EPT
![[image loading]](http://teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/State/stateofsc.jpg)
Cover image by zXk3
Take a snapshot;
Marvel at the beauty;
Welcome to Starcraft
Marvel at the beauty;
Welcome to Starcraft
A State of Starcraft
By Plexa and Nony
Teamliquid Final Edits
It was a streak of dominance that none could rival; five consecutive MSL finals and an OSL victory with a win rate of 67.16%. The end of Savior’s giant run marked a change in the history of Starcraft. To that point the best gamers had distinguished themselves by having a superior skill set; Boxers dominance through his micro and strategies, Nada’s dominance through his superior everything, iloveoov’s dominance through his superior macro and Savior’s dominance with his macro and timing. The greats of old were a cut above the rest in one way or another, the separation between the pros and the amateurs was vast.
When Bisu defeated Savior in perhaps the most pivotal series in the history of Brood War, all of that was tossed out the window and a new era was ushered in. With the rise of Bisu came a surge of S-Class gamers which flooded all the leagues. Hwasin, Stork, Firebathero, Jaedong and Mind literally came from nowhere to dominate in a ridiculous fashion which spawned the most competitive period of Starcraft since its origin. The separation between these players was nonexistent, yet some, remarkably, were more successful than others.
Welcome to post Savior Starcraft, where every game is a mental struggle for superiority.
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Having a superior mental condition typically leads victory, especially when the separation between players is very small. Iloveoov’s superior mental condition in his final against Boxer allowed him to remain calm after the brilliance of game four and defeat Boxer in the final set. The skill difference in this match was infinitesimal and the superior mental condition of Oov became deciding factor. In So1 OSL, Boxer’s superior mental condition lead him to victory over Pusan in one of the most remarkable comebacks ever – indeed if Pusan’s mental state was stronger he could have resisted the momentum that Boxer had built up. Thus there is a strong connection between mindset and victory when the skill discrepancy is very narrow.
The surge of brilliant mechanical and strategical players due to the rise in professionalism in Starcraft has lead to the playing field to be leveled. The fundamental skills of A class gamers compares favourably to the skills of the S class which shows that the gap is becoming smaller and smaller between the progamers. Nowadays you can find brilliant skills from players who have fewer than ten televised games rather than just the top three gamers of the time before Savior. But the reason there is still an S class despite the closing skill gap, is that the S Class have a superior mental state. This idea that mental states defined winning semis and finals has trickled down into every single game. Maintaining the winning mindset is the key to the S-Class’s success.
Maintaining this winning mindset is harder than it seems, and very few players can actually do it. Let’s look at Savior for example. Prior to his series with Bisu, there was nothing he could not do. His visual expressions, his interviews, the yawn rapes - everything about Savior leading up to that point spelt Maestro. The expectations from himself to defeat the newcomer, Bisu, in GomTV S1 were huge. He was the best gamer in the world after all. Then he got sent crashing back to Earth in a crushing 0-3 defeat. You could see the change in his mental state quite clearly.
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Nothing had changed in his skills; he was still the most talented ZvT player in the world. Yet he couldn’t defeat Nada in the Shinhan Masters – despite beating him weeks before. There was no major skill discrepancy from the Finals of Shinhan 3 to the Shinhan Masters; all that it can be put down to is the mindset of Savior. Indeed as time progressed Savior was plagued with the fact that he was no longer the best, a concept which was difficult to grasp. As he lost more and more games like the FireBatHero series or the Iris quarterfinal his mental state deteriorated, and he could no longer live up to his own image. His mindset did a 180 and despite his very capable skills, could not muster a win.
Preserving your mindset past crushing defeats is difficult as Bisu demonstrated quite clearly. Mind had the mindset of a champ, and momentum to back it. He had recently defeated iloveoov and Savior in quite possibly the hardest MSL run in history and now faced Bisu – the reigning champion. Once again the expectations around Bisu were high, both amongst the community and within himself. Mind showed off his impeccable talents and crushed Bisu 3-1. Bisu was crushed and his mental state suffered severely. He met Stork in the EVER07 OSL semi-finals where he was dominated 3-0 in disappointing games. Bisu’s skills had not diminished, he had practiced every day since defeating stork in GomTV S2 MSL – but his mental condition was hit hard by the loss to Mind.
