Yes I am well aware of the "calm BW reminiscence pun", sit back down~ Also resizing images, what's that? >_<
Calm, quite an enigma in terms of public opinion, and yet another player whose career can not simply be summarized by a string of achievements and often qualified as "overrated". Being a part of STX SouL certainly didn't help matters, since the sampling size of STX SouL fans is so small that it's hard to form a concise opinion of him even with in the team's fan base (I kid I kid... mostly).
In many ways Calm's nick name as "brainzerg" fit him like a glove, as a senior player on STX since 2005 primarily playing in 2v2's, Calm faced difficulty transitioning out of a 2v2 environment with comparatively weak fundamentals and has been reliant purely on his hard work and wits to keep him afloat, often completely baffling onlookers with his ridiculous mind games and unorthodox play.
The Calm before the storm
What would one say about Calm's career before 2008? Formerly a 2v2 player who didn't make much of a splash in the scene. Even less than spectacular 1v1 with uninspired ZvT, lack of spectacle or micro prowess in ZvZ, and mediocre ZvP that hovered at 50%. Playing only 39 televised matches out of 109 recorded games. Failing to qualify for any individual leagues. Calm was anything but exceptional. With 2v2 being cancelled beyond the 2008 proleague season on the horizon, it seemed certain that Calm was destined the fate of the dodo along with numerous other 2v2 player stars.
+ Show Spoiler [Alternatively:] +
Sorry I got nothing, if you want jokes go here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=106518
Sorry I got nothing, if you want jokes go here: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=106518
This, it turns out, would be a stroke of strategic genius to lower the guards of everyone who expected Calm to completely bomb out and never accomplish anything, setting the stage for Calm's uprising.
The Singles league Ro16 impasse.
For those of us who weren't awake or aware of BW pre 2009, there was a phenomenon I would like to coin "the Ro16 impasse", it dictates that for a 2v2 player to achieve anything of note post the 2008 transition following the abandonment of 2v2 all together, he has to qualify past the Ro16. Many players would soon fall victim to this curse, among them TesteR, Rumble, Thezerg, SangHo, and numerous other relative stars in their own time. Calm whose 2v2 career wasn't exceptional in the first place seemed doomed for failure, getting eliminated immediately from the Arena MSL in the ro32. Nevertheless he bid his time and became STX's one two punch with Kal, pulling off a surprisingly good 41-20 record for the 2008-2009 season, helping STX to finishing 3rd place over all with a +34 point differential.
Right away Calm became a player who was difficult to quantify simply in terms of results, in the Intel Classic Season 2, he only made it as far as the Ro64, Yet it produced this little gem. Since Calm is clearly a master strategist and a genius of our times, I will interpret his actions in terms of the Thirty-Six Strategems from Chinese history. Thus began the journey of:
Calm, brainzerg and ancient military strategist wise beyond his years.
Calm vs PianO
+ Show Spoiler +
瞒天过海 (Deceive the heavens to cross the ocean) A risky third accessible by ground only via the open middle high ground, keep in mind that Calm would completely skip lurkers this game, such a simple and easy to counter strategy that no one expected it.
The terran moves out at with a squad and a firebat, spire is just finishing, and there are just 6 lings on the map.
空城计 (Empty Fort) - Just one sunken colony to his name with nothing else in sight, giving a false sense of danger making the terran think a zergling attack is imminent.
Picks off the medics positioned for a potential zergling attack with mutas and cleans up the rest.
Hive off 1 sunken, an exposed third, while the terran is posturing for a mass mm push, and no lurkers.
树上开花 (Decking a tree with false blossoms) Stalling the terran with just mutalisks while.taking a completely undefended fourth next to the exposed third.
无中生有 (Creating something from nothing) - Showing only a squad of mutas at once, posturing that he is transitioning to lurkers while greater spire is morphing. The terran is reluctant to attack with out waiting on scans.
偷梁换柱 (Replace beams with rotten timbers) Continually snipes medics instead of trying to kill marines, leaving his opponent with 2 squads of marines with no support then cleans up the whole ball with just mutalisks.
