So I was going to do a write-up of my trip to Korea with fancy pictures and stuff, but I'm pretty lazy and tired. So, you can ask me questions if you are interested in Korea or progaming or going to a live event.
Some brief notes, I was there for four days, stayed with Midian, attended both the OSL and PL, and ate/drank enough for my stomach to feel like death.
I think saying we would "like to grow as a person" is an admirable thing, but it can be difficult to measure. It is not often that we have instances upon which we can reflect and say "I have changed." Today however I was fortunate to have one such experience.
Then
Since moving to Japan many people have asked me about "culture shock". To be honest, I think the term is poorly constructed, as I don't think I have often felt "shocked" by anything in Japan. It is more a sense of being weighed down by the enormity of it all once in a while. Every other month or so I feel tired, but that isn't really a shock. Only one occasion really sticks in my mind.
I was walking back to my house from the station, this was before Yuko and I lived together, and it was a blazing hot August day. The air around my ankles simply rippled, my shoes stirring the soup, and every breath seemed to steal from my body more than it gave. My plan was simple. I was going to go to my house, get my laptop, and then jump on my bicycle back to the station where an air conditioned comic/internet cafe waited with endless drinks.
With this goal in mind I looked up. Ahead of me was a T intersection and I was approaching the bar. As I was about to turn right toward my house, I saw a lady walk behind a car. In perfect slow motion I saw the white lights on the back of the car illuminate and heard the engine hum. Before I could raise a sound in my throat the car had knocked the elderly lady down and screeched to a stop.
Instantly I was conflicted. My initial reaction was to rush over and help this lady who was crying out on the ground. I had my phone, it was time to call the police! Get an ambulance! Then a realization hit me. If I were to go over there, what would I say? Would my white face confuse the proceedings? Other than babbling away in English, I was just going to be in the way.
I walked in the other direction.
I went home, and did not head out to the shop. Instead I sat there, disappointed with myself. I am normally a take-charge kind of guy. If I am in a situation, I am usually running the show. On this day I felt powerless. This was culture shock.
Now
A woke up a little later today, just as the hour hand was closing in at 7. With an evening class ahead of me I knew that the car was my best option. I packed my bag, kissed my wife goodbye, and took off for work.
Pull out of the garage, turn right, right, left, right, left and I was on the highway to work. I was stuck behind a slow car, so I couldn't make the required 90 km/h it takes to make it through the next lights. I sat at the intersection, not thinking of anything in particular other than that annoying slow car, when I noticed the mini truck in the middle of the road.
Mini trucks are great things; tiny for me to drive but popular with every old guy in my town for their ability to haul junk and maneuver between rice fields. In the bed of this particular truck was a mountain of paper and aluminum. A collector. Lots of old guys like him in every country I suppose. Behind his truck some of his bundles and bags were strewn. I assumed that they had fallen out and he would do the typical old guy thing and stop traffic while picking them up. Old guys who live in trucks don't have much use for the conventions of society.
Looking closer I saw the twinkle of broken yellow plastic on the ground. Then I saw a door bent in a way doors are not meant to be. He hadn't dropped anything, he had plowed into the concrete divider between north and south bound traffic. I looked at the other cars beside me as the signal was about to change. Nobody seemed to care. No hazard lights were on. Seven am Tuesday morning on the highway? This place was normally a formula-1 circuit as people sped to work. Nobody was going to stop to help some old guy in the middle of the road.
The same feelings from years before seized me. I should help him! It is my natural reaction. But... what would I say? Is this my place? The signal turned green, cars crept up behind me. Hands descended toward horns, preparing to blast me out of my internal struggle.
I dropped the car into first, flicked my signal, and pulled off onto a side street.
Getting out of my car I walked back to the intersection, surveying the damage. No other car had stopped. A pedestrian looked on as he walked by, interested in the wreckage but apparently not the person inside. I waited impatiently for the lights to change again and then I jogged out into the middle of the road.
I knew this man! He was the old guy who parked by the river near my house. He lives out of his truck and always has his pet dog with him. He is viewed suspiciously in the neighborhood because of his condition. But yet, here he was, struggling to free himself. His driver side door had been mangled, and he lacked the strength to open it. With a bit of adreneline pumping through me, I yanked on the handle. Nothing happened. I signaled to him to roll down his window. Grasping the door and the frame, I planted a Canadian size shoe on the truck and pulled. With a squeal of metal the door popped open and the bloodied old guy fell out, followed swiftly by the stench of alcohol.
