an expansion from his opponent. However, the sneaky Fantasy instead rushed to a wraith which started messing up Calm's drone line. With absolutely no air defence but a relatively strong economy (for a 4 pool start) Calm simply pumped out more and more drones from his three hatcheries while heading for hydralisks. Fantasy went for three rax with a fast dropship and science vessel, both of which were excesses when his mnm could straight up kill his opponent.
Fantasy decided that the time was ripe to go for a one base battlecruiser build. I can't quite bring myself to say he was trying to humiliate his four pooling opponent because neither player was going to come out of this series looking good. But whatever, Fantasy's units attacked Calm's units (all of which were hydralisks) and killed them.
Some excellent ideas by Calm, particularly at the start of the game, but ultimately Fantasy had the control to stop him. The play didn't quite meet the high benchmark set by game 3 but Fantasy's one base battlecruiser was still significantly above the level of the first two games. Both players were clearly learning from each other and improving their playstyles as the series progressed, the true mark of potential OSL champions.
Wax's Take: It's easy to say this in retrospect, but Calm really should have sent out a drone or two ahead of his zerglings, just like in game three. His drone prevented Fantasy from even beginning to build a supply depot in the previous game, and surely it could have done the same. Then again, had he killed just a few more SCVs during the failed attack, having the full four drones to recover with would have been the correct choice.
Though he ended up losing the game, I think Calm's willingness to four pool twice in a row is a good investment for the future. Think about all the build-order mind games Flash plays with his opponents in series. He set that all-up by showing a lot of unpredictable and adventurous behavior in the past. Since Calm lacks all of Flash's other skills, he might as well learn that one.
Match Ratings:
Kwark:
Calm 1/5
Fantasy 1/5
Game 0/5
WaxAngel:
Calm: 2/5
Fantasy: 3/5
Game: 1/5
Fantasy went for the same opening again but this time there was no drone scout to block the completion of the wallin (with only three starting spots, a single overlord scout was enough to determine Fantasy's position). By the time Calm's zerglings arrived, the ground path was already blocked by a barracks and two supply depots (one finished, one half building).
Calm's zerglings tore at the second supply depot that had not yet finished building, and Fantasy was forced to let it go as zergling damage outpaced the depot's build speed. Still, it bought Fantasy the valuable time to get a single marine out and clog the gap in his wall with SCVs. Calm tried to focus fire his way through the SCV blockade, but did not have enough zerglings left over by the end. The result was that Fantasy held and was able to replace the depot.
If Calm was really smart he'd have sent a drone to scout early and then another drone with the four pool, glided it through the egg and therefore below the barracks, trapping the marine (which always appears below the rax) into a corner in which two drones could kill him. But Calm's not quite smart enough to know that a Terran wallin at places a rax at the bottom, that drones can glide through egg at the bottom, that marines always appear at the bottom and that the above can be used together in order to win.
After the failed rush, Calm tried to play catchup under the assumption of an expansion from his opponent. However, the sneaky Fantasy instead rushed to a wraith which started messing up Calm's drone line. With absolutely no air defence but a relatively strong economy (for a 4 pool start) Calm simply pumped out more and more drones from his three hatcheries while heading for hydralisks. Fantasy went for three rax with a fast dropship and science vessel, both of which were excesses when his mnm could straight up kill his opponent.
Fantasy decided that the time was ripe to go for a one base battlecruiser build. I can't quite bring myself to say he was trying to humiliate his four pooling opponent because neither player was going to come out of this series looking good. But whatever, Fantasy's units attacked Calm's units (all of which were hydralisks) and killed them.
Some excellent ideas by Calm, particularly at the start of the game, but ultimately Fantasy had the control to stop him. The play didn't quite meet the high benchmark set by game 3 but Fantasy's one base battlecruiser was still significantly above the level of the first two games. Both players were clearly learning from each other and improving their playstyles as the series progressed, the true mark of potential OSL champions.
Wax's Take: It's easy to say this in retrospect, but Calm really should have sent out a drone or two ahead of his zerglings, just like in game three. His drone prevented Fantasy from even beginning to build a supply depot in the previous game, and surely it could have done the same. Then again, had he killed just a few more SCVs during the failed attack, having the full four drones to recover with would have been the correct choice.