打草惊蛇 (Stomp the grass to scare the snake) Terran responds with 3(!) port stealth wraiths to mass mutalisks, still thinking that the zerg is doing a 2 base muta all in. Instead he morphs an ultralisk tavern.
调虎离山 (Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair) Morphs guardians any ways while showing nothing on the front lines, letting the terran's bio move out onto the map.
Starts sunken sim-city at home.
笑里藏刀 (Hiding a knife behind a smile) Here comes the wraiths, but wait, who put those scourge, that overlord, and that devourer there. It would turn out that the overlord was there since the beginning of the game.
Beautiful cloning.
围魏救赵 (Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao) Positioning makes guardians completely inaccessible to the bio ball, this also stopped the terran from just marching across the map and killing his completely exposed bases.
Terran matches across the map to find where there once was no defenses, there is now a fortress.
Ultralisks pop at the exact right time
声东击西 (Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west) Terran turtles out a massive army, preparing to engage the ultralisk army outright with science vessels, instead he goes for a pure Ultralisk backstab.
Calm is a zen master, instead of celebrating his victory, he contemplates his actions and the future.
The terran moves out at with a squad and a firebat, spire is just finishing, and there are just 6 lings on the map.
空城计 (Empty Fort) - Just one sunken colony to his name with nothing else in sight, giving a false sense of danger making the terran think a zergling attack is imminent.
Picks off the medics positioned for a potential zergling attack with mutas and cleans up the rest.
Hive off 1 sunken, an exposed third, while the terran is posturing for a mass mm push, and no lurkers.
树上开花 (Decking a tree with false blossoms) Stalling the terran with just mutalisks while.taking a completely undefended fourth next to the exposed third.
无中生有 (Creating something from nothing) - Showing only a squad of mutas at once, posturing that he is transitioning to lurkers while greater spire is morphing. The terran is reluctant to attack with out waiting on scans.
偷梁换柱 (Replace beams with rotten timbers) Continually snipes medics instead of trying to kill marines, leaving his opponent with 2 squads of marines with no support then cleans up the whole ball with just mutalisks.
打草惊蛇 (Stomp the grass to scare the snake) Terran responds with 3(!) port stealth wraiths to mass mutalisks, still thinking that the zerg is doing a 2 base muta all in. Instead he morphs an ultralisk tavern.
调虎离山 (Entice the tiger to leave its mountain lair) Morphs guardians any ways while showing nothing on the front lines, letting the terran's bio move out onto the map.
Starts sunken sim-city at home.
笑里藏刀 (Hiding a knife behind a smile) Here comes the wraiths, but wait, who put those scourge, that overlord, and that devourer there. It would turn out that the overlord was there since the beginning of the game.
Beautiful cloning.
围魏救赵 (Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao) Positioning makes guardians completely inaccessible to the bio ball, this also stopped the terran from just marching across the map and killing his completely exposed bases.
Terran matches across the map to find where there once was no defenses, there is now a fortress.
Ultralisks pop at the exact right time
声东击西 (Make a sound in the east, then strike in the west) Terran turtles out a massive army, preparing to engage the ultralisk army outright with science vessels, instead he goes for a pure Ultralisk backstab.
Calm is a zen master, instead of celebrating his victory, he contemplates his actions and the future.
Calm vs Leta
+ Show Spoiler +
In an all important ace match, Leta opts for an early supply depot block on the natural, and opts to go for an early expand of his own.
Diligent scouting from Leta, confirming the lair timing.
While the scv is still in the main, Calm puts down a hydralisk den in plain sight at the natural.
Leta is a formidable opponent and scans right on top of the natural, revealing both the hydralisk and the den.
The face of a man who isn't impressed.
Leta starts bunkers and missile turrets.
Calm uses the knowledge that his opponent knows about his "hidden strategy" and morphs 2 lurkers while taking two expansions at the same time.
+ Show Spoiler +
I was quite convinced at this point that Calm was infact Ocelot
Calm shows two lurkers and starts harassing Leta's mineral line, protecting them with zerglings, the first scan does nothing.
Leta cleans it up with another scan and starts adding missile turrets in fear of more attacks.
SCV goes up the ramp to meet 2 lurkers and some zerglings. These are ALL of Calm's military units on the entire map.