As I picked up the old man and guided him to sit down on the median, I wondered what to do next. Behind me I heard the excited chirping of two old ladies, out for a walk but now caught up in the drama. Walking over to them I pulled out my phone and asked them to call an ambulance as best I could. She dialed the number excitedly, but then seemed to be at a loss as to how to describe where we were. Glancing around me I spied the sign overhead, "Taruihamaguchi" I yelled at her, using my teachers voice to be heard over the din of passing traffic.
With the authorities on their way, I took back my phone and walked back to my car. I didn't want to push my luck by talking to the police. The old women seemed to be in control at this point. Driving to work I reflected on the difference between this day and when I first came to Japan. Sure, my language is a bit better than way back then, but not a whole lot better. I think my growth has more to do with me feeling comfortable in my own skin. I have a job here because I am different. I look different, and speak a different language. Outside my job, however, there is a basic human need to feel part of the group, part of society. I think I feel at home more today, which allowed me to make the decision to turn off and help this old man.
The irony is, of course, that feeling more comfortable here allowed me to help, but really fitting into this society would entail me not helping at all, but simply staring in interest before speeding off to work. Perhaps I have some more growing to do before I reach that point. Maybe I've grown enough for the time being.
Please do NOT rate this blog. I have no desire to be rated for other people's work. My intention is to showcase some of the amazing work people have done in the past on TL. There is a lot of buried treasure out there.
Notes: While I want this series to focus on work others have done, there was a period of history where I was writing the majority of news posts. I was looking over this one and thought I could clean up some of the mistakes and refresh some memories.
Yes Savior is slumping, and yes Savior dominated, but on the other side of that there was Savior climbing the ranks. Having already won his first MSL over Reach, Savior looked to make it two in a row. In the bo5 winners final he fell to ChoJJa 3-2. After defeating an in-shape Iloveoov for the second series in the tournament, ChoJJa and Savior met once again. Here is the report from the finals of the CYON MSL. It's finals time! For those of you who don't like zvz, too bad. This is the classic storyline of old vs new, the hot rookie vs the veteran wanting to prove himself once and for all. A word from our contestents about their opponents:
About IPX:Like all the new comers, he lacks in Game management. He's overall a powerful player against Toss, Terran, and Zerg. But ZvZ is MY game.
About ChoJJa:Being one of the earlier pro, he's abundant with experience. Not just that, he has variety of styles. Getting ready against him won't be easy but I will try and show you my best.
Ma Jae Yoon, aka IPXZerg, aka oov's worst nightmare has clambered back from the brink of the loser’s bracket for the chance at taking on a legend. Cho Yong Ho, aka ChoJJa, aka the fastest hands this side of anywhere, has blasted his way through this league, and has been the lone bright spot in a slumping KTF roster.
ChoJJa comes into the match with a 36-25 record against his fellow overminds, good for 59%. Meanwhile, IPX flashes a less experienced but still winning 15-12. At 42-22 overall, IPX is a wrecking machine, and ChoJJa is a lucky man he doesn't play terran.
Can IPX continue his dominant play of late, or can ChoJJa finally claim that illusive major league championship? Lets find out!
Game 1: Ride of the Valkyries
ChoJJa got the Yellow hatchery and spawned at 5 while IPX sported teal and took command at 7. ZvZ games are fast and furious, and I can only imagine it would be exaggerated on a two player map with predictable flight paths. A very interesting way to open things up.
With the overlords floating together predictably, ChoJJa made the first move dropping a 9 pool and gas while IPX went for a twelve pool followed by a hatchery at his expansion. ChoJJa waited at his ramp for his numbers to increase and started his lair without any sign of a second hatchery. When he had ten lings, he moved out, meeting IPX's initial 6 in the middle of the map. With a numerical advantage, IPX turned and fled, with ChoJJa in hot pursuit. Progamer timing meant that when the yellow lings got to IPX's expansion, the speed kicked in and the new blood was in trouble.
IPX had stared his own lair, but things were already spiraling out of control. ChoJJa ripped apart some drones, then left to kill the expansion hatch. IPX managed to gather enough lings to keep the top of his ramp closed, but back home Chojja already had a spire half finished. Knowing the end was near, IPX tried to break the ling containment at the bottom of his ramp, but ChoJJa held, and IPX tossed in the initial GG before seeing a muta hatch.