Though he ended up losing the game, I think Calm's willingness to four pool twice in a row is a good investment for the future. Think about all the build-order mind games Flash plays with his opponents in series. He set that all-up by showing a lot of unpredictable and adventurous behavior in the past. Since Calm lacks all of Flash's other skills, he might as well learn that one.
Match Ratings:
Kwark:
Calm 1/5
Fantasy 1/5
Game 0/5
WaxAngel:
Calm: 2/5
Fantasy: 3/5
Game: 1/5
+ Show Spoiler [Game Five - Aztec] +
Game 5 began on Aztec with Calm in white at 8 and Fantasy in green at 4. Calm made a pretty bold play when he opened by making drones and I'm not sure I agree with it. I just don't know if Calm is really ready for builds more complicated than making zerglings. But he's an OSL semifinalist so if anyone can play this game it's him. We don't need Flash or Jaedong to be in the OSL to have good games, these guys are just as good!
Calm went for a twelve hatch - eleven pool - ten gas opening while Fantasy did another depot rax refinery depot fact opener. Fantasy went for the exact same build he tried in game 1 but he got a scv in his opponents base which Calm seemed incapable of killing. This meant he could scout the lack of a 2001 era lurker rush. However, I think Calm made a mistake by not also using the build he used in game 1. You see, in game 1 Fantasy scouted the build completely. He scouted the hydralisks (and saw them run off to his base). He scouted the lair. He scouted the hydralisk den. He scouted the low drone count. He scouted the eggs. He scouted everything he could scout but he just didn't know a counter to lurkers because his mind was in the year 2000, when things hadn't been quite worked out. Therefore Calm shouldn't have worried about the scout scv in his base and should have just gone two hatch lurker rush anyway.
But back to the game, Calm went two hatch spire while Fantasy went for a fast command centre and mech. Potential vulture harass was deflected by a solid wallin at Calm's natural with the vultures ensuring map control for the vulnerable Terran expansion. The mutalisks hatched but Fantasy was pumping goliaths and building turrets to secure himself. Calm decided just to try and kill the turrets and goliaths but some scvs started repairing and it went badly. However he was not deterred and just made more mutalisks while taking his mineral only.
Fantasy actually did some nice vulture play, microing against mutalisks flying above them to snipe drones and delay the Zerg expansion to the gas at 11. He was unsuccessful but even so, points for trying. At the same time he made many goliaths because goliaths are cool. This continued for some time because Calm didn't want to leave lair tech and didn't recognise any long term problems with pure lair tech against a meching Terran. He just made endless hydralisks and mutalisks with upgrades and four bases.
Finally Calm's plan was revealed. He was going to make a lot of units and attack head on. Because the optimal timing to attack a mech Terran is when he's been massing troops off two bases for a while without expanding. That way you know where all his units are. It's easy to find them all in that one base he has to hold from that single avenue of attack. I mean basically if you wait until he's just taking his third base, then his tanks get all spread out and then you can't attack all of them at once, you have to look for them and stuff. That's hard work. Whereas during the timing exactly before he's about to take his third, the Terran should have the firepower to defend all three bases, but massed together at the single entrance to his natural. And that makes the tanks easy to find.
Despite his ability to make sure every one of Fantasy's tanks was involved in the battle his hydralisks were still unable to break through that one narrow choke. I guess Calm just got unlucky here. Having lost his entire army Calm was therefore unable to prevent Fantasy taking his third and spreading his defences across the entire length of his base area, he just didn't have the units remaining. Also he was still on lair. But it was okay because Calm had an exit strategy, a lair tech counter to mass tanks. Queens! It was brilliant, why hadn't anyone thought of using it before!?!? It's almost exactly like going the standard route to hive and guardians and defilers and ultralisks, except you don't actually make any of those units, and do a random hydralisk allin in the middle of the game followed by queens. Genius.