Leta waits for two squads of bio and cleans up the ramp, mean while Calm has been droning on 4 bases. By the time Leta stims across the map, Calm already has 2 new lurkers and easily defends his bases.
Leta, thinking that Calm is well entrenched and heading on hive tech, waits for his tanks and science vessel to pop out before moving out. In reality Calm has stayed on lair tech this whole time.
Calm spots the movement with a single well placed ling, threatens for a back stab. Delaying leta's forces repeatedly.
Calm is a master of the art of running away and getting hit.
Calm baits Leta way from the 3rd / fourth which are completely undefended, and threatens a flank, forcing Leta down into the open.
It's a trap! Or is it?
Leta is too afraid to commit to going up any of the ramps, yet every second he wastes the zerg is building lurker ling off 4 bases with macro hatchs. Leta can't take a third with out pulling his forces back to defend. He stays in the same spot even though the zerg's army is no longer there.
Leta decides to commit to heading into the natural, Calm sets up a rear flank and leaves lurkers to cut off reinforcements. Now Leta is completely boxed in between the convergence point of the zerg supply routes.
Leta fights valiantly but is inevitably forced to retreat, taking heavy losses on the way home.
By now defilers are coming out, Leta's 2 base push was completely negated,
Swarms seal Leta's fate.
Coaches swarm to touch this man's magnificent brain.
Diligent scouting from Leta, confirming the lair timing.
While the scv is still in the main, Calm puts down a hydralisk den in plain sight at the natural.
Leta is a formidable opponent and scans right on top of the natural, revealing both the hydralisk and the den.
The face of a man who isn't impressed.
Leta starts bunkers and missile turrets.
Calm uses the knowledge that his opponent knows about his "hidden strategy" and morphs 2 lurkers while taking two expansions at the same time.
+ Show Spoiler +
I was quite convinced at this point that Calm was infact Ocelot
Calm shows two lurkers and starts harassing Leta's mineral line, protecting them with zerglings, the first scan does nothing.
Leta cleans it up with another scan and starts adding missile turrets in fear of more attacks.
SCV goes up the ramp to meet 2 lurkers and some zerglings. These are ALL of Calm's military units on the entire map.
Leta waits for two squads of bio and cleans up the ramp, mean while Calm has been droning on 4 bases. By the time Leta stims across the map, Calm already has 2 new lurkers and easily defends his bases.
Leta, thinking that Calm is well entrenched and heading on hive tech, waits for his tanks and science vessel to pop out before moving out. In reality Calm has stayed on lair tech this whole time.
Calm spots the movement with a single well placed ling, threatens for a back stab. Delaying leta's forces repeatedly.
Calm is a master of the art of running away and getting hit.
Calm baits Leta way from the 3rd / fourth which are completely undefended, and threatens a flank, forcing Leta down into the open.
It's a trap! Or is it?
Leta is too afraid to commit to going up any of the ramps, yet every second he wastes the zerg is building lurker ling off 4 bases with macro hatchs. Leta can't take a third with out pulling his forces back to defend. He stays in the same spot even though the zerg's army is no longer there.
Leta decides to commit to heading into the natural, Calm sets up a rear flank and leaves lurkers to cut off reinforcements. Now Leta is completely boxed in between the convergence point of the zerg supply routes.
Leta fights valiantly but is inevitably forced to retreat, taking heavy losses on the way home.
By now defilers are coming out, Leta's 2 base push was completely negated,
Swarms seal Leta's fate.
Coaches swarm to touch this man's magnificent brain.
Did I mention ZvT is historically Calm's WORST match up at <50% win rate? Looks again is decieving, for 34 out of the total 129 (more than 25%) of Calm's ZvT's played were against Flash and Fantasy. Hell the entire rivalry between Calm and Fantasy deserves a thread of its own (and there existed one that I can't find right now).
Breaking the Ro16 impasse, Avalon MSL
2009 was Calm's year of glory, boasting a 67%(!) win rate with 62.86% against terran, and 78.95% against protoss. Even his worst match up historically, ZvZ, reached 60%. We can never be so sure about what happened during these years to this man's brain to make him such a formidable opponent who utterly crushed his competition.