ChoJJa 1:0 IPX
Game 2: R-Point
This is a map ChoJJa hasn't beat a zerg player on yet being 0-2, while IPX is the exact opposite, having a 2-0 record vs other zerg players. Hopefully after a first game collapse he can pick himself up on a map that statistically he holds the advantage on.
ChoJJa started the game with the same position and same colour as game one, yellow at 5. IPX, maybe slightly more agitated, was a darker shade of blue but was also at his initial starting point, 7. Let the cheese commence. IPX started with a 5 pool, and his lings came flying out. Unfortunately for IPX, ChoJJa had played the perfect counter build by going 9 pool and had lings at the top of his ramp in time. IPX paid this no mind, and with his 8 lings and one drone he rushed the ramp, forcing ChoJJa to retreat. Laying down an offensive sunken, IPX forced Chojja to bring his drones offline and into the battle. While his sunken fell, IPX microed his lings to hit drones rather than lings to compensate for his weak economy back home. When the dust settled, both players had five drones, with ChoJJa having the advantage of gas. Had he had time for 100?
Damn right. With his lings standing guard below IPX's ramp and a sunken to defend his main, ChoJJa got his lair up before IPX and was pumping drones as fast as his stubby little fingers could hit sd sd sd. His spire was down before IPX could finish his lair, and he looked to capitalize by taking his natural expansion. IPX was till half a step behind, and while he too took his natural, the air belonged to ChoJJa. His initial muta kept IPX's lings at bay, and scourge placed over eggs ensured any hatched muta's would come into this world hurting.
As ChoJJa moved his muta's into his opponent base, he should his fast hand skill by picking off scourge with sublime muta control. Unable to make a dent in his opponent, IPX tapped gg as his drones were reduced to smears on the ground.
ChoJJa 2:0 IPX
Game 3: Rush Hour II
If last game was played on IPX's map, this game was all about ChoJJa. His overall record on Rush Hour was 5-2, but vs Z it was a sparkling 4-1. Also, continuing the theme of opposites, IPX was 1-4 vs Z on this map. He needed to come up with something special this game, already down 2-0.
On this three player map, ChoJJa spawned as white zerg in the corner at 11, while IPX was brown over at 3. Both players wished each other a gg as the game started, as IPX sent his overlord in the right direction and ChoJJa's headed south. This game started at a slower pace than the first two, with ChoJJa 12 pooling into taking his expo, and IPX expanding and then dropping his pool. In the end, ChoJJa got an earlier lair and IPX had the benefit of more larva right away.
With the advantage of more larva, IPX attacked quickly, with an equal force battle ending up in his favor. While ChoJJa still got his spire down faster, it had cost him his lings and several drones. IPX continued to apply the pressure, regrouping another ling force and attacking ChoJJa's expansion. With a cute move and superior numbers, IPX let ChoJJa chase him into a corner and then sandwiched him with the next group. The pressure was relentless, and although ChoJJa got muta out, they simply could not kill lings fast enough to save the drones. ChoJJa waited until he saw the 6 mutas of IPX, but knew it was over and tapped gg right after.
ChoJJa 2:1 IPX
Game 4: Dark Sauron II
Another map where ChoJJa has had zvz success, perfect at 4-0, was one where IPX was relatively inexperienced, having only played 2 games on it. However, as the last game showed, statistics are only the past.
For the third time in four games, the players’ positions were ChoJJa (blue) at 5 and IPX (brown) at 7. The builds were similar this time, with both players getting gas and their pool after their second overlord. Four minutes in, both players already had more drones than in any part of the first three games. ChoJJa played on the razors edge by building lings later than IPX, and counting on travel time to help him catch up. It was dangerous play, but it allowed him to get a second hatchery down in his base faster than IPX, who decided to instead drop his at an out of the way gas expansion near 9 o'clock.
ChoJJa played aggressively though, and had a bit of luck on his side. He dropped a third hatchery quickly at his natural, and a roaming overlord found IPX's hatchery at nine. Because he had more larva when his spire popped, ChoJJa was able to head to the brown zerg main with confidence. His muta's fought bitterly against IPX's force, while his scourge danced around the action before cascading in, ensuring a ChoJJa advantage. With two muta's left, IPX lost several drones before scourge arrived to save the day.