So Fantasy had three bases and Calm had no units or tech and was going queens. Three minutes later Fantasy pushed out and Calm threw endless hydralisks and queens into a small choke. It turned out that the hydralisks got in each others' way and the tanks killed them all. Who knew Terran could get so lucky. I mean Starcraft is basically a dice roll at its core and Calm lost through no fault of his own this game. Having proven himself worthy by defeating the powerful opponent Calm, Fantasy proceeded to the OSL finals. I think we can all agree he has a super good chance there and that the games will be totally even and that just because two of the three competent players in the world were eliminated early doesn't make an OSL absolutely terrible.
Wax's Take: To be perfectly honest, Calm's mid-game hydra-muta bust was a decent idea. He very nearly broke through, and quite possibly would have succeeded if he had attacked one or two factory cycles earlier. After that failed bust, he was in a pretty bad situation with a weak economy and no tech. Queens were as good a desperation option as any, and I don't really blame him for that choice.
As for Fantasy, this is the type of game he should have been playing all along. Expand, mech, turtle, upgrade, and wait. For all of Fantasy's numerous TvZ failings, he's actually quite good when he decides to mech.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Calm - 0/5
Fantasy - 3/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Calm - 2/5
Fantasy - 3/5
Game - 1/5
Calm went for a twelve hatch - eleven pool - ten gas opening while Fantasy did another depot rax refinery depot fact opener. Fantasy went for the exact same build he tried in game 1 but he got a scv in his opponents base which Calm seemed incapable of killing. This meant he could scout the lack of a 2001 era lurker rush. However, I think Calm made a mistake by not also using the build he used in game 1. You see, in game 1 Fantasy scouted the build completely. He scouted the hydralisks (and saw them run off to his base). He scouted the lair. He scouted the hydralisk den. He scouted the low drone count. He scouted the eggs. He scouted everything he could scout but he just didn't know a counter to lurkers because his mind was in the year 2000, when things hadn't been quite worked out. Therefore Calm shouldn't have worried about the scout scv in his base and should have just gone two hatch lurker rush anyway.
But back to the game, Calm went two hatch spire while Fantasy went for a fast command centre and mech. Potential vulture harass was deflected by a solid wallin at Calm's natural with the vultures ensuring map control for the vulnerable Terran expansion. The mutalisks hatched but Fantasy was pumping goliaths and building turrets to secure himself. Calm decided just to try and kill the turrets and goliaths but some scvs started repairing and it went badly. However he was not deterred and just made more mutalisks while taking his mineral only.
Fantasy actually did some nice vulture play, microing against mutalisks flying above them to snipe drones and delay the Zerg expansion to the gas at 11. He was unsuccessful but even so, points for trying. At the same time he made many goliaths because goliaths are cool. This continued for some time because Calm didn't want to leave lair tech and didn't recognise any long term problems with pure lair tech against a meching Terran. He just made endless hydralisks and mutalisks with upgrades and four bases.
Finally Calm's plan was revealed. He was going to make a lot of units and attack head on. Because the optimal timing to attack a mech Terran is when he's been massing troops off two bases for a while without expanding. That way you know where all his units are. It's easy to find them all in that one base he has to hold from that single avenue of attack. I mean basically if you wait until he's just taking his third base, then his tanks get all spread out and then you can't attack all of them at once, you have to look for them and stuff. That's hard work. Whereas during the timing exactly before he's about to take his third, the Terran should have the firepower to defend all three bases, but massed together at the single entrance to his natural. And that makes the tanks easy to find.
Despite his ability to make sure every one of Fantasy's tanks was involved in the battle his hydralisks were still unable to break through that one narrow choke. I guess Calm just got unlucky here. Having lost his entire army Calm was therefore unable to prevent Fantasy taking his third and spreading his defences across the entire length of his base area, he just didn't have the units remaining. Also he was still on lair. But it was okay because Calm had an exit strategy, a lair tech counter to mass tanks. Queens! It was brilliant, why hadn't anyone thought of using it before!?!? It's almost exactly like going the standard route to hive and guardians and defilers and ultralisks, except you don't actually make any of those units, and do a random hydralisk allin in the middle of the game followed by queens. Genius.
