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The Two Starcraft Superheroes.
If you are a DC fan, you would know that the World’s Finest signifies the DC duo: Batman and Superman. Recently, these superheroes are not only defined by their powers but also their human qualities. Batman may not have a superpower but has superhuman attributes such as unrivaled intellect, versatile mastery of martial arts, and superb marksmanship. Superman, on the other hand, is gifted with the ability to gain a plethora of superpowers from the sun. Batman is relatable to the fans with his human limitations and his psychological trauma of the loss of his parents, which makes him a very neurotic person. Superman displays his human characteristics by not only having a relationship with Lois Lane but also secretly loathing how his superpower can potentially alienate himself from the people he loves and protects. In the Starcraft 2 world, we have our own Superman and Batman, which are Flash and Jaedong.
Flash: The Demigod of Starcraft 2
Like Superman who landed on Earth with superpowers, Flash was the gifted child with a grand destiny when he started Starcraft 2. Utilizing his unparalleled macro mechanics, superb unit control, and stellar unit control from Brood War, Flash was already stomping SC2 hotshots such as Naniwa, DongRaeGu, and Ryung, even though Terran was considered to be the weakest race during the near-end of Wings of Liberty era. Flash constantly pushed the Terran race to its nearly impossible limit. Once he built his 3 commander centers, the war machine started its gears and created the ultimate army with well-equipped troops. No matter how many units Flash loses, he replaced the fallen with fresh troops at an alarming rate.
Only a God can have 8 barracks in production and overwhelm a Zerg player in a BroodWar game.
Despite his efficient macro, Flash also understood the importance of unit control and positioning as seen from his improvement in TvT, which was once considered to be Flash’s weakest matchup at the time. Flash was also not a one-trick pony. Once his Kryptonite such as early game harassment was discovered, Flash adapted and tuned his style accordingly (Superman did use lead to resist kryptonite). Recently, Flash began to slightly delay his third commander center and build the appropriate amount of defenses. In addition to his mechanics, Flash was also not afraid of experimenting with the metagame and finding new ways to perfect his gameplay. During the GSL Ultimate Group of Death, which was consisted of Innovation, Life, Parting, and Flash, Flash incorporated Battlecrusiers against Parting. Furthermore, when Hellbat harassment was extremely popular in TvT, Flash used Siege Tanks for defense. Even, in booths, Flash continued to display his perfectionist qualities by bringing a ruler to measure how his hardware should be positioned.
Flash has called in the Fleet!
Even with his superpowers, Flash is a relatable human because of his tragic qualities. In his recent interviews, Flash displayed his frustration with the current Terran metagame and the woes of being a Starcraft progamer. Since the Terran currently relies on the finesse and aggression of biological units because mechanical units such as Battlecruisers and Siege Tanks are easily countered, Flash believed that Brood War Terran was more like the Starcraft 2 Protoss, which arguably became the most defensive race with powerful lategame units in Starcraft 2. As for progaming career, Flash had expressed his envy of his friends who are now in college and living a normal life such as studying and going out with girlfriends. Unfortunately, as a dedicated progamer, Flash could not live the “normal life” because of Starcraft 2’s unforgiving dynamic that requires a daily amount of investment. Like Superman, Flash has a superpower that granted his legendary status but cursed his human dream to live like a normal human being. Unlike his other programing peers, he has a very ambitious human dream of becoming a lawyer (or prosecutor, in his words).
Even Gods must rest and have fun!
Jaedong: The Dark Knight of Starcraft 2
Like Batman, Jaedong was a superhero born with unusual eccentricities that developed into his superpower. Although Jaedong had great mechanics, he had his own quirk of playing hyperaggressively. At the time, hyperaggression were extremely risky because such tactics require a lot of resources and specific timings to work effectively. As such players like MC and Life were falling off the radar, Jaedong revived hyperaggression play into the metagame with miraculous results.
Like a true tactician, Jaedong knows how to use the mutalisk to its fullest potential.
Like Batman’s utility belt, Jaedong demonstrated his versatility by having different openers. If his mutalisk transition does not work in one game, he would pull out off a zergling all-in in another game when the player least expects it. Jaedong was also not afraid to use swarm hosts or infestors for defensive purposes. With a plethora of build orders, Jaedong would do whatever it takes to win. However, ZvP turned to out to be his Bane that broke his back. Even with his versatility, Jaedong could not put a dent onto his Protoss opponents. Recently, Jaedong refused to give in and converted his weakness into one of strengths and crushed his protoss opponents recently in the WCS Season 2 Finals.
Like Batman, Jaedong has two personalities and seems to remain unsatisfied with his progress, unless he achieved his ultimate mission objective of reliving his Dong times. Whenever Jaedong was outside of the game, he would exhibit very personable traits such as savoring his victories, begging his fans to come over and watch Proleague, and having a good amount of fan girls supporting him. However, those moments were relatively short because Jaedong would don the cowl and empower himself with a fearsome batglare, military grade equipment, and a hardened mentality to achieve his grand goal of winning competitions. Despite his hard work and extensive preparations, Jaedong seemed to fall short of fulfilling his vision and found new Joker-like obstacles that would exploit his weaknesses. However, Jaedong is too stubborn to let his Starcraft 2 career die ungracefully and would continue the fight until every one of his physical being cannot keep up his indomitable will.
The Dong Stare!
Starcraft’s Finest Duo
Although there are many other memorable Starcraft 2 players, Flash and Jaedong are titans in their own right. Not only do they have very uncanny abilities that would establish their legendary statuses but also go through personal problems that their fans can sympathize and relate. Unlike other Brood War heroes who have sadly retired or have yet to prove themselves and most of the Starcraft 2 famous players who did not have a concrete Brood War history, these two legends have shown top tier gameplay from beginning to end and continue their hopeful yet epic journey towards greatness, which will never be forgotten in the hearts and minds of the Starcraft community.
Legends never die
NOTE: Please let me know what you think of this write-up. Give me any meaningful feedback, so I can learn how to produce high-quality write-ups to show my passion for Starcraft 2.
EDIT: It was 8 barracks not 7. Thanks to SupaDupaFlyPro and later rezzan for the correction.
EDIT: Minor edits.