However, things were grim in IPX's world. ChoJJa had three hatcheries and a fistful of drones. Both players showed their excellent control, striking soft spots with muta while dodging scourge. By sending a two pronged ling attack, ChoJJa forced IPX to chose between a new hatchery and his gas at 9. IPX defended his gas, but then lost all his 9 drones to a follow up ling raid anyways. Going all out with lings and scourge, ChoJJa cut down IPX's mutas despite godlike muta control.
With his economy in tatters and ChoJJa taking another expansion at 1, it was now or never for IPX. He tried to make a counter attack at ChoJJa's natural, but lings and mutalisks attacking his own drones cut his hamstrings. ChoJJa finally massed up his own muta force and when the last flyer disappeared into a mist of blood, IPX tapped a "ggyo" and ChoJJa finally won his first major championship.
ChoJJa 3:1 IPX
It has come at last. Chojja leaned his head back and took a couple deep breaths. Then a big smile broke over his face and he exited the booth. It was his time, and he fully deserved it. His preparation for this match was evident, and he never once gave IPX time to draw breath. Even in the slower starting final game, his build gave pressure, and the advantage. ZvZ is a control matchup, with the steadier nerves always coming through. ChoJJa showed the class of a warrior today. As always, if you haven't yet watched these games live, you can always use our great bittorrent service. Top thread in the BroodWar section. A big thanks goes to those who help keep us up and running. Also, if you are looking for a little bit of pro StarCraft history, our articles section may be the most comprehensive English resource on the web.
Today. Today was a good day. I woke up late, about 6:30am. The sunshine streamed through the windows, taunting me with its joyfulness. A rainy day would have made my decision so much easier, but a sunny day forced me to consider, the car or the bicycle. I nearly wimped out, but by 6:45 I was on my one-speed gathering inertia for the ride to work.
One part of my hurried morning was that I left Axel Rose sitting on my desk at home. Without his licks accompanying my ride, I was left with the chatter of my mind to keep me company on the 10km ride. As it turned out, that was an important development of my day. During my ride my mind wandered to an old friend of mine, Mr. Pasivirta, who had been my friend more than 20 years ago. Upon arriving at work I looked his unique surname up on facebook, and low and behold, there he was, holding an adorable baby boy. A few minutes later I was sending him a message which was soon replied to. We will trade mails again soon.
By reading the various arguments in the thread, I went and talked to a Japanese teacher of History who gave me some great insight into the historical teaching of youth in Japan. I really enjoyed listening to his concerns, and discovered another English speaker at my high school. Valuable stuff I think.
In discussions like that, you have to type out your opinion, which forces you to think about it. I am not sure I agree with everything I wrote, but it is a good starting point to any discussion.
After that, I managed to ride home without incident, although there were many police cars on the road. I saw two cars, a wagon, and two of the special white motorcycles the cops use to catch speeders on the sea side road I take. I was fine.
The day finished with a 5 hour dinner with my friend Mr. Rob Garrity at the local chicken and beer joint. I helped him input his grades into his spreadsheet, as data entry is a strong point for me (thank you starcraft). He paid for our meal which ran almost $200, and we had a great talk about all subjects under the sun. Someday soon, diary, I will tell you about the important influence Mr. Garrity has had on my life.
Now I am pleasantly drunk and reading TeamLiquid. I imagine that I will finish my beer and watch a couple replays before bed.
The last couple days I have been swamped at work, so I have been doing what most people do in that situation, playing Bejeweled Blitz and watching YouTube. I like listening to standup in the background and thought I would share a couple that I enjoyed and hadn't seen before. Maybe you can suggest some others.
Anthony Jeselnik has some pretty black humour. He starts alright but finishes really strong I thought. I liked it the first time, though once is probably enough.
Kevin Shea was pretty good as well. Finishes his jokes with some nice twists.
Ed Byrne. I like comics who don't swear and still make me laugh. They are always more clever.
Of 132 people that finished downloading the ProMusic torrent, only 6 stuck around to seed. SIX. Jesus christ, there are still 55 leechers on that torrent, and only SIX people stuck around to seed. This blows my fucking mind.
I honestly thought that people had more respect for the TL torrent system than this. This isn't the PirateBay, where you are sharing with strangers, and can hit and run all you like. This is TL. We are a small group of people with the same interests. Seeding is one way that we can help one another with little effort.
I spent hours updating that pack. I took pride the finished job. I upladed 19 GB in the first 6 hours, creating 11 seeds. I never imagined less than a week later the torrent would be in this kind of condition.