So Fantasy had three bases and Calm had no units or tech and was going queens. Three minutes later Fantasy pushed out and Calm threw endless hydralisks and queens into a small choke. It turned out that the hydralisks got in each others' way and the tanks killed them all. Who knew Terran could get so lucky. I mean Starcraft is basically a dice roll at its core and Calm lost through no fault of his own this game. Having proven himself worthy by defeating the powerful opponent Calm, Fantasy proceeded to the OSL finals. I think we can all agree he has a super good chance there and that the games will be totally even and that just because two of the three competent players in the world were eliminated early doesn't make an OSL absolutely terrible.
Wax's Take: To be perfectly honest, Calm's mid-game hydra-muta bust was a decent idea. He very nearly broke through, and quite possibly would have succeeded if he had attacked one or two factory cycles earlier. After that failed bust, he was in a pretty bad situation with a weak economy and no tech. Queens were as good a desperation option as any, and I don't really blame him for that choice.
As for Fantasy, this is the type of game he should have been playing all along. Expand, mech, turtle, upgrade, and wait. For all of Fantasy's numerous TvZ failings, he's actually quite good when he decides to mech.
Match Ratings
Kwark:
Calm - 0/5
Fantasy - 3/5
Game - 0/5
Wax:
Calm - 2/5
Fantasy - 3/5
Game - 1/5
Semi-Final Preview:
Modesty vs Stork
Modesty vs Stork
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/eyc_adam.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/oriental_stork.jpg)
I'll use anything as an excuse to show some Van Eyck
"I'm playing down Stork's chances, in case of disappointment."
+ Show Spoiler [WaxAngel\'s prediction] +
I'm really tempted to play up Modesty's chances, just because I really loved the way he played against Kal on Pathfinder last week. It was easily my favorite game this OSL so far, and I daresay it might be the best played one as well.
History's against Modesty, however. As much as I'd love for this to be a launching pad for Modesty to develop into a better player, by.Hero, Type-B, and Shine tell us that it's possible for anyone to string together some great performances in an OSL run, and then fall straight off the face of the earth (though to Shine's credit, he later found a way to get back on his feet).
I wish there was more to analyze, but Modesty's fallen out of the STX rotation as of late. Without PL games for comparison, it's a mystery as to whether Modesty's hitting a good patch of form or just super-prepared/lucky in the OSL. For the sake of seeing some good games, I hope it's the former, but again, history tells us that it's probably not.
Stork is on a rampage right now, but I'm still very wary about his PvZ consistency. He was dropping some really silly games just a month ago, so a few good performances in the last week don't make him a solid PvZer all of the sudden. Stork has really great PvZ highs, and really comical lows. Here's my roundabout way of explaining how I feel: In a gauntlet against every Zerg pro, I'd take Bisu in a heartbeat. In a best of seven against Jaedong, I'd lean slightly towards Stork.
A sweep is out of the question here, and Stork winning 3-2 seems the most likely result.
History's against Modesty, however. As much as I'd love for this to be a launching pad for Modesty to develop into a better player, by.Hero, Type-B, and Shine tell us that it's possible for anyone to string together some great performances in an OSL run, and then fall straight off the face of the earth (though to Shine's credit, he later found a way to get back on his feet).
I wish there was more to analyze, but Modesty's fallen out of the STX rotation as of late. Without PL games for comparison, it's a mystery as to whether Modesty's hitting a good patch of form or just super-prepared/lucky in the OSL. For the sake of seeing some good games, I hope it's the former, but again, history tells us that it's probably not.
Stork is on a rampage right now, but I'm still very wary about his PvZ consistency. He was dropping some really silly games just a month ago, so a few good performances in the last week don't make him a solid PvZer all of the sudden. Stork has really great PvZ highs, and really comical lows. Here's my roundabout way of explaining how I feel: In a gauntlet against every Zerg pro, I'd take Bisu in a heartbeat. In a best of seven against Jaedong, I'd lean slightly towards Stork.
A sweep is out of the question here, and Stork winning 3-2 seems the most likely result.
"Once again, I didn't actually write this."