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He was a revolutionary, but couldn't hold his Mind together
While the idea that your mental condition is highly important is not a new one, its importance has never been greater. Coaches have a number of responsibilities within a team, but one which is becoming increasingly important is maintaining the mindset of his/her players. The legendary T1 ex-Coach Joo Hoon was a master at doing this. When T1 was struggling in Proleague and the team was desperate for a win against OGN he was able to bring the best out of a slumping Oov by changing his mindset. In Oov’s exact words;
Up until yesterday, I had no confidence. My winning percentage was 0%. I lost every time. So I told my coach, "I lose a lot in practice. I have no confidence" and he replied, "Admit that you are not the top class and tackle it". And he also said, "Choi Yeon-Sung the captain's win has the biggest influence in the team". Thanks to him, I regained my confidence. I prepared with the mindset that I will win even if I die.
There are only two players in the history of Starcraft with the valuable ability to overcome all obstacles, admit they are not the best anymore, and work there way up to the top. It will come as no surprise that these two players are Boxer and Nada. Boxer was able to come back time and time again in the major leagues despite facing many brutal defeats such as his loss to Oov and Reach. Indeed his mental strength is stronger than essentially all other gamers and the only reason why he has not reached success recently because of his Air Force duties. Nada stands as a testament to the strongest mental condition of any gamer in Starcraft. He has suffered painstaking losses to GoRush only to come back weeks later and defeat him. He has OSL medals across three distinct time periods and a number of MSL 1st/2nd placings. Even now there are signs that he is still a force to be reckoned with. This can only be attributed to his heightened mental strength.
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Thus far you might be curious as to why certain gamers have largely been omitted from this article, specifically Flash and his defeats of both Stork and Jaedong. Jaedong was expected by all to win his series against Flash in Bacchus OSL, just like he had done in the MSL. As well all know, Flash used some inspired builds and clever tactics to defeat Jaedong 2-1. This caused Jaedong some visible mental anguish, but he was still a powerhouse. Then to follow up on this defeat, Flash demolished him again in the GSI 2-1 which hurt Jaedong even more. Sure Jaedong went on to win GomTV S4 MSL, defeating a sub par field along the way, but he was eliminated from the OSL in straight sets by Casy and Backho. His MSL run hasn’t exactly been ‘dominant’ either – losing a game to Hwasin. Sure Jaedong’s still great, but he’s lost his edge and will be crashing down to earth soon.
The same can be said for Stork – who ironically brought out the best in Flash. We are all aware of Storks comeback in the Daum 3rd/4th playoffs with his Carrier antics which made Flash look like a complete noob. But Flash took this set back and turned it around into his strongest point. He developed a specific anti-Shuttle Play build and highly refined anti-Carrier micro which he first showcased against Anytime in the GSI. Flash’s crushing defeat of Stork in the GSI 3-2 was undoubtedly a huge blow to Stork, but his humiliating 0-3 to Flash in the OSL was much worse. Flash had taken the wind out of Stork’s sails by crippling his mental condition.
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So what exactly is making Flash different to the players of today – why is he so strong in all match ups?
Well like other great players, he turned a race weakness into his biggest strength. Savior broke out onto the scene by showing that Nada’s ‘invincible’ SK Terran could be defeated by heavy defiler use which later became his signature move. Bisu revitalised the fight against Zerg by embracing Sair-DT play after FE and created a wave of strong PvZ gamers. Stork brought PvT to stagnation with his Shuttle+Reaver into Carrier use and created a wave of Protoss > Terran. Jaedong reversed the harm that Bisu had done by turning his weakest match up into his strongest and developed a way to fight off the harass. As already mentioned, Flash took the standard PvT model imposed on the scene by Stork and developed an effective counter to it reversing P>T trends. Nothing here is unique about him really, so it must lie elsewhere.