Seeding is the easiest way to give back to the community. If you aren't willing to do this, but you use the tracker, then you are a useless leech, and I hope you get hit by a virtual truck and hospitalized on the official Blizzard forums for an enternity.
Please do NOT rate this blog. I have no desire to be rated for other people's work. My intention is to showcase some of the amazing work people have done in the past on TL. There is a lot of buried treasure out there.
Notes: As promised, here is one of my favorite mensrea battle reports. Again, VODs were still relatively rare for the masses in 2004. So, text battle reports from the front lines were still the dominant way of reporting SC. In this PvP finals, we first heard about the "Legend of the Fall", where protoss players would dominate in the Autumn OSL.
If you want to search other mensrea articles, just click search, enter his name in the "username" field, select "news" from the dropdown, and leave the search field blank. You will get every news thread he ever created.
Cheers!
A year ago this time, Protoss users everywhere were still busy playing their collective fiddles and commiserating about map imbalance, race imbalance, fibre imbalance, dopamine imbalance, trade imbalance, mental imbalance, estrogen imbalance, cosmic imbalance and pretty much any other kind of imbalance one could imagine. During the darkest hours of the Protoss race's tribulation (basically, all of 2002), Reach blazed a heroic trail by pulling off emotional upset wins over Yellow(Z) and Boxer(T) on his way to taking the SKY 2002 OGN crown. (Reach's 3-2 bo5 win v Yellow in the SKY 2002 semis was pure heart, and Game 4 of Boxer v Reach is pretty much on everyone's top 10 list of Greatest Matches Ever Played.) But, things just kind of fizzled from there, and it looked like the Protoss Revolution, well, just wasn't.
My how times have changed. In the run-up to last summer/fall's MyCube tournament, the Koreans dubbed the Protoss aspirations "Legends of the Fall," and we got not one, but two Protoss users in the final the first ever pure PvP final in OGN history. The Hollywood allusion proved presciently appropriate, too, cuz we now have a sequel PvP Part II. Be careful what you wish for, I guess.
As many of you know, Glider has been posting his charcoal art on TL. He specializes in recreating photographs, mainly of actors and actresses. He also does commissions for people.
After seeing his art I thought it would be a great idea to have him do a portrait of my wife and I for an anniversary gift. My wife always complained that we paid a lot of money for wedding photos, but never did anything with them. I thought this would be a good way to start.
Glider, whose real name is Xiaonan Sun, was professional every step of the way. I originally had a rather ambitious plan, but with his help settled on a photo that was just right. My emails were always returned promptly, and the work was completed to my satisfaction before any money changed hands.
Today I received the portrait, safe and sound, in it's tube, at work. The whole process took less than six weeks.
I will actually be back in Vancouver over my anniversary, while Yuko will still be in Japan. I plan to have the portrait delivered to her on the day, and then call her. It should be a great surprise.
Of course, I had to get the movie as well. That is part of what makes the Xiaonan Sun experience so special.
Quality art, a professional attitude, and a StarCraft fan. Glider is a pro in every sense of the word. Thanks a lot sir, and I wish you continued success. With your talent though, I don't think you will need any help from me.
Product 10/10 Service 10/10 Would I repeat? Given the right occasion, absolutely.
Please do NOT rate this blog. I have no desire to be rated for other people's work. My intention is to showcase some of the amazing work people have done in the past on TL. There is a lot of buried treasure out there.
Notes: mensrea was the original news writer on TL, along with WaxAngel. He brought the news for the better part of two years, and helped get my interest up in this field. He was a fanatical Nal_rA fan, and also liked other protoss gamers such as Reach and Kingdom.
His battle reports were art in the days before VODs were available, and each thread was greatly anticipated, as he was our window to the proscene. I will post my favorite of his battle reports next time.
In this installment though, you can take a look back at a pivotal moment in progaming history. The moment where Boxer took his team from 4U and created the goliath that is SKT1. Enjoy.
On April 08 2004 23:45 mensrea wrote:
Some interesting news from Korea: after much anticipation, the Korean telecommunications giant SK Telecom, one of the bluest of blue chip companies in Asia, has officially announced that it will be taking over and sponsoring Boxer's 4U team. Financial details have not been released yet, but officials close to the deal did confirm that Boxer would be awarded the richest contract in professional gaming history. So much for Nal_rA's record!!