+ Show Spoiler [Kwark\'s prediction] +
After last week's monstrosity I'll take anything else, for the love of god, ANYTHING. Writing battle reports actually felt like WORK for the first time, and I almost felt like a responsible, suffering journalist for actually slodging through the VODs a second time for thoroughness' sake.
I've heard it's silly to pass judgment on people you've never met in real life. But you know what? F*** whoever said that. Calm and Fantasy punched me in the balls through the internet, repeatedly. As far as I'm concerned they're terrible, awful human beings, and I hate them.
Oh, Modesty vs Stork. Well, Stork is awesome and Modesty is competent at the very least. Competence, that's all I ask for. Personally, I'd prefer that Stork won, and not just because I play Protoss. I need someone to stomp on Fantasy and utterly humiliate him. Do it for me Stork, for me.
I've heard it's silly to pass judgment on people you've never met in real life. But you know what? F*** whoever said that. Calm and Fantasy punched me in the balls through the internet, repeatedly. As far as I'm concerned they're terrible, awful human beings, and I hate them.
Oh, Modesty vs Stork. Well, Stork is awesome and Modesty is competent at the very least. Competence, that's all I ask for. Personally, I'd prefer that Stork won, and not just because I play Protoss. I need someone to stomp on Fantasy and utterly humiliate him. Do it for me Stork, for me.
"I back my words 100%"
+ Show Spoiler [Milkis\' prediction] +
The universe itself wills it -- it is time for Modesty to show his true potential
"The universe itself?" you may ask. Technically since my name means the universe you can just say "Milkis is just trolling again". But I kid you not -- it will happen.
"But what of Stork's momentum?". Stork has a whopping 25-5 record the last 30 games, which is very, very, impressive. Stork, in terms of momentum, has never been higher, he has never performed better. But you must realize -- it is a ploy to show how strong Modesty really is.
It won't be a fluke either. Stork will play the game of his life, but will fall short of challenging the new bonjwa. Stork is a jobber, essentially -- those characters that are pumped up to be so strong, but is defeated by a villain in order to show how strong the villain is, or, like in this case, defeated by the hero of the story to show how far he has gotten from a laughing stock of a player to the destroyer of worlds.
Of course, there's a chance that Modesty will play to his namesake and just forfeit the game. But don't misunderstand -- it's because he's a bit too modest to accept being known as the best player to have ever moved a mouse, which will be happen if he decides to flick his mouse in a graceful song to make Stork wish he had stuck to World of Warcraft. Being such a modest person he is, he would want some sort of an excuse to fall back on to say "Oh, I'm not really the best! See? I lost to Stork." What a humble guy.
But like anything related, it is not for us mortals to decide when divine beings like Modesty will strike. We don't know when Kairos will be, but when we all watch the OSL games to witness it, we will know. And we will be amazed.
"The universe itself?" you may ask. Technically since my name means the universe you can just say "Milkis is just trolling again". But I kid you not -- it will happen.
"But what of Stork's momentum?". Stork has a whopping 25-5 record the last 30 games, which is very, very, impressive. Stork, in terms of momentum, has never been higher, he has never performed better. But you must realize -- it is a ploy to show how strong Modesty really is.
It won't be a fluke either. Stork will play the game of his life, but will fall short of challenging the new bonjwa. Stork is a jobber, essentially -- those characters that are pumped up to be so strong, but is defeated by a villain in order to show how strong the villain is, or, like in this case, defeated by the hero of the story to show how far he has gotten from a laughing stock of a player to the destroyer of worlds.
Of course, there's a chance that Modesty will play to his namesake and just forfeit the game. But don't misunderstand -- it's because he's a bit too modest to accept being known as the best player to have ever moved a mouse, which will be happen if he decides to flick his mouse in a graceful song to make Stork wish he had stuck to World of Warcraft. Being such a modest person he is, he would want some sort of an excuse to fall back on to say "Oh, I'm not really the best! See? I lost to Stork." What a humble guy.
But like anything related, it is not for us mortals to decide when divine beings like Modesty will strike. We don't know when Kairos will be, but when we all watch the OSL games to witness it, we will know. And we will be amazed.