Calm's first deep run into a starleague was in the Avalon MSL of 2009, in the Ro32 he was faced with a group consisting of Sea, ZerO, and sKyHigh, in which he 2-0ed winning over Sea and ZerO with ease.
+ Show Spoiler [ Calm vs Zero] +
Watch the mini map, Calm hid his zerglings from the sight of the overlords.
In the Ro16, Calm would face off against a slumping ForGG, beating him 2-0 with ease, outsmarting the former MSL champion defending a mech cheese attempt and straight out maneuvering the terran player in the other.
+ Show Spoiler [Calm vs ForGG] +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZzUkcIlxVs
Outsmarting an Alien
Calm has finally done broken the Ro16 impasse, yet his trial has just begun, out of the frying pan and into the fray he would have to face up against EffOrt, the commonly considered #2 zerg player at the time. With calm's ZvZ being his worst match up, it was doubtful how he could possibly overcome this new obstacle. As the clear underdog, Calm read Effort like a book, directly going 9 pool against two 12 hatch attempts, and winning the series 3-0.
+ Show Spoiler [Calm vs Effort] +
Dictating a Tyrant
And who else but to test Calm's true skill and wits as a player next, than the undisputed best zerg of 2009, Jaedong? /At this time, Jaedong was completely untouchable in ZvZ, had only lost 1 Bo5 in his entire career, consistently winning over 75% oin the match up. Where as Calm sported a <50% win rate up to the month of the tournament. Well, the rest as they say, is history.
+ Show Spoiler [Calm vs Jaedong] +
No amount of explanation can do this justice, you just have to see the games yourself. Jaedong's first Bo5 loss to a zerg was handed to him that day.
The Brain meets the Brawn.
After the great obstacles of EffOrt and Jaedong, it was the greatest of ironies and twists of fate that Calm was to face against Kwanro, teammate of EffOrt, hyper-aggressive zerg player that the community joked about would have a 70% win rate if he just built a lair as he relied so much on zergling aggression - who defeated his own teammate Iris to reach the finals. It was the lead up to a grudge match made in heaven, and one last obstacle for Calm to overcome to being a MSL champion.
Yet because the finals was a ZvZ, and that the players had little star power compared to the players that Calm defeated on his way, it became one of the least hyped finals in history. The apex of Calm's career was robbed of attention because ironically he had defeated the best players before the finals.
Spotlight: Calm vs Kwanro Set 1
Kwanro with a 5 pool and 2 pulled drones for offensive sunken versus a 12 hatch from Calm.
Yes you read that right.
Does anything need to be said?
Calm would go on to win the finals 3-1, dropping only two games over the entire run, 1 to Jaedong and 1 to Kwanro. And remains the only homegrown STX player to win a starleague to date. He also earned the nick name "Brain Zerg" During this MSL for outsmarting his opponents and using mind games.
The star that shines the brightest...
You know, I've come to understand why people hate Flash so much, because it seems that every under appreciated or less known player has had their moments of brilliance and streaks dashed by Flash. Calm was on a winning streak against terran following his Avalon MSL win, with an impeccable recent ZvZ history, and some steady results in ZvP, Calm had finally begun to garner fans and attention that he never got for his 4 years of service on STX.
To everyone's surprise he dropped out of the 2009 Nate MSL group Ro32 to a then PvZ Pae-wang BeSt[WHITE] and had the misfortune to be matched against TvZ sniper Light in the loser's round, thus losing 0-2. But hopes were high for Calm's OSL run in the EVER 2009, where he successfully made it to the Ro4 over Pure in the Ro8 and a win over Shine and EffOrt (1 loss to Fantasy) in the Ro16, At the time, Calm ALSO had a perfect 2-0 record against the new up coming star Terran Flash in the semi finals. Sound familiar?
Flash vs Calm EVER 2009 OSL Set 3
A reclusive intellectual
Calm has since posted mediocre results across the board, never recapturing his former 2009 glory since his defeat (his record is a respectable 51% since losing to flash on Jan.1, 2010). Nevertheless he is continuing to serve STX and in mentoring a new generation of players as playing coach in SC2. Here's hoping that he can lend his brains to a new generation of zerg upstarts~