An interesting comment made by Yellow about Flash deals specifically with this issue;
When I watch Flash play the game, without pretense, I'm amazed. Simply amazing. I've never seen anyone who can manage the eco as well as he does. Every eco falls into perfect timing. PERFECT timing. Not only that, it seems like he's spending all his eco, yet he always have spare mineral to expand more... That really is breathtaking to watch. Is he really calculating all the timing? Or is this by his sense?
So perhaps Flash is the player who is bringing back the old school way of abilities over mindset. But this simply can’t be the case. Stork’s macro and Jaedong’s macro is on par with Flash’s, there can be no doubt. Each of them boasts formidable talent in doing the fundamental skills of Starcraft. Flash was able to overcome them both not by using his hands, he used his head. 
On both counts Flash was able to circumvent Stork and Jaedong's mindset and destroy them by reducing their mental condition to rubble. He used calculated strategy, such as the Flash Build and Metal against Jaedong on Katrina, to win games and gain a mental advantage over his opponent by unsettling their in game plans. There was no way he could have defeated Jaedong without first demolishing his mental strength. The rush fest in the GSI was a testament to Jaedong's frustration at Flash - Jaedong simply imploded. Jaedong could have very well defeated Flash with straight up play, but Flash got to him first - and Jaedong lost it. The frustration of being cheesed and the lack of a solution for Flash's mech build on Katrina demolished his mental strength and lead to Flash taking the win on both counts. Stork is another prime example of this, he simply could not find an effective counter for Flash’s PvT build and ran himself into a brick wall each game by repeating the same build in both the GSI and the OSL Finals. Stork was criticised quite heavily by fans around the world for not changing his play and becoming a boring Protoss. Flash got inside his head and defeated Stork from the inside out causing him to play within his comfort zone. Flash capitlised on this every game. Flash's brilliant build took Stork out of the comfort zone he was trying to create. Stork simply could not respond effectively to this challenge and, like Jaedong, imploded. Stork's dismal OSL performance just shows how much those losses destroyed Stork's mental strength and reduced him to 'just another Protoss'.
Flash is a new kind of champion, one who understands the importance of maintaining peak mental condition at all stages during a tournament. One who realises that no matter who his opponent is he must crush their mental strength to achieve a convincing a dominating victory. His amazing fundamentals and creative mind are simply the vessel to enact this punishment on his victims. He does everything in his power to win each set, and inflicts as much mental anguish as possible when he does so. This is exactly how Flash crushed the best that Protoss and Zerg had to offer. In addition to this his own mental strength grows with each win, just as his momentum does. And this makes him a very daunting opponent no matter who you are.
Only time will tell us whether Flash can be classed as a legend like Boxer or Nada, no one has really been able to gain the upper hand over him and defeat him in an important event. But when Flash does finally fall, it will be because a new gamer has come along and been able to take Flash out of his comfort zone and crush him – just as he has done to many other great gamers. And then a new dominant player will emerge and carry a stronger mental state which will propel him onto great things. Indeed, this shift in Brood War has reduced the longevity of dominance and increased turnover of dominant players. Very soon the whole process will be repeating over. That being said, Flash has gone one step further than other gamers and created a style targeted at the mental state. This makes him a revolutionary, and one who’s impact on the scene will be felt for years to come. Arguably, this next great dominant player will take things another step further - but we’ll have to wait to see that.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Plexa/State/flash5png.png)
Flash is the player to beat, and he knows it
Despite Starcraft going through one of the most competitive phases in its history, we still have had the emergence of true greats. These greats are not separated by the rest because of their fundamental skills, like the gamers of old were, but they win and lose based on a mental edge. Indeed, the mental edge has become the most prominent facet of progaming today – something which Flash has capitalised on. He has won his games against other greats by using his head to demolish their mental condition and then power his way to victory. His entire style is built around this idea. Flash may not be iloveoov or Boxer, but he is taking Brood war in new directions – and for that – he gets my respect and admiration.
I hope JD comes back to win the MSL so he can regain his confidence.