No, really, we're lazy here but we're not THAT lazy. We put in enough effort to find someone who would write a preview that's actually good.
Swanized's prediction
![[image loading]](/staff/swanized/unrelated_stuff/OSL/Dinotoss.jpg)
Ah! the wonderful season of starleague finals is finally about to kick-off. We still have to go through one last semi-final however and while Fantasy and Calm did put up a good show, we can't say the expectations are very high for semi-final B. In fact, the hype is at such a level for this series that Waxangel had to fish me out from the depth of depression (due to woongjin's recent performance) to write this semi-final preview because no one else believed in Modesty's chances at giving Stork a decent fight.
(then you guys release your predictions actually acting like you think modesty will win and ruin my dramatic paragraph ).
On one hand we have Stork, an established player, 9-1 in his last 10 games and 8-2 in his last 10 PvZ's and on a 6 game winning-streak in the match-up, and not having to practice 2 match-ups since he is playing Zero in the MSL. On the other hand we have Modesty, a player rumored to only have discovered there were units beside zerglings and mutalisks this season. However I expect this series to be a lot closer then everyone expects it to because of 2 things. Modesty is clutch and pathfinder is an awful map.
Aztec
ZvP: 36-34(51%)
It's nice to have such a balanced ZvP map to be played twice. However, Modesty is not at the level where he is able to take on Stork on a balanced map, and Stork has never lost a game on Aztec. The only silver lining for Modesty is that this map is not being used in Stork's MSL series against Zero. Unless Modesty comes up with a brilliant snipe build it's gonna be stork 1-0 fairly quickly.
Stork 1-0
Gladiator
ZvP: 7-6 (53%)
Another balanced map in the map pool and that can only mean one thing, Stork is probably going to roll over Modesty in a second one-sided game, unless he gets cheesed or something.
Stork 2-0
Pathfinder
ZvP: 10-3 (76%)
The 3rd game however is why I think Modesty has a chance to beat Stork, as it will be played on Pathfinder. It's an awful map for PvZ with protoss being 3-10 on the map. What's even more dangerous about the map however is the really short air distance. Modesty has muta micro that rivals Jaedong's, I think we can all see where this is going.
Modesty 1-2
Icarus
ZvP 23-20 (53%)
At this point, the only person who can defeat Stork is Stork himself. If the scenario I predicted comes true and Stork's nerves hold despite his defeat on pathfinder, Modesty simply is not good enough at ZvP to beat Stork who is playing some of the best PvZ of his life.
Stork 3-1
![[image loading]](/staff/swanized/unrelated_stuff/OSL/modesty.jpg)
Stork is not exactly known for his nerves however and Modesty is CLUTCH. Modesty is that guy that I didn't even expect to pass the prelims. Yet here he is, somehow managing to reach semi-finals, defeating solid opposition like Fantasy, Hydra and Kal twice. When Modesty is sent out for an ace match, he wins. Modesty has nerves and balls of steel and that's his sole advantage and where Stork's potential demise is going to come from.
With a game won on pathfinder already, Modesty just needs to take one of the games on Aztec, Gladiator or Icarus to take it to a fifth and final set. In the unlikely event Modesty manages to do that, Modesty will win because he's incredibly clutch and Stork is going to choke against this kid just like Kal did last week. Even though Stork is the heavy favourite, I don't think this series will be quite as one-sided and boring as everyone expects it to be.
Retrospective: The Missed Opportunities of Lee Young Ho
by WaxAngel
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Waxangel/apotheosis.jpg)
I told myself I wouldn’t be disappointed when Flash’s amazing run of dominance ended, since rationally I knew a good thing couldn’t last forever. But the timing of his OSL exit this season left me deflated despite my best efforts. Stork’s parallel recovery to form had reminded me of the one nagging, missing piece from Flash’s extraordinary run: A true PvT test.