In fact, SKT has also made it clear that they intend to treat the rest of the 4U team in a manner consistent with the company's status as one of the largest, most valuable companies in Asia. Besides funding for players and manager salaries and day-to-day operating expenses, the sponsorship package includes a spacious 3550+ sq. feet team office/dormitory as well as an official team van that seats 12 (appropriately, a 2004 Chevrolet Starcraft - I'm not joking). It was reported that SKT is expected to invest several million dollars (US) in total per year on the sponsorship and operation of Boxer's team. That is some SERIOUS cash.
The news comes hot on the heels of KTF's (the second largest mobile telecommunications company in Korea after - you guessed it - SKT) recent shock announcement that it would be signing reigning OGN Starleague champion Nal_rA ("Kang Min") to its newly-minted team for a reported salary of US $100,000. KTF has been on a spending binge since it decided to put together its own pro team, easily outspending rivals to stock up on champion-caliber players like Reach(P), TheMarine(T), Chojja(Z), Sync(T) and, of course, the aforementioned Nal_rA(P). KTF's Daddy Warbucks tactics drew some heavy fire from hardcore fans of the game (and from opposing teams), many accusing it of trying to create a pro gaming version of Real Madrid.
Well, every Real Madrid deserves a Manchester United, and if anyone can outspend KTF, it's SKT (SKT took in revenues of US $8.2 billion in 2003 alone - some serious resource gathering macro!). Let the money war begin!
What's really interesting is that many in Korea see all this corporate sponsorship activity as an extension of the fierce business competition SKT and KTF have been engaged in for a share of Korea's enormous mobile telecom market. Some analysts predict it's only a matter of time before the third mega-member of the mobile telecom triumvirate in Korea, LG Telecom, joins the pro gaming sponsorship fray.
No big surprise now if that happens. I thought something was up when I found out OGN's next Starleague sponsor is going to be Gillette (see the Game Notes from my report on the Nal_rA vs Zeus OSL final for details). It's indicative of how mainstream SC/BW is in Korea that a company like Gillette, which has virtually nothing to do with the gaming industry, is still willing to throw over US $400,000 at sponsoring a gaming tournament.
Watch out Tiger Woods! SlayerS_BoxeR cometh!!
EDIT: The financial details have apparently been released. Boxer's one sexy, rich beast! Check it out here.
(Check out the original news source at Sports Chosun)
Members of the new royal family of professional gaming, Team 4U. From the left, iloveoov(T) (Choi Yeon-sung), Kos(T) (Kim Hyun-jin), SlayerS_BoxeR(T) (Im Yo-hwan), IntoTheRainbow(P) (Kim Sung-jae), ZergLee(Z) (Lee Chang-hoon), Kingdom(P) (Bak Yong-wook)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/new_baby_1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/new_baby_2.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/LosingID8/vlcsnap2009080100h28m35s212.png)
Damn right. With his lings standing guard below IPX's ramp and a sunken to defend his main, ChoJJa got his lair up before IPX and was pumping drones as fast as his stubby little fingers could hit sd sd sd. His spire was down before IPX could finish his lair, and he looked to capitalize by taking his natural expansion. IPX was till half a step behind, and while he too took his natural, the air belonged to ChoJJa. His initial muta kept IPX's lings at bay, and scourge placed over eggs ensured any hatched muta's would come into this world hurting.
With the advantage of more larva, IPX attacked quickly, with an equal force battle ending up in his favor. While ChoJJa still got his spire down faster, it had cost him his lings and several drones. IPX continued to apply the pressure, regrouping another ling force and attacking ChoJJa's expansion. With a cute move and superior numbers, IPX let ChoJJa chase him into a corner and then sandwiched him with the next group. The pressure was relentless, and although ChoJJa got muta out, they simply could not kill lings fast enough to save the drones. ChoJJa waited until he saw the 6 mutas of IPX, but knew it was over and tapped gg right after.
However, things were grim in IPX's world. ChoJJa had three hatcheries and a fistful of drones. Both players showed their excellent control, striking soft spots with muta while dodging scourge. By sending a two pronged ling attack, ChoJJa forced IPX to chose between a new hatchery and his gas at 9. IPX defended his gas, but then lost all his 9 drones to a follow up ling raid anyways. Going all out with lings and scourge, ChoJJa cut down IPX's mutas despite godlike muta control. 
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/anniversary/YukoTrevor252.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/anniversary/trevor_commission.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/Manifesto7/44i17005_1.jpg)