“What PvT test?” you might ask. Sure, his vsP win rate was great, and he collected scattered PL wins over some of the best Protoss players during that period. And it’s not like he dodged them in individual leagues either, taking series wins 3-0 vs Best, 3-1 vs Free, and 3-0 vs Pure along the way (on second thought, do wins versus Pure really need to be mentioned? It’s not like baseball writers would mention that the Yankees swept the Orioles on their way to the pennant. For those unfamiliar with American baseball, if Canata, Gorush, Killer, PerfectMan and Pure created a team, they would be the Starcraft Orioles. But I digress).
But consider this: he reached similar dominance in TvZ and TvT while at the same time beating those matchup’s best players in BO5 showdowns. We all know Flash clobbered Jaedong three out of four times in their finals meetings, and he famously beat Fantasy five times in a single day day. You simply couldn’t ask Flash to achieve any more in those matchups.
Can we really say Best, Free, or Pure were the worthiest opponents? Honestly, those are guys Flash SHOULD beat, preferably with ease. For the last six months Stork has been the true test of TvP excellence.
It’s not just Stork’s 15-2 record (with some really impressive line-up dodging from Samsung’s proleague opponents) since July 2010 that’s impressive, it’s the quality of his wins. Often beginning his games in inauspicious fashion, Stork’s hallmark over this period has been his ability to flip a switch and just force a win. Though he has had few start-to-finish domination games, Stork looks like he has total understanding of the matchup and that he is in complete control, regardless of the situation.
Not that it was Flash’s fault that Stork couldn’t match his progress in the leagues. Still, it’s a gap that invites imagination and speculation. What if they had met in the 2010 Bacchus OSL for a Bo5 series? With Jaedong’s status as a credible opponent for Flash falling fast, it would have easily been the most anticipated BO5 series in over nine months since the Hana Daetoo MSL where Flash sought to avenge his Nate MSL loss (the power outage series). No offense Effort, but the media and fan hype for a Flash-Stork semi-final in January 2011 would have outweighed the Korean Air OSL final. Fomos would have ramped up coverage to the unprecedented levels reached for the Nate MSL final, where they interviewed nearly every player, coach, announcer or otherwise notable e-sports figure for their opinion.
It’s rather unfortunate for Flash to have missed this opportunity, because there was almost nothing to lose yet everything to gain. Timing wise, a Bo5 loss to Stork right now would have little effect on his legacy. If they had faced off in either the Bigfile MSL or Korean Air OSL II, and Stork had knocked Flash out of either league, there would have been serious repercussions. Flash would have been denied his simultaneous golds, be down on championships compared to Jaedong, and his past championships would be colored by the lack of credible Protoss opposition. But in the present, with Flash already having attained apotheosis through his dual OSL/MSL wins, a loss to Stork would simply have been recorded as having occurred after his 2009~2010 run. His core accomplishment would remain unchanged.
Now if he had beaten Stork in the Bacchus 2010 semi or final? That's a whole other story. While a loss would be tabulated outside his so called “god” run, a victory would extend it. It would have been the rather large feather in his cap.
Look at it this way. Let’s say that Heracles, for some reason, missed out on completing all twelve of his labors. Maybe the Lernaean hydra had already picked a bad fight with some tyrant king and got his ass kicked, or maybe Augeas discovered the wonders of cheap immigrant labor and had his stables cleaned for a bargain price. In any case, Heracles would only have had eleven labors to his name.
Now,would the Pantheon have been a bunch of jerks and said “Sorry, but it’s all twelve tasks or no god-hood for you, kid”? Probably not (though Zeus did happen to be quite a dick). The gods - Apollo, Dionysus, Hephaestos, even that hater of haters Hera – they probably would have said “Man, that was totally sick the way you skinned that lion and all that other cool stuff. Let’s hang out yo.” And with one labor incomplete, Heracles’ greatness would still recognized, and he would still have become a god.
That’s where we are with Flash. He hasn’t done everything we asked of him, but what he’s done is still outright amazing. For that, we call him ‘god’ and recognize him amongst the greatest of all time.
Of course, our mythical Greek hero did complete all twelve tasks.
And that’s the difference between great, and legendary.
Anyway, thanks for reading about one of the worst semi-finals ever played, some really unenthusiastic previews of the next match, and ramblings on a hypothetical scenario that was precluded a few weeks ago.
